NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 249

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 249. Movie “Moon” 3/4

The audience’s eyes widened at the sudden turn of events.

 

‘The protagonists are already separating? They were just starting to get closer to each other…’

 

While the visuals were outstanding, the story had been developing rather mundanely compared to the scale of the introduction, and just as things were about to become loose, the events progressed rapidly, making the audience curious about what would happen next in this unpredictable film, causing them to focus again.

 

 

 

Under the scorching summer sun, Cha Su-hyeon, his entire body drenched in sweat, ran around frantically.

 

“Yu-jeong! Hong Yu-jeong!”

 

Cha Su-hyeon wandered through every corner of the village searching for Hong Yu-jeong, who had disappeared in the brief moment he had turned his head.

 

At first, he thought Hong Yu-jeong was hiding to play a prank.

 

It was impossible that someone had secretly infiltrated the front yard of Cha Su-hyeon’s house in the remote mountains and kidnapped Hong Yu-jeong silently in an instant, and besides, the time he had taken his eyes off Hong Yu-jeong was only a few seconds to put on the necklace.

 

But even after searching for half a day, Hong Yu-jeong was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Wait, the necklace?”

 

The only difference from before she disappeared was the necklace.

 

Immediately, Cha Su-hyeon removed Hong Yu-jeong’s necklace from around his neck.

 

“…”

 

There was no change.

 

“No, even if there were a change…”

 

The place where Hong Yu-jeong had suddenly disappeared and where he had first found her collapsed.

He ran toward the front yard.

 

As Cha Su-hyeon rushed around the corner into the yard, sure enough, a familiar-looking woman was collapsed in the same spot where he had first found her.

 

“Yu-jeong!”

 

Cha Su-hyeon hurried over and embraced Hong Yu-jeong, who was collapsed on the ground.

Then Hong Yu-jeong struggled to open her closed eyes.

 

“…Su-hyeon?”

“What happened! You suddenly disappeared and I searched everywhere for you!”

 

***

 

Cha Su-hyeon carried Hong Yu-jeong, who couldn’t easily get up, into the house.

Hong Yu-jeong lay down until she regained her strength, and they talked about the situations each had experienced that day.

 

According to her, the moment Cha Su-hyeon put on the necklace, she opened her eyes in the future, or rather, in what was the present time for her.

 

Only a few seconds had passed as she looked around, then her vision darkened, and when she closed and opened her eyes, she had returned again.

 

“So several hours really passed here? But for me, it was only the time it takes to blink a few times.”

 

Just moments ago, she had been talking with Cha Su-hyeon about making bibim noodles for lunch…

 

Even though the days were long in summer, looking outside the window, sunset was already approaching.

That meant at least six hours had passed.

 

‘Everything has cause and effect.’

 

When there’s a cause, there’s a corresponding effect.

Of course, humans can’t understand everything with their minds, but the reverse also holds true.

 

“Su-hyeon. Let’s try putting on the necklace once more.”

“…What if something happens to you? You said that in the future you returned to, your fellow pilots might all be dead or unconscious.”

 

They had only lived together for about two months, but during the few hours Hong Yu-jeong was missing while he wandered the village, Cha Su-hyeon realized how precious Hong Yu-jeong had become to him.

 

But he wasn’t a woodcutter hiding a fairy’s winged robe to prevent her from ascending to heaven, and he couldn’t refuse when she wanted it herself.

 

***

 

After two more attempts, they discovered several things.

 

Regardless of how much time passed in the past, only a few seconds would pass for Hong Yu-jeong when she visited the future.

 

And the lunar exploration vessel she had been on seemed to have crashed and fallen into the sea when the emergency landing engines operated normally.

 

However, it was presumed to have sunk to the bottom of the sea because it crashed before the second separation from the propulsion system, making it too heavy.

 

“Since we were flying toward the South Pacific orbit at the end and crashed rapidly, it’s probably somewhere at the bottom of the South Pacific. Seeing that the exploration vessel wasn’t damaged by water pressure, it doesn’t seem to be at an incredible depth.”

 

The structures of spaceships and submarines differ by a hair’s breadth.

Basically, whether in outer space or underwater, external isolation and oxygen supply are essential, and they must withstand tremendous external pressure and cold temperatures.

 

It was a terrifying story about crashing to the bottom of the sea, but Hong Yu-jeong’s expression actually looked brighter.

It was because she had a goal, rather than just spending days aimlessly like a caged bird.

 

After that, the movie’s content developed rapidly.

 

Cha Su-hyeon and Hong Yu-jeong began various attempts to change something from the past so that the future Hong Yu-jeong would be rescued.

