“Before Dana disappeared, she told me something when she was nearby.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she had to switch souls.”
“What?”
“She said she should have switched souls earlier. That everything would have ended if she had gotten her original body back. She apologized, saying it was all her greed that caused this tragedy, and left without giving me a chance to stop her. That’s all I know.”
Switch souls?
So, when I went to that other world, I was supposed to switch souls with the heretic so that the S-rank gate wouldn’t have occurred?
Hearing that this was all Kang Yedam knew made my chest tighten.
“Don’t you remember anything else?”
He said that was everything he recalled, but I asked with a hopeful heart if there was even the slightest detail he could add.
After a long pause, Kang Yedam spoke.
“Oh, she said if you switch bodies, you can escape being an outsider to the dimension.”
Well, that makes sense since it’s about returning to my original dimension…
We spent a long time discussing the causes, consequences, and solutions to the situation afterward, but there was no clear answer.
Eventually, it got late, so we made plans for the next meeting and I had no choice but to leave Ban Eunhyeol’s place.
Maybe because I’d heard so many shocking things in just a few hours, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.
***
“Sigh……”
[Is something troubling you?]
As expected, I tossed and turned all night.
Lying on the bed bathed in sunlight pouring into the room, Sahin appeared.
I answered, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Yes, there is… something troubling me…”
I kept sighing. To be exact, only sighs kept escaping me.
‘Think. There might be a hint in those words.’
Why does future me speak so vaguely!
Couldn’t you just plainly say how to stop that disaster and how I wouldn’t disappear from this world?
“Haahhh…”
Lying down, sighing repeatedly, the spirits watching me must have been frustrated.
[Is it a romantic problem?]
“If it was, I wouldn’t be sighing like this.”
I crossed my legs in the chair and glanced sideways at Sahin, who was looking at me, then tried to look at the ceiling again.
Suddenly, a thought popped into my head and I snapped my gaze back to Sahin.
‘Come to think of it, Sahin knows everything from the previous world to now. He’s always listened well to my troubles.’
Speaking out loud can sometimes reveal things I hadn’t realized before.
Same goes for Vishap.
And Red… since he’s a spirit of this world, maybe he knows something more?
They say even a blank sheet of paper is better when shared.
Using the spirit language so no sound escaped the room, I recounted everything that had happened with Kang Yedam without missing a single detail.
But the longer my story went on, the darker the expressions on Sahin, Vishap, and Red became.
Especially Sahin and Vishap, who had already adapted to this world.
[I actually liked it here much better… My lord seemed so much happier than in the previous dimension.]
[Right. I also liked it here better, but now having to forcibly go back to the previous dimension because of that…]
Only Red, who had never properly experienced me in the other dimension, tilted his head in confusion.
[I’m glad everything was restored after I returned, but it’s bitter that I’m not there anymore. I’ll be in that dimension, but I hate that people have to experience such a terrible thing—especially my friends.]
I honestly shared my feelings, shifting in bed.
Even after restoration, their memories remained unchanged, so they must still vividly remember the brutal battlefield and the sensation of dying.
That’s trauma enough to last a lifetime, and I felt terribly sorry for everyone who went through that.
‘She said I had to switch souls. I had to get my original body back…’
I kept repeating those words left by my future self.
[But is that friend really a Regressor?]
At that moment, Sahin narrowed his eyes, sharing the exact suspicion I’d had.
I nodded while still lying down.
[They knew my identity, and Ban Eunhyeol must have known at this time too. Do Ihyun was the first to realize I was myself. I heard all this after my identity was revealed.]
[If that’s true, then the possibility is high.]
Hearing Sahin’s words made me gloomy again.
[You had to get your original body back…]
Trying to be helpful, Sahin muttered what he had heard from me.
Then—
“Wait a minute!”
Of course, this might not be the solution, but after turning over the words my future self had said repeatedly, one method came to mind.
Suddenly, I shot up and shouted, catching the spirits’ attention.
“You never said I had to cross over to that dimension, did you?”
[That’s right.]
