Chapter 728 – Room 302, The Cursed Chamber – ‘Brave New World’ (6)
—
– Kim Sanghyun
About 30 minutes had passed since I pulled out the third photo of the alien planet.
“…”
No significant discoveries here.
The first photo brought back memories as soon as I pulled it out, and the second photo sparked some deep thinking before the memories returned.
But the third photo? Not so much.
It felt like recovering the last memory wouldn’t just happen by staring at the picture and pondering.
I needed to move.
Outside, I had to engage in some actions that could trigger my memories.
— Vroooom!
As I drove, I thought about how I would have acted if I faced a similar situation in the past.
I probably would’ve found the hidden notes in my house.
Knowing my memories were periodically wiped, I would’ve also discovered the camera and the photos inside it.
What’s next?
I wouldn’t have seen the wish-related memories like I do now.
It was clearly a supernatural phenomenon—a miracle created by the hotel.
But wouldn’t I have at least considered the strange location in the photo and the record on its back?
My forgotten past seems tied to the Bureau.
Maybe I was a former Bureau agent.
Having come this far in my thoughts, how would the old me act now?
“…”
There’s a Korean proverb: “You can know ten lengths of water, but not one length of a person’s heart.”
Understanding a person’s heart is as tough as it gets.
Reflecting on my “past self” isn’t any easier either.
I had already spent way too long in this hotel.
Sometimes, I felt more like a “hotel person” than Ari, who was born here.
So, reflecting on my past self was akin to pondering another person.
“… Let’s think this through step by step.”
Second-generation immigrant.
My mother was a kind person, but my father… let’s just say he wasn’t winning any awards for being nice.
In other words, I had an unfortunate upbringing.
This led to a strong desire for upward mobility.
As much as I hate to brag, special forces and astronauts need to excel both mentally and physically.
So, my intelligence and physical abilities were top-tier.
A person with remarkable talent.
I wasn’t the kind who would dedicate a lifetime to a single endeavor.
Once I achieved a goal, I was off searching for the next challenge rather than sticking to it.
You know that famous American businessman who was interested in electric cars one moment, proclaimed himself an expert in social media the next, and this morning said he was launching rockets to Mars, only to talk about AI semiconductors tomorrow?
That kind of person? Yeah, that was unusual, but looking back, I realized I had my similarities.
…
Suddenly, a realization hit me.
I wasn’t as calculated as I thought.
Let’s take an example.
If making money was my goal, there’d be no reason to keep switching careers.
Once I obtained my medical license, the logical thing would be to stop challenging myself and open a hospital.
Challenging myself in the high-risk Bureau projects might’ve been a prime example indeed.
I had to do what I felt like doing, no matter what it was.
To sum it up, I was great in both intelligence and physical skills.
A person always hunting for challenges instead of focusing on one thing.
I had a much stronger temperament towards glory, romance, and honor than mere money.
Impulsive rather than calculative; what I wanted to do had to be done right away.
Above all— a Texan who had lived there for a long time.
“… I’m really different from the current me.”
Person A, who was that type, garnered the realization B that:
My memories were manipulated by the Bureau.
I seemed to have been a Bureau agent or staff member in the past.
What’s A + B?
…
The answer came to me.
Ridiculously impulsive, blunt, and in some senses absurd actions lead to…
In Texas, they always say:
Everything is big in TEXAS!
In Texas, everything is big.
So if you’re a Texan, you should know how to be bold.
*
– Park Seungyub
The girl with brown hair, Yu Soyeon.
With her big round eyes, a fair neck, and doll-like features—
“Aren’t you staring a bit too obviously?”
“… Yeah, it’s because you’re saying such strange things!”
“Do you have to think while staring at my neck?”
Uh, unbelievably cute and pretty.
Naturally, my thoughts drifted to my hotel colleagues.
Comparing her to my sister Ari or Miro…
Honestly, they didn’t quite match up.
When I first saw Ari, it was like being struck by lightning; I was frozen in place.
