Chapter 1

A twisted groan faintly fills the space.

I soon realized that the groan had come from my own mouth.

The sound of grinding teeth, clenched tight, made the pain all the more real.

What in the world happened?

Why does my body hurt so much?

Barely holding onto my consciousness amidst the fiery pain, I tried my best to recall what had happened to me.

Then, little by little, the scattered, fragmented memories began to find their place.

‘Right. The accident…’

It was May, when the heat was just beginning.

I was waiting for the signal at a crosswalk to go to the convenience store in front of the Team House.

That particular intersection rarely had any traffic in the morning, so many people didn’t bother waiting for the signal, but I was the type to avoid jaywalking if I could help it.

As I waited for the signal, an old woman pushing a stroller caught my eye as she went ahead.

She shouldn’t be doing that, I thought, but since it wasn’t the first or second time I’d seen someone ignore the signal here, I was about to let it go.

If it hadn’t been for the car speeding like a maniac, that is.

‘This is insane.’

A single truck, charging forward at a ridiculous speed as if its brakes were broken.

In that moment, I threw my body forward, almost reflexively.

Why on earth did I do that?

I wasn’t the kind of person overflowing with love for humanity.

In any case, thanks to me, the old woman was able to cross the street safely.

The problem was that I had taken her place.

The sky and the ground flipped about ten times.

I don’t remember much after that, but just from that fleeting scene, I could roughly guess what had happened to my body.

It must have been a gruesome sight.

And when I opened my eyes again, I was in this state.

I had woken up to a pain that felt like my entire body, from head to toe, had been tenderized with a hammer.

‘Where am I…?’

It wasn’t a hospital.

The unfamiliar scenery, which I was seeing for the first time, seemed to be someone’s room. Looking around a bit more, I saw a full-length mirror, a wardrobe, a desk, and not much else in the desolate room.

‘Don’t tell me this is the old woman’s house? No way.’

Normally, when a person gets hit by a car and goes tumbling, the first thing to do is call 911.

Then, of course, they would have gone to the hospital.

I pondered for a moment, but I still couldn’t find an answer.

I didn’t have enough information.

I decided to first find out if I could even get up.

I tried to move my fingers.

Thank goodness, I could apply some strength.

I could also wiggle my toes.

Judging that I could move, I pushed myself up with a groan.

“Ugh.”

A voice escaped me from the severe pain.

And in that instant, I was engulfed in a sense of wrongness that was hard to describe.

‘What is this?’

It was different.

The ‘tone’ of the pitch that should have come from my voice.

For a moment, I forgot the pain and felt my arms and legs.

The shock in my head grew even greater.

The things that should have been there were gone.

The powerful muscles, forged through years of training.

Everything that had proven me to be a Pro Gamer had vanished like smoke.

“What the…! Eek!”

I swallowed a gasp at the nightingale-like voice.

Then, other pieces of information came into clearer view.

First, these two arms.

They had a few scratches, but these fair, delicate arms were definitely not mine.

And what was with this chest?

At this point, I was in a slight state of panic.

‘A chest! A chest…!’

The dizziness was brief.

I caught my breath and thought.

Could this be a dream?

My real body is probably still unconscious, lying comfortably somewhere in a hospital.

That was a more plausible explanation.

More so than suddenly becoming a girl overnight, out of the blue.

‘But it’s too vivid for a dream.’

The lingering sensation of pain that still tormented my entire body remained.

Usually, in situations like this, people pinch their own cheeks.

It was a way to recognize if this was a dream, if it didn’t hurt.

“Ouch.”

The cheek I pinched just hurt.

Is this unbelievable situation really reality?

Squeeze.

Unable to believe it, I cautiously pressed an organ I had never possessed in my life.

‘Oh…’

For a moment, I was marveling at the texture and the unexpected elasticity, but soon, an ear-splitting scream shook my mind.

<Aaaaaaaah-!!!>

It was definitely the loudest and sharpest voice I had ever heard.

“Calm down! Use your words! Words!”

<Don’t touch…! No, just stay still! Don’t do anything with my body!>

“Ugh. Fine, just please lower your voice…!”

There was one person in the room.

But there were two voices.

In this bewildering situation, I frowned and kept my mouth shut.

In an uncomfortable position, just as the voice in my head requested.

Lying down, facing the ceiling, in a position of attention.

Like that, I exchanged a few simple questions with the woman in my head.

Her name was Seo Dami.

The original owner of this body.

Why on earth did something like this happen?

Did my Soul fly into this girl’s body the moment I was hit by the truck?

While I was thinking about the cause, the girl, unable to overcome the shock of reality, started to sniffle and cry.

<My body… give it back…. Sob, mooommy….>

“Wait a minute. No…. Just listen to me.”

