# Chapter 1
‘My head’s going to split open.’
I just woke up. Refreshing, my ass. A splitting headache and unpleasantness washed over me. I need to hurry and get to my part-time job. But my body won’t cooperate. I must have drunk too much the night before.
Meeting a friend after a long time, sharing the sorrows of job hunting and lamenting our circumstances, the alcohol just kept flowing. I kept pouring drinks down my throat, and after that, I can’t remember anything. At least I made it home safely, so I guess that’s fortunate.
‘I must be getting old. This used to be nothing back in the day.’
My stamina isn’t what it used to be. A vague sadness washed over me. In the past, blacking out rarely happened. No, “rarely” isn’t the right word—it never happened at all would be more accurate.
As a freshman, I prided myself on being unbeatable when it came to drinking…
Anyway, enough with the random thoughts. My body feels like death, but if I want to eat, I need to go to work. I slowly got up and checked the time on my phone.
‘I’m screwed.’
1:30 PM, well past noon. My part-time job shift had long since passed. I’d never been late to my part-time job before. Today I proudly broke that record. All kinds of thoughts started tearing through my head.
‘I’m crazy, I’m a fucking lunatic.’
Should I beg the boss on my hands and knees? For a job-hunting student with no other real income, this part-time job was pretty cushy.
Morning shift at a private cafe. Not many customers and the boss was a good person, so I could comfortably earn living expenses while preparing for employment. Today I magnificently kicked away that blessing.
‘What a truly hopeless life.’
I smacked myself on the head. With the intention of begging the boss no matter what, I picked up my phone again.
Huh, looking again, I noticed something strange. This wasn’t my phone.
‘Did I accidentally take someone else’s phone yesterday?’
I soon realized that the phone wasn’t the only strange thing. Wait, this isn’t my house?
Looking around, I saw a space incomparably larger than my tiny room. Turning my eyes toward the wall, I saw floor-to-ceiling windows, and beyond those windows, an open view of the Han River spread out.
The floor was high-grade marble with furniture that looked expensive even at a glance. Some kind-hearted rich person must have helped me out after I passed out somewhere.
Even though the world is rough, it’s still worth living in. I thought I should quickly thank the homeowner and call the cafe boss.
“Excuse me, is anyone here?”
“Excuse me… is the homeowner here…?”
I went out to the living room and started looking for the homeowner. But no matter how much I called out, there was no sign of anyone.
‘Is the homeowner sleeping too?’
It would be rude to rummage through someone else’s house, but thinking I needed to call the boss as soon as possible, I passed through the living room and started checking other rooms. But the house itself was huge and had many rooms, making it quite difficult to find the homeowner.
‘What kind of house has this many rooms? If someone decided to hide, I’d never find them.’
A high-rise Han River view and such a spacious house. The homeowner must be no ordinary rich person. An incredibly wealthy person, and kind enough to help a shabby college student passed out on the street.
I was getting curious about the homeowner’s face. But even after going through the entire house, there was no sign of anyone, not even an ant passing by.
‘What? Did they have something to do and leave first?’
They brought a stranger home. And on top of that, they went out leaving that person alone? By my standards, it was incomprehensibly defenseless behavior. Not just for me—any normal person would think so.
Feeling something was off, I returned to the living room and saw things I hadn’t noticed before. Liquor bottles rolling around on the floor, an ashtray, and cigarette butts discarded haphazardly… The scene before my eyes was chaos itself.
‘A total chain smoker. They smoke that much?’
For someone like me who’s often told I’m neat and tidy, it was a dizzying scene. Seeing the mess before my eyes made me sigh automatically.
‘If they’re just going to toss cigarettes everywhere, why even have an ashtray?’
‘And is it even okay to smoke in an apartment?’
Muttering to myself, I approached the floor-to-ceiling window where the ashtray was placed.
‘Huh?’
The messy living room wasn’t the problem. Reflected in the transparent glass was a person I’d never seen before in my life. The hangover seems to be lasting longer than I thought. I wandered around this huge house and I’m still not sober.
‘Today’s luck is the worst. Let’s drink less from now on.’
Feeling pathetic, I thought I should wash my face with cold water and get it together. Forget the phone call and everything—I need to get to the bathroom.
‘Does this even make sense?’
In the bathroom mirror. The reflection in the mirror wasn’t much different from before. The clearly visible face of a stranger. I couldn’t help but feel shocked. Am I dreaming? I pinched my cheek hard, but soon felt a stinging pain.
Is this like a soul-swapping thing you see in movies—something like that? I couldn’t think of anything in this absurd situation unfolding before my eyes. It was so ridiculous I let out an empty laugh, but looking at the man’s face in the mirror again, I fell into shock.
‘Looking again, he’s totally fucking handsome. Is this even a human face?’
The man in the mirror was incredibly handsome. A sharp jawline and high nose bridge, a small, pale face. Good body and tall too. However, his expression didn’t look particularly pleasant. Also, like me, he must have drunk heavily the night before because he had dark circles under his eyes.
