Side Story Chapter 1. The World Without Him

Chi-Woo realized that his consciousness was wandering across space. For a moment, he wondered what had happened before he came to a realization. Eventually, a feeling of emptiness, dread, and sadness all rushed to him at once as he recalled the last thing he saw before closing his eyes. The scene Chi-Woo remembered couldn’t simply be described as deplorable or atrocious.

Right after coming out of Future Yoo-Joo’s space, Chi-Woo had determined himself to never do one thing: he would never awaken his power prematurely even if it killed him. Rather than killing his brother and the others with his own hands, he preferred death. And the price he had to pay for that determination was truly cruel. He had endured until now by gritting it out somehow to this point where they had a showdown with the alliance of the Sernitas and the Abyss. Unfortunately, he couldn’t go beyond that.

After paying a great sacrifice, he thought victory was imminent when the Sernitas went berserk and revealed their main body. With all the forces they had been hiding deployed, their might rendered everything meaningless. In the end, everything crumbled, and even the planet Liber was destroyed. Thus, Chi-Woo naturally contemplated whether he should’ve just awakened his powers despite the consequences. But of course, he knew better than anyone else that if he had done that, nothing would’ve changed; only he would become the perpetrator instead of the Sernitas, and the scale of the destruction would be much greater.

Thus, he managed to prevent the future that he wanted to avoid at all costs, but he didn’t manage to accomplish more than that. With this, his life came to a complete end, and nothing remained. Chi-Woo recalled the last memory he saw and shuddered. It was so terrifying that he wanted to turn away and escape the scene as soon as possible. Then, Chi-Woo wondered whether his consciousness would keep wandering forever like this. If this was the suffering and price he needed to pay for his actions, he would wholeheartedly accept it.

Chi-Woo was resigning himself to his fate when he heard a sudden sound. His body and soul should’ve been ripped by the Sernitas without a trace. So how could his hearing still be intact? Chi-Woo tilted his ears and was able to hear what was going on more clearly. Though the commotion sounded like cries, it didn’t give a negative feeling. Instead, it sounded like cries of joy. Thinking that there was something off, Chi-Woo opened his eyes wide and saw what was before him.

Now, even his vision was intact, but before he could be surprised about that, he found himself staring blankly ahead. Shifting his gaze down from the sky, he saw a scene he couldn’t believe at all. All his dead companions, including Chi-Hyun, were all alive again and were hugging each other and shedding tears of happiness. And it wasn’t just about the battlefield; the entire planet, Liber, which had crumbled into such tiny pieces and eventually dust, was now in one piece. The world overflowed with vitality and poured out life force more vigorously than ever before.

Chi-Woo couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He looked around until his eyes settled on one man. There was a young man smirking at him with his arms crossed. When their eyes met, the man winked and said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Smartie.”

Seeing the man who looked just like him, Smart Chi-Woo finally understood what had happened.

“Ha…” Smart Chi-Woo’s mouth gaped open. “Haha…” Laughter kept pouring out of his mouth, unbidden. He had entertained the possibility, but to think it would really come true. Smart Chi-Woo felt a sense of infinity from the being in front of him and became certain: Chi-Woo had come to keep the promise he made to Smart Chi-Woo and brought about this situation with his own power.

“But this is really amazing,” Chi-Woo said with a smile. “To think that you would really not accept your fate.”

“…It’s because I knew…that I wouldn’t be able to do it…” Smart Chi-Woo said a bit downheartedly. Then, his mouth opened and closed again. There were many things he wanted to say, but an emotion he couldn’t put into words was stuck in his throat. Yet there was no need for Chi-Woo to hear Smart Chi-Woo put things into words. The dried streaks of tears on Smart Chi-Woo’s face already showed what he felt clearly.

“For now, I made the situation based on the future I reached…is there anything else you need?”

“No, this is enough. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Chi-Woo smiled seeing Smart Chi-Woo shake his head. Though they were meeting each other after a long time, there was no need for them to ask how the other had been. They knew the answer to that question better than anyone else.

“Thank you.” At Chi-Woo’s sudden expression of gratitude, Smart Chi-Woo looked confusedly at him. It was he who should thank Chi-Woo more than a thousand times.

“You must also know as someone who had gone through the same experience as me…but it wasn’t easy. I almost broke down multiple times in the middle.”

“Ah…”

“But I was able to grit it out thanks to what you told me before we separated.”

Smart Chi-Woo recalled the words he had said and smiled. “I thought if you didn’t accomplish what we were all striving for, no one else could do it. If someone accomplished this task, I thought it could only be you.” And Chi-Woo proved him right by coming to him like this.

