Chapter 355

Chapter 355

“Moondae!”

“You…”

“Are you all right?” Raebin asked.

Ahyeon and I were welcomed warmly by our roommates as soon as we made it back to the dorm. I should have been greeted with a shout of You bastard, are you out of your mind?, but it was obvious they were being careful just in case I really had a screw or two loose at the moment.

I beat them to the chase by immediately offering an apology. “Sorry. I went out to think a little bit, and I didn’t realize that I left my phone behind.”

“Oh…”

“I see.”

They all looked relieved. Apparently, I seemed quite normal.

Eugene, who had been drinking a soft drink, replied cheerfully, “Okay! Just tell us next time!”

“Okay, my ass! You were all so worried because he suddenly disappeared!” Bae Sejin shouted.

Thanks for diverting the attention away from me.

Bae Sejin was red in the face as he turned to Ahyeon. “You, too! You should have at least told us what you were thinking— Seon Ahyeon…?”

There was a momentary silence.

“Uh…” Bae Sejin said.

“Y-yes! S-sorry. I acted on impulse without telling you… I’m sorry.”

“Oh. Right. Uh, thanks, anyway.”

Ahyeon returned to the living room with a dazed look on his face. He sat down on the sofa, apparently in shock. I thought back to his reaction after I had told him I would give him a proper explanation.

“Uh… M-Moondae…”

“I thought you were willing to listen?”

“R-right.”

He had responded positively, even though he had seemed very confused. I had offered him some bait to sweeten the deal.

“And no matter what conclusion you reach this time, I’m going to see a therapist.”

“…!”

“I don’t mind if you record this.”

“N-no, no need! Th-thanks! Thanks, Moondae!” he’d shouted desperately.

Now that we were back at the dorm, it seemed that all sorts of worries and ideas were filling his head. He was obviously in a very confused state. I rubbed my neck.

That won’t last long. We had canceled some of what was on our schedule, which meant we had time. I needed to do this now. I couldn’t cause any more losses for all those involved.

Three days taken out of the promotional cycle… That’s a lot of money. In fact, it represented so much in terms of the final cut we would have received that I was growing increasingly uncomfortable. What was more, speed was of the essence if we were going to shut up anyone who tried to spread nasty rumors about our sudden disappearance.

Hmm. As it happened, one of the people I needed spoke to me first.

“Did you have a good talk?” Chungwoo asked.

I nodded at him. “Yes. Sorry, I must’ve surprised you.”

He smiled at me. “Yes. You did.”

I fell silent.

“The alarm on your phone was going off, but you were gone. I’m pretty sure that everyone was far more shocked than when Eugene vanished.”

“Right…”

This is so goddamn embarrassing. I was silent as I considered all the things I’d said when Eugene had gone missing. He patted me on the back.

“You did good.”

“Thanks.”

Is that going to make me feel any better? I repressed the urge to say anything sassy, reminding myself of my own actions that very morning.

And the next one is… Big Sejin. He was standing next to Chungwoo, typing something on his phone. He had been silent even when I had come in earlier, and he still wasn’t looking up.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He muttered as he lowered his phone, “Uh, uploading.”

Oh. I checked the social media app and noticed a new post from our account.

========================

T_T We are down with a cold in this weather… So sorry. We’ll get better soon! Don’t worry about us, Loviewers. We are taking meds and recovering!

========================

He reacted very quickly.

“Thanks…” I said.

“Don’t mention it.” He did his best to grin at me and patted my shoulder. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

He probably wanted to ask me how it had gone with Ahyeon, and what I had been doing outside so early in the morning.

He probably doesn’t feel it’s right to ask me. Everyone’s blaming themselves. Are we in the middle of an apology contest here? Maybe it’s a good thing that I need to ask them for their help. I repressed a sigh and got straight to the point.

“The thing is… I need your help.”

“Huh?”

“Yours, too, Chungwoo.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes.”

I would start with a method of quantity over quality.

***

Seon Ahyeon took a deep breath. His roommate, Kim Raebin, had urged him to rest easy, packed up his electronic devices, and went to Bae Sejin and Cha Eugene’s room. Ahyeon could not get his brain to slow down, however His mind had taken up a mantra, continuously resolving over and over, This time, I’m going to react properly.

Yes. Perhaps this was an opportunity for him to counteract the shock that Moondae had received because of how badly he’d reacted last time.

“Phew.”

First of all, I’ll thank him for speaking to me so seriously… Ahyeon thought over how he would react several times in his head. He planned to go to Moondae’s room at the agreed-upon time. He was not able to go through with this plan, however.

There was a knock on the door

“I’m coming in.”

“…!”

Moondae had come to see him before that time even arrived. He jumped straight into business. “I’ve come early because I need to set up something. Let me use Raebin’s computer for a second.”

