Chapter 298: Drunken Truth
“I came from the future.”
The moment those words left my mouth, silence fell over the living room.
It was only for an instant, but it felt as though the entire world had stopped.
I could even hear Cha Seongbin swallowing.
“......”
Only for a moment.
“Wahahahaha! Wahaha!”
Cha Seongbin burst into laughter, clutching his stomach.
The alcohol had finally started to kick in, and it was the perfect time for a fellow member's ridiculous nonsense to seem hilarious.
Cooling his flushed cheeks with his cold hands, Cha Seongbin laughed.
“Seohan's drunk~. This is the first time I've ever seen him like this.”
But it was true.
Pressing his temples with both hands, Cha Seongbin added,
“No, but you've gotten way too into the concept. Isn't this our company's fault? Something like... space boys traveling backward through the timeline....”
“Wait.”
Unlike Cha Seongbin, Ha Junseo's expression was serious.
“Finish what you were saying.”
His voice was so serious that it seemed he'd caught onto something.
Cha Seongbin looked puzzled.
I blinked and let out a short sigh.
I meant it literally.
That I'd come from the future.
That twenty-five-year-old Do Seohan had been hit by a truck and regressed.
There was no way I could explain every tiny detail from beginning to end, so I summarized it.
“I originally worked part-time at a café....”
“Yeah.”
“I wanted to become an idol.”
“And then?”
“So I went back to the past.”
“......”
Ha Junseo's expression grew even more serious.
Glance-.
Beside him, Cha Seongbin kept moving his lips as though he desperately wanted to say something.
Ha Junseo remained frozen, swallowing dryly.
Thinking my explanation had been too brief, I continued.
“But the place I regressed to was a different parallel universe.
This universe....”
Ha Junseo spoke next.
“It's obvious.”
“What is?”
Snap.
He clicked his fingers and spoke with absolute certainty.
“We gave him way too much to drink.”
Ha Junseo was right.
We'd drunk far too much.
“Ugh....”
I woke up frowning, my migraine lingering well into the morning.
Letting out a long sigh, I slowly pushed myself upright.
“Hoo....”
When I stepped into the living room, the other members were still asleep.
After partying until so late, it made sense they'd be completely exhausted.
I took a bottle of cold water from the refrigerator and poured myself a glass.
At times like this, nothing cleared your head faster than cold water.
Gulp.
Gulp.
The cold water definitely helped clear my mind.
My body might've been twenty years old again, but apparently I'd still been ridiculously weak to alcohol back then too.
“Ah, I'm dying.”
Groaning, I collapsed onto the sofa.
Rubbing my face with both hands, I stared blankly into space.
The words I'd blurted out while drunk echoed through my ears.
‘I came from the future.’
Everything that had happened last night remained crystal clear, just as though I'd been sober.
That made sense.
When I drank, my habit wasn't blacking out.
I simply fell asleep.
Usually, my body gave out first, while my mind stayed clear until the very end.
So.
“It didn't work....”
The things I'd said yesterday weren't drunken nonsense.
They'd been genuine.
It had been a test.
A test to find the answer to the task Kim Woochan had given me.
.
.
.
“Mr. Seohan, I have some good news.”
The universe regarded me as a variable that needed to be eliminated.
The truth I'd only vaguely sensed had become painfully real after the sasaeng attack.
It felt like finally facing the ugly truth I'd desperately tried to deny.
No matter how hard I struggled, it was as though someone kept whispering in my ear that I could never escape fate.
Immediately after returning to Korea, I met Kim Woochan while still unable to shake that heavy feeling.
And.
He had one gift for me.
“You were unconscious for three days.”
“You said it was a side effect of synchronization failure....”
“Yes.
But it seems that stimulated a hidden mechanism within the system.
A new achievement has appeared.”
“Huh?”
The Grammy Awards.
The great achievement Kim Woochan had first presented to me.
A path covered in thorns.
I didn't know when I'd achieve it.
I didn't even know if I could.
Before reaching it, countless obstacles would surely threaten my life.
Even so, it had been the only method available.
So I'd spent all this time walking toward nothing but the Grammys.
But.
Now there was another achievable achievement.
Regardless of the reason, simply having another possibility was good news.
[Achievement] Complete Synchronization
The current universe remains in an unstable state. Certain conditions must be fulfilled to synchronize the two universes. Achieve Complete Synchronization while preserving the variable 'Do Seohan.'
The debate centered around what those conditions actually were.
“Synchronization increased last time too, but it still failed.”
There was something that stimulated synchronization.
Although we didn't know exactly what it was, it was definitely connected to the awareness of people around me.
“I don't know the exact reason it failed....
But maybe the side effects happened because synchronization suddenly increased due to an outside factor?”
The trigger the sasaeng incident had caused in those around me.
Because of that, synchronization had risen abnormally.
Rather than something so sudden, perhaps gradual change was necessary.
“Instead of an external factor... internally....”
In other words—
“You mean we should try making the people around me understand?”
“It would be ideal if there were a way for them to accept it without causing synchronization conflicts.
And since they already had those dreams, wouldn't they believe you at least a little?”
