He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 201

< The World I Returned To 2 >

With a swish, the nurse who entered the room turned on the bright lights and drew back the curtains.

“Mr. Hyun Tae-oh, I’ll check your blood pressure.”

The nurse skillfully wrapped the blood pressure cuff around Tae-oh’s dazed arm and started the machine.

Beep- Beep-

After several repetitions of contraction and relaxation, the blood pressure reading appeared on the monitor.

“Oh my, why is it so high?”

The surprised nurse readjusted the cuff and pressed the button again. But the result was similar.

“That’s strange. I think I need to check it again later. Your blood pressure is too high right now. Did you eat or move around, or anything special? Do you feel anything else unusual in your body?”

The nurse, noticing Tae-oh’s blank expression, asked again.

“Mr. Hyun Tae-oh? Are you alright? You don’t look so good.”

“…Yes, I’m fine. I just feel a little short of breath.”

“Okay. Your blood pressure is much higher than before. Then, lie down and relax. I’ll check it again in an hour.”

“Yes.”

After the nurse left, Tae-oh picked up his smartphone again.

Tap, tap-

This time, he typed ‘England and Joseon’ into the search bar.

Soon, the screen was filled with information.

Tae-oh clicked on a striking title.

It was a newspaper article from several years ago.

【In Commemoration of the 220th Anniversary of Korean-British Diplomatic Ties, Special Exploration of Figures – ① Horace Wilden】

[······Those in charge of the practical affairs of establishing diplomatic ties with Joseon [historical Korean kingdom] at the time were graduates of the British Theo School, centered around Horace Wilden.

They actively learned the Korean language and culture, and at the same time, they were key contributors to helping Joseon accept Western civilization without resistance.

It is known that their entry into Joseon was decisively influenced by Duke Theo Sanderson, the founder of Theo School (now British Theo University), who had a high interest in Joseon.]

[······However, the reason why Duke Sanderson, who had no special connection with Joseon, was interested in Joseon among many Asian countries remains unclear.

The most plausible theory is that Duke Sanderson, facing political pressure due to problems with tea trade with Qing China [historical Chinese dynasty] caused by the excessive success of coffee trade, chose Joseon in search of a tea-producing country to overcome this.

However, it is questionable how Duke Sanderson knew that Joseon produced tea that could replace Qing China. Some scholars cite Duke Sanderson’s connection with Joseon, which he became aware of while trading in his youth, but there is no clear evidence to support this, so it is only speculation.]

[······Thanks to the efforts of Horace Wilden, a graduate of Theo School, trade in tea, porcelain, etc., with England was actively carried out, which led to the economic revival of Joseon, and England was also able to establish a foothold for developing new markets in East Asia.

However, the wings of the Joseon’s Muo Reform [a series of reforms in Joseon] were soon broken. Three years after the Muo Reform, British East Asia trade policy shifted rapidly to Qing China and Japan.

This was the result of opposition from British parliamentarians to the increasing proportion of trade with Joseon, and behind that was the sudden death of Duke Theo Sanderson, who had emphasized cooperation with Joseon. In the end, his absence led to a loss of momentum in cooperation with Joseon.]

[Thus, Joseon’s ‘Muo Reform’ achieved only a brief success, and as a result, it remained a far smaller breeze compared to Japan’s Meiji Restoration [a period of modernization in Japan] that followed.

Professor Han Min-woo of Myungsung University, a historian, emphasized that if Duke Theo Sanderson had not died and had strengthened exchanges with Joseon to properly complete the ‘Muo Reform,’ Korea’s economy and national power would have been clearly different from what they are now.

In other words, if the Muo Reform had been successful, Japan’s Meiji Restoration would not have been able to exert great power, and the transition to Japanese imperialism could have been prevented, he diagnosed.

Accordingly, Professor Han cited the death of Duke Theo Sanderson as one of the most regrettable parts of our history, saying that the tragic history of Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War would have been different.]

‘Horace··· Wilden···.’

Horace was the young student from Theo School who confidently approached and thanked him, presenting flowers at the wedding with Princess Maria.

And he was also the best student in the Joseon Trade Department.

He learned Korean faster than anyone else and showed the best grades while learning the culture.

Every time he took a class from Tae-oh, he expressed a strong curiosity, saying that he wanted to go to the Kingdom of Joseon as soon as possible.

‘Even in my absence, Horace worked hard in his own way… If I had been alive, I would have given him more support…’

His heart was filled with regret and an inexplicable resentment.

* * *

As there were no abnormalities in various detailed examinations, Tae-oh began rehabilitation training in earnest.

Fortunately, there were no particular problems with his muscles or nerves, and his body recovered quickly.

