In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 2

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 2

Three years was a short but long time.

Especially for the guys who had been to the army, they would understand what he meant.

How could 21 months be so long?

Seon Woojoo never thought that 21 months would feel longer than six years of trainee life.

-The army is… no.

He understood what Seokhwan Hyung said before they parted at the terminal.

A lot had happened in three years.

Seon Woojoo had helped out at his grandmother’s shop and lived there until he enlisted in the army as soon as he became an adult.

It was because Seon Woojoo hated to pay for food or rent when he couldn’t make any money.

He also thought about his career then.

After giving up on his childhood dream of being an idol, he wandered for a while and finally changed his future goal.

It was to be a composer.

Maybe Seon Woojoo inherited it from his parents who were musical instrument players, but he had some musical talent of his own and he chose to be a composer to make use of it.

If Seon Woojoo couldn’t be an idol, why not make idol music?

That was one of his thoughts.

And he thought it would be a pretty cool career path to start as a composer and later become a producer.

So he prepared for the college entrance exam.

Seon Woojoo thought it was essential to enter a good music college if he wanted to be a composer.

Of course, preparing for the college entrance exam in the army was not an easy task at all.

There were many obstacles.

For him, who had been obsessed with becoming an idol for six years and neglected his studies, the GED and the college entrance exam were huge barriers.

It was lucky that Seon Woojoo mastered English and Chinese during his trainee days, otherwise he would still be preparing for the college entrance exam.

With a fresh start, he studied for two years.

Seon Woojoo went through countless workbooks and mock exams, and now he only had the college entrance exam left.

Winter of 2013. Present.

Three years after leaving the company, he, Seon Woojoo, a 21-year-old who had just been discharged from the army, was a college entrance exam taker.

The cold weather that made his breath visible.

Every year, when the college entrance exam day came, he understood why people said it suddenly got cold.

Ugh. It was cold.

Seon Woojoo browsed the internet with his new smartphone that he bought after being discharged and walked down the street.

It was still early in the morning.

The street lights were still shining.

[Who are the stars taking the college entrance exam today?]

He clicked on the article in the entertainment section of the portal site and saw familiar faces.

TNT Han Taehyun, Lavi En Rose Jeon Yubin, and so on.

The faces that he had seen here and there at TJ Entertainment were crowded on the screen.

They were all familiar faces.

The one that caught his eye was TNT’s Han Taehyun.

TNT.

After Seon Woojoo was cut and a new member was added, TNT debuted right away.

The result was a huge success.

Not just a success, but a super hit.

They swept all the rookie awards that year, and the prefix of the best rookie idol ever was attached to them.

Honestly, he didn’t expect them to do that well.

Well.

It had nothing to do with Seon Woojoo anyway.

He took a deep breath and looked at the hill in front of him.

Maybe it was because of the snow yesterday.

There was ice on the hill that led to the test site.

How was he supposed to climb this?

Seon Woojoo was momentarily in a state of panic when he heard a strange noise.

Clank-

It was the sound of a manhole cover and a wheel hitting each other.

An old man was pushing a cart and struggling to climb the hill.

Maybe it was because they were of similar age.

He reminded Seon Woojoo of his grandmother in Gunsan.

He was climbing the hill with difficulty, but he swayed every time the wind blew.

Seon Woojoo felt sorry for him.

Should he help him?

Seon Woojoo had plenty of time to enter the test site since it was early in the morning. He checked his electronic watch that he had been using since the army and nodded.

He might as well get some good luck.

You never knew.

Maybe the high and mighty one in the sky would see him and say, ‘What a cheeky kid’ and bless him with some luck.

He thought so and smiled brightly.

“Sir.”

“…”

“Sir.”

“…Are you calling me?”

A weak voice came back.

“Are you having a hard time? I have some strength left, so I’ll take you to the end of the hill.”

“You’re helping me?”

“Yes.”

“You’re cheeky and weak-looking.”

“Don’t worry. I may look like this, but I haven’t been discharged for long, huh…!”

As soon as Seon Woojoo grabbed the handle of the cart and pushed it, he realized something was wrong.

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, haha!”

Seon Woojoo laughed outwardly, but cold sweat ran down his padding.

Was this weight for real?

He soon realized two shocking facts.

“…”

Seon Woojoo thought it was only paper boxes, but when he looked inside, he saw that there were old junk like radios and discarded electronics piled up.

