What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 822

Gemini (5)

“Why?”

“Ah, my phone is just too old…”

That must be it. Of course, that’s it. Yeah, after six years, it’s time to let it go.

I muttered, trying to ignore the frantic throbbing of anxiety in my chest.

In the corner of my mind, fear, like a fish dragged out of water, was gasping for breath and writhing wildly.

I barely managed to ignore that too and pressed the back button with my cold fingers.

After returning to the home screen and closing all the apps, I deleted all the accumulated cache [temporary data stored to speed up future access].

Then, I opened the gallery app again.

“……”

Thump.

It felt like someone had dipped my heart in ice water and pulled it out.

For a moment, the sensation of ether sparking almost made me spread my wings and shout in place.

The back of my neck prickled with goosebumps, and one ear felt numb and painful, like I was about to catch a cold.

I stared blankly at the two people’s eyes, which were still blurry, and hurriedly turned off the phone without even daring to touch the screen with my fingertip.

If it’s still like this even after turning it off and on…

“……Is it a screen problem?”

If that’s the case, I can replace the screen. Or really change the phone. It’s nothing serious.

The original photos will be fine. I already moved them to the cloud, so it’s okay.

In an instant, all sorts of thoughts swirled through my mind, going around and around.

As I quietly exhaled, I suddenly noticed a passenger diagonally across from me and jumped up in surprise.

“Please, take this seat.”

“Thank you……”

It was a pregnant woman who seemed to have given up on the already full pregnancy-reserved seats and was struggling to ride the crowded subway.

She put the luggage she was holding in both hands on the floor and thanked me again.

Today’s schedule was to go straight home after working outside, so the subway journey was long, but I was really glad to be able to give this seat to her, having luckily gotten it from Sadang [a busy subway station in Seoul].

Our eyes met briefly.

“……”

“……”

What should I say? She resembled someone I knew.

It would be rude to stare, so I just glanced at her and looked away, but she gave me a strangely familiar and friendly feeling.

But the thought didn’t go any further.

It was occasional to see familiar faces on the way to and from work, and I wasn’t outgoing enough to strike up a conversation with them first.

Moreover, there was something even more urgent right now.

“……”

I turned the phone back on and checked it, but Gain and Cedric’s eyes still didn’t reflect me.

It felt like a blade was stuck in my throat. I hurriedly shoved the phone into my pocket.

*

As I got off at the subway station near my house and was about to take the escalator, I ran into that woman again.

“Oh……”

To be exact, it wasn’t that we ran into each other, but I happened to see her in the station where people were scattering after passing through the ticket gate.

She got off here too. But…

“There’s no escalator on that exit……”

The person with a lot of luggage in both hands, and her body must be heavy because she’s pregnant, would she be okay going up the stairs?

Maybe she doesn’t know the way because this is her first time here. There’s an elevator on the other side.

After a moment of hesitation, I hurriedly chased after her.

The early April evening in Seoul was still windy, and the air was chilly.

I was driven by the desire to help her in any way I could.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, you’re the person from earlier……”

“You seem to have a lot of luggage. If you’re okay with it, I’ll carry it up for you.”

“……You even gave up your seat a little while ago…… Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing. Can you hold my phone for me instead?”

I answered with a bright smile, afraid she might be scared, and deliberately asked her to hold my phone.

She smiled somehow familiarly and bowed her head.

I held the black strawberry bag and the plump shopping basket in both hands and diligently climbed the stairs.

In the meantime, the woman seemed to be looking at my phone for a long time, wondering about it.

It’s been a long time since that friend came out, haha……

“Excuse me, do you live in Sincheon?”

Sincheon? Ah, this place used to be called Sincheon Station. I answered lightly to the light question.

“Yes, it’s near the subway station.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried that you might have come out to a far place because of me……”

“Hahaha. It’s okay. It’s good to exercise.”

As we walked and chatted, the stairs ended quickly.

I returned the luggage to her and received the phone.

She thanked me so many times for something that wasn’t a big deal, and I felt embarrassed for no reason.

“Thank you. I’ve been having a hard time these past few days…… Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing. Please go home safely.”

“Yes, goodbye. May only good things happen to you.”

The woman smiled brightly, said goodbye, and walked away.

The scent of ripe strawberries seemed to linger at the tip of my nose for a long time.

I smiled and bowed several times before crossing the crosswalk.

And it was only when I arrived home that I realized that my phone was completely dead.

*

It was past midnight, but we couldn’t sleep.

“……You couldn’t see their eyes? The two people’s eyes?”

To be exact, only Jung Eun-seo was still sleeping soundly, and Jung Hyun-seo, John Kyung, and I were awake.

My brother, sitting in front of the work desktop, looked up at me with a serious expression.

I was already massaging the dead phone with the momentum to resuscitate it and nodded my head.

I decided to visit the service center during lunch break tomorrow as a matter of urgency, but the ominous feeling was spreading like an uncontrollable fire.

“I thought it was a screen problem, but I checked the cloud with my laptop earlier, and it’s not. It’s just that the photo itself……”

“……”

“It’s certain that the friends in the photo are being erased, hyung [Korean term for older brother]. I don’t know why.”

My voice was trembling shallowly with fear and tension.

I was trying my best not to interpret the situation in a bad way.

Jung Hyun-seo, swallowing a sigh, looked quite tired.

No wonder, he had taken a break for two days last week because of me – the PD [Production Director] seriously recommended publishing five days a week – he had gone to see his mother on the weekend, and there was even a guest from another world that no one had expected at home, so there were many things to pay attention to.