“Well then, although we are meeting after a long time…”

Smart Chi-Woo felt his floating body gradually descend.

“I think I need to leave now since there are still so many places for me to go.”

As soon as their feet touched the ground, Chi-Woo heard voices desperately calling out to him. The situation would likely be the same for Chi-Woos and Yoo-Joos from other worlds, and they were probably calling Chi-Woo’s name in remembrance of their meeting from that day—just like Smart Chi-Woo did. Smart Chi-Woo understood what Chi-Woo was saying and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Yes, go ahead.” He broke into a bright smile as he continued, “Please quickly go and save those who are also despairing as I did.”

“That’s what I plan to do. Then, farewell. Live a happy life doing whatever you want.” Chi-Woo shook his hand and immediately faded out of view. Smart Chi-Woo looked around with a slightly dazed face. It felt as if he was having a dream, but it wasn’t one. He inhaled deeply and rushed toward the area where he heard people. That was the place where he needed to go and was the world that Chi-Woo had made for him.

***

When Chi-Woo went inside Future Yoo-Joo’s space, he interacted with not all but many of the other versions of himself. Now, they were all overjoyed to be reunited with Chi-Woo.

“Chi-Woo!” Stupid Yoo-Joo rushed to Chi-Woo as soon as she saw him. She dug her face into his shirt and cried profusely with tears and snot trickling down her face. Chi-Woo needed to quickly go to the next world, but Stupid Yoo-Joo didn’t let him go and continued to cry. She kept saying that she knew and believed that he would come, and she was so grateful to him that he really did. Chi-Woo looked a bit lost about what to do.

But besides that, this was truly an interesting world he was in. The majority of the people surrounding Stupid Yoo-Joo were men, and the great majority piercingly staring at him were also men. They all looked back and forth between Stupid Yoo-Joo and Chi-Woo with dazed looks on their faces. While they were thankful to Chi-Woo for saving them, they also felt conflicted.

“I’m sorry sir, but…who are you?” In the end, Emmanuel from Stupid Yoo-Joo’s world asked.

“Ah, I am…” Chi-Woo was going to answer, but he suddenly felt like playing with them a bit. With a smirk, he pulled Stupid Yoo-Joo closer to him. “Who do you think I am? Can’t you see how close we are?” Chi-Woo said while resting his chin on top of Stupid Yoo-Joo’s head.

“What?!” Stupid Yoo-Joo also seemed surprised by Chi-Woo’s response—so surprised that she stopped crying. “Huh? Eh?” Confused, she looked up, and her eyes met Chi-Woo’s before they immediately went down again. Her already flushed cheeks became noticeably redder, and she chewed on her lower lip while wiggling her ten fingers. What?…what was this response?

“?” Chi-Woo had been planning to say he was joking when Stupid Yoo-Joo asked what kind of nonsense he was pulling; he felt further taken aback when she shyly dug deeper into his shirt.

“No, I’m joking. Just joking,” Chi-Woo explained while pushing Stupid Yoo-Joo far away. He needed to quickly do this because the male companions near her were looking crushed in another sense.

“Don’t worry everyone. I’m her older cousin. Just to make an extra note, in my world, it’s not permitted for cousins to marry.”

“Umph! Urgh!” Chi-Woo added a side note and covered Stupid Yoo-Joo’s mouth as she tried to explain.

“Ah, I see. I was wondering who you were. Thank you for saving us again.”

“Haha. As I thought.”

“Thank you for the extra information, sir. It was very informative to learn about cultures from other worlds.”

Colors returned to the faces of Stupid Yoo-Joo’s male companions, and many of them smiled in relief. And thus, Chi-Woo turned away from Stupid Yoo-Joo as she persistently asked why he was already leaving and pleaded with him to stay. He quickly left the world. Since he saw how much Stupid Yoo-Joo was loved in this world, it appeared that there was nothing more for him to worry about. But of course, if there was a world like that one, there would be another one matching it.

“Ohhhhhh Evelyn~”

“…”

After saving such a world, Chi-Woo got an unpleasant feeling for the first time since he began his journey to save other worlds. Though Chi-Woo went as far as to save his world, Stupid Chi-Woo—no, Pervert Chi-Woo rushed into Evelyn’s arms and rubbed his face into Evelyn’s chest. Chi-Woo wondered if he should’ve really saved a guy like this. Truthfully, Chi-Woo would be able to understand his behavior if it was just Evelyn. Since he was also officially dating Evelyn, he also planned to do the same after he finished his journey and returned home.

“My Lord, please gather yourself.” But Chi-Woo came to a halt when he saw two ladies he had never seen before. Though he had traveled to many worlds, he had never seen this woman with eye-catching beauty.

