Prologue
Every once in a while—very rarely—I’d remember the web novels I read back in elementary school. What I mean is, there were moments when the cringey, cliché-filled content unique to web novels would pop up and swirl around in some corner of my mind.
Of course, that didn’t mean I actually went looking for web novels to read. If someone shoved one in my face, I’d clearly chuck my phone out of sheer lack of willpower to resist.
My phone, which still had at least 20 months of installment payments left, was too precious for that.
“Kyaaa-!”
“I love you! Four Heavenly Kings-nim!”
Why the hell am I even here?
My head was spinning from the ear-piercing screams assaulting me from all sides. Phrases like “I love you,” “Look over here,” “I feel like I could die happy,” and so on were constantly drilling into my eardrums.
Even though I was buried in the crowd—an unbelievably massive one for a simple school commute—I couldn’t help but notice four people with hair colors so bright and flashy you’d wonder if they were even Korean, strutting confidently through the masses.
“Kyaaa-! Did you see that? Ji Haecheon-nim just looked at me!”
“No way! Are your eyes broken or something?!”
“Cutie Ji Yu! I love you today too!”
I let out an involuntary sigh at this unchanging world and fumbled for my earbuds to plug them in. Who could possibly understand this empty feeling—like I’d been dropped into some web novel world I’d never even read? Certainly not these fanatics gathered here.
I just stared up at the blue sky, not knowing how to process my own emotions in this hopeless situation.
Fuck.
I really just want to be normal.
Chapter 1
Let’s say you regress without any warning. And to three years in the past, at that. When do you think you’d realize something was wrong?
Based on my experience, it took me a whole week. You could call me dense and I’d have nothing to say in my defense, but in my excuse—it happened during vacation.
It was winter break after my college entrance exam in my senior year of high school. A time when no one would say anything even if I just holed up at home doing nothing.
My parents barely nagged me to begin with, so I was comfortably lounging in bed to my heart’s content. Then on December 31st—since watching the year-end music show together as a family had become tradition—we did that too.
I was leisurely tearing into some chicken while absently watching celebrities I barely knew dancing on screen. I should have realized something was off then, but being the truly dense person I am, I only thought, ‘That’s a good song.’
In other words, I didn’t notice a thing even when songs from three years ago were playing right in front of me.
“I can’t recognize any of these idols these days.”
Maybe it’s because I lost interest while focusing on studying. But seeing how my friends knew them all, it seemed I was just particularly out of the loop.
“You’re saying that even though you’re still so young?”
“Dad, how young do you think I am?”
“Well, well.”
I meant that I wasn’t that young since I was about to become an adult soon. But from my dad’s perspective, it must have seemed pretty ridiculous for a 17-year-old to talk like that.
Since I hadn’t realized our timelines were completely different, I was slightly offended by my dad’s snort. But considering his age, I understood his reaction and let it go—proving once again just how stupid I was.
“How much longer until the new year?”
Yumin, who’d gone to her room saying she was sleepy, came out rubbing her eyes. As a gesture of welcome to my sister whom I hadn’t seen for about a week, I waved, but was blatantly ignored.
“About 5 minutes left.”
“I wasn’t asking you, Lee Habin.”
“Even when I answer, she acts up.”
“Shhh, Habin. Watch your language.”
After that light scolding, I shut my mouth and turned my attention back to the TV. In the short time we were talking, the idol performance had ended and all the performers were gathering on stage. As I watched them chatting with the MC at the center, a certain word caught my ear and made me snort.
“2016? How does someone mess up the year like that?”
I couldn’t understand how they’d mistake it for a year three years ago instead of 2018 or 2020. I shook my head, wondering how someone with such a broken brain had landed the MC position.
“What nonsense. What mix-up?”
“Yumin, watch your language!”
“No, Dad. Habin said something weird first.”
She must’ve been a fan of the MC I’d just insulted, because Yumin made this completely wronged expression. Meeting her accusatory gaze, I shrugged.
“What?”
“It’s still 2016 since the new year hasn’t hit yet, you know? Why are you making a fuss when you’re the confused one, bro!”
“…What?”
When not only the MC but also Yumin insisted it was 2016, I was dumbfounded. I’d always been a bit slow, but had my sister finally gone from slow to completely insane?
“Countdown begins now! 10, 9, 8-.”
“Soon it’ll be 2017, so stop fighting.”
“1! Happy New Year! Finally, the Year of the Rooster, 2017, has arrived-.”
With the cheerful sound of the New Year’s bell, the MC kept talking rapidly. The words “2017” hammered into my brain, making my eyes tremble uncontrollably.
“2017-?”
