PIA 134

Ji-an ran, chasing Jeong Hee-seo’s voice calling him. At some point, he felt an inexplicable certainty. He hailed a passing taxi and headed towards the hill where his house used to be.

A house for him and Jeong Hee-seo, radiant and diamond-like, brimming with sunlight.

Unlike the other world, the hill here was just a walking trail. There was no house, only a dark mountain path.

Ji-an ran to the top, nearly stumbling several times. His breath caught painfully at his throat, but strangely, if he stopped walking, it felt it would be even harder to breathe.

He reached a place that formed a completely different antipode in a world that mirrored the other. Entering the clearing at the top, Ji-an took deep breaths.

Beyond the railing precariously fixed at the edge of the cliff, he could see the night view of the city. It was the same sparkling view he used to see through the window every night, just without the house.

He had the illusion that if he just kept walking, he would arrive there.

That’s where he should be.

Could I ever go back? To that shining house of his and mine. Even with his eyes closed, he could see it clearly. It felt like if he just followed the backlit silhouette of Jeong Hee-seo shining along with that house in the darkness, he could reach it. Even if it took a year of walking, he could go…

“What are you doing?”

At that moment, instead of the auditory hallucination of Jeong Hee-seo, he heard the real Jeong Hee-seo’s voice. Ji-an was startled. He was so surprised that he almost fell over the railing.

“I thought you were going to jump.”

“Ah, no. I was just looking at the view.”

Ji-an staggered as he turned, only to see Jeong Hee-seo standing nearby, his face deeply frowning.

He withdrew his hand that was about to grab Ji-an and put on a cold expression. The fleeting look of alarm disappeared so quickly that it blurred Ji-an’s perception. For a brief moment, Ji-an thought he had seen his Jeong Hee-seo.

Quickly returning to an attitude of dealing with an intruder, Jeong Hee-seo wore an unpleasant expression as if his secret place had been discovered.

“Why did you come here? For what purpose?”

It was as if he was scolding him for coming to a place he absolutely shouldn’t have, speaking to him like a stranger. A cold wind swept between the two. Ji-an hesitantly took a few more steps back.

Behind Jeong Hee-seo, the city center looked blurry. It was a winter scene he had never seen from their original house. It was unfamiliar and strange. Ji-an raised his lowered eyes to look at his lips. The sigh escaping his mouth was long, scattering like white cigarette smoke.

“It’s just a walking trail, isn’t it… Did I need to get permission, hyung?”

“…”

Judging by his frown, he seemed to greatly dislike the form of address.

“I bought it. It means it’s my private property.”

Ji-an’s eyes widened.

“Why…”

“It would be better not to have unnecessary thoughts on my land. The same goes for elsewhere.”

“…”

“I’m starting to get tired of receiving calls from the police.”

Ji-an stared into Jeong Hee-seo’s black eyes for a long time. Like puzzle pieces falling into place, various hypotheses came together in his mind. He swallowed once and asked directly.

“You know everything, don’t you?”

“Know what?”

“That Seo Ji-hyuk’s accident—how it was caused by Seo Ji-an. By me.”

For the first time, a flicker of emotion stirred in the man’s calm eyes. At that moment, Ji-an gained full certainty. Ji-an was confident in his ability to read his expressions.

“I know this will sound really strange, but… if you know where we last met or where I was staying, could you tell me?”

“…”

“I mean, not our meeting just now or in front of the company this morning, but before that.”

Jeong Hee-seo stared at Ji-an for a long time without answering. His piercing gaze seemed to see right through her, making Ji-an increasingly uncertain.

He had been sure that this world’s ‘Jeong Hee-seo’ must have helped ‘Seo Ji-an’ too.

“My memory isn’t completely—”

Just as he was about to add an excuse, Jeong Hee-seo suddenly closed the distance and came right up to Ji-an. Before he could avoid it, he bent down and brought his nose close to Ji-an’s neck. Every place where his breath touched, every hair stood on end.

“It’s definitely different.”

Jeong Hee-seo whispered.

