Mesugaki Streaming Day 2
Disgusting... Look at her adding haha at the end. She's totally doing that on purpose to seduce me. Just talking to her feels so gross because it seems like she's trying to hook up with me. She must be ugly... Her profile pic doesn't even show her face—just her body in a suit—so she probably looks like Shimura Ajumma.
Just wanna end this quick...
Fuck, I wanna strangle her for that haha? The more I think about it, the more I curse my past self. It's all my fault for making that dumb promise. Once tomorrow's date is over, the next day I'm taking a break and doing whatever the hell I want.
I saved the number BeastMutt gave me into my phone, and it automatically added as a KakaoTalk friend. Name: Park Jaeyeon... Her KakaoTalk profile pic was the same body-in-suit shot as her Twitch one. Really insecure about her face, huh?
I tapped her profile and sent a private message.
That damn haha... Fine, I'll let it go. She's a viewer for now, so gotta play it natural... natural...
No need to travel far—actually pretty convenient. Me, going on a date with a girl... After that Shimura Ajumma incident last time, I'd sworn off women forever, but this one's unavoidable. No more weird conditions next time...
Ugh, so fucking gross. "Jaejun-ssi? Urk... really fucking repulsive... Just wait till we meet tomorrow..."
Gurgle...
'Ah... I climbed into the fridge earlier, so I couldn't eat anything?'
I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast this morning, and my stomach was growling like mad. I had to eat something. I was already short—if I didn't eat, I'd just crash early and never grow.
"Lalala~ What's in the fridge~!"
Clunk!
Hm... nothing?
'Right... it was empty, that's why I could fit inside.'
The fridge was totally empty, so I shut the door and rummaged elsewhere. Next best spot for food storage: the kitchen drawers.
Clunk!
Nothing here either... oh, something.
Nongshim Eagle Ramen
Mild flavor—not spicy at all.
"Mild flavor, huh... Ramen like this is fine at this level."
Having food in the house felt like a godsend. Not super nutritious, sure, but I was grateful for anything.
Click!
I lit the gas stove and set the pot with water on it. The pot was all dented from years of use, and the bottom was charred black, far from its original color. So damn poor.
"Noodles first, then the seasoning packet right away... Huh?"
Sizzle!
Dunno if it was sleepiness or carelessness, but I spilled the seasoning while opening the packet. I figured it'd be fine if it went in the ramen, but unluckily, some splattered elsewhere and mixed with dust—too dirty to eat.
"Ugh... half the seasoning in mild flavor? She's telling me to die, right?"
This was unfair. No, someone must've rigged it. Yeah, this is all secretly being filmed—I'm the actor in some movie.
I desperately denied reality, but all that came back was my growling stomach and despair over my impoverished life.
I scraped the remaining seasoning into the ramen and finished cooking, but no matter how I looked at it, the ramen didn't seem edible. Tasteless mild base + half seasoning + botched water ratio.
Eat this and drop dead.
Hm... just toss it?
Groooowl... gurgle?
So hungry.
"Fine, one bite, then decide."
I picked up some noodles with metal chopsticks and shoved them in my mouth.
"?"
What?
Tasteless. No, really no taste... No salt, no sour, no sweet, no bitter—just nothing. Like dumping raw noodles in water?
My taste buds should've been super sensitive from hunger, but if it tasted this bad, how awful was it really?
Gulp.
To fill my stomach somehow, I slowly choked down the ramen. While eating, I scrolled Mitube on my phone and saw another male streamer grilling a delicious steak—blood tears welled up.
I'd made good money before coming to this world... Fucking hell...
"Sniff... slurp... sniff... this fucking sucks."
My tears were tastier than the ramen.
A familiar ceiling. I opened my eyes to the white ceiling I'd always seen, complete with sleek modern LED lights.
"Was I asleep?"
I sat up in bed, greeted by warm marble floors humming from the boiler.
Right... this was the house I'd bought grinding coins like mad. When I first got it and decorated, I was so happy I felt like I could fly.
But why did everything look lower? My height wasn't huge, but late 170s—not short by any means.
Why did I feel so small?
"Maybe I'm not fully awake... Yeah, morning coffee from the coffee pot..."
"Hello?"
Stepping into the living room, there I was—me, smiling as I sat elegantly sipping coffee.
What the? Why was I there?
"Hello, other me?"
"Other me? Who the hell are you, in my house?"
"Your house? This is my house now hehe..."
The me in the chair stood slowly, grabbed a full-length mirror from the living room, and held it up to me.
The face was similar—cuter, even—but way shorter than my original body...
"Finally notice? We switched."
"N-no way... You knew about the body swap?"
"Duh... I prayed every day and even went to a shrine."
At those words, my mind went white, and memories since the world changed flooded in: scraping by on part-time gigs, surviving on convenience store discards, catcalls and harassment on the commute, even sponsorship offers from Shimura Ajumma types.
Anger surged, but more than that, I wanted my body back.
"Please... give me my body back..."
"Why should I?"
"It's originally mine..."
"It was yours, but now it's mine... We're the same person—just different worlds, right?"
Same person, sure, but our lives were polar opposites. Pre-this-world me had family, financial backing to strike it rich on coins. This world's me? No family, zero support—barely scraping by as a fresh-out-of-school nobody.
Total opposites.
"Give it back... I hate this world... Women are all weird, no money..."
"That's why I don't wanna go. Here, I've got money, family—even women are weaker and meeker than men. Why would I switch?"
True. I hated this life and wanted out, but could I expect him—having tasted bliss after misery—to hand it over easily?
"Besides, I don't know how to switch back. All I did was pray at the shrine."
"Shrine?"
"Yeah, a shrine... It collapsed last year, but it was the one I prayed at daily."
Shrine? A spark of hope—but nope.
Despair crashed in; tears welled. Vision blurred, body went leaden... eyes drooping shut.
"Good... bye..."
"Fuck."
The first thing I saw opening my eyes: a decrepit ceiling crawling with blue mold. Hot tears streamed from my eyes.
Even after chugging water last night, my throat was parched like cracked earth; every breath felt like dust clogging my lungs.
"Fuck."
Those were the first words out of my mouth after waking.