Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 184
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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 184
Caw caw! Caw caw! Caw!
The sound of a bird tapping on the window.
A white old man who opened his eyes on the bed looks out the window and smiles.
“Will a guest come today?”
A magpie, commonly regarded as a symbol of cunning in America, but called a magpie in the country of Korea and considered a symbol of good luck, is looking this way and crying.
“Ugh!”
The old man, Ethan Burrow, grabs the bed rail and comes down with effort, heading to the restroom.
How could he greet a guest looking shabby when one is coming? He enters the restroom, washes his face, and tidies his white eyebrows and beard.
And he leaves the room, leaning on his cane.
Thud!
“Hmm?”
Something caught on the toe of his slipper.
Ethan looks down at the floor and smiles warmly.
“A good guest must be coming.”
A 1-cent coin showing heads up. A lucky penny.
Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.
He picked up the lucky penny, a symbol of good fortune for Americans, carefully put it in his pocket, and his shoulders swayed to cheerful music.
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.
“Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ethan briefly closes his Bible in the warm breeze and massages his stiff neck while looking at the clear sky.
“Aren’t you cold? What about hungry?”
“What’s this little bit?”
Long ago, compared to the cold of Normandy on that day, this is nothing. It’s already July, so it actually feels hot.
‘The guest… doesn’t seem to be coming.’
While calming his pounding heart, it’s already 5 PM.
“Well, all my children are dead, so there’s no one to come.”
Though his grandson and great-grandchildren are alive, they wouldn’t come to see an old man with no wealth.
“Sigh.”
“Elder.”
“Could you help support me?”
It’s the moment he extends his hand to the hospice worker.
Rustle rustle!
Suddenly, the sound of shoe steps on grass being sucked into his aged ears.
Ethan turns his head and stands up abruptly.
“Ja, James?”
James Han.
The comrade who had taught him much about Korean culture.
No. That can’t be.
He even looks young.
‘That child.’
The good guest who would visit him today.
He smiled without realizing it, and Johann, standing before him, extends his hand and laughs as if incredulous.
“I must really resemble that James Han fellow quite a bit. I’m Johann Jefferson. I came to find you, Mr. Burrow, because I have questions about someone named James Han.”
“Oh.”
Tears welled up in Ethan’s eyes.
* * *
Veterans Home, outdoor bench.
Ethan, his legs covered with a blanket Johann brought, apologizes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Do I resemble his voice too?”
“Is it just resemblance?”
If only he weren’t an old man with age spots, he would believe he had time-slipped back to those days.
“Really, with James…”
“I’m an orphan, actually. Oh, please have some of this first.”
“Th, this is?!”
Apple pie full of cinnamon fragrance and pale yellow milk full of powder granules.
“Malted milk?”
Even the smell and taste are exactly the same.
That’s why it’s surprising.
‘How can even his actions be so identical?’
James Han, who always brought exactly what he wanted when making any request.
“Really James was… Oh, you said you’re an orphan. I’m sorry.”
Ethan, who was apologizing, looks puzzled.
“Then why James?”
Johann explains the situation.
“Ah, that young lady…”
“Do you know her?”
“Of course I know her.”
She’s the young lady James Han mentioned countless times.
“I thought he would have married after discharge, but that wasn’t the case. Well, he wouldn’t have been in his right mind.”
Johann’s eyes flash.
“What happened?”
“Oh. It’s not like that, young friend.”
James was unharmed until they parted ways.
However, while physically fine, he suffered mental damage from the madness and terror of war.
“I also became very sensitive after discharge, not only arguing over trivial matters but sometimes using excessive violence against others.”
Combat fatigue.
A mental disorder now established under the name Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Ethan himself spent a full 20 years overcoming those aftereffects.
“James probably had worse aftereffects than me. He was so capable that he was deployed only to the most dangerous places among battlefields. No, he was such an outstanding fellow that he might not have had any.”
He drifts back to those times for a moment.
James Han was quite a mysterious Asian.
