The Most Beautiful Moments In Life

Chapter 6: So What?

May 29th, Year 22

Seokjin had a few months before everything would go wrong. He'd mapped out every detail, every conversation, every butterfly effect he discovered from previous loops, and yet still he hadn't figured out how to stop the container fire.

In past loops, Seokjin had learned that his father was pushing redevelopment plans for the city. Among the many plans he had was something that caused tragedy every time the cycle reset. The container village Namjoon and several other financially unstable people lived in would be cleared out.

Legally, the people living inside the abandoned shipping containers had no right to be there. They were all illegally loitering, as far as the law was concerned. That didn't make the violence alright, though. In every loop, men were sent into the container village to force people out, and they used violence to get the job done.

It always ended with a fire, and Namjoon caught up in the middle of it. Not once was Seokjin able to save Namjoon from dying this way, nor was he able to change his father's mind about the redevelopment. Seokjin had to find some other way to stop it. Then he could be free of this hell he lived in.

At first, when he'd been given the chance to go back in time and save his friends, he'd readily accepted, willing to do anything to save them all. But now Seokjin just wanted out. He didn't know how many loops he'd lived anymore, but he imagined that if he could age, he'd be in his thirties by now.

Once after he failed yet another attempt to save his friends, the spirit visited him again. Seokjin begged with it to free him of the eternal cycle, and the spirit compromised.

"A hint, I can give you, but you must pay a price," it told him.

"Tell me, please," Seokjin had begged. The spirit, which took the form of a white cat, nodded its small head.

"You must find the Map of the Soul. Only then can you be free," it said. Seokjin was sent back to April 11th after that. April 11th was always the reset day, and it was a day he'd come to detest. Seokjin was determined to never relive that day again, let alone any day. But he'd have to find whatever this Map of the Soul is before he could ever be free.

Life no longer excited Seokjin. He'd lived it over and over again so many times that everything was predictable and uninteresting. He didn't even enjoy being with his friends anymore— after all it was their fault that he was in this mess. He only saved them now so he could break the loop, not because he cared about them. In fact, once he was free, he'd make sure to never see them all again.

Seokjin was so desperate to find the map of the soul, that he'd even started asking people if they knew what it was. Seokjin never told anyone about the loop or anything involving it before, but now he was willing to try anything. He slipped up a few days ago when he asked Namjoon if he knew what it was. Nothing bad happened yet, though, so Seokjin hoped nothing would come from it.

Seokjin planned to search his father's office later when the man was away, but Seokjin had several hours before he'd have that opportunity, so he was pacing about in his room trying to think of something. At a loss, Seokjin decided to pull out his photo box. He wasn't sure why he pulled it out, but he sat down and started pulling old photos out.

Seokjin went through hundreds of photos he'd taken. Photo after photo went by, but Seokjin felt nothing. He... felt nothing? He took a closer look at the photo in his hand. He and his friends were at the beach. Some of the boys were standing on the bed of his truck, while others stood on the ground. And he was in the photo too. He was smiling.

Seokjin felt distant from that photo. He didn't remember when it was taken or why. He didn't remember smiling like that. He didn't remember going to that beach. Seokjin glanced at the other photos scattered across his bed. He didn't remember taking any of these photos. He was smiling in so many of them, but he could remember why. Was his memory... slipping?