Chapter 1020 – #100. Utopia (5)
“It’s really unpleasant. I hope you leave. It’s a nuisance to other customers.”
The manager tried to send it outside.
“It looks like he doesn’t know because he can’t speak properly. I’ll talk to him directly and make it public.”
“What are we going to do now? What are you!”
Eventually, her manager gets angry and tries to kick her out.
In her utopia, there was no one who did not know her face, but as time passed, there were now more people who did not know her than who knew her.
Most of the people who know her are either dead or doing more important things than these chores.
That too is a very small minority.
“Why on earth did you bring in someone like this? If things continue like this, we have no choice but to issue a warning.”
Not only did her caretaker put pressure on her, but even her close brother looked down on her.
“Ha, you are talking too harshly. I know that my sister caused the commotion first, but isn’t the response too forceful? I wasn’t going to say this, but do you know who we are?!”
“I don’t care who you are. Please get out of here. If you don’t, I will permanently kick you out.”
Her close younger brother was so angry at the manager’s firm words that he tried to scream.
Lee Seon-ju stopped his younger brother like that.
“It’s okay. Let’s stop and leave.”
“Sister! Are you going to treat me like this and just leave?”
“They tell me to get out, but I have to. Do you want to stay here?”
“We should at least tell that manager who we are!”
“Who is what?”
“Who are you? You’ve done so much for utopia!”
“Anyway, I’m a retired old man. And what I did in the past wasn’t an attempt to gain power in a place like this.”
Her close brother couldn’t understand her asking to just leave.
“Sister! How can this be abuse of power? She’s treating us like strange people over there and kicking us out. It’s definitely their fault!”
“No, I reacted wrong. No matter what I said here, in the end, it was the central government that created this place. I should have spoken directly to the central government. Instead of calling a careless manager.”
The manager, who heard the conversation between his close friend and his younger brother, was silent, but his expression was tense.
I don’t know his identity, but from the way he spoke, it seemed like he was someone with connections to the central government.
The manager, who thought he had responded incorrectly, belatedly spoke to resolve the situation.
“I’m… Excuse me, but what is your name?”
“You think we’ll accept you just because you’re wrong now?!”
My close friend got angry at the manager’s change in attitude and started yelling.
Seonju Lee did not like the behavior of the manager and her close younger brother.
I have no intention of taking anyone’s side.
“Huh? Sister! Where are you going? Sister! Sister!!”
“I’m sorry you got kicked out today because of me. But from now on, you’ll be going here alone. I don’t like places like this. And I’ll just go first. I’ll contact you later.”
I wasn’t sure if I would contact him later, but I said my goodbyes and moved on.
‘Did I say that I would be able to meet you if I wanted to meet you?’
When I saw him face to face again after a long time.
As soon as he heard the unexpected story, he said that he would let him know so that he could meet with him at any time if he had any business.
She believed what he said and moved to the off-limits area where that person was staying.
I felt a little dizzy, probably because I had a fever for the first time in a while, but I thought it was more important to see him right now.
She thought she could just relax after meeting.
“Stop! This is a no-entry zone. Go back.”
“This is Seonju Lee. I heard that I can just say my name. Can I get in?”
“… Lee Seon-ju? Let me check.”
The person guarding the door called inside using a walkie-talkie and made me wait for a while.
And a few minutes later.
“Please come in. We are waiting for you.”
The door that seemed impossible to open wide and let her in.
Gulp-
Since it was a space that no one could easily enter, Lee Seon-ju went inside nervously.
She walked through the beautifully decorated garden, climbed the neatly laid stairs, and arrived at the front door of the mansion.
“Welcome.”
Before she could even touch her door, the door opened, and a welcome message was heard.
She was startled to find that inside she was not him but a strange woman, but she soon calmed down.
‘She’s a person who can travel between different worlds, but she’s a strange woman.’
Doesn’t she know the faces of all the people living inside Utopia?
“We are waiting for you. We will guide you.”
“… Okay.”
I followed the woman up to the second floor.
Knock-
“Lee Seon-joo has arrived.”
I heard a voice from inside telling me to come in, and the woman kindly opened the door, so I could go in.
“Thank you.”
“No. Would you like some coffee?”
“It’s okay.”
“I understand.”
With a polite gesture, the woman disappeared, and Lee Seon-ju went inside.
Perhaps because I had met him recently, I wasn’t surprised by the man’s youthful appearance.
