Chapter 49
I found out about Choi Do-yoon’s whereabouts.
The mont I heard the news, my heart started to beat uncontrollably.
Finally, I found him!
‘I was curious about him for a long ti.’
What was he doing all this ti, that he had such power at the start of the apocalypse?
He was not a normal person even before the end of the world.
It was impossible to have such strength and talent, unless he was born with it.
A congenital lunatic.
That’s how I thought of Choi Do-yoon.
“I’ll be back soon.”
I left the office after entrusting my sword to Kang Hye-rim.
She called from behind, but I couldn’t stop.
The situation was too important for .
The association was not far from the office.
Even as I walked on the sidewalk, I couldn’t contain my curiosity.
What kind of life did he live, and what is he like now?
Soon, I realized that I was too obsessed with him and gave a bitter smile.
‘It’s funny. I don’t need to be involved with him now that I’ve started over.’
For who returned to the past, everything that happened with Choi Do-yoon was erased.
But I couldn’t help it.
Even if the world didn’t know, I knew.
I rembered everything that happened with him.
Whether good or bad, he had a huge impact on my life, and that was undeniable.
‘When I et him. What should I say?’
I had no idea.
Would I be angry when I see him?
Maybe I would lose control of my anger and punch him right away.
Or maybe I would feel nothing at all.
But one thing was certain, I wanted to see him again.
“Welco. How can I help you?”
As soon as I arrived at the association and approached the desk, a receptionist asked that.
As I was about to tell her why I ca, soone else ca out faster.
“Yu-hyun.”
It was Choi Jung-mo, the manager of this branch of the association.
I greeted him calmly.
“Long ti no see.”
“Yes. It’s been a while. And I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Haha. Is that so?”
That news was not just about Kang Hye-rim.
He probably knew that I was walking a different path from a normal teller.
Even if the association was weaker than the large clans, their information network was not inferior.
We moved to a quiet place.
It was not his office like before, but another guest room.
“Please sit down. Do you need any coffee or tea?”
“I appreciate your kindness.”
“Hmm. Before we get to the main point, there is one thing I want to ask you.”
Choi Jung-mo opened his mouth cautiously, as if he had a delicate matter to bring up.
“What is your relationship with that person nad Choi Do-yoon?”
“It’s nothing.”
It could be called a grudge if anything.
But Choi Do-yoon didn’t know now.
He had nothing to do with .
“I just heard so rumors about him. The person nad Choi Do-yoon.”
“Is that… what the tellers are talking about?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
It wasn’t true, but it was better to say that.
Choi Jung-mo didn’t seem to dig deeper, and he let it go easily.
“First of all, as you requested, I checked on the person nad Choi Do-yoon. Thanks to you specifying his age, gender, and general appearance, it wasn’t hard to find him, but…”
But?
He trailed off strangely.
“Did sothing happen?”
“Yes. To be honest… we searched for Choi Do-yoon’s whereabouts. And we did find out sothing about him.”
We did find out sothing. Choi Jung-mo said that.
My eyes sank deeper.
I waited silently for his next words.
“The Choi Do-yoon you were looking for… disappeared 10 years ago from now. On the day of material integration.”
As soon as I heard that, I had to try hard to hide my emotions from showing.
I composed myself in an instant and asked carefully.
“Disappeared… does that an he’s gone now?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Is there a possibility of mistaking him for soone else?”
“No. We compared his photo when he disappeared, and it was as you said. Look.”
Choi Jung-mo said that and handed a few docunts.
They were papers containing personal information of one person.
The first thing that appeared on the first page was a photo of one person.
‘It’s him!’
Surprisingly, Choi Do-yoon looked exactly the sa as when I first saw him in the apocalypse.
His hairstyle and clothes were different, but his sharp eyes and appearance were the sa.
There was no way I wouldn’t recognize him.
But how?
He disappeared 10 years ago, and 5 years later was the ti of the apocalypse.
That was a difference of 15 years.
But his appearance was no different from then or now in this photo.
“He was 21 years old, based on when he disappeared. The day of material integration. The 99th day of change. He was one of the people who disappeared then. We call these people Vanishings.”
I knew that too.
When the earth, which was a material world, was first incorporated into a hybrid world, the world was engulfed in a huge shock.
It was not a taphorical expression, but a literal one.
We called it the day of material integration, and in the West, they called it phantasm shock.
The mont when the boundary between all illusions and truths collapsed, and what existed in stories beca reality.
Many people disappeared from reality then.
“To be honest, I was surprised when I first found out. You suddenly asked to find soone, and I didn’t think he would be a Vanishing.”
The exact reason for the Vanishings was not revealed.
But one thing was certain, the people who disappeared went sowhere else in another dinsion, not on earth.
Sotis so of the Vanishings who had gone missing reappeared in reality.
But they all had different characteristics.
‘As if they beca sothing other than human.’
There were a few cases that were publicly known.
Most of them were cases where only corpses ca back.
But sotis there were people who ca back alive, but they were mostly monsters.
Their skin turned into wood, their flesh twisted, or they beca madn obsessed with killing.
No one knows where they went and what they experienced.
