“Idana! What are you doing, not coming quickly?”
After Dana and Idana switched bodies, a gate reappeared in Idana’s dimension.
Many people had been thrown into chaos when the long-standing, gate-centered world suddenly vanished, but finally, the world had returned to normal.
Naturally, the Awakened who had been left idle, unable to manage their guilds properly, ran wild like fish released into water.
And right after the gates disappeared, when Idana had started her modeling career, a different kind of attention began to pour in.
For example, news articles with titles like ‘Can We Witness the Number One Ranked Nada’s Exploits Again?’ started to appear.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She suddenly changed personality, didn’t she? Doesn’t she seem completely different from before?”
“Everyone’s recording videos, trying to capture the number one ranker in action, but she’s acting so pathetic right in front of them.”
Idana couldn’t snap out of her daze amid the guild members’ harsh criticisms.
She had thought that, with Dana’s memories, she had adapted quite well to this dimension and was living comfortably.
Those Awakened and guild members who disliked her simply didn’t have to look at her.
With the gates gone, there was no reason to meet them again, so she cut all contact and focused solely on the new work she had started.
But after their bodies switched and the gates reopened, everything changed.
“How? How could it change like this? How am I supposed to live?”
Trembling uncontrollably, Idana gave in to the guild members’ urging and headed toward the gate.
Once she entered there, she’d have to kill monsters, just like the amazing feats she remembered Dana performing.
But all she had were memories; she’d never actually done such things before.
She had deliberately hidden away at home to avoid the guild members, but relentless phone calls, persistent reporters asking why she hadn’t resumed her activities, and pressure from both the guild and the Awakened Association left her no choice but to go out.
And as soon as she stepped outside, she bitterly regretted not staying home.
“You need to lead. Why do you keep falling behind?”
As she walked slowly, intentionally falling further behind the guild members, one of them standing behind her spoke sharply and shoved her forward.
“Wait a minute!”
“What’s wrong with her, seriously? She was distracted before, and now she’s forgotten how to fight? The so-called number one ranked girl?”
The barrage of criticism choked her breath.
With no other choice, she took the lead and, repeatedly recalling Dana’s battle scenes, stepped into the dungeon.
Because she had all the skills and power Dana had, killing monsters was easy if she set her mind to it.
The hard part was just setting her mind to it.
“Can I summon the spirits? I remember everyone was uneasy about it… What if the spirits don’t obey me?”
Her head felt ready to burst from the unfamiliar situation.
If she summoned the spirits, the Awakened following her would fear her and keep their distance, saying she used dark powers.
But summoning spirits was still better than fighting alone.
The problem was whether the spirits who served Dana would obey her now.
“Why does this have to happen to me…?”
By now, the other Danawas probably living peacefully in a world without gates.
She’d be happy, hanging out with the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon, enjoying school life.
“Oh, it’s almost summer break, right? Then they’d go to valleys and the sea together.”
While she was dragged into this life, endlessly chasing after closing gates, that Dana was living a peaceful daily life, making memories with friends and maybe even dating.
Her trembling hands clenched tightly into fists.
Until now, because this dimension was peaceful, she’d never deeply thought about the other dimension’s affairs.
But now, naturally, she kept wondering how Dana was living and couldn’t help but feel jealous.
Idana lifted her bowed head and looked at the dungeon’s interior spread before her.
‘First, let’s get out of here safely and then think.’
Determined, she summoned the spirits.
“Sahin.”
[……………Should I wipe them all out?]
A Dark Elf appeared abruptly, its expression and voice completely different from Sahin in Dana’s memories.
Since she had inherited Dana’s abilities, the spirits who were once loyal to Dana were now bound to her.
So they seemed to be listening, at least for now…
But unlike their loyal appearances in her memories, they clearly performed the commands reluctantly.
There was no hope of friendly words as in Dana’s memories.
Their cold, stiff expressions and tone showed they would never soften in front of her.
“Vishap…”
[I will take care of it quickly.]
At her call, now quieter, Vishap appeared.
