Chapter 2
I wonder how the other person interpreted my stupid, slack-jawed expression. I’m not sure, but one thing’s certain—they didn’t seem to mind. Otherwise, why would they smile so beautifully with those wide, surprised eyes?
“Thank you.”
Though my earbuds were still in and their voice was too quiet compared to the menacing group shouting in the background, I nodded anyway, not catching what they said.
Then I snapped to attention at the brutal sounds from behind. It was a sound I’d never heard before, but I instinctively knew it was the sound of flesh being pummeled. How loud must it be to penetrate my earbuds?
“Not planning to take those out?”
As I hunched my shoulders, goosebumps rising, the person standing in front of me tapped near my ear. Honestly, I couldn’t hear the words clearly over the music, but thanks to their gesture, I understood what they meant.
There was no real need to listen to what a stranger had to say, but it also felt awkward to ignore them, so I hesitantly pulled out my earbuds. They smiled even more deeply, as if I’d done the right thing.
‘This is insane…’
Are they a normal person? A celebrity I don’t know about? Maybe a trainee?
It was beyond eye candy—it was purifying. When I gaped again with my mouth hanging open, they waved their hand in front of my face.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah-, yeah, I’m… fine.”
I mean, being handsome is one thing, but I wondered when they’d ever seen me before to be speaking so casually. Following their lead, I spoke casually too, though hesitantly, making them raise an eyebrow.
“Are you with them by any chance?”
Them? Even though they were simply raising their arm to point somewhere, it was done with such elegance. Forcibly dragging my wandering mind back, I looked in the direction they were pointing and saw the menacing group rampaging with weapons.
‘I don’t want to be lumped in with such a dangerous group.’
My face instinctively twisted. Though unintentional, my expression was so distorted that my distaste was obvious. Without bothering to fix my face, I shook my head, and their long hand lowered.
“You’re not lying, right?”
“I’m seeing those people for the first time today…”
“…today…?”
They caught my last word and smiled deeply. Though they were clearly smiling, the obvious discomfort made me unconsciously take a step back. Since their gaze kept following me, I nervously bit my lower lip before speaking.
“…sir.”
I thought I was being pathetic. I could’ve asked why they could speak casually while I couldn’t, but I didn’t want to start a fight. I couldn’t fight anyway, so acting tough would only get me beaten up.
Still, it was embarrassing to maintain eye contact, so as I let my eyes wander, I heard laughter from above.
“Alright, then take care. Don’t come into the alley—it’s dangerous.”
As their hand patted my shoulder, I looked up to see them already walking toward the fight without any lingering attachment.
“What the…”
So they were one of those delinquents?
My mouth fell open in disbelief. Seeing how naturally they joined in and casually started hitting people, I slowly backed away. Really, it was just too—
Weird.
***
“Lee Yumin!”
Rushing into the house, I called for my sister who was equally unemployed, but there was no response. Knowing she was probably lying in bed, too lazy to answer, I went to her door and knocked, showing minimal courtesy.
“What do you want!”
At the immediately returned irritable reply, I flung the door open.
“Are you insane? Why are you suddenly looking for me like this?”
Seeing my sister with her usual sharp tongue gave me an inexplicable sense of relief. Maybe because I’d been experiencing such strange things, I felt grateful that at least my family hadn’t changed.
“Do you, do you know Ji Haecheon, Rank 1?”
I mentioned the name that the menacing group had been loudly shouting. I stared intently at my sister’s face, trying to hide my tension.
“Are you crazy? What’s been wrong with you these past few days?”
My expression automatically brightened at her sharp rebuke. Right, I must just be feeling off and hallucina—
“You don’t even know Ji Haecheon-nim? Have you been living under a rock?”
Click. My hand, firmly gripping the doorknob, slipped. While my pupils shook mercilessly at hearing such unbelievable words, Yumin continued regardless of my reaction.
“He’s graduating from middle school soon and is famous for holding the Rank 1 position. Don’t tell me you don’t know about the Four Heavenly Kings-nim either?”
“F-Four Heavenly Kings…?”
“You really have been living under a rock.”
“Are you crazy?”
Exchanging insults back and forth, anyone could tell we were siblings.
“If you’re just going to talk nonsense, get out! I’m busy!”
I quickly covered my ears as her voice pierced them. Ugh, what can I do about that temper? I shook my head demonstratively and closed the door, only to hear her irritated voice from inside the room.