 

First, to avoid touching the prerequisite ‘grandfather paradox,’ the future Hong Yu-jeong must board the lunar exploration vessel.

And she must be rescued after crashing.

 

“Otherwise, the very fact that you came here and Su-hyeon met you would disappear, and as a result, even our current efforts to change the future would vanish.”

 

To be rescued, she first had to crash, and if she didn’t crash or wasn’t even launched, it would create a dilemma where Hong Yu-jeong, who met Cha Su-hyeon, would disappear.

 

If the past that the two had changed somehow influenced things so that Hong Yu-jeong didn’t become an astronaut, or if the lunar exploration vessel flew safely to space without crashing, then the very event of ‘Hong Yu-jeong time traveling to the past’ would become something that never happened.

 

As a result, since the two wouldn’t meet, even the attempt to change the future would become something that never happened, so the future wouldn’t change.

 

“It’s too difficult.”

“That’s why it’s a paradox.”

 

First, they tried to send a letter to the future Aerospace Research Institute using the slow mailbox where letters arrive in the distant future, but the maximum period for sending letters was limited to just one year.

 

“Considering when astronauts are selected, it should arrive at least 17 years later…”

 

Since Cha Su-hyeon was the only person who could do such a thing, she wrote a slow letter to send to herself.

 

However, Hong Yu-jeong, who had traveled to the future through the necklace, shook her head.

 

“There’s no change at all… Could it be that something changed while you were in the military, or did you forget about me in the meantime?”

“I’m an orphan, so I don’t go to the military. And there’s no way I’d forget you.”

 

Even if Cha Su-hyeon had received the slow letter and carefully kept it for 17 years before delivering it to KARI, they probably wouldn’t have believed such absurd talk about time travel and modified a national-level exploration plan.

 

After that, they tried countless attempts but ultimately failed to change the future.

 

In the process, the two felt strange emotions.

 

While they joined forces to attempt changing the future, they gradually understood not with their heads but with their hearts that if this attempt succeeded, it meant Cha Su-hyeon and Hong Yu-jeong would have to part ways.

 

And like Yeo-reum, the two gradually became drawn to each other, but they tried hard to hide their feelings from one another.

 

Then one day, Hong Yu-jeong opened the sliding door of Yeongjin Supermarket as usual.

 

“Grandmother.”

“Hmm? Which family’s granddaughter is this pretty young lady I’m seeing for the first time? How lovely.”

“…Excuse me?”

 

Hong Yu-jeong had a slightly longer conversation with Grandmother, but it seemed she didn’t remember who Hong Yu-jeong was at all.

 

Hong Yu-jeong hurriedly returned home and looked for Cha Su-hyeon.

 

“Su-hyeon!”

“Yeah? Why are you coming in so urgently? What happened?”

 

When Hong Yu-jeong told her about what had just happened at the supermarket, Cha Su-hyeon tilted her head.

 

“Is Grandmother’s memory coming and going these days? It could happen since she’s elderly, but this is serious. I should tell the Village Chief.”

 

Hong Yu-jeong nodded with a worried expression.

Among the people in this neighborhood, excluding Cha Su-hyeon, Grandmother was the person Hong Yu-jeong had met most often, so she had grown quite fond of her.

 

However, the problem wasn’t with Grandmother.

 

“Teacher. Is she your girlfriend?”

“Huh?”

“The pretty lady next to you.”

“…”

 

Cha Su-hyeon and Hong Yu-jeong’s eyes widened as they entered the tutoring session with their usual preparations.

 

“Hye-su, what are you talking about?”

“Huh? You know my name?”

 

The private tutoring that had started around the beginning of summer vacation was already entering fall.

Despite meeting weekly for a full three months, the students didn’t remember Hong Yu-jeong.

 

The situation had become serious.

 

Cha Su-hyeon and Hong Yu-jeong intuitively sensed what the cause of this effect was.

 

Cha Su-hyeon had always worried about Hong Yu-jeong’s complexion growing paler each time she traveled through time, but Hong Yu-jeong had said her body was fine, that she was full of energy, and told her not to worry.

 

After a moment of silence, Hong Yu-jeong went outside.

 

Seeing her like that, Cha Su-hyeon asked the students for their understanding.

 

“Okay, just study by yourselves for a moment.”

 

She followed after her, but Hong Yu-jeong was nowhere to be seen in the heavy downpour.

 

***

 

She searched for a long time.

Cha Su-hyeon, who had been searching everywhere in the rain, passed the country path and walked through places that weren’t roads, going through the apricot tree forest where branches were curved like a cave.

 

Then at the end of that tree tunnel, she saw a figure crouched down with knees drawn up.

 

“Yu-jeong!”

 

Cha Su-hyeon approached and grabbed the shoulders of Hong Yu-jeong, who was completely soaked by the rain.

