Chapter 13 – Time Flows – Part 1

Chapter 13 – Time Flows – Part 1

The Detective next to Woojin was equally surprised.

He laughed loudly.

“Wow… You’re a hundred times better than us! Hahahaha!”

The Detective took 30,000 won from his wallet and offered it to Woojin.

Naturally, Woojin did not take it.

“It’s fine.”

“No. Take it. You can take it. Thanks to you, things went smoothly.”

At that moment, Woojin could see the Detective running his hand through his hair.

The case was resolved, yet he was running his hand through his hair.

It was an unconscious reaction when a person is stressed, to grab or scratch their head, or push back their hair to ventilate.

This time, he rubbed his sternum with the muscles of his palm.

Woojin’s mouth opened.

“Are you stressed?”

The detective grinned.

“What stress? Here, buy yourself something delicious with this. Your uncle is grateful.”

Woojin pretended to take the money, covering the back of his hand.

It felt subtly cold.

There was no reason for the current environment to lower the detective’s body temperature.

And the way he briefly touched his forehead, sweeping his hair back.

“Just a moment.”

This time, Woojin’s hand touched the detective’s chest.

‘One, two, three…’

The detective, who had been staring blankly at what Woojin was doing, finally spoke.

“What are you doing…”

Woojin, who had removed his hand from the detective’s chest, replied.

“You should go to the hospital and get an examination.”

“What are you talking about suddenly?”

“You have early symptoms of arrhythmia.”

The detective’s eyes widened.

It was the moment when what Woojin had said about the criminal earlier overlapped.

***

The next day, a message arrived for Woojin, who was flipping through his workbook at an unbelievable speed.

It was the detective.

-Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to find it early.

The detective didn’t dismiss Woojin’s words. Woojin was the one who had gotten a confession from the criminal.

I had no choice but to go to the hospital because of that absurd sight and the mention of early arrhythmia, which made me uneasy.

The doctor said I was lucky.

Most people don’t recognize it early and only seek a hospital when it’s in the candle stage or the disease has progressed further.

-That’s a relief. You’ve worked hard.

Woojin replied briefly and slowly nodded his head.

At first, he tried to pass by, thinking it was someone unrelated to him, but there was no harm in knowing a detective.

I owed the detective a favor, and someday the repayment would come back like a boomerang.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

With a knock, Mom came into the room.

“Woojin, eat this and then do your work.”

It was fruit.

“My son, take it easy.”

Mom smiled awkwardly, looking at the piles of workbooks.

“Don’t worry.”

A few months passed like that, and the day of the high school equivalency exam approached. Mom and Dad encouraged Woojin.

“Our son! Do well and come back!”

“Don’t feel pressured, and don’t worry. Just take it easy.”

Bomi smiled broadly, looking at Woojin.

“Oppa, perfect score, deal?”

“Deal.”

Woojin, who had taken the exam, calmly told his family.

“I got everything right.”

There was no expression of accomplishment or joy on Woojin’s face.

It was simply because he thought it was natural.

As more time passed, he also smoothly passed the high school equivalency exam.

After that, the world changed several times, and then came the unusually cold CSAT day.

“Seniors! Good luck on your CSAT!”

“You can do it!”

“I’ll be rooting for you!”

Woojin, wearing a red scarf, exhaled white mist as he entered the school.

That night.

Dad called his friends.

“Hey! Tell all the kids to gather tomorrow! My treat! What? You ask if there’s good news? What good news… Hey. Guess what? Our Woojin got a perfect CSAT score! Hahahaha! He’s so smart, just like me.”

Mom poked Dad in the side.

“His brains come from me.”

“Anyway! Everyone gather tomorrow, without exception! Tell that guy Jaeseok to definitely come too!”

He was the friend who always boasted relentlessly that his son only got 12 questions wrong on the CSAT.

He never failed to bring it up whenever they had drinks.

He was also the guy who subtly looked down on others while showing off.

“Only 12 wrong? Hey, problems aren’t there to be gotten wrong, they’re there to be gotten right. Like our Woojin. Hahaha!”

Dad laughed so hard the house seemed to shake.

Bomi shook her head and gave him a thumbs-up.

“As expected, as expected, our big brother.”

Woojin’s lips subtly curved upwards as he looked at Bomi.

It was a smile only his family saw.

A very small change, a transformation, had come to Woojin.

“Will I be able to do well on the CSAT like you, big brother?”

At Bomi’s worried tone, Woojin spoke.

“Bomi, worry arises from not understanding the subject of your concern, that is, the other party. These anxieties and troubles grow from my inability to fundamentally resolve that subject.”

Bomi nodded.

Bomi always felt that her older brother was trying to explain things simply to her.

And Bomi, at Woojin’s suggestion, started reading a book a year ago, and discussed that book with Woojin.

Then something strange seemed to be happening.

It felt like connections were forming in her mind and would someday burst out with a bang!

That was confidence.

They said that when you first learn information, new cells actually grow.

They called that Neural Plasticity.

It was like they were continuously forming, transforming, and connecting.

Her older brother always said something.

‘We must consciously control the brain that constantly tries to revert to primitive instincts.’

Bomi echoed what Woojin had first said when he came home, correcting her pronunciation.

“Yes, I won’t lose to my brain, to myself.”

Woojin said,

“Whether you believe you can’t achieve it, or you believe you can do it…”

Bomi opened her mouth as if to answer.

“It comes true according to your belief.”

Woojin gently stroked his sister’s head.

“My sister, our Bomi.”

“Hehe.”

Just then, Dad called Woojin.

“Woojin, which university do you want to go to?”

He could choose and enter a university that others couldn’t even dream of.

“From Dad’s perspective, Woojin could become a doctor, or a prosecutor…”

The highly coveted professions flowed easily from Dad’s mouth.

He spoke as if he could provide all the support, not even considering it an issue.

The eight major specialized professions also came out in a rush.

“What university do you want to go to? Mom and Dad want Woojin to get into the university he wants.”

Woojin’s mouth opened.

“An ordinary university.”