Chapter 6: Equivalent Exchange (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 6: Equivalent Exchange (6)
Now that I was alone, a question naturally came to mind.
Why?
The answers to the endless parade of ‘whys’ were all dormant within this body's memories.
I slowly went through the process of how he came to the decision to swap bodies.
“This guy is a complete psycho.”
I couldn't help but curse that bastard.
The bastard wanted to steal my body because it was the body of my wife, Han Ju-hee's, husband.
All so he could do this and that with my wife.
“Heh.”
At first, I felt like my blood was boiling.
How dare he go after my wife?! I was about to go find the bastard and grab him by the collar, but…
I couldn't.
“Status Window.”
[Status Window]
Name: Kim Do-jin
Sex: Male
Age: 20
Height/Weight: 160cm/120kg
[Strength: 5] [Stamina: 2] [Agility: 2] [Mana: 1]
Trait:
[A trade established by the Trait, Equivalent Exchange, is currently active.]
Mutual Non-aggression [2022.06.09]~[2025.12.31]
Disclosure Prohibition [2022.06.09]~[2025.12.31]
“Hah…”
From every angle, this whole thing was a spectacle.
The first things that stood out were the age, height, and weight.
“Twenty years old.”
An age where just saying it out loud felt like it could resurrect dead dreams and hopes.
It might have been a forced exchange, but I couldn't be happier about being in a twenty-year-old's body.
The short height of 160cm and the ridiculous weight of 120kg were concerning, but it wasn't an unsolvable problem, so I decided to let it slide for now.
The second spectacle was the stats.
Pathetic stats, not a single one even reaching double digits.
“I can understand the Mana being 1…”
Mana is supposed to start at 1 unless you have a magic-related Trait.
No, I could grit my teeth and overlook the other stats too.
All except for one: Stamina.
“How in the world does someone end up with 2 Stamina…?”
I remembered a Hunter who, after a long career, had retired to live in nature and was on his deathbed.
He was like an uncle to me, had taught me so much since I was young, so I went to see him off on his final journey. He told me then.
That when his time came, his Stamina stat had dropped to 1.
Seeing that this kid's Stamina was 2, wasn't this a sign that if he'd kept living like this, he would have died soon?
“Incredible, truly incredible.”
If the bastard were here, I'd feel like giving him a round of applause.
He wasn't seriously ill or born with any defects; he was born perfectly healthy, but he dropped his Stamina this low with a shitty lifestyle of only eating, sleeping, and playing games!
At this point, shouldn't this be recognized as an achievement?
“And the amazing thing is, all of this was just the appetizer.”
The main course was the Trait and the ridiculous trade conditions listed below it.
The SSS-rank ability that had belonged to this body's original owner was gone without a trace.
“In all my life, I've never seen an empty Trait slot.”
An Awakened Being with no Trait.
It was like a steamed bun without the red bean paste, a rice puff with no filling, a crab with no roe.
“Why the hell did this bastard throw away an SSS-rank Trait to take my body?”
I knew. It was because of my wife.
Still, I just couldn't understand it.
“My wife is beautiful, sure, but not this beautiful…”
Han Ju-hee.
A truly beautiful and capable woman.
Natural beauty, immense mana, and diligent self-care.
With all three in perfect harmony, she was on par with a beauty in her twenties, despite being in her mid-forties. That much was true.
But still…
Objectively speaking, were there women more beautiful than her? Plenty.
There were quite a few in Korea, and if you searched the world, you'd find even more.
“Hah, with an SSS-rank ability, he probably could have become the world's number one Hunter.”
While a bunch of guys with mere S-rank Traits were fighting tooth and nail for the top spot, an SSS-rank appears?
With just a little growth, wouldn't he have been able to sort out the hierarchy in an instant?
If that happened, all the beautiful women in the world would be flocking to him just to get a glimpse of his face.
He gave all that up and stole my body for one woman, Han Ju-hee.
“At this point, should I acknowledge it as pure love?”
Pure love, my ass.
One moment it seems poignant, the next it's infuriating. I couldn't shake the thought that this body's original owner was an idiot.
“He probably just had tunnel vision and wasn't thinking straight.”
Anyway, it was a shame, and it was frustrating.
If that SSS-rank Trait were still here, within five years, I could have grabbed that Yankee Hunter bastard who's clinging to the world's number one spot by the collar and forced him down to second place.
Anyway.
I was worried I'd have to live without a Trait, but thankfully, that wasn't the case.
The empty Trait slot was so strange that I poked it, and a series of peculiar messages popped up.
[An excessive trade was established while the ability had not fully settled into the physical body.]
[The Trait has been deleted due to a severe discrepancy between the soul and the body.]
[Searching for a new Trait suitable for the user.]
[All future actions may have a significant impact on the Trait search.]
[Time Remaining: ???]
In short, it was telling me to wait while it found a new Trait because this damn body and soul didn't match.
It also added a warning that my future actions could change the Trait, so I should be careful.
Seeing the remaining time displayed as ‘???’ meant I had no idea how long I'd have to wait.
I guess I'd just have to wait with a bit of patience.
I was forced to bide my time.
Because of the trade conditions written at the very bottom of the Status Window!