His computer?

“Let’s get started. Oh, and this is from Raebin.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Drink that as you listen.”

After passing through the door, Moondae held out the tea that he had been carrying. Then he put down a notebook and pen in front of him.

A notebook…?

What followed was a flurry of new information.

“Let me start with the witnesses.”

“W-witnesses?”

Moondae paused for a moment, then said in a firmer tone than usual, “I didn’t tell you before because I thought it might only confuse you more, but I’m not actually the only person who returned to the past.”

This took Ahyeon completely by surprise. He froze as he held the cup of tea in his hand. Moondae immediately began to produce the people that he had gotten involved.

I need to push my advantage here. His chosen method was video calls.

“I needed to use an application that would not allow voice or video recording. And it’ll probably be easier for you to accept if you get to see their faces directly.”

Moondae installed an application from the app store as Ahyeon watched. Not long after that, a person’s face appeared on the screen of Raebin’s computer.

“…?!”

Ahyeon almost shot to his feet.

“Hmm.”

It was VTIC’s Cheongryeo, the idol who was very much their senior in the industry whom Ahyeon had just met. He was smiling in a way that was openly very careless.

“Couldn’t we have done this earlier, when we met? It would have been much easier.”

“You’re right. The situation has changed.”

“Well, that was quick.” Cheongryeo bandied a few words back and forth with Moondae. It was unclear if he was amused or being sarcastic. “Okay. I was the person who traveled to the past before Moondae. Moondae—that is, Gunwoo—traveled after me.”

Ahyeon stared. Was this really the truth?

“He was technically born before me, and he doesn’t use a formal tone with me. Perhaps you didn’t notice earlier?”

Ahyeon had assumed it was because they were close or something, and had envied them that relationship a little.

“It’s hilarious that he is sticking to a formal tone now, even though he said he wasn’t going to record this.”

“Shut up,” Park Moondae said.

“Haha!” Cheongryeo finished delivering his testimony with a nonchalant look on his face. “It looks like you have more to repay me now, Moondae.”

“Take care.”

“Dear me. Can’t bring yourself to deny it, huh?”

Cheongryeo vanished from the screen.

“Phew.” Moondae took a deep breath as if he were repressing his irritation. “He’s so annoying, but anyway… I meet him from time to time for this reason.”

He looked rather grim as he started working away on the computer again. He sounded slightly satisfied as he added, “This is not a scam. This isn’t even my computer, and you saw that I did not touch the storage beforehand. If you want, we can go see him again right now, in person. Maybe we should.”

“N-no, that’s not necessary,” Ahyeon said impulsively. His head felt like it was full of exclamations and question marks, however.

“Moving on, then. The next person is going to be the guy who came after me.”

“Right…”

“Oh, and if you have any questions to ask, write them down in the notebook and ask them later. You can ask anything you want.”

So that’s why you brought it? Seon Ahyeon immediately grabbed the notebook, but he moved stiffly, like he was a rusted robot. He had to repress a scream when he saw another familiar face on the screen.

“No way! It’s been so long, Moondae! How have you been?”

It was Kwon Heeseung, the idol Moondae had inwardly been calling “Goldie #2.”

“So we are telling Ahyeon this time… Hello there!”

“H-hey.” Ahyeon pinched his own thigh to check if he was dreaming, and it hurt very much.

Heeseung excitedly explained how he had saved a person and fell into the river, only to find himself in the past. Then he grumbled to Moondae. “You are being a little too open about all this, aren’t you? I thought we were like a secret brotherhood or something like that.”

“You’re free to tell anyone else if you want,” Park Moondae said.

“Uh… The people in my group are not that close yet…” Heeseung bitterly explained that he had attempted to tell his parents the truth, only to be slapped on the back and told he needed to put his head on straight. After a little more chatter, he sighed and ended the call.

Ahyeon found himself unable to write a single word in the notebook.

“So, he’s the one who came to the past after me,” Park Moondae said. “Just so you know, he’s earned 150% in profits from the stocks that he bought after returning. He will show you a screenshot to prove it if you want.”

“Uh…”

“And also, I’m the only one who ended up in someone else’s body. There is a reason for this.”

I thought you said you were taking questions! Ahyeon thought. It was very rare for him to talk back to Moondae, even if it was a silent one, but he showed no signs of slowing.

“So I arranged for you to meet yet another person who is closely involved.”

Wait a second. Is there more? Ahyeon felt like he needed time to catch his breath. He asked himself whether it was possible for a person to justify his own delusions with the help of so many people.

It can’t be possible—but no. Perhaps someone as smart and talented as Moondae could do it.

I-if I choose to believe him, because I find it more comfortable, then Moondae will… Wait a second.

