Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Prologue - She's in My House. An Unknown Woman.
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Grr... Grr...
I tried to scream, but instead of my voice, a weird metallic scraping sound came out.
When was the last time I drank water? Last year? Or the year before?
Who knows. My throat felt as cracked and dry as a parched rice paddy.
My insides were a total wreck, and my head throbbed like it'd been smashed with a rock.
Thump... Thump...
Now I'm even hearing things.
Damn it. A life born in the gutters, crawling like a bug.
How did I end up here?
Is this how it all ends, just... pathetically?
Ugh! Blech!
I bolted upright, overwhelmed by nausea, and dashed to the bathroom.
Urp! Bluuuugh!
Huff... Huff...
Red liquid sprayed out like a fountain.
Everything had been perfect up until dinner last night.
Where the hell did I screw up?
I clung to the toilet for ages, heaving up everything in my stomach.
That's bean sprouts. That's galbi ribs. The red stuff's budae jjigae.
Been a while since I had some, and my body just couldn't handle it.
Sorry for overdoing it.
This is just a hangover.
Whoosh...
I dunked my head in the tub and poured cold water over it.
"Phew. Finally coming back to my senses."
This is weird.
I mastered sneaking out booze five years ago.
Why'd I drink so much of something I can't even handle?
My memory's blacked out; I can't remember.
But the real silver lining? I've got the next four days off in a row starting today.
Even if the night's a blur, no modern office drone forgets their vacation days, right?
If it weren't for this shitty company, I'd shrug off a hangover like this no problem.
Hangover be damned—every minute of a day off is precious. Gotta snap out of it quick.
"Twelve straight hours of gaming starting now. Fuck everything else."
I multitasked brushing my teeth and drying my hair as I stepped out of the bathroom.
My hips swayed to some disco rhythm.
The spring sunlight was already warm and cozy.
Perfect weather for gaming.
Hangover aside, this Saturday was shaping up ideal.
But...
What the...?
Swish...
I thought it was a pile of laundry...
Something was moving on the balcony.
"Holy shit! You scared me—who are you?"
It was a person.
A woman curled up like a cat on the balcony, basking in the sun...
So...
There was someone in my house.
"Mm... Seonghyeon... You're up?"
"You're the one who's up."
Her eyes sparkled too brightly, almost blinding, as she beamed at me.
Flawless skin without a single blemish. Lips full of morning vitality.
Sunlight filtered through her loosely tied brown hair like a halo.
Is this graphics? No veins in the whites of her eyes.
The woman grinned wide at me, then her brows suddenly crumpled.
"You okay? You look rough... Ugh, I puked my guts out too; my throat hurts."
Okay my ass. There's a stranger in my house.
For the record, I broke up with my girlfriend two days ago.
So the odds of a woman being in my place on a Saturday morning? Zero percent.
What the fuck?
But her outfit looked familiar somehow.
"That's... my boxers."
"Yeah... your boxers. This too."
The woman flapped my T-shirt at me.
Yep. That's mine too. Stretched out from wear, I use it as sleepwear.
But the theft didn't really register.
Something else was catching my eye right now.
The sunlight backlighting her from behind made her body line starkly visible.
A slim waist curving dramatically into wide hips.
Since when were my boxers that sexy?
The special effects are over the top.
And up top... well.
Two prominent points.
"Ugh... Cover up a bit!"
Seeing a strange woman's near-nude first thing on a Saturday morning felt like a hammer to the head.
No, maybe this headache is from the hangover after all.
I'm dying here either way.
But she looked just as shocked.
Her smile turned into a pout in an instant, like she'd been wronged.
"Why're you talking formal?"
"Who the hell are you to talk casual?"
"Whoa... They said you can't hold your liquor, and damn, it's true... You don't remember at all?"
"I said, who are you?"
"I'm Park Dahye!"
"Park Dahye? I know Park Geun-hye."
"Aaaah~ Don't be mean~ Why so scary? I'm Kim Pokttal! You really don't remember? Or are you playing dumb?"
Kim Pokttal?
Of course I know Kim Pokttal.
My most precious—no, my only friend, Kim Pokttal.
Not her real name, obviously.
Who the hell has a name that vulgar in real life?
It's her gaming ID.
But... Kim Pokttal in my house? And she's a woman?
Fuck me.
'I thought it was a dream... but it was all real...'
If last night's dream was real, her reaction made sense.
I was the one who invited her here in the first place.
Yesterday, we ran into each other by chance, ate, drank...
Yeah. When we were parting ways.
I grabbed her hand out of nowhere.
And said this:
[Don't go. Stay at my place tonight.]
Look at that cringey line.
I summoned the audacity from the depths of my gut.
And then I mistook it for a dream myself.
What an idiot.
But in my defense, there was a good reason for the mix-up.
Think about it.
After eight years of gaming together online, I finally meet my buddy in person, and it's a twenty-something bombshell.
Not just any beauty—an absolute stunner. And now I see her body's insane too.
This ain't right.
Usually, it's some flabby late-thirties dude, right? That's the trope!
The twist was just too much to swallow easily.
"Ah, there's the 'I remember' face! Right? You get it now?"
Kim Pokttal—no, Park Dahye—took my towel with a delighted grin and started drying my hair.
My hair, not hers.
How's she so casual already?
'Wait... Come to think of it, something similar happened yesterday too...'
Ugh, memories are fuzzy.
"All done. I'll grab some water. Wipe this off and come out."
Oh yeah, I was brushing my teeth...
Damn, I swallowed some toothpaste from the shock.
Phew... What a mess.
Memories all jumbled. Head's splitting.
Okay... Let me try to piece this together.
Focus. Sort out the memories.
First off, how the hell did I even run into her?
That seems like a good starting point.
And right now, the biggest question is why I brought her back to my place.
I swore off women forever just two days ago—even if they beat me to death.
What changed in one day to make me invite a girl home?
I need to figure that out.
Let's rewind to two days ago.
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