“It’s been a while, Seo Yuseong.”
Seo Yuseong said that even when people faced him directly, they would only see a blurry impression. He’d even crossed paths with the Prism members before, and back then, his ability had worked just the same. So, I have no idea why it’s suddenly become completely useless like this.
‘…Is it because the one facing him is Choi Jeokhyeon?’
It was just like that moment when the status window, which had been hostile toward me and kept piling on penalties, suddenly glitched and collapsed the instant Choi Jeokhyeon appeared. Even the message displayed in the window was exactly the same.
‘What in the world is Choi Jeokhyeon?’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Choi Jeokhyeon looked at me and opened his mouth to speak.
“I looked away for just a moment because of work, and you disappeared on your own again … and now you’ve even come back with something weird attached to you. Is this what it’s like to take care of a newborn?”
“…Don’t call my little brother something weird. And are you seriously going to keep spouting nonsense in front of Seo Yuseong? Doesn’t it gross you out to say stuff like that to someone over thirty?”
“Well. You always look young to me.”
Just as I was about to ask about it, Choi Jeokhyeon and Seo Yuseong’s eyes met again. This time, without a moment’s hesitation, sharp, icy words came pouring out of Seo Yuseong’s mouth.
“How surprising. I never would’ve thought he’d still be circling around you, hyung.”
It sounded like he didn’t know that I’d already reunited with Choi Jeokhyeon. Wondering why he was lying, I glanced over at Seo Yuseong, but he didn’t even look back at me. He just kept his eyes fixed on Choi Jeokhyeon.
“You must have already known, so what’s there to be surprised about? Unless, of course, you’re just trying to be sarcastic.”
It was only after hearing Choi Jeokhyeon’s response that I realized Seo Yuseong had pretended not to know on purpose, just to take a jab at him. Not that it worked, though. Choi Jeokhyeon, the supposed target, simply smiled with a relaxed attitude, like he was indulging a child’s tantrum.
“Good, at least you’re aware I’m being sarcastic.”
“As you well know, kids have strong pride. And they have no manners. They can’t seem to move past things without getting sarcastic, so the older one has no choice but to just overlook it.”
“It’s not that you’re overlooking it, is it? It’s more like you just have no choice but to put up with it. Watching you constantly worry about being hated by my brother, just like always, was honestly laughable. You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Oh dear, you really do still seem a bit too young and shortsighted, so let me spell it out for you. Your brother’s in a condition where he absolutely can’t afford to get stressed right now.”
“He’d be less stressed if you weren’t around.”
“How come? The one who always gets into all the trouble is his pretty little brother. And it’s not like you don’t know why Yutae died.”
Ah, but that didn’t mean Choi Jeokhyeon found Seo Yuseong endearing in the slightest.
You could easily read the deep loathing they held for each other just from their eyes.
‘Stop fighting, you lunatics.’
I let out a deep sigh as I watched the two of them hurl sharp words at each other; one with a bright smile, the other with a blank expression.
It was suffocating. I felt like I was going to lose it. These two are basically the closest people to me, so it’d be nice if they could just get along. But no, the second their eyes meet, it’s like a fight’s about to break out. God knows how many times they’ve fought when I wasn’t looking. Just thinking about it made my head throb.
“Besides, what reason would there be for me not to be around your brother? We’re friends.”
“There is a reason. It’s because you’re not family. You’re just an outsider.”
“I feel a bit sad. After all, I helped raise you for years when you were little. I’ve always thought of you as family.”
Seo Yuseong made no effort to hide his disgust. He openly scowled as he watched Choi Jeokhyeon keep talking with that exaggeratedly benevolent expression plastered on his face. The guy could lie so smoothly it sent chills down my spine, but this time, he was being deliberately clumsy about it. It was clear he was doing it on purpose to provoke Seo Yuseong, while keeping it at a level where it was hard for me to step in.
“You needed my brother just as much, so don’t go acting all generous now. I know perfectly well that when you took him away in the first place, you used me as an excuse, guilt-tripping him with talk about raising me in a better environment. And now I’m supposed to be grateful for being used like a mere tool?”
‘Two brats…….’
I mean, normally when two out of three people get into a fight with one in the middle, don’t they usually try to win the third one over to their side? But these lunatics weren’t even glancing at me; they were just beating the hell out of each other.
Perhaps I wasn’t a shrimp getting crushed between two fighting whales1, but rather the trophy they were both fighting over. Finding myself ridiculous for even thinking that, I finally stepped between them, stretching out both arms to push the two apart.
“Cut it out, you two. You think I don’t notice how you’re always picking at each other every time you meet?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“Get lost!”
At that, Choi Jeokhyeon flashed a bright smile, raised both hands, and said, “Alright, I’ll stop”, as if in surrender. Seo Yuseong, on the other hand, had already returned to his robotic, expressionless face and was just staring straight at me.
I placed a hand on my forehead and shook my head, then pulled Choi Jeokhyeon aside into a corner. Once we were far enough that Seo Yuseong couldn’t hear, I asked him in a very quiet voice.
“…How on earth did you recognize Seo Yuseong? Just be honest with me.”
Choi Jeokhyeon, who had been listening quietly with his back slightly bent, blinked a few times, then spoke in a gentle voice.
“You showed me a dog, so I called it a dog. And if you then ask me, ‘How did you know it was a dog?‘, what am I supposed to say?”
“Oh, got it. I was the idiot.”
All he had to say was that he just looked like Seo Yuseong, but instead, he had to twist it into that long, roundabout jab. That guy’s mouth must be cursed or something.
“Shouldn’t I be the one getting an explanation for how in the world Seo Yuseong is still alive?”
