I called up the status window, but nothing changed in my field of vision. Everything was still pitch black.
‘Hmm. I called it out so confidently, but this is kind of embarrassing.’
Still, it’s fine to feel a little awkward. After all, I’m the only one here.
Curious.
In situations like this, what do protagonists in fantasy novels usually do? Did they just wait? Well, I guess waiting is the only option I have right now anyway.
Having assessed the situation, I tried to calm my mind.
Honestly, I was anxious, but the fact that I could still form coherent thoughts gave me hope that I wasn’t dead yet.
‘Let’s not waste time. Let’s think this through. First, I finished the urgent quest, so that’s done. I haven’t checked the reward yet, so when I wake up, I’ll need to talk to the Kang siblings about it…’
And I should have a more in-depth conversation with Kang Do-jin, the one who said this place was like a game.
I’ll also need to ask Grandma Gwak Hong-bun about the current state of things here. Gaining some background knowledge might help me understand the situation a bit better.
And if possible, maybe I can ask if I can stay here while helping out in some way.
Honestly, I couldn’t promise how long I’d stay. I had no idea what kind of quest might come next or where we might be sent.
But it would be nice to at least ask if I could stay until then… The problem is, I have nothing to offer, so making a deal probably won’t be easy.
‘There’s one more thing I need to check—my physical condition.’
I felt it before, when I saw that monster and got really startled or tense. This body… the heart keeps throbbing, and it’s really concerning.
‘Even earlier, when I was riding the bike, my chest felt a bit sore.’
Maybe it was bearable because the road was flat or slightly downhill?
I don’t know.
I could try asking Hayul later, but that could be problematic. He might find it odd or suspicious if I ask something like, “Hey, how’s my body doing?”
‘It’s too late to pretend I have amnesia…’
I wanted to sigh, but whether my body didn’t exist or something else, not even the sound of a breath came out.
In the end, is there really nothing I can resolve right now?
Even if I don’t know anything else, I feel like I need to at least understand this body’s condition, and what happened to the original owner.
But how am I supposed to figure that out?
‘Usually in possession stories, the souls of the possessor and the possessed switch places. That’s kind of a cliché.’
The problem is my original body.
Since something happened to me in that taxi on the way to the police station, if the version of “me” from this body went over into my original one… he probably died instantly.
In that case, where did the “me” who originally inhabited this body go?
Considering how messed up this heart feels, it’s a pretty worrying thought, but… if we go by the common possession trope, there’s a real possibility that I possessed this body the moment the original soul died.
Still… even so. This body is only twenty years old. Sure, death comes to everyone, regardless of age, but even so, it’s still too…
Flash—
‘Huh?’
Just now, the surroundings lit up. What was that? Did light come in? Where…?
Flash—
‘……!’
No, I didn’t imagine it.
It was light.
A faint light flickered, and then in an instant, my surroundings brightened.
What entered my view was an unfamiliar ceiling.
No—strictly speaking, it was a ceiling I’d seen once before.
The ceiling I saw when I first woke up in this body!
What the—am I back? What just happened?
But even though I could see again, my body wouldn’t move. I couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t even raise a hand.
My view changed, even though it didn’t feel like my body was mine. The body sat up, shook its head a few times, then slowly closed its eyes.
Darkness returned. Then, as the eyes fluttered open again, legs and arms came into view.
‘Doesn’t feel like I’m the one moving.’
And I was right.
The owner of this body slowly swung his legs off the bed and sat there for a while, unable to get up.
He remained still with his head lowered for a long time, then began to massage just above his solar plexus, as if trying to ease some discomfort.
He repeatedly pressed that spot with his hand to relieve the tightness in his chest, then slowly got down from the bed and knelt, pulling out a cookie tin from under it.
‘Wait, why are there so many meds in there?’
Looks like his health really was bad, judging by the amount of medicine.
The body’s owner opened one packet of prescription pills—each individually wrapped—then closed the tin and pushed it deep under the bed again.
With heavy, sluggish steps, he walked to the kitchen, took out a bottle of water, and swallowed all eight or so pills in one gulp.
Should he really be taking that many pills on an empty stomach?
I wanted to ask, but right now, I couldn’t do anything. I could only watch.
The next routine was uneventful. He slowly returned to bed, lay down, and fiddled with his phone to check recent messages.
[Web Message]
Notice of Surgery Schedule from Yeonhui Hospital
Mr. Lee Haje, your surgery is scheduled for the 22nd at 2 PM.
Please check in by 9 AM on the same day. For dinner the night before, please eat something light like porridge, and don’t forget to bring your medication.
After reading the message, the body’s owner wrote a short note on the desk calendar for the 22nd: “By 9 AM.”
But the note didn’t mention surgery—it said “Health Checkup.”
And then he went so far as to delete the hospital’s message.
‘What the? Don’t tell me… he hasn’t told Hayul?’
Why would he leave a false memo? Is it because Hayul’s too young and he didn’t want him to worry?
Even so, how could he not tell his one remaining family member that he’s having surgery?
Even if he had to downplay it, say it’s just a simple procedure or something…
Hmm. No, that’s not it.
Even if he said it was a simple surgery, if Hayul was his only family, the hospital would find out one way or another anyway.
