Return
Sinjo came running toward me, calling my name in a panic.
"Bro! Ganghae bro!!!"
"What is it?"
He bent at the waist and dragged in ragged breaths.
"Huff... huff... over there... Kang Deukgu... huff... huff..."
He was too busy gulping air to finish the sentence.
"Slow down. Catch your breath first, then tell me calmly."
"Huff... huff... yeah... hhhhnnngh... whooo..."
He took a few steady breaths at last.
"Bro, Kang Deukgu is... wandering around the clearing."
"What? Let's go."
"Yes, bro."
Jihye and Hanna looked at me in alarm at Sinjo's words.
"Oppa..."
"Don't worry. Rest here and take it easy."
I soothed them both, then followed Sinjo.
Before long...
"Bro! Over there!"
Sinjo pointed in one direction.
When I looked, I saw Kang Deukgu just as Sinjo had said.
The bastard was dragging his stabbed leg behind him, wandering the clearing like a zombie.
"Kang Deukgu."
When I came closer and called his name, he slowly turned to look at me.
His face had gone ghostly white.
"Haaah... Ganghae... save me... ugh... please... save me..."
As soon as he saw us, he collapsed right there.
"Ganghae... water... I'm so thirsty... water... please..."
His mouth was cracked dry as he begged for water.
"Sinjo, get some water."
"Yes, bro."
Sinjo immediately ran to the stream.
I kept checking Kang Deukgu's condition.
His thigh was swollen red.
And his leg was a mess of blood.
He made it all the way here on a leg like that?
"Kang Deukgu. Where's Chilseong?"
He answered with a rough, labored breath.
"Haa... haa... he's... at the... same place..."
A moment later, Sinjo came back with water in a large leaf.
I poured it into Deukgu's mouth.
Gulp. Gulp. He drank greedily.
"Haah... haah... that's better... haah..."
Once he had water, the color began creeping back into his face.
"Kang Deukgu. Don't go wandering around smelling like blood. Stay here."
"Yeah... okay..."
He actually listened this time.
He probably knew now that roaming around reeking of blood was asking for trouble.
"Sinjo, go fetch more water. And come with me to where Chilseong is."
"Yes, bro."
I left Kang Deukgu behind and headed to where Chilseong was.
Lee Chilseong, with his enormous frame, was lying there like a corpse, completely unconscious.
I checked his heart and his breathing.
At least he was still alive.
While I was checking his condition, Sinjo returned with water.
"Bro, here."
"Good. Thanks."
I forced the water into the bastard's mouth.
But he couldn't swallow it, and it just ran out the corners of his lips.
At that point, he couldn't even get water down.
There was nothing more I could do.
The rest was up to fate.
"Sinjo, let's go."
"Yes, bro. But... is it really okay to leave him like that?"
"We can't do anything else. This is as far as we can go. The one who summoned us will handle the rest."
"Yeah..."
I left Chilseong where he was and headed back to the shelter.
One was seriously injured, and the other was in critical condition.
What would happen to them when the time ran out...
And there was one more person who hadn't completed the mission.
As I walked, I glanced quietly at Sinjo.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Kim Sinjo was walking quietly at my side.
He couldn't finish the mission because no woman had chosen him.
"Sinjo, aren't you scared of the penalty?"
Not knowing how far the memory loss would reach.
He opened his mouth softly at my question.
"No... I'm fine. I don't really have any good memories anyway... so."
Sinjo gave a bitter smile.
Is he already bracing himself?
He was timid and had fallen behind in the competition, but he seemed like a fundamentally decent guy.
He didn't look like the kind who'd stab me in the back or betray me.
You never really knew what's in someone's heart, but that was the feeling I got right now.
It was a shame he'd lose his memories, but there was nothing I could do about that.
I could only hope the penalty was limited to the otherworld.
Before long...
When we reached the shelter, Jihye and Hanna were waiting for me.
Hanna was hooked arm-in-arm with Jihye.
Did they get close that fast?
Then again, Hanna was cute and easy to get along with.
"Oppa..."
The two of them looked at me with worried faces.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Okay..."
I lay down to sleep with them.