“If you know, you’ll get hurt.”
“Getting hurt doesn’t sound so bad right now.”
“…Your mouth. Please. Silence it.”
“Are you flustered?”
“……”
We weren’t Do Yuda and Nagi Zen, but I felt like we’d turned into Dumb and Dumber.
No, to be honest, I was the foolish one for thinking that guy might have any important information.
‘…I was hoping that maybe what happened earlier might help solve the issue with Han Seungbeom.’
Actually, if Seo Yuseong’s explanation was correct, then the system was based on a game created by Han Seungbeom’s mother. Therefore, it made sense that Choi Jeokhyeon, who’d had no connection whatsoever with either of them, wouldn’t know anything. I mean, even I wouldn’t have been involved, so why would Han Seungbeom’s mother ever have anything to do with someone like Choi Jeokhyeon?
‘It’d probably be more helpful to just go ask Han Seungbeom’s aunt about his mother instead.;
There was also the option of asking Seo Yuseong. But now that I’d confirmed our attitudes toward Han Seungbeom’s death were completely at odds, it was best not to expect any useful information from him.
‘From now on, there’s a high chance that Seo Yuseong will do whatever he can to make me give up on Han Seungbeom…….’
The truth was, I still couldn’t accept Han Seungbeom’s death. The only reason I could still function like a normal person, even after hearing that he was truly gone, was because I was holding on to a sliver of hope, as if it were my only lifeline, that maybe, just maybe, I could bring Han Seungbeom back.
‘It’s still too early to mourn.’
First of all, Han Seungbeom’s body was still alive, and his disappearance was due to such an unrealistic reason that it was hard to truly grasp the reality of it. On top of that, several factors significantly influenced my inability to accept his death: I’d experienced multiple miracles through the surreal power of a system that could even control life and death—a system that existed solely for Han Seungbeom—and I believed that Seo Yuseong likely wouldn’t have bothered to carefully confirm the life or death of anyone other than me.
‘…Maybe that phenomenon from earlier could help with the issue surrounding Han Seungbeom.’
Tilting my head slightly so that Seo Yuseong couldn’t see my face, I sorted through my thoughts for a moment, then tugged lightly at Choi Jeokhyeon’s sleeve and asked again.
“What about the child?”
The reason I had come to Choi Jeokhyeon’s house was to check on Chaeyul’s condition.
At my question, Choi Jeokhyeon let out a brief “Ah”, as if he’d completely forgotten, then pointed toward one of the several guest rooms and said, “He’s probably sleeping in that room, or maybe the one next to it. My secretary said he cried all throughout the funeral and hasn’t been quite right since.”
As soon as I heard that, I headed straight for the room where the child was. There, in the dark room, I saw the child fast asleep, his face a mess from dried tear streaks.
“Haa…….”
I felt a pang in my chest.
‘… Let’s just let him sleep for now.’
Crushed under the weight of an unshakable guilt, I quietly closed the door without making a sound. Then, I found Seo Yuseong standing stiffly, waiting for me without even thinking of sitting down. It reminded me that I’d come to Choi Jeokhyeon’s house under the excuse of having something to pick up.
I quickly went into the room where I’d stored my things and began looking around to see if there was anything worth taking. The first thing that caught my eye was Han Seungbeom’s laptop, which I had brought with me not long ago.
“…….”
The moment I saw it, I reached out, as if entranced, and opened the laptop. Then, I noticed that a new (N) mark had appeared on the album icon.
‘Did something new show up?’
As that thought crossed my mind, I clicked on the album, and before long, a photo of Han Seungbeom appeared. He was smiling brightly in his high school uniform alongside friends his age. It looked like something straight out of a graduation album. The moment I saw that photo, I tilted my head slightly and muttered.
‘I’m pretty sure this photo wasn’t here the last time I checked?’
I had opened this album countless times before to look at Han Seungbeom’s childhood photos. I could practically recall every single one. And yet, here was a photo I was sure I had never seen before.
‘Something’s strange.’
With that, I frowned and began examining the photo more closely.
Han Seungbeom’s mother passed away when he was still a child. And since this game was something she created with the last of her strength before she died, there shouldn’t have been any photos of Han Seungbeom from a time when he was old enough to be wearing a school uniform.
What’s more, in the photo, Han Seungbeom was smiling brightly as himself. But wasn’t it because he couldn’t find happiness in his original body that he wandered from place to place in the body of a cat, until he met me?
Click. As I clicked the mouse again, a different photo appeared.
And the moment I laid eyes on it, I was so startled I jumped up from my seat.
“F**k, what is this…….”
In a way, it looked like a completely ordinary family photo.
”…I never took a photo like this!’
The strange thing, though, was that the photo showed me standing together with Seo Yuseong, Han Seungbeom, and Han Seungbeom’s mother.
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Translator’s Corner:
Tbh what I like the most about CJH-SYS dynamic is … Seo Yuseong hates Choi Jeokhyeon simply because he’s Choi Jeokhyeon lol like he’s fine sharing his brother with Prism or Han Seungbeom, but with CJH, he just personally can’t stand him. Even if they met without Yutae, I bet he would still 100% hate him
Oh this is another late update … I feel like there’s always so much going on my life …. maybe God makes it that way so I won’t run out of things to complain about in TL Corner ???? (I feel like I’m going to be homeless if I don’t get a job this month asdfghjkl omg I really have no talent in selling myself … I can do the job I promise T_T can’t recruiter just accept me right away….. I’m good with team projects too … in high school and college, I used to be the team leader…..)
Anyway, there won’t be update in tuesday and wednesday, I need to go to somewhere ….. please wish me luck T_T I need every luck I could get right now
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