SDM 50

Is this what it feels like when your heart drops?

Seong-woon stared at the hologram, frozen. Jin Seong-woon’s life was… a product of sin and mistake? In this situation, the information they threw at him was such a nonsensical sentence…!

Thump, his heartbeat so loudly it seemed to be attached to his ears. Seong-woon clutched his left chest and took deep breaths. He felt his ears ringing, suffocation taking over his body. It felt like his heartbeat might become irregular, just like when Hyeong-seok revealed Ryu Chae-yoon’s secret.

“Young master, are you alright?”

Sensing something off about Seong-woon’s movements, Hyeong-seok turned around and asked. The stylist sitting behind Seong-woon also poked his head out to check on him.

“…I’m fine.”

“If you think you need to go to the hospital…”

“No, it’s okay.”

Cutting off the words hastily, Seong-woon called for C1012. There was no one else who could explain this in more detail.

– Yes, this is C1012 from the Reincarnation Management Committee.

‘What does that mean?’

– Ah, um… Karma doesn’t know how to mince words… We should have refined the language a bit more. Until the early modern period…

‘What does it mean?! Explain!’

– It means exactly what it says. Jin Seong-woon, or rather, Jin Seong-woon’s body should not have had a soul inhabit it.

‘…What?’

– Ah, how embarrassing to have to openly talk about the RMC’s mistake… But as this project is heading towards its final stages, I suppose it’s time for some information to be released.

C1012 poured its voice into Seong-woon’s brain in a very business-like tone.

– Do you remember the reward from the first tutorial?

‘It was… reassignment of handler. Didn’t I think back then: why reassignment and not just assignment?’

– That’s right. Reassignment implies there was an originally assigned handler. C2217 was your handler.

‘Then why did it change to you?’

– Because a sin was committed. They’ve been disposed of now, probably thrown into the Abyss… It’s the first time this has happened since Earth’s early modern period.

C1012 continued without pause.

– Existence is the sum of soul and body. Neither soul alone nor body alone can constitute existence. That’s why the RMC matches souls with exactly fitting bodies for reincarnation. The process is quite complex and delicate, so each soul is assigned a handler. Of course, one handler doesn’t just manage a single soul. I myself handle a total of 1,304,000 souls…

‘Don’t go off on a tangent, just finish what you were saying!’

– Ah, I apologize. C2217 was charged with three crimes: soul detachment, soul damage, and delayed reporting… The soul detachment charge alone was enough to be thrown into the Abyss.

Seong-woon wondered if he was really understanding this correctly. He had only wanted an explanation for why they called his life a mistake, but now all this was coming out. Just how big of an incident was this?

– C2217 became completely enamored with one of the souls they were in charge of and removed it from Karma. This violates the very first law of the RMC.

‘What?’

– Souls are very fragile. Moreover, the moment they’re taken out of Karma, they become so weak that they’ll shatter if touched. The moment C2217 brought Jin Seong-woon’s soul home and put it somewhere, it split into two pieces: 93% and 7%. This is how they committed the crime of soul damage.

‘93% and 7%…’

– What’s worse, the 93% soul ended up attaching to a dummy human body that C2217 was keeping. They had a rather twisted hobby… seems they made and played with such things.

‘…’

– But even though it was a dummy, it was still a body, so the moment it met the soul, the fusion of soul and body began. The only way to return the soul-body fusion back to just a soul was to have it reincarnate. Because when the body dies, the soul returns to Karma.

‘…’

– C2217 was shocked and barely managed to salvage the 7% soul and return it to Karma. That’s how the 7% soul ended up reincarnating with the name Ryu Chae-yoon.

‘Seong-woon couldn’t say anything. So, his life was just an accident caused by C2217’s sin and mistake? Jin Seong-woon’s 29 years of life, nearly 30 years, was just a mistake created by someone overcome with greed?’

– From Karma’s perspective, yes. Karma is an emotionless mechanism. As your handler, I feel regretful… That’s why we’re conducting this soul adjustment project.

‘Jin Seong-woon and Ryu Chae-yoon…’

– To fuse into a proper body with one soul.

‘To merge into one.’

Seong-woon simultaneously came up with a thought similar to C1012.

– Exactly..

‘Then, could it be that people kept disliking Jin Seong-woon because…?’

– …Yes, that’s right. Because there was a disconnect between the soul and body… As he grew older and his sense of self formed, and as the soul and body bonded more strongly, Seong-woon must have appeared very strange in the eyes of others.

‘What about Ryu Chae-yoon? Don’t tell me that Ryu Chae-yoon kept thinking he was inadequate and considered himself a fragment because of this? …Could it be that his body was sick because he only had 7% of a soul?’

