ALL NOVEL I was originally just an ordinary unemployed guy.
I graduated from a provincial university and boldly jumped into the job market, but ended up with nothing and became a failure holed up in my room.
At first, because of my parents’ sharp glares, I pretended to study, but eventually, lacking persistence, I gave up on everything.
In fact, escaping reality is easier than one might think.
All it takes is to block your eyes and ears, divert your gaze from your family’s suffering, and drown yourself in meaningless small pleasures.
For about three years, my only hobby while rotting away in my room and rejecting all outside communication—while making my parents worry—was reading web novels.
For just 9,900 won a month.
With today’s cost of living, it’s barely enough for a single meal, yet it allows unlimited reading of novels for an entire month.
In a way, it could be considered a super cost-effective hobby.
I would wait day by day for the next chapter of my beloved novel to come out, and reading another new story was my only joy in life.
But misfortune always arrives without a sound.
I never thought I would die so emptily like this, just holed up reading novels all the time.
*
Cough!
Waking suddenly in the middle of the night, I found my mother was choking me.
I immediately struggled, but I couldn’t muster any strength in my limbs.
Maybe she slipped some sleeping pills into the dinner I had earlier.
Driven by survival instinct, I desperately clawed at the floor, and then I met my mother’s eyes and gave up resisting.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
My mother sat on top of me, tears streaming down her face as she kept apologizing.
‘It’s okay.’
If possible, I wanted to say that.
A poor household, a husband who drinks every day and resorts to violence, and a child who can’t even act like a human, holed up in a room only playing on the computer—my mother must have been frustrated too.
But whenever I tried to speak, I could only gulp in air like a goldfish in a bowl.
Maybe it was due to lack of oxygen, but my head gradually turned completely blank.
In time, happy memories from childhood until now rushed by.
…Is this what they call a life flash?
As I realized it was really time for me to die, regrets passed through my mind, wishing I could have lived a bit harder if I had known this would happen.
“I’ll follow soon too…”
Soon, my mother’s transparent tears fell on my face.
The icy cold droplet trickled down my cheek.
‘If only I could wipe those tears away…’
That was the last sight I remembered.
*
“Huff!”
When I reopened my eyes after the blackout, instead of old wallpaper and a moldy ceiling, I saw a bluish winter sky.
“Tsk tsk, did you have another nightmare?”
“I hear he lost his parents in a fire while visiting.”
“Poor kid.”
The unfamiliar Chinese words echoing around me.
But for some reason, I could understand what they were saying.
“…Are you alive?”
But there was no time to care about their words.
After all, the memory of suddenly being choked by my mother felt fresh as if it had just happened.
I hurriedly opened my collar, checking my neck.
But there were no traces of my mother’s hand that had marked me.
‘What on earth happened?’
As I tried to figure out the situation, a startled old man approached, carrying a kettle that looked like he was brewing some herbs.
“Don’t move yet!”
I asked the old man dressed in clothes that looked like they belonged in a historical drama.
“Sir, where am I?”
I should have definitely been home.
But this was undeniably not my house.
It didn’t even resemble the neighborhood I lived in.
After all, there wouldn’t be rows of buildings resembling Korean traditional villages right in the middle of Seoul.
As if I had become Alice in Wonderland, while looking around, I suddenly spotted a copper mirror.
But the reflection wasn’t my familiar face; it was that of a strange boy.
‘No way?’
At that moment, all the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in my mind. I asked the old man who was looking at me with worry.
“Sir, let me ask you one more time. Where is this?”
“Do you… not remember anything?”
I nodded obediently.
“Yes. To be honest, I don’t even know my own name.”
“It can’t be… No, in this case, perhaps it’s actually a good thing…?”
The old man sighed, as if sympathizing, and then looked at me seriously.
“This is Sangam, a town in the land of Sicheon. I am Eom Baekhyun, a physician in this small village.”
After introducing himself, the old man kindly explained the name of the body I now inhabited.
“And your name is Chilbok. Remember it well.”
*
Ichilbok (李七福).
This was the name of the boy I had possessed.
His father was a local born and raised in this town, and his mother was apparently of Goryeo descent called Dongyi.
Both had no relatives to rely on, so they lived depending on each other, but after a sudden misfortune struck, their only child was left as an orphan.
And that child was now me.
When I possessed this body, it seemed that the original owner, Chilbok’s soul, had already disappeared, leaving behind an empty shell.
