Chapter 2 – Year 2017
I opened my eyes. A familiar scene spread before me.
It was the tiny eight-pyeong studio apartment I’d rented with the help of my wealthy cousin.
“To think I’m back here. I guess I really did come to the past.”
Just in case, I checked my smartphone.
2017.
It really was the past.
“Guess I’m human after all.”
Now that I’d actually returned to the past, my heart started racing.
The best scenario would’ve been living as a rock, but if that wasn’t possible, the past was better than the future.
At least I wouldn’t have to live a life suffocating under earned income. As for people coming to borrow money, I’d just have to deal with them better this time.
“How much is Bitcoin right now?”
I hurried to sit in front of the computer.
I checked the price.
About 1.3 million won.
“And by the end of this year it shoots past 20 million, right? What a shame.”
If only he’d sent me back one more year. I could’ve made way more money.
Still, this isn’t bad. If I catch the second wave, Nvidia, and the COVID boom, I could become ridiculously rich.
I might not reach the level of a multi-trillionaire, but a billionaire in the hundreds of billions of won? That seems possible.
Just imagining it made me happy.
I’d even be able to order Kyochon Chicken without caring about the delivery fee. Truly moving.
“The problem is women.”
What was it called? The Sex Traffic Light?
If returning to the past is real, then that must be real too.
If certain conditions are met, it’ll probably appear in front of me, and then I’ll have to… do it.
“…That’s scary, though?”
I used to eat gukbap and yell “Ahhh, this is sex!” like an idiot, but actually having to do the real thing?
Instead of feeling happy, I felt scared. And annoyed.
How many relationships would I have to build just to trigger that thing?
And after it appears and I act on it, how many relationships would I have to maintain to avoid getting accused of anything?
My head spun.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I plan to live like some tragic hero who swears off women entirely. Living like that would just send me back to 2017 again anyway.
I don’t want to get trapped in an endless time loop.
“So what should I do?”
I thought about it, but couldn’t find an answer, so I decided that no answer was the answer.
“I’ll just go with the flow.”
Something will work out.
I decided I’d figure things out as I lived.
I’d roughly decided how to handle money and people.
Next, I stood in front of the mirror.
“I really did change.”
The person in the mirror looked about as handsome as an influencer.
“I got taller too.”
I could even feel the air around me had changed.
So what do I do with this face?
What else? I go to work.
Just because I got handsome doesn’t mean I’m going on TV or becoming a celebrity. My MBTI is still an “I.”
“If I want to invest in crypto, I need money first.”
To build starting capital, I had to go to work.
I checked my phone again after fully grasping the situation. Date and time: January 4th, 2017, 6 a.m.
“Today’s the day I start as a new employee.”
The moment I realized it, the room came into sharp focus.
A neat suit hanging on one side.
A suitcase packed for the training center.
The apartment itself was telling me where I needed to go.
“Let’s go to work first.”
I put on the suit that now fit my changed body naturally and stepped outside.
***
It was early morning outside, but warm for winter.
Rrrr…
I walked, pulling my suitcase. Under the cold winter sunlight, I got on a bus, then got off. I arrived at the spot where the shuttle bus to the new employee training center would pick us up.
As I arrived, light snow began to fall.
I stretched out my palm toward the sky. A snowflake landed on it and melted instantly.
“I still remember this place even after all this time.”
The place where I first stepped into society.
The place that carried me to my first company, Sekyung Foods.
I’d been happy to join a large corporation, only to realize that unless it was automotive, electronics, oil, or IT, it didn’t really feel like one.
And now I stood there again, having returned to the past.
For me it was the past, but for others it was the present.
About thirty people stood there—new hires like me waiting to board the training center bus.
I looked at them. Some were people I’d drunk coffee with up until the day before I died. Others were fellow recruits I’d only see at weddings or funerals because we worked in different departments.
I joined them. And then I noticed something slightly different from the past.
—Who’s that? Is he a new hire too?
—He’s the guy they talked about during the interview. Handsome, right?
Hmm…
So I was getting attention.
From their conversation, I realized one thing.
Since they mentioned the interview, it seems my appearance had been applied naturally—like a subtle patch that no one questioned.
I was just thinking how fortunate it was that I didn’t get sent off to some “mysteries of the human body” exhibit for suddenly having a different face, when someone came to stand next to me.