– …Yes, that’s correct too. Because the total amount of soul was small, he could barely manage when his body was small. But as he grew, his body began to overwhelm his soul, and the balance completely collapsed.

Seong-woon, staring blankly at the van’s ceiling, didn’t even feel what was streaming down his face. Something so hot, as though it might have been blood, quickly made his eyes swell.

– When the 93% of the soul returned to Karma, the Reincarnation Committee learned of C2217’s crime. They immediately apprehended him and branched the timeline, searching for a solution when the 7% of the soul also returned…. So we decided to help by placing the 93% and 7% souls back into suitable bodies and assisting them to merge.

‘Couldn’t you just… let both Jin Seong-woon and Ryu Chae-yoon die? If I know this, I… Wouldn’t it be better to just die than to know that my life is a mistake, all of me is an illusion, and everything about me is wrong!’

– We can’t merge souls within Karma. The body needs to be a vessel… None of us wanted to discard your soul.

BEEP!

A shrill sound rang from his wristwatch. It was a completely different warning sound than when his heart rate increased. Seong-woon tried to roll his wet eyes to look at the watch screen, but it was already too late.

Thud, it felt like lightning had struck his body. Just like then, the sensation of an eel spewing electricity inside his body, Seong-woon bent forward with a silent scream.

“Young master?”

Hyeong-seok’s startled cry and the sound of sudden braking, then the car door opening urgently, and someone patting Seong-woon’s cheeks. His ears were open, and his eyes were open, but Seong-woon couldn’t respond.

I don’t know, wouldn’t it be better to just disappear like this? Jin Seong-woon’s life, hated by everyone but feeling alive whenever he did what he wanted, Ryu Chae-yoon’s life, loved by everyone but barely holding on with a sick body.

All of it was so painful that Seong-woon wanted to fall asleep right then and there.

* * *

When Seong-woon opened his eyes, he was on a bed in an unfamiliar hospital emergency room. It seemed they had come to a nearby large hospital, probably not having time to go to his usual hospital.

The doctor who confirmed Seong-woon had regained consciousness withdrew with cold sweat, and Hyeong-seok, with an anxious look, pulled back the curtain and entered, pouring out words mixed with worry and relief.

“I should have taken you to the hospital first, I’m sorry, young master… I contacted the chairman and your family members right away, but since this is Incheon, it might take some time for them to arrive. Please rest a bit. I’ll request a transfer soon.”

Seong-woon barely managed to nod. His clothes were almost completely torn and unbuttoned, and a tray containing his shoes, belt, and various belongings reflected the urgent situation.

Seong-woon reached out and grasped only his phone, then slid down from the bed. Everyone, from the bodyguards to the managers, were so flustered that they couldn’t even guard Seong-woon’s side. Since it was a new space, they were blocking the entrance, not paying any attention to people leaving.

The next bed was empty, but there was a dark jacket hanging on a chair. Seong-woon put it on, covered his head with a hat, and wore someone’s Crocs lying around. Judging by the blood stains, they might belong to a doctor.

Although it felt like his body might shatter at any moment, he didn’t want to waste any more time. Seong-woon wanted to end his life right here, right now.

But seeing how those Reincarnation Management Committee guys were acting, it seemed that even if he jumped off a Han River bridge right now, they would branch the timeline again and create another future.

– Shouldn’t you take it step by step? You haven’t even obtained the information about ‘oooo’ yet, acting rashly could ruin everything.

‘What could be worse than being accused as a witch and killed? And in my current state of mind, I can only think that it’d be better if something went wrong and I died.’

– You were accused of being a witch, but you didn’t die! Think more rationally. If we complete this soul adjustment project, you can live a normal life in Ryu Chae-yoon’s body….

‘So you’re saying my life up until now wasn’t normal?’

Seong-woon screamed internally. What they were saying felt like it was tearing his entire life to shreds and throwing it in the trash. Abnormal, mistake, product of sin – every word stabbed his heart like an awl.

– I understand how you feel, but from the beginning, your soul was allocated to Ryu Chae-yoon’s body and place. We tried to create a place where you would be beautiful, noble, and loved by everyone.

‘This offers no consolation or comfort to Ryu Chae-yoon, who has been supporting a collapsing body with just 7% of a soul fragment, nor to Jin Seong-woon, who has been clinging to life in a body that wasn’t his own. Is there more you’re hiding? Is there more information to disclose?’

– That’s….