“Are you thinking something weird?”
It took me quite a while to treat my sister normally.
Miro was much easier to adapt to.
Aside from being pretty, she shared a familiar look with Ari, and truthfully, she was quite silly.
I’d bet Miro would score a solid iron rank in League of Legends.
Not bronze, just right at iron.
— Thwack!
At that moment, an eraser flew and hit my head.
“Ow!”
I shot a look that said “What the heck?!” to see the girl smiling with just the corners of her mouth lifted.
Soyeon seemed like a mischievous girl.
“What were you thinking all by yourself? Remember what I said earlier?”
Of course, I remembered.
She suddenly suggested running away from class earlier, right?
Ha! Get a grip!
I’m Park Seungyub, the former student of the absolute champion, Lee Jasung.
There’s no way this girl would distract a mastermind like me.
What? Run out of class? Are you insane?
“No way.”
“Why not?”
“The duty of a student is to faithfully attend class! I must give my best in life—”
“When have you ever?”
In that moment, I was at a loss for words.
“When have you attended class, Seungyub? You come and sleep all the time! What were you doing last night? Supporting Yasuo while ignoring your team? Or just backdooring with Tryndamere—”
“Why do you know so much about League?”
“You’ve mentioned it a bunch of times. I don’t forget what you say.”
— Thump!
My heart raced uncontrollably.
W-what did she just say?
She doesn’t forget what I say?
Isn’t that practically a confession?
Did I actually have a girlfriend?
It seemed impossible, a miracle at best!
Simultaneously, a cold feeling crept through me.
Seungyub, you idiot!
Have you completely forgotten about Yumi?
A true love that devoted herself to me for ages!
Ugh…
Park Seungyub, you really are a sinful man.
“Hey, hey! Why are you getting lost in your own thoughts again?”
“My heart has room to spare—”
— Thwack!
Another eraser flew through the air.
“What? You’ve always been a bit foolish, but today you’re really dense.”
“…”
Soyeon probably meant it without much thought, but those words struck me hard.
The contrast between the old me and the new me.
Who exactly is “the new me”?
The direct disciple of the greatest champion, hearing the master’s last words.
The invincible champ who cut down the minions of the beloved mother dominating everything under the heavens.
A dark knight who made even the hotel party tense with a single word, having overcome countless apocalyptic crises.
In short, a hero who had triumphed over the hell that was the hotel.
As for my past self?
Truthfully, I wasn’t the diligent type sitting in class.
If the past Seungyub had received an offer from an irresistibly cute girl to run out of class, how would he have behaved?
“… Soyeon.”
“Are you finally getting your act together? I could sense it since earlier—”
“Let’s just go out.”
What to do?
Naturally, I’d ditch that boring class and take off!
*
During lunchtime, as everyone headed to the school cafeteria, Soyeon and I planned to sneak out among the students.
At this point, Soyeon began to showcase some bizarre skills.
“I’ll show you something fun.”
“Hmm?”
“You know the PE teacher patrols the back entrance, right?”
“Sure, to keep the kids from skipping out—”
“5.”
“Huh?”
“4. 3. 2.”
“Wha—”
“1! Run!”
Soyeon counted down while watching the timer on her phone and suddenly pulled me along to run.
Thinking about ???, I followed Soyeon’s lead.
At first glance, it seemed foolish and thoughtless, but it was precisely something I would’ve done in the past—
… Not that the past me was foolish and thoughtless.
Anyway, when we reached a tree near the back entrance, I felt something was off.
“Here, behind the tree!”
“The PE teacher isn’t here?”
“He’s in the teacher’s office right now. A piece of equipment broke yesterday, so he went to request a replacement.”
“… How do you know that?”
“Just wait and see. If we stay here for just 26 more seconds…”
— Creak!
About 20 seconds later, the security guard at the back entrance opened the heavy metal door and started to leave.
“He’s just going to the restroom. He’ll be back in about 6 minutes.”
