Chapter 004
Ding.
‘I’ll come pick you up at your school tomorrow.’
The text from Taehee arrived just as Seongmin reached the entrance of his apartment complex.
He stared at his phone, reading the message over and over again.
Until now, the only texts that ever came to Seongmin’s phone were advertisements or department announcements.
Personal messages? At most, they came from his parents.
Yet here was Taehee—the girl he’d quietly crushed on all through high school—texting him personally.
Seongmin drafted and deleted replies several times, agonizing over every word.
In the end, he kept it short and as natural as possible.
‘Got it. See you tomorrow for sure.’
He sent the message filled with hope, then waited anxiously for a few moments.
Too nervous to go inside, he started wandering the neighborhood alleys instead.
He kept rereading his own text, worrying about every detail.
Then another reply came.
‘Okay. Good night.’
It was short, but it felt like he’d gained the whole world.
Taehee had actually said “good night” to him.
His chest swelled with overwhelming emotion.
Even though it was just a few words, he read it again and again.
Wandering around the apartment playground, he grinned like an idiot all by himself.
Thankfully it was nighttime—no one could see his ridiculous expression.
Seongmin stopped at one corner of the playground and quickly gathered his thoughts.
He had to reply.
Carefully, he started typing again.
‘You too. Sleep well. See you tomorrow for sure.’
Seeing her tomorrow was what mattered most.
He sent it as casually as he could manage.
A brief, tense wait followed.
Then another text.
‘Yep.’
Seongmin let out a huge sigh of relief.
Any more messages now and he’d come off as desperate.
“Gotta know when to stop.”
He congratulated himself on ending it smoothly and coolly.
Now that the promise with Taehee was set, he was ready to head home feeling on top of the world.
But just then, a voice came from one corner of the playground.
“Seongmin?”
He turned instinctively.
He’d been so focused on texting Taehee that he hadn’t noticed his surroundings at all.
And there—sitting right on the nearby bench—was someone.
“Who…?”
Seongmin asked cautiously.
The person on the bench lifted her head.
“It really is you, Seongmin. You look like you’re in a great mood?”
“Ah… Hello.”
The woman who spoke was the lady who lived upstairs.
She and his mom were on nodding terms, and Seongmin had exchanged greetings with her a few times when they passed each other.
Especially since she had a son of her own, she’d occasionally chatted with his mom about studying.
She had always envied how well Seongmin did in school.
But he vaguely remembered hearing that she’d moved out around the time he passed the bar exam and entered the training institute.
‘Come to think of it… I think something bad happened to her family.’
He hadn’t paid much attention to her before.
But now that he thought about it, his parents had mentioned something about the upstairs neighbor.
‘Pretty sure she got divorced from her husband and is living alone now…’
Up close, even in thin clothes, she was strikingly pretty.
Her figure looked incredible too.
But her expression wasn’t bright at all.
For the first time, Seongmin found himself actually paying attention to this neighbor.
“Ah, just… talking with a friend…”
“Hehe, a girlfriend maybe? I thought all you ever did was study, but looks like you’re dating too.”
“N-No, it’s not like that.”
She teased him playfully.
‘Taehee as my girlfriend? That’s ridiculous… but it feels kinda nice to hear.’
Seongmin couldn’t help wishing it were true.
Naturally, he started comparing her to the upstairs lady.
‘She’s attractive in her own way, but compared to Taehee… not really on the same level…’
Not on Taehee’s level, but still—the lady’s body was impressive.
Her breasts were full and prominent, her waist slim and attractive.
Above all, her face was surprisingly youthful and beautiful for her age.
And at that exact moment—
His magic club reacted.
Twitch.
Ever since the regression, just focusing on someone was enough to trigger an erection far too easily.
This time, simply admiring the lady’s figure had made the club stand right up.
Seongmin was mortified.
Fortunately, the playground was dimly lit—if she wasn’t deliberately looking down there, she probably wouldn’t notice.