Still…
“Haa…”
The next thing the owner of this body did was check the bank account.
It was the same account I had checked for the first time after entering this body. Judging by the balance, which hadn’t changed much from what I remembered, it seemed like this was shortly before I took over this body.
“Haaaah…”
It felt like the ground might cave in.
Even though I didn’t know how much the surgery cost, seeing that balance made me want to sigh too.
“What should I do…”
“…….”
It wasn’t hard to guess what was weighing on the voice filled with anxiety.
Money. It had to be money.
Could it be that the owner of this body didn’t have enough to cover the surgery? And had no one to ask for help?
‘It certainly looked that way.’
Just like me, the owner of this body probably had no parents, owned nothing but his body, and instead of getting help from relatives, had even been swindled out of his insurance money.
Seeing it confirmed like this… didn’t feel good.
The owner of the body closed his eyes again. But he wasn’t asleep. With his eyes closed, he began pounding his aching chest.
I could feel it all: the weight in the chest, the helplessness, anxiety, the fear of an uncertain future, sorrow—
All those painful, tangled-up emotions.
And a sadness so deep it chilled the heart.
At such a young and unprepared age, barely able to take care of himself, he also had to look after a younger sibling… and his body wasn’t even in good shape.
It was just too much for a twenty-year-old to bear.
‘Still, you must’ve done your best.’
That had to be it. Because he wasn’t alone—he had Hayul. His beloved younger sibling was with him.
If it were me, I’d have tried my best too.
Which must’ve made it all the more painful and difficult.
As I was feeling empathy for this body’s owner, suddenly, all sensation vanished like it had been cut off.
The tightness in my chest, the sorrow I’d felt like it was mine—all of it disappeared in an instant, leaving me alone once more in the pitch-black void.
If this were a typical story development…
“Status window.”
Unlike before, this time, a bluish window slowly appeared in the air.
The surroundings were still engulfed in darkness, but the sky-blue status window stood out clearly.
There were no words written inside it.
‘Status window. Is the owner of this body—Lee Haje—dead?’
It was a heavy question right off the bat, but I wanted to know.
Yet even after some time passed, the status window remained blank, showing no response.
‘Hmm. So it can’t answer that. Then… did I get possessed into a novel or game? Is this possibly the story I was working on?’
Still, no reaction even after a while. In that case—
‘Are you on my side? I mean, not necessarily that you’ll help me unconditionally, but… are you at least trying to help me?’
Again, no response.
Why did it even show up, then?
‘Maybe I should ask a different question?’
But just then, the status window appeared to flicker faintly.
Was it just my vision? No, there was definitely a slight tremor.
I wanted to get closer, but in this dark void, I had no body to move with.
Fortunately, I could still see what changed from here.
[0]
Just a single zero appeared in the status window.
And if I wasn’t mistaken, even showing that one zero seemed like a struggle.
The trembling window hastily erased the zero and returned to being blank.
After that, it looked stable again, no longer shaking faintly.
It seemed like communication was difficult, but I asked what I most wanted to know.
‘Status window. If Hayul, the Kang siblings, and I all complete the quests you give us—Can we return to where we came from? The place I woke up in before getting pulled here.
The world where my little brother Hayul lived?’
Who knew what had become of that world?
Gates like dungeons were popping up one after another in the middle of the road, and we’d gotten sucked into one of those green orbs…
In the worst case, a dungeon break could’ve triggered an apocalypse, or it could’ve already been the beginning of the end.
Whatever the case, here or there might be the same kind of situation.
But I still wanted to send Hayul back to the world he came from.
No—I wanted to go back with him.
I wanted to return with my beloved brother.
Without hiding that wish, I stared at the status window.
Like before, it started to faintly vibrate, and blurry characters began to appear.
[ᄋ.ᅯ.ᄂ-한/^@#ᄃ& ᅡ*며@$ᄂ]
‘…..!’
Blink.
Blink.
‘If… you wish for it?’
The garbled characters flickered like a glitch and disappeared instantly.
Then, as if being swallowed by something, the status window shimmered and vanished.
“Status window?”
Uneasy.
It felt like it had been torn apart and sucked away by something…
The status window did not reappear.
Instead, a familiar voice called out from far away.
This situation… I had a sense of what kind of scene would come next.
It seemed like it was finally time for me to open my eyes.
I hoped I wouldn’t forget the short conversation I’d had with the status window once I woke up.
As I wished that, I gave in to the sound of Hayul’s desperate voice calling me from the distance.
Hmm.
It felt like I could hear something—just barely.
“–!! -! —-!!”
Sounded like Hayul’s voice.
“—Haje.”
Oh. That was Kang Do-hee’s voice.
“—Go, — it was…”
That sounded like Kang Do-jin, but I couldn’t make out the words.
“—. —? Hyung? Are you awake?”
Oh, I could hear clearly now.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Thankfully, my body moved according to my will.
My trembling eyelids fluttered a few times, blinking between light and shadow.
As my vision slowly became clearer, what came into view was:
“……”
Hayul, the Kang siblings, and Bamtol the red panda and Gamja the sun bear all staring down at me.
…Whoa. That’s a bit much.