【You will soon die.】
Planning and Coordination Office of the renowned conglomerate 【Deokseong】.
Lee Hyun-woo, the deputy director, starts seeing hallucinations.
‘Have I been overworking lately?’
It might be because he stayed up all night the previous day.
To be precise, he hadn’t slept properly for several days, not just last night.
He thought today would be no different.
It was because of the overwhelming workload.
‘But that doesn’t mean I should be seeing things like that.’
Could it be that his deceased parents were using shock therapy to tell him to stop working?
Lee Hyun-woo, suddenly having such an absurd thought, got up from his seat and looked out the window.
Drip, drip.
In the darkness, it was difficult to distinguish anything due to the heavy downpour.
‘No snow in this winter….’
Today is December 1st. The Earth was suffering from abnormal temperatures, and Korea was not spared from this effect. Because of this, he had to work today.
Looking at the cold winter, the padding released by the SPA affiliate took a hit.
It had been almost a week since he had been racking his brains, tapping out plans on how to clear this stock.
In the end, there will be losses. But it is the task of the Planning and Coordination Office to minimize them.
Some might ask why that office is handling this, but it was Lee Hyun-woo who advised the SPA affiliate to increase the production of padding anticipating this winter’s weather.
In other words, since it started with this office during the planning stage, shouldn’t it be this office that cleans it up?
His consciousness, which had been drifting while looking at the heavy rain, returned to his work.
‘There’s no time, I need to work.’
The reason he was working so hard was because the head of the Planning and Coordination Office would be leaving the company next year.
This meant that one of the three deputy directors would likely take that position, and he certainly didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
In the midst of this, an unfortunate situation had occurred, leaving him no choice but to wrestle with the computer.
Lee Hyun-woo turned around and headed back to his chair.
But then.
Whirl…
Suddenly, he felt dizzy.
‘Have I really been overdoing it?’
Frowning, Lee Hyun-woo staggered.
Barely regaining his balance, he sat down and resumed his work.
It wasn’t easy, but he managed to complete it to the final stage, and when he got up from his seat, it was four in the morning.
Usually, he would just endure a few more hours, but with the dizziness and all, he thought it best to go home today.
However, as he left the office, he saw the same words again.
【You will soon die.】
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
【But there is a chance to turn your life around.】
“……”
【Help me. It’s a white car. Please help me. My wife is in there.】
The increasingly absurd words made Lee Hyun-woo frown.
‘Looks like I need some sleep.’
Barely holding his balance, he went out to the parking lot.
Then he opened the door and sat in the car, but it wouldn’t start – the battery was dead from not being used for days.
“Damn it.”
Lee Hyun-woo had no choice but to go back up to the company lobby and go outside to catch a taxi.
Or so he thought,
Vroooom!
A foreign sports sedan came charging at him.
Startled, he stepped back from the road.
The car, unable to find its direction, zoomed past him and…
Crash!
It collided with another car.
It was the first major accident he had seen up close.
For some reason, he instinctively ran toward it.
In his mind were the memories of his parents who died in a car accident.
Also,
‘That strange message earlier!’
The car that was hit was a white car.
It gave him goosebumps.
If the person who was waiting at the signal and got hit was a woman, wasn’t it a signal sent by someone he thought was a hallucination?
‘It’s because I haven’t slept for several nights. Several nights.’
Hoping it wasn’t true, he quickly arrived at the white car, and indeed, a woman was in the driver’s seat.
Her nose was bleeding, perhaps due to a faulty airbag…
“Hey! Wake up!”
She was already unconscious.
Of course, she couldn’t hear him calling from outside.
He tried to open the door to get her out, but it was not easy.
“Ugh…!”
After several attempts, he managed to open the door, but pulling the woman out was another challenge.
It seemed he shouldn’t just pull her out carelessly.
But then,
Whoosh!
The engine part of the car caught fire.
Thinking of the recent issues with car defects along with the faulty airbag, he had no choice but to use more force.
Fortunately, the woman started to come out.
Finally, Lee Hyun-woo pulled the woman out of the car and carried her to the sidewalk.
Around that time, he heard the sound of an ambulance approaching.
He felt a sense of pride, but then,
Whirl…
He felt dizzy again.
‘Huh? What’s happening?’
This time it was more serious.
His vision blurred, and he started losing his balance.
Eventually,
“Why… why is this happening?”
Lee Hyun-woo felt himself collapsing.
Still holding on to his consciousness,
“Gasp…”
He managed to open his eyes.
This time, instead of words, someone was looking at him with sad eyes.
“Who… who are you?”
It was blurry.
He could only see the person’s eyes, dressed in white.
【Thank you. Truly, thank you. Thank you for saving my wife. And the twins in her womb.】
He realized that he had saved three lives in total, but those sad eyes lingered in his mind.
‘But there is no guarantee they will survive…’
However, the person spoke with assurance that they would live.
The important thing was the words this man seemed to say earlier.
That he would soon die and could turn his life around.
But frustratingly, he didn’t say such things and instead lamented his own fate.
【I, too, died recently from overwork without taking care of myself. I left behind my wife and unborn twins. After I ascended to heaven, I came back down and wandered around because this scene kept replaying in my mind.】
It seemed he was a ghost.
Lee Hyun-woo was disappointed.
He had expected that someone promising to turn his life around would have great power, but this person was nothing.
【Ah, after dying, I learned my status. I was originally the son of a high-ranking deity, and I had to go through a hundred human lifetimes to inherit that position. I didn’t know, but this was my hundredth experience. So, I am now set to take the role. Oh, by the way, in this context, the role is to oversee life and death of humans. Actually, I shouldn’t be doing this, but I am trying to cling to my last earthly connection.】
This changed the story.
But hearing the next part, Lee Hyun-woo snapped back to reality.
【In a critical moment, you listened to me and saved them. However, dying from overwork is an unavoidable fate, and to avoid repeating this, I will take you back to before you joined this company. I advise you not to die like this. It’s a cruel thing to do to those you leave behind.】
For a brief moment, his words touched Lee Hyun-woo’s heart.
Soon, the past replayed.
It swept through the happiest times.
Meeting his ex-wife and the birth of his children brought him indescribable emotions.
But that was brief.
Driven by the goal of earning more money for them, he had come this far.
Looking back, was it really for them?
‘No. It was for me.’
Lee Hyun-woo was greedier and more ambitious than anyone else.
The closer he got to his work, the further he drifted from his family.
Perhaps the divorce was an inevitable result.
Back then, he blamed his wife, but now he realized that half the responsibility was his.
However, his life did not change.
Especially after hearing that the head of the Planning and Coordination Office would leave the company soon, he neglected his health and devoted himself to work.
Now that he was on the verge of death, all this became a regret.
Perhaps this man before him felt the same, which is why he was giving him this opportunity.
If so, he was extremely grateful.
If he could be reborn, he would take good care of himself.
As this person said, he wouldn’t do something that cruel to those left behind.
Having thought this far, Lee Hyun-woo felt his consciousness fading.
Unable to move his mouth, he said inwardly,
‘Thank you for letting me live again.’
Then he heard a voice.
【I shouldn’t do this, but I will let you keep your memories. Good deeds always deserve a reward, don’t they? And once again, thank you very much.】
He didn’t know why the person kept doing things he shouldn’t, but it was good to return with his memories.
Though his consciousness was fading, Lee Hyun-woo had a faint smile on his face.
