A Second Life

*All characters, organizations, products, incidents, accidents, and episodes appearing in this novel are fictional creations of the author and have no relation to reality. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.*

The classic Korean MMORPG Unknown Universe, steeped in pay-to-win excess, was known simply as Un-non. Anyone who played it long enough would end up meeting every kind of human being imaginable.

There were scammers thick on the ground, women-obsessed lunatics, and, on the other side of the same coin, net-kamas pretending to be women so they could fleece those lunatics for their money.

Even though the game was built around exploring a vast universe and roaming planets with all kinds of strange characteristics, with a structure that ought to have felt hopeful, the users inside it seemed like a landfill of people society had thrown away and left to rot.

Among them, I was the most deranged of the lot. I lied my ass off, pretending I was rich from crypto, and blew money on cash-shop purchases until I’d piled up debt I could no longer handle.

Would you believe a young person owing over 700 million won? What would you do if all of it had been borrowed in a chain from third-tier lenders?

If this were a game, I’d have deleted the character already. The same went for life, if you thought of it as a game. So today, I was going to put an end to mine.

Everything was ready. On the rooftop of the one-room apartment where I lived, the night sky felt darker than usual.

I hadn’t expected my life to end in such an empty, pathetic way. It was all because of Un-non. In my next life, I hoped I’d be able to escape that damn game.

***

"Mm...?"

Light stabbed at my eyes. Was it already morning? I’d been about to go back to sleep, but the birds chirping kept getting on my nerves, so I forced my eyes open.

I pulled the blanket aside and sat up on the bed, and immediately there was something off about my eye level, something strangely alien and wrong.

At times like this, the usual thing to do was remember what I’d done the day before. I’d drunk a ton and tried to make an extreme choice. So that was it. You idiot. At the critical moment, you got scared and came back down instead.

Still, overcoming the instinct to survive couldn’t have been easy.

My life hadn’t been something I’d chosen to be born into, and even moving through it as I wished had always been this hard.

Born an orphan from the start, and stupid on top of that, I’d always had people pointing fingers at me. Even when I acted fine on the outside, my insides were rotting away, and I’d needed something to relieve the stress.

That was why I’d thrown myself into Unknown Universe. That had been the problem. I shouldn’t have started it at all.

"Aah. What am I going to do with my life... hup!"

What was that? A woman’s voice? Was someone else in the house? A thief? Someone was breaking into this mildew-soaked, rent-late one-room apartment?

"Who’s there--!"

Only then did I realize the woman’s voice I’d heard for the first time was my own. What the hell.

I raised my hand and looked at it. A pair of skinny little hands came into view. I hurriedly lifted my phone and used the screen as a mirror. The phone in my hand felt absurdly large today.

"What the hell."

Why did my face look like this? No, was it even my face?

A cute little face, matching those tiny hands I’d just seen, was staring back at me from the screen. Had I somehow opened the wrong thing on my phone?

I dropped the phone and ran for the bathroom. I needed to see better in the mirror. But because I was so short, it was hard to get a proper look.

Jesus. I tipped over the laundry basket full of water and used it like a step stool to check the mirror. Even then, I was so small that all I could really see was my face. But that was enough to leave me stunned. Black hair falling to my waist, black eyes...

"What in the world is this."

Even my voice was sweet and delicate. How could this be me? No, how could this happen? I came out of the bathroom and searched the place carefully. Then I found the familiar wallet of mine and pulled out the ID card.

"Huh."

According to the card, my name was Kim Haru. My original name had been changed to something feminine, and apparently this was now my name. I was twenty-two years old.

The face on the card was that same petite girl I’d just seen, and beyond the fact that my body looked far too young to be twenty-two, why was this me?

Unable to accept it, I replayed everything from last night up until the moment I woke up today.

I couldn’t handle the 700 million won debt I’d racked up because of Unknown Universe, so I was going to ki-- wait. Then what about my account? Was it still there?

I really was a lunatic. Even after my body had changed like this, I was worrying about my game account first. But a thing was a thing, and curiosity was curiosity.

I’d spent over ten million won building that account. If it vanished overnight, I’d regret it like hell. I immediately dragged this tiny body to the PC bang.

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Inside my usual PC bang, was my old self completely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠erased? Even the owner, who always used to chat with me, was looking at me like he’d never seen me before.

And with this baby-faced look, I naturally drew everyone’s attention. But right now, their stares didn’t matter. I claimed a seat at once.

The chair and desk were the same as ever, but for some reason they felt huge. It was a little uncomfortable, but I didn’t have time to care. I typed in the PC bang ID I’d always used.

That was the first bad sign. Even so, I didn’t give up the last shred of hope and logged in as a guest. Then I launched Un-non.

