Chapter 29: Prophecy Through Fiction

It had been a few days since I returned from my trip to Busan.

To find the photos I took back then, I visited the local photo studio.

“I'm Yoo Seung-hyun, are my photos ready?”

“You came at just the right time. Here you go.”

The owner, recognizing my face, handed me an envelope with a post-it attached.

The brown envelope was quite thick.

Just looking at it, you could tell how many photos I had taken in Busan.

Just seeing it made me feel satisfied and proud.

“Thank you.”

Since I had already paid when I dropped off the film, I simply signed the receipt and left the studio.

As I walked, I opened the envelope a little to peek inside.

It was so full of photos that it was hard to even count them all.

“I hope there are a lot of good ones.”

Of course, even the weird photos are memories, but since I took them anyway, I hoped there would be many nice shots.

In this era, there’s no such thing as photo editing.

If it comes out well, that's lucky; if not, you just have to accept it as it is.

That’s why I hoped for many beautiful photos even more.

“How should I organize all these photos?”

Before I knew it, my thoughts turned to organizing them.

Since they captured precious moments, I wanted to store the photos with care.

“Oh, right! Family, Mom, Dad, Da-hye, me… If I split them into five albums, that’ll work.”

As I walked slowly, I decided on how to organize the photos in my head.

Looking back at my family’s photos, aside from a few from my childhood, there were hardly any from my middle and high school years.

It was the same for Mom and Dad.

Now that I had a camera, I resolved to take lots of pictures without worrying about the cost, and fill our albums.

Acting on that thought, I stopped by a bookstore that also sold stationery and bought albums and frames.

“Good thing I brought my tote bag.”

If I hadn't, I would have been in trouble.

The stuff I bought was quite heavy.

It reminded me of the rucksack I carried in the army.

“Ah, the army…”

Suddenly, reality flashed through my mind.

“Do I have to do another 24 months of military service?”

The very word “army” started to weigh heavily on my shoulders.

In my previous life, I often talked with friends about, “If you could go back to your twenties, would you do it? But you’d have to go to the army again.”

Whenever that came up, I’d joke, “If I could start as a sergeant, I’d go.”

But now, it’s a real concern.

“Should I try to get assigned as an industrial technical personnel?!”

If I remember right, in the 2000s, you could finish after about three years of work.

Didn’t I already do 24 months of service in my previous life?

I want to live differently in this life.

If I join a designated company, I can get 50–70% of a normal salary.

It’s not much, but I’d get to live as an ordinary worker.

I’d finish as a private, but still.

“Getting discharged as a sergeant isn’t a big deal anyway.”

In the end, the important thing isn’t the rank.

“It’s discharge. Whether you’re a noncommissioned officer or an officer, once you’re discharged, everyone’s the same.”

I made up my mind.

This life, I’ll take the alternative military service route.

“Taxi!”

Just as I wrapped up my thoughts, I spotted a taxi waiting at a light about 100 meters ahead.

I raised my hand and waved it up and down in the air.

Soon, the taxi stopped in front of me.

Lugging my heavy bag with both hands, I got into the back seat.

“Da-hye, pick out the photos you like.”

About ten minutes later, I got home and headed to the living room.

I spread the envelope of newly developed photos on the floor and called for Da-hye.

“Wow, there are so many photos!”

This must be the first time in Da-hye’s life she’s had so many photos.

Same for me.

There were almost fifty pictures.

“There are a lot of similar shots. Just pick the ones you look best in from here. And here, let’s put them in the frames and albums I bought. Oh, this one came out pretty.”

I started by picking the photos where Da-hye looked good.

From shots where she was holding her face in her hands like a flower, to ones where she made ‘V’ signs with both hands.

Making sure not to pick duplicates, I put them into the album one by one.

Watching my sister carefully choose her favorite pictures was so cute and lovable.

Not wanting to miss the moment, I quietly recorded it on the camcorder.

My little sister, so precious I could never tire of her.

Just being together made me happy.

“All done!”

Once we finished, Da-hye raised both hands and cheered.

She looked so cute as she gazed proudly at the album and frames.

“From now on, I’ll take lots of photos for you. Whenever we develop them, let’s keep them like this.”

“Okay!”

Filling in something I couldn’t do in my previous life, one by one.

That joy and satisfaction warmed my heart.

“We’ll need to buy a cabinet for the albums too. Since we’ll keep making more, let’s prepare in advance.”

There will be more and more photos from now on.

To store those memories properly,

I decided to buy a cabinet that matched the albums.

***

Tenth day of vacation.

“Son, your father and I are going to a class reunion. There’s fruit and some other things in the fridge, so when Da-hye comes home, make sure to take care of her.”

“Yes, don’t worry about Da-hye and have fun.”

Mom and Dad had a reunion to go to, so they left Da-hye in my care.

Now that they were at ease, their faces had become so much brighter.

“And use this to get something tasty.”

