Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 165

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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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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 165

“F-finally, did you come to see me?”

“Mother!”

The Elderly Couple rushes toward the Grandmother who is struggling to approach and supports her.

And they scold her.

“James! How does that Young Man look like…!”

The Grandmother waves her hand dismissively and struggles to approach, then firmly grasps Johann’s hand.

“No. It’s fine that you came now. Even now…”

Thick tears filled with regret and lingering attachment fall onto the back of his hand.

“Uh…”

It’s bewildering. I don’t know what to say.

But ‘The One Who Became a Star’ is different. Looking into her eyes, I have no choice but to open my mouth.

“…Sorry. Was I too late?”

“Ah! Ahhh!”

Joy spreads across the Grandmother’s face.

“Oh my, this isn’t the time for this! Come in quickly. I prepared lots of food for you!”

The Grandmother heads into the house without even listening to a response, and the remaining Elderly Couple lets out a long sigh.

“I’m sorry. She’s never acted like this in her entire life…”

I don’t know why she suddenly behaved this way.

Still, it’s the most energetic she’s looked since dementia set in five years ago.

The Old Man looks back and forth between the house and Johann’s group.

“Well. Young people, I’m sorry but…”

“Yes, we’ll do that.”

“Emily?”

The other Friends also nod as if it’s natural.

Whatever fate it might be, the Grandmother who sees someone in The Child with the scar-covering sticker they made on his face and Johann. They couldn’t easily leave either.

“We have time until the parade anyway!”

The Child’s grandparents’ faces brightened cheerfully.

* * *

“Roar!”

“Kyahahaha!”

Clatter! Clatter!

‘How long has it been?’

Since I last saw The Child’s laughter echoing in the Living Room, and Mother making food in the Kitchen.

It’s a scene so old and crumbling in memory that it barely comes to mind.

“Thank you for indulging my selfishness. How can I ever repay this kindness…”

“Oh, no.”

“We were getting hungry anyway!”

The Old Man smiles warmly at the Children waving their hands.

“But The Child’s Parents…”

Johann, who habitually scanned the Kitchen from where he sat, asks carefully.

The Kitchen of these people only has dishes for four people.

They didn’t go out for business. Only exactly four people live in this house.

The Old Man smiles bitterly.

“They divorced.”

The Son and Daughter-in-law who fought as if they would kill each other after their Grandson was severely injured, then divorced. Not only that, they left their Grandson with them and even cut off contact.

“Good heavens.”

“How could they do such a thing…!”

Perhaps because of the Children getting angry, the Old Man opens up more.

“So you have no idea how grateful we are to you young people.”

His Grandson, who couldn’t even leave the house due to burns covering half his face from his Mother’s mistake.

Only after learning about scar-covering stickers recently and applying them could he finally get some moonlight in the Backyard.

He still couldn’t even go to the front yard.

But today, since it was Halloween, they convinced their Grandson that no one would recognize him if he dressed up, so they came out to the front yard, and just watching people in costumes pass by made their Grandson jump with joy.

And Johann’s group even approached naturally and played with him.

The Elderly Couple, who couldn’t even remember when they last heard their Grandson’s laughter this bright, barely held back tears.

On top of that, they’re even going along with Mother’s dementia-induced demands.

The boys and girls before their eyes were rare angels.

“A-angels!”

“Eh, hey. We’re not that good of kids!”

They look at each other as they say this.

Some emotion that tickles the heart.

The Old Man laughs even louder watching Johann’s group purse their lips.

“Hehe. Yes. Yes.”

“But by any chance, is someone named James your Father…”

“Ah! Hehe. No.”

The Old Man, realizing what misunderstanding Johann had, laughs heartily. James was the name of the Man who was Mother’s first love.

“…Pardon?”

“A very long time ago, I heard he was someone Mother loved and promised a future with.”

An Asian Man, who promised a future with the pure passion of young Lovers, but contact was lost when he enlisted in the military.

“…You heard?”

‘She told her Children about a former lover she promised to marry?’

No matter how long ago it was, it’s usually a story to avoid since it could bring unnecessary discord to the family.

“Haha. She had good reason.”

After Father passed away when he was young, whenever Mother drank, she would bring up stories about her first love.

