Chapter 5: Equivalent Exchange (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 5: Equivalent Exchange (5)
The man who opened his eyes immediately scanned his surroundings.
It wasn't his own small, musty rooftop room, but a room clearly filled with luxurious things.
“D-did it work?”
It was still too early to let his guard down.
The room wasn't what was important; his face was.
He stood in front of a mirror hanging on one wall.
Instead of his pathetic face, where his features were buried in fat, a handsome middle-aged man stood in its place.
“S-Son Si-woo.”
Son Si-woo was standing beyond the mirror.
When he raised his arm, it raised its arm. When he pulled his cheek, its cheek stretched just the same.
“I-it worked. It worked!”
Only then was he certain.
His late-blooming SSS-rank ability, Equivalent Exchange.
With it, he had succeeded in stealing Son Si-woo's body!
“W-woooah!”
His body was overflowing with power.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
He was only swinging his fists lightly, but the sound of rushing wind hit his ears.
“I-is this the body of an S-rank Hunter…!”
He couldn't understand why Son Si-woo had said he envied youth.
So vibrant and powerful, was there really a need to regain his youth?
“Heh, hehehe.”
Look at this perfect physique.
A tall height of 185cm that women love, a muscular body with no discernible fat!
He was only in his mid-40s by the numbers; his body and appearance were that of a man in his prime in his early 30s.
Compared to his old self at 160cm and severely obese, this was practically ideal.
“So this is the height Son Si-woo lived at.”
Even the air quality felt different.
“It's all mine now.”
Everything Son Si-woo had enjoyed, and everything he would enjoy in the future, had become his.
The time had come to bid farewell to his wretched life and enjoy one filled with luxury!
“Ah, right.”
He immediately opened the door and left the room.
After all, there was something else he desired so much.
‘Han Ju-hee!’
Han Ju-hee.
One of the four S-rank Hunters, along with Son Si-woo.
Her specialty was annihilating hordes of enemies with all sorts of magic, earning her the nickname, the Scarlet Witch.
She held the title of Grand Mage, given to only ten of the world's top mages.
The woman who shook the hearts of countless men with her red hair and sensual looks.
‘She's here right now!’
A vast hallway and countless doors greeted him.
“Uh, which way should I go?”
It was too big. Way too big.
Was there any reason for a house where only three people lived to be this large?
“Where is she…”
He pressed his ear to each door.
If he heard nothing, he moved on.
As he was narrowing down the candidates one by one, a shadow suddenly fell over him.
“…What are you doing.”
“Gasp.”
The man, startled, stumbled back. What came into Son Si-woo's eyes was a girl wearing black dolphin shorts and a white short-sleeved t-shirt.
‘Son Si-woo's daughter!’
Son Seo-yeon.
If her mother, Han Ju-hee, was a beauty with a passionate aura, her daughter, Son Seo-yeon, was the image of a cold beauty with an icy impression.
But they had something in common.
Like mother, like daughter.
She exuded a similar sensuality to her mother.
‘To be like that at such a young age.’
The only difference was that, due to her youth, she had less of a ripe charm and more of a fresh-faced appeal.
“I asked what you're doing.”
“Uh, huh?”
Her cold voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Something was strange.
‘Why is she so cold?’
Son Si-woo had definitely said on that TV show that his daughter adored him.
“I'm asking what you're doing in front of someone else's room.”
Ah!
So this was Son Seo-yeon's room.
“Ah, s-sorry! I was just…”
“…Whatever. Move.”
“O-okay.”
He awkwardly stepped aside.
Slam!
She slammed the door shut and went inside.
“…She's really scary.”
Scarier than the school bullies who used to torment kids in high school.
He decided he should avoid her as much as possible.
“Sir, did you sleep well?”
“Ah, ah.”
Just as he was calming his startled heart, someone else approached.
A middle-aged woman in her 40s was holding a cleaning rag.
‘She must be the housekeeper.’
Perfect timing.
“Ahem, um… where is my wife?”
He did his best to imitate the way Son Si-woo spoke on TV.
“The Madam is in the study on the second floor…”
“Mm. Carry on, then.”
“Ah, yes.”
After parting with the housekeeper, Son Si-woo stood before the stairs leading down.
‘Something's weird.’
His head felt empty.
He'd been warned to be careful because a flood of memories could occur upon waking up.
But far from a flood of memories, what was this empty sensation?
‘This isn't good.’
It would be a problem if he had no memories.
An S-rank Hunter couldn't just suddenly claim to have amnesia.
“Ugh, damn it.”
It felt like something was blocking his mind.
“Ah, whatever.”
Right now, Han Ju-hee was more important than complicated thoughts.
Wasn't this the moment he would finally meet the woman he'd only ever seen on TV and the internet?
Son Si-woo went down to the second floor.
Unlike the third floor, there were only a few doors, so finding the study didn't seem too difficult.
Glancing around cautiously, he pressed his ear to a door.
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of a ballpoint pen moving came through clearly to his sensitive ears.
‘This is it.’
His heart began to pound.
Han Ju-hee was beyond this door.
The woman who had made him lovesick.
“Ahem.”
After clearing his throat, he knocked lightly on the door.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
He took another deep breath, then grabbed the doorknob and turned it.
The door opened, and his eyes fell upon the mountain of documents piled on a large desk.
And there, amidst it all, she sat.
Red hair, sharp eyes with a beauty mark beneath one, a high-bridged nose, and full lips.
Everything was the same.
