How Will You Live in This Other World?
I held down the power button on the smartphone convulsing in my hand. A few seconds later, as the screen went dark, the world suddenly felt eerily quiet.
"Haa, haa."
My body moved against my will, pounding my heart and forcing ragged breaths from my lungs. This wouldn't do. I hurried to the wall of a nearby building and leaned against it.
"That woman... is she insane? What the hell..."
No. Don't get irritated—calm down first. Count primes and regulate my breathing. Two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen.
"...Phew."
I felt a bit steadier. "Alright. First things first, I need to learn about Choi Seori."
Leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes and dredged up every scattered memory of Choi Seori one by one.
Choi Seori. The living legend of Korea's IT industry. Right after graduating university, she founded the unicorn company Core Systems and became its CEO. Her skills were beyond doubt, with rumors swirling that U.S. Big Tech firms were still dangling astronomical sums to poach her. She even maintained private networks with renowned Silicon Valley developers.
And... she was beautiful. Surprisingly so. Think of the typical "elite developer" stereotype: hunched neck, skeletal thinness, or obesity. But Choi Seori was the opposite. From the memories, she seemed to put real effort into her appearance.
'Does she have a boyfriend she cares about?' Whatever. Table that for now. Next: the relationship between her and "past me."
Why had I—Han Minseo—endured that hellish abuse from Choi Seori and kept going to work? We were university seniors and juniors, but not just nodding acquaintances. We seemed pretty close, actually.
'So how did we get close?'
Choi Seori was always alone. No one dared approach her. Was it because she was too brilliant? Or her attitude toward others? Not everyone ignored her, though. Bold guys drawn to her beauty occasionally tried their luck, only for her to sink them with a few cutting words.
Then one day. 3 a.m., empty computer lab. She'd collapsed over her keyboard, pulling an all-nighter for a personal project. I, cramming last-minute for an exam, stumbled upon her.
[Senior? Senior!]
No response. She looked like a corpse. Pale-faced, I hoisted her up and ran to the infirmary. Her body in the memory was light—shockingly so.
After that, Choi Seori treated me a little differently from others. Her arrogance and coldness remained, but unlike the demonic boss she was now, she at least dealt with me human-to-human.
And... when I graduated and couldn't land a decent job...
[Han Minseo. There's an opening at my company.]
For the first time, she reached out to me first. Her voice trembled subtly, unlike her usual tone—as if she feared rejection.
'Nah, must be my imagination. Why would Choi Seori fear rejection from me?'
Her company, Core Systems, was a unicorn notoriously hard to join. So she'd carved out a spot for me.
"...Huh. So that's how it is. Got it now."
A sense of debt, the need to repay her kindness. That was why past me—Han Minseo—endured that hellhole.
The memory recall ended. I opened my eyes. My mind felt clearer than before.
"Sorry, but it's best to cut ties with Choi Seori here. I'm not the Han Minseo from yesterday anymore."
After all, I'd already stormed out the front gate after confronting the CEO. No debts owed now.
"Yeah. Sticking around that hell would probably drive me to suicide."
The weight lifted from my shoulders, leaving an oddly liberating lightness. Mixed with faint unease and loss. Choi Seori had loomed larger in Han Minseo's life than expected. Still, my racing heart had calmed, and my thoughts were sorted. I peeled myself from the wall.
"Hmm. So what now?"
Choi Seori and Core Systems were history. Time to plan ahead. And maybe change my mood while at it.
"Yeah, a bathhouse sounds good."
……………
I found the nearest public bathhouse and went in. It was a neighborhood spot with a weathered sign. Pushing open the door filled my lungs with humid air. In the steamy tubs, amid weekday afternoon quiet, a few patrons passed the time: an uncle scrubbing in the corner, grandpas alternating hot and cold.
The peaceful scene made me wonder if the surreal events were all a dream.
Before entering the tub, I approached the fogged mirror and wiped it clear. A unfamiliar young man's face stared back—my new body, Han Minseo's. More ordinary than expected. Not skeletal, not spider-limbed with a potbelly.
"Maintaining this build through that hellish life? A miracle."
Looking closer, he was slender overall: narrow shoulders, arms, wrists. Borderline pretty boy—perfect for getting pushed around by someone like Choi Seori.
Short inspection over, I slipped into the hot tub. Tension uncoiled from my muscles. The round tub felt like the eye of a storm.
……………
Out of the tub, I toweled off and sat on the bench. I powered on my phone, immediately enabling Do Not Disturb to stem the flood of alerts. A crescent moon icon appeared at the top. Good.
First, I checked the portal site's top news.
'2025, Korea. President, international affairs, celeb scandals, pro baseball standings. All as I know them.'
Thank God—the world was fine. No time travel, no other dimension. At least, minimal relief.
But one nagging issue: Core Systems. A unicorn I'd never heard of in my original life. No way I'd miss a company this promising.
So I typed the two terms into the search bar.
[Genius Developer Choi Seori Rejects 1 Trillion Won Acquisition Offer]
[Core Systems Effectively Monopolizes Korean AI Market...]
Hitting enter unleashed an explosion of results. I clicked through articles.
Choi Seori's dazzling career, Core Systems' tech rivaling U.S. giants, love calls from global corps. All unknown to me.
"No way. This company didn't exist in my world. Nothing even close."
Only one conclusion: parallel world. Much like mine, but with divergences.
Naturally, the origin surfaced: those three women at the cafe, asking about romance.
'Them. They sent me here.'
Goddesses, aliens, or something else—who knows. What mattered: they'd dumped me here, and I was powerless.
Helplessness washed over me. But I couldn't collapse. Somehow, I'd live as Han Minseo. Find a way home slowly. Assuming one existed.
"Adapt to this world, gather info, survive—and someday find a way back."
That was all I could do.
……………
Only task left: head home and rest. The place was on the third floor of a rundown multi-household building. Climbing the stairs, I fished out my key. But as I aimed for the lock, the doorknob turned on its own.
'...Not locked?'
My heart sank.
'Burglar?'
Dry swallow. I eased the door open. The rusty hinges creaked loudly.
"Who's there...!"
The shout died unspoken. The room wasn't ransacked. The cramped space was exactly as I'd left it. No signs of intrusion.
Instead, something else. At the entryway for shoes, on the floor. Someone prostrated there. Beside them, neatly folded luxury clothes. Black hair on the floor. Under the light, bare white skin—nothing on.
Perfect nude dogeza, forehead to floor. Motionless, more statue than living human.
And the identity of the naked woman—somehow, I knew.
Choi Seori.