I trudged back to my room and was changing out of my outdoor clothes when I suddenly froze. I’d momentarily forgotten while finishing the conversation with my sister in our usual chaotic manner, but judging from Yumin’s reaction, she treated this whole “rank” thing as completely normal.
She’d always been that way, but she looked at me like I was insane when I acted like I didn’t know anything—so not knowing was the strange part. Maybe high school students… no, we’d gone back three years, so middle school students.
Anyway, it felt suspicious to treat this as something newly trending among Yumin’s age group. I clearly heard “before becoming a middle school student.” So that must mean students around high school age have ranks and such. Which means it’s something well-known among high school students too.
“But I don’t know about it.”
Even though I’d finished the college entrance exam as a high school senior, I was essentially still a current student since I was about to enter high school again—yet I didn’t know about it.
“Does this make any sense?”
Are all Korean teens except me insane? I’ve heard that if there’s one normal person among crazy people, the normal one gets treated as crazy—and my situation seems exactly like that.
How should I interpret this? In the world I’d lived in until now, there were delinquents, but no “ranks.” Fights? Of course they existed. But there had definitely never been anything like openly assigning numbers to ranks.
Of course, there were implicit hierarchies. The kind that exists among students—visible even without being spoken.
“But there was nothing like a ‘Rank 1’…”
My mind was a mess. Thoughts were bouncing everywhere, as if I’d witnessed information I couldn’t process.
It was hard enough accepting that the world had gone back three years, but now I had to accept concepts from a world that had changed without me knowing.
“How do they even determine ranks in the first place?”
By fighting? One-on-one? Or many against one? What’s the point of ranking anyway? Does it help with college admissions? I forcibly suppressed these extremely practical thoughts. That’s not what’s important right now.
“Dimension… travel, right?”
The words felt endlessly awkward despite coming from my own mouth. This is absurd—am I really losing it?
“Maybe I am crazy.”
Ha. A dejected sigh escaped me. Even in the midst of all this, seeing myself diligently changed into pajamas because it was too cold to be half-dressed in winter made me laugh a little.
“Whatever.”
No matter how much I think about it, if reality had changed, it would’ve changed a long time ago. From the moment I noticed the regression, I’d thought until my head felt like it would burst, but nothing had changed. So this situation would probably be the same.
“But which dimension did I travel to?”
This was somewhat important, so I gave it serious thought. The only genre that came to mind when talking about rankings and such was web novels, so I focused on that. But since I hadn’t paid attention to that genre since graduating elementary school, nothing specific came to mind.
It wasn’t possession, but in possession novels, they seem to immediately figure out where they’ve been transported to—so why can’t I?
“Well, it’s a web novel, how would I know…?”
I haven’t read many, and the only clues I have are the almost mandatory “Four Heavenly Kings” term and that Ji Haecheon name or whatever—how am I supposed to figure it out?
“Seriously, fuck…”
I want to cry.
With a gloomy expression, I dove onto my bed and rubbed my cheeks against the pillow. Just as I was wriggling like a fish dying from lack of water, the door burst open without a knock.
“…What are you doing?”
“What.”
I didn’t have the energy to say anything to my sister who came and went as she pleased. After responding with a mumble, my sister, who slowly looked me over, shouted toward the kitchen.
“Dad-! I think Lee Habin has really lost it!”
“Are you going to call your brother ‘Lee Habin’?”
“You have to act like a brother to be called one.”
Ignoring Yumin, who was saying her usual lines, I buried my face in the pillow again. Finding my lack of response strange, Yumin approached the bed, abandoning whatever she came for, and poked my shoulder repeatedly.
“Why are you seriously acting like this these days?”
“How dare you say ‘you’ to your brother…”
“Let’s skip the trivial stuff. Do you want to nitpick even now?”
“Ugh-. Fine, just hurry up and take what you need and leave.”
“I was about to. I’m taking your scissors.”
After a brief moment of consideration, Yumin went to the desk and rummaged through the drawer to accomplish her goal. Roughly guessing her actions from the rustling sounds, I sighed deeply, thinking it would finally be quiet.
“Ah.”
“At least eat that.”
When something suddenly hit my head, I looked up to see a chocolate bar fallen on the blanket. Wondering what it was, I narrowed my eyes at it, but Yumin left without another word, closing the door behind her.
I stretched out my arm and grabbed the relatively expensive chocolate. Though it would obviously melt from the heat of my hand, I just kept holding it.
“Haah-.”
I’m really lucky that at least my family stayed the same.