The same Han Ju-hee he had seen on TV and the internet was moving vividly right before his eyes.
“What is it?”
She asked in a dry tone without even looking his way.
Son Si-woo was flustered.
“Uh, uh… W-what do you mean, what is it!”
On TV, they were a lovey-dovey couple still passionately in love, so he answered with a more proactive attitude.
“I came because I missed you.”
He tried to appeal to her using Son Si-woo's characteristic confident tone.
Surely, a moved Han Ju-hee would jump up and come to him.
As he was happily daydreaming about the best-case scenario, her voice followed.
“You've seen me, so can you leave now? As you can see, I'm busy.”
“Uh, huh…?”
What the.
This wasn't right.
The woman, who hadn't made eye contact with him once since he'd entered, lifted her head.
‘Ah, she's beautiful.’
He was falling for her all over again, finding even her dry, expressionless face—so different from her internet photos—beautiful.
“If you have no other business, please leave.”
“……”
He had been ordered to leave.
The look on Son Si-woo's face as he trudged out into the hallway was one of pure shock and horror.
“What in the world is going on…”
Every time they appeared in public, they were the most lovey-dovey couple you could imagine.
They were supposed to be.
At that moment, a small door that had been sealed in his mind opened.
“Ugh!”
A wave of dizziness washed over him.
At the same time, memories of their marital relationship surfaced.
A series of images of Han Ju-hee coldly rejecting and shunning him came to mind.
Putting it all together, their married life could be defined by two things.
Seven years sexless, a show-window couple.
“…W-what is this.”
He couldn't believe it.
Son Si-woo, the S-rank Hunter beloved by all of Korea, the "National Hunter."
Was an outcast in his own home, not even treated like the head of the household.
“N-no. This can't be…!”
This wasn't what he wanted.
He was envious of their passionate love, he stole this body because he wanted that for himself!
But it turns out that Son Si-woo was just some leftover, pushed to the brink and unable to have sex for seven years?!
“N-noooooo!”
He screamed in despair.
“Be quiet, you.”
“Dad, you're being loud.”
“Woof!”
At the cold voices of his family members coming from the second floor, the third floor, and the garden…
“Hic.”
Son Si-woo shoved his fist into his open mouth and howled silently.
*
When I opened my eyes, a cold, wet towel was resting on my forehead.
“Ugh…”
I looked around, but as expected…
The sight of a cluttered rooftop room—small, musty, and with a funky smell—greeted me.
My head was still dizzy from the memories surfacing in a jumble.
I managed to sit up halfway and saw the back of an ajumma squatting down and organizing the fridge, her figure clearly visible in a gray one-piece dress.
“Wow…”
The exclamation escaped me before I knew it.
Her large buttocks, which looked so soft my fingers would sink right into them, captivated my gaze.
The urge to touch it just once arose.
As I held back my unruly hand, the blanket rose slightly.
Shit, I got hard.
“Oh my, you're awake?”
Great timing.
The ajumma, finished with the fridge, turned around.
Not wanting to show her such an unsightly state, I quickly turned my body slightly to the side.
“Ah, Ajumma.”
The woman before me, whom I had first thought was a mature young lady, was indeed an ajumma.
A married woman at that, around the same age as my original body, with a daughter my age.
The ajumma came closer, leaned over, and placed a hand on my forehead.
The front of her cotton dress gaped open, revealing her cleavage.
Could this be some new form of torture or assault?
“Your fever's gone down. Thank goodness.”
The ajumma let out a sigh of relief.
She suddenly narrowed her eyes and gave me a light flick on the head.
“You little rascal, do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“I-I'm sorry.”
I found myself apologizing without thinking.
To be precise, the body of this naive kid, Kim Do-jin, was reacting naturally.
“You don't hurt anywhere else?”
“No, not really…”
The flood of memories was also beginning to settle into place.
Information about the ajumma in front of me also came to mind, piece by piece.
Seo Jeong-hee.
His benefactor, who had taken him in when he had nowhere to go after running away from an orphanage, charging him less than a quarter of the local rent.
Looking at her face and body, it was hard to believe, but she was a mother with a twenty-year-old daughter.
“Hmph… well, as long as you're not sick anymore. I'll let it slide this time, so you better take care of yourself, okay?”
Her expression softened as she stroked my greasy, matted hair.
How long had it been since I'd received a woman's warm touch and gentle gaze?
I felt like I could burst into tears at any moment.
“Thank you, Ajumma.”
“My, my, our Do-jin is all grown up, isn't he? He even knows how to say thank you.”
“Ha, haha.”
The original owner of this body was an idiot.
No, he is an idiot.
Someone who never leaves the house all day, cooped up in the corner of his room… what was it called?
Ah, a hikikomori.
A life of nothing but games, the internet, or TV.
I wondered how he paid rent, and it turns out he was covering it by selling items in an RPG.
An amount that was only a few hundred thousand won.
Normally, it would be impossible to live for a month on that little money, no matter how frugally. But this angelic ajumma in front of me charged him cheap rent and brought him side dishes every week, and he, ungrateful, just gobbled it all up, surviving like less than a human.
“Well, I should get going then. Don't skip meals just because you can't be bothered, you hear me?”
“Haha, yes.”
Looking at this body, it didn't seem like he skipped meals, no matter how lazy he was.
“Don't get up, just stay in bed.”
“Yep.”
Lying halfway down, I watched the ajumma's back as she left.
With every step, her large pelvis and buttocks swayed.
“Ah.”
Damn it, I'm hard again.