episode_0133

133.

“Ah.”

Flustered.

Yoo Seolhyun swallowed dryly.

And blinked her eyes, scanning him.

Lee Jinhyuk. He was right in front of her.

Messy hair, handsome appearance, decent posture, and so on.

Even after scrutinizing him for a while, Yoo Seolhyun’s memory matched Lee Jinhyuk’s face.

“….”

He sat on the plush sofa, nibbling on a snack, just staring at Yoo Seolhyun.

His slightly light eyes reflected her figure.

As a result, Yoo Seolhyun’s expression gradually darkened.

She unconsciously bit her lower lip.

Feeling a deep sense of humiliation at Lee Jinhyuk’s nonchalant reception.

Mocking me with the appearance of someone who’s already dead?

I never intended to end this nicely from the beginning, but seeing that attitude only fueled my anger.

I thought he was just borrowing Lee Jinhyuk’s name, but to boldly imitate his appearance like that.

Yoo Seolhyun opened her lips, which were tightly sealed in anger.

She wanted to expel the boiling rage inside her immediately.

“Who are you?”

Yoo Seolhyun immediately raised her sharp blade.

The sharp blade and ominous aura swirled menacingly as if ready to strike at any moment.

“If you dare to do something foolish, I’ll pierce you right away.”

“What are you?”

She yelled sharply.

She sensed a commotion outside.

It was the security team. They were about to rush in upon hearing Yoo Seolhyun’s voice, but she didn’t give any signal, so they stayed put.

“Yoo Seolhyun.”

He calmly called out her name.

The same face, expression, and voice calling her filled her with an indescribable sense of rejection.

“I… ”

“I don’t know who you are, but imitating that guy in my residence was a mistake.”

Yoo Seolhyun dispersed a shiver of energy.

The man who imitated Lee Jinhyuk’s appearance was enveloped in a quite dense energy, but he seemed unharmed.

If he was at the level of a typical hero trainee, he would have been trembling with fear.

Yes, he came alone to Yoo Seolhyun’s sanctuary, so he must have some skills, right?

Perhaps facing him alone could be dangerous in itself.

If that man had much higher skills than Yoo Seolhyun, he could easily take her as a hostage.

Rationally speaking, it would be right to call the security team and interrogate him together.

But Yoo Seolhyun didn’t call the security team.

She still wanted to face him alone.

“Transformation ability? Duplication ability? Clone ability? Or what, special disguise?”

There are various extraordinary abilities in this world.

It is possible to transform into someone else in the blink of an eye.

After all, weren’t there figures like the duplicator Suyeong in Rebellion?

There have been cases where some villains imitated Lee Jinhyuk’s appearance to deceive Yoo Seolhyun and Jinsuyeon, so she couldn’t let her guard down.

“Where do you belong? What is your purpose? Why did you imitate that guy?”

Yoo Seolhyun put on a guarded expression and gathered more energy. However, the man didn’t take any defensive stance. No matter how good his skills were, he was too defenseless. He could easily be pierced by her blade if he made a mistake.

What is this man thinking?

If he really tried to deceive Yoo Seolhyun, he would have prepared a situation good enough to deceive her.

But coming so blatantly, imitating Lee Jinhyuk’s appearance, and shamelessly sitting alone in the reception room, she couldn’t help but feel that she couldn’t be deceived.

“I didn’t fake it, it’s true.”

“Everyone said that.”

“Well, I expected that you wouldn’t believe it, but it’s hard to explain.”

Jinhyuk scratched his chin with a bitter smile.

“Yuseolhyun, let’s cut to the chase. I actually died and came back to life. With an artifact.”

“Huh.”

Yuseolhyun chuckled.

An excuse to come back to life? And through an artifact out of the blue?

It’s really unbelievable.

“So you had a resurrection artifact? I’ve never heard of an artifact that can bring someone back to life.”

“I know it’s hard to believe. But among the stolen auction items, there was a ring called the Blessing of the Stars. It was actually a resurrection artifact.”

Blessing of the Stars?

Resurrection artifact?

Come to think of it, they did retrieve the Blessing of the Stars ring and the Abyssal Ring from Jinhyuk’s body.

At the time of retrieval, Yuseolhyun was puzzled as to why Jinhyuk was wearing the Blessing of the Stars ring, which didn’t seem to have any effect.

If it was really an artifact related to resurrection…

No.

It’s a ridiculous story.

There’s no way such a miraculous story could be true.

Reality is always harsh. Yuseolhyun knew that. There are no miracles in this world.

“The reason I wanted to steal the auction items was to retrieve the Blessing of the Stars. I wanted to obtain an artifact that could bring me back to life just in case. Well… I didn’t expect to use it back then.”

“Okay, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But you’re not wearing the Blessing of the Stars now, right? How did you come back to life?”

“It activates immediately upon death.”

Jinhyuk added quietly.

“I didn’t expect it to take this long to come back to life. Oh, come to think of it, could I have come back to life even if I had put on makeup? That’s intriguing.”