 

The body temperature transmitted through her fingertips was cold from being drenched in rain.

 

“…I guess I’m being forgotten like this and will eventually disappear. Since this isn’t the world I belong to, maybe that barrier is there to confine an unwelcome guest.”

 

Hong Yu-jeong pointed to the sea far below the cliff.

Due to the rain, there was a lot of fog so the sea wasn’t visible, but Cha Su-hyeon knew that what Hong Yu-jeong was pointing at was the blue barrier that she couldn’t see.

 

“No. Yu-jeong. Why would you disappear? Even if everyone forgets, I’ll remember you until the end.”

 

Cha Su-hyeon looked at Hong Yu-jeong’s face, pale as white.

Hong Yu-jeong’s eyes shook violently as she looked at Cha Su-hyeon.

 

Cha Su-hyeon pulled Hong Yu-jeong into his embrace, and as the distance between them closed, their lips met.

 

Then, narration flowed out in Yeon-woo’s voice, plain and emotionally restrained.

 

– You fell fiercely like the rainy season that comes in midsummer.

No, since you fell while climbing to the moon, you must have come down from a place even higher than the summer rain.

In that summer, I had no choice but to helplessly take all that rain, endlessly getting soaked.

 

And before I knew it, I was thoroughly drenched without an umbrella, spreading endlessly.

 

 

Their lips parted, and he looked at Hong Yu-jeong’s face, pale as white.

Even though he was clearly looking at her, he gradually began to miss her appearance.

 

As if they had met so long ago that his memory was hazy.

No, perhaps as if they had not yet met.

 

He had a strong intuition that Hong Yu-jeong would really disappear at this rate.

 

Cha Su-hyeon simultaneously realized that this was the moment his life would turn to the next chapter.

It was just that the next chapter was going to be a bit longer than expected.

 

“…You know, Yu-jeong. I thought of a more certain method than something like a slow mailbox. I’ll go rescue you somehow. No matter how long it takes, I’ll keep running steadily and definitely.”

 

Cha Su-hyeon looked at Hong Yu-jeong’s face one last time and continued speaking.

 

“Find you.”

 

Then Cha Su-hyeon untied the pendant necklace hanging around Hong Yu-jeong’s neck and put it around his own.

 

Pop─.

 

Her figure that had been before his eyes, in his arms, disappeared.

 

The memories with her remained intact, but gradually how Hong Yu-jeong looked became blurry.

 

Along with that, narration came out once more.

 

– My summer at twenty was too vivid to be called a dream, and too mixed with colorful emotions and memories like water-soaked colored paper to be called reality, confusing me.

 

Film critic Jin Jeong-cheol unconsciously opened his mouth upon hearing that narration.

 

It was the same narration that had flowed out with the beginning of the movie. No, even before the first scene of the movie appeared.

 

When he first heard it, he felt something tingling because of the emotion felt through Ryu Yeon-woo’s voice, but hearing the same narration again at this point past the middle of the movie felt quite different.

 

‘At first I thought it was just narration to create a romantic atmosphere…’

 

Hearing it again after seeing their summer, he had somehow become one with Cha Su-hyeon’s summer, and wistful, tender emotions filled his chest.

 

It wasn’t just the film critic who felt this.

 

All those in the theater watching the screen and listening to the narration – fellow actors, reporters, movie fans – felt the two people’s summer.

 

***

 

Though he had always been alone since birth, today he particularly felt left alone in the world.

 

Cha Su-hyeon, who had been standing helplessly where Hong Yu-jeong had disappeared, collapsed into that spot.

 

For a long while, he revisited the memories in his head.

Afraid he might forget them. Treasuring them one by one.

 

The twenty-year-old Cha Su-hyeon who had lived without any particular purpose, just going with the flow, crumbled, and finally bloomed again with eyes filled with firm determination.

 

Touching the trace of her hanging around his neck, he silently took the rain and crossed non-roads to come down the country path.

 

The children who had been receiving private tutoring were nowhere to be seen, apparently taken by their parents after waiting for their teacher who didn’t return without contact.

 

Cha Su-hyeon sat on the wooden floor of the empty house, blankly watching raindrops falling along the eaves, when something seemed to occur to him and he hurriedly turned his head.

 

Where he turned his head, he could see copper wire extending through the door crack.

And on the small storage cabinet below, there was a pair of paper cups neatly placed, well-wrapped with red string.

 

“…I’m not sure what to do first, but there will be a lot to do from now on.”

 

Cha Su-hyeon, who had been looking at the paper cups, fiddled with the pendant hanging around his neck.

 

He planned to never take off this necklace.

 

For 20 years.

 

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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