The second was that the old man’s arms were muscular and alive.

And every time his pants fluttered, his magnificent calves were exposed.

Seon Woojoo felt embarrassed that he had meddled with someone who could easily handle it on his own.

“Kid, are you okay?”

“This is really heavy. It looked light.”

The old man chuckled.

“Oh, kid. Is there anything easy in this world?”

“You’re right.”

“Not just anyone can do this. You need to have some know-how.”

“How long have you been doing this, sir?”

Seon Woojoo blurted out anything that came to his mind as he was out of breath.

“I’ve been doing this all my life.”

“Huff, huff… That’s amazing.”

A proud smile appeared on the old man’s face, who was selling junk.

“I sent my son to college with this… Oh, you’re already out of energy? What good are you young people for?”

When they finally reached the top of the hill, Seon Woojoo grabbed his knees.

Wow, this was crazy.

Steam was rising from inside his padding, and sweat drops rolled down his forehead.

One lesson he learned today.

Never underestimate an old man.

“Thank you, kid. You didn’t help much, but you have a good heart. You’re pretty and handsome, too. I could die for you.”

“Yes, yes, thank you for your hard work.”

“Where are you going now, kid?”

“I’m going to take a test at the school over there.”

“Oh, the college entrance exam?”

“Yes.”

“Oh dear, you suffered a lot trying to help an old man.”

The old man held Seon Woojoo’s hand tightly, and he felt a warm heat.

“You did a good deed, so you’ll be blessed.”

“Thank you.”

He didn’t feel like he helped much, but it was rewarding.

Was this why people did volunteer work?

Seon Woojoo exchanged warm words with the old man and bowed his head to say goodbye. Then he moved his steps toward his destination.

It was soon the entrance to the test site.

But as Seon Woojoo walked, massaging his sore shoulders, he couldn’t help but turn his eyes to a strange sound.

Boom!

It was a car speeding from afar.

What? Were they crazy?

A white sedan was racing like mad on the side road near the school.

The driver must have been drunk, because the movement was abnormal.

And the direction the car was heading was clear…

“Sir!”

On the path of the angry car, the old man was on the phone, standing next to his cart.

Seon Woojoo shouted desperately. “Grandpa!”

But he didn’t react at all.

He must have been hard of hearing, because he was almost screaming on the phone.

Meanwhile, the car was speeding toward the cart, and Seon Woojoo’s heart started to beat anxiously.

‘No!’

Seon Woojoo had no time to think or do anything.

He felt a sense of time stopping as he ran with all his strength toward the old man.

In the meantime, the car had quickly closed the distance.

“Watch out-!”

When the license plate came close to his eyes, he pushed the old man away.

Crash!

The car that smashed the cart in an instant broke into the hair salon window.

“Are you okay-?”

The old man who fell to the ground was fortunately fine.

The problem was Seon Woojoo.

“Ugh-!”

His feet were slipping as he pushed the old man away.

Huh?

What was this?

It was because he stepped on the ice.

In an instant, Seon Woojoo’s center of gravity shifted to his back, and his body fell into a temporary state of weightlessness.

It felt like a viking going down.

The next thing was a flash.

Thud-!

Seon Woojoo body hit something once rolled down the hill.

When the rotation stopped, he saw a sign of a meat restaurant with a smiling cow.

Ow. His head hurt.

His vision was fading.

‘45,000 won for three servings of sirloin…’

That was his last memory.

***

When Seon Woojoo came to, he was in a hospital.

It was 10 o’clock.

When he heard that he missed the test time by a long time, he felt like the world was collapsing.

If there was a god, Seon Woojoo wanted to ask him.

What grudge did he have against him?

It was always like this.

Whenever Seon Woojoo thought his life was going well, he always gave him a hard time.

When he was seven, his parents passed away.

When he started practicing for a piano contest, his grandmother was diagnosed with cancer.

When he was about to debut, he was eliminated from the debut group.

And now, he saved a person on the day of the exam, but he couldn’t take the test.

What should he say to his grandmother?

She must be praying for him to ace the exam at the temple.

Seon Woojoo felt hopeless.

He was going crazy.

Thanks to years of experiencing misfortune, he was able to recover mentally quickly.

Actually, this time was better than the others.

