Chapter 442: What Should We Do From Now On (6)

It was okay if he didn't understand me. Even if he couldn’t accept my story after hearing all of it, that was fine. I was just grateful that Goh Yoo-Joon was willing to listen to my unbelievable story.

“...And so, the members and I eventually stopped contacting each other as much."

“We did?" Goh Yoo-Joon tilted his head with a puzzled look.

Indeed, the additional details I divulged were far more unbelievable than what Goh Yoo-Joon had heard earlier. I told him there had been an incident where lights fell on my face, preventing my debut and leading us to drift apart to the point of awkwardness. Each of us ended up living our separate lives.

It must have been impossible for Goh Yoo-Joon from this timeline to even imagine us having such a friendship. But he accepted it.

“Ah... Hah, now I understand why there was an awkwardness between us in my memories over the past few days. Honestly, distancing ourselves because of an accident seems absurd. Why did I do that?"

“No, it was not like that."

Goh Yoo-Joon naturally spoke as if our estrangement was his fault. But that wasn't the truth.

“It was my fault. I drifted away from the members because it became painful for me to see you guys."

How could that be the members' fault? It was I who had cruelly pushed them away even though they had always reached out to me.

“Anyway, the important part is how I came back to the past."

Even as I spoke, I worried that the truth about me coming from the future might make Goh Yoo-Joon feel alienated, but his expression didn't seem to show that. It was just as I had seamlessly integrated with them upon arriving here, like before.

It seemed Goh Yoo-Joon still saw me as the same Suh Hyun-Woo he knew, as long as I appeared the same.

“I was working as a trainer at YU..."

There, I forged my path by teaching trainees. I had thought it was okay to live that life, watching my trainees debut, shine, and quickly succeed.

Yet part of me became caught in indescribable feelings. I was happy but envious of their success. Instead of sending them onto the stage, I wanted to take their place and walk on stage myself.

But back then, even stepping onto stage was incredibly difficult for me. I wished to be the one shining brightly by receiving love from many fans. I always had dreams I dared not desire.

“During that time, I was invited to the first overseas tour concert of my trainees."

Then the accident happened, and when I woke up, I was here. I had returned to the past, and everything had reset. Given another chance to start over, I did my best and made it where I was now.

There were a few instances of returning to that time due to the creator god's tricks, but I didn't talk about that. Even for me, the events of that time were not well-organized in my mind.

Just when I thought everything was over... things suddenly changed with the start of the synchronization.

“One day, the members started changing. This happened recently."

“Recently?" Goh Yoo-Joon pondered for a moment before asking with a very surprised expression, “Are you talking about the days when our memories became weird?"

“Yes."

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Up until now, Goh Yoo-Joon looked like he was listening to a fairy tale, but now his gaze changed. His interest naturally increased when I started talking about his own experiences.

I nodded and continued speaking. From that point, I needed to be careful with my words since it involved incidents caused by the Elated members using the bodies of Chronos.

“The reason I could return to the past is..." My throat choked up. As I tried to speak, emotions surged, and I momentarily stopped. After calming down a bit, I continued. “The members at that time made a deal with the creator god."

“A deal?"

“The fact that your future selves became Chronos for a while was a side effect of that deal."

Talking about synchronization, choices, and sacrifices required too much emotional expenditure to detail. So I explained just enough for Goh Yoo-Joon to understand.

“What you are hazily remembering are their memories. Did it seem awkward? It was indeed very weird and awkward."

“Ah, I thought it was a bit strange. But it feels a bit unpleasant. My future self didn’t do anything strange while possessing me, did he?" Goh Yoo-Joon didn't seem to be angry. He had a very realistic reaction.

I shook my head. “They just came here to apologize and make amends before leaving."

I didn't go as far as to say that there had been a close call when his body had almost been taken over by Elated Goh Yoo-Joon permanently. I had to ease his mind and avoid unnecessary worry.

Anyway, I said all I had to say. “That's everything that has happened up to today."

I finished speaking and looked at Goh Yoo-Joon as if waiting for a review. A long silence stretched, but it wasn't a bad kind of silence.

What deep thoughts was Goh Yoo-Joon harboring? The furrow in his brow deepened. He must have been piecing together what he just heard with what he had seen in his memories.

...Given the nature of our conversation, it could take some time before he spoke.

