Even when I opened the refrigerator, all there was were bottles of alcohol and bottled water.
The freezer was the same. Frost clung to bottles of vodka and gin.
What kind of damn household didn’t have even a single pack of ramen, only alcohol? And expensive alcohol, carefully collected at that.
“...”
The utter lack of any sign of daily life left me dumbfounded enough to let out a hollow laugh.
I hadn’t expected onions, garlic, or gochujang, but shouldn’t there at least be some kimchi?
That thought lasted only a moment.
If I thought about it a little more, that wasn’t it.
Maybe she had cleared out anything that could spoil in advance.
Like people leaving on a long journey.
“…Ah, seriously!! This damn house.”
There wasn’t a single thing I could feel at ease about.
It seemed it would take some time to get used to these emotional ups and downs.
I opened a 1.5-liter bottle of water and moistened my throat.
After shedding some tears, I desperately needed to replenish fluids.
It was a little embarrassing, but there was nothing I could do. I’d lived in a world where I could stamp a seal and wait twenty-four hours without hearing a thing, and then I came to a world where I was summoned the moment I stamped it, so the tears had just streamed down.
After swallowing the water, I felt as if my stomach, which had been asleep due to my poor condition, was starting to move. In other words, I was hungry.
I put the bottled water back into the bleak refrigerator and realized I’d have to restock water too.
You’d think there would at least be a faucet water purifier, but the flaw with this place was that every little thing lacked signs of normal living.
“These days, even water purifiers for studio apartments are pretty decent.”
At the very least, one of those dumped on TeX would… do…
Come to think of it, this wasn’t “these days.”
The “these days” I knew was still five years away.
The world had gone back five years, and that gap was filled with countless tiny things like this.
At first, I’d thought, How much could the world have changed in only five years? But apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“…Haha. I’m going insane.”
If I stayed here, I felt like I’d be gloomy all day.
I had things to do anyway, so I might as well go out and clear my head while I was at it.
***
This time, I dressed properly.
Last time, I’d gone out looking too loose and sloppy, and I couldn’t deny that I’d drawn unnecessary attention.
I put on a T-shirt, jeans, and a light, roomy cardigan. Then I pulled a cap low over my head to hide my messy hair and went outside.
I heard the door lock, whose passcode I still didn’t know, click shut behind me, but there was no reason to panic like last time.
Because now that I had unlocked the phone, I had returned to being a civilized person.
I had noted down the address, and I’d looked up the location of a nearby convenience store. This time, there was no need to head toward the downtown area.
As soon as I stepped outside, the sunlight was so bright that I frowned.
This body’s eyesight was good enough not to need glasses, but even a little glare made my eyes sting.
Was I some kind of vampire? Well, my skin was pale like a vampire’s too.
“Welcome to DU Conveni…?”
I followed the map and went to the convenience store.
The part-timer, who had been organizing cigarettes, gave a half-hearted greeting before freezing in place.
I could clearly see his wide eyes moving.
Down. Then up.
…I almost let out a dry laugh, but held it in. I merely gave a slight nod and walked past him into the store.
“…”
I’d thought that if I dressed properly, I’d attract fewer unnecessary stares. But that didn’t seem to be the case.
Then again, I’d felt people glancing at me all the way here too.
I’d never dreamed that people’s gazes could be this blatantly obvious.
I didn’t know if gazes were always this easy to sense, or if this body was especially sensitive to them.
The part-timer was still staring fixedly in my direction.
No. Do your job. Finish organizing the cigarettes.
I hurried to the refrigerated section and picked up a lunchbox.
Super Meat-Packed Lunchbox… what? 4,400 won?
I skimmed the others too, and they were all a little cheaper than I remembered.
I’d thought this earlier too, but each of these trivial details made me keenly aware of the passage of time.
For now, as a test, I took only the lunchbox and placed it on the counter.
Just in case, I had brought cash in my wallet, but I still felt needlessly tense.
-Beep.
The sound rang out, and the three seconds or so that followed felt long, but fortunately, the payment went through without any problems.
When the part-timer asked if I needed a bag, I shook my head and quickly left the convenience store.
…Don’t look at me while blushing. It pisses me off.
Shaking off the strange feeling that was hard to describe, I sat down on the plastic chair in front of the convenience store.
It wasn’t because I planned to eat the lunchbox here. There was just something I had to check.
I placed my phone on the table and braced myself.
Swallowing hard, I tapped the screen.
-xx Bank payment approved … 4,400 won … 11:41
-Balance: 3,201,504 won.
“…”
I scrolled the message up and down, checking for any possible issue.
There was no problem at all.
“I-I’m…”
I’m saved…!!
***
Leaving a sigh of relief behind me, I returned home.