“What’s wrong with him, has he finally lost it?”
Yumin’s voice—boldly saying what I wanted to say—felt distant. Was everyone except me in on some elaborate prank? I did consider that possibility, but there was no way a public broadcast station would participate in a prank targeting some random high school student, especially during a live broadcast.
“The Year of the Rooster…?”
2017, Year of the Rooster. In other words, 17 years old—the year I enter high school. The moment I realized something was seriously wrong, only one thing came to mind.
“Fuck.”
My college entrance exam.
***
There was a time when I banged my head against the wall like a madman after realizing that the college entrance exam—where I’d scored exceptionally well—had become something that never happened. I tried to just move on with my life, thinking it was all some vivid dream.
Then I noticed another oddity when I went out after my parents gave me their card to buy new clothes for high school.
I left home after irritably untangling my severely knotted earbuds, silently despairing that even though wireless earbuds—the ones nicknamed “bean sprouts”—had already been released, I still couldn’t afford them.
“Hmm-.”
Despite having gone back three years in time, the music hitting my ears felt upbeat enough to make me nod along. As I was about to head down an alley that served as a shortcut through these familiar streets, I hesitated, sensing something off about the atmosphere compared to usual.
How should I put it? It felt like some gang hideout straight out of a drama? I also had this feeling that some outdated thug might be lurking around.
It was an uneasy feeling I’d never experienced before, but I dismissed it as unnecessary paranoia since this was a path I’d been using just fine since elementary school. Besides, taking the long way would be annoying, so I stepped into the alley without hesitation. Less than 5 minutes later, I regretted it.
‘I should have taken the other route…’
“Hey-! Stop right there!”
Ferocious—yes, ferocious is the word. Students who were clearly wearing school uniforms but had faces that would put adults to shame were chasing another student while wielding strange weapons. What’s more, their vocal projection was so impressive that their voices penetrated my ears clearly even through my earbuds.
I stared blankly at this scene that seemed ripped straight from a drama, frowning as more and more suspicious elements piled up.
First of all, it was vacation. The date was January 3rd—a time when no student would be at school, not even those taking supplementary classes. So why were they wearing school uniforms?
Second, connected to the first question—why were these people, who were obviously engaged in what looked like a gang fight, or rather a group beating, proudly wearing uniforms that revealed their school affiliation? Didn’t they consider that residents might report them to their school and get them penalized?
And finally, the most important thing.
“Catch that bastard already!”
“Rank 1 Ji Haecheon! Running away like a coward?”
Rank 1? Rank 1??
I rubbed my ears, wondering if I’d heard wrong. Surely I must have misheard—there’s no way people who appeared to be high school students would talk about ranks-.
“Ta-da~, Cutie Ji Yu has arrived!”
“You, you! Rank 3 Ahn Ji Yu!”
“…Are you all insane?”
At that moment, the first thing that came to mind was either a hidden camera show or some drama filming. I frantically looked around for staff or cameras, but unfortunately, there were none to be found.
Independent of my confusion, the situation progressed rapidly, with two more people already joining the one being chased. Though they’d only increased from one to three, the menacing group—which seemed to number over a dozen—hesitated.
“Co-cowardly attacking three against one!”
“Wow…”
An exclamation of pure admiration escaped me at the words shouted by the leader of the dozen-plus people. Objectively speaking, it was so absurd—the side that had no right to use the word “cowardly” was shouting it—that even I, a mere bystander, was left speechless.
“If anyone’s being cowardly, it’s you guys. Going after him when he was alone?”
“That’s right, that’s right! How scared must our Haecheon have been!”
When a cutesy, lisping voice echoed through the alley, I instinctively stepped back. Despite looking young, it was mentally exhausting to hear a high school student talk like that.
“I didn’t see anything.”
That’s right, I didn’t see a thing.
Not the menacing group wielding weapons and yelling about Rank 1 while chasing someone, not the high school student acting cute with a lisp, and definitely not the person scowling intensely to create atmosphere. None of it.
“Maybe I’ve just been feeling off lately.”
That must be it. The shock of losing three years in an instant must’ve been too much. I ignored the commotion behind me, rationalizing to myself. I turned up the volume on my earbuds and walked with my eyes on the ground until I noticed a pair of legs blocking my path, and slowly looked up.
“Hello?”
“…Crazy.”
The face of the person standing with their back to the light was clearly etched into my mind. Even though they were backlit and should’ve been hard to see, strangely, I could see them perfectly.
“Fuck, he’s so handsome.”
While something felt off, this was the beginning of the event that made me realize I hadn’t just regressed—I’d crossed dimensions entirely.
