A New Connection
"What’s already happened is done. Why not join in on my amusements from here on out, too?"
"...Pfft—haha, now that’s an excellent idea. Sure, why not?"
"Good. I’ll sync Jo Hajun’s memories into your brain like data. And I’ll throw in a little present, too."
"Hm? What is it?"
"You’ll find out soon enough. It’ll come in very handy."
And with that, I lost consciousness again.
---
"Hah...!"
When I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes again, it was already late at night, the sun long gone.
The sharp sting of disinfectant hit my nose.
Under the white hospital ceiling, I saw a woman looking down at me with tears on her face.
Jo Hajun’s mother—no, my mother now, Choi Yebin.
Huh. I’m back.
Maybe because the memories had been synchronized, the instant I saw her, the instincts of Kang Doyun and the memories of Jo Hajun stirred at the same time inside me.
She was in her mid-thirties, but far too sensual and voluptuous to be mistaken for an ordinary married woman.
And then Jo Hajun’s memories, the ones that had been buried in his brain, began to pour into my mind in real time—his furtive, forbidden gaze toward his mother.
Thanks to the flood of memories that came crashing down on me like lightning, I learned she wasn’t his biological mother.
She was his stepmother, the one his father had brought home when he remarried.
"Don’t cry. You’ll ruin that pretty face..."
At my voice, Mother startled and stared at my face.
"H-Hajun, you’re awake!? Why are you scaring me like that, Mom...?"
"I’m fine, Mom."
"Oh, right—look at me, I’m such a mess. I’ll go get the doctor right away, so wait just a moment!"
With Hajun’s memories surfacing so naturally, I could deal with her without awkwardness.
Seeing me wake up in the emergency room, Mom was ready to rush off and call a doctor in a panic.
For all the prejudice the words "stepmother" might have carried, she had been the kind of person who poured out more devotion than a real parent ever since she first came into the house when Hajun was little.
To someone like me, who had lived as Kang Doyun and remembered only freedom and my father’s coldness, this unconditional concern felt unbearably unfamiliar.
"I’m really fine, so you don’t need to worry."
"But you collapsed so suddenly... How am I supposed to not worry?"
"I’m telling you, I’m fine. If you’re that worried... I’m hungry, make me something delicious."
I had to distract her anxiety somehow.
If I told anyone that the soul of a thirty-seven-year-old man had moved into the body of the son she’d lived with for over a decade, nobody in the world would believe it.
So I had to act as normally as possible, like a proper son, and reassure her.
"Tsk. I’m sorry, but some things just aren’t okay. Let’s hear what the doctor has to say first."
"...Okay..."
It was already late, and the doctors had probably all gone home, but since I was in the emergency room rather than a regular ward, we were able to get a checkup from the doctor on duty.
I really did feel perfectly fine, so I could have gotten up and gone with her to see the doctor or nurse, but the look on Mom’s face said she would truly lose it if I moved, so I had no choice but to lie still.
Now that she was my mother, our Mom was the type to latch onto something in Jo Hajun’s memories and see it through to the very end.
Especially when it came to me.
Even now, she was worrying like this and still refusing to let me move, just in case there was some other problem hiding underneath.
"Doctor... my boy is really okay, right...?"
"Mm... It’s only a simple examination, but at least for now, I don’t see any problems. Still, there could always be something subtle going on, so I’d recommend getting a full checkup at a larger hospital."
"Thank you, doctor...!"
In the end, only after a simple examination and a round of the ward was I finally able to leave the hospital.
"See? I told you I was fine."
"Still... the doctor said to get tests, so I’m making an appointment and taking you to the hospital right away."
"Okay..."
Only after I gave in to Mom’s firm pressure and nodded—agreeing to schedule a detailed exam at a bigger hospital—was I finally able to go home.
A few days later, even the detailed test results came back as "no abnormalities," and only then did the hard lines on Mom’s face finally soften.
---
The moment we got home, Mom bustled around the house, and soon a delicious smell drifted from the kitchen all the way into the living room.
"Here, eat up. It’s your favorite."
"Ah..."
"What’s wrong? Don’t like it? Should I make something else?"
"No, I just think this’ll be even more delicious than usual. I’ll eat well."
Looking at the food on the table, I was secretly taken aback.
As Kang Doyun, I hadn’t especially enjoyed these dishes, but since they were Jo Hajun’s favorites, I added a small white lie and picked up my chopsticks.
The moment I took a large bite and put it in my mouth, a strange sensation ran through my entire body.
"Mm...!?"
"What is it, does it suit your taste? Should I make more?"
"Perfectly! It’s really delicious, Mom!"
Her cooking—the touch of her hands, which I hadn’t even been able to notice on my first day in this life because I’d been too dazed—hit the tip of my tongue like a blow.
