Episode 291: The Hero of the First Poetry (2)
The boss grabbed my sagging arm and straightened me up.
“Get up, drink this, and come to your senses.”
The boss pushed the glass of water on the table toward me. His hand was still tightly holding the sashimi.
‘Still the same.’
No matter what this gentleman did, he never let go of his sword.
I drank the water the boss gave me, slowly and carefully, like a sinner.
“… Ugh.”
Then a groan escaped from me. It wasn’t because the water was poisoned, but rather…
“Why? I feel sick even if I only drink water on an empty stomach.”
The gentleman is like a ghost, and his eye for detail is still the same.
“…yes.”
I nodded silently. The boss stared at me with an angry face like a bull, then sighed softly.
“Wait a minute. I’ll bring you something simple.”
After saying those words, the boss quickly turned around and headed towards the kitchen.
“What is this?”
I drank all the water I had left in one gulp. It was bitter to rub my empty stomach with cold water, but at least the dizziness went away.
‘This is the store where I learned how to work under the boss.’
This is the conclusion I came to after looking around the interior carefully. I am not old enough to forget a place where I have stayed for nearly ten years.
“Even though I’m eighteen, I still have a bright future ahead of me… … .”
I stopped muttering and ran to the bathroom in a hurry. After passing through the short hallway and turning the corner, there was a bathroom. The soju baskets piled up on both sides of the hallway hit my toes.
“Ugh.”
It hurts. In the meantime, I was inwardly amazed. Each and every prop is so vivid. I could feel the pain of stubbing a toe, which is said to be the most painful thing in the world.
“… … !”
The moment I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, my eyes widened.
“oh my god.”
I scratched my cheek. Did I go back in time? If so, I would have thought, ‘Oh, it must all be my imagination.’
The reason I was so scared was because my face was just like Kanggeomma’s. I had the face of a character from ‘Miracle Protection M’ and I returned to the store I worked at on Earth.
It’s confusing. Not to mention the situation, but even more so because my boss treats me like I always do.
“What are you doing?”
A voice suddenly came from behind me. I turned around like a child who stole money from his mother’s wallet. The boss clicked his tongue with a pitiful look in his eyes.
“I was wondering why you didn’t even close the bathroom door because you had something important to do, but what you’re doing is touching your face? Did you like the changed face that much?”
“That’s not it… … .”
“If not that, then what?”
“…I’m just a little out of it.”
“What kind of spirit is this?”
“… … .”
Strangely, ever since I came here, I’ve been acting like a thief with numb feet. Is it because my family origin is the Seori Kang clan?
“Do it in moderation, in moderation. If you do that, your bones will wear out.”
“Oh, no. What!”
“I prepared the food, so come and eat.”
This time, I had no say. I checked my face in the mirror one last time before leaving the bathroom.
Thud, click.
I closed the door and turned off the lights. I didn’t want to get stabbed in the face. I’m not saying I actually got stabbed.
“oh.”
When I returned to where I was lying down, a sumptuous meal was laid out for me. Three dishes – a very generous meal by the boss’ standards – soybean paste stew and rice.
This is my favorite table setting. It was so clean that there wasn’t a single piece of glass left, as if they had swept the floor while setting it.
“Come and sit down and eat.”
The boss, who had sat down at the table first, nodded to the person across from me. I hesitated for a moment, but eventually did as I was told.
I sat down cautiously across from him. The next moment, a suffocating silence fell.
“… … .”
I lowered my eyes. I counted the number of grains of rice and reflected on the situation. I also glanced at the boss.
“Are you having a good time?”
As expected, the scolding came down. The boss is very strict about table manners. I know this because I have been scolded many times for it.
‘You’re the boss.’
Miracle Protection M Was the world too harsh for me? Suspicion is the default. Even if I’m the CEO, I always keep the ‘what if’ in mind.
But this man is my boss. He took me in, raised me, and put me to bed. My eyes were stinging and the tip of my nose felt tingly.
Instead of speaking, I picked up the spoon. I silenced my mouth before any other emotions could come out.
‘Damn. It’s just rice, but it’s so fucking delicious.’
Is it because I was fasting, or is it because my skills have been improving? It wasn’t to this extent.