Their eyes met as Jeong Hee-seo raised his head. Due to the excessively close distance, Ji-an could feel his scent and couldn’t breathe. He brought the back of his hand to Ji-an’s cold cheek. The cold surface seemed to shatter under his touch, sending tingling sensations coursing through Ji-an’s skin.

“At first, I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a cruel prank.”

There was warmth in his voice now. He looked Ji-an over, his gaze lingering as though measuring him.

“Who would believe it, right?”

“…I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“That there’s another person like you. That you would come looking. That’s what he said.”

Ji-an reached out to grab the railing to keep from staggering. The touch of the cold metal, so cold it felt like it would stick to his skin, jolted him to the senses.

Jeong Hee-seo’s gaze fell on Ji-an’s bright red fingertips. He sighed softly and continued.

“This morning too… Seo Ji-an-ssi, it was you, wasn’t it?”

Ji-an just stared at him without answering, his vision blurring. It seemed like his tears wouldn’t stop. Was this who he truly was?

“You helped me here too, right? Me. ‘Seo Ji-an.’”

The man wrinkled his nose, taking Ji-an’s question as an affirmative answer. He muttered that it was hard to believe. He put his hands in his pockets and stepped a foot closer. Perhaps because of the brief touch of body heat, Ji-an’s gaze helplessly followed him.

“I did help him. Finding evidence of tax evasion, exposing the assault. You said you wanted to break up their marriage, and since I understood to some extent, I helped until the end. Well, there were some pitiful circumstances too…”

“…”

“I felt sorry, and my eyes kept being drawn to you.”

“…”

“It wasn’t like me.”

Is this what ‘Seo Ji-an’ wanted to show me? The fact that in any dimension, he was my savior.

If I hadn’t crossed over to that world and had lived my original life here, would I have been destined to connect with him someday?

Jeong Hee-seo unwrapped the scarf from his neck and put it around Ji-an’s. Each time his casual hands tied a knot, Ji-an swayed.

“Do you know how many degrees below zero it is? If you were in your right mind, you wouldn’t be dressed like this.”

He seemed a bit angry. For some reason, Ji-an couldn’t hold back his laughter.

He’s the same.

Jeong Hee-seo stared at Ji-an for a moment before asking.

“He told me to ask. If you really want to live there. Once you do, there’ll be no turning back—are you okay with that?”

Ah. So that’s what he wanted to show me.

He wanted to see if I would choose to go back even after meeting this ‘Jeong Hee-seo’, he wanted to give me the full choice. On the other hand, how nervous he must have been showing me ‘Jeong Hee-seo’.

“This is ridiculous. Making me go through all this just for this.”

Ji-an clicked his tongue at his other self. Did it really have to be done like this? Even though they would have the same personality, it was hard to understand.

Ji-an smiled brightly. His tears disappeared. Sniffling, he shrugged his shoulders.

“I like it there. That’s the real place for me.”

Jeong Hee-seo smiled with a subtle frown. The clever man would have already figured everything out from a few words and the situation. That ‘Seo Ji-an’ was choosing whether to stay in this world or not depending on his choice.

“I think so too.”

He answered with a quite resolute voice.

* * *

Ji-an ran to the place Jeong Hee-seo had told him about. It was the crosswalk in front of the wedding hall where his brother’s wedding had been held, a place he remembered being used to awaken his consciousness for the first time.

As the night deepened, the weather became bitterly cold, and his whole body was shaking so much that even the scarf Jeong Hee-seo had tied for him was of no use.

“…Ha, it’s cold. How many days have passed?”

Ji-an counted the days with his fingers that were curling up from the cold. If, as he suspected, the time when Seo Ji-hyuk hit him with his car and the time when this side’s Seo Ji-hyuk had his accident were the same, he must have been asleep for quite a long time after coming here until he awakened.

There had been quite a long time lag even when he first possessed and awakened in that other world. Ji-an anxiously paced back and forth.

‘Hyung must be waiting.’