A woman. She was wearing a suit, and she wasn’t very tall. About 163 cm?
But her face was extremely pretty.
She had a puppy-like look, and when she smiled with her eyes it was like a traditional mask’s curved grin—bright enough that if you dropped her into a conflict zone, she could probably disarm everyone.
And her skin was insane. She had makeup on, but even without it, it looked like it would shine smooth and pale.
I knew who she was.
Not quite an actress, but pretty enough to be a famous influencer or a sub-member of an idol group.
So pretty that even the most old-fashioned, overbearing department heads didn’t dare approach her.
The most famous and most popular person among the 2017 new hires at Sekyung Foods.
My fellow recruit, Han Jia.
“Hello. Are you a new employee at Sekyung Foods too?”
She greeted me warmly with that signature eye-smile.
In my previous life, everyone who got hit by that eye-smile turned into a turtle and offered up their liver.
Me included. Carrying her groceries, driving her around to malls, taking her home after company dinners, carpooling. Damn it!!!
…That escalated quickly. Ahem.
Anyway, I’d spent about one or two years as her servant.
Memories from back then surfaced. But I didn’t feel like getting revenge or triggering the Sex Traffic Light or anything like that.
Because I knew what kind of person she was, I just wanted to avoid her.
“Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Min Juchan.”
I greeted her and subtly stepped back.
She did the opposite. She took a step closer toward me.
“Didn’t you go to Korea University? I feel like I’ve seen you at school before.”
“No. I went to a national university.”
“Oh really? Where?”
“Busan.”
“Seriously? You don’t have a dialect at all.”
“I’ve lived in Seoul for a while… well, not that long. I fixed it.”
She smiled softly.
“Why’d you fix it? Dialects are fun. Could you try speaking in it once?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Huh?”
“You asked me to.”
“Hahaha! You were using dialect just now. I thought you were swearing at me.”
“Would I do that when we just met?”
“So where in Busan are you from?”
“Near the mountains.”
“I love Busan. Let’s go together sometime!”
Stop coming closer.
Our positions had reversed from my previous life.
Back then, I’d always tried to continue conversations with her.
Now she was the one holding onto my words and keeping the conversation going.
It was probably the effect of becoming more handsome and taller.
I didn’t particularly like it. I knew Han Jia’s personality.
If you assume one thing, everything about her actions makes sense:
Becoming the best. No matter what it takes.
She chose an unpopular major just to attend Korea’s top university.
While in school, she worked as a campus model and was called the university goddess.
She was fluent in English and Japanese and had multiple certifications.
She could’ve gone to a decent foreign company and earned double the salary, but she came to Sekyung Foods to gain the title of working at Korea’s top food company.
She was obsessed with being number one.
Approaching me now was for the same reason.
My looks were the best among the people here, so she just wanted to keep me beside her like a trophy.
If someone more handsome appeared, she’d drop me immediately.
—…Hey. Let’s avoid her.
As I recalled the past, the God of Losers inside me panicked.
Fake madness obsessed with sex is nothing compared to real madness obsessed with being the best.
Since we were now one body, we both stepped backward.
“I don’t really know Busan that well.”
She stepped closer at the same pace I stepped back.
With those bright, slightly unhinged smiling eyes.
“If your house is near the mountains, you must be able to see the ocean.”
“It takes an hour by bus.”
“Is Busan that big?”
“I just happen to live on the outskirts.”
As I kept moving toward the edge during the conversation, my elbow suddenly pressed into something soft.
Startled, I quickly turned around.
White snow was falling very slowly.
It felt like the world had gone into slow motion, like I’d suddenly gained superpowers.
There was a reason.
Another woman was standing behind me.
And my elbow was pressing right into a huge chest that looked ready to burst out of her suit jacket.
I quickly pulled my elbow away.
She shot me an annoyed look.
“What are you doing?”
I knew her too. Another fellow recruit: Kim Ain.
Sharp words. But in contrast, gentle deer-like eyes.
A cool beauty with monolids that suited winter.
An aura of pride and elegance seemed to radiate from her entire body.
From what you could see so far, she was beautiful—but if she had a Devil Fruit power, it would probably be the Elk Fruit.
