The Eternal Single (1)
Kang Tae-san pressed his loose mask firmly against his face once more.
He knocked carefully on the closed front door one more time.
“I’m here to clean. Sir.”
Only then did hurried footsteps sound from inside, and the door opened to reveal a man.
The man, wearing a stretched-out tank top that reached down to his chest and baggy shorts whose original color was impossible to guess, bowed his head politely to Tae-san.
“Ah, sorry about that. I was gaming and didn’t notice you’d arrived.”
“It’s fine. You’re Mr. Lee Jae-yoon, correct?”
Stepping through the ivory-toned middle door into the apartment, Tae-san was greeted not by the pristine living room one might expect from a newly built apartment bathed in sunlight through the floor-to-ceiling windows, but by a rather messy space filled with dust and trash in every corner.
Still, it wasn’t quite on the level of the trash-filled homes he had cleaned before.
The place was spacious for a single-person household, and the resident’s habit of neglecting cleaning was plainly visible everywhere.
“My routine is pretty simple—just home and work—but I’ve been working so much overtime lately that I haven’t had time to clean. It’s pretty messy, right?”
Lee Jae-yoon scratched his matted hair like a magpie’s nest, wearing an awkward smile as if he felt some embarrassment about the state of the place.
“Not at all. It’s not that bad. Besides, this is what I do for a living. Haha.”
Following Lee Jae-yoon’s guidance, Tae-san surveyed the cleaning hotspots. There were three rooms and two bathrooms. Aside from the bedroom and the storage room, only one space was relatively tidy.
It was clearly the room where Lee Jae-yoon spent the most time: a high-end ergonomic chair and a sturdy steel-framed gaming desk. On the desk sat a monitor the size of a small television, and behind it, a computer tower with a water-cooling system glowed in multiple colors, its complex wiring proudly on display.
“This room is surprisingly clean.”
“Yeah, I just bought a new computer and dust is the absolute worst for it. I never eat or leave trash in here.”
“Haha… I see. I’ll be extra careful when cleaning this area.”
When Tae-san estimated the cleaning would take about two hours, Lee Jae-yoon said he planned to head to a PC café and asked Tae-san to call him when he was done. With that, he left the apartment.
Now alone in the spacious thirty-two-pyeong newly built apartment, Tae-san placed his hands on his hips and rolled up his sleeves.
“The place is big, but I’m glad I brought that along.”
He opened the bag he had brought and took out a palm-sized circular object. Its matte black metal surface and mechanical design made it look more like a wireless speaker than a cleaning tool, but the “Smile” company logo was clearly stamped in the center.
The identity of this new cleaning tool was surprisingly a robot vacuum cleaner.
Its official product name was [Podeuki 2000], and the description read:
[Podeuki 2000]
A small miracle in your daily life ^^
Podeuki 2000 is the world’s first dimension-purifying ultra-compact cleaner equipped with Smile’s spatial transmission technology!
Autonomous sensor-based 3D cleaning that even handles fine dust!
Clean with Podeuki 2000.
※ Mind-purification mode added.
Before running the robot vacuum, Tae-san decided to clear the trash scattered across the living room first. He pulled out one of the generous supply of goblin bags he had brought for today’s cleaning and opened a 100-liter one.
Whoosh—
In an instant, snack wrappers, beverage cans, and disposable delivery containers that had been lying on the sofa and carpet were sucked straight into the bag.
Without needing to bend over even once, Tae-san disposed of the living room trash with ridiculous ease. He then set the robot vacuum, Podeuki 2000, down on the floor.
When he pressed the power button, a light beep sounded and the cleaner lit up. After confirming it was working properly, Tae-san put on his rubber gloves and opened another trash bag.
“I’ll start with the kitchen.”
When he opened the refrigerator, he found old water bottles, coffee cans, and side-dish containers of unknown age. The moment he lifted a lid, a sour smell rose up.
“Whoa… this expired over a year ago.”
Tae-san grimaced and quietly closed the lid before tossing the whole container into the goblin bag. Once everything was dumped inside, the bag would handle collection and sorting automatically, making it perfect for dealing with the unappealing kitchen trash.
After stuffing most of the refrigerator’s contents into the bag, he moved to the sink. A faint layer of grime clung to it. Tae-san submerged all the piled-up dishes in water and began scrubbing them one by one with a sponge.
While washing the dishes, he glanced toward the living room. Podeuki 2000 was circling beneath the carpet. Despite its small size and near-silent operation, every spot it passed over was left spotless, not a speck of dust remaining.
“Whoa, Smile products really are the best.”
If items like this were sold outside the Smile welfare mall, they would have swept every cleaning and invention award imaginable.
“Wait, there’s no dog here, so where’s all this fur coming from?”
While cleaning the rooms the robot hadn’t reached yet, Tae-san shook his head at the fur scattered across the floors.
After finishing the bathroom cleaning with the miracle showerhead he had brought along, Lee Jae-yoon’s apartment looked as pristine as if it had just been moved into.
“Cleaning really is all about the tools. Never skimp on cleaning equipment.”
Of course, the cost had been paid in Smile welfare points rather than cash, but thanks to his growing collection of professional-grade tools, the cleaning had finished quickly despite his relaxed pace.
With roughly an hour left, Tae-san, now accustomed to the experiences that followed each cleaning, checked the time and sank comfortably onto the now-spotless living room sofa, leaning back against the cushions. He closed his eyes leisurely, and the familiar voice of the Smile app flowed out.
Client Lee Jae-yoon’s house cleaning has been completed.
Experiencing the life of ‘Mossol Lee Jae-yoon’.
Lee Jae-yoon had always been considered a genius student. Even though he had never stopped playing games since childhood, he had rarely lost the top spot in his class or even his entire school. Though he spent less time studying than his peers because of gaming, his excellent grades came from his “photographic memory” technique—storing text and information in his brain like photographs.