While I had no idea what was going on, having someone cry next to me made me think it would be better to just pass out.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m just as bewildered as you are. So let’s calm down and try to figure out the situation.”

<…….>

The sniffling continued, but it seemed like she was at least trying to listen to me, so I hurried to introduce myself first.

“My name is Han Youngin. I’m twenty-five years old, and I’m a Pro Gamer. You know Universe Arena, right? Anyway, um… I’m not a weird person or anything. But I was in a big accident today and…”

Perhaps because I had been talking one-sidedly for a while.

Thankfully, the girl seemed to gradually calm down and eventually stopped crying.

Later, she even showed a little interest in my introduction.

<A Universe Arena player…?>

“Yes. You’ve heard of it, right? The League is ongoing right now.”

She had to know.

Universe Arena was the second most popular game in the world and a major game with a thriving League.

Even someone with no interest in games would have heard of a game that was selected as an Olympics event.

And I belonged to the First Division League of that major game.

I was a pretty skilled player who had even been called up for the preliminary Entry for the National Representative team.

<I know it.>

Hearing that she knew Universe Arena, I calmly explained to her what had happened at the crosswalk.

I told her that it was hard to believe, but it seemed like an Out-of-Body Experience, or something of that sort, had occurred due to the accident.

And after I finished my story, she suddenly said this.

<…But why did you come to me?>

“I don’t know either.”

I’m curious too.

How I ended up here.

Feeling very uncomfortable, I wiggled my fingers.

Trying to maintain the position of attention was quite a torment.

“By the way, um, what should I call you?”

<Me?>

“Yes. Should I call you Dami-ssi? Calling you ‘hey, you’ is a bit much.”

After getting a reply that it was okay to speak comfortably, I asked what I had been curious about.

First.

Why her body had so many injuries.

I was the one who had the accident, not her.

The numerous wounds etched on her arms and legs were clearly not from ordinary circumstances.

Figuring there must be a story, I waited, but for some reason, she hesitated to speak, repeatedly opening and closing her lips.

And at her following words, I couldn’t help but raise my voice.

“What? Suicide!”

<No, no! It wasn’t suicide!>

“Excuse me. We’ve agreed to call jumping off a 5th-floor building suicide. You know that?”

At the same time I was being turned into mush by the truck.

Seo Dami, who had gone up to the rooftop of the Team House building and was shedding tears, suddenly had a thought.

Would it be easier if I just jumped?

Of course, to be clear, Seo Dami had no intention of committing suicide.

She had just had the thought.

Eighteen years old.

Her job, surprisingly, was the same as mine: a Universe Arena pro player.

She belonged to the Third Division League team, Universe Cat, and was just in her second year since her debut.

The reason she was standing on the rooftop during lunchtime was because of the suffocating situation surrounding her.

The hazing from her Sunbaes. And the verbal abuse.

Despite her efforts to do well, she was being treated very unfairly within the team.

“There are always trashy people like that everywhere. So?”

<I was just getting some air because I was frustrated.>

Sighing at her situation, she was just getting some air for a moment.

The problem was what happened after.

A sudden gust of wind, which had no reason to be blowing, swept across the rooftop and pushed Seo Dami’s body over the railing.

The 5th floor.

Considering there were paving blocks and an asphalt road below, it was a situation where she could have really died.

In the moment her body was floating, Seo Dami was seized by terror and twisted her whole body.

It was truly a desperate struggle for survival.

Perhaps her desperation was recognized.

Her body managed to get caught on the tip of a roadside tree, and with a cracking sound, it mercilessly shattered the branches.

Scraped up here and there, she fell onto the sidewalk.

“You completely cheated death. So?”

<After that… I came back to my room first, in case anyone saw me. I was afraid if I got caught, they’d ask what on earth I was doing on the rooftop….>

“Of course they’d ask. Dami. Did you go up there to commit suicide? They would have asked.”

<…….>

After hearing the whole story, I thought to myself that this kid’s body was truly sturdy.

Even if the tree had absorbed the impact, it was still a 5th-floor height.

Anyone else would have collapsed on the spot, unable to move, but seeing her walk back to her room on her own two feet, she could be called quite the tough cookie.

“I understand the situation. First of all, since you said I could be comfortable, I’ll speak a bit more casually. Is that okay? I’m your Oppa, after all.”

<…Huh? Yes.>

“I don’t think we can solve this problem right away. First, I need to check what happened to my body. And you… you have your own life to live.”

There was a mutual agreement that we should tackle the problem calmly, without panicking.

Having sorted out the situation to some extent, I cautiously brought up one more question I had been holding back.

“By the way, Dami.”

<Yes.>

“Do you know where the bathroom is? It’s over there, right? I kind of have to go urgently…”

<!!!!!!>

Absolutely not! A powerful shout once again struck my mind.