“Stop saying weird things and just give me the address already! If I’m any later, the adults are going to scold me. I’m a full-grown adult and I refuse to get lectured for coming home late. Hurry up and give it to me. The address.”
[ System ]
[Yeon Juwoo’s home: 54 Myeongju-ro 29beon-gil, Jeongdong, Unam-gu, Seoul — Doseong Villa, Unit 202]
“See, if you’d just told me like that from the start, wouldn’t that have been so much easier.”
The moment the System window provided the address, he could finally smile with relief. At least he wouldn’t be sleeping on the street — that much put his mind at ease.
[ System ]
[The Map feature has been unlocked.]
[‘My Home’ has been saved.]
A notification popped up saying a new feature had been unlocked, and his phone buzzed with a chime. He tapped the blinking map app and a red line tracing the route to Yeon Juwoo’s home — which hadn’t been there before — appeared.
I thought the map feature could only be used through the System window, so I’m glad it works on the phone too. He looked on in wonder as an arrow appeared in front of him, blinking as if telling him to follow it.
“This is convenient. Can it teleport me to places too?”
[ System ]
[No ^^;;;]
In games, when you tap a location on the map, the scene changes instantly, so I was wondering if it might work like teleportation — but apparently not. Since he was inside a game anyway, it would’ve been nice if it worked that way, but having to walk everywhere seemed like a hassle.
He followed the arrow along and noticed its color growing steadily fainter. As he got closer to the destination, it became nearly transparent, all but invisible. That meant he was nearly at Yeon Juwoo’s house.
“Wait. It’s closer than I thought?”
About fifteen minutes of walking, maybe. “Doseong Villa,” where Yeon Juwoo lived, came into view, and a notification popped up in the map app saying that a new location labeled “My Home” had been saved. It seemed like places he actually visited were automatically saved to the map app. That must be why Yang Inho’s house was already saved.
The villa Yeon Juwoo lived in wasn’t a new build — it was a little worn down — but a fresh coat of exterior paint made it less obvious. Since Choi Woosu apparently doesn’t like him, I’d assumed Yeon Juwoo was similar — good at studying, well-off — but it’s actually the opposite. That’s a little surprising.
He murmured “Doseong Villa, Unit 202” as written in the app and headed up to the second floor. Funnily enough, despite taking forever to share the address, the System handed over the door lock passcode the moment he stood in front of the door.
[ System ]
[Tip. Yeon Juwoo’s door passcode is 5678.]
The passcode was a simple, thoughtless 5-6-7-8 — clearly chosen without a second thought, and easy to remember. He punched it in, and with a beep, the door unlocked. He eased it open carefully.
The house was pitch dark. Is everyone asleep? He called out a cautious greeting, slipped off his shoes, and stepped quietly inside.
“I’m ho—… what?”
A dim living room. A silence with no trace of anyone. A chill in the air that didn’t feel like a home with people in it. Half-dreading what he might find, he opened door after door — but there was no one in Yeon Juwoo’s house.
“Don’t tell me… he lives alone?”
Just to be sure, he searched every corner — the bathroom, the veranda, even the storage closet — but of course, there was no one. On top of that, the wardrobes in the other rooms were completely empty; the only room with clothes in it was Yeon Juwoo’s. That was the moment he understood that Yeon Juwoo was the only person living here, and a heavy, complicated feeling settled over him.
He tossed his bag onto the floor and threw himself onto the bed. Feeling unsettled, he rubbed his face with both hands and exhaled a long, deep breath.
“Yeon Juwoo… you’re really something.”
What on earth is going on in his life that he’s living alone, still a minor? Yang Inho had said Yeon Juwoo’s family suddenly moved away and cut off all contact — maybe it had something to do with money. Maybe that’s why his parents were living separately, out working somewhere.
Imagining Yeon Juwoo living alone in this empty, spacious villa at his age, he felt a pang of sympathy for someone still so young. I thought the grocery reminder he’d set was because his mom was busy and he was doing it for her — but he lives alone, so of course he has to do it himself.
“……Don’t tell me they all passed awa— No, no!”
Slap! Slap! He smacked his own cheeks like a madman. His lips especially — the ones that had spoken the cursed words — he struck until they swelled red. No matter how little I know them, no matter if it might actually be true — you can’t say something like that out loud. Words have power.
He pulled himself together and looked around Yeon Juwoo’s room. The pale grey tones that formed the base of the room gave it a feel that was somehow both a little dreary and a little bright.
The most eye-catching thing was the bookshelf. There were plenty of textbooks and exam prep materials, but what outnumbered those by far were university admissions guidebooks.
The university names look familiar — they seem to be pulled straight from real life. Well, that made sense. The story’s timeline only stretched as far as graduation at most, so there wasn’t much need to put effort into inventing university names.
The names on the guidebooks were uniformly prestigious. S University, K University, Y University. Every single one was an in-Seoul guidebook for schools considered top-tier even in the real world.
And at the far end of the shelf, there appeared to be a guidebook that started with “America” — don’t tell me Yeon Juwoo’s grades are actually at the top of the school. The thought unsettled him. It’s been nearly ten years since I last studied properly, and now I’m supposed to study for the college entrance exam and maintain his original grades? Just imagining it is horrifying.
“Well. It’s a game anyway, so it’s not like I actually need to try that hard.”
Realizing he was taking this all far too seriously, he changed his thinking. Even if he lived Yeon Juwoo’s life diligently, this world’s timeline would end before the characters ever set foot in university. The grades would probably come out according to whatever settings were built in, so he didn’t need to worry too much.
That thought lifted a weight off him. He withdrew the hand he’d reached out toward the guidebook and called out to the System.
“System.”
[ System ]
[Yes! +ㅁ+]
The System window appeared the instant he called it, displaying a bright-eyed emoticon. What does it think I’m about to say that it’s so excited?
“Are Yeon Juwoo’s parents not around?”
[ System ]
[Oh, of course they are!]
“Then why aren’t they home?”
[ System ]
[They didn’t seem likely to make any appearances throughout the game, so I set it up so that both of them are away on overseas business trips.]
“Ahh.”
Is it because I ate dinner at Yang Inho’s place, or did I miss what family felt like back in the real world? He already seemed to be longing for that — a family gathered together around the dinner table. If I’d known it would come to this, I should’ve spent less time gaming and said even a few more words to my family before I ended up here.
“But wait. That means Yeon Juwoo lives here alone.”
[ System ]
[That’s right~?]
“Then who takes care of all the housework?”
[ System ]
[Yeon Juwoo, obviously ^0^]
“……”
The System answered as if it were nothing, while he — someone with zero experience living on his own — felt anything but calm about it.
[ System ]
[You should’ve done better while you had the chance -3-]
“What?”
[ System ]
[Why do you go around doing things you’ll regret~?]
The System spoke as if it had made up its mind to needle him — and it wasn’t even a person. Rage surging, he grabbed whatever was within reach — a pillow, the blanket — and hurled it all at the System window, but the objects only thudded uselessly against the wall and fell to the floor. Of course there was no point throwing things at something with no physical form, like a hologram.
[ System ]
[Hmph. That’s so mean.]
“You’re the mean one. What even are you? How much do you know about me?”
[ System ]
[Hmm~? How much do I know, I wonder? ^~^]
That cryptic answer gave him pause once again. This System window that seemed to know things about him — and this game itself — what on earth were they?