“I go by the name Ru Amura, sir. I sincerely thank you on behalf of my lord.”

“My name is Emmanuela, sir. I also express my gratitude to you.”

A woman as elegant as a princess’ knight and another woman who looked like a proud, noble lady greeted him. Chi-Woo felt a bit taken aback to see that this was a world where Ru Amuh’s and Emmanuela’s sex changed. Of course, there would be a world like this one too.

“Hehe…” Sitting on the ground between them, Pervert Chi-Woo hugged both of them and rubbed his face against their thighs. Ru Amura let out a low sigh when she saw him, and Emmanuela seemed to have also resigned herself to bear with the situation. Seeing that, Chi-Woo simultaneously felt envious and fiercely jealous. These two were both men in his world! And he couldn’t act like this even if he wished to!

Of course, if he wanted to, changing a person’s sex was not even a big task, but still, he couldn’t go around changing someone’s sex just because he wanted it. Anyways, he was still envious.

“My Lord, your savior is looking at you. Please get it together.”

“Hm?” At Ru Amura’s soft suggestion, Pervert Chi-Woo glanced at Chi-Woo. Then, his eyes widened in shock to see Chi-Woo’s hair color change to gold while his skin color turned tanned. He even had a noticeable gold necklace hanging around his neck.

“Heey. How could you guys be the only ones having fun?” Chi-Woo chuckled and swaggered his way across with his hands inside his pockets. “What am I going to do?”

“Hiiiiii?” Seeing that Chi-Woo had turned into a girlfriend-stealing gangster, Pervert Chi-Woo’s mouth gaped in shock. He had a frightening feeling that he would lose Evelyn, Ru Amura, and Emmanuela at this rate. Then, afterward, he would go back to Earth alone and spend some lonely days until he received a mysterious video with nothing written on it.

“Ah, no! No! Noooooo!” Pervert Chi-Woo shrieked with foam coming out of his mouth, and Chi-Woo stopped. He could see how much Pervert Chi-Woo hated this idea as the man went berserk for a while and even lost consciousness.

“Ah, seriously. I was joking. Just joking,” Chi-Woo said in bafflement and laughed humorlessly. Then, he turned to his original form. Evelyn lifted the sniffing Pervert Chi-Woo and patted his back before looking up with a wry smile on her face.

“I heard a lot about you,” she said.

“Sorry? About me?” Chi-Woo pointed to himself, and Evelyn smiled.

“Yes. One day, I suddenly asked where he had been to, and he told me he met countless other versions of himself.”

“Ah, he told you about that.”

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Although he gave up in the middle and came back…he told me that he saw another version of himself that was much greater than him,” Evelyn continued in a calm voice. “He said that version was so great he couldn’t even compare, and that Chi-Woo was surely the greatest among all other Chi-Woos from parallel worlds. It was the first time I saw him speak with such assurance.”

“…”

“So, he told me to not worry…because even if he fails, that greatest Chi-Woo would surely come to help us.”

Evelyn hadn’t really paid attention to Pervert Chi-Woo’s words then, but they really became a reality in the end. Chi-Woo remembered his promise and came to them.

“I see,” Chi-Woo said with a smirk.

“Anyway, you really are dignified as I heard. How should I say this? Is there also another me in your world?”

“Ms. Evelyn. Yes, of course.”

“As I thought…I’m so envious of myself in that world. So very jealous. I’m sure she thought you were so trustworthy…” Evelyn seemed truly jealous of her other self as she repeated this point many times. Even Ru Amura and Emmanuela showed similar responses.

It was understandable because although Chi-Woo hadn’t seen Pervert Chi-Woo much, it was hard to differentiate whether Evelyn was dealing with a lover or taking care of a full-grown kid.

“Well, if there’s a Chi-Woo like me, there’s also a Chi-Woo like this one. You still love him right?”

Evelyn’s eyes turned wide at Chi-Woo’s question.

“Yes, certainly I do.” She smiled brightly and nodded. Yes, that was all he needed to hear. With this, he had done his share, and it was now up to them to finish the rest. Chi-Woo decided to depart.

“Then, I will take my leave now. Hope you have joyous days.”

“I thank you again. Be careful on your way back!” Evelyn greeted Chi-Woo as he turned around without hesitation. But while he was leaving, he heard her shout, “If you plan on exchanging Evelyns from different worlds, please come to seek me out whenever! I will welcome it!”

Chi-Woo stumbled while leaving the world. Perhaps this was expected of Evelyn. And it made Chi-Woo think of the Evelyn that would probably be waiting for him on Earth, and he quickly rushed off.