Chapter 836
Chapter 836 – Room 303, Cursed Room – ‘Time Machine’ (21)
— Kim Muk-seong
Was the statement that came out of Park Hyun-min’s mouth—“Kill the time traveler. Not just him, but all his successors who inherit his power and duties!”—the beginning of it all?
The recovery of memories was sudden.
— Boom!
*
Memories from before arriving at the hotel.
— Bang!
“Agent, at least knock before—”
“You bastard!”
“Starting off rough, huh? What’s going on?”
“W-what’s going on? This, this cockroach of a guy—”
The Alpha Team leader, who captured Su-ho along with me, had promised me.
‘There’s still a lot of information we need to uncover, so I will make sure he isn’t disposed of.’
He promised to keep Su-ho alive.
‘If something happens—’
‘I’ll take responsibility.’
He even said that if someone beyond the team leader tried to dispose of Su-ho, he would say my name.
“Ah, could it be that Kim Su-ho was disposed of because of that?”
“I’ll kill you!”
It was insufficient to counter the orders of Park Hyun-min, the head of the Management Bureau’s Korean branch.
Yes, in the past, I couldn’t prevent Su-ho’s death.
— Boom!
Next scene.
I couldn’t bring myself to kill Park Hyun-min and was being subdued by armed staff. The past me, engulfed in despair, pleaded with Park Hyun-min.
“Please! Hyun-min, tell me something. How many years have I been in this career? Do you think I wouldn’t realize that this situation is strange?”
“…”
“How many times have I saved your life? More than ten! Remember fourteen years ago, when that damn toad tried to swallow you?”
Park Hyun-min is a person with ice flowing through his veins instead of blood.
Only someone of that kind can sit in the leadership position of the terrifying organization called the Management Bureau.
But…
“Of course. You pulled me out of the containment entity, Baphomet.”
“But, but how could you!”
“Phew… Everyone back off.”
In a way, he was still human.
“… I will explain, to the best of my ability.”
The explanation from the past Park Hyun-min was much less detailed than what I heard earlier.
At that time, I had no ‘True Heart,’ so Park Hyun-min probably didn’t feel much pressure from me either.
However, there was one crucial piece of information.
Ha Jin-seong is a time traveler, a terrorist who has slaughtered countless people. Ha Su-yeon is the time traveler’s daughter, and she has also committed similar acts as her father.
It seems that the supernatural ability related to time travel is inherited.
Hence, the conclusion was reached that Ha Jin-seong’s direct descendants must be disposed of.
— Boom!
*
The flashback ended.
With the information obtained now, it seems this is the extent of the recoverable memories.
“Agent, do you understand what I’m saying?”
“…”
“Agent?”
“… Yeah. I understand.”
With the power of the ‘True Heart,’ I uncovered the secret that the Korean branch manager had been hiding.
Moreover, I also learned of the limits of the man in front of me.
“Then—”
“Enough.”
“What?”
“I said enough. I’ll take a break. Consider it a vacation for a while.”
I know facts that Park Hyun-min doesn’t.
The secret of time travel is not Ha Jin-seong’s supernatural power, but rather the Parinirvana Train.
Su-yeon did not inherit supernatural abilities from her father but rather an entry ticket.
Both of them do not realize what consequences their actions may bring.
In a sense, Park Hyun-min truly knows nothing.
Was that why?
My fierce animosity towards him began to fade gradually.
Park Hyun-min’s next words were probably an attempt to read my mood.
He is a perceptive person after all.
“Agent, I’m sorry.”
“…”
“I want to emphasize that it was also burdensome for me.”
Suddenly, I had this thought.
If I were Park Hyun-min, the head of the Korean branch, how would I act?
Ha Jin-seong and Ha Su-yeon did not deliberately kill people.
But what difference would it make to the Management Bureau whether it was intentional or not?
“… What are you sorry for?”
“Hmm?”
“Sorry is something you say when you’ve done something wrong. Do you think you’ve done something wrong?”
“…”
I thought of my past self.
Me, who had killed civilians without mercy due to the chaos disaster contamination.
I had never regretted it.
I believed it was a choice to save more people.
I had lived many lives, believing that and acting accordingly.
“Don’t try to match my feelings, just tell me honestly. If the same situation happens again, will you make a different decision?”
Whether there is sin or not does not matter.
Whether there is intent or not does not matter.
The only thing that matters is whether one has fallen or is at risk of falling. That is all.
From the Management Bureau’s perspective, Ha Jin-seong must die.
