119 – The Returner is Surprised (1)
“Mr. Really… I have ADHD… “
“But I’m glad they gave me food… “
“Seup. Let’s not talk and focus. “We have to finish this quickly.”
3Rd floor. Around this time, Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin were in the midst of putting together a 4,000-piece puzzle.
“aaah!!!”
Suddenly, Choi Ji-won is rolling around on the floor, holding his head.
“Ji, Jiwon!!!”
Firefighter Park Cheol-jin, startled by her, runs towards her in a hurry.
“Puzzle, puzzle!!! Mister!!!”
“No!!!”
Around the time when the other two people were shocked to see the puzzles being scattered in all directions by Park Cheol-jin.
“Ah… “
Choi Ji-won slowly stands up, tears streaming down her face, and touches her lips.
“Ah…
Tutorial. Goblin Shaman. Betrayal. Despair. Kim Jun-ho’s declaration as a returnee. Darkness.
A miserable failure on the 4th floor. Kim Jun-ho finally arrived. The times I spent with him.
About two episodes worth of memories were stuck in Choi Ji-won’s mind.
“… “
A memory too clear and vivid to be a simple illusion.
‘Ji, Jiwon. What is this memory? No… ‘
Perhaps Bungbung also feels this memory, as he speaks in a very embarrassed voice.
“Jiwon. Are you okay?”
“Mister. Wait a minute.”
Firefighter Park Cheol-jin tries to help her, but Choi Ji-won refuses and gets up on her own.
Is this a ploy by TOP? Or did knowledge of the future or the past really flow into her? There is one way to check.
“Puzzle.”
“… What?”
“Where’s the puzzle?”
I had to go to the 4th floor to see it.
**
“… Ugh.”
Morning sunlight falls through the gaps in the blinds. I rubbed my eyes and woke up in a daze.
“… What.”
My mind is cloudy. It seems that the brain is still walking the border between dreams and reality. Wash your face dry and wake up your mind.
“So… “
Yesterday evening.
Choi Ji-won came to my living room. With the words, “It’s been a while.”
As she froze, I hugged her tightly as soon as I realized her situation, and we stood like that for a long time.
What followed immediately after the hug was a conversation. A story that left me completely devastated. A story about how she deeply resented her. A story about wasting time like a waste of time.
The story of Choi Ji-won regaining memories of the tutorial and previous episode. The story of entering the 4th floor after solving the puzzle quickly. A story about escaping from the castle like I did and saving everyone.
When asked how she did such a thing as she had no relevant characteristics, she said that when she identified herself as ‘Choi Ji-won, who changed the second floor’, she was able to get his full cooperation. Yes, when I think about it, Choi Ji-won was a national celebrity whose identity had already been stolen.
Of course, there was so much I wanted to say besides the tower story, and we continued to talk until it got dark. As we pondered together the memories that only I remembered, our story blossomed.
However, no matter how superhuman you are, if you keep talking, you will get thirsty, and unfortunately, there was no water in the house.
We went down to a nearby convenience store together because it didn’t seem right to drink tap water, so we grabbed a few cans of beer and snacks, and when we returned to our room, we celebrated our reunion by having a small drinking party.
“… “
The atmosphere was very bright, wholesome, and enjoyable.
“Yaaah… Kim Junho… Don’t you have a girlfriend? ?”
“Nothing, man.”
“Unexpectedly… “
Until Choi Ji-won, who was drunk, started hitting on me. Who would have thought that this would be the first time for a 20-year-old girl to drink alcohol?
All this time, I considered Choi Ji-won a friend and companion. Of course, they broke up with a kiss in the last episode… Isn’t that something you can do when your emotions are overflowing?
But as soon as the alcohol started to pour in, my room was slowly filled with her scent, and Choi Ji-won started to cling to me.
“Could you please go away?”
Choi Ji-won, she started to look like a woman.
I am also a healthy man. Choi Ji-won is even an incredibly pretty woman. She did kendo, so she has a nice body. This means that it was an enormous hardship to endure.
“Yaaa… Kim Joonooooo… “
“Just stay still.”
But I did it in the end. I roughly laid the drunk Choi Ji-won down, cleaned up the table, turned off the light, and lay down on the bed.
I am a regressor. It was difficult to suppress fleshly desires with mental strength, but it was entirely possible.
I was so satisfied with my own self-control that I was about to fall into despair.
“Heo-eok.”
It has been reached. The chest. On your arm.
Choi Ji-won is tossing and turning, so her chest is touching my arm.
“… “
The weight class is not average. Her sports bra made her incredibly underrated.
Is it okay for it to stay like this? Wouldn’t she be angry if she woke up later?
My heart is pounding loudly, and my face gets hot. After thinking about it over and over again, I decided to correct Jiwon Choi’s posture like an adult with manners.
“… “
“… “
I didn’t know that her eyes would meet as she looked at me.
“… “Weren’t you sleeping?”
“… “I can’t sleep.”