It was more than just good cooking.
Had my tastes merged with Jo Hajun’s as the memories synchronized? Or was it simply that hunger was the best seasoning of all?
I emptied my bowl in no time at all, and although I had never once regretted my reincarnation, tasting this food made me think, it was almost lucky I became Jo Hajun instead.
It definitely wasn’t a flavor I had once loved, and yet my brain was insisting that it was the best thing I’d ever eaten.
My soul was still mine, but my body’s reactions were following Jo Hajun’s, and before long I fell asleep comfortably, wrapped in a fullness I hadn’t felt in ages.
----------
The next morning, after Hajun had gotten ready for school again, Yebin gave him a warm sendoff.
"Be careful on your way, honey. If you feel sick at all, call me right away!"
"Okay. Thanks, Mom."
"And... before you go, you should greet me properly, shouldn’t you?"
"Huh? Ah, right. I did forget."
Yebin always hugged the family before anyone went out.
Up until now, Hajun hadn’t known why, but in Jo Hajun’s memories, that embrace had been part of the most ordinary routine imaginable.
The difference in their sizes was so great that when Hajun hugged Yebin, she looked like she fit neatly into his arms, but he embraced her without any resistance.
"I’m heading out."
His steps were amazingly light as he left the house.
He looked around and made his way slowly toward school. It had been the same route two days ago, but now every sight along the way had fused with Jo Hajun’s memories, making it all feel intimately familiar.
He didn’t even need to find the way. The moment he stepped into the lecture hall, a voice he knew well called out to him.
"Yo, Jo Hajun!"
Kang Minjun, the guy he’d gone to the PC bang with the day before yesterday, approached with an easy grin.
Honestly, it was a little annoying.
On the outside, he was just the Hajun Minjun knew—but inside was a thirty-five-year-old man, and here was some kid barely twenty tossing out casual banter like it was nothing.
But Hajun was Hajun now, and if he was going to live in this body for the rest of his life, then he had to learn to take that sort of thing in stride.
"Yeah, I’m here."
"You feeling any better? Man, you looked so damn awful I was seriously worried."
The same bastard who’d dragged Hajun to the PC bang in the first place.
Strangely enough, the major Hajun had studied in his original life matched the one he was majoring in now.
Then Minjun jabbed him lightly in the side with an elbow.
"Hey, by the way... that girl over there. Isn’t she ridiculously pretty?"
"Who? Oh, Yujin?"
"What, you know her? You answered her name right away."
"I don’t know her that well. Just... sort of know her."
Jeong Yujin.
She was so famous for being even prettier than celebrities that nobody in the department, maybe even nobody on campus, didn’t know her name.
Honestly, saying I "sort of knew her" was a complete lie.
According to Jo Hajun’s memories, the two of them were in this strange, ambiguous stage of mutual tension, and in particular, Yujin had been desperately in love with the old Hajun for ages.
"Ah! Hajun!! I was wondering what happened since you weren’t coming to school and weren’t answering your phone!"
Just then, the subject of our conversation, Yujin, came walking toward Hajun.
The moment she arrived, Minjun was invisible to her; her worried eyes were fixed on Hajun alone.
"I just wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the hospital."
"What!? The hospital? Are you really sick? Are you okay now...?"
Sincere worry clouded Yujin’s eyes.
Just like Yebin yesterday, she was staring hard at Hajun, unable to hide her agitation.
When I had lived as Kang Doyun, nobody would have cared if I died, but now that I was in this body, the weight of people worrying about me felt strangely foreign.
"I’m really fine. They said there’s nothing wrong."
"That’s a relief... But seriously, don’t get sick!! I get worried about you..."
"I know."
"Then text me later!"
Yujin let out a relieved breath, flashed a bright little smile, and ran back to her friends.
Watching her retreating back, Hajun was overcome by a peculiar feeling.
Was it the fluttering of Jo Hajun’s memories, or the unfamiliar excitement stirring in Kang Doyun’s soul?
One thing was certain: this second life was going to be far more complicated than the first.
----------
When Yujin ran up to me and started talking, the air in the lecture hall changed in an instant.
The look in her eyes as she worried over a single word that I might be sick, as if the world itself were falling apart.
And then the transparent sincerity with which she finally let out a breath of relief when I said I was fine.
It was a kind of pure kindness I had never once received while living as Kang Doyun.
"Then text me when you’re heading home later. Promise me."
"Okay. I will."
Once Yujin confirmed that my trip to the hospital hadn’t been anything serious, she returned to her usual bright smile and went back to the group of friends waiting for her.
She couldn’t exactly tell them the truth, even if they were close friends.
Anyway, I quietly watched her back as she walked away.
Without meaning to, my chest felt a little ticklish.
But the unwanted guest who interrupted my thoughts wasn’t far away.
---