The Best of Tomorrow-Chapter 7Vol 2. .1: Bonus Chapter: People Outside the Journey

They sat side by side at McDonald's, eating hamburgers.

Kwon Eun-chan licked the salt off his fingers, then glanced shyly at Seon-jae.

Feeling the gaze, Seon-jae turned his head toward him, and Eun-chan quickly looked away with a bashful expression.

“Your name’s Eun-chan?”

At the softly spoken question, Eun-chan nodded. The hamburger in his small hands looked disproportionately large.

“If your classmates bother you again, just say you’ve got an older friend who’ll deal with them.”

Seon-jae slowly brought his straw to his lips, and their eyes met. Eun-chan widened his eyes, and Seon-jae smiled slightly around the straw. At that bright, open smile, Eun-chan gave a small nod.

“Th-that older friend... is that you?”

“Of course it’s me.”

“Oooh.”

Eun-chan looked nervous at first, darting his gaze around, then broke into a grin. The two of them smiled at each other for a moment before turning their heads back. Through the wide front windows, the scenery outside was clear. Seon-jae’s eyes reflected the view beyond the glass—lush green trees casting long shadows from their trunks.

Eun-chan took a small bite of his hamburger, then glanced at Seon-jae’s reflection. Tall, broad-shouldered, a sharp yet solid jawline, a straight nose, and gentle eyes—everything about him looked perfect.

I hope I can become someone like ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ him someday.

As he chewed on the bun, meat patty, and lettuce, Kwon Eun-chan thought: Someday, when I’m old enough to help others, I want to be someone who reaches out, like hyung.

Seon-jae turned from the window and casually popped a French fry into Eun-chan’s mouth. Without a word, Eun-chan ate it, then picked one up from his own tray and offered it back to Seon-jae.

Seon-jae, lips pressed together, turned his head away. Eun-chan blinked and said,

“I learned that if you receive something, you should give something back.”

“Where’d you learn that?”

“I dunno... but I did learn it somewhere.”

Seon-jae stared at him for a moment, then let out a soft laugh and accepted the fry.

They exchanged carefree smiles. Outside the window, the summer sun spilled onto the streets, and the light breeze stirred the leaves along the road in gentle waves of green.

□ □ □

In the hospital room, Ryu Geun-deok lay in the bed by the window, Kwon Eun-chan in the bed by the door.

Ryu Geun-deok had fractured a vertebra in his lower back after falling from a ladder while tending to his yuzu trees. It had been two weeks since his hospital stay began, and the doctors said he’d need at least two more weeks of rest. On hearing that, Ryu Geun-deok stared vacantly at the ceiling.

His wife, who had been keeping watch at his bedside, had gone back down south to deal with the yuzu orchard that Ryu Geun-deok had been tending alone. Someone had to take over the field, either to keep it or to sell it—anything at all. No one else was looking after it. That was the only reasonable choice. But Ryu Geun-deok couldn’t help but feel bitter. They were my yuzus. My children. Every night, unable to care for the fruits he had raised with care, he closed his eyes and swallowed back his tears.

With his wife gone, it was his son who stayed by his side every day.

Ryu Seon-jae’s routine had become practice, then straight to the hospital. Sitting on the folding cot, he read from books that weren’t even very interesting. Ryu Geun-deok, frowning, listened to the monotonous voice for a while before muttering, Put that book away. It’s distracting, scolding his son.

The next day, Seon-jae would pull out a different book from his bag.

As he quietly read aloud, Ryu Geun-deok’s expression slowly contorted again in quiet disapproval.

One evening, after dinner, as Ryu Geun-deok fidgeted with the remote control, he glanced toward the cot.

Seon-jae was sitting there, and following his gaze, Ryu Geun-deok looked across the room—to Kwon Eun-chan, lying stiff on the medical bed.

“That kid... isn’t he the little brother of that guy you’re training with?”

Ryu Geun-deok’s voice was low. Seon-jae nodded slowly.

Kwon Eun-chan, Kwon Seong-jun’s younger brother, was sixteen this year.

Seon-jae had first met him shortly after entering high school.

It was late, and Seon-jae was on his way home after hanging out at Baek In-hyeok’s house. As he walked through a street corner, he saw a group of boys kicking and hitting a lone student. Seon-jae had to pass through that alley—and as he did, the bullies paused.

He almost kept walking but then turned back.

He worried for a moment—What if I step in and get beaten up too?

Fortunately, the boys backed down. Maybe it was because of Seon-jae’s height or striking looks—they might’ve felt intimidated.

Bleeding from his lips, Kwon Eun-chan repeatedly thanked him. That was their first meeting.

That night, they had hamburgers together. Eun-chan couldn’t take his eyes off Seon-jae’s handsome face the whole time.

Seon-jae smiled slightly, and Eun-chan, bashfully, handed over his phone. Seon-jae entered his number.

They met up a few more times after that. Then, when Seon-jae entered the agency, he found out Eun-chan was actually Kwon Seong-jun’s little brother.

And from that point on, Eun-chan liked Seon-jae more than he did his own brother.

Then, last month, Kwon Eun-chan got into an accident.

