Chapter 47: Dreaming (5).
Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek entered ‘Utopia’ after passing through the room of memories.
The ideal world of the subject, Lee Min-sung, was none other than… high school.
“It’s unusual.”
“He had the accident before his graduation ceremony…”
“Then, would his attachment end if he graduated safely?”
“Maybe.”
Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek’s clothes changed automatically to match Lee Min-sung’s ideal world.
They wore school uniforms and headed to the classroom where Lee Min-sung was.
“There’s a new transfer student today.”
Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek were introduced as the new students.
They naturally approached the subject, Lee Min-sung, and hung out with him.
“Hey, do you want to play soccer?”
“Sure.”
A smile appeared on Park Si-hwan’s lips. He felt nostalgic and happy about his school days.
Chun-baek was a weirdo in the class and had many people around him.
No one said anything about Chun-baek’s silver hair, which showed that this was different from reality.
While playing soccer with Lee Min-sung, Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek sat on a bench for a while.
“I think I understand why there are so many posts on the internet that miss their high school days.”
“Yeah? Is it fun?”
Chun-baek didn’t know what his feelings were, so he tilted his head and nodded slightly.
“Some kids asked me about my family earlier, so I said I was an only child. Do you have any siblings, master?”
“I have one half-brother, but he’s a spitting image of Park Chairman, so I don’t even want to call him brother.”
“You don’t get along well, do you?”
“And…”
Park Si-hwan paused for a moment. He lowered his head and fiddled with his hand as he spoke softly.
“I had… a younger brother. His name was Park Si-woo… We were close. Not like half-brothers, but like real brothers.”
“You had?”
“Yeah, he became a vegetable after a motorcycle accident right after graduating high school.”
“Then, is he being treated in ‘Utopia’?”
Park Si-hwan shook his head. His expression was complicated. He looked sad and regretful.
“That bastard… father put Si-woo in the ‘Utopia Project’, and the experiment was successful. If it wasn’t for him, the development of ‘Utopia’ would have been delayed by 10 years.”
“Oh, he’s like my creator along with Dr. Yang Ju-hee.”
Chun-baek turned his head and looked at Park Si-hwan’s expression.
“Then, did your brother wake up?”
“No.”
Park Si-hwan opened his eyes after closing them tightly and stared blankly at the sky.
“Right before the experiment was concluded successfully, the hospital where he was caught fire.”
“Then…”
“They couldn’t even find his remains…”
“Why did it have to be there…?” Park Si-hwan exhaled deeply as he spoke.
At that time, Park Si-hwan connected to ‘Utopia’ to hear his brother’s last words, but he heard that Park Si-woo’s mind in ‘Utopia’ naturally disappeared because he had no body to return to.
And this incident became the reason why he became the team leader of the risk management team.
Later, when he found out that his biological mother, Kim Yoon-hwa, was approached by a ‘Utopia’ broker and fell into a virtual world, his final goal was to bring his mother back to reality.
“I should have visited him more often… If I did, I could have saved him.”
“…”
“If he wasn’t angry, he would have woken up and gone to college…”
That’s why he thought of his younger brother, Park Si-woo, every time he saw Lee Min-sung. They were around the same age.
This place was a world tailored to Lee Min-sung. A perfect world without worries or troubles. He received the attention of many friends at school, and he had a family that welcomed him warmly at home.
But when he returned to reality, he would face a reality where he had no one. Was it really right to wake him up?
“It’s time. Let’s go.”
The school bell rang, signaling the end of lunchtime. Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek dusted off their seats and got up to go back to the classroom. But Park Si-hwan stopped in his tracks and fixed his gaze on the school gate.
“Wait…”
“What’s wrong?”
Park Si-hwan suddenly ran towards the gate. If he wasn’t mistaken, the person standing in front of the gate was…
“Mom!”
It was his biological mother whom he had been looking for.
But when Park Si-hwan reached the gate with full speed, his mother was gone.
‘Did I see it wrong?’
No, he didn’t see it wrong. His mother, Kim Yoon-hwa, smiled faintly at him.
“What’s wrong?”
Chun-baek, who had a calm face, looked around with curiosity behind Park Si-hwan, who was breathing heavily.
Park Si-hwan wiped his face with his hand and said as if sighing.
“No… It’s nothing.”
The ideal world of the subject, Lee Min-sung, was nearing its end. Time skipped over several days as if fast-forwarding, and it was finally Lee Min-sung’s graduation day.
Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek, who were neatly dressed in school uniforms, watched Lee Min-sung receive flowers from his parents.
“There’s not much time left.”
“…”
“Master, what will you… do?”
Chun-baek had been watching Park Si-hwan’s conflict from the side.
“I have to wake him up.”
“Reality might be more hellish for Lee Min-sung. Wouldn’t it be better to live a comfortable life in this world until his body ages in reality?”
“I still have to wake him up.”
Park Si-hwan lifted his head with determination.
“You’re right, reality might be more hellish. But is living without any conflict in a false happiness, is this life?”
“…”
“Lee Min-sung’s accident was unfortunate, but the living have to live. Not here… but in a proper reality. Sometimes, they have to face walls that they can’t overcome and know the achievement of overcoming them.”
Park Si-hwan’s expression and actions still showed some hesitation. He might regret this decision.
If Lee Min-sung was his younger brother, Park Si-woo, he would have chosen to take him out of the well-made false world and into reality.
“You made a good decision.”
Chun-baek smiled brightly and cheered for Park Si-hwan.
“Hey, Park Si-hwan! Chun-baek too, why are you so late? Let’s take a picture…”
“Mr. Lee Min-sung.”
Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek’s outfits changed from school uniforms to neat suits.
“It’s time to go back.”