But as expected, she didn’t even glance at Idana properly and went straight to kill monsters.
“Aren’t they a bit different?”
“When were the spirits ever so distant? They used to be inseparable.”
Behind her, the Awakened noticed the change in atmosphere and whispered among themselves.
Other spirits who appeared afterward were the same—none genuinely respected or served her, only reluctantly joining the fight as if there was no other choice.
Her clenched fist trembled violently.
‘My modeling career is completely ruined too. What is this!’
Thanks to Dana’s tall stature, modeling had come naturally, but after the body switch, even that changed.
All the photo shoots and ads, which had been done as if using her original body, were replaced, and people accepted Dana’s original body so naturally it was as if hypnotized.
Because of that, the perception of her shifted from a stylish tall model to ‘an Awakened who barely got into the modeling industry thanks to fame.’
It was truly a series of despairing setbacks.
“Ugh!”
She covered her mouth and staggered backward at the gruesome battle scene unfolding right before her eyes.
Watching monsters die up close made her nauseous.
The guild members fighting cast strange looks her way, which only made her head spin.
“What? Where are you going?!”
“Idana!”
She ended up fleeing like a runaway from the gate.
“Huff, huff…”
Breathing heavily, she was immediately surrounded by broadcasting cameras that had been waiting for her exit.
Bent over, trying to catch her breath, she slowly raised her head.
Not just the broadcasting cameras but also the phone cameras of the crowd gathering to see her were all pointed at her.
Dizzy and staggering, the crowd panicked and rushed to catch her.
“Don’t follow me.”
With difficulty, she uttered those words and quickly distanced herself from the gate.
‘This isn’t right, this can’t be!’
Even as she ran away, tears welled up in her eyes.
‘I want to go back to where I originally lived.’
She didn’t think she could live like this forever.
Suddenly, she missed her parents terribly.
She also missed Ban Eun-hyeol, who was probably spending time with Dana right now.
Maybe it would have been better to steal Dana’s peaceful life from the other dimension again.
Then, she saw the rooftop of Seonam High School, where Ban Eun-hyeol had been when he first came to this dimension.
Like spellbound, she changed direction and started running toward Seonam High.
***
“Wow… this is amazing.”
“The villa’s great! Where’s the valley?”
As soon as we arrived at Ban Eun-hyeol’s villa, Yeon Ha-yeon and I had very different reactions.
I gaped at the villa, which looked like it had been directly transplanted from an American drama about rich families.
The villa, with its pristine white exterior, was a two-story mansion.
It was somewhat smaller than Ban Eun-hyeol’s house but looked huge and spacious compared to ordinary homes.
The garden had a barbecue area, and there was a large swimming pool as well.
“The valley’s behind the villa.”
When Yeon Ha-yeon sang about wanting to dip her feet in the valley water right away, Eunbada smiled softly and led us inside the villa.
She said she’d always spent summer vacations here since childhood, and it seemed all the Four Heavenly Kings knew the villa’s layout like the back of their hands.
Following Eunbada’s lead, we entered the villa and marveled wide-eyed at the interior.
“You could just live here.”
“You wanna sell it to me?”
While I envied the idea of living in such a villa and spending every day healing, Yeon Ha-yeon was more serious than me.
“Sell it? You should find a separate villa for yourselves. If you want, I can recommend construction companies or interior designers.”
Ban Eun-hyeol flatly rejected Yeon Ha-yeon’s proposal with a look that said no way.
We passed through the villa’s hallway, entered the living room, then walked through the connected kitchen to a fully open glass wall.
The sound of the valley water trickling flowed in along with the view of the clear valley.
“Want to go in?”
“Sure!”
I happily accepted Ban Eun-hyeol’s invitation and tried to dash toward the valley.
But Ban Eun-hyeol grabbed my shoulder to stop me, looking exasperated as he looked down at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re not an Awakened anymore. If you jump in recklessly, you might get hurt.”
“Oh, right.”
Still used to living as an Awakened, I had almost done something dangerous.
It seemed it would take quite some time to get used to the powerless, now just ordinary, non-Awakened life.