Lee Jihye on one side.
Na Hanna on the other.
They both nestled against me.
I could feel their soft, squishy breasts.
And Jihye whispered quietly.
"Oppa... when we wake up, there won't be much time left, will there..."
"Yeah... you both worked hard today, so relax and get some sleep."
"Okay... oppa..."
This time Hanna whispered too.
"But, oppa... what are these points for?"
"No idea... I guess we'll find out when the time runs out."
"Okay..."
They kept whispering to each other.
And I drifted off to sleep without even realizing it, feeling their voices and their breasts against me.
***
Time kept passing.
We waited for the remaining time to run out.
Jihye and Hanna were still lying beside me.
Jihye rubbed her breasts against me as she whispered.
"Oppa, there are only thirty minutes left."
"Yeah."
Hanna did the same, rubbing her chest as she spoke.
"Oppa... what happens to us when the time runs out?"
"The mission's already been a success, so nothing should happen. Don't worry."
"Okay..."
Honestly, I didn't know either.
I just figured that since we'd succeeded, nothing bad would happen.
And so the minutes kept slipping away.
.
.
.
[Remaining Time - 00:00:59]
"Oppa..."
They pressed close, rubbing their breasts against me as they clung to me.
"Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen."
"Okay..."
I reassured them once more and watched the countdown continue.
[Remaining Time - 00:00:05]
4...
3...
2...
1...
[00:00:00]
Fwip—
A flicker, a split-second break in reality.
And then...
The familiar ceiling came into view.
My own room, where I'd been lying before I fell asleep.
I had returned to reality.
I slowly tried moving my arms first.
They moved normally.
My body felt fine.
Everything was exactly as it had been when I went to sleep last night.
I hurriedly checked the clock.
The date was unchanged too.
And it was still early dawn, too early for anyone to be up.
Not much time seemed to have passed in the real world.
I didn't know exactly when I'd fallen asleep, so I couldn't tell the precise time, but...
It felt like nothing had changed at all.
Except for one thing: I was naked.
Last night I'd gone to sleep wearing boxers and a T-shirt.
But the reflection in the mirror showed me stripped bare.
I looked exactly as I had in the otherworld, hugging Jihye and Hanna.
And...
The soft feel of Jihye's breasts and Hanna's firm ass still lingered on my hands.
After confirming that nothing was wrong, I quickly checked my Status Window first.
Name: Na Ganghae
Age: 28
Grade: F
Points: 2
Point Shop
Point Shop?
The mission was gone, and a new item called Point Shop had appeared.
A shop that hadn't been visible in the otherworld.
I checked the Point Shop right away.
1st Prize Lottery Number
Equipment, stats, skills, and more.
Even hair-loss prevention, Stamina Increase, body-shape correction...
Everything men wanted was here.
Holy shit.
I could even buy the winning lottery numbers for first prize?
The Point Shop had everything.
Not just equipment, stats, and skills.
It even had hair-loss prevention, Stamina Increase, body-shape improvement, and more.
Every damn thing men could want was in there.
Insane.
You could even change the length and size of your cock?
I ended up browsing the Point Shop for quite a while, completely absorbed.
What should I buy?
I only had 2 points.
I didn't have nearly enough points to make a decision lightly.
This was going to need careful thought.
I closed the shop and headed to the bathroom to shower before going out.
Shhhhhh...
Cold water poured over my head, and the clutter in my mind seemed to wash away with it.
After showering...
I put on my running clothes and left the house.
***
Wheee-oo, wheee-oo, wheee-oo!
An ambulance passed in front of me.
Silently, I followed it.
Before long, it stopped in front of a villa.
Paramedics rushed inside carrying a stretcher.
A moment later, they came back out with a man on it.
And behind them came an older woman.
"Deukgu! Oh, my baby... sob... sob... sob..."
The woman wailed, crying out the name Deukgu.
The paramedic who loaded the man onto the vehicle hurriedly told her, "Ma'am, you should get in too."
"Sob... sob... Deukgu... sob..."
"Don't worry, ma'am. It isn't a fatal injury, so he'll be fine."
