Chapter 384

Chapter 384

Reincarnated User Manual.

Episode 384: W-IFSS: If This Were A Childhood Friend Story Instead (6)

Hyun-jun wore a bewildered expression, as if he had no idea what was happening to him.

A biting cold that cut through the skin.

Snow so deep it swallowed his knees with every step.

None of that mattered to him.

Just moments ago, he had been aboard a luxurious yacht, floating proudly in the vast ocean. He wasn’t completely devoid of panic, but a far greater emotion was surging within him, swallowing everything else in its wake.

Suffocation.

Even if it was essentially severed, seeing his childhood friend again after so long made him feel as though something was crushing his chest, to the point that he could barely breathe, cold sweat trickling down his back…

Whoosh—

“Hey!”

Cha Hyun-jun turned his back on Yura. He heard her calling out to him, but he resolutely ignored her and quickened his pace.

“You’re Cha Hyun-jun, aren’t you?”

Yes, he was.

“I-It’s me, Yura! Don’t go thinking I’m a ghost or something! I’m Shin Yura!!”

And yes, she was Shin Yura.

But so what?

He already knew that the woman stubbornly trudging through the snow behind him was Yura.

The moment he saw her face, his breath turned ragged.

Even as the blizzard battered him head-on, cold sweat ran down his spine.

His body reacted instinctively, resisting their reunion with all its might.

“Just stop for a second…!”

Meanwhile, Yura continued to chase after Hyun-jun’s retreating figure.

She, too, was struggling to make sense of what had happened.

The last thing she remembered was taking a call from Director Im Hye-jung and missing a step on a steel staircase. When she opened her eyes, she was in a blizzard on a snowy mountain. Somehow, she had ended up inside the very game she had created. And just when she thought she had finally wrapped her head around the situation, there, right in front of her, was Hyun-jun.

But she wasn’t confused.

She knew exactly what she needed to do.

Cha Hyun-jun.

A boy who had nearly vanished from her life, with whom she had lost touch for years.

That alone was enough to propel her forward.

Her feet sank deep into the snow, making every step a struggle, and the difference in their stride only widened the distance between them. But somehow, she had the overwhelming feeling that if she stopped now, she would never see him again.

How could she?

She had just fallen into a foreign world—no, a world where a game had become reality. She was still reeling from the shock, and then, as if by some miracle, she had run into her first love.

At this moment, the reason she had ended up here didn’t matter.

What mattered was the joy, the excitement, the relief, the regret.

She wanted to let out all the words she hadn’t been able to say because they had lost contact.

And first among them, she wanted to say she was sorry.

But,

If he kept running away like this—

“Don’t come closer!”

“Just a second! Let me see your face and talk!”

If he kept rejecting her—

“Ugh… I said, don’t come closer!”

“Do you hate me that much? Enough to run away the moment you see me?!”

Tears welled up in Yura’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

Did he finally notice? The desperate sob in her voice made Hyun-jun’s retreating steps falter.

This was her chance.

She didn’t like relying on emotional appeals, but she wasn’t in a position to be picky. She quickly wiped her eyes and stepped closer to him.

Dignity? Who cared about that?

For the person she loved the most, she had to convey her feelings.

Even if it ended in farewell, she had to say the words left unspoken.

A woman steeled her resolve—what else could possibly matter?

“I knew you were avoiding me.”

Yura grabbed the front of Hyun-jun’s coat, her voice trembling.

“…Just go away.”

Hyun-jun spat out the words icily and even swatted away her hand with a sharp motion.

It felt like thousands of needles stabbing into her heart.

But she had expected this.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself once more.

“Look at me!”

“I said go away!”

“Do you hate me that much?! You could at least give me a chance to apologize!”

“Damn it… That’s not what I—”

Ugh.

“Uwegh!”

A hangover from drinking himself half to death the night before.

Cha Hyun-jun could not hold it in any longer.

“Uweeeeegh!”

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

A cascade of vividly-colored vomit splattered across the snow.