Not to mention Ha Su-yeon; Kim Su-ho is no exception either.
Just as a pig infected with foot-and-mouth disease is buried alive without any regard for its guilt.
In a sense, the Management Bureau has always been consistent.
That consistent logic merely returns to Ha Jin-seong, Ha Su-yeon, Kim Su-ho, and even to ‘me.’
“I’ll take my leave.”
“… Agent.”
“Do you have more to say?”
“What do you think will happen if you go out like this?”
“Well, I don’t know.”
“I’ll do the job assigned to me. Therefore, I intend to order you to dispose of Kim Su-ho as you exit.”
“… Are you threatening me?”
“Threatening, threatening… Mook-seong, you know that’s not it.”
“…”
“It’s just that. This is the job I’ve been given. This is how we’ve always done it.”
“…”
“This is why I won’t get married. For life.”
“That’s one thing I’m thankful for. You’d fit perfectly living alone all your life and ending up in the mouth of a man-eating toad.”
— Click!
Suddenly, I had this thought.
Am I Agent Kim Muk-seong?
Or am I Ha Su-yeon’s husband and Kim Su-ho’s father?
…
— Ring ring!
— What? What’s going on? Is anyone at the Time Borrowing Device? Jin-cheol is—ah, is Jin-cheol enough?
— Ring ring!
— Grandpa? What happened? Have you recovered your memory?
— So, you want me to help the maze and rescue Su-ho? Got it.
The answer lay in the problem.
I would rather be a cowardly father than a ruthless agent.
*
— Observatory
“It truly is a horrific situation.”
“…”
“Ha Jin-seong and Ha Su-yeon didn’t even know what they were doing. The train is what led to the gruesome results.”
“…”
“Time travel abilities are not some inherited supernatural powers. It’s merely that the father passed an entry ticket to his daughter.”
Kim Sang-hyun’s assessment was filled with significant hostility towards the Management Bureau.
Cha Jin-cheol cautiously rebutted.
“Hyung, most of what you just mentioned, we know. The Management Bureau doesn’t.”
“Let’s say they cannot know. The Management Bureau is the group that prevents chaos disasters, right? Yet, they have prompted Kim Su-ho’s fall themselves!”
“…”
“After causing the fall, they say he must be disposed of? Does that even make sense—”
“… Hyung, the ‘fall’ the Management Bureau speaks of is a very broad term.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just having a high likelihood of causing a chaos disaster is enough to be labeled as having fallen.”
In other words, from the perspective of the Management Bureau, Kim Su-ho has been considered fallen since the moment he was born as Ha Su-yeon’s son.
Understanding this, Kim Sang-hyun’s mouth dropped open.
“Wait, does that really make sense? There’s a concept of presumption of innocence, you know…!”
Han Gain had to work hard to suppress a laugh on the verge of bursting out.
It seemed far too serious to laugh right now.
But aren’t ‘Management Bureau’ and ‘presumption of innocence’ the two concepts furthest apart in the world?
“However…”
“What do you mean however!”
“Hyung, waiting for things to blow up usually comes too late.”
In Gain’s opinion, this was truly an unsolvable problem.
Both Kim Sang-hyun who criticized and Cha Jin-cheol who defended understood the situation.
So, they decided to change the subject.
A more important discussion.
“Let’s stop scrutinizing the wrong issues for now. Rather, I’m curious about one thing.”
Naturally, the eyes of the colleagues turned to Gain.
“While the Ha father and daughter likely didn’t know anything, the train knows the results of the butterfly effect. So, why did it issue such orders?”
Why does the Parinirvana Train cause a massive massacre due to the butterfly effect?
Elena cautiously responded.
“I just had a sudden thought, but didn’t Ari also receive a commission from the train?”
“That’s right.”
“… So, did Ari also unknowingly cause many people to die?”
The surroundings fell silent.
Elena repeated what Gain had said with a dazed expression.
“Why is the train doing this? Why, why is it killing people rampantly?”
At that moment, Gain tilted her head and murmured.
“Is it a concept we already know?”
“Did you use advice?”
“It says to think back on the records left by the gardeners.”
“If it’s the gardeners—”
Immediately, Gain displayed a face of realization.
“… A good gardener mustn’t have reluctance to use scissors.”
“That’s the record left by the gardeners, right?”
“A tree that is rotten from the root cannot be saved. Do not feel guilt from trimming. Humanity has been contaminated.”
*
— Kim Muk-seong
After contacting the maze and Eunsol to ask them to extract Su-ho, I fell into deep thought.