"Sob... sob... sob..."
The woman climbed into the ambulance still crying.
Whee-oo, whee-oo, whee-oo!
And then the ambulance pulled away from the villa.
This was the villa where Kang Deukgu lived.
What was interesting was that everyone summoned to the otherworld lived in the same general area.
Not necessarily next door to each other, but most of them lived fairly close by.
After confirming that Kang Deukgu had been loaded into the ambulance, I left the scene immediately.
Then I headed to the next place.
***
I spotted Lee Chilseong coming out of the school library.
He was a bookworm who practically lived in the library even on weekends.
"Kim Sinjo!"
When I called his name, Sinjo turned to look at me.
"Me...?"
He stared at me blankly.
"Yeah. Kim Sinjo from Class 4, Grade 2 at Garam Elementary. Right?"
Kim Sinjo looked confused.
He only tilted his head; he didn't remember me.
"Um... but... who are you?"
"It's me. Na Ganghae. Don't you remember? Your desk mate, Ganghae."
"Ganghae?"
"Yeah, man. Nice to see you, buddy."
I was 28, but because of my slight build, I looked pretty young.
Young enough that, to other people, I could pass for being around Sinjo's age.
He scratched his head and just kept blinking.
"Sorry, but... I think you have the wrong person..."
"Huh? No, that's not right... Garam Elementary, Class 4, Grade 2."
"I did go to Garam Elementary... but in second grade, I was in Class 5..."
"Really? Then what grade were we in the same class?"
"Um... I don't think we were ever in the same class..."
I kept talking to figure out the exact extent of his memory loss.
"Oh... really? Then middle school?"
"I went to Garam Middle School..."
"Huh? Then where did I see you? Where was it again..."
I kept asking him one thing after another.
Even about the university he was currently attending.
"Then the army?"
"I haven't been yet..."
"You haven't been to the army? Then how old are you?"
"I'm... 22..."
His memories were normal.
Even down to the fact that he hadn't been to the military yet.
He just had no memory of the otherworld.
It seemed his memories of real life were intact.
Kim Sinjo answered dutifully, like a student responding to a stranger's questions.
Then—
"Hey, Fumboy!"
A woman approached us.
She had a good body, a pretty face, and a sloppy, streetwise posture.
She was exactly the delinquent-girl type.
As she came closer, Sinjo stammered.
"Uh... Eunsoo..."
They must have known each other.
"I told you to do my assignment first, didn't I? You're making me come to school on the weekend?"
"S-sorry... but... I did yours first..."
"You're lying. You did mine first and it still took this long?"
"This time... the scope was bigger..."
"Excuses, excuses. Anyway, who is he? Your friend?"
"Huh?"
The delinquent-looking girl glared at me.
Then she gave a snort of laughter and muttered, "You're all scrawny and useless-looking. Figures people like you run together."
Damn. What a rude bitch.
"Hey, Fumboy. Make sure you finish earlier next time."
"Uh... okay..."
She took the assignment and walked off without another word.
Sinjo couldn't take his eyes off her until she disappeared.
"Let's go."
Only then did he snap out of it.
"Huh? Where to...?"
"I feel bad, so I'm buying you lunch."
"What? It's okay..."
He waved his hands and said he was fine.
"Just come with me."
"Huh? Uh... okay..."
As expected, if I pushed a little, he listened well.
I took Sinjo to a restaurant.
And while we ate, I even exchanged numbers with him.
I needed to keep checking the side effects of the penalty.
And I also figured I should learn more about the relationship between Sinjo and that rude girl.
After parting ways with Sinjo,
I walked the streets alone.
Huuuuush... haaah...
Taking a deep breath, I filled my chest with the air of the real world.
Now that I'd finished everything I needed to think about, the real world finally started to come into view.
People filling the streets, couples glued together as they walked.
Things I hadn't paid any attention to before were suddenly visible.
And right in front of me stood a dazzling woman.
Lee Jihye.
She had been beautiful naked too, but...
her beauty was even more radiant dressed in sleek modern clothes.
And...
It still didn't quite feel real that such a beautiful woman was my woman.
"Oppa!"