Inside a dark room. The moonlight shines dimly. The sound of my heart beating loudly rings in my ears.
“… “Why are you looking at me so intently?”
Choi Ji-won’s lips looked particularly attractive. Her embarrassed expression shakes my senses. It was the limit.
“… “Jiwon.”
“… Huh?”
Even the strong mental power of the returnee collapsed in the face of too much stimulation, like a four-story castle wall.
And, and…
Last night. I did it. With Choi Ji-won.
“Huh… “
As soon as my memories came back, my face turned red.
How should I accept this? How should I treat her from now on?
She was scratching the back of her head due to the mounting worries.
“… “
“… “
Next to the bed. Her eyes meet with Choi Ji-won, who has lifted the blanket up to her nose. Likewise, her face has turned red.
“No, uh, that…” “
I was embarrassed and tried to say something.
“… “
Graceful curves that not even a blanket can hide. Pure white skin. Sweet scent.
It paralyzed my reason again.
“… “
“… “
The atmosphere in the room heated up again.
**
After tidying up our surroundings and straightening up, the two of us sat down on the bed.
“It was my first time.”
“Uh, yeah… me too… “
“If I had the ability to regress, I would have regressed. “Because I suffered damage.”
“… “
“… “Take responsibility.”
“… Huh.”
The two of us sat in our seats awkwardly and looked at the floor. Both of their faces are close to the color of blush.
No, even if it’s me. I thought Choi Ji-won was an incredible woman, but why is she so embarrassed?
“Well, first of all… “Would you like to eat something?”
“… Huh.”
There was no conversation until we had roughly settled down for lunch. Even though I feel that we are getting closer to each other, I feel subtly embarrassed to look at our faces.
“Uh, that… “
We can’t waste time like this without saying anything. To change the mood, I bring up the concerns that have been on my mind.
“What do you think are the conditions for memories to be maintained?”
Choi Ji-won does not remember all episodes. Tutorial session. And he only remembers the last episode.
All other episodes, and this episode. And what are the differences between the tutorial sessions?
What is the difference between Choi Ji-won and other people?
“…I think it’s more likely to be ’emotion’.”
Keywords consistently emphasized by TOP. Emotion. I thought it was highly likely that it was influenced by that, and Choi Ji-won nodded slightly as if it was the same.
“It’s the same in the tutorial and the last episode… I had a regression when I was with you, and my emotions became very intense. “I think that’s probably the condition.”
While climbing the tower, although I shuddered at the tower’s irrational system, I counted on one hand the few times I had direct, intense feelings toward a person.
When I was with Choi Ji-won in the tutorial.
When betrayed by Dok Soo-hee.
And this time, when I broke up with Choi Ji-won.
Other than that, I have never had particularly strong feelings for anyone. So, emotions.
“But here’s the funny thing… “
Then, why didn’t Choi Ji-won’s memories come back during the tutorial? Why did he come back in this episode with the memories of the tutorial combined?
There must be some trigger other than my emotions. Otherwise there is no explanation.
“Perhaps ‘my feelings’ are also included in the condition?”
Choi Ji-won speaks quietly.
“Actually… At the time of the tutorial, I had half given up. I also had in mind the thought that I might be left behind after you return. So the support I gave you at the end wasn’t entirely sincere… “
“You mean the last episode was different?”
“That’s right.”
Then it makes sense. My feelings. And the subject’s emotions. The moment two things come together, it becomes a trigger and the memory returns. It’s a convincing enough story.
“The problem is… “
All of this is a hypothesis. The point is that we cannot be sure.
What if the return of Choi Ji-won’s memories was only a one-time thing? What if she regresses right now and she looks at me strangely?
There is no catastrophe like this. I’m smiling now, but if Choi Ji-won’s memories suddenly disappear, she might go completely crazy.
However, in order to know clear conditions, regression must be performed first. How should I act in this situation?
“Junho.”
Choi Ji-won, who saw me frowning and thinking, smiled softly even though she was embarrassed.
“What do you do by worrying about a problem that doesn’t give you an answer no matter how much you think about it?”
“… But.”
“Let’s just go to the 5th floor together. “What do you think?”
“… “5Th floor?”
Certainly… Going to the 5th floor is the best under the current circumstances.
When you go to the 5th floor, the return point is updated. This means that ‘Choi Ji-won, whose memories have returned’, is saved, and her worries about losing who she is now disappear.
“… “
Above all, if we enter the 5th floor together, we can prevent a disaster like the 4th floor. The more I think about it, the more I think this method is the best.
“Then.”
Now that the task has been decided, all that remains is execution. We changed our clothes, got in shape, and opened the portal to the first floor.
“Hey, Kim Jun-ho.”
“… Huh?”
Choi Ji-won speaks with a red face, avoiding eye contact.
“Let’s go and see.”
After saying those words, she immediately threw herself into the portal.
“… Okay.”
I also went straight to the 5th floor. To move forward.
[Enter the 5th floor.]