When I came to my senses, a place completely different from my familiar room came into view. The wallpaper had yellowed with age, and here and there I could see marks where tape had been patched.
‘...What the hell is going on...’
I wondered if I had been kidnapped. I had prided myself on not living a life where I’d accumulated any real grudges, but perhaps I had been mistaken.
“Ah... uh?”
My voice was strange. A clear, pure sound—like that of an innocent child—rang out from me. A cold...? No, even if I had one, my tone wouldn’t change like this.
Unable to process my confusion, I looked around wildly until my eyes met a mirror.
“Uhh...?”
Inside the mirror stood an unfamiliar little girl. When I blinked, the child in the mirror blinked too. When I raised my hand to touch my face, the child in the mirror also caressed her cheek. Had I been kidnapped and turned into a child?
“...Is this a dream?”
Yes, it must be a dream. Waking up to see an unfamiliar ceiling, suddenly transforming into a little girl like this—it must all be a dream. No, it *had* to be a dream. I squeezed my eyes shut. One, two, three. Now that I realized it was a dream, I would wake up.
“Uh...?”
Everything was the same. The worn-out ceiling, the yellowed wallpaper, the child in the mirror—everything was identical. Soon, my heartbeat quickened. As if to say this was not a dream, as if telling me to face reality head-on.
“...This is impossible.”
I’m a 27-year-old man. Just an ordinary office worker whose hobby is reading web novels. It’s absurd enough that someone like me would be kidnapped, but to have my body transformed like this as well?
Even if I tried to think of it in terms of plastic surgery, I couldn’t accept it. I at least knew that modern science couldn’t change a human body overnight.
“Kidnapping... an experiment...? Drugs?”
...No. Right now, the cause wasn’t what mattered. I had to adapt first. Whether it was a new disease or a side effect of an experiment, I wanted to live.
I forcibly calmed my pounding heart and raised my hand to grab my hair. The soft sensation sliding through my fingers was so unfamiliar. As I slowly lowered my gaze, things I hadn’t yet checked slowly came into view.
Snow-white skin and hair. Clear blue eyes. It wasn’t the time to say something like this, but she had the kind of looks that people would call pretty at a glance. If I thought of her as not-me, she was a cute child who would make me want to buy her a treat.
In contrast, the state of this room was a mess. Leaving aside the wallpaper and ceiling, in this narrow space without any real furniture, only a worn-out blanket was lying there all by itself.
No desk, no chair, no bed. A space without even a small refrigerator to speak of—if you were asked to explain the word “poverty,” wouldn’t this space serve as the perfect example? The photos from my middle school social studies textbook and the faces of the people who lived there came to mind.
“Haa...”
I couldn’t hold back the sigh. My chest felt tight at the thought that I might have to live in this environment, in this body.
“...Will I be able to go back...?”
Whether I could go back was uncertain from the start. And even if I did go back, could I live as before?
If I went back in this body? My family would immediately put me in a mental hospital. An unidentified little girl insisting she was their son.
If I returned after recovering my original body? I would be welcomed, but in the time that had passed, my place might have already been erased.
“...I don’t know...”
The more I imagined it, the bleaker the future became, so I stopped thinking and got up from my spot. I had explored the entire room, so now it was time to go outside.
“Unni! Unni! Mom’s home from work!”
Just then, the door burst open and a small child jumped into my arms.
“Unni! Mom said she’s coming soon!”
She was a little smaller than me, but a child who looked like me. With snow-white hair, a child who looked exactly the same as me from head to toe.
“Unni! Why aren’t you answering Seoyeon today?”
If there was one single difference, it was that the two eyes looking up at me were red.
“...You called me... unni. Me.”
“Well, unni is unni! Are you silly?”
The girl—Seoyeon—lightly tapped my chest with her fists as she smiled brightly. Her words were lighthearted. But even seeing her untainted, clear smile, I couldn’t smile along.
“Seo...yeon?”
I falteringly repeated the unfamiliar name as if testing it on my tongue.
“Is it... because unni has a headache right now...? That was a silly question... haha.”
I forcibly pulled up the corners of my uncooperative lips and drew a smile. The feelings of confusion were my burden alone; this child had no reason to bear them with me.
“Does unni hurt a lot...?”
This body’s younger sister—at just one word from me about being in pain, her eyes quickly reddened. With a face that looked like she would burst into tears at any moment, she tightly grabbed my clothes.
Strangely, at that single small touch, I felt my heart drop with a thud.
“Ah, no... I’m not in much pain. I’m just a little tired.”
Without realizing it, my hand was wrapping around the child’s hand. Why? The child in front of me was someone completely unrelated to me, someone I was seeing for the first time.
What was the reason my eyes kept going to her? I tried to think of the reason, but no matter how much I pondered, the answer didn’t come to me.
“...Are you really okay, unni? You look really down.”
Even after hearing that I was fine, the child didn’t seem willing to back down easily. The pressure transmitted to my arm from her small hand grew stronger.
“...I’m really fine, I told you.”
A brief silence fell,
“Unni, be honest! You caused some trouble behind my back, didn’t you? You’re acting like this because you don’t want to get caught, right?”
With a face that said she had finally uncovered the truth, the child clapped her hands and nodded. The moment I saw that expression, I almost burst into tears.
“No! Why would I cause trouble!”
