Nice to Meet You
I still couldn't wrap my head around the situation.
Why had I woken up in the one-room apartment I lived in back in my college days, thrown fourteen years into the past?
All of it.
Hoping it was just a dream, I pinched my cheek as hard as I could.
"Ow! Damn, that hurts."
A sharp, vivid pain shot through me.
If this was real, then I was twenty-three years old right now. I'd finished my military service, returned to school, and was right in the middle of my university years.
Just yesterday I'd been a thirty-seven-year-old corporate slave grinding away all day, and now I woke up as a college student?
The thought that something straight out of a movie had actually happened to me made my head spin.
-Riiiing! Riiiing!-
While my mind was still a tangled mess and a headache was creeping in, my phone rang. The caller was none other than Lee Hojin.
With a flicker of hope, I answered.
"Hello...?"
"What, don't tell me you just woke up?"
"No, I've been up for a little while."
I'd hoped Hojin might remember too, but his reaction made it clear he had no idea. On another note, his voice sounded incredibly young. Just yesterday it had been worn down by years in the real world.
When he mentioned we had plans, I racked my brain as hard as I could. Of course, nothing came to me. I was supposed to remember something from fourteen years ago—how was that even possible?
"Hey, uh… did we make plans to meet up today?"
"Already going senile? We set it up yesterday."
"Oh, right. Sorry. I had a really bad dream and it messed with my memory."
"Don't be late."
"Wait, where are we meeting—"
The call cut off before I could ask for the location.
"You could've at least told me the spot before hanging up. Ah, right. You probably already told me yesterday, so there was no need to repeat it."
If I dug through my memories of fourteen years ago, there was a chance I'd figure out what the appointment was and where I needed to go.
What was it again?
I thought about it like a madman for five whole minutes, but nothing surfaced. The only thing that came to mind was the usual spot where Hojin and I always met whenever we had plans.
I figured heading there first was my best bet.
I got up from the bed and looked around the room. From what I remembered, back then I'd thought scoring this one-room place was an incredible deal.
Compared to the house I'd fallen asleep in yesterday, it felt impossibly small. The desk I'd used, the major textbooks lined up on the shelf, even the computer—everything was exactly as my past self had left it.
Worried I'd be late if I kept standing there, I washed up, stepped outside, and walked slowly down the street. Even though I was clearly moving my own legs, everything felt strangely unfamiliar.
There was no way a dream could feel this vivid.
The old-school flip phone in my hand—no, by the standards of fourteen years ago, it was the latest model. It was so different from the one I'd been using yesterday that operating it felt awkward too.
While waiting for the bus at the stop, I scrolled through it. From what I recalled, I'd had a habit of keeping records even back then, so I might be able to find out all the things I'd forgotten.
"Today's plan was… a gwating. So that's what Hojin meant."
A group blind date. Such a perfectly college-aged thing to do.
As I kept fiddling with my phone while waiting for the bus, I caught my reflection in a small mirror nearby.
"…I was pretty good-looking back in college."
The stress from work and my destroyed daily routine had made me gain weight and wreck my skin. But right now, objectively speaking, I had the kind of face people would call handsome.
"How much did a guy who looked like this have to get beaten down by society to end up with that other face?"
That was when I felt an odd gaze from the side.
A woman was now standing at the bus stop that had been empty moments ago. She was staring at me like I'd lost my mind. Well, I had just been complimenting my own looks in a mirror, so I couldn't exactly blame her.
I stopped admiring my face and boarded the bus that had just arrived.
The place where Hojin and I usually met was the university main gate. Since the plan was a gwating, that seemed like the most likely spot.
I got off the bus and walked toward the gate. To my body it was somewhere I'd gone just yesterday, but to my mind it was a place from fourteen years ago. Everything felt fresh and new.
The crispness in the air, the college couples walking around, groups of friends laughing together, even the old favorite restaurants from my university days—everything hit differently.
Being thrown back fourteen years still felt absurd, but it didn't seem entirely bad.
"Hey, Han Yuchan."