Even so, neither he nor his other Brothers could say anything. Father had never fulfilled his role as a father while alive, and Mother had essentially raised them alone.

The Children who grew up seeing that strong back and loving eyes every day could never complain.

“Oh my. This old man said unnecessary things.”

Johann’s group shakes their heads with awkward faces.

“Anyway, I’d be grateful if you just eat the meal.”

It’s fine to take just one bite and get up. He doesn’t hope for anything else.

He doesn’t dare hope for more. Just having them come into the house is already a gift he can never repay, the luck of a lifetime.

It’s been almost 10 years since Mother showed such a healthy appearance.

The completely resigned look she had after getting dementia. This alone is satisfying enough.

At those words, Johann looks at the Grandmother.

Her back full of joy, wondering what makes her so happy.

“…What is the Grandmother’s name?”

“Dorothy Banner… Oh, there’s no need for that!”

There’s no need to act as someone named James.

The Old Man is startled and tries to stop him, but Johann just smiles instead of answering.

‘I was drawn to it.’

To the name James.

I don’t know why.

Johann closes his eyes and accesses the Library.

He pushes all the information he’s secured so far into the search.

But…

‘Huh, it’s not there?’

The orb doesn’t come flying.

Johann searches again.

Rumble!

The celestial body, no, the entire library shakes, but still no orb comes flying.

This has never happened before.

‘Dorothy Banner, who met me.’

Whoosh!

A small orb flying from far away.

When he accessed it, it was indeed Grandmother Dorothy Banner, who is currently cooking.

‘This person can be searched, but why?’

Johann’s eyes wavered with confusion and bewilderment.

* * *

“Do you remember that day?”

Grandmother Dorothy looks into Johann’s eyes and travels to the past.

The meeting between 15-year-old girl Dorothy and 20-year-old young man James was more dramatic than any movie.

While returning from the market on an errand for her parents, a group of thugs blocked her path and harassed her.

“When I was trembling with fear, you appeared.”

James appeared wearing a tailored suit and fedora that only the upper class wore at the time.

With kicks that whipped through the air like flowing silk, the thugs scattered like leaves in the wind, and James dusted off his fedora that had fallen to the ground, put it on his head, extended his hand and said:

‘Are you alright, miss?’

I don’t know where I got the courage then.

“I said, ‘Let’s date.'”

James laughed heartily then and agreed. Despite it being a time with much more prejudice than now, he was bold in a way that didn’t seem typical of an Asian.

After that, Dorothy met James secretly from her parents’ eyes and nurtured their love.

“You were so multi-talented. Sometimes you seemed like a magician.”

When whispering words of love, flowers would appear like magic, when looking at stock pamphlets and saying we should buy these, you seemed like a journalist from Wall Street in New York, and when riding a motorcycle racing down public roads, you were like a storm sweeping across the earth.

That thrilling acrobatic driving and free-spirited laughter completely shattered the 15-year-old girl’s world.

“When we climbed hills and kissed while watching the city’s night view dyed in twilight, you seemed like a playboy.”

Your words were so sweet that to this day, I couldn’t find anyone who spoke like that.

Then one day, James spoke of farewell.

“You said you had to go to the military. That you needed to enlist to become a citizen of this country.”

So could I wait for you.

He who left burning traces on my lips and soul left Dorothy like that.

And contact was lost.

“Why…”

If you were alive like this, why didn’t you contact me.

Did you perhaps meet another woman while protecting America.

“If so, you could have at least sent a line of farewell… why…”

Johann’s expression hardens at the strength in her hands.

‘Similar.’

To himself.

Showing off various talents in completely different fields.

‘…Could it be?’

Johann enters the library.

‘Search. Johann Jefferson. Me.’

Rumble!

Again, no orb recording his own life comes flying.

At first, he thought it might be because it wasn’t his original birth name, but after seeing that others whose names had changed for various reasons could still be searched, he realized.

Names are just one criterion for searching, not an absolute condition.

Based on this information, Johann reached one conclusion.

‘The owner of the library is not recorded in the library.’

If that’s the case, then the person named James, who is the only one besides himself who cannot be searched, was likely also an owner of the library.

‘To discover traces of another library owner in a place like this!’

Are there multiple people who own libraries?

Or was the man named James the previous owner of the library?

Then why did he become the new owner of the library?