“…”
“Let’s run. It’s super easy right now. Oh, you can jump over the fence, right?”
“… You can definitely do it while holding onto me.”
“Ha! So cocky!”
— Three minutes later, Soyeon and I successfully exited the school without any hindrance.
Just as I was about to follow the slightly excited Soyeon, I couldn’t resist grabbing her arm.
In my past life, I probably wouldn’t have been able to move a muscle in front of a girl like this, but I was too curious to hold back.
“What’s up?”
“Why are you acting so strange? Do you have some kind of super power?”
“Super power?”
“Can you see the future?”
“Future?”
“Do you have prophetic abilities?”
The ability to see the future.
A miraculous capability that many crave.
Surprisingly, there really are people who can see the future, and one of them was my co-worker.
Soyeon giggled.
“Seeing the future? Hmm, not quite. It might be more like the opposite.”
If it’s not foresight, then I thought of the second possibility.
“It could be regression, right? Do you see memories of lost timelines in illusions?”
Soyeon seemed surprised by my reaction, her eyes widening.
“Seungyub, you’re usually a bit slow, but right now, you’re thinking really fast.”
“…”
“Regression? Hmm… that could be it. Is it correct?”
There was no hesitation in hiding her ability.
If she wanted that, she wouldn’t have shown me her abilities at first.
On top of that, it seemed Soyeon wasn’t fully aware of what her ability was.
Furthermore, Soyeon’s ability was different from that of the regressors I knew.
Regressors remember the flow of past loops.
However, each time a new loop started, history would be rewritten.
Though the major themes remained similar, the Bureau often guided things similarly for control, individual events couldn’t occur at the exact second.
“No, that’s not it… A regressor wouldn’t know the events that will happen second by second.”
“Whoa! You seem to know a lot about this!”
As I pondered this, Soyeon smiled brightly at me.
“Hey, Seungyub.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re living in a really strange world, you know?”
“…”
“In 23 minutes, that idiot over there at the mart will get caught stealing snacks by the clerk. In 34 minutes, my teacher will call me to ask where I am. Tomorrow, at 12:40 PM, there will be news about oil discoveries in the East Sea.”
“…”
“And then a week later, it’ll all start over from the beginning.”
“Start over…?”
“On Sunday night, after a quick nap in bed, I’ll wake up to Monday in Jeonju. And then, the same thing will happen again.”
“…”
“Everything is predetermined. The same events happen at the designated time. Everyone is walking the set path from start to finish.”
I recalled what Kain had said after seeing my memories.
That this world felt like it moved conveniently.
“As far as I know, only two people are different.”
“Different? What do you mean?”
“… They do different things each time. Unpredictable actions.”
I had a hunch about who Soyeon was talking about.
“It’s you and me. We’re the only ones who act differently. But… you seem to not know that.”
Just as I was getting dizzy from the wave of incomprehensible information…
Suddenly, Soyeon smiled brightly again.
“I’ll show you something even stranger.”
The girl who seemed to be in love was smiling.
Her slightly parted lips, trembling hands, and flushed pink cheeks.
Whoa! I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
I have Yumi!
Is this cheating?
Ugh, but Yumi is dead!
Isn’t this a kind of bereavement situation?
Damn, Park Seungyub!
Yumi is dead, but she lives on in my heart—
“Don’t think foolish thoughts, just look around.”
At that moment, I realized the girl who seemed to be in love had a cold and hardened expression.
As if her previous appearance was a disguise to deceive the world.
“Slowly, don’t turn your head openly, just pretend you’re leaning in for a kiss and glance a little.”
“…”
Just as Soyeon approached me like a girl in love, as if about to kiss me—
The passersby slowed down like sloths.
The cars speeding by on the road moved as slowly as turtles.
The raindrops fell at an almost imperceptible slowness, and the birds remained in the air, gliding like gliders.
The entire world slowed down.
As if I had entered ‘slow motion.’
I realized I had truly been living in an unusual world.
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