SOG Ch 179

While Woo-jin was organizing his thoughts, Jae-chan continued his explanation calmly, as if stacking stones one by one.

“In the future I came from, there was a terrorist group called Black Swan. So many people died or were injured that every day was like a continuous Black Tempo. Go Young-woon was the leader of that group.”

“…”

“So as soon as I realized I had come back to the past, I wanted to change the predetermined future. I wanted to root out Black Swan completely.”

Furthermore, it was to protect the lives of those who were precious to him, especially Woo-jin. Feeling a newfound sense of pride, Jae-chan explained with a slightly more confident tone.

“A lot has changed. For example, during the Universal incident, unlike now, there were many casualties. During the Han Roy incident, we couldn’t find him quickly, and of course, we couldn’t catch any of the Black Shadow Group. since they had a teleporter named Won Seong-il. In the original future, he survived and became a Black Swan executive called ‘Blink.’”

Hearing a vaguely familiar name, a cold light briefly flashed in Woo-jin’s eyes.

You handled it well, he thought. Go Woo-jin briefly considered telling Jae-chan about Won Seong-il but lowered his gaze instead. He straightened Jae-chan’s legs, which were still folded as if he were kneeling like a sinner, covered him with the blanket, and held him in his arms again while listening.

“I didn’t expect TZ to show up so soon. It led to widespread addiction among Guides.”

Jae-chan’s story fits perfectly with all the questions that had been like missing puzzle pieces until now. How he stepped forward without hesitation into danger instead of Kim Geun-won, the way he had a tracking device prepared during the Universal incident as if he’d expected a kidnapping, and his bold swallowing of the blue pill that Gyeong Hae-in gave him—each of these actions, almost reckless yet calculated, made sense if he knew the future.

It also explained the meaningless thoughts that had transferred during his guiding sessions or before he lost consciousness at the nuclear power plant.

Moreover, apart from numerous circumstantial evidence, the important thing was:

The fact that Seon Jae-chan was sincerely talking to him. Now, Woo-jin was determined to believe whatever this person said unconditionally, without questioning its coherence, even if it seemed utterly unbelievable.

“…So, I have something to confess.”

Meanwhile, Jae-chan’s confession was not yet over.

Jae-chan suppressed his urge to run away and encouraged himself. He must not avoid this. He refused to let his fear of being abandoned by Woo-jin hold him back; even if it ended that way, he had to move forward.

He took a painful breath. With his forehead flushed red, Jae-chan waded through the swamp-like anxiety that had persistently troubled him since dating Woo-jin. Finally, he grasped it and dragged it to shore. He blurted it out all at once.

“I’m afraid you’ll fall in love with my junior.”

Jae-chan spoke so quickly that even Woo-jin, with his exceptional hearing, couldn’t understand it at first.

Gradually, like spilled water slowly seeping in, Woo-jin began to comprehend Jae-chan’s words. After a moment, Woo-jin asked back, feeling as dazed as when he had heard about Jae-chan’s regression.

“…You’re saying I’ll fall in love with someone other than you?”

“Yeah, my junior.”

“Which junior?”

Jae-chan’s eyes, not covered by the eyepatch, darted around nervously before he spoke in a forced light tone.

“Um, Nam Hae-sol from my team?”

Yet his voice trembled. As a bewildered gaze returned, Jae-chan hastily added.

“I know, I do. It sounds like a delusion to you.”

Meanwhile, Woo-jin, who was about to lash out feeling very wronged, hesitated. It was because Seon Jae-chan’s eyes were shaking violently. He was forcing a smile, but the corners of his mouth trembled. His cheeks twitched slightly too. Even without emotion transfer, Jae-chan’s state of mind was conveyed through those vivid tremors and gestures.

This was the first time Woo-jin had seen Jae-chan so anxious. He realized how serious this issue was for Jae-chan, even though it seemed absurd to him.

“…Perhaps.”

Woo-jin’s brow furrowed. He hated referring to himself like this, but he followed the thought anyway and voiced a possible scenario.

“Did the future ‘me’ date Guide Nam Hae-sol?”

Jae-chan swallowed hard and answered.

“Yes. For quite a long time. At least 4 years or more…”

He continued with the explanation he desperately didn’t want to give.

“The two of you seemed to have had good feelings for each other for a long time. Before I came back to the past, you were officially a couple.”

Jae-chan didn’t want to say this. He still wanted to hide it. But with the sole determination not to become Woo-jin’s flaw, Seon Jae-chan continued his explanation steadfastly, hiding his inner turmoil that felt like coughing up blood.