After what felt like a long wait, Goh Yoo-Joon finally said, “I get it now."

“...Hmm?"

‘What is he talking about?’

Of course, this conversation had revealed a lot, but it seemed Goh Yoo-Joon was referring to something else.

“It's hard to believe. We've been living ordinarily up until now, haven't we?"

“That's right."

We ate, slept, and lived our lives without any major incidents, and suddenly to say 'There's magic in this world!' or 'There's a creator god!' would make anyone think we were part of a cult. It was natural not to believe my story.

I nodded silently, and Goh Yoo-Joon chuckled. “But if I try to think of it as not a joke as promised..." He suddenly became serious. “The things I found a bit strange now make sense, especially stuff about you."

“Ah.”

“And about my strange memories and what Joo-Han hyung has been saying... So..." He hesitated and then glanced at me. “I guess I have no choice but to believe you."

From his expression, it seemed he wasn't fully convinced—he was still half believing, half doubting. If he truly believed, then all the situations I had been through because of past traumas, like collapsing on stage or having an episode at the airport, would all make sense.

Since the members had been persistently asking back then, and I had carefully dodged their questions, he must feel even more relieved now. If he didn’t trust me, well, then everything I had said would just be taken as a friend's joke.

Either way, it didn’t matter to me. I would gain another understanding friend and Goh Yoo-Joon can come to terms with everything that has happened if he believed in me. If that was not the case, we could both comfortably live as if nothing happened.

...Though Goh Yoo-Joon had already said he believed it.

“But I’m still curious about something."

“What?"

Goh Yoo-Joon’s expression turned playful again. “Is there anything that changed in this timeline compared to the other one?"

“...What?"

“You never debuted in that timeline, right? But you did here. So other things must have changed too, right? For example..." Goh Yoo-Joon grinned. “Maybe another member was supposed to join instead of you."

An involuntary laugh escaped me because of Goh Yoo-Joon’s absurd question. From the way he spoke, he seemed to believe me, but, let’s say... He believed it on a level where he couldn’t quite grasp it as reality.

It was ridiculous, but having him believe in this way might be far more gratifying for me than him not believing at all.

“Haha."

Above all, I felt incredibly relieved now.

“There wasn’t such a member. You four debuted and worked hard."

Thinking about it, he was right. The group was supposed to consist of five members, so if I had been dropped, the company might have added another member.

I pondered a curious realization. What had changed since I returned to the past that I could tell Goh Yoo-Joon... Too much had changed already, so it was hard to decide what to tell him.

“Ah, On-Sae was a trainee at YU originally."

“Really?" Goh Yoo-Joon’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“He was my first student. I never thought he’d appear on

Pick We Up,

much less transfer to YMM."

“Ha, that explains why you always looked after him."

At first, he had been the hardest to get close to due to his shyness, but over time as he opened up, he often came to me for advice even after his debut.

What else was there? The memories of In-Hyun getting fired, our group not winning

Pick We Up,

and the disbandment of Elated crossed my mind. At that time, I was so depressed that only unpleasant emotions came to mind... It was better not to talk about them.

I shouldn’t have spoken about things from the future that had not happened yet either.

Ah.

“The dorms are better now."

“Oh, yeah?" Goh Yoo-Joon showed even more surprise than before.

Chronos had secured a solid push by winning

Pick We Up.

Our start was naturally much better than Elated’s. Of course, there was a difference in popularity, and the new dorms we moved into had to be significantly different. Well, thanks to Supervisor Kim, who lavishly poured out his budget for us even though it made him cry.

The Elated dorm wasn’t bad in terms of size, but had severe security issues... Stalkers harassed the members, and complaints from other residents were so extreme that all members eventually moved out to their own places, starting with Joo-Han.

“It's fascinating that so many things have changed. Ah, obviously, the biggest change is that you debuted with us~"

Goh Yoo-Joon’s serious face from before was gone, replaced by the Goh Yoo-Joon I knew. A natural smile appeared on my lips. Yes, this was the real Goh Yoo-Joon.

“Anything else?"

It had been a while since we had such a long conversation. Goh Yoo-Joon kept asking me various questions, and I selectively shared the acceptable stories. The lengthy talk went on for a while, but surprisingly, I wasn’t tired at all. Actually, it was quite enjoyable.