As various thoughts swirled through his mind.

Rumble!

The shaking universe. The library.

It means someone is touching him.

When he opens his eyes, wrinkled, cold hands are caressing his cheek.

“Again, again like this at any time…”

James, who would suddenly close his eyes and fall into thought, whether walking down the street or having a conversation.

‘That’s right…’

The owner of the library.

A terrible thrill runs through his entire body.

Is this the guidance of fate?

‘If this is fate, what you want from me is…’

But it was impossible to recreate James, who couldn’t be absorbed or accessed.

Then he would simply absorb and access the being who could most closely imitate him.

‘Search. Casanova, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova.’

A petty coward who would use any means to conquer women.

Johann’s hand firmly grasps Grandmother Dorothy’s hand that contains complaint.

At the same time, his eyes fill with tender affection.

‘Ah!’

Grandmother Dorothy’s eyes waver at that gaze.

“I had… lost my memory.”

The Pacific War that broke out when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

As America fully entered World War II, hundreds of thousands of casualties occurred.

Terrible and cruel days continued, watching comrades die beside them every day.

Even after the war ended years later and they survived, the memories of those days continued to torment the soldiers.

Many who couldn’t bear that pain suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and dissociative amnesia.

He was the same.

“Sorry, Dorothy. When I regained my memory… too much time had already passed.”

He had already started a family. So he couldn’t bring himself to contact her.

“I’m really sorry.”

Johann pulls her into a tight embrace. Gentle hands pat her back.

“Sob!”

Grandmother Dorothy cried loudly in Johann’s arms, and silence fell over the house.

After a long while, Grandmother Dorothy’s trembling, which had been wetting Johann’s chest, subsides.

“Whew…”

She pushes Johann away while letting out a long sigh.

Johann and the elderly couple’s eyes widen greatly upon seeing Grandmother Dorothy’s eyes.

Grandmother Dorothy strokes Johann’s cheek.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, Mother!”

Has her mind returned? A clear voice they haven’t heard in so very long.

The Elderly Couple gasps and stands up, while Johann holds her hand tightly and smiles.

“Was your dream happy?”

“…Thanks to you.”

It was a dream that was long yet short, short yet happy.

“How can you resemble him so much…”

“The person named James?”

“If not for the eye color and hair color, I’d believe you were that person.”

However, his way of speaking was a bit more plain and sensible than before.

“You’re taller than that person though.”

“Haha.”

Dorothy smiles gently and looks at Emily sitting next to Johann.

“Is she your Girlfriend?”

“Yes. She’s the person I’ll love for life.”

As Emily shyly hides her face, Dorothy smiles warmly.

“Like me, like that person, don’t let her go.”

Like her former lover James Han who would be living, who had lived somewhere with a smile.

“Don’t worry.”

Johann holds Emily’s hand tightly.

“I’ll never let her go.”

“Ho ho ho!”

Dorothy nods as if that’s enough and grips her knees firmly to stand up.

“Sorry for inviting you and then this.”

Perhaps it was because she had been standing too long. She no longer had the strength to sit any longer.

“No. It’s okay. We’ll eat well.”

“Yes. Thank you. Eat plenty before you go.”

She doesn’t say to come again.

Because she had now let go of her lingering attachment.

Because she didn’t want to create new attachments.

“Oh, Mother! I’ll help support you!”

“Please do.”

“Carefully. Carefully.”

As the two leave the Kitchen, the Old Man grips Johann’s hand tightly.

“Thank you. Thank you so much…”

How could he repay this kindness.

The Old Man pressed his head against Johann’s hand and shed thick tears, while Johann patted his shoulder as if to say he had worked hard.

‘Casanova has its uses too.’

Besides writing, that is.

It was quite a good discovery.

* * *

“Take care!”

“Big brother, Older Sisters! See you again-!”

The Flashes’ expressions are stiff as they walk toward Downtown, leaving behind the farewell of the two grandparent and grandchild.

They had experienced something too significant in such a short time. It made them think a lot.

“…Isn’t there something we can do?”

They too had times when they held the hands of neighbors, people from houses behind theirs, and even delivery men who came occasionally, begging them to play.

Adults taught them to be wary of strangers, but there was a time when they just liked playing with anyone and hugged just anybody.

That Child was the same.

