Chapter 2

“You absolutely must stay alive until I return!”

What is this, Lord of the Rings?

That was the reflexive thought that came to mind as soon as the pointy-eared handsome character appeared on screen, reciting a solemn line while dressed like a medieval knight. But it wasn’t Lord of the Rings. Not only was it a scene he had never seen before, but more importantly, the orc that appeared afterward had green skin.

If it’s greenskins, is this more like Warhammer?

It seemed to be some kind of fantasy drama, but despite the characters and directing feeling somewhat cheesy, whether it was makeup or CGI, the quality looked almost real. He had wondered if he had gone back to the past, but seeing technology like this made that seem unlikely again.

But what language is this?

Come to think of it, because it sounded so natural, he had momentarily forgotten. It was only after seeing the text indicating the broadcasting station in the upper right corner of the screen that he realized it was an unfamiliar language. He had half expected it after discovering he could read the script, but hearing an unknown language sound as natural as Korean was genuinely bizarre.

Hyuncheol quietly listened to the dialogue for a while before eventually reaching for the channel dial. The drama was cheesy, but novel enough that he wanted to keep watching. Still, gathering information came first.

As he slowly turned the dial, the screen turned gray with static before the meaningless noise abruptly stopped and another broadcast appeared.

“...they are reportedly doing everything they can to capture the culprit.”

Two neatly dressed anchors, a man and a woman standing behind a large desk, looked as though they were speaking directly to Hyuncheol through the screen. It appeared to be the news. Though the style felt somewhat old-fashioned, overall it didn’t look much different from Korean broadcasts.

But something felt off. And Hyuncheol quickly found the cause.

What is this, some kind of Halloween special?

One of the anchors, the woman, had long ears sticking upward just like the character from the drama earlier. Hyuncheol wondered whether that kind of thing was acceptable on a news broadcast, but then recalled reading an internet article about foreigners being shocked when Korean election broadcasts edited drama characters onto political candidates.

Maybe this country simply had a culture where appearing on the news in costume like that wasn’t considered a big deal. Dismissing it roughly like that, Hyuncheol continued watching for a while longer. But no information appeared that might help him figure out where he was, so he tried changing channels again, though with no results.

After hesitating briefly, Hyuncheol decided to go outside.

If he kept watching TV, he might eventually obtain useful information, but the stress of being trapped in an unfamiliar place without understanding anything was overwhelming, and he wanted to get out.

Still, I can’t just leave like this.

Suppressing the impulse for the moment, he decided to gather what he needed first. The most important thing was a key. He didn’t know whether the room’s owner existed or not, but for now, this room was the most familiar place in this unknown country and effectively his base.

Human psychology really was complicated, even to himself. Just moments ago he had desperately wanted to leave, but now that he was about to go outside, he found himself afraid he might never be able to return to this room.

The key was easy to find. It sat atop a small cabinet beside the TV stand.

And if there’s anything else I need... a wallet?

It was something he habitually carried whenever he went out. More specifically, what mattered were the money and identification inside it. Hyuncheol began rummaging through the drawers.

At first, because it was an unfamiliar room that he believed belonged to someone else, he had hesitated to do something like this. But enough time had passed without the owner appearing, and he had belatedly realized he wasn’t in a situation where he could afford to worry about manners.

Aside from a few sets of clothes, the drawers were mostly empty. Then he found a wallet inside the one beside the bed.

Inside were several bills and coins, though naturally he had no idea of their value. More disappointing was that none of the currency contained any recognizable writing. Since English was used internationally, he had expected at least a few familiar letters somewhere, so it felt strange.

There was also an identification card inside. At last, he had found a clue about the owner of this room. But the moment Hyuncheol saw the small ID photo attached to it, he froze in shock.

What the hell? That’s me.

The face in the picture belonged to Hyuncheol. It wasn’t merely similar. Hyuncheol hurriedly checked the name written underneath.

Epek Ras.

Helpful small print indicated which was the surname and which was the given name, allowing Hyuncheol to tell that Ras was the first name. It sounded Western, but the order was Eastern.

No, that’s not the important part right now.

If his own name had been printed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there, that would have been chilling enough, but seeing a completely different name beneath his own face was not something he could casually ignore either.

He stared silently at the identification card.

Come to think of it, his current face wasn’t exactly his original one, but rather the face from his younger years. Similar, but not identical. Rather than rejuvenating or returning to the past as he had first thought, maybe he had entered the body of an entirely different person who merely looked exactly like him.

But if that’s true, does that mean I possessed someone else’s body? What am I, a ghost? And calling this another person is ridiculous when we look exactly alike.

He couldn’t make sense of any of it. But once the confusion subsided somewhat, there was at least one thing he understood. The homeowner he had been wary of ever since waking up in this room was himself.

At the same time, questions arose about the real owner who had originally inhabited this body, but with no clues whatsoever, dwelling on it would only give him a headache, so he decided to think about it later.

After taking the wallet and key, Hyuncheol left the room.

