Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 113.2
Baek Jae-heon, who was walking beside me, spoke quietly.
“You know.”
“Yeah?”
“The recurring dream I kept having… I guess it wasn’t a dream after all.”
“Why? You thought it was a dream until now?”
“Sometimes I did.”
Had he not noticed the difference since my first appearance as a trainee? Baek Jae-heon glanced first at the members ahead, then at me, as if trying to remember this moment of experiencing something for the first time.
“Didn’t you feel it was different since I’ve been here?”
I smiled and lightly tapped his arm. Baek Jae-heon fixed his gaze on my face.
“Because you were there, I thought it was even more like a dream.”
I thought that was sweet of him. Maybe he said that because he was happy about receiving the rookie award for the first time.
“You didn’t even know it was me, right?”
“….”
“…Why? Should I not ruin the moment?”
I scratched my head awkwardly as Baek Jae-heon continued staring at me in silence. Then, he suddenly reached out and gently cupped my face with one hand.
“You asked me once. A long time ago.”
“Asked what?”
“About what I looked like.”
That was about the ‘me’ from fifty years ago, my previous life. Baek Jae-heon was the only one who knew about the first version of me. I, the person myself, couldn’t remember the name or the face at all. I just let him gently touch my face, feeling puzzled at why he would suddenly bring it up.
“It’s the same.”
“…Huh?”
“I was just confused because you look so young now.”
“…The same?”
“Yes. Exactly the same.”
I frowned. The ‘me’ from a previous life looked exactly like I do now? Does that mean my parents genetically must be the same too? If that is true, then my current family is genuinely my family, and I am not living someone else’s life. Could that really be possible? Maybe Baek Jae-heon is mistaken. Maybe he has looked at this face too long and is imagining the past me.
‘Mr. Ji would have been handsome when he was young.’
‘…He was just a person, nothing more.’
‘No, really. If he had been born in the right era, he could have tried being an idol.’
‘Like YEARZ, which do you like?’
‘Yes. Like YEARZ.’
Suddenly, an unfamiliar memory came to me. It was about Ms. Lee Ji-eun, who had called me ‘Mr. Ji’ in her memory.
“….”
Was the ‘me’ from a previous life also Mr. Ji? Was I really Ji Myeong-hyeon? Both then and now, I looked the same, and I was not living someone else’s life.
“…Am I really the same?”
I looked up at Baek Jae-heon, dazed, like I was standing outside of time. Was I really… the complete ‘me,’ not a shadow or shell of anyone else?
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation in his answer.
Baek Jae-heon called my name.
“Myeong-hyeon.”
A quiet, breath-catching stillness spread around us.
“….”
“You are yourself.”
His voice was firm, unwavering.
“….”
“Don’t worry.”
Then he carefully but decisively pulled me into his arms. We were in a corridor where staff and entertainers constantly passed by. I could feel people glancing at us and slowing their steps, yet somehow, I could not push him away. I only wanted to sink deeper into the warmth of his embrace.
It felt overwhelming. The realization hit me like lightning, pressing heavily on my chest. That I am truly ‘me.’ This life, this body, this time—nothing is borrowed or lived on behalf of someone else.
My family is really my family. The love from those near or far is truly mine. Just that simple fact was so overwhelming that even breathing carefully felt necessary. Accepting that this warmth, this relief, is fully my own life required more courage than I expected.
In Baek Jae-heon’s arms, I slowly closed my eyes. My scattered heart finally came to rest in one place.
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