Ch.76Unable to Call My Father ‘Father’

Exactly one week ago from now.

It was when the blonde boy had just followed Katarina into a shabby detached house that served as the current hideout of the Villain’s Troupe.

Katarina first introduced him to her three surprised subordinates as her guest.

Then she went down to the highly secure basement with the boy to have a private conversation.

And there, she heard an unbelievable truth.

“S-so, Shinwoo’s true identity was the monster of Jamsil?!”

“Yes, that’s right. And as a bonus, you, Ms. Katarina, will be killed by Han Shinwoo. Exactly 18 years from now.”

“18 years later?! So I actually live quite long! No, wait, I’m going to die? I…”

“With parallel world abilities, in all time axes of my world at least, you’ll be permanently eradicated. Literally, you’ll be annihilated without a trace in any world.”

“…!”

Parallel worlds.

It was the multiverse theory where two universes could be created just by choosing whether to pick up a spoon or chopsticks first during a meal.

But in that nearly infinite number of worlds, Katarina would be completely wiped out without exception in all of them.

“By the way, little friend. How do you even know all this?”

“……”

“What are you, anyway? Even while bringing you to our hideout, I was ‘activating’ my ability. And I asked about you to countless versions of myself across different worldlines…”

The answers from the countless Katarinas across parallel worlds were all the same.

“None of them had ever seen ‘you.'”

“……”

“In nearly infinite parallel universes, I’m the only Katarina who has met you.”

It made no sense.

Parallel worlds were created by even the tiniest differences, despite being different worlds.

Meeting a ‘unique existence’ across nearly infinite worlds like this was impossible.

If such a thing were possible…

“Kid. You’re from the ‘future,’ aren’t you?”

A theory similar yet different from parallel worlds.

The so-called time travelers.

Beings who create massive ripples like a rock dropping into a gentle stream, in parallel worlds that should only change slightly.

Katarina was convinced that a figure straight out of myth or legend had appeared before her eyes.

And just as she thought.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m someone who has come from exactly 20 years in the future.”

“20 years in the future…!”

The blonde boy revealed that he had come from the future.

“The reason I came to the past is obviously to change the terrible future that’s about to unfold, and to protect my current world.”

“You were able to come to the past thanks to your ability?”

“No. I came through equipment, of course. It can only be used twice—just enough for coming and going.”

Indeed, if he could freely travel back and forth through time, the timeline would have been thoroughly tangled by now.

In a way, having only two chances might be a stroke of fortune for the boy.

“But does changing the past actually change the future?”

“You want to say that since it’s already a different worldline, there won’t be any effect, right?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I mean. The very existence of parallel worlds means that changing the past doesn’t change the future, just like in those Avengers movies.”

Even if you change past events out of concern for the future.

All that happens is the universe splits into two branches—a parallel world with a changed future and the original parallel world with its bleak future.

It meant that while this world’s future could be saved by the blonde boy, the blonde boy’s future world would remain unchanged, still the same bleak world.

“That’s right. Even if I intervene, this world’s future will just branch off in a different direction. My world won’t be saved.”

“Then why come to the past at all? If the future you live in is such a bleak place, wouldn’t it be hard enough just taking care of things there?”

Is there something he needs to take from the past?

Or perhaps someone he needs to meet.

Katarina made various guesses while observing the blonde boy’s seemingly meaningless time travel.

But as if there was something far more significant than that.

“But you know, Ms. Katarina.”

“Yes?”

“What if we could newly connect the two parallel worlds of past and future into one?”

“…What?”

The future humanity’s side.

The blonde boy began to reveal their final plan, which was almost lost.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“I mean exactly what I said. Even if I change the past, my world can’t change because our two worlds exist separately according to the infinite universe. But we’ve discovered a way to merge these two universes—the changed past and the present future.”

“Merging two universes into one… is that possible?”

“Yes. After all, among countless parallel worlds, there’s one more person who exists only in this world, just like me. Isn’t that right?”

“…!!”

That’s right.

There is.

A man who, like the blonde boy before her now, exists only in this world no matter how many worldlines you search.

“…Shinwoo?”

“Yes. Han Shinwoo isn’t an ordinary being who exists in any parallel universe. Even if the universe is ‘infinite,’ the future created by Han Shinwoo, who exists ‘uniquely’ within it, can only be finite.”