“…”

“But where is the Blessing of the Stars now? You didn’t return all the auction items, did you?”

“For now, I have it with me.”

“Really? Then check the Blessing of the Stars. It’s a one-time ability, so once you use the resurrection ability, the gem will break.”

“That…”

His words were indeed correct.

Yuseolhyun vividly remembered that the gem part of the ring called the Blessing of the Stars was broken.

But even if that were true, she couldn’t just accept his words at face value.

“Several people, not just me, have the Blessing of the Stars broken. Besides, if you’re Jinhyuk, show me more convincing evidence.”

But this man knows more than expected.

How does he know that Yuseolhyun and Jinhyuk conspired to steal the auction items, a secret they kept to themselves?

Really, is he really Jinhyuk?

Is it true that he came back to life through an artifact?

If by any chance he really did come back to life…

“What do you think about me being a precognitive?”

Precognition.

One of the secrets he had hidden.

But now, it wouldn’t matter much.

“Many people know that you’re a precognitive.”

“That’s right. Soyeon, Roxanne, they all mentioned it vaguely.”

“And even Yudahee suspected me of being a precognitive, so it’s not much of a secret now.”

Yuseolhyun bit her lip, shaking her head vigorously, silently denying that he could be Jinhyuk.

“What do I have to say for you to believe me?”

If only there was evidence, but there’s no way there’s any real evidence that he’s Jinhyuk. So all he can do is persuade.

“Oh, do you remember the first bet we made?”

“A bet?”

“Yeah, you know. When we teamed up for the assessment and made a bet together.”

Lee Jin-hyuk chuckled.

“I said, ‘If you don’t keep your promise instead of following my orders, I’ll make you do chores for me during our academy life. How about that?’ right?”

“Haha.”

You even know that?

“You nodded as if you found it amusing.”

“….”

“And when we had an important conversation about clearing the Yeongdeung Mountain dungeon, we chatted about various things at the cafe.”

“….”

“And when So-yeon asked for your help during the stalker incident on the rooftop.”

“….”

“And what else was there… Oh, right.”

He chuckled softly as if he remembered something amusing.

“I… didn’t do anything, but I’ve already beaten you twice, haven’t I?”

2-0 confession.

You still remember that.

I have a subtle edge, you know. Lee Jin-hyuk smirked slyly.

“If my face isn’t to your liking?”

He suddenly shrugged, saying, “Really. What’s wrong with my face? Isn’t it pretty decent? You’re just being overly critical because you have Lee Si-woon and Kang Dae-han around.”

“You.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you really Lee Jin-hyuk?”

“That’s right.”

“No way. Resurrection, that’s impossible…”

“Resurrection-related abilities haven’t been discovered so far, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

Yoo Seol-hyun hesitated for a moment with a confused look in her eyes before biting her lip lightly.

It was a look that said she couldn’t believe it.

No, it was more like she didn’t want to believe it.

Because if it turned out to be false later on, she would be shocked to the point of being unable to speak.

It was a psychological defense mechanism to protect herself.

“You must have mind-reading abilities or telepathy or something, that’s why you’re answering my thoughts with your abilities…”

“So you’re saying I can transform into Lee Jin-hyuk, use mind-reading, and act to deceive you?”

Lee Jin-hyuk suddenly raised his shoulders in disbelief.

“Yeah, well, that could happen. In fact, from your perspective, this is more plausible than resurrection.”

Lee Jin-hyuk nodded in understanding.

“So how about this?”

“What, what is it?”

“Christmas is coming soon.”

“And?”

“So, I’ll make a prediction.”

Prediction…?

“This Christmas, it will snow. A white Christmas.”

“The weather forecast didn’t say that.”

“Whose prediction do you trust more, a future-seeing person like me or a weather forecast that can be wrong?”

His confident and shameless words.

“You don’t really think you can mimic future-seeing abilities, do you?”

Yoo Seol-hyun suddenly fell silent at his blunt words.

“If you really can’t believe it, shall we wait until Christmas?”

“Ugh… No, forget it. Forget it.”

“Yoo Seol-hyun?”

“Ugh, seriously, what is this?”

Yoo Seol-hyun let out a hollow laugh and then closed the window abruptly.

“Resurrected…? Is this for real…?”

“I’ve said it several times. Have you been fooled all this time?”

As he jokingly spoke, an unknown emotion began to surge deep within her chest.

Confusion? Joy? Happiness? What was this emotion?

In any case, there was definitely a overwhelming emotion rising within her.

“You, really…”

“By the way, Yoo Seol-hyun, there’s something I urgently want to ask you.”

“What, what is it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much.”

Come to think of it, he mentioned that he had something to ask since they first met, right?

Something important enough to come unannounced at this late hour.

“I actually went to So-yeon’s house before you.”

But…

“Soyeon isn’t home.”

Should I call it fate?

“Do you happen to know where Soyeon went?”

He didn’t even consider someone like Yuseolhyun.

“It’s not like something happened, right?”

“….”

He was only worried about Jin Soyeon.

As always.

Every time.

Always.

Only Jin Soyeon.