It was a snowy day.

He was crossing at a blinking green light when he dropped his phone.

He only noticed after reaching the other side and turned back to get it.

He was alone.

There was no one to shout Eun-chan! and warn him.

A motorbike, speeding without slowing, tried to swerve but skidded on the icy road. It crossed the lane.

A car coming from the opposite direction swerved hard to avoid it. Unfortunately, that turn sent it straight toward Eun-chan.

Standing with his phone in hand, he barely had time to gasp before the crash.

His body arced through the air in a long parabola.

It all happened too fast for any thought.

And then he fell into a coma.

Eun-chan.

That name often escaped from Seon-jae’s lips.

Sometimes he would take over from the caretaker, wiping Eun-chan’s hands and feet as he gently told him little facts—

Eun-chan, it’s snowing today. The sky’s dark. There’s not a single cloud.

Mostly, he talked about the weather.

There was a reason he kept reading those books Ryu Geun-deok didn’t like.

Because Eun-chan, unable even to dream, was trapped in stillness.

Seon-jae wanted to give him even the smallest of stories.

Kwon Seong-jun, now part of the debut team, was too busy to spare a moment.

Their father traveled abroad often for work.

Their mother stayed by Eun-chan’s bedside during the day but left every evening.

“You’re sleeping a long, lonely sleep, aren’t you? Come on, wake up.”

Seon-jae stroked back Eun-chan’s overgrown hair and spoke.

In the dim hospital room lit faintly by moonlight, he gazed silently at Eun-chan’s face.

□ □ □

The dimly lit hallway glowed faintly where bulbs remained.

The flickering bulb outside Room 1101 sparked and went out with a tick.

Room 1101. Two names were listed on the wall: Kwon Eun-chan. Ryu Geun-deok.

In the now darkened room, moonlight crept in.

Soundless, lightless—the whole place seemed frozen.

A woman walked slowly across the room, as if through silence itself.

She stopped in front of the window and lifted her blue eyes.

Raising her hand, she flicked it lightly.

The window frosted over in a burst of white condensation, turning opaque.

Staring at the frost, she then turned around.

On the bed, Kwon Eun-chan—who had been peeking—squeezed his eyes shut.

When his body had been launched into the air during the accident, his soul had slipped out.

He had seen himself lying on the street in a pool of blood and sobbed uncontrollably.

Then he scrambled onto the ambulance, watching as his body was carried away. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

From then on, he’d been drifting around his hospital bed.

In that brief moment when he’d been airborne, he had seen something strange—

A world where everyone he knew was older and crying.

And Seon-jae wasn’t there.

In that world, he saw himself, taller and broader than now, with bloodshot eyes, crying out Seon-jae’s name.

That world disappeared the moment he crashed back to earth.

Like the vanishing of light.

He hadn’t been able to leave, so he spent his time trapped in the hospital room.

Then Ryu Geun-deok arrived. And with him, Seon-jae.

Eun-chan had tried to tell Seon-jae about the world he saw—

But Seon-jae couldn’t hear his voice. He couldn’t see him.

It was a lonely fight.

Now, the woman walked slowly over and stood in front of him.

Eun-chan squeezed his eyes shut, pretending to be asleep.

The energy she gave off was far from normal—he felt like she could see his soul.

She placed a watch in her hand.

It was a flat, round piece of metal with the character 운 (fate) engraved into it.

“This watch bends toward time of strong fated inevitability—capable of interfering with destiny.”

Her voice was calm, almost monotone.

“If you press the face of the watch with body heat and firm intent, time will distort and the journey will begin.

The end of the journey is marked by the hour—at every hour, the traveler returns to their original time.”

Eun-chan’s eyelids trembled.

“You cannot move from one distorted timeline into another.

Until the hour comes, the traveler cannot leave.

And the traveler is forbidden from revealing the fate they interfere with to anyone else.”

Unable to hold it back any longer, a curt, defensive voice burst out.

“What are you even talking about...?”

Kwon Eun-chan’s eyes met the woman’s. In an instant, the temperature in the hospital room dropped.

She raised her hand and covered his lips. Her blue eyes flared, luminous like a storm.

“I heard your voice scattered in the air. You seemed so powerless, unable to do anything... so I came to offer you a journey.”

She leaned down, whispering in his ear. Her voice was so thin it pricked his hearing.

“I don’t know which point in time this watch will take you to.”

Then she straightened and placed the pocket watch into Eun-chan’s hand.

“Who... are you?”

“I’m the owner of that watch.”

“...Are you a ghost?”

Eun-chan swallowed hard. The woman’s expressionless face flickered with the faintest smile before it disappeared.

“In this world, that’s what you call me. A god. Since I govern fate... I suppose that makes me a god of fate.”

She raised a hand and covered Eun-chan’s eyes. Darkness spread. Nothing could be seen—only pitch black.

“You have to return before summer comes. Return to your body.”

Tense, Eun-chan clutched the watch in his hand. Something clicked beneath his grip, like a thin mechanism snapping.

When her hand lifted from his face, he slowly opened his eyes.

The darkness shattered.