Outside the door was a narrow, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠old corridor. With doors spaced intermittently along it, the place seemed to be an apartment building or some similar multi-unit housing. The structure was straightforward enough that Hyuncheol quickly found the stairs and made his way outside without much ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trouble.

Once outside and looking back, he saw that the building containing his room was a four-story apartment wrapped in green-painted brick walls that looked unfashionable and dated. Hyuncheol carefully examined the surroundings so he could find his way back later.

This definitely wasn’t Korea.

Buildings three or four stories tall, made from wood and brick, stretched along narrow roads and comparatively wide sidewalks. Though he knew little about architecture, it absolutely did not feel East Asian.

Moreover, the buildings carried such a sense of age that “elegant” suited them better than merely “old,” making it unlikely that this was some artificially constructed tourist district.

Maybe Eastern Europe?

He had no real basis for the thought, but scenes from travel programs drifted through his mind and led him there.

After hesitating for a moment, Hyuncheol began walking. Whether this place was simply another country or, as he feared, the past itself, as long as it wasn’t too ancient, there should at least be somewhere with computers, internet, or at the very least smartphones.

It wasn’t a deserted area, and before long he spotted someone approaching from ahead. Hyuncheol briefly considered asking that person to borrow a smartphone instead of wandering farther.

Tense, he watched the approaching figure carefully. He had never asked a stranger to borrow a phone before, and since this might be a foreign country, he worried the person might react with suspicion or annoyance unlike in Korea.

Then, once the stranger came close enough for his face and clothing to become clear, Hyuncheol flinched slightly. Walking toward him was a gentleman in a suit straight out of a late nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century Western film.

The suited gentleman looked to be a white man in his mid-thirties. He glanced briefly at Hyuncheol before casually passing by as though nothing were strange.

Up to that point, Hyuncheol could still dismiss it as someone with an extremely old-fashioned sense of style.

But then he saw classic cars that looked like they belonged in the early twentieth century driving along the road, making him wonder for a moment whether he truly had traveled into the past.

No way. Seriously?

Even after experiencing the surreal situation of waking up in a strange place with a different body, Hyuncheol tried to remain cautious.

Come to think of it, he had once heard that because Cuba had been cut off from international trade, its streets were filled with cars that were decades old. Perhaps this place was in a similar situation.

More than that, regardless of how unrealistic time travel sounded, Hyuncheol desperately hoped this wasn’t the past.

Naturally.

Even for people who enjoyed alternate-history novels, those were only fun in imagination. If it became reality, then aside from everything else, the lower scientific standards and inadequate social systems alone would drastically reduce quality of life. Hardly anyone would welcome that.

Driven by that hope, Hyuncheol carefully observed his surroundings while moving slowly, eager to find any proof at all that this place was modern.

But the more he looked, the more doubtful he became that this was really the present day. It wasn’t only the buildings and roads. More than anything, the clothing of the people passing by looked blatantly old-fashioned.

Baggy suspenders, stuffy-looking long skirts, hats decorated with flowers and feathers, they were outfits he had only ever seen in movies. And the total absence of modern clothing like T-shirts, jeans, or miniskirts created a strong sense of dissonance.

Hyuncheol gradually became anxious. At the same time, the thought of how he was supposed to survive if this truly was the past began flooding his mind.

Haa...

At least he hadn’t been thrown all the way back into the medieval era hundreds of years ago, but the mere thought that there might be no computers, smartphones, or internet made his chest feel tight.

Growing increasingly desperate, Hyuncheol searched for any proof that this wasn’t the past, and the first thing that came to mind was spotting someone carrying a smartphone.

What’s that?

He saw no such person. Instead, among the people walking along the street, something else caught ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his eye. More precisely, it was an unnatural color.

Green.

Not a bright primary green, but a somewhat darkened shade. At first he thought it was strangely colored clothing, but as it drew nearer, he realized it was exposed skin.

The figure wore proper dark-colored cotton pants, while the sleeves of his shirt had been roughly torn off into something like short sleeves, exposing a muscular green body through the open chest area. And his face was just as alien as his skin.

The unnaturally bulging eyes and heavily upturned nose were strange enough, but the two large crude tusks jutting upward between the massive lower jaw and thick lips could not be dismissed as mere racial differences.

And as someone who rather enjoyed fantasy stories, Hyuncheol knew a fictional race that matched such an appearance perfectly.

An orc.

Halloween? Don’t tell me it’s real.

Hyuncheol couldn’t take his eyes off the approaching orc. But no matter how closely he looked, it didn’t seem to be a costume or makeup. He briefly wondered if it was simply makeup so elaborate he couldn’t tell, but unless this was a Hollywood filming set, there was no reason for someone to walk around a street dressed like that.

But perhaps because he stared too openly, their eyes met.

At that moment, he should have quickly looked away, but the displeased expression appearing on the orc’s face felt so vividly alive that it seemed impossible for it to be makeup, and Hyuncheol found his gaze involuntarily locked in place.