<CHAPTER 3>

My breath catches in my throat.

A cramped space barely large enough to be called a room.

Whoooosh. Whoooosh.

Cold wind squeezes through the gaps around the window, whistling into the room.

It’s a rooftop room with a 3-million-won deposit and a 300,000-won monthly rent.

Even in Gangnam, there were cheap rooftop rooms like this.

It was the little nest I had found close to school.

My parents had moved to Sokcho because of my father’s job transfer.

I had stayed behind in Seoul and chosen to live on my own.

Sunlight streams through the window, filling the room with brightness.

There’s nothing here but a single desk, a small refrigerator, and some old clothes hanging from a rack…

“……W-What?”

It’s an unbelievable sight.

I clearly remember coming home drunk yesterday, and my place was a semi-basement room.

But when I opened my eyes, I found myself here!

In this rooftop room.

I tentatively bit down on my lip.

“……!!”

It really hurts.

The pain is vivid and unmistakable.

“……”

My mind is blank.

Why am I lying here in this rooftop room?!

I can’t understand it.

The space before me is unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar.

Even the objects scattered around are exactly the same as they were in the place I used to live.

“Regression?”

A ridiculous word flashes through my mind.

Is this some kind of side effect from reading too many fantasy novels?

Or perhaps the backlash from imagining movie scenarios too often?

I never once believed something like this could actually happen.

I was the kind of person who completely dismissed movies about regression.

Whenever I came across that sort of content, I’d scoff at it in utter disbelief.

That unbelievable moment everyone imagines—going back in time.

Could something that absurd really have happened to me??

“This…”

Yesterday had been one hell of a day, the kind I would have gladly erased from existence.

And the very next morning, I was faced with this utterly ridiculous, completely different reality.

“Grandma??”

“Once you get a good night’s sleep, something good will happen!”

The strange old woman’s final words suddenly came rushing back to me.

I couldn’t think of any other explanation.

She had definitely said that something good would happen after I got a good night’s sleep.

But I didn’t have that bankbook in my hands.

And neither the space nor the time connected with where I had been yesterday.

“But… is this really happening?”

It seemed I really had returned to my high school days.

Looking at this skinny body—with nothing but height and no muscle to speak of…

The sensations I felt left no doubt that I was alive.

This tiny rooftop room, the musty smell that had soaked into the place during my high school years, the shabby surroundings…

Smack!

I slapped myself across the cheek again.

“…It hurts.”

That was enough proof.

I had hit myself hard enough to leave the imprint of my palm.

The spot burned and tingled painfully.

“Seriously… this is…?”

There was no way to put my current feelings into words.

I wanted to scream.

I couldn’t even tell whether this was good or bad.

It felt like an unbelievable dream.

“Hooooo…”

For now, I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down.

After several slow breaths, I managed to quiet my heart, which had been pounding wildly.

“This isn’t a dream… This is reality, right?”

I hurriedly picked up my phone and checked the date.

Even the phone was the same outdated model I had carried around in high school.

The current time was 5:05 p.m. on May 5, 2022.

The time was strangely significant.

“This is driving me crazy.”

A chill ran through me as the terrifying reality of the situation sank in.

Every sensation I could feel proved that this was real.

The story of people who returned to the past—a staple plot device in countless forms of entertainment.

I never thought it could happen in real life.

And least of all did I ever dream that I would be the one it happened to.

Those protagonists in stories.

They always seemed to adapt immediately after regressing…

I wasn’t like that.

“Even if life is nothing more than a dream lasting one night, this is way too vivid…”

The memories filling my mind were still painfully clear, right up to yesterday.

This definitely wasn’t a dream.

Even the actions of the people who had betrayed me yesterday were still etched into my heart like daggers.

And what’s more, all those memories were of the future!

“Dad…”

The word slipped unconsciously from my lips.

My father had died just days before my high school graduation.

On his way home after finishing a business trip, he was killed at the scene when a dump truck ran a red light and crashed into him.

Ever since then, I had barely been able to bring myself to say those words aloud.

Back then, I had no power to do anything.

The police had hurriedly dismissed it as nothing more than an ordinary accident.

The driver claimed he had fallen asleep at the wheel and was arrested.

Yet something about the circumstances had always smelled wrong.

There was something about my father’s death that my family didn’t know!

I had never been able to shake that feeling.

Bang, bang!

