A Terminal Healer Needs an Obsessive Maniac-Chapter 133
—"Quantum physicist Hugh Everett III proposed a theory that every decision and choice we make creates an infinite number of parallel universes."
In the midst of confusion, Ryu Seoha recalled the words of Dr. Han Kangseok that she had heard once before.
—"Everything, people, objects, the world itself, is ultimately made of particles. Particles in the microscopic world can exist in all possible locations at once."
At the time, terms like quantum mechanics, wave function collapse, Schrödinger’s equation, multiverse theory, and the many-worlds interpretation had seemed difficult and of little interest to her. She had only listened, thinking that someday, understanding a genius’s words might come in handy.
—"So, doesn’t it make sense that countless worlds could exist simultaneously, overlapping at every minor branching point?"
Excited, Han Kangseok had eagerly explained the unverified hypothesis. His conclusion was that at every moment of interaction, a new universe, separate from the current one, would be created, and all those potential possibilities would actually exist.
—"Of course, for us, fixed in a certain timeline, it’s impossible to observe all the universes branching off from these possibilities."
Now, Ryu Seoha could finally understand a little of what Han Kangseok had meant when he said that transcending the limits of human perception might allow one to interact with the countless parallel universes.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 99 days of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
At that moment, Ryu Seoha realized she had the ability to intervene in an event that had occurred in her lover’s past.
‘Could it be…?’
Suddenly, certain meaningful things Choi Kanghu had said in the past, words that had always seemed cryptic, took on new significance.
—"If I told you I’d loved you for 300 years, would you give me your lifespan more easily?"
Ryu Seoha’s eyes widened. The countless parallel universes that had branched off from the moment Choi Kanghu had fallen into the Abyss. In all but one of those countless possible outcomes, Choi Kanghu had died.
The shocking revelation left her breathless. Even more horrifying was that the single surviving Choi Kanghu, the one who had beaten impossible odds, had lived out the future exactly as the novel had described. He had never met her and had become the cold, ruthless ruler portrayed in the story.
—"I don’t want to give up Ryu Seoha to either my past or my future."
On the other hand, the Choi Kanghu who had fallen in love with her had chosen a completely different path. He had even occasionally shown signs of unease, as if he had sensed something. Perhaps he was someone who had experienced a different timeline, one completely separate from the ones laid out before her now.
A man who had already experienced an event that Ryu Seoha would interfere with in the ‘future,’ but had lived through it as his ‘past.’ Even in the midst of her turmoil, Ryu Seoha came to this chilling and awe-inspiring realization. It was both remarkable and terrifying.
‘What if I don’t intervene in Choi Kanghu’s past here?’
What would happen to the ‘Choi Kanghu’ she had kissed just yesterday? The moment Ryu Seoha chose a different ‘future,’ his confirmed ‘past’ could vanish, and his existence could disappear. The mere thought of it was dizzying and terrifying beyond measure.
—"Even if everything gets messed up because of my selfishness, I’d be happy if Ryu Seoha could stay by my side forever, just like in this moment."
Choi Kanghu had clearly recognized the risks but had still disliked the idea of a future where he had to briefly yield Ryu Seoha to his past self, while he wandered through the Abyss. Of course, he had probably been thinking of a way to stay with her, even during her intervention…
—"I just need to make sure Ryu Seoha never leaves my sight, no matter the moment."
Remembering the way her lover had repeatedly vowed to himself, Ryu Seoha felt a deep well of guilt and regret. She had promised never to leave his side, yet here she was, making a decision that would hurt him once again.
‘But…’
Despite the pain in her heart, Ryu Seoha didn’t regret her decision to stop her lover’s reckless challenge and the high probability of his impending death. What she had felt just moments ago—regret—had now transformed into relief.
The panorama unfolding before her eyes showed her lover’s agonizing deaths in countless forms. If she hadn’t jumped into the black hole to stop Choi Kanghu from fighting the three higher beings, she wouldn’t have had this opportunity to change his fate.
‘I can change this.’
Han Kangseok had once said that in a mathematically provable universe, there is no fundamental direction to time. Even basic physical equations can calculate speed and position, but there’s no guarantee that time flows from the past to the future.
‘If I use the power of the main core to connect my future with Choi Kanghu’s past, I can link the two timelines.’
If possible, Ryu Seoha didn’t want to let even one version of Choi Kanghu die in despair. She was grateful that the power to change all of those deaths was now in her hands.
Resolutely, she began calculating how much lifespan she would need to interfere with Choi Kanghu’s timeline. She had to make sure she had enough left to survive until they met again. He would certainly be furious once he found out what she had done.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 31,786 days of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.29-T0.2358?]
At first, she tried to prevent Choi Kanghu from entering the Abyss in the first place. However, because the event was so closely tied to the actions of the higher beings, the amount of lifespan required for such interference was exorbitantly high.
[Status: Remaining lifespan: 77 days, 13 hours, 11 minutes]
She was severely short on resources. It seemed more practical to adjust the conditions and interfere during specific moments when Choi Kanghu’s life was directly threatened within the Abyss.
Erasing his time in the Abyss entirely would also erase the immense power Choi Kanghu had accumulated during his 300 years of wandering before his return to Earth. The resulting chaos—the butterfly effect—would be devastating.
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Though it pained her, Ryu Seoha realized that the best way to save her lover was to intervene at each critical moment after he entered the Abyss, helping him avoid death.
It felt bittersweet, knowing that she would have to stand by and watch him endure centuries of suffering. Still, she began manipulating the system, trying to reduce the cost of her intervention as much as possible.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 51 days of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
At first, it required 99 days to intervene as an observer in the timeline where Choi Kanghu faced his first near-death experience. But when she added the condition of actively participating, the required lifespan dropped to 51 days.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 13 days of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
Next, she reduced the cost significantly by choosing to access Choi Kanghu’s dream world instead of directly influencing real-world events, warning him of the danger there. The required lifespan dropped to 13 days.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 2 days of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
The cost decreased even further to 2 days when she opted to appear in his dream in a vague, ghostly form rather than her full, solid self.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 18 hours of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
By giving up her voice, the cost shifted to hours instead of days.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 6 hours of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
Limiting the duration of her intervention cut the cost to a third.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to expend 3 hours of lifespan to interfere with entity #S159-EX0’s timeline 20XX.01.30-T1.0359?]
Finally, by restricting her physical influence to the bare minimum, the cost was halved again.
‘…I can’t push it any further.’
She could have reduced the cost to minutes by sacrificing her ability to leave a lasting impression in Choi Kanghu’s subconscious, even after he woke from the dream. But that would defeat the purpose of entering his dream in the first place. No matter how hard she tried to think of ways to reduce the cost, this was as low as it could go. With her remaining lifespan, she could intervene about 620 times.
The number of critical death moments Choi Kanghu had faced over his 300 years in the Abyss was far greater than that. However, if she could use each intervention to warn him about several upcoming dangers, she might be able to cover every possible death.
In other words, she couldn’t afford a single failure.
Though she wasn’t sure how to persuade a man who had fallen into a hellish world, with his nerves already frayed, Ryu Seoha didn’t hesitate. She linked her consciousness to Choi Kanghu’s dream world.