I gave my parents 200,000 won.

In the past, they would have handed money to me, but in this life, I chose to live by giving, not receiving.

Not the joy of receiving, but the joy of giving.

Far from regretting the money, I was actually happy just to be able to do something for my family.

“Since Mom and Dad aren’t home today, should I take Da-hye to eat beef ribs?”

My desire as an older brother to give her even more kicked in.

“Still, the more I spend, the less I’ll have to cough up in taxes.”

Since there wasn’t much need to spend large sums, my bank account kept filling up.

The most I spent was on meat or private academy fees.

“Every year, I’m going to have to pay so much in taxes.”

The more I thought about taxes, the more unfair it felt.

I wished they’d change these bad tax laws, and turned on the TV as I entered the living room.

Trying to drive the word “tax” out of my head, I focused on the TV instead.

[These days, the novel “A Genius Was Adopted Into a Chaebol Family” is a huge topic. What kind of novel is it?]

“Huh?”

As I was watching, a familiar title drifted into my ears from the TV.

Eyes wide in surprise, I listened to what was being said.

[It’s a genre novel set in the painful past of Korea—the 1990s. The story begins with a conglomerate family adopting the protagonist from an orphanage. Despite being only ten, the child displays genius and saves the family’s company in crisis, gradually becoming part of the family and fitting in as one of them. It’s a warm story.

It’s not like the usual wuxia or fantasy novels, and—]

A man and woman on TV were giving their opinions about my novel.

“What is going on?”

My head spun in a daze.

I never imagined my work would be featured on TV.

“This wasn’t part of the plan?!”

I’d never even tried SNS advertising.

Yet there was my work, being introduced on national television.

I felt good, but…

I had no idea why this was happening.

No matter how much I liked my own work, it wasn’t popular enough to be featured on TV.

“I’d better check the posts.”

Leaving the TV on in the living room, I hurried up to the second floor and turned on my computer.

┗ Never mind the economics—this author’s writing matches the US and Korean markets exactly. It’s chilling.

┗ I agree, at this point, they should join the economics department, not just be a writer.

┗ When I see what’s happening these days, I get chills. When things go the opposite of what well-known experts predicted, I just think, “of course.” This novel is practically a book of prophecies. That’s another reason to look forward to it. What else will the author get right?

┗ The economics is one thing, but I’m really interested in soccer. Right now Japan and Korea are fighting over who’ll host the World Cup, but the author says Korea and Japan will cooperate to host a joint World Cup, for political reasons. That part gave me chills.

┗ Oh, I saw that too. The author’s mind is incredible… How can someone think like that and write about it? I never even thought of that. They could go into politics at this rate.

┗ How do they write like that? Because they’re an author, obviously. Not just anyone can write.

┗ This is on TV now, lol. The author hit the jackpot.

“… Huh. I see.”

The message board was filled with all sorts of posts.

Only then did I understand why my novel was on national TV.

To readers, my writing was practically a book of prophecies.

All I did was bring knowledge of the future and write it down.

Yet they saw me as a genius writer.

“Not surprising, I suppose.”

After all, I’m someone from the future. I know exactly what happens in this era, and why.

I’d even woven the reasons for those events into the story, so this kind of reaction was only natural.

I was predicting the future economy better than the experts; no wonder people were taking notice of my novel.

[The reason this novel is attracting so much attention lies in its economic insights. It lays out in detail things we couldn’t have predicted.]

Just then, the TV started talking about the predictions in my novel.

“Hmm, I’m not sure if this is good or bad.”

I scratched my cheek with my index finger, lost in thought.

“No, there’s nothing to worry about. This is a good thing. It’s basically free advertising for my work on national TV. In that case…”

This could even lead to another printing.

Another printing meant more sales and a healthier bank account.

I decided to shake off my worries and see this positively.

“By the way, when is Da-hye coming home?”

I turned off the TV and glanced at the clock.

It was past five in the afternoon.

My sister had gone to a friend’s house—when would she return?

It’s summer, so the days are longer, but with our parents gone, I was starting to worry.

“Oppa, I’m home.”

Just as I was about to go outside to meet her, the front door opened and Da-hye popped in.

“I was just about to come get you, but you’re here! Da-hye, let’s go to the rib restaurant.”

“Ribs?”

“Yeah, Mom and Dad are out at a gathering tonight. So let’s go eat ribs together, just the two of us.”

“Wow! Awesome!!”

At the mention of ribs, Da-hye’s eyes sparkled.

She must be really happy.

She dashed back inside, quickly put her shoes on again, and got ready to leave.

“Seriously, she’s so cute.”

Following Da-hye as she cheered, “Ribs!” and ran outside, I walked at a leisurely pace.

“Da-hye, don’t run like that. You’ll get hurt. Take it slow.”

She must be really excited, hopping and skipping like that.

I was a little worried she might trip,

but seeing how happy she was filled me with warmth.