In addition, our brothers were still trembling, wondering if the CIA or the National Intelligence Service would contact us because of what happened at the Jamsil Station intersection.

I suddenly apologized.

“……I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I feel like I’m making you suffer because you’re already busy.”

“What suffering. Who suffered, the guy who crossed dimensions and died once, or the guy who sat at home and tapped on the keyboard?”

“……”

“I’m also responsible for that world. So you don’t have to be sorry. Do you know what I mean, or not?”

“……I know.”

“Okay.”

“……”

We were silent for a while.

John Kyung, checking Jung Hyun-seo’s empty glass, got up to get some tea.

My brother said, ‘Please make it coffee,’ through the closing door, but there was no answer.

I was about to tell him one hypothesis while the Cardinal was leaving the room, but I closed my mouth.

“……Maybe the connection with that side is slowly being cut off.”

Crazy, my brother said it first!

“Shh!”

“Why?”

“John Kyung might hear it. He left his beloved family behind, how much……!”

“He’s probably expecting it to some extent.”

“……”

“John Haines is quiet because he doesn’t know, not because he doesn’t know.”

I stared at Jung Hyun-seo with a blank face.

The light under his rimless glasses was still heavy.

……Yeah, my brother can’t be comfortable either.

“……If all our guesses are correct, that place is the world line where your wish and the Lord’s wish have all been fulfilled. Isn’t it?”

“……”

“Prince Yeseo Fenetian, who died, was resurrected, and he took one of your vessels, so the world won’t collapse. And if that’s all true……”

Jung Hyun-seo, who licked the inside of his cheek, frowned for a moment. ‘Ah, this isn’t it.’

“Why? What’s not? Tell me.”

“I think I went too far. Let’s put this on hold for now.”

“Jung Hyun-seo, I’m not in my right mind right now because my phone is dead and my friends’ photos are weird, so tell me quickly.”

I grabbed my brother’s shoulder and warned him.

Then he took off his glasses and let out a deep sigh.

My insides were burning as I watched him hold his nose and massage it silently.

Soon, a low voice came out.

“……If that world no longer needs you.”

“……”

……What?

“What if it’s a perfect world line even without you, as it is.”

“……What, what are you talking about?”

I spat out a sentence that mixed up language and breathing.

I couldn’t understand what my brother was saying at all.

“What are you talking about? Perfect or whatever, what kind of standard is that in a world where people live? My friends are probably looking for me right now. There are even young children among them.”

“It’s just an assumption, an assumption.”

“……Even if it’s just an assumption, it’s a very strange story. My friends will try to find me, and I can’t give up on my friends either. No, at least John Kyung has to be sent back. Otherwise……”

“Jung Yeseo. When the old woman who keeps the plausibility stabbed your heart with a sickle.”

“……”

My brother’s sentence pressed down on me as I got excited and spoke faster.

“From then on, that place stopped relying on you. You know that too.”

“What do you mean by not relying on me……”

“You could see it as liberation. Mutual liberation. The world line doesn’t rely on you, and you don’t have to support the world line anymore.”

“……”

“You’re free from each other.”

I stood there for a moment, speechless.

My brother was looking at me with a thoughtful expression.

……So, is that why I can’t find my friends’ files anywhere anymore?

So, are their photos gradually blurring and disappearing?

As my thoughts moved forward, the fingertips holding the phone gradually turned white.

Beyond the closed door, the sound of water boiling in the electric pot could be heard. Bubbling…… Click!

“Being free from each other……”

“Ordinary people call that ‘ending’.”

“……”

My brother said in a calm voice.

I realized that he was deliberately hiding all his emotions so as not to hurt me.

Knowing that someone had to tell me that possibility.

Knowing that he, not anyone else, was taking the lead was the least painful way for me.

Because this is not a novel. Because happy endings like those in paintings are very rare in reality.

“……”

“……”

-Knock knock

I flinched. I barely managed to recover my body, which felt like it was melting away.

I didn’t even know what my expression was like, but John Kyung, who opened the door and came in, was smiling kindly as usual.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have heard our conversation.

“It’s milk with honey. I foamed it and sprinkled a little cinnamon powder and vanilla extract. It will help you sleep.”

“……Thank you.”

“……I’ll enjoy it.”

My brother and I obediently took the mugs and put them to our lips.

However, no taste was felt under the tongue. Not even the warmth as common as a line of text.

*

The next morning, I was busy getting ready for work.

“Ah, I’ve been having such disturbing dreams lately.”

“Why, again?”

Today was the day of an important meeting attended by the vice president and directors, so I had to wear a suit.

While Jung Hyun-seo and Jung Eun-seo were chatting in the kitchen, I was busy tying the tie my brother had lent me.

I could tie it at the company, but it was easier to tie it while looking in the mirror, so I felt more comfortable doing it from home.

If I did it there, I wouldn’t be able to tie it neatly because I would be in a hurry.

“……This, like this…… Wait a minute, was it the opposite?”

I could quickly do it by looking up a video on my phone, but it wasn’t easy to tie a tie alone after a long time, leaving the guy with his eyes closed black.

Around that time, John Kyung came and helped me.

“Oh? John Kyung, do you know how to tie a tie?”

“I think I roughly know what kind of knot you want.”

He smiled with eyes like the first snow and moved his hands.

I smiled awkwardly and entrusted the tie to his hands.

These days, it wasn’t easy to manage my expression in front of John Kyung.

It was just then.

“No, in my dream…… Our prince keeps appearing. I’m just trying to live my life.”