As I received a new opportunity, I had no choice but to wish for Chilbok’s peaceful afterlife.
Perhaps the shock of losing his parents was overwhelming.
A child could turn white-haired overnight due to such a tragedy.
Moreover…
‘What will I eat from now on?’
Though it was a new life, it felt much harder than my previous one.
Thanks to Eom Baekhyun, who had known Chilbok’s father since childhood and occasionally brought food to me, I could barely survive for now, but I couldn’t rely on him indefinitely.
While pondering how to support myself, I took a chance and asked Uncle Baekhyun if any local shops were looking for a child to do simple work.
“Is there a store around that needs a child who knows simple calculations and is smart?”
Even simple errands or chores wouldn’t matter; I just needed to earn enough to survive.
The old man raised his white brows and said after hearing my question.
“There may be such places, but I’ve never seen you study, Chilbok.”
But I was confident.
“I’m smarter than I look. Just give me a chance.”
After all, I was supposedly a knowledgeable individual with a higher education.
“…Alright. Then come to my pharmacy starting tomorrow. But bear in mind that if you don’t meet expectations, you’ll be fired immediately.”
“Do as you please.”
Thus, my bet with Uncle Baekhyun sealed the deal.
But it was obvious who would win this bet.
*
After winning the bet with Uncle Baekhyun, I confidently began working as I started learning about this world’s culture, on the pretense of being amnesic due to the shock.
For three months now, I had been working odd jobs at Uncle Baekhyun’s pharmacy during the day, studying on my own at night.
Just when I thought I had settled into my place in the village, an incident occurred.
Splash!
“Miss!”
On my way home after finishing the day’s work, I happened to see the rich daughter of the neighborhood trip and fall into the stream under the stone bridge.
As soon as I saw the scene, without thinking twice, I jumped straight into the river.
While it looked shallow at first glance, the spot where she fell was deep enough that an adult male wouldn’t be able to touch the bottom.
“Help!”
Huff! Huff!
Unbeknownst to her, the more she thrashed in panic, the quicker she sank, yet the rich girl continued splashing in the water.
Soon, with a gurgling sound, she was completely submerged, and only a few bubbles floated to the surface.
Feeling urgent, I dove into the stream, swimming swiftly to her side.
Without a moment to lose, I dived down.
I caught hold of the drowning rich girl and began pulling her up with all my strength.
“Phew!”
Normally, a child’s body shouldn’t be very heavy, but now that I was a child too, it felt no different from carrying a fully-grown person.
Finally getting her out, I stood at the edge of the stream, where the maid was repeatedly shouting, “What do I do! What do I do!”
“Hurry, come over here!”
“Uh? Uh oh!”
There wasn’t much time to explain.
I quickly briefed the maid on how to perform artificial respiration and urged her to do it quickly.
Even though she was still a child, in this world, they had the saying “men and women should not sit together at seven,” so if I did it, who knew what could happen later.
After multiple attempts at artificial respiration that the maid learned from me, when the unconscious girl still showed no change, the maid looked at me and the rich girl with a very anxious expression.
“Could you stop looking at me like that? Just because you tried once doesn’t mean she’ll wake up right away.”
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this would work, but given that I showed any sign of anxiety, the maid would obviously get flustered as well, so I had to keep a stiff upper lip.
Finally, when the girl was still fainted, she suddenly began coughing out water and seemed about to awaken.
Seeing this, the maid’s eyes welled with tears as she exclaimed.
“Miss Rin!”
The girl finally opened her eyes, glancing around in confusion with her glassy dark eyes until she spotted me and froze.
“What’s going on…?”
“Cough! I thought I was going to lose you!”
The maid finally broke down in tears, but the rich girl, named Rin, ignored her and looked at me directly.
“Did you save me from drowning?”
“Yes? Ah, yes.”
I hurriedly nodded.
Maybe because she was a rich girl, even her speech sounded refined.
Was it urgent that I spoke like a typical kid when I was panicked earlier?
“May I ask your name?”
“My name is Ichilbok.”
“Chilbok… Chilbok, what a charming sound.”
To be honest, I didn’t like my name very much because it seemed quite outdated.
Still, it was the only link I had left to my parents, so I just let it be.
Rin repeated my name several times, eventually giving a faint smile and saying.
“My name is Dokgorin. Since you’re my life-saver, I would like you to call me Rin from now on, with affection.”
This was the first meeting between me and Dokgorin.