Chapter 73: How Many Kilograms Can You Lift?-1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 73: How Many Kilograms Can You Lift?-1
The sunlight filters in. A beam of light, having found an exquisite gap in the curtains, stabs at my eyes.
The brightness makes them ache. I try to turn my head away, but I’m already awake.
"Ugh, damn it..."
A splitting headache, a pasty mouth, and a bloated stomach.
The triple threat of misery makes it impossible to go back to sleep, no matter how much I want to. My back aches too, probably from lying on the hard floor for so long.
I push myself up into a sitting position, my body letting out an involuntary groan of creaks and cracks.
"Did I possess a body that’s about to kick the bucket?"
My raspy voice isn't exactly pleasant to the ear.
Scratching my itchy back, I look around. I’m sitting in a house that is a total disaster zone.
Soju and beer bottles are tipped over, booze leaking from their necks. There are half-chewed squid legs, discarded snack bags everywhere, and crumbs sticking to my skin.
A heavy layer of belly fat restricts my movement. My body feels sluggish.
As I slowly scan the room to get a handle on the situation, a familiar sound rings out.
Ding!
[Number of Dimension Transfers: 5]
[Reason for Death in Previous Dimension: Straight Punch]
"She certainly sent me off cleanly."
True to my request, Master must have smashed my head in before I could even feel the pain.
My connection with her is over now.
We’d grown close, so there’s a lingering sense of regret, but I feel pretty good knowing I did something meaningful, unlike in my previous dimensions.
I landed a solid hit on that damn Namgung So-yeon. I’ll have to cherish that memory.
Now, I need to tuck those awesome memories from the previous world away in a box labeled 'Past' and adapt to this new world I’m settling into.
"It’s Korea."
I feel a wave of relief seeing the familiar Hangul printed on a snack bag.
It won't take long to adjust. The Murim world was great and all, but the internet, the toilets—everything was just so inconvenient. It was a bit difficult for a modern person like me to fully adapt.
"Hup..."
I try to stand up, brushing the crumbs off my body, but my entire frame screams in protest.
I didn't realize just standing up could be such a chore.
I look for the bathroom to check out the person I’ve possessed this time. It takes opening a few different doors before I finally find it.
"Hmm..."
A middle-aged man stares back at me from the mirror.
Every time I’ve transferred to another dimension, I’ve possessed someone with a fairly decent face, so this is a huge disappointment.
To put it nicely, he’s unattractive. To put it bluntly, he’s in a truly, truly terrible state.
A patchy, half-grown beard; greasy, out-of-style shaggy hair; a thick double chin and a protruding gut...
"So this is my body now."
I turn this way and that, pinching the excess fat. I can grab a whole handful of it at a time.
Leaving the bathroom, I take another look at the house. The place is a wreck.
It’s not just the living room where I woke up; the kitchen is swarming with fruit flies because the takeout containers haven't been cleared away.
It seems I live alone; the spare rooms are covered in a thick layer of dust.
Aside from the mess, the house is actually quite spacious and clearly high-end. It’s definitely the kind of place a commoner like my old self could never even dream of owning.
"Looks like he had some money."
I mutter to myself, kicking the trash into a pile.
Normally, my priority would be figuring out who this person is, but...
"Ugh, it’s a pigsty..."
The first thing I need to do is clean the house.
*
"Ah, that’s better!"
After a thorough cleaning of the house and a shower, a wave of refreshment washes over me.
I must have been filthy for a long time, because the difference between my pre-shower and post-shower self is night and day.
First, I used a razor to clean up the beard, and I even plucked the awkward hairs growing on my chest with tweezers.
I lathered up with plenty of body wash and scrubbed every nook and cranny—especially the skin folds—until that weird, funky smell finally vanished.
I scrubbed my hair and scalp so hard with shampoo it felt like I was doing laundry. The shaggy hair still bothered me, but I could fix that at a hair salon later, so I put it out of my mind for now.
Towel-drying my hair, I headed into the study—this place actually has a study—to find out exactly who the original owner was.
Age: 40. No real job. He seemed to prefer analog things, given the mountain of paperwork.
"What’s this?"
I pick up a file from the mess on the desk.
It’s a folder with the 'Kim Hospital Comprehensive Checkup Center' logo on it. It looks like a health examination report.
Flipping through the pages, the information I gather is that the body I’ve possessed is in a state where it wouldn't be surprising if it dropped dead any second.
"High blood pressure, high cholesterol... and yet he drank and smoked every single day..."
The doctor’s note explicitly told him to stay away from alcohol and cigarettes.
"Wait, did I possess him because... he died while drinking?"
The hypothesis is so plausible it’s absurd.
I turn on the computer in the study and open the smartphone.
Fortunately, it uses fingerprint recognition, so I don't have to struggle to find the passcode.
While I scroll through the KakaoTalk history, the computer finishes booting up, and I shift my gaze to the desktop.
"No games... and he’s got porn out in the open, so he definitely lives alone... What’s this?"
I open the internet browser, and a name in the bookmarks catches my eye.
"OceaniaTV?"
Curious, I click on it. It’s an internet streaming platform.
"And he’s already logged in."
I scroll through the list of favorite channels. They’re all female streamers.
I click on the one at the very top of the list.
After a brief loading screen, a half-naked woman appears on the screen.
It’s 10:00 AM. Isn't it a bit early to be half-naked?
Is it a re-run? I check the stream title.
<[Jjuyuni][Live] Strip Stream) Highest Level Daytime Stream>
The woman on the screen stops touching herself and glances toward the left for a moment.
A moment later.
— Oh, Chairman Oppa is here! Hello, Supreme Oppa!
A bubbly voice greets me.
Wow, his ID is 'Supreme'? I don't know who he is, but he picked a name like a total old fogey.
Wait, what’s my ID?
[Supreme Building Owner]
"...Fuck, what is this?"
It was the moment I realized exactly what the original owner's lifestyle was like.