“Meticulous in the weirdest ways, this kid.”
Mutual Non-aggression and Disclosure Prohibition.
In other words, don't even think about coming to see him, and don't go blabbing to others about the body swap.
I wondered what would happen if I ignored it and decided to pay him a visit, but a message immediately popped up.
[The Mutual Non-aggression condition is active.]
[Encountering with clear intent will be considered a breach of contract.]
[Violation will result in death.]
[In case of an accidental encounter, it is recommended you pass by without acknowledgment.]
Simple, clear, and terrifying.
This was basically saying he'd kill me the moment I went to confront him.
It even said to pretend not to know him and walk past if we met by chance.
“My big mouth.”
This all happened because of what I said to the kid.
He'd asked out of the blue what I thought about swapping bodies, and I just wanted to give some encouragement to a young man who clearly had low self-esteem.
So I told him that youth was far more valuable than my body, and that became the root of the problem.
Because of those words, my body's value fell below his, and to make up for that difference, he was able to tack on all those ridiculous conditions.
“This means I have to live in this body for at least three years…”
Three years, at a minimum.
And even that was just when the trade conditions expired. It was more accurate to see it as the time I had to wait until I could finally face him and talk.
“Hmm.”
It was a strange feeling.
This was a body I was forced into after having my own stolen.
I should have been feeling wronged.
“Ah, why do I keep smiling?”
I just couldn't wipe this smile off my face!
“Uhehehehe!”
In my original body, though nothing was written down, there were so many things I wasn't allowed to do.
I was practically an icon among Hunters, so I had to act with decorum wherever I went.
Could I be free at home, then? Not a chance.
Even just walking around shirtless would earn me a nagging about how undignified I was being.
Laughing frivolously like this would have been the same.
They would have hounded me like crazy, saying I needed to have the dignity and grace befitting the upper class.
“Ah, seriously. I don't want to live in a body like this.”
A body with no merits other than being twenty years old.
To think I have to live in this pathetic body, ridiculously fat and out of breath after just a short walk!
“Haa, what can I do? A contract is a contract…”
He said he'd kill me if we met, so what choice did I have?
I just had to bear it and live.
“Twenty years old.”
The words of those S-rank Hunter bastards, who lived the complete opposite life to mine, rang in my ears.
They'd ask, what's the crime in living according to your desires?
“There isn't one, nope.”
The world where expressing your desires was a sin was long gone.
I had to admit it.
I hated them simply because I was jealous of those bastards who freely enjoyed the things I couldn't.
I hated them because I'd be damned if I admitted how pathetic I looked, eating alone at a large dining table after working my ass off clearing dungeons.
But now, things were different.
Unlike my old body, which was filled with only small desires like ‘what if?’, this body was practically boiling over with all kinds of desires.
But that didn't matter.
I no longer had to consider those desires sordid and suppress them.
Why?
“Because this body has no wife and no daughter!”
Was I not worried about my wife and daughter, who would now be living with a man with a different soul inside? Nope, not worried.
A wife who hadn't let me touch her in seven years, a daughter who avoided meeting me altogether.
The two of them would be too busy pushing him away to even notice the person inside had changed.
“Poor bastard.”
I suddenly felt a pang of pity for the guy who stole my body.
He probably decided to swap bodies because he saw us acting like a lovebird couple at official events.
What's he to do?
“He must have realized it by now.”
That we were a couple who barely exchanged a single word a day.
Was he screaming? Was he struggling desperately?
Either way, it didn't matter.
“Because I've already tried it all.”
I knew it was useless.
I'd cried in front of those two women, and I'd pleaded with them earnestly.
But it didn't work at all.
Instead, they reprimanded me, asking why I was trying to paint them as the bad guys.
I'll be honest about how I feel.
“On second thought, I shouldn't call him a bastard. I should call him The Person.”
An aging body, and the countless responsibilities and duties hidden behind the name of fame.
A life under such scrutiny that even spitting on the street would immediately make the news.
He took all of that and gave me youth and freedom.
“Thank you, Mr. Son Si-woo.”
I estimated the direction of my house and, with my heavy body, performed a deep, formal bow.
“Please, live well. Don't long for the past. I'll pray for you often.”
I could only hope.
That such a life was one that suited the constitution of that bastard… no, of The Person.
Perhaps because of the absurd experience, my eyes began to feel heavy.
My time thinking as Son Si-woo ended tonight.
After my eyes closed completely and I fell fast asleep, when I greeted tomorrow's morning…
“I am Kim Do-jin… I am Kim Do-jin…”
I would live under the name Kim Do-jin.
I'd throw away the pretense of being a good person.
A life for others? I wouldn't even give that to the dogs; I'd toss it in the trash.
I was going to enjoy everything I wanted to do, everything I desired, and I would live to satisfy every last one of my desires.
“Ah, shit.”
Why was I crying while vowing to start a new life?
Just for one last time, I wanted to see my wife and daughter's faces.
What was so great about those cold-hearted women that I wanted to see them while I was vowing to make a fresh start?
I didn't even know my own heart.
From now on, in this body, I was going to find out.
And just like that, rapidly, I fell… asleep….