“Welcome. I was a little embarrassed because I didn’t know we would meet again so soon.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t come to take back what I said last time.”
She first apologized before saying her business.
It was because he had not come to talk about the topic he was guessing.
“Ah… Is that so? I never thought you’d come to see me for any other reason. That’s entirely possible. Please feel free to say so.”
It seemed like he had no idea what he was going to say.
If it weren’t for today, she wouldn’t have thought of coming here for any other reason.
“You stayed here even though you could have gone to another world. You didn’t give up on utopia even though there was an easy way, right?”
“This is my world, and there was no reason to abandon it and go somewhere else.”
“It’s very fortunate for us. Without you, Utopia wouldn’t have existed.”
“I really want to return those words. If it were not for the sacrifices of people like Seonju, the current utopia would not have existed.”
Normally, I would have smiled and accepted this kind of pretense.
But now she couldn’t afford that.
“I was just curious what the utopia you would create would look like.”
“What utopia will I create?”
“What kind of place are you planning to create?”
“… Well, I just miss my past life.”
“You shouldn’t think so simply.”
“Yes?”
“People are already changing. They have created classes among themselves and created spaces that no one can enter. And they feel superior because of that.”
“…”
“The younger brother I knew has already changed. Today, he casually spoke to me in front of me, asking if he knew who I was. How much I devoted myself to utopia, and yet they are treating me like this.”
Sacrificing for utopia was not to receive compensation from anyone.
“The reason we worked for utopia was to survive. If we didn’t, everyone would die. But I don’t understand why we suddenly want to be respected by others for doing that. I don’t think we should do that.”
This is something that must be fixed.
“There are so many children who have retired and are far from the center, but I am worried about how much the people working at the center have changed. Is it true that it is running like it used to? We will keep the promises we made when we created the center in the past. Are you losing?”
She thought he didn’t know.
This is because it has been a long time since he spoke out about Utopia’s internal issues.
Of course, even if he did that, the people inside Utopia never looked down on him.
The benefits of civilization that he sometimes gave us were things that could never be missed.
“Did you know?”
“It was a problem that would arise at some point, and I think it is an unstoppable trend.”
“You really knew. Did you think it was right to ignore this problem?”
“I did not intend to continue to ignore the problem. However, I thought it was necessary to properly raise the issue in order to resolve it.”
“They were waiting until it got bigger, so everyone could feel the danger.”
“Thank you for still sparing your bitter words for Utopia.”
“… No, I’m actually embarrassed. I should have trusted that you would take care of it even if I didn’t have to do this.”
When I heard that he knew everything about the situation, I lost all my strength.
No, she actually lost strength and her body went limp.
“Mr. Seonju? Mr. Seonju!”
All of them rushed towards the owner, who lost her mind in an instant.
And that was the last sight Lee Seon-ju saw before fainting.
* * *
“Uhm…”
Beep- Beep- Beep- Beep-
A mechanical sound was heard at a constant speed.
Lee Seon-ju, who had been lying blankly with his eyes closed for a while because his hands were not strong, swallowed hard and opened his eyes.
“This is…”
The vaguely visible sight was clearly a hospital.
As she recalled her last memory, she realized that she had collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
Before she came here, she felt a little dizzy, but it seemed like the problem was that she just ignored it.
‘What’s wrong.?’
I thought she was unusually tired when she usually woke up, but I didn’t know that she was in such bad shape that she collapsed.
“Oh, are you awake?”
A beautiful and kind woman’s voice was heard.
“Do you know where this is?”
“Isn’t it a hospital?”
“That’s right. It’s a hospital. You collapsed, do you remember?”
“Yes. I felt a little dizzy, but I didn’t think it was a big deal. Then this happened. I should have been careful…”
From the outside, it looks like it was built right out of a hospital, but Utopia’s hospital facilities were in poor condition.
Not only was it not easy to find doctors with specialized knowledge, but it was also not easy to obtain all kinds of medical devices and drugs.
Still, it looked much more like a hospital than when she was trying to restore it.
There is also a woman who appears to be a nurse.
“You slept for a full day. It seemed like your body was very tired.”
She said she was retired, and she was tired.
“You will need to do an accurate test.”
“The inspection is a hassle. It’s okay. I’ll take a break and then go back.”
Because she had so little time left to live, she thought it unnecessary to use hard-to-find medical drugs.
