Chapter 76

“Aah?”

Tilting her head slightly to the side, she let out a sound as if she was shyly urging me. It had quite the destructive power, so I ate the pork cutlet to make her feel less embarrassed.

“Hehehe.”

Baekseolhyang then laughed, covering her mouth as if something was incredibly funny.

After finishing the meal, Seolhyang and I started walking back to the university. Although lunch had just passed, it was still summer, so the sun was scorching. We walked through the shade to avoid the heat.

Even as we attended various lectures, I couldn’t really focus. It was because Seolhyang had asked me to hold her hand, and our hands were still intertwined.

It felt different from when Yoon Ji-eun playfully held my hand or wrapped her arm around mine. Was this the difference between an adult and a minor?

“How was your first day at university?”

Before I knew it, the sun was setting, and it was almost 6 PM. Even though it was summer and the days were long, time seemed to fly by.

“It was fun. Maybe because I was with you, Ha-chan.”

Hearing my question, Seolhyang smiled and squeezed my hand a little tighter.

“How was it when you were in university?”

When I was in university… I briefly recalled my time back then.

“I think I lived a much harder life back then compared to now.”

Even though I’ve been busy lately with Baeksan’s training and company work, back then, I had even less free time. To maintain relationships, you need to go out for drinks with friends, visit PC rooms, and do various things. But back then, I was so busy just trying to survive each day that I couldn’t build any relationships.

‘That’s why I naturally drifted apart from everyone.’

People naturally come and go. Even those who were kind to me at first would distance themselves once they realized I couldn’t even meet them.

So, during my university days, I was lonely. That’s probably why I crumbled so easily when Gwak Sa-yeon falsely accused me.

Spending five years lost in games wasn’t just because of Gwak Sa-yeon; I had my own issues too.

“That’s why I like the present more.”

Ayu, who helped me return to reality the most. Seolhyang, who’s by my side now. Orzia, Ggotbi, Ji-eun, Si-ho, Seo-ho. And finally, Baeksan.

My life has changed completely from what it used to be. And I like this life.

I want to protect it with all my might.

“What about when you were younger?”

When I was younger… I turned to look at Seolhyang.

Her face, illuminated by the slightly setting sun, was still as beautiful as a goddess.

“Well, honestly, it was tough. After my sister disappeared, there wasn’t really anyone around to help.”

Our family, both paternal and maternal, was very small. In fact, on my father’s side, there was no one. My father said my grandparents passed away long ago, and there were no other relatives.

As for my mother, she had almost completely cut ties with her side of the family. It was because of her marriage to my father, or so I vaguely remember hearing when I was in elementary school.

‘Honestly, even my parents’ faces are becoming blurry in my memory now.’

Only the faint image of my parents smiling at me comes to mind, but those memories are now too old.

“For a while, I wanted to blame someone. But the person I wanted to blame was my sister. I couldn’t do it. My sister, who had disappeared due to dimensional movement, returned after a year. How could I blame her?”

When my sister was caught in the dimensional movement, my father was quite calm. Even in my vague memories, my father was a bit of an unusual person.

Anyway, my father, along with my mother, spent a year trying to solve my sister’s dimensional movement issue. Thanks to that, I often went to the neighbor’s house, where there was a kid my age.

That kid’s mother was also busy with work, so we often played together. Thanks to that friend, I wasn’t too lonely even though my parents were busy looking for my sister.

“Were you happy before your sister disappeared?”

“Yeah, I was. Back then, I was doing well in school. Even though it was elementary school, I have a lot of good memories.”

As I said that, I chuckled.

“Come to think of it, I had a really close friend in elementary school. We lived next door and played together every day.”

I started telling Seolhyang about my past, reminiscing. It had been a long time since I shared my past with someone like this.

“We went swimming together, caught bugs, and even went flower viewing without really understanding the beauty of flowers, just excited about eating lunch. In winter, we even made a huge snowman.”

As I spoke, I started to recall more memories.

“What was that friend’s name again?”

Right before my sister returned, that friend had transferred schools.

I remember us hugging and crying, promising to keep in touch, but after my sister returned, I became like this and couldn’t contact her. Thinking about it now, I feel really sorry.

That friend must have been waiting for my call all this time.

And yet, I can’t even remember her name properly.

Why is it that the names of friends from childhood are so hard to remember?

Then, I suddenly remembered that the kid had two moles on her face. She hated it when other kids teased her about them, but I thought they were pretty because a cartoon heroine had moles on her face.

At that moment, I made eye contact with Seolhyang.

The two moles under her left eye.

They were in a similar position to the moles on the kid in my vague memories.

Her eyes curved as she smiled.

“Seolhyang…”

“Yes.”

As I called her name, my lips started to tremble.

