“Before she died, my aunt had no children. It’s not that she didn’t have any because she never married. I heard it was an inheritance. After that, she never divorced or remarried.”
What does that even mean?
In any case, a single life is just a fleeting moment.
Sadness is ephemeral.
However, the nameless one wanted to poke at Jae-ha a bit more.
“So?”
“Y…!”
The reaction was clear.
Had he forgotten the memory of being grabbed by the throat?
He must know that he is someone who could choke me if things went wrong.
“So, know this. Understand how significant the position you occupy is. How valuable it is!!”
The nameless one’s eyes narrowed.
Significant and valuable position, huh…
“That might be true for you.”
At least not for him.
Jae-ha glared sharply at the nameless one and suddenly burst into laughter.
It was a clear sneer.
“It wasn’t even worth telling you. Fine. Just don’t regret it later.”
‘What nonsense.’
“Look at that.”
The nameless one pointed to a message window floating in the air.
Before he could respond, the content of the message window had not changed.
[Judging authenticity…….]
It was a message window that hadn’t appeared earlier.
‘Seems like you’re thinking for quite a while.’
The nameless one swallowed a laugh at the actions of the god that governed him.
And at that moment, “…Gah!”
The nameless one’s left hand was severed.
Kim Jae-ha, who was watching, was horrified.
[The judge has deemed the response as ‘true.’ A penalty will be imposed as it is not the truth.]
“What the hell, what is this!”
The nameless one was unfazed, but Jae-ha was in a frenzy.
He grabbed his phone and moved somewhere while making a call.
Based on the information he had gathered beforehand, it seemed he was trying to call 119.
What he was looking for while moving was unclear.
Instead of asking that, the nameless one grabbed Jae-ha’s arm.
Then he snatched the phone away and ended the call.
As expected, the screen displayed the number 119.
“What, what is this? We need to treat it!”
‘Is he an idiot?’
He couldn’t understand why he was acting like that towards someone he disliked.
The nameless one took out a healing potion from his inventory and magically lifted his severed hand from the ground, aligning the cut edges.
When he poured the potion over it, it returned to its original state as if it were a lie.
Even the scar from the cut was gone.
After moving his wrist to check if the sensation had fully returned, the nameless one looked at Jae-ha, who still had a dazed expression.
“Could it be that…”
“Let’s do the last question.”
He magically erased the blood spilled on the floor.
Jae-ha stared at the scene, shook his head a couple of times, and returned to his original self.
His face was dry, devoid of any emotion.
“The last question is… is there anyone else who remembers the time before I died?”
Unlike the previous two questions, there was a slight pause before the message window appeared.
The nameless one’s eyes narrowed as he noticed it.
[This is a question that can be answered. The respondent must respond within 2 minutes.]
With the command brought by the message, the nameless one immediately provided an answer.
“No.”
In the case of a resurrected person who chose to return as a special privilege, it is established that only the resurrected person remembers the timeline before their return.
That was one of the basic principles of the resurrection project.
But what was that subtle pause earlier?
[The judge has recognized the response as ‘truth.’]
However, that question was somewhat quelled by the message window that appeared immediately after the man’s answer ended.
It felt a bit unsettling, but it was clear that asking would only yield ambiguous answers from the god.
[Ending the ‘Truth’s Mouth Q&A.’]
“Phew…”
Jae-ha let out a long sigh.
Perhaps feeling complicated emotions, he rubbed the back of his neck and stared silently at the nameless one for a while.
“It seems like we’re done here.”
“Let’s leave now, cousin.”
After a prolonged silence, Jae-ha finally spat out the words “cousin” as if he had to chew on them, and the nameless one couldn’t help but smile.
***
Suddenly, the man who had become my family, the nameless one, was bothering me a lot, but I was too preoccupied with my own issues.
A variety of outfits, a light commotion.
“Hey, you’re alive? But why didn’t you contact me during the break!”
“Damn, I totally messed up my course registration. Do you have any plans to sell that class?”
I was now back at the school I graduated from a few years ago, as a returning student.
“Phew…”
As the famously wide campus scenery came into view, I felt my head momentarily malfunction.
Since it was the start of March, there were quite a few people strolling around campus, including many who looked like freshmen.
I adjusted my well-worn cap and continued walking.
‘Art Building Room 604. Art Building Room 604.’
Muttering my destination like a mantra, I fumbled through the campus map to find the Art Building.
As I walked, memories began to resurface.
Thanks to that, I was able to arrive at the classroom five minutes before class started.
When I opened the closed door and stepped inside, the previously boisterous classroom had settled into a subtle calm.
“Hey, Dalkong is here.”
Dalkong.
It was the nickname I was called in the drama where I first appeared as a child actor.
Thanks to the drama’s success, I had become the nation’s Dalkong for a time.
Now it has turned into a derogatory term.
“Looks like you’re back from your break? When did you go to the military?”
“Senior classmates said that during practical classes, you can’t even act properly.”
“Those parachute kids who got in through special privileges are all like that.”
“Isn’t it a bit excessive to get a free pass to college just because you were a child actor? That’s why people talk about special privileges. Look at Seo Eun-jae. He got recognized for his career and passed the practical exam to get in.”
“Oh, didn’t he briefly do idol activities? I think it was in a project group or something. Wait, was he a member of Pantheon and a specialist member? Anyway, he was in that group.”