And before him was a hotel bar with a nighttime city view, laid out beneath wide glass windows.

Seated on a leather sofa arranged in a U-shape were a group of people—and among them, Ryu Seon-jae.

Eun-chan’s eyes widened in shock. He looked down and saw the pocket watch in his hand. The minute hand ticked forward.

What had been frozen now moved, like something finally unlocked.

□ □ □

It was Seon-jae’s birthday, and the bar—on the top floor of the hotel—was booked for the occasion.

Woo Hyeon-seong had arranged everything. But the birthday boy, Seon-jae, was completely drained from a cold.

“It’s still weird seeing Eun-chan sitting here like this.”

“Seriously. Only Yun-jae couldn’t make it.”

Eun-chan’s eyes grew wide. He sat stiffly, rolling his eyes around in panic.

His body lay in a hospital bed, but even wandering the hospital all day as a soul, he still got sleepy sometimes. Whenever that happened, he would pick a spot and nap. And every time, he dreamed.

It was always the same dream.

The scene unfolding now—this was that dream.

Eun-chan, now twenty, was occasionally invited to drinking gatherings. Everyone found it amusing. They speculated Seo Yun-jae, turning twenty next year, would be a heavyweight.

And as always, Seon-jae, still sick, would get up and leave before the night ended.

He would go to the hotel room Kwon Seong-jun had booked, take some meds, fall asleep—and never wake up.

He would die. And Eun-chan would wake up from the dream.

Eun-chan sat still, listening to their conversation.

Beads of sweat appeared on Seon-jae’s pale face. He rubbed his forehead and ran his hand through feverishly hot hair.

“Sorry, I think I need to head out first.”

“Still feeling like crap? Did you take your meds?”

“Yeah. Took one earlier, but I think I need another.”

“Why are you sick on your birthday... seriously, it sucks.”

Woo Hyeon-seong poked him in the side.

Seon-jae twisted away and gave a weak smile as he rubbed his neck.

“Sorry. I’ll cover the bill before I go.”

“Forget it, you didn’t even drink.”

“Still... everyone came because of me.”

“We didn’t come for you, dude. Just go take your meds and rest. You look like hell.”

Baek In-hyeok pushed him lightly on the back.

“No, hyung—”

If you take that medicine, you’ll die.

The words caught in Eun-chan’s throat, silent.

He looked up at Seon-jae helplessly.

And then—Seon-jae’s eyes turned to meet his.

“Huh? What’d you say?”

Their eyes had clearly met. Eun-chan recoiled in shock.

“Eun-chan, are you okay?”

Kwon Seong-jun asked. Eun-chan burst out:

“Wait—can you hear me right now?”

Kwon Seong-jun narrowed his eyes. What’s with this kid? was written all over his face.

“No way. Seriously? Hyung—Seon-jae-hyung, can you hear me too?”

He leapt up and grabbed Seon-jae’s arm. The moment he touched him, he flinched—his body was burning hot.

Eun-chan reached out in a panic, touching his forehead, cheek, neck in a frenzy.

“Hyung... you’ve got a fever. You’re burning up.”

“...Yeah. So I’m heading out now.”

Seon-jae gave a short goodbye and turned to leave.

Eun-chan, stunned, jumped to his feet and rushed after him.

“Hey, Eun-chan, where are you going?”

Seong-jun called after him.

Eun-chan, not even looking back, just waved his hand in the air.

He caught Seon-jae by the wrist as he approached the elevator.

“Hyung.”

If you take that pill, you’ll die.

Eun-chan’s mouth opened, but the words again failed to come out.

“Sorry. I can’t really hear you.”

“Hyung.”

“Hm?”

“The medicine...”

“Yeah?”

“So, um...”

That pill will kill you.

But the words were silent.

Eun-chan shivered, goosebumps rising on both arms.

Seon-jae watched him with concern and gave a small smile.

“What’s wrong, Eun-chan?”

“...Ah, no... I just...”

Tears welled up in Eun-chan’s eyes, and he wiped them quickly with the back of his hand.

Then he walked ahead, standing at the elevator like a bodyguard.

Seon-jae followed behind, puzzled.

“What, you coming too? Shouldn’t you stay and have fun?”

“I’m coming with you.”

“...Huh?”

The elevator doors opened. With a determined face, Eun-chan stepped in.

Seon-jae tilted his head and followed.

He had no idea why Eun-chan insisted on tagging along.

But the boy even followed him into the hotel room.

Seon-jae gave him a weird look.

“Did you drink too much?”

“Maybe.”

Eun-chan sat squarely on the room’s armchair like he wasn’t going anywhere.

Seon-jae just shrugged it off, grabbed some clothes, and headed into the bathroom.

The sound of the shower echoed.

Eun-chan scanned the room rapidly.

He’d been here in his dream too. This was it—the place where Seon-jae died.

He never made it past this room.

“Where did he keep the medicine again...?”

He rifled through Seon-jae’s coat pocket and found a crumpled medicine pouch.

Quickly glancing around for a hiding spot, he heard the water shut off and panicked, shoving the pouch deep into his own pocket.