“So if I switch souls and live in this world with my original body, wouldn’t that be okay?”
{……?}
“She said I had to switch souls and get my original body back. So if I get my body back and live here, that tragedy wouldn’t have happened, right? And since switching bodies means escaping being a dimensional outsider…”
[Then what about your status, my lord?]
[That’s something to think about from now on.]
That part was a concern for me too.
Moreover, the reason the gate opened in this dimension was because the soul of a dimensional outsider possessed someone here.
But if the body also crosses over, is that really the way to stop the catastrophe?
Still, no matter how much I thought about what future me said, no other solution came to mind.
‘Or maybe even if the body changes, I can still live as Dana in this dimension. I’d simply be regaining my original body.’
If no status changes occur and everyone recognizes me as Dana, I can continue living here.
‘The most important thing now is to meet the heretic from that other dimension again.’
But how?
I stared into the empty air and whispered.
“Status window.”
Nothing appeared.
Right, maybe I need a longer command.
“Status window. Will the chance to switch souls ever come back?”
When I crossed over to that other dimension last time, I don’t recall seeing any message saying the chance wouldn’t return.
But my memory might be wrong, so I asked just to be sure.
Still, the status window remained silent.
I didn’t give up and kept changing my question, summoning the status window repeatedly.
No matter how many times I called, the status window didn’t show up.
“Are you just going to possess me like this and then ignore me? If you saw me struggling here, you’d have had some fun, right? Hurry up and give me a solution!”
When my patience ran out, rough words slipped out.
The system was clearly responsible for possessing me here, yet it was acting like it didn’t care. I muttered, “Did you sell your conscience after you got it?”
Then suddenly—
[Use a dream to switch your soul!
Reward – ?
Failure –
No change łı]
“What’s this?”
I bolted upright on the bed and stared hard at the status window that appeared before me.
It was good that the status window I wanted finally showed up, but I was thrown off by it appearing in quest format instead of with an explanation.
And to switch souls through a dream?
‘Is it talking about when I went to my house in that other dimension through a dream last time?’
But I have no idea how to cross dimensions through dreams…
“What’s with the question mark on the reward? Are you kidding me?”
[^0^]
It was the first time I’d seen just an emoticon appear alone.
My jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Are you seriously joking with me..?”
After that, no matter what I said, the status window didn’t appear again.
Whenever I summoned the quest window, only that appeared in the empty air.
‘What is this?’
I read the quest window over and over, then gave up thinking and closed my eyes.
‘At least if I sleep, maybe I’ll have a dream.’
Soon after closing my eyes, I fell into a deep sleep.
***
‘Dana is disappearing……’
Ban Eunhyeol, who had spent the night wide awake, slowly got up from the bed with a hollow expression.
The despair when we failed to find Dana in the S-rank gate that broke out at Jangnam High School, the frustration of not protecting her, all those mixed emotions rushed over him.
‘I wish Kang Yedam had been out of his mind and talking nonsense instead.’
But after going through verification processes with Kang Yedam, it was clear he had regressed several months back during the graduation ceremony.
Ban Eunhyeol took out his phone after staring at the floor of Dana’s room, where she had been sitting until yesterday.
No message from Dana yet.
The sun was already high, but since Dana was used to sleeping in late, he decided to wait.
Time passed. And passed some more.
The short hand on the clock had moved two notches by now.
Still no contact from Dana.
Sitting silently in his room, trying to figure out a way to prevent sending Dana to that other dimension, Ban Eunhyeol began preparing to go out.
Hearing that she would cross over to that other dimension on graduation day, he simply couldn’t stay cooped up without any contact.
He had to see Dana, talk about some kind of plan.
Otherwise, he felt he wouldn’t be able to bear it.
He arrived at the entrance of Dana’s apartment district, having visited so many times by car with a chauffeur that he’d lost count.
“I’ll contact you later.”
“Have a good time, young master!”
Receiving the cheerful greeting from the chauffeur, imagining a sweet date, he hurriedly got out of the car and headed toward Dana’s house.
Ding dong—
He pressed the doorbell and the door opened.