But then—
Something flashed in Seongmin’s vision.
‘Huh? Status?’
For some reason, this time a status window appeared floating above the lady’s head.
Just a moment ago, nothing like that had been there.
‘But suddenly now?’
Seongmin focused intently on the status display.
Then, just like with Taehee, the lady’s status began to appear.
‘Fight with son? University entrance?’
Once again, only short, simple words.
But Seongmin could already guess that these words were describing the lady’s current emotional state.
Still, he had no idea what principle made these messages appear.
Then it hit him—the heavy sensation in his pants from the erect magic club.
And suddenly, the common thread between Taehee and the lady became clear.
‘Come to think of it… I got hard for both of them.’
The one thing they had in common was that he’d become aroused while focused on them.
It hadn’t been intentional, but the moment he got an erection toward them, their status windows started appearing.
Finally, Seongmin understood the trigger for the status window.
It was a bit perverted, sure—but at least now he knew how it worked, and he felt relieved to have figured it out.
“Seongmin? What are you thinking about so hard?”
“Ah, nothing. By the way… isn’t your son about to enter university soon?”
“Yeah, he’s in his second year of high school right now.”
“Wow, time really flies. Not long left.”
Exactly as the status had said.
The lady’s son was a high school senior facing university entrance exams.
She seemed deeply worried about his grades.
Knowing her concern, Seongmin carefully broached the subject.
“You must be really stressed about your son’s grades, right?”
“Huh? How did you know? Actually… I just came from having a huge fight with him.”
“Well, kids that age always have a lot on their minds.”
“You got into S University because you studied so well—you probably never had those worries.”
Of course, back then he hadn’t.
All he’d ever done was study like his life depended on it.
But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“Yeah… I basically lived like a machine, just studying nonstop.”
Because her son was struggling academically, conversation flowed naturally with her.
Almost as if she’d been waiting for someone to listen, the lady began pouring out her worries about her son’s grades.
Seongmin couldn’t really offer any concrete solutions.
But just listening seemed to ease her tension—her expression visibly softened.
And in real time, he could see her status shift.
‘Not a full resolution, but she definitely feels relieved now.’
She went on at length about her son’s issues.
Then, suddenly, she looked at Seongmin and asked,
“By any chance… would you be willing to tutor my son?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yeah. You’re an S University student—he’d probably listen to you in a heartbeat.”
“But…”
Seongmin had never tutored anyone before.
He hesitated, wondering if he should refuse.
But then he thought—if he took on tutoring, it could help lighten his parents’ financial burden.
Before he could answer, the lady quickly added an offer.
“How about 100,000 won per hour?”
“100,000 won?”
He knew S University students often did tutoring gigs.
But he’d never done it himself, so he had no idea what the going rate was.
Still, the amount sounded surprisingly high—he was genuinely shocked.
(Of course, even the lady didn’t know the exact market rate for S University tutors. She’d just named a figure a bit higher than what regular college students usually charged.)
‘If I teach 8 hours a day… that’s 800,000 won? This is insane money…’
Why had he never thought of this before?
Seongmin was so stunned that he hesitated to reply.
But right then, her status changed to [Impatience].
Seongmin decided to use that to his advantage.
“For that amount… I’d have to think about it a bit.”
“Then how about 120,000 won?”
Sure enough—her impatience made her raise the offer immediately.
And that was a number Seongmin was very satisfied with.
“But shouldn’t we ask your son’s opinion first? That’s the most important part.”
“Yeah… you’re right.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Honestly, the pay was more than appealing.
But because it was so sudden, he took a small step back for now.
The lady, however, wasn’t ready to back down.
“So if my son says yes, you’ll do it?”
She grabbed Seongmin’s hand tightly, looking visibly relieved.
“Uh, well… I mean…”
“Thank you so much, Seongmin.”
She gently stroked the back of his hand as she spoke.