It was less than the balance printed in the bankbook, but it was still enough to cover immediate living expenses without issue.
Since I’d even considered the worst-case possibility that it might be an overdraft account, the relief was immense. No, really.
Now that one worry had eased a little, let’s sort out the situation again.
I was Gang Jimin, and yet I was not Gang Jimin.
I couldn’t touch the bankbook password, nor the internet banking locked behind a pattern.
If I went to the bank in person, there might be some way to resolve it, but there was nothing I could do right now.
At this rate, I couldn’t know Gang Jimin’s account balance or debt situation.
Coming over to this side had made my job and income vanish, and my cards and savings account had gone away too.
I could look into the exam again, thinking, If I did it once, why couldn’t I do it twice? But I had no idea how long it would take to pass. Honestly, I was also rather sick of it.
I was fairly good at studying, but thanks to several academic probations, my highest level of education was high school graduate.
This wasn’t solely because of Odinson.
When I still had a head for studying, I took the civil service exam and passed, but even that had been a close call because of Odinson.
Yeah. That one was entirely Odinson’s fault.
On the other hand, Gang Jimin was a university student. When I searched through the phone, I found a university library app. She even had books checked out.
It wasn’t an incredibly prestigious university, but it was in Seoul and fairly well-known.
Should I drop out of this university… or take a leave of absence? Should I get a job or start a part-time job?
I had plenty to worry about, but there was no food at home, and as my condition gradually recovered, I was starting to get hungry.
In the midst of all this, my only lifeline was this card. If this had been unusable too, I would have been in immediate trouble, so thank goodness.
I’d even worried that if there was no money, I’d have to survive by using the alcohol in the fridge as calories. It wasn’t like this was a disaster movie.
Anyway, one concern was off my shoulders.
I felt like raising a toast, but considering my current physical state, it would be better to avoid alcohol for a while.
Instead, I considered having a smoke… but even when I’d seen cigarettes at the convenience store, nothing in particular had come to mind.
My original body had been such a heavy smoker that after a few long sets, my blood vessels would start whining that my blood nicotine level was low.
Even after just one day, the signal would come and I’d get needlessly restless, but this body had no such feeling at all.
Gang Jimin seemed to be an even heavier drinker than I was, but apparently, she wasn’t a chain-smoker like me.
In that respect, she was better than me. Though this house did make her seem like a pretty severe alcoholic.
In any case, I wasn’t short on living expenses right now, but I had no way of knowing how long I’d have to last on this. It wasn’t enough money to spend freely and feel safe.
The rent that suddenly got withdrawn could be far beyond my imagination, and if I ran into hidden reefs I knew nothing about, like student loans or an overdraft account, it would be a disaster.
Then I’d sink just like that. Without even being able to make a peep.
But well. That was a matter for a few weeks to a few months later.
For now, it was fair to say I’d put out the urgent fire.
It should be fine to say this wasn’t something urgent right now, right?
Yeah.
It should be fine to say it wasn’t urgent enough to interfere with eleven years of waiting, right?
“Hehehe…”
Letting out a low laugh, I turned on Odinson.
Let’s see. Last night, I cleared up to the fifth boss, right?
If I’d followed my heart, I would have kept going, but I held back. I’d forced myself to endure and gone to sleep, thinking I should savor it slowly.
That made me even more impatient, and my heart pounded all the harder.
“Heheh…”
The laughter leaking out of me wouldn’t stop.
***
[Title: Guys, did you see this clip?]
: Anon
Yeah.
It’s an old hand who showed up on a VTuber’s stream yesterday.
Fuck, so this is what they meant when they kept singing that Zanshin is a skill-based game.
All this time, I thought the Classic boomers were just old, sick, doddering dogs, but after seeing this, I’m reflecting on myself;;
ㄴWhat’s a VTuber, you damn weeb;;
ㄴDoddering dogs, my ass, you little shit.
ㄴModern one-button pests are getting worse by the day. No wonder Modern-hate keeps filling up.
[Title: Wait, what is this?]
: Anon
I went in wondering what all the fuss was about, but the character customization was so full of fundamentals that I decided to watch.
What is this? It was a Gleipnir Makkeok solo?
Looks like the HP multiplier was applied too, but I can’t check whether the damage multiplier was on, because the fucker didn’t get hit even once;;
ㄴAnon: Why is this real?
ㄴAnon: Did that bastard land Offset fifty times in a row?
ㄴㄴAnon: What the fuck, is this Black Flash? For him to land them like that?
ㄴㄴAnon: I thought you’d only see stuff like this in Japan or Europe;;
ㄴFor real: No, he really was an old hand;;
ㄴAnon: Deungjjak? Was there someone like this on Tyr?
ㄴAnon: Where can I watch the full video?