“I feel like our next album would end up being released from a psychiatric hospital.”
“Ah....”
What was I supposed to do about my image?
Kim Woochan definitely had good instincts when it came to things like this.
But I couldn't simply follow every absurd suggestion he made.
Still.
There's a saying.
Alcohol makes anything possible.
Truths spoken while drunk could easily be dismissed as drunken nonsense.
Which made them much less burdensome.
So I borrowed the power of alcohol.
‘I came from the future.’
The kind of nonsense that would've gotten me dragged to a hospital if I'd said it sober.
Along with surprisingly detailed descriptions of reality.
I rattled everything off as though it were just part of a concept.
The price was this splitting headache.
“Ugh....”
Still, the drunken confession had produced a small result.
The very condition Kim Woochan had wanted to verify regarding synchronization.
As soon as I heard that the synchronization percentage hadn't changed, I'd immediately sent him a message.
I checked what you were curious about.
If they don't believe it, it doesn't increase.
A reply came almost instantly.
Ding-.
ㄴIt requires belief.
Mmm.
“That's not wrong....”
I deleted Kim Woochan's reply from the chat window.
Someone might misunderstand if they saw it.
[Eldest Hyungs' Live Right Before Lunch!!!!]
With a title that seemed to have an unusually excessive number of exclamation marks, the eldest members started a live broadcast.
It was lunchtime.
An office worker Dusty heading toward the company cafeteria let out an internal scream before opening the stream.
“Hello~.”
Her favorite, Cha Seongbin, was already waiting for her, attacking her with his face first thing in the morning.
The corners of his lips were slightly raised.
His sharp facial features gave off a cold impression.
Yet his personality was the complete opposite—playful and sly.
She'd become a fan during <Silence>, but now she could confidently say she loved Cha Seongbin more than anyone else.
Seeing that breathtaking face didn't instantly erase the fatigue of working life....
But it certainly made it a little easier.
Cha Seongbin with black hair is insane;;;
Junseo, what is that visual today? Honestly, it's not even surprising anymore.
Junseo!!! What did you do on your birthday!!!
Yesterday had been the birthday of Stardust's eldest member, Ha Junseo.
Not only had he done a birthday live yesterday,
He'd even started another one the following morning.
What a thoughtful idol.
The office worker Dusty smiled warmly as she watched.
Ha Junseo scanned the comments before responding.
“You're asking what presents I got?”
Did the members give you birthday presents??
But seriously, what did our boys do yesterday? They all look exhausted lolㅠㅠ
Looks like they partied all night lol
“I got an eye massager....
And Haim gave me a stuffed animal.”
“A stuffed animal?”
“He gave me his own plushie.
Said I shouldn't only think Seojji was cute.”
“Ahahahaha! Ahahah!”
Baby Chick got jealous because you only spoiled Seojjiㅋㅋㅋㅋ So cute.
I still can't believe the birthday present among men with an average age of 21.7 is a chick plushie....ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
If Haim gave Chocori, that's so hard to get!! I'm so jealousㅠㅠㅠㅠ
“Ah, of course I didn't only get a stuffed animal.
I said I wanted to compose a song for the next album, so someone casually bought me an expensive mouse....”
“Hey, if you only talk about the stuffed animal, Seo Haim's gonna sulk~.”
“Haim-ah, I'll use the mouse well!”
Ahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He even gave you a mouse, why'd you only mention Chocoriㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I seriously love how these guys have real sibling vibesㅎㅎ
Meanwhile, after slowly reading through the comments, Cha Seongbin spoke.
“They're asking if we had a birthday party yesterday....”
“We celebrated pretty hard.”
That answer came instantly.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Anyone can tell you're exhaustedㅋㅋㅋㅋ
You guys are obviously dying from a hangover, I'm just thankful you even started a liveㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Holding his throbbing head, Ha Junseo let out an awkward laugh.
“We were the last members left, right?”
“The last survivors.
You, me, and Seohan.”
Seohan??? Unexpected.
Do Hamjji looks like he'd never be able to drink.
Mam-Seohan's alcohol tolerance is probably tiny.
“Everyone, alcohol tolerance doesn't matter.
The important thing is how long you survive.”
“That's right!”
Even if you became a zombie, as long as you stayed awake, that was enough.
That was Stardust's standard.
In that regard, Seohan had technically remained “alive” until the very end.
“They're asking what Seohan's drinking habit is?”
The office worker Dusty's eyes sparkled.
I'm curious about that.
No one had ever properly revealed Do Seohan's drinking habits before.
He'd personally said that he simply passed out and fell asleep whenever he drank,
But there'd never been an official account from someone else.
Chuckling, Cha Seongbin answered.
“When Do Seohan gets drunk, he becomes really cute.
He even starts speaking informally.”
“...He acted incredibly affectionate.”
“But he probably doesn't think he did.”
“I don't think he'll remember....”
Because, well....
It had happened during the very brief moment before Seohan's memory finally gave out.
.
.
.
“Why won't you believe me?”
“Hm? Parallel universe?”
“...Believe me.”
“I'll believe you.
Now let's go to sleep, Seohan....”
“Believe me....”
There had been someone mumbling exactly that.