“Really? But they’re all kids who debuted. In the end, he didn’t debut officially, right? And now he’s back to trying to act again, which is really a bit much.”
I couldn’t tell if I was actually hearing those words or if they were just hallucinations created by my mind.
I bit down on the soft flesh inside my mouth to gather my thoughts.
90 percent of what they were saying was true, but there was one thing that was wrong.
I didn’t get accepted into this school’s theater and film department through a special admission without taking the practical exam.
I took the college entrance exam and the practical exam.
But if you ask me if I did well on the practical exam, my answer would be closer to ‘no,’ so I couldn’t deny that the claims of special privileges were true.
When I enrolled, there was a lot of buzz about celebrity special admissions.
Amidst that, an article came out with false information claiming I got accepted without taking the practical exam, and even after clarifying, it obviously didn’t take hold.
I had moved to a new agency with the promise that they would guarantee both idol and acting activities…
Of course, they wouldn’t know that.
Still, I believed they would think differently within the department.
It was the theater and film department, not another department, and there would be cases like mine where people filled their portfolios with experience without any remarkable career.
However, on the first day of the practical class, the gazes directed at me were no different from the looks I had received on set.
That day, I messed up the practical class and became a public enemy within the department.
And I, having returned to the age of thirty, was now.
‘Damn it.’
Just like the twenty-five-year-old me before my return, I sat in the empty seat at the very back of the classroom, burying my head.
I hid my trembling hands under the desk.
I pressed my palms tightly with my nails, trying to gather my thoughts through the faint pain.
‘It’s gotten worse.’
Panic disorder.
Agoraphobia.
Fear of being watched.
Those were the words the doctor had thrown around at the hospital I was dragged to by my manager before I died.
The final diagnosis was panic disorder.
I took medication, but nothing improved.
At that time, my agency wanted to disclose that fact to the public, but I desperately refused.
I worried that rumors might spread, but perhaps out of pity for me, everyone kept quiet, so that never happened.
Of course, it was probably because I was not valuable enough to even become an issue due to my panic disorder.
When it was at its worst, just being on set was difficult.
Still, after much effort, I was able to act in front of the camera.
Off events were impossible, though.
‘That’s why there was so much controversy during <The Bachelor’s Club>.’
But it felt like all that effort had gone to waste.
It must be because of the damn school violence controversy.
Now that it had become a thing of the past, I couldn’t even take revenge on whoever started it.
I could only rot inside.
There’s no point in dwelling on it for too long.
That was a fact I realized during those dark times.
Even if it’s unfair and hard, if it’s something I can’t do anything about, it’s better to shake it off quickly than to hold onto it.
That way, I can do other things.
If those times were a gift to me, then so be it.
Anyway, as I remained silent without any reaction, those who had lost interest quickly turned their attention elsewhere.
The professor would grab some attention during attendance, but I just had to get through that.
That’s what I thought.
“Hey, can I sit next to you?”
Until this guy showed up.
***
“Mi, mi, mi, crazy! It’s Seo Eun-jae!”
” Eun-jae, I’m sorry, but could you take a picture with me?”
“Eun-jae! I’m a fan of yours, could you please give me an autograph? I’m a real fan!”
When that guy appeared, it was just a taste of what was to come.
The professor entered, and perhaps realised that class was about to start.
The people who had been fidgeting suddenly rushed in like a herd of buffalo once class ended.
Now, Seo Eun-jae would be struggling to deal with the people rushing at him.
And I could quietly pack my things and slip out of the classroom in the meantime.
As I recalled the familiar scene and packed my belongings.
“I’m sorry. I have a prior engagement with my brother, so I’ll be leaving first.”
The tone was surprisingly firm.
Plus, he referred to me as “my brother.”
‘Could he be talking about me?’
I was so flustered that I forgot to leave the classroom.
Unintentionally, I found myself looking at Seo Eun-jae, and I felt the gazes of the people who had been oblivious to me shift towards me.
At that moment, my neck felt cold as he stood up and subtly shielded me from the crowd.
“Brother, shall we go?”
‘What is this?’
This guy was acting as if he knew my symptoms.
…No, that can’t be.
At this age, Seo Eun-jae wasn’t that perceptive.
It’s not that it’s a bad thing.
He simply didn’t need to be because he was always in an environment where he was loved and respected.
When he was a younger trainee, he was even more oblivious and didn’t realize I disliked him.
‘Oh, right.’
I had almost forgotten.
There was indeed a moment like this today before I died.
After class started, Seo Eun-jae appeared, acted like he knew me, sat next to me, and after class ended, he insisted on telling me one piece of news.
It was about <Casting with My Own Hands!>.
‘It was because of him that I found out about << My Hand’s Casting>.’
He was going to participate too, and he told me to come out if I had any thoughts.
Hearing that back then made me extremely angry.
It was an emotion that was far too intense, heavy, and sticky to simply call anger.
Anyway, when I came to my senses, I found myself being pulled by Seo Eun-jae and getting into his van.
The Art Building is close to the parking lot, but how did we get here so quickly?Â
That was fast.
“It would have been nice to talk at a café or something, but it’s a shame.”
Seo Eun-jae’s softly murmured voice snapped me out of my daze.
When I glanced up, I met his gaze, which had shifted from a serious expression to a full smile.
“How have you been, brother?”
Alright, so he’s one of the people who remembers the previous timeline then…?