Like an elk, a battle-ready deer that attacks people with its horns, she was fierce and rough. Maybe because she studied abroad, she never learned the proper social hierarchies—she spoke bluntly to anyone, regardless of rank.
It made sense.
She wasn’t just part of Sekyung Foods; she was part of the group’s owning family. I didn’t know if she was from the maternal side or a third-generation heir, but her status is high enough that she can cause incidents and still get away with house arrest at worst.
As memories about her from my past life flooded in, they all led to one conclusion.
I was screwed. I’d touched someone I shouldn’t have.
In my previous life, I’d bumped into her in a similar way during a factory tour. Back then, she looked at me with the kind of contempt you reserve for human trash.
Before that aristocratic glare came out again, I needed to apologize and get out.
So I started to bow my head—but she was faster.
“Be careful.”
Huh?
I looked at her eyes.
There was no contempt. Just mild annoyance.
…Don’t tell me this is because of my looks too? So in my previous life, I got treated like dirt because of my face?
It made me a little sad, but at least the crisis could be avoided, so I bowed.
“I’m really sorry. I was talking with her and—”
“Be careful next time.”
“Yes.”
Did that go smoothly? What a relief.
I let out a sigh of relief when suddenly Han Jia moved.
Not toward me—but toward Kim Ain.
She wore the same bright smile she’d shown me and leaned right into Kim Ain’s personal space.
“I’m sorry. I was joking around and pushed Juchan into you. But are you a new employee at Sekyung Foods too?”
Han Jia’s eyes sparkled like someone spotting a luxury bag.
Does being the best have nothing to do with gender?
Instead of competing with someone just as pretty as her, she was trying to recruit her.
Stop. She’s not someone you should do that with.
I was about to step in, but Kim Ain was faster.
She looked at Han Jia expressionlessly and answered.
“Yes.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Han Jia, also a new hire from the 2017 class.”
“Yes.”
“What school did you attend?”
“I went to New York University.”
“You studied abroad? Since when?”
“Since I was young.”
“I went to New York often during my exchange program too.”
“Where did you go for exchange?”
“I went to the University of Rochester for a vacation program.”
“I see.”
The two of them talked as snow fluttered down around them. They looked like Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Instantly, they became the center of attention.
One from Korea’s top university, the other educated in the U.S.
Impressive academic backgrounds and striking looks.
The other new hires, who had been standing a few steps away, naturally moved down the stairs.
Ordinary people could do nothing but step back and elevate the two of them.
They became the protagonists in an instant, and everyone else turned into supporting characters.
Except me.
Protagonists or not, I just need to escape this zone’s crazy bitch combo punch.
I was about to quietly back away and let them enjoy themselves when—
Tap.
Someone grabbed my arm. Han Jia.
“Min Juchan, you’re a fellow recruit too. Let’s all introduce ourselves together.”
Come to think of it, I’d almost just bumped into her chest and left without properly greeting.
Anyway, I still had to work here. No need to get on bad terms with Kim Ain.
I greeted her politely.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Min Juchan. About earlier—”
“Don’t mention it. It’s embarrassing.”
“Okay.”
“I’m Kim Ain.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Once introductions were done, Han Jia smiled at us.
“How about we all hang out together?”
She stood between me and Kim Ain and cheerfully linked arms with both of us.
No thanks. My mom told me to avoid girls like you.
A tiring future spread before my eyes like a panorama.
So I tried to head toward the other recruits who, like in my previous life, would be assigned to the same department as me and go to the factory.
Wait—what the hell? Why are there Yanbian beggars in suits standing over there?
[TL Note: “Yanbian beggars” is a term predominantly used in South Korean cinema and media to represent ethnic Korean-Chinese (chosŏnjok) characters from the Yanbian autonomous prefecture, often depicted as hired hitmen or marginalized, desperate criminals, as seen in films like The Yellow Sea and New World.]
My fellow engineering graduates. With tanned skin, like they’d just successfully snuck across a border, they were smoking in the corner.
Seeing them suddenly brought back all the days we’d spent together.
Engineering Season 2. Mechanical engineering Season 2, at that.
A future of drinking, drinking, and more drinking.
At 26 years old, I’d be the youngest among them. Destined to run errands like a dog.
That memory surfaced, and I looked back at Han Jia.
“…Sure.”
Compared to a life of nothing but drinking, this path—though chaotic—seemed better.