An Asian who was treated worse than Irish immigrants, who were the lowest working class at the time, treated even worse than black people.
Nevertheless, James Han was always dignified, and rather than being discouraged by white people’s contempt and bullying, he smashed them instead.
“When that fellow sang, black people and Asians who weren’t even properly recorded on the draft list, Irish and others who were discriminated against equally but were desperate to devour each other became one, and gathering such people, we sometimes raided the supply warehouse.”
Still, no one in the unit could touch him.
“Because he saved countless comrades’ lives.”
His foresight seemed to know in advance when enemies would launch surprise attacks. When his M1 Garand spat fire, a hidden sniper would surely lose his life.
“During the operation to break through the minefield, we all thought our souls would leave our bodies.”
James Han crossed land densely planted with mines to launch a surprise attack on the enemy unit’s rear. This was beyond what could be dismissed as good luck.
“That fellow explained that he was a shaman or something like that.”
A Korean fortune-teller who communicates with gods and sees the past and future.
“But that fellow was too capable, even for being capable.”
When their unit kept winning consecutive victories, the higher command finally began looking for reasons, and James Han’s existence was revealed.
“That’s how James was dragged to the upper unit, and returned two years later.”
At first, even in the upper unit, he led the troops to victory, but at some point he suddenly lost his abilities and the unit suffered consecutive defeats, leading to his demotion.
Rumors circulated that he had lost the power he called his divine ability.
“But after being discharged, when I thought about it again, I began to suspect that wasn’t the case.”
The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
“The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. I think he probably realized that truth too late.”
The more he led the unit to victory, the more dangerous battlefields he would be sent to, and no matter how special James Han’s abilities were, he couldn’t protect all his unit members.
While countless people may have saved their lives thanks to James Han, his mind may have become equally devastated.
“Have you had any contact with him since his discharge?”
“I wasn’t in a state where I could contact other people.”
For two years after the war ended, he couldn’t even leave his house. It was much later that he began having conversations with people other than his family.
“I see… Did he ever mention where he was going after discharge?”
“I never heard such talk… Ah!”
Surprised, he looks at the hospice worker.
“If you look in the bottom drawer of my room’s dresser, there should be a small box. Could you bring it to me?”
“Oh, yes!”
The hospice worker quickly runs to the building and soon returns with an old, shabby box.
And hands it to Johann.
“Here it is.”
“What?”
“James left this for me to give to anyone who came looking for him.”
He knows. He already knows because he accessed Ethan Burrow.
Johann opened the box, and inside was a dog tag.
Han James
A dog tag with the military serial number written below.
Below that, it says:
Texas. Littlefield.
“It’s a town famous for cotton. And he told me to deliver this message. Child, this place will be your…”
Seed.
“When he said this, he had such a mysterious atmosphere that I still remember it.”
“Hmm…”
At first, learning about the person named James Han felt like a coincidental destiny.
But surprisingly, James Han had foreseen that someone would come looking for him and prepared for it.
What exactly was his intention in leaving his dog tag behind?
Various questions crossed his mind, but Johann set aside his doubts for now.
“The person James Han mentioned might not be me, so is it really okay to give this to me?”
It was also a precious memento connecting Ethan and James Han.
Even if it was something Johann himself needed, he couldn’t carelessly accept it.
However, Ethan shook his head.
“All he asked me to do was give it to whoever came looking for him.”
‘And you might be James’s bloodline.’
The appearance and voice were too similar to say otherwise. Even the atmosphere was alike.
“Thank you.”
“I hope it helps.”
Ethan, who smiled warmly, gets up as if he had done what he needed to do.
‘I’ve met a good connection at the end.’
The reason and duty for why he, who should have gone to God’s side already, had lived until now.
Not only had he completed that, but he had also eaten his fill of cinnamon apple pie and malted milk that he never thought he’d be able to eat again.
Now he had no more regrets.
‘Honey, I guess I’m coming to see you now.’
