Chapter 18 – Time Has Passed – Part 1

Chapter 18 – Time Has Passed – Part 1

“Fortune?”

When Woojin asked again, the woman smiled.

“Yes, that’s why I couldn’t just pass by.”

“Are you talking about luck or good fortune?”

They blinked their eyes, then smiled brightly again.

“Yes, that’s right! We are students, and your aura is so bright that we wanted to say something good to you.”

At the mention of ‘studying,’ a peculiar light flickered in Woojin’s eyes.

There were many kinds of studies, and studying was something one had to do for life.

“What kind of studying?”

“The Principle of Everything, or…”

Woojin’s curiosity cut her off.

“If it’s the Principle of Everything, are you studying physics, which can also be called a type of natural science? Physics?”

“Uh… no, it’s not that. You know the saying, ‘mountains are mountains and waters are waters,’ right?”

Woojin nodded, and she continued.

“People don’t just look at all things in nature as they are; they assign meaning to them.”

“A place where trees form a group in a high-altitude area is called a mountain. Water is a chemical interpretation, a compound of H, which is element number 1 on the periodic table, and O, which is number 8, making it H2O. Is there any error in my knowledge?”

The eyes of the man and woman were shaking as if an earthquake had occurred.

Woojin saw both of their expressions.

“Ah… As expected, you have a bright aura, so you must have enlightenment. There’s a reason your aura is so brilliantly bright. You’re often told you’re handsome, aren’t you? There’s an Honored Ancestor sitting on your shoulder right now, and you resemble them a lot.”

As Woojin glanced at his shoulder, she continued speaking.

“The Honored Ancestor sitting on your shoulder has been protecting you all this time, but it seems you haven’t offered them devotion. The Honored Ancestor’s expression is very displeased.”

“You can see ghosts?”

She, who had flinched at the overly direct question, forced a smile back onto her face.

“Yes. We don’t call them ghosts. We call them Ancestral Spirits.”

“How do you perceive something that isn’t an organism? The structure of the eye consists of the cornea, anterior chamber, iris, lens, ciliary body…”

Both of them were smiling, but their eyes looked blank, like someone whose soul had left their body.

“The macula, the blind spot, all these organs gather information, and the brain perceives it through the optic nerve. Do you perhaps have different organs compared to other people’s eyes? Evolution? Or like a mutation? Or do you see energy wavelengths? In what way…”

While Woojin was speaking, the man whispered into the woman’s ear.

“Heeseon, if we take this person, something bad might happen. Let’s just go.”

He had a feeling that taking him would, to put it bluntly, screw them over.

She, who agreed with his thoughts, spoke up.

“Shall we meet next time? Suddenly…”

“I’m not a scary person.”

Woojin read their micro-expressions in an instant.

Both of their faces held wariness and fear towards him.

“It’s not that you’re scary, it’s just, next time, we’ll see you next time!”

They turned to leave. No, Woojin grabbed the man’s shoulder.

“I’m just curious…”

The man shook off Woojin’s arm and started running. Of course, the woman with him did too.

There was someone holding their stomach and laughing at that scene.

He was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties, and he was a YouTuber who had been filming Woojin from beginning to end.

He had over 500,000 subscribers.

He approached Woojin, who was quietly watching the man and woman walk away.

“Hello. I’m Kkirit TV, an active YouTuber. I thought there might be people getting scammed, so I was filming to keep a record, just in case. But this is the first time I’ve seen someone handle it like this. Hahaha!”

When Woojin stared at him, he stopped laughing abruptly and said,

“Can I use this for a YouTube video?”

Most people want a lot of attention, and those confident in their appearance readily agreed.

To Kkirit, Woojin was also very handsome.

But that was just his thought.

Because Woojin was always a person who pursued an ordinary life.

Woojin quickly put the pieces together in his head from Kkirit’s words.

The identities of the man and woman.

“No.”

“Oh, I’ll mosaic your face.”

“Why should I grant your request?”

“Ah…”

“Please delete the video.”

“Understood. I apologize.”

He gave a wry smile.

It was true, he couldn’t say anything.

As Woojin moved towards the subway station, Kkirit moved his hand to delete the video. But he couldn’t delete it immediately.

Because from a creator’s intuition, it was such a valuable video.

Kkirit rushed to Woojin.

“Excuse me!”

As Woojin turned, he spoke carefully.

“I think videos like this should be widely known for the public good. To prevent any unforeseen incidents from happening, you know. I’ll mosaic everything. I’ll even distort your voice so no one can recognize you. For society’s sake…”

Please delete it.

I’ll give you 500,000 won.

Please delete it.

One million won!

My account number is…

Woojin, who clearly understood the situation, gave his account number.

There was no need to refuse if he was going to do it without anyone knowing.

And he needed a little money.

How did he change his stance so quickly…

Kkirit was flustered by Woojin immediately giving his account, but soon deposited 1,000,000 won.

***

Woojin, who had called Bomi out, was walking through an area lined with clothing stores.

Bomi, they say an ancestral spirit is sitting on my shoulder.

Bomi’s eyes went wide.

An ancestral spirit?

Yes, while walking down the street…

Bomi’s eyes gradually widened as she listened to Woojin’s story.

Brother! Didn’t that person say he was practicing the Way?

He said he was a scholar.

That’s not studying, it’s a cult! A cult! ‘Do you know the Way!’ And then he told you to practice the Way…

I can just practice it, he seemed to know things I didn’t.

Bomi slapped her forehead!

Brother! Snap out of it! If you fall for that…

The corners of Woojin’s mouth subtly curved upward.

Just kidding.

“Huh?”

“It’s a joke, Ira.”

Silence swirled between them for a moment.

Woojin asked Bomi, who was blinking.

“Not funny?”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

Woojin scratched his head.

Bomi was now looking at Woojin with a big smile.

Now her older brother even knows how to make jokes.

One by one, he seemed to be trying to blend into the world.

“Big brother, don’t make jokes like that anywhere else.”

“Okay.”

“Big brother, but what money do you have to buy clothes?”

At first, she thought he had saved his allowance, but he had already bought 200,000 won worth of clothes for Mom and Dad.

And he insists on buying her clothes too.

When Woojin brought up the YouTuber, Bomi’s eyes widened again.

Then, Woojin looked at the clothes on a mannequin and asked the Clothing Store President.

“Boss, is this the freshman fashion for university?”

He knew it from searching online.

It’s similar to the university freshman fashion.

Woojin, in his own way, was preparing to blend into the new world.

*

A few days later, a video was uploaded to the YouTuber Kkirit TV’s channel.

[Normal Person VS Do you know the Way]

Woojin was truly unrecognizable.

It wasn’t a mosaic; it was painted with characters that children would like, and their voices were distorted.

Comments poured in.

-Hey Kkirit, is that how normal people talk? Was it this hard to be a normal person?

-They run away so fast lolololol

-If someone talked to me like that, I’d probably wet myself lololol

-Get rid of all the normal people!

-They bolted so fast lolololol

-Useful video. I learned a lot about eye structure.

-Normal person X King of normal people O

– Ancestral Spirit on the shoulder, damn lolololol

You can see ghosts? Oh lolololol

Time passed, and the day of Woojin’s Entrance Ceremony arrived.