I moved the spoon and chopsticks diligently. The boss looked at me expressionlessly.
He always has a cold look in his eyes, like a person who has become enlightened. I didn’t care. That guy is always like that.
‘Well, he is a great hero of the ancestral rites.’
It’s not entirely wrong to say that I’m detached from worldly affairs.
“So. What happened?”
The boss, who had been quiet, finally spoke. He stopped just before his chopsticks touched the fish cake stew.
“Didn’t you already know that?”
“What do you know by just showing up? You don’t know anything.”
“Oh, no. Just a moment.”
Thump, I put down my chopsticks.
“It’s not like I don’t know anything.”
“You still have selfish words that don’t expect the other person to understand. What’s the point of just using a knife? Your service spirit is terrible.”
“That’s not what I meant… … . Boss.”
“why.”
“How does my face look?”
The boss rolled his eyes.
“Are you crazy?”
“What?”
“The guy asked me what my face looked like. Do you like my changed face so much?”
“You see me with this face, sir, right?”
“right.”
“But why aren’t you surprised?”
“What should I be surprised at?”
“No, really.”
I roughly tousled my hair. I had forgotten. At that time, guests also usually had difficulty adapting to this unruly speech.
‘But later on, everyone said that he had a face imbued with the spirit of a craftsman.’
What I’m saying is that the boss is in no position to talk to me about service mentality.
That vegetable with that rice. The boss is just as good as me.
The difference between him and me is that he talks less and more. The boss is the former, and I am the latter.
‘Maybe my bad temper is something I learned from being tormented by this guy all the time.’
I feel like I’m facing myself much better now than when I looked in the mirror earlier.
Is this mirror therapy or something? My energy is being sucked out.
“You’ve always acted like an adult on the outside, but deep down you’ve always wanted to lean on someone.”
The president continued speaking with serious eyes.
“Look at it now. I’m sure you already know that. A conversation is not just about words, but also about emotions. If one side does it unilaterally, it’s a notification.”
Ah, now I understand. This guy.
“I don’t know your situation. I’m just guessing.”
You want to talk to me.
“So, let’s talk while we eat.”
The corners of the boss’s mouth remained straight. However, I felt a kind smile spread across my face.
“What happened in my hometown and the academy I founded for you.”
* * *
The president listened to my story with his eyes closed. I told him everything that had happened during the year since I entered Joaquin Academy.
To sum it up, I almost died once a month for a year. I’m not exaggerating, it was true. Midterms, Buffalo Dungeon, Avalon Island, Joaquin disaster, Gehenna Gate defense operation…
… These are incidents and accidents that make you wonder how I’m still alive today. I don’t know if it was luck or bad luck, but I can’t help but say that the heavens really helped me.
That’s not all. In the end, he was even beaten by Leon and flown into space. And as if that wasn’t enough, he was even crashed on the moon.
My memory was cut off there, and I’m sitting here eating with the boss. Now that I think about it, the causal relationship is a bit bizarre.
‘But, even when I was on Earth and flew to the Miraculous Protection M world, there was almost no causal relationship.’
One day, I opened my eyes and found myself possessed in someone else’s body. There was no trigger, like being hit by a truck or falling from a rooftop.
It just happened. It was like that a year and a half ago, and it’s similar now.
And the cause of this causal relationship that has been cut off from both the front and back is right before our eyes.
The hero of the poem, Balor Joaquin. His Earthly name is the rather savory Hoakhyun.
“… That’s how things turned out.”
The president opened his eyes. Contrary to his meaningful words, his tone was very low.
“Do you have any idea?”
“huh.”
“I know a little bit too. Why I went to that world. And how I ended up here after filming Leon and Dragonball.”
“It’s a question, it’s a challenge.”
The boss asked back, resting his chin on his hand.
“I have a question.”
“That talking piece of shit is just a joke.”
The boss sighed and said,
“The first question is one I cannot answer. It was not my will that intervened. All I did was recommend a game to you that resembled my hometown.”
The boss continued talking, wetting his tongue with soju.
“Honestly, I was surprised at the time. I never thought that the academy I founded would come out in the form of a game. That must have been what the foreign press meant.”
“… So, the culprit who dropped me into Miracle Protection M was not the president, but the foreign media, is that it?”