What should I do from now on?
Strangely, my instincts found the answer.
It was as if it suggested that this was how a father should act.
— Ding dong!
— Whoa, oh! Father-in-law, you’re here!
The house of my son, who arrived instinctively.
The face of my daughter-in-law, who quickly brought me a cup of coffee, was full of anticipation.
“Father-in-law, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting.”
“…”
“How is Su-ho? Is he okay?”
“Su-ho has been moved to a safe place, so don’t worry. But more importantly, my dear. You and Min-seong are in danger.”
“Excuse me? Me and M-Min-seong?”
A foreboding voice crossed my mind.
‘… Do I need to dispose of Kim Su-ho’s child as well?’
“Where is Min-seong right now?”
“He’s at, um, school.”
“We need to get him right away.”
“Right now, I’ll call—”
“No calls. They’re listening. You need to go get him yourself. And contact me with this number. If you mention my name, they’ll hide you.”
I said firmly to the visibly tense woman, Park Se-yeon.
“Move right now. Immediately!”
“Y-yes, understood.”
Soon, I was left alone in my son’s house.
I paced the living room, trying to recall old memories.
At that moment, a sudden realization hit me.
So…
“It seems the order was a bit different back then.”
This time, I had first clashed with Park Hyun-min and then came to my son’s house.
Actually, coming to my son’s house was first.
I could guess the reason.
I must have tried to find out what caused my son to fall.
— Clatter! Clatter!
I ransacked my son’s house roughly.
I opened drawers haphazardly, rummaging through the closet and study.
Amidst that, an old memory naturally surfaced.
“…”
It was about the time Su-ho was a high school student.
He was tall and well-built, just like me, which made him quite popular among the girls.
What kind of high school student in their prime has such popularity with girls?
Studying well in that situation isn’t easy. I consider Gain to be an unusual case.
As a result, Su-ho’s grades were a complete wreck.
When the report card came, he hadn’t just gotten a few passing grades; it was riddled with non-passing marks.
I had let it go.
As long as he grew up healthy and kind, studying could wait until college.
But still, isn’t it a bit excessive for the report card to read something ridiculous like ‘ga-ya-ya-ya-qa’?
The only passing grade he earned was in physical education.
I remember scolding him hard when he couldn’t hold back just once.
I questioned whether this was a score a human being should receive.
Su-ho’s response to the next test was simple.
“That guy hid the report card under the desk.”
— Clatter!
Just as I lifted the study desk, I found a thin envelope underneath.
“Whoa!”
A chuckle escaped my lips without realizing it.
Isn’t this exactly where he’d hidden the report card labeled ’ga-ga-ga-ga-qa’ back in high school?
What’s with this guy? Why hasn’t he improved at all?
— Flap!
Inside the envelope was a thin piece of paper.
It was an object that instantly resolved many questions we had held.
‘Don’t lie… I heard it from my deceased mother. It’s you, isn’t it? You, you killed Grandpa, you killed my mother, and now you’re trying to kill me… You never intended to save us!’
I was unaware, but it was an unknown secret shared between Su-ho and my wife.
‘I suspect that Grandpa boarded the Parinirvana Train before he came to the hotel. You forgot that memory.’
Gain’s judgment that not just Ari but also I had boarded the train.
‘I received the ticket long before. I’ve lived well in one world, so I hope you do the same. When life feels overwhelming, the ticket will help you.’
The rights that Ha Jin-seong inherited to Ha Su-yeon.
————————————
Parinirvana Train Ticket
Departure: —
Arrival: —
Passenger: Kim Su-ho
————————————
The envelope contained a train ticket.
Fortunately or unfortunately, my son had not yet used the ticket.
It appeared that Ha Jin-seong only received the ticket after handling at least dozens of commissions for the train. Wasn’t it the same for his wife?
The wife Ari and Aleph encountered during the first commission had returned after completing the train’s ‘first commission.’
After that, she had likely also performed the train’s duties several times.
Perhaps she continued to receive commissions even after marrying me.
The rewards achieved like that.
“…”
Ha Su-yeon wasn’t the only one to inherit the train ticket.
Kim Su-ho also inherited the train ticket from Ha Su-yeon.
Naturally, when he received the ticket, he must have heard various stories from his wife.
And that ticket had ended up in my hands.
————————————
Parinirvana Train Ticket
Departure: Pioneer Hotel
Arrival:
Passenger: Kim Muk-seong
————————————