Just then, a loud knocking came from outside.

A moment later, I heard the metal entrance door to the rooftop room open.

“……??”

There was no one who should have come to visit me.

It was Children’s Day, May 5, 2022.

“Is Mr. Ha Tae-woong here?”

It was the voice of an older middle-aged man.

Mr. Ha Tae-woong?

It definitely wasn’t the easygoing voice of the landlord.

“Who are you?”

I stepped outside.

The school gym clothes I was wearing felt both familiar and strangely foreign.

Clank.

I opened the metal door.

A man in a neat, dark-gray suit stood outside, looking to be in his mid-fifties.

His hair was streaked with gray, and his strong, square jaw gave him an imposing appearance.

He leaned on a cane, as though one of his legs was uncomfortable.

This was a rooftop room on the fourth floor.

Judging by his appearance, climbing all the way up here had been quite a struggle.

“Mr. Ha Tae-woong?”

“Yes. I’m Ha Tae-woong.”

The man smoothly held out a business card.

Jungyul Law Firm.

Managing Attorney Kim Jung-ryul.

A lawyer? Why me?

If I really had regressed, then I was a high school student right now.

Even when I searched my memories of the past, I had never met this lawyer at this point in my life.

“I apologize for arriving so late.”

He bowed politely.

Why all of a sudden?

“……??”

Caught off guard, I instinctively bowed back.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

“I’ve come to execute the will of the late Mrs. Han Ok-ja.”

What?

The late Han Ok-ja??

—

“What? Kim went to see him?”

“Yes, Director.”

“…Was my warning too mild? Heh heh.”

A forty-story building stood in Samseong-dong.

On the top floor.

A cold-looking man in his early fifties, carrying the title of director, curled his lips into a mocking smile.

“He suffered injuries that required twenty-four weeks of treatment.”

“That’s what I’m saying. The bastard nearly died, and now that he survived, he should just keep his head down. Why is he making trouble?”

“Should we take care of him?”

“No. It’s over now that he’s met the kid. Kim used to be a prosecutor, didn’t he? He’s not an idiot.”

“Should we collect it?”

“How much was it again?”

“Ten billion won.”

“…My mother was generous. Leaving an inheritance to some grandson she didn’t even know. Heh heh.”

He was smiling, but his eyes were so cold they seemed to carry a murderous intent.

Tap, tap.

The man’s eyes were lost in thought.

He repeatedly tapped the desk with the middle finger of his right hand, keeping a steady rhythm.

The secretary standing before the desk remained as silent as a mouse.

At this moment, a single word from the man could mean the difference between life and death for someone.

“Mother. I’ll grant your wish this time. You even came to me in my dream last night.”

He was speaking of his mother, who had been dead for quite some time.

He had dreamed of her the night before.

It was the first time she had appeared in his dreams since her death.

In the dream, she had thundered at him, warning that if he dared lay so much as a dirty hand on her youngest grandson, she would bring the wrath of heaven down upon him.

Even while she had been alive, she had never trusted him and had constantly nagged him.

That was why he had immediately put someone on the boy.

Because his mother had never believed in him, he had grown even more twisted from a young age.

But when it came to her youngest grandson, she had doted on him terribly.

Of course, after becoming entangled in various incidents and schemes, he had never gotten the chance to be there when his mother passed away.

“Then…”

“Keep watching him. What difference does a measly bit of pocket change make once it gets into the kid’s hands?”

“Yes, sir!”

“By the way, what did you say that bastard was doing?”

“He’s living quietly in Sokcho.”

“Suspicious. He doesn’t seem like the type to live that quietly…”

“Yes? But there’s absolutely nothing…”

“He’s not an idiot.”

Tap, tap.

The man began tapping the desk again.

“Keep a close eye on that bastard… I have a feeling he’s going to cause trouble.”

“Yes, sir!”

“More importantly, what about tonight? Are the girls ready?”

“Representative Kang says he has prepared exactly the kind of person you wanted, Director.”

“As he should. Advertising isn’t exactly cheap. Heh heh heh.”

A dark glint passed through his cold eyes.

He looked like a wildcat staring down its prey.

“Clear my entire afternoon schedule. I’m going to the sauna.”

“Yes, sir!”

The small but important matters had been roughly settled.

He had never been the type to dwell on things once he considered them finished.

But there was one thing he didn’t know.

How this very decision would change the future!