Later, a normal vanishing appeared, and they were commonly called ‘returnees from another world’, but not now.
“Do you happen to know where this Choi Do-yoon vanishing is?”
That was what Choi Jung-mo asked. Whether I knew anything about the vanishing that had not been revealed yet.
I shook my head.
“I just guessed from the rumors I heard. There was a human nad Choi Do-yoon, and he was quite strong. I asked because I thought he was from this side by his na.”
“I see.”
Choi Jung-mo licked his lips with a disappointed look.
Well, I knew very well that the association was thirsty for various things.
Even so, I was surprised.
No way, that Choi Do-yoon guy was a vanishing.
‘Then he ca back at the sa ti as the end of the earth.’
That ans he was a returnee who drifted into another world on the day of the integration of thoughts and ca back 15 years later.
The other world would definitely have a different flow from the earth, so his appearance would be the sa for that reason.
Or it could be the sa as the extre master regaining his youth.
‘In the end, whatever happened, he rolled around in another world and ca back here.’
He acted as if he knew everything from the first trial of the end.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of that reason.
The power that did not look like an ordinary person, or the cold attitude that was more creepy than that, was sothing he had honed for a long ti in another world.
It was literally a second life.
I looked at his personal information and lit up my eyes.
“He has a mother.”
“Yes. He has only one family mber.”
There was no information about his father.
That ant he lived in a single-parent family before the day of integration of thoughts.
I thought he was an android made of steel. Well, if he’s human, it’s natural to have parents.
“What is she doing?”
“She’s just doing kitchen work at a restaurant. And for 10 years, she traveled around looking for her son.”
“I see.”
“Ah, and… We contacted this mother while we were looking into this person nad Choi Do-yoon, and she said she wanted to see you if she had a chance.”
She did?
No wonder.
What mother would sit still if there was soone who knew about her missing son? Besides, looking at the traces of her efforts to find her son who had been vanishing for 10 years, it was clear that she loved her son terribly.
“How about it? Will you et her?”
“Right now?”
“No. She also has so work to do, so it seems like it will only be possible on weekends.”
“Hmm.”
I hesitated a little, but I didn’t feel the need to refuse.
I was curious too.
What kind of person is his mother?
I wanted to et her once.
More than that, the na mother resonated greatly in my heart.
‘Mother…’
I had a family too.
I had a father and a mother.
But after the end ca… I had nothing left.
‘But now they must be alive.’
Even though I knew that, I couldn’t go find them.
I was afraid.
‘If I’m here now, what happened to in the past?’
I didn’t just go back to the past.
I was reborn as Kang Yu-hyun, a teller.
That ans there might be Kang Yu-hyun who was still human in this era.
‘Really, if there is who was then in this place now, what am I?’
How should I accept this reality?
Can I call them my parents even if I see my mother and father?
What will they think when they see my appearance now that I have grown up?
Two beings with the sa na.
But one is a real human, but the other is not human even though it is the sa as the real one.
Wouldn’t my parents feel bad that tellers imitate human appearance? What if they call fake?
Can I face that reality?
Maybe that’s why.
Even though I beca a teller and started to settle down here, I didn’t go find them.
But when I faced the fact that I had been avoiding again, I felt that soday I would have to face it once.
‘I…’
I ran away like a coward.
Even though I decided not to.
‘It’s a funny story.’
I accepted myself.
And I decided to achieve what I wanted most.
The ones who showed the way were definitely my parents.
Especially my mother’s influence was great.
Even if they don’t accept as a family, they are still my parents.
I got up from my seat.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes. Thank you for your work today. Can I ask for your help if I have sothing to ask in the future?”
“If you wish, of course.”
Choi Jung-mo politely answered , saying that.
He had already spilled everything that happened then.
He was quite a big man.
He threw away his petty feelings from the past for what he could gain through exchanges with in the future.
I felt like I would see him often in the future.
“I’ll go ahead.”
I left the association with Choi Jung-mo’s farewell.
I thought I would walk a little, but there was one person who blocked in front of .
It was Kang Hye-rim, who had the sword I gave her in her arms.
“Miss Hye-rim. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, that… When you left, you looked unhappy. I was wondering if you were okay.”
“I did that. I’m sorry to have worried you.”
I didn’t know it then, but I inadvertently revealed my emotional turmoil.
I couldn’t help it. T
hat’s how big Choi Do-yoon’s presence was to .
“But I’m fine now. It wasn’t anything different from what I thought.”
“Oh. Really? You do look fine now. So are you going back to the office?”
“No. I have soone to et.”
“Soone to et?”
Kang Hye-rim looked curious and opened her eyes wide at the words that I had soone to et.
I stroked my chin and said.
“Hmm. Well, if you have nothing to do, Miss Hye-rim, would you like to go with ?”
“, ? Is that okay?”
“There’s no reason not to.”
“Hehe. Okay. Then let’s go together. So who are you going to et?”
“Who…”
I couldn’t say ‘parents’.
I’m a teller. I’m not human.
That is an unchanging truth.
So I couldn’t call them my parents.
They are human, and they have another child who is not .
So if they ask who they are…
“A benefactor… It is.”
Yeah. A benefactor.
That’s all I could call them.
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