During the rehabilitation process, he deliberately stayed away from smartphones and the internet and devoted himself only to reading and exercise.

Tae-oh, who knew that mental stress had a negative impact on rehabilitation treatment, tried his best not to think about the 18th century.

And after much effort, he was able to be discharged from the hospital in fifteen days.

◈ Fifteen days later, at the main gate of Jeil University Hospital.

As he left the hospital in his younger sibling’s car and looked around, something felt different from his previous memories.

It wasn’t just history that had changed.

The moment he left the hospital surrounded by quiet mountains, the world looked slightly different from what Tae-oh knew.

Tae-oh asked his sibling in a bewildered voice.

“Tae-joon? The street… has it changed?”

“Changed how?”

“Was that building always there?”

Tae-oh asked, pointing to a tall building across the street. It was definitely a building that Tae-oh didn’t remember.

“It’s always been there? Is it unfamiliar because this is your first time being hospitalized here?”

“······.”

And another thing that had changed was the people.

He felt it while greeting the people who came to visit him in the hospital, but some of the people who approached Tae-oh with a smile were unfamiliar faces, as if he was seeing them for the first time.

It wasn’t just that they felt unfamiliar because 20 years had passed. They were people Tae-oh was really seeing for the first time.

Fortunately, they knew about the accident, so they weren’t disappointed or upset that Tae-oh didn’t recognize them.

Rather, they felt sorry for Tae-oh, who had memory problems, and comforted him.

‘When I went into the 18th century, I quickly became familiar with the faces and places of the people around me, and I remembered everything. But in the world I’ve returned to, there are some people I don’t know and places I’m seeing for the first time… Why is this happening?’

If the 18th century was Tae-oh’s past life, so he remembered everything, then what exactly is this world now?

The world he returned to was not the world Tae-oh lived in. He felt like a complete stranger in another world.

Tae-oh had to experience great confusion and anguish in the new 21st century, which was different from the memories of the 21st century before the change.

Everything felt unfamiliar and unappealing. If he could, he wanted to return to 18th century London.

◈ Taewon Marriage Information Company

A few days after being discharged from the hospital.

Tae-oh was greeted warmly by his uncle when he came to work.

“You’re such a workaholic! You came to work just a few days after being discharged.”

The location and name of the marriage information company were the same, but it was slightly different from what Tae-oh used to know.

“Uncle… am I an executive director?”

“Haha- of course, you’re an executive director. Did you think you were the president?”

As he walked, receiving greetings from employees here and there, he saw people he didn’t remember in between. Judging from their expressions, they seemed to know him well, but he couldn’t remember them at all.

But Tae-oh’s steps, heading to the executive director’s office, stopped abruptly when he saw a painting hanging in the hallway.

‘······!’

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you going in?”

“…Uncle? That painting… how long has that painting been hanging there?”

Following Tae-oh’s gaze, his uncle said in an absurd tone.

“That? Are you kidding me? ‘Portrait of a Miner’ was your favorite painting, wasn’t it?”

“I liked that painting? Is that a famous painting?”

“Huh- hey? Is there something seriously wrong with your head? Do you remember the Mona Lisa?”

“Who doesn’t know the Mona Lisa?”

“Man! That painting is as famous as the Mona Lisa, you brat! Don’t tell me you don’t know who painted it?”

Tae-oh carefully opened his mouth with a bewildered expression.

“Char…lie… Charlie Bailey?”

“Yes. You remember that well. Charlie Bailey is famous for painting his father’s portrait.”

“!”

*

Tae-oh, who came into the executive director’s office and sat down, quickly searched for Charlie Bailey.

【Charlie Bailey】

[A genius painter born in England, called the father of realism and impressionism. In the early days, he did not receive much attention because he deviated greatly from the mainstream painting style at the time, but his painting ‘Wedding,’ which depicted the wedding scene of Duke Theo Sanderson, gained great attention, and he became known from then on.

After the release of ‘Wedding,’ Charlie Bailey poured out outstanding works one after another, becoming a master shoulder to shoulder with Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael······]

‘Ah, so he became such a great painter. He finally completed my wedding painting too…’

Tae-oh’s nose tingled as he looked down at the wedding hall painting drawn by Charlie on his smartphone screen.

◈ A few days later. Taewon Marriage Information Company, VIP Counseling Room.

“You’re amazing. You even got a doctorate at a young age. It’s especially difficult to get a doctorate in Germany.”

“Not at all.”

The man receiving marriage counseling from Tae-oh was a young scientist with a doctorate in physics from Germany and a lecturer at Myungsung University.

It had been a long time since Tae-oh had done direct matching, but he had occasionally done matching work in special cases at his uncle’s request.

After entering the data based on the investigated tendencies, Tae-oh had tea and talked with him about various things.

Perhaps because they had the commonality of studying abroad, they communicated well with each other.

Then, it suddenly occurred to him that if he was a physicist, he might be able to get some help in understanding his current situation.

“Dr. Choi Min-hyuk?”

“Yes.”

“Um… I have a question that has nothing to do with marriage counseling.”

“Yes?”

“I’m asking because you’re a doctor of physics. I’m curious about what you think about dimensions or time travel from a scientist’s point of view.”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

“Um… Suppose someone went back to the past and did something that could change the world, and then came back to the present, but the current world has changed a lot due to what they did in the past. Is such a complicated thing theoretically possible?”

Dr. Choi Min-hyuk smiled at Tae-oh’s question.

“I guess you were curious after watching a science fiction movie. When the Avengers went back to the past, a new timeline was created, creating a new universe… Parallel universes like this are a common theme in movies and novels.

Anyway, if only one universe exists, such a thing can never happen. But as opinions that there may be several identical universes, not just one, are emerging one after another, hypotheses that such things are possible have arisen.

It is also an interesting story because you can solve unsolved events and live a completely different life in another identical universe with the same dimension and time.”

“Yes.”

“But in fact, from a physicist’s point of view, such parallel universes are largely literary imaginations. Of course, there are some scholars who see parallel universes as having a basis these days, but in my opinion, the many-worlds interpretation would be the closest.”

“Many-worlds interpretation?”

“Yes. It is one of the hypotheses to solve various paradoxical situations that arise in quantum mechanics.”

Dr. Choi Min-hyuk explained the many-worlds interpretation in an easy-to-understand manner for a long time.

“…According to this many-worlds interpretation, the moment we measure the state of an electron, the universe splits into two: a universe where the electron passed to the right and a universe where it passed to the left.

In the end, if you expand this, it is like the same world is divided into two paths.

And this is constantly separated and the world is created and generated again due to ‘superposition’ and ‘decoherence.’

If this is correct, even if the same person does the same thing, completely different results can unfold in different worlds. For example, if you go to one world, your business fails and you live in poverty, but if you go to another world, your business is very successful and you live as a rich man.

But well… going back to the past to make changes and then coming back to the present to see the results of the changes you made? Haha- Frankly, isn’t that too much of a setting even as a movie? The present you return to after going to the past can never be the present you knew.”

“In other words, no one can predict how such temporal distortions will occur, right? In forms that we can’t even imagine.”

“Well, that’s how it should be seen. Everything is just human theory and hypothesis. There is a clear limit to revealing such things with scientific technology that can’t even go to Mars properly yet.”

Tae-oh, who had been lost in thought for a while, asked with a serious expression.

“Then, what if… as I said earlier, if a person who went back to the past came back to the present, could that person go back to the past they first went to?”

“Yes? Haha- you’re too serious. Such a thing may only exist in imagination, but if such a thing really happened, hmm… maybe it’s only possible if there is some error in the system of the material world created by God.”

“A system error?”

“Yes. Anyway, this universe is a world where unknown mathematical operations are intricately and precisely intertwined beyond our imagination.

Even though it seems like modern people can perfectly control computers, unexpected malfunctions can occur one day for unknown reasons, causing various absurd problems, right?

Like that, if a human goes back to the past, changes the future, and returns to the present, it can only be seen as an error in the system of the universe due to God’s mistake.

And that person can use that error to return to the past from the present. In other words, it could be a kind of parallel world experience.

Of course, well… such a phenomenon is theoretically impossible and is just imagination.”

*

On the way home.

Tae-oh pondered over his conversation with Dr. Choi Min-hyuk.

‘In the end, did this absurd thing happen because of a system malfunction? Then, it may be meaningless to worry about why I went to the 18th century and came back to the changed 21st century.

Then when and how does that error occur? And if I find that error, can I go back to the 18th century?’

Thinking about it, it seemed like he had been transferred to a completely different dimension of the world at a major crossroads of life and death from a heart attack or at sea.

‘······Death? No. I wasn’t dead.’

Tae-oh shook his head.

‘Then… maybe, coma? Did the error occur in the coma and connect to another dimension?’

Although there is not much actual research, mysterious things that cannot be scientifically explained are often reported in a state of deep unconsciousness.

But he couldn’t make any hasty conclusions. Dr. Choi Min-hyuk’s story is also just a human-level guess.

Moreover, even if ‘coma’ was really the answer, it was impossible to artificially enter that state.

‘Ah… it’s so frustrating…’

Tae-oh loosened his tie.

When he first fell into the 18th century, he desperately wanted to return to the 21st century for a while.

But now it was the opposite.

He desperately wanted to return to 18th century London as soon as he opened his eyes.