“Maybe so, maybe not.”
“Have you become a new person while I was away? Why has your speech become so slurred? It’s frustrating for the listener.”
“There is no such thing as ‘confirmation’ in the foreign press. He is merely an observer. He is extremely reluctant to intervene. However, if he intervenes, it is proof that the entire world line is in danger.”
Without saying a word, the boss rolled the soju glass back and forth in the palm of his hand.
“I think that’s what I dropped you there to prevent… … .”
It is a body with an extremely good cost-effectiveness, with a pale complexion that can still get drunk on a glass of soju.
“… It seems like the world is ruined.”
The boss muttered something that sounded like an apocalyptic prophecy. The world is going to end? I didn’t know what to expect, so I asked him right away.
“What are you talking about, the world is going to end?”
“It’s literally true. The world, no, the entire worldline will be destroyed.”
“The warrior… was destroyed by Leon van Reinhardt?”
“no.”
The boss shook his head firmly. Then he pointed his index finger at me and pointed it straight at me.
“you.”
My index finger also pointed to myself.
“I?”
“Yeah. You destroyed it.”
I didn’t understand. Seeing my strangely changed expression, the boss put away the soju glass and filled the beer glass with soju.
“You should know that the power within you is enough to easily destroy a world.”
“yes.”
The boss speaks, holding a beer glass to his lips.
“Also, you know that your body belongs to a Lycan.”
“yes.”
He hums as if he is enjoying a leisurely time while completely drunk.
“Your humanity was what coordinated and supported those two. But in the end, you gave it up. You were consumed by the urge to cut down the false gods, and eventually became intoxicated with the sword.”
The boss drank half of the soju left in his beer glass in one go. Oh, that’s a lethal dose for that guy.
“You will meet the same fate as the God of Swords. No, it would be worse. The God of Swords committed suicide before destroying the world, but you will eventually cut the world apart. The last remaining bit of humanity seems to have come here through the ‘Evil Eye of Reverse Heaven.’ It is only a matter of time before the world is destroyed.”
The boss I remember always had a face without shadows. However, just now, his taste seemed bitter. The glass he was drinking was a bitter cup in many ways.
“sorry…….”
I squeezed my voice in pain as I looked at such a teacher. The boss opened his eyes wide. His eyes were swollen, probably because he had drunk to the limit.
“What do you have to be sorry for? You did your best.”
The boss laughed bitterly.
“I’m not judging you just by listening to your story, but I’m saying this because I know you better than anyone else. You did what you could. I can’t fathom what the outside world would think, but I’m sure you did more than they expected.”
I let out a sigh. The boss praised me, but it was painful to hear.
“…Is there no other way?”
“… … .”
The owner stared at his beer glass with his mouth shut. The faint lighting mixed in like seasoning with the atmosphere of the store reflected on the glass surface.
He opened his mouth without looking at me.
“There is one. But it’s not a method I would recommend to my child.”
“Please let me know.”
I pulled my upper body forward and pushed my face in. The boss looked at me with only one eye open.
“You might think that death would be sweeter. Is that okay?”
He answered immediately.
“yes.”
“That world isn’t your home in the first place. There’s no need for you to sacrifice yourself like that. But why?”
“This is your hometown, sir.”
I smiled slightly.
“The president is my adoptive father, so isn’t this place just like my hometown?”
The boss looked dumbfounded for a moment. That’s the face he usually makes when he’s angry, so it’s normal for him to yell at him.
“You loser.”
But the boss laughed. He threw the beer mug over his shoulder and immediately started blowing on the bottle.
As I was trying to stop him, thinking that he might really die, he downed the bottle of soju and wiped his mouth.
“The beginning and the end are the same.”
At this moment, the table, lights, and various decorations shook violently as if an earthquake had occurred. The walls and floor cracked and pillars of light rose through the gaps.
“Go back to the mythical age before the beginning. Then you can prevent the planned end.”
The corners of the boss’s mouth are half visible beyond the flash that splits the field of vision.
“Run faster than light and turn back time. Turn back everything.”
“… … !”
While losing consciousness.
“I am not the progenitor of heroes.”
The boss playfully stroked my head with one hand.
“You will be it, son.”
