The Gamer's POV-Chapter 228: A Sudden Thought

Deep down, Leon could feel that this figure in his memory was the brother he had been told about for the past six years. The moment the connection clicked, the agonizing itch suddenly disappeared.

"That’s... him?"

At that moment, Uriel sighed in relief as she saw the tension leave his body. The desperate urge to know that had possessed him just moments ago was finally fading, and she could see a smile slowly lighting up his sweat-slicked face.

She quickly looked into his eyes, using her own connection to him to check the memory he had just surfaced. But when she saw this image of his supposed brother, a deep frown creased her forehead, because she could immediately recognize that this was the man Leon had seen in that strange memory that had popped up for some reason over a week ago.

Uriel recalled what had happened to Leon when that memory had popped up, and she immediately grew wary. She knew she had to stop him from becoming any more curious about this brother for the time being. She could already hear him mutter to himself:

"That’s what he looks like? He looks nothing like me. What’s his name? And where is he now?"

"Hey," Uriel quickly interjected while shaking his shoulders. "It’s great that you can finally remember what he looks like. But Leon, I think you have to stop here. For now, don’t try to probe any further. Remember what happened the last time you saw him?"

Leon snapped out of his trance, and his eyes gradually refocused as he returned his attention to her.

Then, she continued sternly, "Promise me that you won’t try to dig deeper about him until we are stronger."

Leon reached up and gently cupped her face with his hands. A small, weary smile played on his lips before he finally nodded in response.

But Uriel didn’t let it go. She looked at him intensely and added, "Promise me."

"I promise. I’m fine now, Uriel."

***

Meanwhile...

Speaking of memories, even Cedric suddenly had one while he was still unconscious.

On a Friday evening back on Earth, Cedric, or rather Kim Min-jun, was engrossed in a game he was playing when the door to his room opened and a woman walked inside.

She turned on the lights, scrunched her nose, and then said with a frown, "Gosh, I’ve told you to always tidy up, babe.~"

Kim Min-jun smiled, and without looking away from his screen, he greeted her, "Hey babe. Did you get dinner?"

Seo-yeon sighed, and a second later, her frown transformed into a smile as she walked over to a small round table on the floor.

"Yep." She knelt and took out the takeout containers. As she arranged the Korean food and beer, she added, "I got tteokbokki, fried chicken, and some kimbap."

Min-jun finally stole a quick glance away from the monitor to wink at her. "Tteokbokki? You really know the way to my heart. Open a beer for me? I’ll be there in a sec."

TSSS!

Seo-yeon cracked open a beer. As the foam began to sizzle and rise toward the rim, she quickly sipped it off before setting the can down for him.

After that, she stood up and headed to the chair in the corner. She gathered Min-jun’s dirty clothes from there and left to toss them into the laundry.

When she got back, she began to change from her work clothes into her loungewear.

"By the way, how was work today?" Min-jun asked, his eyes still fixed on the screen as he navigated a tricky part of the game.

Seo-yeon let out a long, weary sigh as she pulled her shirt over her head. "The usual. My manager was being a headache again, but at least the important parts of the project are finally finished." She blew a puff of air upward, sending a stray strand of her bob flying out of her eyes. Then, she turned, walked over to the small table and sat on the floor with her legs crossed.

After that, she picked up a piece of chicken with her right hand and, as she took a hungry bite, she used her left hand to reach for her phone and began scrolling through it.

"The subscription results for that new apartment complex in Gimhae came out today," she said in a voice that carried a mix of hope and exhaustion as she stared at the screen. "The competition was insane. I was checking the forums, and it looks like the cutoff score was way higher than we expected. At this rate, we might have to look further out into the suburbs if we want a place with an extra room for your gaming setups."

While she was still saying all that, Min-jun had paused his game. He quickly pushed his chair back, walked briskly over to the low table and sat on the ground with his legs crossed opposite her.

Then, as he reached for a piece of chicken, she tilted the screen toward him. "Look at this specific unit." She kept scrolling through the pictures. "It has a balcony that faces the park, and the kitchen island is exactly like the one you liked in that magazine. If we don’t win the lottery for a place like this, I feel like we’ll just be throwing money away on monthly rent forever. Do you think we should increase our monthly savings, even if it means no more takeout for a while?"

Min-jun looked at the floor plan on the small screen, then up at her tired face, while also repeating her words in his head.

’...no more takeout for a while?’

After a few seconds, he leaned back and took the chicken with him. "It looks good, Seo-yeon. But don’t kill yourself over the numbers tonight. We have a solid plan, and if we have to move a bit further out to be able to get a place, then that’s what we’ll do. As long as we’re finally living in a place we actually own, I’m happy. It doesn’t matter where, really."

As he took a bite of the chicken and she returned to her phone, his eyes settled on the pendant around her neck. One side of the teardrop was gold and the other black. He had always seen her with that pendant, right from the time he reconnected with her.

However, one small detail caught his attention. When he had first seen the pendant, the part that was currently black had been a very bright green. It was almost as if as the days went by, the color darkened even further.

"You know," he said, pausing his chewing as he looked at the dual colored metal. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without that. Does it mean something special?"

"Huh?" Seo-yeon looked up from her phone, and following the direction of his gaze, she looked down at her chest. "Oh..."

She looked back at him and gave a small smile, before she added, "Yeah, it is. The lord of my family and his brother made it for me."

’Lord of your family?’ Min-jun arched a brow. Thinking that she was probably talking about her father, he said, "That’s an odd way to say your father and your uncle."

Seo-yeon snickered.

She dropped her phone on the table, screen side down, then she took a breath. "I just had a sudden thought."

Min-jun picked up his chopsticks and used them to pick up a gimbap. "Mm-hm?"

Seo-yeon looked at him intently. "Let’s say you were suddenly given the opportunity to obtain a supernatural power. What sort of power would you choose?"

Min-jun paused.

That was so... out of the blue.

"Where’d that come from?" he asked.

Seo-yeon shrugged, but didn’t reply and just kept staring, expecting an answer.

"Mmm..."

Min-jun chewed, thought for up to ten seconds, then looking upward in thought, he replied, "Creation and manifestation. If I could pick a power, I’d like the power to bring anything I can think of into reality."