“Remember the Mentosa Island incident? I’m not sure exactly, but if I hadn’t gone, Guide Nam Hae-sol would have guided you. In the past, I didn’t go there, and Guide Kim Geun-won wasn’t there either, so I was curious about how you were guided. But after I finished guiding you… I found her on that island.”

Jae-chan detailed the circumstances before and after his regression, including Nam Myung-seong working at the Mentosa Island landscaping company and how he had been watching Woo-jin with interest.

“You two had a high matching rate too. Originally, it was 93%. It’s a bit lower now, but still, it’s quite high.”

Though it wasn’t something he was interested in, Woo-jin listened silently, simply because Jae-chan was speaking. He suddenly recalled past events. Jae-chan’s words about quitting as his pair guide and finding him a guide with a high matching rate.

An eerie feeling stirred in his mind.

Suddenly, Woo-jin’s neck stiffened. He felt a strong impulse to grab Jae-chan. Though not as intense as when he heard that surviving terrorists had tried to strip Jae-chan and turn him into a guiding machine, he was momentarily swept up in fierce anger again.

It was hard to accept all the circumstances where Jae-chan had almost distanced himself from him, willingly or unwillingly. Without Woo-jin knowing, Jae-chan had continuously tried to distance himself. More often than Woo-jin had been aware of.

Meanwhile, Seon Jae-chan, struggling just to control his own emotions, failed to notice Woo-jin’s changed demeanor.

“I don’t know if you remember the welcoming party for new Guides… but I saw how you looked at Guide Nam Hae-sol that day. It might just be my imagination, but it seemed like before.”

“…”

Woo-jin slowly approached Jae-chan. He gently embraced his unstable-looking shoulders. Suppressing the urge to crush him in his arms, he hid his hardened expression by looking over Jae-chan’s shoulder. While pretending to kindly stroke Jae-chan’s back and hair, he anxiously asked.

“…What do you mean it seemed like before?”

“You looked like you were smitten with Nam Hae-sol.”

Jae-chan mumbled in a weak voice, resting his chin on Woo-jin’s stiff shoulder. In fact, it wasn’t just at the new Guide welcoming party, but also when the two first met at the emergency guiding center. He thought Woo-jin’s gaze on Nam Hae-sol was different.

He thought it was inevitable. Even if he came back to the past, the right connections would find their place.

And this wasn’t the only thing bothering him.

“I said earlier that I was your weakness, right? Actually, not just me, but Nam Hae-sol was also treated as your vulnerability-“

Jae-chan suddenly stopped mid-explanation. He didn’t want to bring up stories related to Woo-jin’s background and stir up unpleasant memories unnecessarily.

However, Woo-jin had already heard about the Technician’s secret room from Chae Seong-hwan. It was five days ago when Nam Hae-sol visited the Ross Clinic to guide Jae-chan for the last time.

‘I thought I’d seen you before, you’re that trainee guide who came with us to Z Zone before. Ah, you’re now an official new member of Team 2, right?’

Chae Seong-hwan, who had come to visit, had acknowledged Nam Hae-sol.

Sensing Seong-hwan’s meaningful gaze, Woo-jin asked him about it after Nam Hae-sol left. As expected, Chae Seong-hwan mentioned the secret research room again and revealed that Nam Hae-sol’s photo, along with Jae-chan’s, was being treated as Go Woo-jin’s weakness.

‘The photo seemed a bit old, though.’

Such an additional explanation was added.

Go Woo-jin thought he understood the circumstances, why the Technician had pointed to Nam Hae-sol… no, ‘that photo’ as his weakness.

“Anyway, how do you feel now? About Nam Hae-sol, I mean, Guide Nam.”

Jae-chan asked, extremely tense.

He was anxious, wondering if he was needlessly exposing Woo-jin to his own fears, or if he was hastening the expiration date of what had been such a happy time.

At that moment, Woo-jin stood up. The sudden loss of warmth caused Jae-chan’s expression to freeze. Woo-jin noticed and paused for a moment. He reached down, pulling up the fallen blanket and carefully tucking it up to Jae-chan’s shoulders.

“I’m going to explain properly. I’ll be right back.”

Woo-jin kissed Jae-chan’s cheek and went out, then returned shortly. Oddly, he was holding his wallet.

From inside, he took out a single photo.

As soon as he saw the well-kept, slightly worn edges of the picture, Jae-chan felt as if a heavy stone had dropped onto his chest.

It was a photo of Nam Hae-sol.