"Oh, Hojin."
"At least you didn't show up super late. With that voice, I figured you'd just rolled out of bed."
"I told you I didn't sleep in."
Hojin's appearance was drastically different from the one I was used to. The deep wrinkles that had been so obvious just yesterday were gone. So was the gray hair. He looked like a proper, fresh-faced college student.
So this was what he used to look like. It had been so long I'd forgotten his old face.
"Dude, what are you wearing?"
"Why?"
"We're going to a gwating. How can you show up dressed like that?"
Since I'd only learned it was a gwating on the way, my outfit couldn't exactly be called thoughtful. I wasn't in sweats, at least. Oversized short-sleeve shirt, slacks, and a thin cardigan. That was it.
Was it really bad enough to get called out like this?
"Does it look too sloppy?"
"Not that bad… I mean, at least you didn't overdo it. It's fine."
"So when does the gwating start? I don't see the girls anywhere."
"Obviously we have to wait. We met up an hour early."
"Why meet an hour early? Ten minutes would've been enough."
"It's good to meet up ahead of time and get ready properly."
Even counting from this moment after my regression, it had been three years since we'd first met as twenty-year-olds and became friends. Yet it felt strangely awkward.
It was probably because the Hojin in my head was still the office-worker version, not the college version.
"Let's both succeed today."
"Who does a gwating hoping to 'succeed'? It's just about making connections."
"…Who are you?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"The Han Yuchan I know wouldn't say something like that."
The truth was, I didn't remember much about who I'd been fourteen years ago, so I had no idea how I was supposed to act or speak.
Had college me been the type who was obsessed with girls and desperate to date?
"The guy who swore yesterday that he'd definitely escape single life this time suddenly changed overnight. What happened?"
"Oh, did I? I don't remember."
"Han Yuchan. Are you actually senile? You've been weird ever since I called you this morning."
"I had a really bad dream and I'm still out of it. Isn't calling a twenty-three-year-old senile a bit much?"
"Oh, right. Want to borrow my cologne?"
I'd been smelling something nice for a while. So that was Hojin's cologne.
Since wearing cologne could leave a good impression, I didn't refuse. I gave myself a light spray.
"Smells good. New one?"
"Dude, you gave me this for my birthday."
"Oh, right."
"Are you sure you're not sick? You've been acting strange since last night."
"The dream must've been pretty shocking."
"What was it about?"
Should I call what happened yesterday a dream? Or was the present moment the dream?
This moment could be the dream. Or maybe the long fourteen years had been the dream.
The latter made more sense, of course.
But it was so vivid. It really felt like yesterday had been the dream.
"Let's see… what was it? It was a dream where I kept living for over ten years."
"Dude, that sounds like a movie."
"Yeah. It does feel like a movie. That's why it feels like I'm still dreaming right now."
"That's wild. Oh, they're almost here. Let's get ready."
There were about ten minutes left until we met the girls.
I still couldn't fully accept that this moment was reality, but a part of me felt like I'd returned to my innocent youth, and my heart began to race.
"The other side has two people too, right?"
"Obviously. You think I'd mess up the ratio?"
"What department are they from?"
"Both from English Education. One of them has some connection with me already. I got a chance this time."
"…English Education? What's the name of the one you're connected with?"
"Hm? Kim Yerim."
The moment I heard that name, my heart sank like a stone.
And then, naturally, the events of this day from the past flashed through my mind.
A two-on-two gwating. The other two were from English Education. And the woman who had some connection with Hojin was named Kim Yerim.
Then that meant…
"Oh? There they are. Hello."
"Hello, Hojin."
"It's been a while, Yerim."
The woman talking with Hojin looked unfamiliar at first, but gradually became familiar.
"Ah, this is the friend I mentioned last time."
"Hello, I'm Shin Yujin. Nice to meet you."
The woman who had been standing behind stepped forward. She smiled lightly and introduced herself.
A familiar face and voice.
The woman who, in my memories, was clearer and more familiar than anyone else.
She met my eyes and greeted me.