Rebirth – 3

Kang In-ho vaguely suspected that Kim Jin-tae harbored ill feelings toward him.

And following the thread of those ill feelings, he was certain that at the root lay inferiority, anger, and murderous intent toward the existence of Kang In-ho.

But when he actually dug up the roots, what lay at the end was not what he had expected.

Worry, pleading.

He hated him as if he wanted to kill him, yet he pleaded.

For what?

After being possessed into this dimension, Kang In-ho felt confusion for the first time.

It was as if he was vividly witnessing the premises he had naturally assumed to be true falling apart.

Unaware that he was staring down at him with a dumbfounded expression, Kim Jin-tae sobbed and sniveled as he screamed.

“If you brought a kid who was just minding her own business, shouldn’t you take responsibility?”

Uh… wait a minute…

Kang In-ho thought to himself.

“A kid who follows you around because she likes you… a kid who gives you everything because she likes you… shouldn’t you at least be good to her as a human being?”

At least, shouldn’t a person do that?

Kim Jin-tae added.

Shin Jeonga’s words from some time ago connected like puzzle pieces.

Although he wasn’t certain, he felt like he vaguely understood how things had started and were progressing.

“Hey… hold on…”

Kang In-ho opened his mouth, feeling dizzy, but Kim Jin-tae paid no attention.

“Since we’re at it, let’s say everything… you knew it too, didn’t you?”

Staggering, Kim Jin-tae stood up.

Like a newborn foal, his legs trembled, and he used his hands on his knees to barely raise his injured body.

He spat blood-mixed saliva on the ground.

Despite the short exchange, he was severely injured, his whole body was in tatters, but his eyes were fixed straight on Kang In-ho.

Kim Jin-tae took a deep breath.

And he used anger and courage as tools to pull out the sincerity he had been suppressing deep in his heart.

“How I feel about Shin Jeonga.”

Like the cigarette smoke he exhaled, the sentence that came out of his mouth created a long tail and was delivered to Kang In-ho.

Kang In-ho squeezed his eyes shut.

Because he could see the vague assumptions from just a moment ago wriggling together to form a shape.

“Stop…”

Kang In-ho tried to stop Kim Jin-tae.

But he couldn’t stop him with words.

“You knew… no, you did it even more because you knew, didn’t you?”

Kim Jin-tae’s lips trembled.

“Holding hands, hugging, and…”

As if he didn’t want to recall it, Kim Jin-tae frowned.

“I said stop.”

Suppressing his churning stomach, he grabbed Kim Jin-tae by the collar.

The other man coughed as he was roughly grabbed.

“I knew it… you’re just like that.”

Lifted into the air, Kim Jin-tae threw a bitter smile at Kang In-ho.

It was as if he was saying, ‘Why are you pretending to be nice? This is you, isn’t it?’

Kim Jin-tae prided himself on knowing Kang In-ho well.

He had scratched his insides, so now a fist would fly at his face, or maybe his abdomen?

But even after waiting for a long time, there was no impact.

The man who grabbed his collar and lifted him up seemed to be enduring something with his eyes tightly closed.

“Just… be quiet for a bit. I’m a bit out of it right now.”

Then he stepped back and let go of his hand.

As the neck that had been a sin found freedom, his breathing returned to normal.

Kim Jin-tae massaged his neck and examined Kang In-ho.

A situation where each found the other strange continued.

Inho was the first to act.

He sat back down on the bench and flicked his hand.

Unable to understand his intentions, Jin-tae quietly watched Inho’s actions.

“Sit down.”

A tired voice followed.

He thought about resisting for a moment, but Jin-tae quietly sat down on the bench at Inho’s words.

A situation where they faced each other.

Kang In-ho lowered his head to the ground and let out a long sigh.

He took several deep breaths like that.

He stretched his body.

He did those strange actions for several minutes.

Kang In-ho looked at Kim Jin-tae with a face that was a little better than before.

“Keep talking.”

I’m ready to listen.

Kang In-ho said.

Kang In-ho looked very tired when he returned home.

This was partly because he had climbed the hill with his unwell body, but also because he had suffered internal injuries as he listened to the terrible things the original owner of the body had done, as told by Jin-tae.

“Master called this a Demonic state of mind, didn’t he?””

He never thought he would experience something in the modern world that he had never experienced while training in the Murim world.

After taking off his clothes and throwing them into the washing machine, he simply washed his body and flopped onto the bed.

The neat-colored ceiling came into his view.

“……..”

He habitually picked up his phone.

And he reread the conversations he had with Shin Jeonga.

It was a conversation he had read over and over again after the possession, saying that he was grasping the surrounding relationships.

But the content about the beginning of the relationship with Shin Jeonga could not be found in this chat room.

“What kind of situation is this?”

The word ‘karma’ came to mind first. Of course, it’s ambiguous to call it karma because it’s not the karma he built up himself.

It’s like someone else borrowed the money, and he suddenly took on the debt.

“Ah, damn it…”

A curse lingered on his tongue.

His stomach felt bloated as if he had overeaten.

Unwanted, this is what he found out.

Shin Jeonga was a student who played alone in the classroom.

One day, she caught Kang In-ho’s eye and started playing with him.

She gradually adapted to the group and her personality brightened.

It sounds good to say that she adapted to the group, but to put it simply, it was the original owner of the body’s actions that ruined her.

[I feel disgusted because I feel like I’m pretending to be nice… but please.]

Kim Jin-tae asked as Inho was leaving after hearing the general information.

“There hasn’t been a case this complicated, has there?”

At most, he was involved with an internet broadcasting BJ, but suddenly he was given a problem with such a hardcore difficulty that his head felt hot enough to burn.

Kang In-ho thrashed around on the bed for a while.

“…Responsibility? How?”

Should he transfer schools and wash away the past? Or should he sit her next to him and have her study even now?

Fanciful solutions came to mind and disappeared like bursting bubbles.

“Ah… what do I really do?”

Kang In-ho was troubled as he swiped his thumb across the phone’s screen.

His finger lingered for a long time on Shin Jeonga’s profile picture, which now had nothing on it.