When he arrived at the crosswalk, out of breath from running, there was no one there. On the desolate quiet road, there were only occasional cars passing by swiftly. Ji-an anxiously looked around.

“Do I need to get into a traffic accident this time too…”

In his impatience, he was about to lean out towards the road, wondering if he should look for a truck like before, when an arm suddenly appeared in front of his face, waving frantically. Startled, he stepped back, and only then did ‘Seo Ji-an’ reveal himself.

“Whoa— don’t imagine dangerous things. I told you that was just an illusion back then.”

Seeing his now-relieved face infuriated Ji-an.

“Send me back! You psycho!”

Even though his mind understood everything, his emotions wouldn’t comply. Unable to contain the sudden surge of heat, Ji-an threw a punch. But it passed right through his body.

“Because you’re inside that body.”

The smoke-like form of ‘Seo Ji-an’ swirled around Ji-an, circling him once before stopping.

“Do you really want to go back? Is it okay if I take your world?”

Ji-an had long since said his goodbyes to the world he was born in. If he had been summoned just to confirm something this trivial, it felt unnecessary—and cruel.

“You should have talked to me before doing all this! You crazy bastard! Do you know how shocked I was!”

Ji-an glared at him, his eyes wide with frustration. He hadn’t meant to cry again, but tears welled up and streamed down his face uncontrollably.

“Look at you, crying so easily.”

‘Seo Ji-an’ approached Ji-an and tried to touch his tears with his intangible hand. The teardrops refracted as they fell through his translucent fingers.

“I’ve even forgotten how to cry now. But when your soul enters that body, tears still flow from it.”

“You… you psycho bastard. You crazy fool, my hyung, Pogglesl! He must be so worried about me.”

“I’ll ask you one more time. Is it okay to leave me in your world? I’m asking if it’s really alright to switch permanently.”

“Ah! It’s fine! I said it’s fine! Take it all!”

“…”

“Have you lived your whole life being deceived?”

“Well, yeah. My years of suffering from disaster weren’t exactly short, you know.”

Ji-an burst into a hollow laugh at the absurd response. He rubbed his cheeks vigorously. ‘Seo Ji-an’ clicked his tongue, just as Jeong Hee-seo had done, seeing how lightly he was dressed in the cold.

“It’s hard to believe that you truly have no lingering attachment to changing the world you’ve lived in. You might regret later that it’s in the genre of a makjang drama.”

“Who knows. This world might be someone else’s makjang drama too.”

‘Seo Ji-an’ wore a dumbfounded expression, as if struck by Ji-an’s casually thrown words.

“…”

“I must return to my hyung. That’s where I belong.”

Ji-an’s eyes sparkled with unshakeable conviction. His voice was firm and resolute. ‘Seo Ji-an’s’ soul trembled. He clenched and unclenched his transparent hand, muttering uncertainly.

“I… I want to be like you too.”

“You can be. Because you’re me too. Because he’s here too. Try believing in him once.”

It was your strength and will that somehow twisted the fate that Seo Ji-hyuk’s malice had ruined, overcoming dozens of deaths and crossing dimensions.

Who knows, maybe this was fate from the beginning.

Though you’ve taken an unusually unique path different from others, maybe this is originally your place – and beside my hyung is my place. And maybe, just maybe, you’ve finally found your way back to where you were supposed to be.

When seen that way, the journey of death and struggle you endured to return was far longer and harder than the one I’ve traveled.

Ji-an looked at the person who looked exactly like him with clear eyes and spoke loudly one last time with all he might.

“Send me back to where I belong.”

“Alright. This is really the end now. No turning back.”

“That’s what I want.”

‘Seo Ji-an’ smiled brightly. His transparent body glowed as he embraced Ji-an.

Once again, his body became lighter and floated up. Ji-an’s eyes widened at the dreamy sensation. The bone-chilling cold receded, and he felt his consciousness scattering. Ji-an struggled to hold onto his fading consciousness and bid a final farewell to his other-dimensional self.

In his spinning vision, the city’s night view poured down like stars.