I had expected him to follow me persistently up to the second floor, but he seems content to stay alone in the living room, intent on watching TV. Kwon Jae-jin glanced at Seo Ui-woo’s retreating figure with evident distaste before turning around to take the elevator.
The conclusion is, as expected, that of a guide.
As long as he is just a guide, that’s all that matters.
Seo Ui-woo does not expect anything more from Kwon Jae-jin. His intentions are so transparent that it feels almost foolish.
Even after getting off the elevator and arriving on the second floor, Kwon Jae-jin just stood in the hallway for a while. He half expected Seo Ui-woo to follow him, but Seo Ui-woo didn’t come after him in the end.
***
The vast universe appeared in a dream.
A transcendent stage including space and time, planets, stars, galaxies, all matter and energy. A primeval world with clearly divided shades of black and white.
Among them was Saturn, with its grand rings. Its 82 moons traced complex orbits, each moving uniquely around Saturn. As he observed them all by himself, someone who had been drawing beside him appeared.
It was Seo Ui-woo.
Seo Ui-woo, with his hair parted to the left, 24 years old, Seo Ui-woo, who once confessed to Kwon Jae-jin.
The grown figure, towering over 190cm, called out to Jae-jin with a friendly smile.
‘Jae-jin, were you here? I’ve been looking for you…’
As soon as he heard his voice, the expansive universe crumbled, leaving just the two of them.
The voice remained the same.
Intense and warm like the bright rays of the sun, a voice filled with emotion pouring out solely towards Kwon Jae-jin…
‘Why did you leave without saying goodbye? No matter how hurried you were, you should have at least said farewell. Right?’
That was 24-year-old Seo Ui-woo, the one Kwon Jae-jin knew, extending his hand. Jae-jin had to wonder whether it was fortunate to see him even in a dream, or if it was more hollow because it was just a dream. Kwon Jae-jin repressed the conflicting emotions and reached out for Seo Ui-woo’s hand.
No, he tried to reach out.
As Kwon Jae-jin touched it, Seo Ui-woo’s hand became transparent and vanished. Seo Ui-woo’s unique, gleaming gray eyes crinkled with a smiling glare.
‘Ah, look at this… You’re acting so urgently that I ended up like this.’
Because Kwon Jae-jin was impatient?
What does that mean?
Jae-jin looked at Seo Ui-woo with a hollow gaze. Seo Ui-woo entertainedly raised his vanished hand and slightly shook his head. Muttering as if it couldn’t be helped.
‘Why can’t you realize… Don’t you still know?’
‘I don’t know, what.’
Kwon Jae-jin dimly asked.
This time, without Jae-jin’s touch, Seo Ui-woo’s body began to disappear little by little. Becoming semi-transparent like a ghost, it gradually faded.
‘Kwon Jae-jin, you traded your own life to kill me.’
Not only Seo Ui-woo’s appearance, but also his voice faded. It sounded distant, as if submerged underwater.
‘You actively changed the future, didn’t you? You shook the 20-year-old Seo Ui-woo on your own.’
‘…’
‘A person destined to die was saved, but do you think everything else went unchanged? What about me? Do you think I remained the same as before?’
‘…’
‘With the future now twisted like this, do you think Seo Ui-woo will still come to like Kwon Jae-jin? Will he confess to Jae-jin? I’m not sure…’
‘Seo Ui-woo. Ui-woo.’
‘You killed me, Jae-jin. You ruthlessly trampled the budding sprout of feelings I had for Jae-jin. I can never appear before Kwon Jae-jin again.’
24-year-old Seo Ui-woo. Kwon Jae-jin’s partner, lover, precious… whatever that was…
‘Even so, I understand. Kwon Jae-jin’s life is more important than mine.’
Kwon Jae-jin’s past as well as his future faded away.
‘Take care.’
The brilliantly shining 24-year-old Seo Ui-woo vanished without a trace, completely obscured from sight. Tracing the vanished trace, Kwon Jae-jin looked around the empty universe time and again.
There was no Saturn, no moons, only an emptiness where Seo Ui-woo did not exist.
There was no Seo Ui-woo of Kwon Jae-jin’s.
Nothing but vastness.
***
A chilling breeze infiltrated through the sleeves. Jolted awake from a nightmare, Kwon Jae-jin pushed off the blanket, breathing raggedly.
“Huff…!”
Cold sweat ran down his spine.
Even his forehead was dotted with sweat, wetting his hair. Kwon Jae-jin curled up, shivering as he clenched his shoulders. Despite being in Seo Ui-woo’s meticulously designed residence, which left no room for cold air, his body felt unbearably cold and eerily chilled.
“Eugh, ugh…”
At the sound of Kwon Jae-jin’s muffled groan, Seo Ui-woo awoke. He, who already suffered from severe insomnia and hardly slept deeply, reacted instantly as though he had been awake.
“Jae-jin, Mr. Jae-jin! What is it, did you have a… a dream?”
Seo Ui-woo embraced Kwon Jae-jin and gently comforted his shoulder. Kwon Jae-jin clung to him, scrabbling at Seo Ui-woo’s arm.
“Don’t go, don’t leave…”
“It’s okay. It was just a dream. Look at me.”
“Seo Ui, Seo Ui-woo? No… No.”
“Yes. I’m here. It’s Ui-woo.”
Kwon Jae-jin lifted his blurred eyes to look at Seo Ui-woo. Meeting eyes with the youthful 20-year-old Seo Ui-woo, he unwittingly showed a broken gaze.
✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧ 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 ✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧
