Chapter 1: Prologue

“Huff...?Huff...!”

A man was breathing heavily in the dark mountains. His legs were shaking as if he’d collapse at any moment.

Drip, drip.

Blood was flowing down from his torn forehead, mixing with his sweat and dampening his left cheek. His name was Park Geon-Woo. He could not understand what was going on.

Why?

“Why are you doing this to me?! Tell me, please!”

Men armed with wooden clubs and knives surrounded Geon-Woo, and another man appeared among them. He was Kim Chi-Yeol, with one side of his mouth curling up into a smile.

“Father’s orders.”

“Congressman… Kim Han-Gyo’s…?”

“That’s right.”

Flare!

Chi-Yeol lit his cigarette.

Huu—!

After exhaling a long stream of cigarette smoke, he started to give a quick explanation of how things had ended up this way.

“A certain reporter happened to cleverly steal Father’s secrets. You’ve watched the news, haven’t you?”

Embezzlement of public funds, close relationships with businesses... All sorts of suspicions were being raised. And of course…

“They’re all true, which makes this even more of a headache,” Chi-Yeol remarked.

Huu—!

He let out an even longer stream of smoke.

“You already knew about the allegations being raised against Father right now, didn’t you, Team Leader Park?”

Because Geon-Woo was the leader of the security team, he was by Congressman Kim’s side almost everywhere. Because of that, he frequently happened to hear the contents of phone calls.

“Yes, I knew, but... I’ve never leaked his weaknesses to anyone! Please believe me!” Geon-Woo exclaimed.

“I believe you.”

“...What?”

“Are you deaf? I said that I believe you.”

Chi-Yeol said that he believed Geon-Woo, but it didn’t show in his actions. He dropped his cigarette stump and stomped it with his shoe.

“That’s why we chose you.”

“Chose...? What are you talking about?!”

Chi-Yeol threw the several pieces of A4-sized paper that he was holding toward Geon-Woo.

Flutter!

Geon-Woo was surprised by the words on the pieces of paper scattered all over the place.

[A report stating that Security Team Leader Park Geon-Woo was the one who communicated with businesses to develop close relationships with them behind Congressman Kim Han-Gyo’s back will be written up.]

[Frame Security Team Leader Park Geon-Woo on all twelve cases aside from the tourist business project and release it to the press.]

[Examine the contents before releasing it.]

“...!”

They were about laying the blame on Geon-Woo for all of Congressman Kim Han-Gyo’s crimes. The final phrase dealt the most impact.

[Write up a report on Security Team Leader Park Geon-Woo’s suicide and distribute it to reporters, and prepare a will.]

Geon-Woo finally realized why Chi-Yeol was doing this to him. Chi-Yeol picked up one of the papers scattered on the ground.

“This is my final gift to you before you head to the afterlife.”

With the flick of his hand, the armed men started to run toward Geon-Woo.

“Dammit! Fucking bastards!!!”

Geon-Woo’s pent-up rage exploded.

He had devoted himself to aiding Congressman Kim Han-Gyo for ten whole years. He prioritized the congressman’s wellbeing and security over his own, so his rage was understandable if this was what he got in return. He felt as if his ten years of devotion were betrayed. No one would be able to empathize with him unless they had experienced it themselves.

Swing!

The man on his left swung at him with a club. However, Geon-Woo stepped backward and barely dodged his attack. He grabbed and twisted the man’s wrist that was holding the club, as the man let out a scream in response.

Thwack!

Geon-Woo landed a devastating kick on the man’s side. He picked up the club that the man dropped and charged toward Chi-Yeol.

“I’ll kill you, I swear!!!”

However, his efforts were in vain, as men from all sides pinned him down by force.

“Let me go, you fucking sons of bitches!!!”

Chi-Yeol crouched and looked down at Geon-Woo with a smile on his face.

“Thank you very much for your ten years of service, Team Leader Park. I’m sure you don’t mind sacrificing that life of yours… for Father’s sake.”

“...!!!”

“Do it.”

“Yes, sir!”

The knife momentarily shone under the moonlight, and then...

Stab—! Stab! Stab!

The knife stabbed Geon-Woo in his side several times, dying the once-shining blade in blood. He was losing consciousness. He tried his best to stay awake, but death slowly yet surely approached him.

Geon-Woo looked up at Chi-Yeol right up until his eyes closed.

“You... I will take my revenge someday. You and your father... I swear it...!”

“I’m sure you will.”

Darkness deeper than the night sky engulfed Geon-Woo.

***

“Urgh...”

Sounds of shallow breath were flowing out from his mouth. Geon-Woo steadily woke up from the sound of his own breath. At that moment...

“Hello~? Please wake up. You don’t have a lot of time.”

He was forcibly woken up by the voice of a woman he didn’t recognize.

Geon-Woo couldn’t believe his eyes. He was in an endless empty space. He blinked several times. He couldn’t even tell which way was up and which was down.

“Wh-Where am I?!”

He hurriedly stood up. Surprisingly, he could not feel any pain from his side where he was stabbed several times.

“What the hell...”

“Ohh, can you see me?”

A long-haired woman in her early twenties wearing a hanbok waved her right hand at Geon-Woo.

“Who are you?!” he asked.

“A Grim Reaper,” the woman answered.

“Grim... What?”

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll make this quick. Please listen carefully.”

Ahem!

The woman cleared her throat.

“Congratulations, Mr. Park Geon-Woo! You have managed to grab hold of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to return to the past. You’re very lucky.”

“R-Return to the past? Really?”

“Yes! But what to do~? You need to fill out a return application form, but after checking, you don’t have a lot of time to fill it out. Only... thirty seconds?”

The words ‘thirty seconds’ brought him right back to his senses. Now that he paid attention, there was a piece of paper in front of him.

Just like the woman said, the words ‘Return Application Form’ was written on top of the paper, along with its contents densely arranged like a questionnaire.

“Now it’s twenty seconds.”

“Wh-What am I supposed to do?!”

“It’s simple. You just need to fill that out in the time you have left. But it sure is unfortunate. You would’ve been given plenty of time to fill it out if you were a righteous person who did many good things in life, but since you’ve only been given thirty seconds, you must not have been all that good of a person.”

The woman smiled meaningfully. However, Geon-Woo did not have the time to worry about that.

“Dammit!”

He hurriedly picked up the pen. He couldn’t lose a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to return to the past. Revenge. That word was blazing within his heart. He quickly went through the contents.

[Please write down the time which you’d like to return to.]

[If you’d like to return with all your memories intact, please check the ‘Yes’ box. If not, please check ‘No’.]

There were dozens of rows of subsections aside from those questions.

‘Shit, how am I supposed to answer all this in twenty seconds?!’

No, it wasn’t twenty seconds anymore.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven...”

“Count slower! Fuck!”

He started to rush as the woman counted down. He quickly ticked the boxes. However...

“Three, two, one, beep!”

The moment the woman yelled ‘Beep!’, the floor that Geon-Woo was on disappeared.

“Aaaaaaahhh!!!”

Geon-Woo disappeared in a flash, with a shriek.

Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper was going through his return application form, and she let out an ‘Oh my’.

“What should I do?”

[Would you like to retain your memories even if you return to the past?]

- Yes.

[Which time would you like to return to?]

- Summer, 15 years ago.

However, he couldn’t check off the most important category.

[Would you like to return as ‘Park Geon-Woo’?]

“He didn’t check this off.”

***

His body was insanely heavy. At first, it was hard enough just to open his eyes, but he became able to move freely as he began to adjust to his body.

‘Do I need time to adjust because it’s my past body?’

He could faintly hear the sound of the television. It just happened to be the news.

[Onto the next story. Gu-Oh Irons Ltd., after suffering from financial difficulties, has ultimately filed for bankruptcy in a court of law.]

‘Gu-Oh Irons Ltd. is... bankrupt?’

It was something that happened exactly in the summer of 2010. Recalling the contents of the return application form, Geon-Woo couldn’t contain his shock.

‘Have I really returned to the past?’

To be honest, he was half in doubt. However, he had filled out that form with the resolve to do whatever it took to take his revenge against Kim Han-Gyo and his son. And now that it had become reality, strength naturally surged into him.

However, Geon-Woo felt something was strange the moment he tried to slightly lift his upper body.

“Where... am I?”

He spoke to himself. However, that voice was completely unfamiliar to him. He was sure of it. This was the voice of a girl. Long locks of hair drooped down in tandem with his head movements. Only then did he finally recall the section that he had been unable to check off.

‘No way...!’

He hurriedly grabbed the mirror on the desk and raised it up to his face, and in the mirror was...

The face of a teenage high school girl that he’d never seen before.

“Fuuuuuck—!!!”

A loud curse echoed throughout the small home.

1. Hanbok is traditional ethnic Korean clothing.