Hearing that his patient had finally woken up from his coma, the doctor rushed to the VIP room.
"Seojin, you are finally awake! How are you feeling? The tsunami must have hit you hard," the doctor said. As the days passed, he was getting more and more anxious. If something had happened to Valentin's friend, he would've been in deep trouble.
Seojin's eyebrows furrowed. What was the doctor talking about? He remembered the terrible tsunami that hit Pohang when he was 18 years old. It was 4 years ago. Did he go back in time? Was that the reason why the judge was still alive?
"Are my classmates alright?" Seojin asked the doctor anxiously. He remembered that they went on a school trip that day, and a lot of his classmates suffered serious injuries. Ji-a had also been injured because of the natural disaster.
"Your classmates? I haven't seen anyone with your uniform in the hospital. Maybe they have been transferred to another hospital," the doctor said.
Seojin rushed out of his bed and changed into his school uniform. He had to go see if Ji-a was alright. She was his only friend, and he remembered that she had ended up with a fat man who always beat her up. If the judge was still alive, it meant that his other targets were also alive. He had to get rid of them again.
"Where are you going?" Valentin asked while holding on to the kid's arm.
Seojin shook the judge's hand away in disgust. How dare he touch him when he's working for his uncle? He never understood why the judge was successfully bribed by his uncle. The Vronsky family was powerful enough to rule over Korea. The judge had nothing to gain from working for his uncle.
"If you are looking for Ji-a, she's at school right now," Valentin explained patiently.
"How would you even know?"Seojin snapped.
As they were the only ones in the VIP room right now, Valentin asked Kaito to open the gate that connected to the school.
Seojin cautiously looked at the purple gate. It looked like it was a spatial ability. He didn't know that the judge had superpowers. Weren't they exclusively used by assassins?
"Follow me," Valentin said and stepped inside the gate.
Seojin still didn't trust the judge, but it might be the only way to reach Ji-a faster. The judge wouldn't have the courage to do something to him. He was renowned for being a coward after all.
Surprised to arrive at school in such a short time, Seojin rushed to his classroom. It's been a long time since he returned to school. After his graduation, he was busy with his revenge, so he never saw Ji-a again. He didn't want to drag her into his mess.
"Ji-a!" Seojin yelled as he opened the class's door. He panted as he scanned the classroom. Why was he so out of breath? He didn't use to be that weak. He had trained his endurance and his abnormal strength to kill his targets.
"Seojin, you are finally awake!" Ji-a exclaimed. She rushed out of the classroom after asking the teacher's permission.
"Are you alright?" Seojin asked as he checked for any injury Ji-a might have.
"Of course, I'm alright. I should be asking you that question. We were worried sick because you were in a coma for a long time. The judge took care of you every day," Ji-a said.
"What are you talking about? Don't you remember that he was my uncle's accomplice? With all the evidence, he didn't even sentence my uncle to prison."
"What are you talking about? Your uncle has been sent to jail because the judge sentenced him. He has helped you a lot after the trial. He even helped with my family's debt. Thanks to him, I don't have to marry someone I don't like," Ji-a said. What was wrong with her friend?
Seojin held his head in pain. He didn't understand what was going on. Why was everything different from what he remembered?
"Are you okay?" Ji-a asked worriedly. Seojin seemed a little bit different after he had hit his head.
Seojin forced a smile and reassured that everything was fine. He didn't want to worry her. He was relieved that Ji-a seemed to be happy. He remembered that Ji-a didn't return to school after she had been married off to the fat man. Maybe it was a good thing that he had returned to a different timeline. Was he in a parallel world?
"Oh, look, it's the judge! I hope everything goes well for you two." Ji-a winked and returned to the classroom.
What did Ji-a mean by that? It was as if he had a good relationship with the judge.
"Let's go home," Valentin said.
Seojin reluctantly followed the judge. Ji-a had told him that the judge was his guardian and they were living together right now. Deep down, he knew that the judge would be the only one who could answer his questions. The judge seemed different from his memories.
"So what do you want to know?" Valentin asked as he sat on the sofa.
Seojin glanced at his surroundings. He had only trespassed on the judge's home at night to murder him. He had never seen the inside of the apartment in broad daylight.
"Why did the doctor say that I have amnesia?" Seojin asked.
"You were injured on the head, so you lost a part of your memories," Valentin explained.
"I'm pretty sure my memories are intact."
"Those are your memories from your past life."
"How do you know?" Seojin said, alerted. The judge wasn't supposed to know that. Was he reborn, too?
"I told you, I'm a transmigrator from another world." Valentin threw him a copy of the novel 'The Making of a Killer'. He had asked the system to print out a copy of it.
Seojin reached out for the novel cautiously. As he read the book, he realized that it described his entire life. He flipped the pages and read the lines again and again. He didn't want to believe it, but even the words he said were inked in the novel.
"Where did you get it?" Seojin asked.
"It's a novel from my world. I was reading the book before I transmigrated."
"Are you saying that we are inside the world of a book?" Seojin asked. He didn't want to believe it, but it seemed plausible. Why else was he alive again? He was supposed to be dead. He clearly remembered the sensation of the metallic knife in his throat.
Valentin nodded, and it pained him to see Seojin's look of disbelief. It must be hard to realize that the world you live in was only a story made for people to enjoy. Valentin didn't want to hurt Seojin, but he had to tell Seojin the truth to avoid any kind of misunderstandings. If Seojin wanted to exact his revenge again, Valentin would do it for him. He didn't want the male lead's hands to be tainted again. These kinds of things should be left to the adults.