It wasn’t a superhuman ability worthy of television, but simply being able to memorize textbook material more easily and quickly than others had always kept his grades high.
Normally, someone with such an exceptional mind would pursue law or medical school to secure both wealth and prestige. Yet despite scoring high enough on the college entrance exam to enter medical school, Lee Jae-yoon had deliberately chosen computer engineering and enrolled at Seoul National University’s College of Engineering.
While Seoul National University’s engineering program was excellent, his parents regretted that he had chosen a technical career as a developer instead of the more prestigious paths of doctor or judge.
“Ahem, Jae-yoon, with your scores you could get into medical school right away. Do you really have to go to engineering school?”
“Jae-yoon, Mom doesn’t mind if it’s not medical school. But what about law school? Your uncle is in the legal field, so surely…”
“Mother, Father, I’m sorry. I’ve already decided on engineering school.”
When his parents asked the determined young man why, his answer was simple.
“I want a job where I can avoid meeting people as much as possible.”
No matter how brilliant his mind or memory, what good was it when simply talking to someone made him freeze up and unable to meet their eyes? That was why he had immersed himself in games. Because facing people in reality felt inherently difficult, he built relationships through the monitor in another dimension. For him, games had become life, and life had become games.
That was why careers like doctor or judge—professions that required constant human interaction—had never been options for Lee Jae-yoon.
All his friends were people he had met through games. Had he ever had a proper relationship?
He hadn’t.
At thirty-five years old, Lee Jae-yoon had never had a single girlfriend.
Did that mean he had no interest in women?
No.
Like any healthy young man his age, he had plenty of interest in the opposite sex and harbored the modest dream of experiencing romance at least once. Yet the reason he remained a mossol at thirty-five was a combination of low self-esteem and an almost nonexistent sense of social awareness.
“Jae-yoon sunbae, thanks to the exam notes you gave me, I think I did really well on this test.”
“Huh? Oh… y-yeah.”
After returning from military service and resuming his studies, Lee Jae-yoon had once given his exam notes to a freshman who asked for them.
“What did it mean when you gave me those notes?”
“I-I didn’t need them anymore since I’d already taken the class…”
She was the freshman with the fresh makeup and neat short haircut who had been Lee Jae-yoon’s first love. She had been the one to approach him first.
“Let me treat you to a meal to say thank you. How about dinner tonight?”
“Dinner tonight… I already have plans.”
“Hmm, then how about tomorrow?”
Up to that point, even Kang Tae-san could see that the conversation had the potential to lead to a date. But then—
“Our engineering department is in the middle of the Kairos Perkle raid right now, so tomorrow’s probably impossible too.”
“What? Our department has a Kairos what? I don’t think we have any events or classes like that.”
Lee Jae-yoon answered with startling honesty.
“It’s the name of the new boss monster that was added to ‘Lost Land’ yesterday.”
“Ah… I see…”
His reasoning was simple: first, he shouldn’t lie to the girl he liked, and second, prior commitments always came first.
Kang Tae-san had experienced all kinds of bizarre lives through cleaning, but Lee Jae-yoon’s life made his teeth grind in a different way.
‘God, this is so frustrating.’
Having lived his entire life isolated in the internet world, staring at a narrow monitor, Lee Jae-yoon’s social skills were severely lacking, and he was full of strange, rigid beliefs. Of course, he had meaningful connections even within games. He was especially close to a guild member nicknamed “YourGirlfriend,” who was also a college student and the guild’s vice-master. Their playtimes aligned, and they got along well during voice chats.
But when they finally met in real life at a guild gathering, Lee Jae-yoon immediately stepped back when the guild master “Alpamil” showed interest in “YourGirlfriend.”
When she gestured for him to join her for ice cream, he replied, “I don’t like sweet things,” and Tae-san felt the urge to smack his own head in exasperation.
After spending his twenties this way and reaching his mid-thirties, all Lee Jae-yoon had left was an impressive resume—graduating from a top university and landing a job at a major corporation—and dozens of max-level game characters that were even more impressive than his resume.
Lonely?
Loneliness was an emotion only felt by those who had never truly experienced it. He had never felt lonely for even a single moment.
After finishing the experience of client Lee Jae-yoon’s life, Kang Tae-san opened his eyes with a deep sigh. Unlike before, there was no pain from horrific memories. Instead, he rose with a bittersweet feeling toward the man who had lived as a mossol, along with an abundance of useless gaming knowledge.
Shortly after sending the message that cleaning was complete, Lee Jae-yoon returned home.
“Ah, thank you for your hard work!”
As if he had urgent business, Lee Jae-yoon rushed into his room, immediately turned on his computer monitor, and logged into his game.
Tae-san considered suggesting that Lee Jae-yoon try living differently—perhaps quitting games for a while and meeting people in real life—but something felt different from the situation with Sun-il.
No one had ever tormented Lee Jae-yoon, and he had never harmed anyone either. Offering unsolicited life advice to someone like that didn’t suit Tae-san’s style. Besides—
“Phew! That was close. I almost missed the raid start time!”
Lee Jae-yoon looked happier than ever as he played his game.
After finishing packing his things, Tae-san gave Lee Jae-yoon one final farewell before leaving.
“Sir, I’ll be heading out now.”
“Yeah, yeah, heal me right now. The next pattern has an instant-kill floor attack. Everyone be careful!”
Watching Lee Jae-yoon wearing his headset with the most lively and happy expression Tae-san had ever seen, Tae-san nodded and stepped out the door.
‘As long as the person themselves is happy, isn’t that enough?’
This cleaning job hadn’t been particularly burdensome in any sense.