In that instant, his magic club stood fully at attention again.
Her status still showed [Impatience].
Then she continued,
“Instead of just talking here… would you mind coming up and talking to my son right now?”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, right now he’s so angry he’s saying he’s going to quit studying and everything.”
“But the time…”
“It’s literally right upstairs—just give me a few minutes. If not now, tomorrow he might not have time again.”
At the lady’s earnest plea, Seongmin hesitated for a moment.
Then he nodded.
Since he’d already half-agreed to tutor anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to go upstairs for a quick look at her son.
And so, Seongmin followed her into the elevator and up to her apartment.
The layout was identical to his own family’s place.
But the interior was completely different.
‘Same structure, yet the house can feel this different.’
Unlike his own home, which still kept the old, dated interior from years ago, hers looked like it had been recently renovated—sleek, modern, and stylish.
Expensive-looking furniture and high-end appliances filled the space at first glance.
It definitely gave off a much wealthier vibe than Seongmin’s home.
“Son! Mom’s home!”
She called out to her son from the entryway.
But the house was strangely quiet.
Her son wasn’t home.
The lady’s face fell in panic as she hurriedly dialed his number.
After a long wait, it seemed he finally picked up.
“Son! Where are you right now?”
She had mentioned fighting with him earlier—and apparently, in his anger, he had stormed out.
Seongmin glanced at her status again.
‘Anger? Well, yeah… her son just left the house…’
Even without hearing the full conversation, he could guess the situation.
A short while later, she hung up and returned to the living room looking devastated.
“Sigh… I’m so sorry. He got so mad he left the house.”
“Did he say he went somewhere far?”
Seongmin figured the boy would come back soon anyway.
But the lady hesitated before answering.
Then, cautiously, she spoke.
“…It’s not that. It seems he went to his dad’s place.”
“Huh?”
“Sigh…”
She let out a long, heavy breath and began to pour out her heart.
She explained that she was divorced from her husband.
Her son still had a decent relationship with his father and would occasionally go see him.
And on days like today—when he fought badly with her—he usually went straight to his dad’s house.
At that moment, her status updated again.
‘Anxiety, loneliness… She’s scared her son might end up leaving her for his dad?’
Thanks to the ability God had given him, reading a woman’s heart had become surprisingly easy.
Seongmin could clearly sense how anxious she was about possibly losing her son.
Right now, she looked like she desperately needed comfort.
‘Comfort, huh…’
His gaze drifted toward her.
He tried offering what he thought were comforting words.
“He’ll come back soon. There’s no way he’d really leave his mom alone like that.”
“He said he’s not coming back tonight…”
“Ah…”
“If he keeps not coming home… what am I supposed to do? Sob…”
Suddenly, tears burst from her eyes.
Even though Seongmin had regressed and lived another life, this kind of situation was completely new to him.
He had zero experience comforting a woman, so he panicked.
He awkwardly reached out to pat her shoulder—
—but in that instant, she leaned straight into his chest.
“Waaah… If even my son leaves me, what am I going to do…?”
She buried herself in his arms and sobbed heartbreakingly.
Flustered, Seongmin instinctively wrapped his arms around her to hold her.
Immediately he felt the warmth of her body and the softness of her skin pressed against him.
And his magic club surged more powerfully than ever before—swelling so hard it felt like it might rip right through his pants.
At the same time, her status updated rapidly.
‘Loneliness, needs a man…? What the hell does this mean?’
Having no experience with women, Seongmin had no idea what she truly needed.
All he knew was that a crying woman was clinging to him—and that alone had his pants on the verge of bursting.
Then, suddenly, her status shifted to [Surprise] and [Embarrassment].
Seongmin realized her gaze had dropped—straight to the massive bulge in his pants.
Their eyes met.
‘Th-this… this has to be the chance, right?’
Seongmin asked himself.
And in response, his magic club throbbed powerfully, as if nodding in vigorous agreement.