Lee Min-sung looked at Park Si-hwan and Chun-baek with a bewildered expression. Some people started to disappear from the school auditorium where the graduation ceremony was taking place.
“What, what do you mean…?”
“Mr. Lee Min-sung, you had a car accident in a tunnel on your way to the East Sea. Do you remember?”
“I, I wasn’t already dead?”
He thought it was heaven or the afterlife. It was a common misconception among the many subjects that Park Si-hwan had dealt with.
“No, you came to a virtual world for a while to recover your body. Do you know ‘Utopia’?”
“I… I think I’ve heard of it.”
Lee Min-seong rolled his eyes in confusion.
“Let’s go back to reality. We have to give the server assigned to you to someone else now.”
“What happened to my parents?”
“That, you have to see for yourself when you go up.”
Park Si-hwan clenched his fists. He couldn’t bring himself to tell the innocent face that didn’t know anything that he had no family left.
“Now, graduate from high school and enjoy your college freshman life. In reality.”
Lee Min-seong hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Soon, he sublimated into a cluster of light.
“I’m going too.”
“Yes, master.”
Park Si-hwan stared blankly at the sight, then hurriedly looked for the logout button.
“Patient, are you awake?”
And in reality, Lee Min-seong blinked and focused his eyes on the unfamiliar ceiling. He moved his body according to the nurse’s words, then heard a shocking news.
“Mom, dad… they’re dead…?”
“…”
The ‘Utopia’ official who explained the accident details bowed his head with a dejected face. Lee Min-seong breathed heavily.
“My mom, dad…”
“Your future life will be taken care of by our ‘Utopia’ foundation…”
“Why did you wake me up…?”
Soon, tears flowed from Lee Min-seong’s eyes. He breathed faster and faster, then sobbed.
“Aaaah!”
“Patient! Calm down!”
“Call the doctor!”
Lee Min-seong threw anything he could grab and screamed. The nurse ran out of the ward in a hurry, and Park Si-hwan, who was standing outside the ward door and heard everything, closed his eyes with a bitter feeling.
‘Did I really do the right thing?’
Wouldn’t it be better to live in a dream forever than to live in a miserable reality?
Park Si-hwan’s mind, which had originally chosen reality over the false world of ‘Utopia’, began to waver.
He left Lee Min-seong’s scream behind and headed to another ward. In that ward, there was his biological mother, Kim Yoon-hwa, who was lying down with the ‘Utopia’ connection device attached to her body.
Park Si-hwan looked at Kim Yoon-hwa’s face for a long time, then whispered.
“Mom, is that why you’re not waking up?”
Because you like the dream more than reality?
He had hidden his true feelings with composure, but tears fell from his eyes.
He had heard from the ‘Utopia’ broker who had put his mother in why Kim Yoon-hwa had run away to ‘Utopia’.
“Mom…”
She had sent him to Chairman Park, hoping that he would grow up without worries in their poor situation. But Kim Yoon-hwa couldn’t forget the young Park Si-hwan who held onto her.
She had run away to ‘Utopia’ with regret and guilt for not being able to share his growth.
Park Si-hwan had resented Kim Yoon-hwa for sending him to Chairman Park when he was in puberty, but now that he was in his 30s, he understood his mother.
If he had lived with his mother in a one-room apartment, his heart might have been rich, but he would have had to face the harsh reality. He wouldn’t have been able to dream of being a pianist, or become a team leader of a decent company.
Objectively speaking, it was better to live under Chairman Park, who was his father in name only, and spend his money.
He wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to feel guilty. And he wanted to tell her to live in reality with him now.
“I won’t blame you, mom. Can’t you just wake up now?”
Park Si-hwan cried out loud, resting his forehead on Kim Yoon-hwa’s hand. The screen showed his back gradually moving away as the 15th episode ended.
And the preview of the last episode came out with the OST.
(You’re going to log in? Without a sponsor?)
(Si-hwan! You have to log out quickly! If you don’t…!)
(There is no paradise where you ran away.)
The screen briefly showed the tense moments of Park Si-hwan with a stern expression and Yang Ju-hee who was frantically typing on the keyboard.
(The program is rejecting…! There are too many bugs!)
And Chun-baek, who was commanding the men in black suits and sunglasses like his own soldiers, stared at the screen with a scary face.
(Get out of here.)
Chun-baek summoned a gun and loaded a bullet. Clank, the sound of metal was heavy.
(Before I force you out.)
Chun-baek warned in a low voice, aiming his gun at Park Si-hwan.
-Wow ??
-What’s with Chun-baek?
-I wish the final episode would start as soon as I wake up
-Chun-baek’s darkening is so out of the blue
-Why is there so much supporting role today??It’s not even a filler??
-It’s not going to be a dragon head death, right? The writer is a rookie, so I’m nervous??
-It seems like there’s a twist element since they’re showing Chun-baek’s darkening so blatantly
└222
-Jo Yu-mi’s role is so small? Is she the heroine or not??
-I think Chun-baek will drop a big bomb at the end
The real-time reactions that would have been flooded with ‘Yoo Yeon Seo can’t act.’ ‘I can’t immerse myself in the drama.’ were now empathizing with Chun-baek rather than Yoo Yeon Seo.
Now, Yoo Yeon Seo’s acting was not a hindrance to the immersion of the drama.
“It’s fun.”
Yoo Yeon Seo, who had already finished recording the final episode and was watching the broadcast at home, turned off his phone and lay down on the bed.
He held a dry towel in her hand.
“Beta.”
<Yes, master.>
The shooting was over, and it was time to go back to normal.
“Start memory synchronization.”
<It’s been a while. Yes, I understand.>
Yoo Yeon Seo closed his eyes.
I hope the aftereffects were less painful…
<Random memory synchronization is executed.>
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