Ethan, who had a relieved smile on his lips, suddenly remembered and said:
“If you happen to learn news of other comrades while looking for James Han, could you let me know?”
Johann hesitated for a moment, then carefully spoke.
“…Yes. I will.”
‘I’m sorry, but most of them have passed away.’
Unfortunately, only four survivors remained. Among them, Ethan was the only one nearby. That’s why he had come here.
Johann quietly watched Ethan enter the building with the hospice worker’s support, then looked at the dog tag again.
“To deliver it to someone who comes looking for him…”
Words that seemed to foresee the future, the current situation.
Come to think of it, all the people James Han had left traces with were still alive until now.
‘Tsk. I don’t know.’
He would find out what happened when he met him.
“I don’t know what this means, but…”
It seems the next place to go has been decided.
“Texas. Littlefield.”
Just as he was getting up, thinking he should search the library first before going.
“Excuse me, Mr. Jefferson?”
The black female nurse approaching cautiously has desperation in her face.
“If you have time…”
“You want me to perform? Yes. I will.”
“Really? Oh, you’re an angel!”
“Haha. Classical music is fine too, right?”
“Of course! I’ll go ahead and let everyone know!”
Johann leisurely followed behind her as she ran off urgently.
* * *
Whoooosh!
A vast universe like a cool wind blowing.
Johann, who entered the library, takes a deep breath in and out.
“Search. Everything about Littlefield, Texas.”
Rummmble!
It shakes. Not only the galactic river with no visible end, but even the celestial bodies in the sky above.
The entire universe of the library shakes as stars and orbs pour down.
Everything that constitutes Littlefield from the distant past to the present pours down, filling his vision completely.
A suffocating feeling, as if trapped deep in the earth, constricts his entire body.
“Really… it’s been a long time.”
Since searching everything without setting limits like this.
Johann pressed his throbbing temples firmly.
“When am I going to go through all this.”
Damn it, Johann cursed briefly and spoke again.
“Search. Humans of Littlefield.”
‘Humans first, for now.’
By eliminating them one by one, he might be able to guess James Han’s intention even a little.
Johann hoped there would be traces of James Han among the humans and accessed a nearby orb.
Rumble!
‘What?’
Johann, with dark circles under his eyes, exits the shaking library.
Buzz buzz! Buzz buzz!
The phone placed on his chest to receive any calls is ringing.
Johann sits up in bed and answers the phone.
“Hello. This is Johann Jefferson.”
-Hello, Mr. Jefferson. This is the LA Veterans Home.
“Ah, yes!”
Checking the time, it’s already 11 PM.
‘Why at this hour?’
-I debated whether to call or not, but I thought you should know, Mr. Jefferson.
“What is it…?”
-Just now… Sigh. Ethan Burrow, the old man you met today, passed away just now. About an hour ago.
Thud!
-Mr. Jefferson?
“…Yes, I understand. Thank you.”
The One Who Became a Star catches his dazed mind.
“How will the funeral proceed?”
Johann gets up and goes to the dressing room to find a black suit.
His instinct was telling him to do so.
* * *
-Ethan Burrow, who defended America in the world’s wars…
A large church.
The pastor recites Ethan’s life story.
His achievements compiled from testimonies of war veterans living at the Veterans Home.
However, there aren’t many people listening.
Nurses and hospice workers from the Veterans Home who took the day off.
A few war veterans who were close to him.
And Johann, Emily, and the Flashes.
That’s all.
Perhaps because of this, the pastor’s words echo more lonely and desolate inside the church.
“The family members never showed up until the end.”
At Johann’s dry words, the Black Female Nurse smiles bitterly.
“We contacted them, but…”
The only response was to ask the Veterans Home to handle it themselves. And then they blocked contact.
“Damn it! How can people…”
“Stop it, Flash.”
“They’re not strangers, they’re family! Do you think this is right?!”
“Let’s stop.”
“Johann!”
“The deceased is watching.”
“…Damn it.”