Other times, Seon Woojoo had no reward for the misfortune that came out of nowhere, but this time, he saved a person’s life, so it was rewarding.

The problem was that he only saved his life.

“Cough!”

The old man was lying on the bed next to the emergency room, and he cringed every time he coughed.

It was because Seon Woojoo broke his ribs when he pushed him.

Seon Woojoo felt sorry for him and opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry, you seem to be in a lot of pain because of me.”

“Oh, don’t say that.”

The nice-looking lady who came as his guardian waved her hand.

Her husband next to her nodded his head.

“If it weren’t for you, Seon Woojoo-ssi, our father wouldn’t even be lying on this bed.”

“I appreciate your kind words.”

The people who came to the hospital were the old man’s son and daughter-in-law.

Seon Woojoo thought the son looked like a professor, and when he received his business card, he was indeed a professor at a university hospital.

The old man’s name was Choi Ikhyun, and the son’s name was Choi Yongjae.

“Is Ikhyun a common name in the Choi family?”

“Yes, that’s my father’s name. Is there a problem?”

“No, not at all.”

Seon Woojoo suddenly remembered the representative of the Wijeongcheksa movement that he saw in the college entrance exam book.

He looked at Seon Woojoo with concern.

“How are you feeling?”

“The doctor said it was a miracle that I’m fine. He said I’ll be okay if I rest for a day.”

“How about staying at the hospital? We haven’t paid you properly yet, and we’ll pay for your hospital bills too…”

“I’m fine. I didn’t do it for money.”

Seon Woojoo waved his hand at them, who kept insisting that he had a meal with them.

Seon Woojoo felt uncomfortable.

And he wasn’t in the mood to have a cheerful meal with them.

As he was about to say goodbye to the couple, the old man who was lying on the bed grabbed his wrist.

“Kid…”

His voice was weak and hoarse, probably because of his broken ribs.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’ve committed a great sin. You had to take that important test, but you got involved with an unlucky old man… I did something unforgivable. Really.”

“Don’t say that.”

Seon Woojoo held his hand tightly, which seemed to be full of guilt, and tears welled up in his eyes.

As if Seon Woojoo was making a vow to himself.

“You can take the test again, but you can’t bring back a life.”

“Still…”

“It’s really okay.”

Seon Woojoo smiled to reassure him, and he wiped his eyes.

The couple next to him looked at Seon Woojoo with a helpless expression.

“Then I’ll see you later.”

Seon Woojoo said goodbye to them, who wanted him to have a meal with them, and as soon as they were out of sight, he sighed.

Was it true that he had to study for another year?

Seon Woojoo felt hopeless as he realized that he had unintentionally become a repeater. Then he noticed the TV hanging in the hospital lobby.

An action movie was playing on the movie channel.

It was a movie Seon Woojoo had seen in the army.

The protagonist was the best spy in the world, but he lost his memory and ran away.

The scene in the movie was the beginning.

A policeman pointed a gun at the protagonist.

The protagonist, who had lost his memory, raised his hands and surrendered.

Then the policeman approached and grabbed his shoulder.

And then.

The protagonist, who had martial arts in his body without knowing it, reflexively flipped the other person over.

…Huh?

Seon Woojoo felt strange watching the familiar movie scene.

No, was it a sensation?

It was not one of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.

It was a different kind of sensation.

As he tried to figure out that mysterious sensation, his phone vibrated.

“Hello.”

-Is this Seon Woojoo-ssi?

It was a heavy voice.

“Yes, who is this?”

-Good day. This is Detective Jang Kyungil from the Eunpyeong Police Station’s Traffic Investigation Unit.

“Oh, yes.”

-Yes, I’m calling you in relation to the traffic accident investigation this morning. Do you mind telling me where you are right now?

When Seon Woojoo told him the name of the hospital, a bright voice came from the other side.

-That’s good. I’m actually in the hospital lobby right now.

“Really? I’m in the lobby too.”

-Are you the tall man who’s on the phone right now?

“Where are you?”

“I’m right here-”

Seon Woojoo felt someone’s hand on his left shoulder from behind, along with a voice.

At that moment.

His body started to move on its own.

…What?

It felt like someone else was controlling him.

Seon Woojoo grabbed his hand and turned his body like lightning, and in an instant, he threw him to the ground.

Thud-!

A tense silence filled the hospital lobby.