Again, Family
The first thing I felt upon waking was an unfamiliar softness.
My body felt strangely light, as if all the accumulated fatigue from years of overwork had vanished overnight. The mattress beneath me was plush and comfortable, nothing like the cheap spring bed I'd been using. A faint scent of fabric softener tickled my nose, clean and pleasant.
This isn't my room.
The realization hit me as I slowly opened my eyes. The ceiling was high and white, adorned with an elegant chandelier I had never seen before. Sunlight filtered through sheer curtains, casting gentle patterns across the room. This was definitely not the cramped one-room apartment I'd rented near Pangyo.
I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn't cooperate. My arms felt weak, almost powerless. When I looked down at my hands, I froze.
They were small. Delicate. Clearly not the rough, calloused hands of a thirty-two-year-old man who had spent years typing away at a computer.
"What...?"
The voice that came out was high and clear. A woman's voice. No, more like a young girl's.
My heart began to race. I frantically looked around for a mirror. There was one on the vanity across the room. I tried to get out of bed, but my legs tangled in the sheets and I tumbled to the floor with a thud.
The impact didn't hurt as much as I expected. Instead, a wave of dizziness washed over me. I crawled toward the mirror on all fours, my oversized pajama top dragging behind me.
When I finally reached it and lifted my head, I couldn't breathe.
The face staring back at me was that of a girl who looked to be in her mid-teens. Long, slightly wavy black hair cascaded past her shoulders. Large, clear eyes. A small nose and pale lips. She was beautiful in a fragile, doll-like way.
But what shocked me most was that this face was unmistakably mine. Or rather, it was the face I had when I was younger. Before everything went wrong.
"This can't be real..."
I touched my cheek. The girl in the mirror did the same. I pinched it. She pinched it too. The pain was real.
My mind raced, trying to make sense of this impossible situation. Had I died? Was this some kind of afterlife? Or had I somehow... gone back in time?
Memories began flooding in. Not just my own, but someone else's. A life that wasn't mine, yet somehow was.
The name that came to mind was Han Juwon.
That was the name of this body. Fifteen years old. The only daughter of a once-wealthy family that had fallen on hard times. Her father had passed away from illness three years ago, leaving behind massive debts. Her mother had remarried shortly after, choosing a new life with a wealthy man and abandoning her only child.
Juwon had been left to live with her maternal grandmother in this old but elegant house in Pangyo. The grandmother was kind but frail, suffering from dementia that was slowly worsening.
And then there were the two older brothers who had left home years ago.
Brothers...
The word stirred something deep inside me. A mixture of longing, resentment, and an inexplicable warmth.
I clutched my head as more memories poured in. The original Han Juwon had lived a lonely, difficult life. Bullied at school for her family's fallen status. Forced to take care of her grandmother while barely managing her studies. The despair that had led her to attempt suicide just last night by swallowing a handful of sleeping pills.
But instead of death, I had woken up in her body.
"...I see."
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. It sounded oddly sweet in this young voice.
I had been a web novel editor. Thirty-two years old, overworked to the bone, with no family to speak of. My parents had passed away early, and I had no siblings. The only "family" I'd known were the authors I worked with, and even those relationships had been purely professional.
Then one day, while rushing to meet a deadline, I had collapsed from overwork. The last thing I remembered was the cold floor of the office and the distant sound of my colleagues' panicked voices.
And now I was here. In the body of a girl who had also given up on life.
"If this is some kind of second chance..."
I looked at myself in the mirror again. The girl's eyes, which had been filled with emptiness in the memories, now held a different light. Determination. And perhaps a hint of hope.
"Then I won't waste it."
I slowly stood up. My legs were still shaky, but I managed to make it back to the bed. The room was neatly arranged, though there were signs of neglect. Dust had gathered in the corners, and the desk was cluttered with old textbooks and notebooks.
This body was weak. Malnourished. The original Juwon had barely eaten properly while taking care of her grandmother and dealing with the household chores alone.
First things first. I needed to eat something and regain some strength.
As I headed toward the door, I noticed a small note on the nightstand. It was written in neat handwriting that I somehow recognized as my own—no, as Juwon's.
I'm sorry, Grandma. I can't do this anymore. Please don't hate me too much. And to my brothers... even though we haven't spoken in so long, I'm still sorry. I hope you can all live well without me.
— Juwon
I stared at the note for a long time. The handwriting was trembling slightly toward the end. The desperation of a fifteen-year-old girl who had reached her limit was painfully clear.
I carefully folded the note and tucked it into the drawer. This was the last trace of the original Han Juwon. I would keep it as a reminder.
"From now on, I'm Han Juwon."
Saying it out loud made it feel more real. The name felt strangely familiar on my tongue, as if it had always belonged to me.
I opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. The house was larger than I had imagined from the memories. It was an old two-story home with a small garden in the back. The kind of place that would have been expensive in the past but now carried the weight of faded glory.
The first place I went was the kitchen. The refrigerator was nearly empty. Only a few eggs, some wilting vegetables, and a small carton of milk remained. The grandmother must have forgotten to buy groceries again.
I made simple scrambled eggs and toast. While eating, I organized my thoughts.
The original Juwon had two older brothers. The eldest, Han Taejun, was twenty-eight years old. He had left home at eighteen after a huge fight with their father and was now running a successful IT company. Cold and distant, he hadn't contacted the family even after their father's death.
The second brother, Han Seojun, was twenty-five. He had followed his older brother out of the house and was working as a popular webtoon artist. He was more warm-hearted than Taejun but had been so focused on his career that he'd neglected his little sister.
In the original story, Juwon had died without ever reconciling with them. The brothers only learned of her death much later, when their grandmother passed away as well. The guilt had haunted them for the rest of their lives.
But now I was here. With a chance to change everything.
"Family, huh..."
I whispered to myself as I washed the dishes. The word felt both foreign and deeply comforting.
I had never had a proper family in my previous life. Now I had been given one, even if it was broken and in need of healing.
"I'll make it work this time."
A small smile formed on my lips. In the window above the sink, I could see the reflection of a young girl with determination in her eyes.
The road ahead wouldn't be easy. This body was weak, the family was scattered, and there were financial problems looming. But for the first time in either of my lives, I felt truly alive.
Because this time, I wasn't alone.
I had a grandmother to take care of. Brothers to reach out to. And a future that I could shape with my own hands.
"Let's start by cleaning up this house and making a proper meal for Grandma."
With that decision, I rolled up my sleeves. The sunlight streaming through the window seemed a little brighter than before.
This was the beginning of my second life. The story of how I, once a lonely editor, became Han Juwon and rebuilt a family that had fallen apart.
Again, family.