Regret flooded in the moment the words left my mouth. My mind shouldn’t have become younger just because my body changed, but to be arguing with a kid at my age.
“When... is Mom coming?”
I muttered while pointlessly averting my gaze.
“Mom? I ran into her in front of the house, and she said we’re eating chicken today!”
“Really? Chicken is delicious.”
Suddenly, I remembered the chicken restaurant where I had worked part-time for the first time in high school. I remembered being hired right around the Olympics. I also recalled the owner’s smiling face as he pushed me out the door, telling me to hurry home because my parents would worry if I came back late at night.
“What do you like best, unni? Yangnyeom? Soy sauce? Fried?”
“Definitely soy sauce.”
It was true. I had never liked yangnyeom chicken. My firm belief was that if you were going to eat yangnyeom chicken, you might as well eat dakgangjeong instead.
“Tch, unni always says only soy sauce is good. I want to eat yangnyeom.”
“Then you be the unni.”
“What?!”
Seeing her pouting her lips in a sulk, my helpless feelings seemed to get a little better. So this is why friends who had younger siblings tormented them so much, I wondered.
“I’m joking. Next time, tell Mom... that we should eat yangnyeom.”
I quickly changed my words because it seemed like she would really get sulky if I teased her more.
“Really?! Can we really do that?”
She was overjoyed by just one chicken; well, I could endure eating dakgangjeong for her. It was certain—this child named Seoyeon... no, this younger sister looked prettier when she smiled.
‘...Mom...’
Separately from that, I felt nervousness rising at the thought of soon meeting this body’s mother. I felt helpless starting from even the basic form of address.
How should I address her? Mom? Mother? Or if not that... madam?
“...As if that would work...”
...No matter how much I thought about it, “madam” was out of the question. If such a term popped out of a daughter’s mouth who had been perfectly fine just yesterday, even someone without a suspicious mind would find it strange.
“Wow! Mom’s here!”
Along with the excited child’s voice, I heard the sound of the front door lock code being pressed.
“Ah...”
If I could, I wanted to avoid this. If I couldn’t avoid it, I wanted to meet her even a little later. The thought of facing a mother I hadn’t even met yet felt suffocating.
The door opened,
“My girls, did you wait long? Mom’s home.”
A woman holding a plastic bag that wafted with the savory smell of chicken came inside.
“Wow! Chicken’s here!”
Grabbing the shoulder of my sister who was about to run to her, I calmly bowed my head in greeting.
“You should greet her first. ...Welcome home.”
I couldn’t bring myself to call her Mom. Perhaps I was a monster who had stolen her daughter’s body.
“My big girl, why are you so calm today? You should hug Mom now that she’s home~”
Seeing her forcing her slumped shoulders straight reminded me of myself on my commute home. Being pushed around by work all day, suffering through dealing with people—it must be similar.
The difference was that I had returned home as myself, while the woman before me had returned home as a mother. Was that why?
“My arms are going to fall off~ Shall we have a big hug?”
The guilt that had been born from the moment I faced my sister raised its head again. The inside of my chest stung, and my throat slowly tightened.
“...Hey—”
“Mom! Let’s have a big hug with Seoyeon!”
Just as I was about to take a heavy step, my sister who had been wriggling the whole time shot out and embraced the woman.
“Oh my, my little girl, did you miss Mom a lot?”
“Yeah! Mom and unni... and chicken too!”
I simply watched the child nestled in the woman’s arms and the woman embracing her with a bright smile.
In this poor but harmonious family, I was an outsider. A usurper who had stolen both the warm bond between sisters and the happy mother-daughter relationship.
“...Um... what about me...”
“Unni! Hurry up and join the big hug! I wanna eat chicken!”
“Right, my big girl? We did the big hug together until yesterday, are you shy today?”
They, knowing nothing, welcomed the outsider hiding his true identity. My sister shot me a look asking what I was doing not coming quickly. Mom stretched her arms open with a relaxed smile.
They were waiting for me. Or rather, they were waiting for the daughter who wasn’t me.
“Okay...”
If I pulled back any further, I would truly look strange. One step, and then another. With each step I took, the next foot I had to put forward grew heavier.
“My girl, you’re so shy today~”
“Uh...!”
As if she couldn’t wait any longer, Mom approached in an instant and pulled me into her arms. As her warm temperature wrapped around my back, my body naturally relaxed. Even though it was a hug I couldn’t be used to, I didn’t feel like pushing her away at all.
“Big girl, did your sister torment you a lot today? Is there something you can’t even tell Mom?”
Still holding me in her arms, Mom put her mouth to my ear and whispered. She said if my sister heard, she would definitely sulk, and told me to say anything if something was bothering me.
“For me... it’s nothing. Nothing happened.”
The first warmth I encountered in this strange, confusing, and frightening place was so welcome that I decided to indulge in it a little longer. The words “I am not your daughter” were something I would have to say someday, but there was no need for it to be right now.
“Chicken! Chickieeeen~ How long are we going to hug...”
Seeing the child frantically shaking the bag with both hands, the woman smiled wryly as if she couldn’t stop her, and stroked my cheek.
“Okay, let’s eat~ Seorin, Seoyeon. Go wash your hands!”
...Seorin. So that was this body’s name. The name I hadn’t been able to ask the child earlier—I repeated it to myself over and over.