A child who could smile so brightly yet couldn’t come outside because the outside was scary. A child who could only smile because everyone covered their faces together.

It was too hard to walk away leaving behind those eyes full of regret. They kept thinking about whether there was something they could help with.

“Other than playing with him often…”

“Paula is already helping people suffering from burn scars.”

Paula Diaz had decided to donate part of the profits from scar-covering stickers.

They had also decided to donate part of their allowance, and the welfare organizations receiving such donations helped with various things like living expenses for burn patients and reconstructive surgery.

There was no way to help more practically.

“Unless we establish a hospital specializing in burn patients…”

“Th-that’s beyond what we can handle.”

“Ah! That little Child is just giving us headaches for nothing!”

Perhaps Johann might have some good method that they couldn’t think of.

The Flashes looked at Johann with such expectations, but Johann was actually thinking about something else.

‘James Han…’

A person who had owned the Library besides himself, who might still own it even now.

If he was still alive, he definitely wanted to meet and have a conversation with him.

He didn’t know what kind of conversation they would have, or what they would do after talking. He just had the thought of wanting to meet him unconditionally.

‘Hm?’

Johann comes to his senses from the gazes piercing his face and looks at his Friends.

“Sorry. I had something to think about. What did you say?”

“Well…”

As Emily explains, Johann opens his mouth.

“Ah. Hmm…”

It certainly was a troublesome problem to worry about.

“The best method would be to get him surgery… but it’s not easy.”

How many burn patients were there in LA, no, in America.

It wasn’t just burns. If you added children hiding from others’ gazes due to other scars, there would be even more.

But realistically, helping them all was impossible. What they could do as mere High School Students was limited.

While pondering like this, they had arrived at Downtown’s main street before they knew it.

Beep beep beep! Bang! Boom!

Bam! Ba-ra-ra! Ba-bam!

Murmur murmur. Chatter chatter.

“Whew… It’s incredible this year too.”

Children who came holding their parents’ hands like their past selves.

People shaking their bodies to the music with Friends in bizarre costumes.

Men and women appealing their sexiness toward cameras.

Lovers holding hands tightly while prettily disguised.

And street vendors shouting at them while promoting stores or selling Halloween products.

White, black, Asian, Hispanic – all races living in LA gathered together, radiating hot energy.

“Flash. Go.”

“Roger.”

The Children scattered to purchase adult beverages that only those 21 and older could drink.

Soon they gathered and took a sip while watching their surroundings, when a parade began in the distance.

Bam! Ba-ra-ra-ra! Ba-bam! Bam! Bam!

Fierce and sexy ghosts shaking their bodies to Latin music.

“Yaaaaaa!”

“Wheeeeeek!”

Onlookers intoxicated by Halloween’s fervor excitedly shake their bodies together or rush into the parade, while Children climb on their parents’ shoulders and wave their hands, imprinting lifelong memories.

Johann also watches this spirited scene he’s been seeing for several years and sways his body.

Then a certain thought crosses his mind.

“Guys.”

Johann smiles meaningfully.

“How about we make that issue from earlier famous?”

“Famous… how?”

“Like that. Like this parade!”

So that many people can pay attention.

So that more people can take interest.

“A campaign? Fundraising activities?”

“Everything! Since we’re high school students, and I’m involved too, wouldn’t that draw even more attention?”

“Oh…?”

That’s good.

Johann and his friends, who had found a new goal, lit up with excitement.

Buzz buzz! Buzz buzz!

“Yes, Teacher!”

A call from his music teacher, Esa-Pekka Salonen.

“I can talk now. Yes? What did you say?”

-It’s time to start preparing for the competition.

‘Competition?’

The debut of classical music.

Johann’s lips curved upward.

That’s when it happened.

Buzz buzz!

“Just a moment.”

It was a call from Andrew Pearson, the General Planning Department director.

He wouldn’t contact him at this hour unless it was something significant. What could it be?

“Yes, General Director.”

-We received contact from the Grammy.

‘Grammy?’

The Grammy Awards, where all musicians worldwide who charted on Billboard in a given year gather, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the world.

‘Really?’

The Grammy Awards, which hadn’t contacted him even when he was 11, and was particularly snobbish toward Asian students, had reached out.

Johann blinked his eyes.

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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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