Chapter 186. An Unexpected Change of Pace (1) (1/2)

Paat!

Light flashed. When Seol Jihu opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar room. Only after looking around a few times in awkwardness did he realize, ‘Ah, this is my room.’

Drrk. The cityscape that revealed itself when he opened the window felt way too unnatural and strange.

The cars on the side of the road, the densely populated houses, the students walking around in their uniforms… Seol Jihu stared at the cityscape in a daze before scratching his head hard.

His scalp itched, perhaps because he had not washed his head in several days. He immediately took off his shirt and headed to the bathroom.

Chwaaaa! Water poured down from the showerhead. Feeling the hot water striking his body, Seol Jihu softly closed his eyes as a soft moan escaped his mouth.

‘Hot water comes out this easily, huh….’

It wasn’t as if hot water was hard to come by in Paradise, but there was an annoying process involved when it came to acquiring enough for a nice bath.

Only now did Seol Jihu really feel like he was back on Earth. Everything that happened while he was in Paradise felt like a dream.

“Whew….”

He plopped down as he let the shower water pelt his head.

While Seol Jihu had no way of knowing this, he had just experienced the second of his four most dreadful, fierce battles. It was only natural for his legs to go limp.

He felt refreshed once he washed every inch of his body, but he was soon confronted with a difficult problem that he had long anticipated he’d run into.

He had absolutely nothing to do.

Rather, he had no clue what he should do.

He opened the fridge without much thought, then closed it feeling troubled. Even when he turned on some loud music and wandered around the room or when he picked up a book that caught his eye, nothing seemed to hold his attention for more than 10 minutes.

He opened his laptop and read the latest news, but it was nowhere as interesting as reading the news report from the assassin organization.

When he realized there was nothing to do, an unbearable silence descended upon him.

In the end, he turned on the TV, took out a can of beer rolling around in the fridge, put a cigarette in his mouth, then leaned against the wall. Meanwhile, his head was filled with all sorts of thoughts.

Kim Hannah and Jang Maldong’s requests echoed inside his ears.

“So boring….”

Seol Jihu murmured to himself as he lit the cigarette. However, he did not drink even a sip of the beer he’d opened, and even the cigarette only let out white smoke.

Seol Jihu glared at the celebrities laughing and joking on the TV screen with empty and lifeless eyes.

“They don’t even know anything.”

Soon, as the unused cigarette burned to the end of the filter, and the screen changed to an advertisement…

“….”

He lowered his head dejectedly. He didn’t understand why he was like this, but he felt as if all energy had been sucked out of his body the moment he returned to Earth.

Less than half a day had passed since he left Paradise, so why was he feeling this way?

Seol Jihu looked down at the plain floor and muttered briefly.

“…It’s so lonely.”

**

After sitting lethargically on the couch for a long time, Seol Jihu left the room as if he was escaping from something.

Time flowed and soon it was dinner time, with dusk slowly blanketing the sky.

Seol Jihu walked aimlessly, though he clearly did not have a plan or a place to go. He simply walked without a destination or a goal.

His half-reflexively moving steps stopped when a bright light touched the tip of his toes. Seol Jihu, who had been contemplating deeply while fiddling with the piece of paper in his pocket, raised his head.

Hongik University Station Exit 2.

‘Oh right!’