But rather, this appearance seemed to emphasize the man’s decadent beauty. A sculptural appearance, and incredibly wealthy on top of that. I suddenly felt envious of the man in the mirror.
‘Handsome guys are still handsome even when they wake up after getting wasted.’
I lost focus for a moment on the man’s appearance, then pulled myself together again. This man is most likely the homeowner. Even though it’s an unbelievable story, this is the bizarre situation that’s happened to me. I need to resolve this absurd situation quickly somehow.
‘Then is the homeowner waking up in my body right now?’
I should call my number. If I call, the person who entered my body will answer. I need to meet them quickly. Even in movies, when souls are swapped, the parties involved meet each other and go through various processes to eventually solve the problem, right?
‘Don’t panic. I can solve this.’
Honestly, I’m very flustered. But panicking like an idiot won’t solve anything. The only thing I can do now is act quickly. That person must be very surprised right now too. I immediately went back to the bedroom and picked up the phone.
‘Nothing’s working.’
I hit an unexpected obstacle. The damn phone’s lock screen only showed a basic password input window. It didn’t even have the common fingerprint or iris recognition set up.
This person must be more old-fashioned than they look.
The phone was locked, so I couldn’t even make a call. All I could do was make emergency calls. But if I told the police about this situation, they’d just treat me like a crazy person.
‘Phone, I need to borrow a phone.’
I immediately ran out of the house to the elevator. Above the elevator was a sign that read [34F]. I hurriedly pressed the button, and as soon as the elevator arrived, I went inside and pressed the first floor.
[First floor.]
As the announcement sounded and the door opened, I immediately ran outside. I saw a jaw-droppingly well-maintained garden and clean paths.
‘Even the outside is scenic at expensive houses.’
After a brief exclamation at the outdoor appearance, I immediately started looking for the security office. After walking for about 5 minutes, I found what looked like a security office and entered it without hesitation.
It must have been the security office. Inside, a middle-aged man who appeared to be a security guard made a flustered expression. Was it because I suddenly burst in opening the door? I should have knocked…
“Hello, could I possibly use the phone once? My phone broke.”
I spoke to the guard as politely as possible, but his expression was strange. No, rather than strange, a pale look as if terrified might be the right description.
He also didn’t answer my question. Feeling something was off, I spoke to him once more.
“Could I use the phone just once?”
“…Yes. Of course, young master.”
The guard answered quietly in a rigid posture. Young master? Apparently, this body is the son of a pretty wealthy family. Separate from that, the guard’s attitude was very strange, but making the call was urgent, so I immediately dialed my number.
[The number you have dialed does not exist.]
A clear announcement coming from the receiver. In my haste, I must have pressed the wrong number. I slowly pressed the phone number again.
[The number you have dialed does not exist.]
The same announcement came through. I forgot my number? That obviously couldn’t be it. I pressed the number correctly.
A non-existent number… My mind went blank. I pulled myself together again and pressed my family’s phone numbers in order.
[The number you have dialed does not exist.]
But the result was the same.
“Ha, what the… Thank you.”
Is it possible for everyone in my family’s phone numbers to vanish in a single day? It’s an incomprehensible situation. I left the security office behind and walked sluggishly like someone who’d lost their mind.
Late afternoon, I opened my eyes in a completely unfamiliar space. Even when I encountered a completely unfamiliar man in the mirror, I let out an empty laugh, but I thought I could naturally meet my body. But now I can’t even call myself or my family.
‘A non-existent phone number…’
What should I do now? After wandering for a moment, I returned to the 34th floor house to organize my thoughts. The door was firmly closed, and naturally, there was no way to know the entrance password. Because I left in such a rush, I didn’t think about the password.
Just like the phone, the front door lock didn’t have fingerprint or iris recognition features set up either.
“This is ridiculous.”
The situation seems much more serious than I thought. Cold sweat started forming on my forehead. Where is this place? What world am I in? Judging from the Han River view earlier, it’s definitely Seoul.
But there’s nothing I can particularly do right now. The only thing I can do is make a damn emergency call; I can’t even get inside the house. I sighed and slumped down, leaning against the front door.
Am I receiving this absurd punishment for drinking all night despite being a job-hunting student? Or did someone put a powerful curse on me? I’ve never done anything to earn that kind of resentment from anyone, even if I died. All kinds of thoughts came to mind.
“Ah shit, you scared me.”
Suddenly the phone started ringing. Someone’s calling. Whoever called, I’ll answer and say I hit my head yesterday and don’t remember anything. I need to ask them to come help me.
[Fucking Bastard]
[Fucking Bastard] is displayed as the caller on the phone screen. I let out a laugh for a moment.
‘What a funny guy.’
Liquor bottles rolling around carelessly on the living room floor. The ashtray placed there as decoration, the cigarette butts scattered elsewhere anyway, the security guard who turned pale as soon as he saw this body. And “young master.” Finally, I got a few clues about this body. It seems the owner of this body is quite the troublemaker.