I remembered the day we walked to school together, holding hands, her small hand in mine.

That girl, I called her…

“Seolhyang-ah!”

That’s what I called her.

My pupils slowly dilated.

Jin Seolhyang.

The girl who lived next door and was my friend throughout elementary school.

Her name was definitely Jin Seolhyang.

The Jin Seolhyang in my memories.

And the Baek Seolhyang in front of me.

The surnames were different, but now that I thought about it, I realized.

Who the girl next to me was.

And who Seolhyang was referring to when she said she had been caught in dimensional movement and couldn’t contact her friend after transferring schools.

“Ha-chan, I told you earlier, you can ask me anything about the company.”

Her voice echoed.

Seolhyang’s face, looking at me, had a slight tremble.

Seeing that tremble, I also felt like I was about to cry for the first time in a long time.

It felt like the happy past I had lost, and thought would never return, had finally taken my hand again.

“Rodri Company’s Kang Ha-chan.”

She and I made eye contact.

“Do you have anything you want to ask me?”

Her voice, filled with deep emotion, whispered in my ear.

Under the setting sun, Seolhyang’s silver hair shimmered as it flowed down.

Her hair, shaded by the sunset, seemed to turn black for a brief moment, reminiscent of a girl from long ago. But even when I realized her hair was silver again, her eyes looking at me hadn’t changed.

Anxiety, sorrow, and longing.

Hearing her question filled with mixed emotions, I slowly opened my mouth.

“…Seolhyang?”

As soon as I asked, her silver hair fluttered.

She hugged me, burying her face in my shoulder, and cried bitterly.

“That’s right!”

The face of the friend who had cried, asking me to keep in touch, had changed so much since then.

But her warm tears were the same.

The friend who cried so much for me had now grown into an adult.

“It’s me, Jin Seolhyang.”

And when those words followed, I hugged her tightly.

In my past, where I had lost my parents and even my sister.

The warmth of the one person who returned to me was so comforting that it made me feel like my hard times weren’t in vain.

It was a memory I never wanted to forget in my life.

“When did you…?”

“Recently.”

She lowered her gaze to our intertwined hands.

“A few months ago, I found out by chance.”

As she said that, a faint sadness appeared on her face.

“I should have told you sooner.”

“Actually, I was a bit greedy. I wanted you to recognize me.”

I felt incredibly sorry hearing her words.

“My hair color is like this, my face has changed a lot, and even my surname has changed. It’s only natural you didn’t recognize me.”

Seeing me like that, Seolhyang smiled as if to say it was okay.

But I couldn’t hide my guilt.

“When I first returned at 21, I wanted to go see you right away. But I couldn’t. I was a mess back then, and Returners were even more ostracized than they are now. More than anything, I was afraid to see how much you had changed.”

At 21, that was when I had just been falsely accused, and right before Beijing was destroyed by a Returner.

Back then, Returners were in complete chaos.

The government treated them as weapons, and civilians treated them as criminals or disasters.

The fact that Returners are now better perceived and treated is entirely due to the efforts of the World Returner Association.

“So back then, I turned my attention to Returner affairs. I gathered all the Returners I could find while traveling the world.”

She let out a small laugh, as if it wasn’t a past she wanted to recall.

I couldn’t even imagine how much effort she must have put into establishing the World Returner Association.

“But then I saw you by chance.”

Seolhyang’s hand tightened.

“One day, I saw you working part-time at a convenience store.”

She laughed as if recalling that moment.

“Call it fate, but it was when the World Returner Association had stabilized, and I was doing better. Funny enough, I was following the game you liked.”

“You mean Road of Academy?”

“Yeah, want to know my nickname?”

Of course, I was curious.

Even though she was my childhood friend, the chairman of the World Returner Association was playing the same game as me.

It felt like Elon Musk playing the same online game as me.

Seeing my intrigued expression, Seolhyang smiled brightly.

That smile was the first mischievous smile I had seen from her in a long time.

A smile I hadn’t seen since way back.

“Ah-Hing.”

My body froze.

“Huh?”

“It’s me. Ah-Hing.”

As she said that name again, she playfully shook our intertwined hands.

“I told you, call it fate.”

My mind went blank.

I couldn’t speak properly.

At the same time, I remembered the reactions she had when Ayu and I talked about the game.

Piece by piece, the puzzle finally came together.

“No, no, wow.”

The game friend I had known for years turned out to be my long-lost childhood friend?

At the same time, all the embarrassing things I had done in the game flashed through my mind.

From lamenting my life to countless other things.

“Tell me!”

“Even if I had just found out recently. That the person I liked the most in the game was the person I missed the most. Game Ha-chan was cute.”

She was enjoying this.

This girl was definitely enjoying this.