Chapter 49
I found out about Choi Do-yoon’s whereabouts.
The moment I heard the news, my heart started to beat uncontrollably.
Finally, I found him!
‘I was curious about him for a long time.’
What was he doing all this time, 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 me from behind, but I couldn’t stop.
The situation was too important for me.
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 me 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 remembered everything that happened with him.
Whether good or bad, he had a huge impact on my life, and that was undeniable.
‘When I meet 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.
“Welcome. How can I help you?”
As soon as I arrived at the association and approached the desk, a receptionist asked me that.
As I was about to tell her why I came, someone else came out faster.
“Yu-hyun.”
It was Choi Jung-mo, the manager of this branch of the association.
I greeted him calmly.
“Long time 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 named Choi Do-yoon?”
“It’s nothing.”
It could be called a grudge if anything.
But Choi Do-yoon didn’t know me now.
He had nothing to do with me.
“I just heard some rumors about him. The person named 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 named 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 something happen?”
“Yes. To be honest… we searched for Choi Do-yoon’s whereabouts. And we did find out something about him.”
We did find out something. 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.
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I composed myself in an instant and asked carefully.
“Disappeared… does that mean he’s gone now?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Is there a possibility of mistaking him for someone else?”
“No. We compared his photo when he disappeared, and it was as you said. Look.”
Choi Jung-mo said that and handed me a few documents.
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 same as when I first saw him in the apocalypse.
His hairstyle and clothes were different, but his sharp eyes and appearance were the same.
There was no way I wouldn’t recognize him.
But how?
He disappeared 10 years ago, and 5 years later was the time 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 metaphorical expression, but a literal one.
We called it the day of material integration, and in the West, they called it phantasm shock.
The moment when the boundary between all illusions and truths collapsed, and what existed in stories became reality.
Many people disappeared from reality then.
“To be honest, I was surprised when I first found out. You suddenly asked me to find someone, 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 somewhere else in another dimension, not on earth.
Sometimes some of the Vanishings who had gone missing reappeared in reality.
But they all had different characteristics.
‘As if they became something other than human.’
There were a few cases that were publicly known.
Most of them were cases where only corpses came back.
But sometimes there were people who came back alive, but they were mostly monsters.
Their skin turned into wood, their flesh twisted, or they became madmen 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 named Choi Do-yoon, and he was quite strong. I asked because I thought he was from this side by his name.”
“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 came back at the same time as the end of the earth.’
That means he was a returnee who drifted into another world on the day of the integration of thoughts and came back 15 years later.
The other world would definitely have a different flow from the earth, so his appearance would be the same for that reason.
Or it could be the same as the extreme master regaining his youth.
‘In the end, whatever happened, he rolled around in another world and came 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 something he had honed for a long time 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 member.”
There was no information about his father.
That meant 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 named 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 someone 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 meet her?”
“Right now?”
“No. She also has some 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 meet her once.
More than that, the name mother resonated greatly in my heart.
‘Mother…’
I had a family too.
I had a father and a mother.
But after the end came… 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 me in the past?’
I didn’t just go back to the past.
I was reborn as Kang Yu-hyun, a teller.
That means there might be Kang Yu-hyun who was still human in this era.
‘Really, if there is me 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 same name.
But one is a real human, but the other is not human even though it is the same as the real one.
Wouldn’t my parents feel bad that tellers imitate human appearance? What if they call me fake?
Can I face that reality?
Maybe that’s why.
Even though I became 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 someday 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 me the way were definitely my parents.
Especially my mother’s influence was great.
Even if they don’t accept me 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 something to ask in the future?”
“If you wish, of course.”
Choi Jung-mo politely answered me, 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 me 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 me in front of me.
It was Kang Hye-rim, who had the sword I gave her in her arms.
“Miss Hye-rim. What are you doing here?”𝗻𝗼𝘷𝑒𝘭𝗯𝓲𝒏.𝓃𝑒𝒕
“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 me.
“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 someone to meet.”
“Someone to meet?”
Kang Hye-rim looked curious and opened her eyes wide at the words that I had someone to meet.
I stroked my chin and said.
“Hmm. Well, if you have nothing to do, Miss Hye-rim, would you like to go with me?”
“Me, me? Is that okay?”
“There’s no reason not to.”
“Hehe. Okay. Then let’s go together. So who are you going to meet?”
“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 me.
So if they ask me who they are…
“A benefactor… It is.”
Yeah. A benefactor.
That’s all I could call them.