As if following a predetermined script.

The future that Han Shinwoo—who moves following the flow of the original work—lives in could only be one, no matter what future he completes.

In other words, if the past that serves as the starting point of that future is greatly twisted, the future will change because it’s the ‘Han Shinwoo’s parallel universe’ that is unique among infinite parallel worlds.

It was easier to think of it as cutting off one of the few roots extending from a tree trunk.

That was why the blonde boy had come to the past to achieve this purpose.

“The future Katarina told me before she died. Almost all parallel universes where Han Shinwoo exists look the same. Parallel universes without him have already become extinct worlds where neither humans nor monsters can live, but the world he rules now is an even worse hell.”

“Wait, that means…!”

“So she entrusted me with the mission before she died—to prevent the turning point that changes Han Shinwoo.”

It’s not about eliminating Han Shinwoo.

If that happened, the world would lose Han Shinwoo as a massive power and wouldn’t be able to withstand the unexpected disasters to come, leading to extinction.

So help the past Han Shinwoo who is struggling to save the world.

And preventing ‘that incident’ that would soon become his turning point was the mission of the blonde boy from the future.

But here, Katarina felt doubtful.

Why would such a young boy be dispatched for such an important mission?

Even if he could transform into a National Disaster-Level monster, he was still just a kid with the ink barely dry behind his ears.

At least her current self wasn’t crazy enough to throw such a young child onto the battlefield, no matter how dangerous the situation.

So there were only two possibilities she could think of.

‘Either my future self is a senile idiot, or…’

The situation in the future was so messed up that there was no one else she could trust with this task except this boy.

As she was wondering which was true.

“By the way, the reason I came to the past is because only I can exist in this world.”

“Can’t exist…?”

“Exactly what I said. No matter how many universes there are, there can only be one Ms. Katarina in a universe. What do you think would happen if two Ms. Katarinas appeared in one universe?”

“Well…”

Since it would violate the laws of the universe.

No one knew what kind of repercussions would occur.

In the worst case, the universe itself might not be able to withstand the contradiction and could cease to exist.

“This is still a world before I was born. So I volunteered to come to the past as the strongest one who wouldn’t violate the laws of the universe.”

“I see…”

The blonde boy spoke as if he didn’t need any sympathy.

With this, Katarina could understand why her future self had entrusted such an important role to this boy.

“So, Ms. Katarina. If possible, I’d like to ask for cooperation from the Villain’s Troupe as well.”

“Of course. If my future self sent you with her dying wish, I have to help.”

“Thank you.”

Katarina answered readily, and the blonde girl who had finally spoken with her again after two years smiled brightly.

But the more she looked at him, how should she put it…

“You know, you…”

“?”

“Really resemble Shinwoo…? I’ve actually been secretly monitoring him. Your smile is exactly the same.”

“?!”

Katarina saying he resembled Han Shinwoo, her favorite character regardless of whether he would destroy the world or whatever.

At this, the blonde boy bit his lip as if he’d heard a terrible insult, but.

“…That’s inevitable.”

Since it seemed okay to tell Ms. Katarina.

No, before that, the person who had revealed his origin in the future was Ms. Katarina herself.

“Of course it’s inevitable.”

“…?”

“After all, I’m that bastard’s son.”

“W-what?!”

A son who came from the future to stop his father’s atrocities.

“He threw my pregnant mother into the middle of a fire pit made of piled human corpses.”

“S-Shinwoo?! He committed such a grotesque atrocity? That cutie?!”

“Yes. Fortunately, I didn’t burn to death in my mother’s womb thanks to inheriting his genes, but my mother died then. Turned black like charcoal…!”

What the blonde boy was saying.

At least the desperate low tone in his voice indicated that everything he had just said was the truth.

But Katarina still couldn’t believe it.

“Kid. What’s your name?”

“Han Jaehyun.”

“Right, Jaehyun. Could I also know your mother’s name?”

She wondered who Han Shinwoo could have hated so much that he would throw his own wife into the middle of a fire pit.

Curious about her identity, Katarina asked, and.

“My mother?”

The blonde boy.

Shinwoo’s son, Han Jaehyun, without hesitation, immediately told the past Katarina just as the future Katarina had told him.

“My mother’s name is Sophia.”

“…What?”

“I know she was once the person closest to that bastard father of mine.”