‘Is that also information you can’t tell me now? Right, you couldn’t tell me from the start that Jin Seong-woon’s entire life was a lie! Did you think this was the right time, now that Ryu Chae-yoon’s family feels like my own, and Ryu Chae-yoon’s name and how people treat his have become familiar to me?’

– Karma must have thought this would be better for you.

‘A life of being loved rather than hated, you mean.’

– …

‘All they want is for Jin Seong-woon’s soul and Ryu Chae-yoon’s soul… that is, the 93% and 7%, to completely merge and return to them as a 100% soul.’

‘If Ryu Chae-yoon’s final wish, “I want to be entangled with Baek Sang-hyun and oooo,” is granted, the souls will probably merge completely. So that must be the final wish. Though I don’t understand why something like that would be a final wish.’

Gritting his teeth once, Seong-woon bowed his head and passed through the bodyguards as calmly as possible. As expected, the bodyguards, focused on preventing people from entering and chasing away those inside, were not paying attention to those leaving. Perhaps because Seong-woon had been so docile for the past few months, they didn’t seem to think he would try to escape.

After leaving the emergency room, Seong-woon took out only the cash from his wallet and threw away his watch, turned-off phone, and wallet in the trash can at the hospital entrance. Then he got into a waiting taxi at the entrance and gave an address.

It was Baek Sang-hyun’s house.

* * *

Even after Ryu Chae-yoon left, Baek Sang-hyun continued filming for quite a while. Everyone seemed stimulated by the seasoned acting of the suddenly appeared rookie, the atmosphere was quite intense, and the director, who was creating scenes while arranging them moment by moment, also seemed excited.

It was almost dawn by the time they finished shooting. Baek Sang-hyun was leaning his forehead against the window, staring only at the path of light created by the street lamps.

Strangely, his insomnia seemed to have worsened since hearing Ryu Chae-yoon’s script reading. More precisely, he couldn’t sleep unless he heard it.

“Get some sleep.”

“I’m fine.”

Anyway, when he met Ryu Chae-yoon, he could sleep a little better that day. Even if he didn’t read the script to him. But why couldn’t he sleep today, even though they had acted together? Baek Sang-hyun pondered the strangeness for a moment.

When Seong-woon acted, he shone as bright as a star. Was the light coming from his soul? Could others not see it? How could they so casually overlook that light, so beautiful and mesmerizing that one couldn’t come to their senses just by looking at it?

That light, which Baek Sang-hyun had always admired, marveled at, and wanted to emulate, had moved to Ryu Chae-yoon. At first, he couldn’t believe it. Since it was a light he had only seen in Seong-woon until now, he naturally thought his eyes had gone crazy.

But soon Baek Sang-hyun had to admit. The density, color, and temperature of the light that Jin Seong-woon emitted were all the same as Ryu Chae-yoon’s.

Without catching the end of the thought that had shifted to Ryu Chae-yoon, Baek Sang-hyun picked up his phone. He thought he would probably be asleep already… but if he wasn’t, he wanted to hear his voice.

– The phone is turned off….

Feeling disappointed at the notification that the phone was turned off, he was about to take the phone away from his ear when he heard something like a scream from the manager sitting in front.

“Oh, is that…?”

“…What’s wrong?”

“That person sitting at the entrance…”

Someone who shouldn’t be out alone, and shouldn’t be out at all, was sitting at the entrance of the villa parking lot. Before Baek Sang-hyun’s car had even stopped, he flung the door open, causing the road manager to slam on the brakes.

“…Ryu Chae-yoon?”

The person, frozen blue with cold, slowly raised their head. It was Ryu Chae-yoon, his eyes stained unevenly red.

“At this hour… you’re here alone…”

The time, place, and person were all wrong. Ryu Chae-yoon shouldn’t be here alone at this hour. Baek Sang-hyun stopped his disjointed words. Tears streamed down Ryu Chae-yoon’s eyes.

“…Can I come in for a moment?”

“Why didn’t you tell the security guard?”

With too many questions racing through his mind, Baek Sang-hyun grabbed Ryu Chae-yoon’s hand, which was colder than ice, and helped him up without question. His body, which seemed to have dried up in just a few hours, was too light as it was pulled up. Without realizing it, Baek Sang-hyun clasped both of Ryu Chae-yoon’s hands in his and called out.

“Hyung, I’m going in here.”

“Oh, okay… Um, keep in touch.”

Without saying much else, the manager nudged the road manager to come to his senses and turned the car around. After confirming the sound of the departing car, Baek Sang-hyun pulled Ryu Chae-yoon’s hand and entered the villa. The sound of rubber shoes dragging could be heard.