“Huh?”

Ahyeon realized that there was a contradiction in his thinking.

Moondae said he would go see a therapist no matter what, even if I believed him. Then… It’s fine, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter what I think. What mattered was that Moondae would be seeing an expert if he needed help.

I see… He felt as though something that had been choking him was slowly dissipating. He took a deep, quiet breath. His fear of making the wrong decision melted away. That there was a predetermined conclusion had the intended effect. What was more, none of this matched anything that Seon Ahyeon could have prepared for.

Uh, I was expecting something of a deeper conversation… This almost felt like they were back at one of their composition retreats, collecting information. The funny thing was, despite his confusion, the reasoning side of his brain had started to kick in. It was reacting to the extremely natural provision of all this evidence. This was hardly a conversation. This was a presentation.

“Hello, Ahyeon…!”

“So, this is Ryu Gunwoo. He’s the guy who used to be Park Moondae. Our bodies are currently swapped. By the way, Chungwoo was my cousin on my paternal side.”

What followed was proof of the supernatural that Ahyeon hadn’t seen coming. After introducing the two individuals and allowing them to greet one another, Park Moondae suddenly asked a sharp question.

“It probably bothered you the most when I said that I could see holograms. Am I right?”

Ahyeon said nothing.

“Hallucinations, right? That’s pretty serious.”

Ahyeon’s face fell, and Moondae grinned.

“In that case, before we go into details, let me prove to you that I am not hallucinating. You have questions written in your notebook.”

“Y-yes.”

“Show them to me. But first,” Moondae said. He got up and spun the monitor in the opposite direction. “This way, Gunwoo, who is on the other side of the screen, will not be able to see your notebook. Am I right?”

“Y-yes.”

“Actually, hold on.” Moondae turned off the monitor’s power. “Now the only thing that’s on is the speakers. There are no tricks here. This isn’t even my computer.”

Ahyeon couldn’t even begin to guess at what Park Moondae was trying to do. He didn’t seem to have any intention of slowing down, however.

“Now show me the notebook.”

“Okay,” Ahyeon said, quietly flipping the notebook open with trembling hands and showing it to Moondae.

The handwriting was elegant.

[Why were the bodies of Moondae and Ryu Gunwoo swapped?]

This was the question that Moondae was about to explain. To be more precise, he’d guessed that Ahyeon would be curious as to why Park Moondae believed this to be the case. Big Moon, on the other hand, had not guessed anything.

“Well, Gunwoo helped me out so much… And I wished him happiness. That didn’t exactly go as planned, though…”

“…!”

Ahyeon couldn’t believe his ears. He looked at the monitor, which was still off, as well as the speakers next to it.

“I think the results were okay, of course. It’s great to see him active as an idol…” A pleasant, friendly male voice was gently flowing from the speakers. “Anyway, you are asking about the guy next to you, right? And not me? In any case, I don’t think the answer would change much…”

He was answering the question written on the paper in front of them. The notebook fell to the floor. Ahyeon felt his blood run cold as he looked down at it, then raised his head to look at Moondae.

Moondae nodded casually. “We are connected, through a hologram window.”

Ahyeon felt chills go down his spine.

“Write something random and show me. The hologram will allow him to see it, too.”

Ahyeon clenched his teeth and picked the notebook up. He wrote something that would be impossible to guess, as it was in a foreign language.

[Pas de deux.]

The voice in the speakers spoke again. “Sorry… I don’t know what that means. Pas de… dex?” The voice paused for a moment. “Oh, it’s a ballet term. Right! You did ballet, Ahyeon, so…”

How is this possible? Ahyeon grabbed the table next to him. His head was spinning, and it felt like logic and common sense had been thrown out the window. This was his room. He knew that there could be no tricks here.

Moondae hadn’t had any time to install anything in this room. Moondae seemed to have anticipated every suspicion he might have. He was wearing a white T-shirt and pajama pants with no pockets. He jumped lightly up and down.

“It’s impossible for me to hide any sort of camera on my body at the moment, but still… Let me use your camera detector.”

He picked up the detector, which lay on Ahyeon’s desk, then ran it across his body as well as the general area around the table. There was no reaction, of course.

Ah. Ahyeon blinked. This… this means…

Before he could reach a logical conclusion, however, Moondae said, “But you know, hearing it only from me might not cut it.”

“…?”

Ahyeon looked up. Moondae was nodding gravely.

“Let’s talk to some more people. I’m calling in Chungwoo and Lee Sejin. And if you have any other questions or doubts, be sure to tell me right away.” Moondae smiled. “We have plenty of time until tomorrow.”

This was only the beginning of his plan, which involved first providing all the practical evidence at his disposal, before moving on to the story. Moondae continued to provide every lick of proof he had until sunset.