When Flash storms out, the other friends who were feeling awkward quietly follow behind.
The death of another person is still an unfamiliar concept to them. They only came because Johann said they should attend the funeral, and this solemn, quiet atmosphere was something unbearable for them.
“You can go outside too if it’s hard, Emily.”
“…Are you okay?”
Johann seems too calm, as if familiar with this situation.
Emily wonders whose funeral he might have attended before without knowing.
“No. This is my first time too.”
However, he has many experiences from others he’s accessed. That’s why he can maintain his composure.
“I’m thirsty. Could you get me something to drink?”
“…I’ll ask Lucy.”
Johann smiles faintly at her action of holding her phone with one hand and firmly grasping Johann’s hand with the other.
The Black Female Nurse watching the two also smiles warmly.
“Thank you, Mr. Jefferson.”
The Veterans Home budget is far too insufficient to hold funerals for each and every person.
So usually in situations like this, they hand over the body to surviving family or immediately cremate and place them in a national cemetery.
But this time, Johann stepped forward to hold the funeral with his own money. Without Johann, they wouldn’t have been able to hold a funeral like this.
Holding a funeral for someone you’ve only met once is never easy, so the gratitude is beyond expression.
“It’s nothing.”
‘I just did what my heart told me to do.’
He doesn’t know why he made this choice either. He just did it because he felt he would regret it if he didn’t.
If Ethan’s religion hadn’t been Protestant, he would have held the funeral at the LA Archdiocese cathedral.
-Now we will have a final moment to bid farewell to the deceased.
Pam, pam-
As Amazing Grace, speaking of salvation’s grace and eternal rest, plays, everyone stands with chrysanthemums and walks toward the coffin placed at the front.
The nurses and hospice workers support the war veterans, and Johann stands up, comforting Emily’s trembling hand.
A difficult moment for a 17-year-old girl to witness. Johann leaves her behind as she makes a tearful face and walks forward to gaze at Ethan lying quietly.
‘…May you let go of all regrets as you go.’
May you live smiling beside God.
Johann placed a chrysanthemum on his cold hand and bid his final farewell.
* * *
‘How should I get to Littlefield?’
It’s a small town located in Texas, requiring crossing not just one but two entire states to reach.
A small town with a population of only about 5,000 people.
‘Sigh. What should I do? I can’t just leave on a whim.’
He’s only 17 now. If it were nearby Nevada, maybe, but to go to Texas would require Larry’s permission.
‘Or maybe until I graduate high school…’
Swoosh!
Johann looks at Emily who comes to hold his hand.
“Are you okay?”
“…Ah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.”
Johann smiles and looks around at his friends.
‘Oh no.’
Everyone is watching his mood.
Whoosh! Squawk squawk!
They’re walking gloomily on the beach where warm sunlight is shining down, just by themselves.
“What should we eat?”
“…No hamburgers!”
“Everyone search for good restaurants!”
“There’s a Chipotle nearby!”
“Good! Mexican food! Let’s go go go go go!”
“I prefer tacos over…”
“You shut up, Johann!”
‘That’s too much.’
Still, he can’t help but smile. Knowing that she’s trying to act even brighter because his mood seems to have sunk makes it all the more touching.
Perhaps it’s because they just saw off someone else’s death. This moment feels even more precious.
“Hmm.”
A hum that flows out naturally.
Not anyone’s song, just a tune he’s humming carelessly.
Emily, startled, soon smiles and is about to add harmony when—
“I have a ship. A ship that can go anywhere in the world.”
Someone’s song pierces through Johann’s humming.
“Huh?”
It’s his own song.
Dream – Journey on a Ship.
But that’s not the only thing that caught Johann’s attention.
‘This voice?’
A voice that’s husky yet sticky, and at the same time sweet enough to melt his ears captures his attention. It grabs hold tight and won’t let go.
‘That’s it!’
The way to get to Texas.
Johann turned his head and stared intently at the Young Girl who was comforting a child.
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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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