The login screen appeared, and a wistful background track began to play. I swallowed hard for no reason and forced my trembling hands to still. One by one, I typed my ID and entered my password.

"..."

Click!

Had there ever been a more nerve-wracking Enter key in my life? It was scarier than enhancing an item.

It was loading?

Was it there? Even though my body had changed, had the account itself survived?

"No, fucking hell, my account!"

My unfamiliar high-pitched shout made everyone turn to look at me. The PC bang owner came over and asked,

"W-what's wrong, kid? Calm down."

"Um. Mister. Could you maybe help me find a PC bang account?"

"Sure. What’s the name?"

"Do you happen to know the name Kim Minjun?"

There was no way the old man wouldn’t know. We’d been talking right up until yesterday. And yet the answer that came back was devastating.

"Never heard of it. No ID either."

"Ah..."

Despair washed over me. Had my entire life been turned inside out? How was I supposed to live in this body, one I couldn’t even use for day labor?

Huh? Wait a second. Then what about my debt?

I hurriedly checked my phone.

Gone! Wow. I’d thought I was finished because my junk had disappeared and my account was gone too, but my debt had vanished along with them. For a moment, it felt like I’d made hundreds of millions of won.

I was so happy I felt like I could fly.

"Heehee."

"Honey, are you really okay? Your parents..."

"I’m an adult."

"An adult...?"

"Here’s my ID."

Only then did he nod.

"Sorry for startling you for no reason. I’ll be going."

"Ah... yes."

Had sunlight ever felt this welcome before?

I had no idea what had happened, whether God had pitied me and given me a second chance or what, but one thing was certain: from now on, my life was going to be full of pink, sparkling happiness.

Still, now that my Un-non account was gone, I felt a little disappointed. Maybe I should just spend a little and start over? It was basically the same as having made 700 million won, right? If I dropped just 1 million won, that’d be no different from making 699 million won.

By that logic, couldn’t I just spend ten million won and be done with it?

If I spent ten million, I could do everything I wanted and still have 690 million left...

"Ah."

Come to think of it, I didn’t have a single won on me right now. Thinking about it, was the game even the problem? I didn’t even have money to buy a meal. And just then, a message suddenly appeared in front of me.

"What the hell."

The people smoking outside the PC bang didn’t seem bothered at all. In other words, this message was probably visible only to me.

Well, sure. If the situation had already turned me into this tiny adult girl out of nowhere, then I shouldn’t be surprised by anything else.

A greater leap forward. Right. Thanks.

I didn’t know what the hell it meant, but thanks to it I’d escaped hell. Becoming a woman was shocking, sure, but I’d do my best to live properly. As for Un-non, I’d spend only up to ten million won and keep it casual. But the message didn’t end there.

Insight?

Interesting. In life, how important your luck is goes without saying. For instance, I’d grown up without parents under a rotten orphanage director, so I’d had more than my share of hardship. The reason I occasionally slipped into rough language was probably that, too. That wasn’t the end of the traits, either.

Goddess of Luck's Blessing?

Tip. The more you forge your own fate without relying on the blessing, the higher the chance of being favored by it.

My life had always been unlucky. Especially when it came to things like game enhancement, while other people would succeed at average costs, I always had to spend two or three times as much to get the same result. Fickle or not, the fact that the Goddess of Luck would help me was already reassuring.

There were even quest-like things. Amazing. If this had happened to me before, I’d never have believed it, but once someone turns you into a woman out of nowhere, you end up listening no matter what nonsense they say. But the Goddess of Luck was fickle, right? How was I supposed to know when it would activate?

"H-huh?"

Just like that? If we’re talking luck, then lottery tickets were the obvious answer. My second life had barely begun, and I was going to sit on a pile of money right out of the gate. There was a convenience store not far from the PC bang. Time was still on my side, but I got excited for no reason and ran.

Unfortunately, my body was as frail as it looked, and I was gasping for air in less than two minutes, so I slowed to a walk.

"Welcome--"

"Haa... haa. Excuse me. Lottery tickets. Just one of those scratch-off tickets."

"I’m sorry, but for minors..."

I didn’t have time to explain. I handed over my ID along with the cash. Thankfully, I still had some money left after buying alcohol and snacks last night.

Three minutes left.

I took a seat in the convenience store and scratched the ticket. The result was???

"Five thousand won..."

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Only that much?

So that was the Goddess of Luck’s Blessing. Why was it only five thousand won? Come to think of it, the luck grade had been the lowest. Was that why?

Still, incredible. Five thousand won was five thousand won. This was my first lottery win ever. I’d made a net profit of four thousand won. A good start.

A second life...

What should I do with this body? It was kind of a youthful, cute face, sure. But once I actually tried to do something, my height got in the way, and I had no idea where to start.

***