🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 1………………………………………
It was nearly 2 a.m., but the night in Gangnam shone brighter than the day. Neon signs in yellow, green, and blue lit up the dark streets.
“Taxi!”
Drunk people stood on the roadside with flushed faces, desperately trying to catch taxis. Taxi drivers argued with passengers, hoping to pick up someone going farther away.
“Let’s go for round two!”
“Haha, Manager, aren’t you going a little too hard?”
“I’m still young! What about you, Assistant Lee? Heading home?”
“N-no, sir. How could I leave while you’re still here?”
“That’s my Assistant Lee! Let’s hit karaoke for round two!”
The heavily drunk manager disappeared into the basement karaoke room, supported by two men. A group of college students who had been watching the weary office workers finally started talking once they were gone.
“Hey, did you see Assistant Lee’s face when the manager suggested karaoke?”
“He looked like he was dying to go home.”
“Seriously. Man, I never want to live like that.”
“Why? I’m jealous.”
“What’s there to envy?”
“At least he’s employed. I’d be happy just getting a job.”
The blunt comment from the guy in thick-rimmed glasses silenced everyone.
“You little punk, way to kill the mood. Cheer up. I’ll pay for round two.”
“Ooooooh! Let’s go!”
“What are you talking about? At this hour, we obviously have to go sing at Yoko!”
“Anywhere’s fine—let’s go!”
The men disappeared down the street arm in arm, while loud pop music poured out from nearby stores. Crowds continued streaming endlessly through the streets.
In an office building a little away from the bustling road, a woman sat staring intensely at her computer monitor. Her face was bare of makeup, but the sharp lift of her eyes made her look striking nonetheless.
She glared at the monitor as if it were her mortal enemy, then lowered her gaze at the sound of a KakaoTalk notification.
[Mom: Isu, are you still at the office? When are you coming home?]
“Mmm…”
The woman called Isu hesitated before rapidly typing back.
[Go to sleep first, Mom. I think I’ll have to sleep here again tonight.]
Tomorrow was the presentation day for a project that would determine the fate of the company. Isu had sacrificed even her summer vacation and practically lived in the office for the past six months preparing for it.
She had considered going home tonight, but the meeting had dragged on too long, forcing her into another all-nighter.
After sending the message, Isu looked back at the monitor.
Dozens of graphs swam before her eyes. She had stared at them for so long that she could barely tell whether she was inside the computer or outside it anymore.
Drip.
“Huh?”
A nosebleed.
Startled by the drops of blood splattering onto her white plastic desk, Isu tilted her head back.
“Ah… again…”
Unable to lower her head because of the bleeding, she fumbled around for tissues. Her fingers finally found the sharp corner of a tissue box. After stuffing several tissues into her nose, she could finally lower her head again.
It was already her fourth nosebleed this month. She wasn’t physically weak—in fact, exercise was her hobby—but no one could beat endless overtime work.
“Maybe I should go home tonight.”
She muttered weakly. Her pale ankles, visible beneath her comfortable sweatpants, were painfully thin.
Ever since the project had started, she had never slept more than four hours a day. She barely even took time to eat, surviving on quick meals at her desk. Her lifestyle was a complete mess, so it was only natural that her body was sending warning signs.
“No… it’ll all be over tomorrow.”
This project was important enough to determine the company’s future. It had to be perfect.
Her sick father came to mind. He had already been hospitalized for three days due to overwork and malnutrition.
“Dad… I hope you’re okay.”
Her father had originally led the project, but after collapsing three days ago, Isu, the team leader, had taken over.
Doing the work of two people alone was overwhelming, but knowing how hard her father had worked made her push herself even harder.
This project means everything. At least I have to finish this before I go.
Steeling her weakening resolve, Isu stood up. To wake herself up, she headed to the break room for coffee.
Beep.
As she pressed the button, the grinding sound of coffee beans filled the room. The rich aroma of freshly roasted coffee drifted up from the paper cup.
Breathing in the scent through the nostril not plugged with tissue seemed to wake her up a little.
Leaning against the wall, she straightened herself to walk back—
“What… what is this?”
She thought she had stuffed enough tissue into her nose, but it had already soaked through. Blood dripped again onto her white blouse, staining her gray hoodie red.
“I need… more tissue…”
As she stared at the blood, her head suddenly spun.
She reached for the wall to steady herself, but the hallway was wider than she realized. The wall felt impossibly far away.
Her body collapsed helplessly onto the floor.
Her vision faded instantly.
She knew this was bad, but the floor felt unbearably comfortable.
Her exhausted body, deprived of proper rest, felt like soaked cotton—too heavy to move.
No… I can’t fall asleep… the project…
Before she could even finish the thought, Isu’s consciousness plunged into darkness.
“Wake up. Come on, wake up.”
At the sensation of someone shaking her, Isu frowned. Her body felt unbearably heavy, like lying on an electric blanket in the dead of winter.
Bright light seeped through her closed eyelids.
Something felt wrong.
Had she really slept until morning?
She forced her eyes open. Her mind felt hazy, as if she were drunk. If she closed her eyes again, she felt she could immediately fall back asleep.
“The project…”
Muttering weakly, Isu looked around blankly.
She had definitely collapsed at the office, but now she was surrounded by nothing but bright white light. No desks. No chairs. No partitions.
Mom texted me… I got coffee… and then… where am I? Who am I?
“You’re finally awake.”
Startled by the voice behind her, Isu spun around.
A man with dark blue hair falling to his waist and crimson eyes stood there frowning at her.
Her face instantly went pale.
“Why are you here…?”
The demon she had made a contract with twenty-one years ago stood before her.
His brows were furrowed in irritation. Isu’s complexion grew even paler.
Carefully, she asked:
“Am I… dying?”
At the office? Why? From what? Freezing? Blood loss?
Ever since their contract twenty-one years ago, the demon had appeared whenever her life was in danger. When she nearly got hit by a truck at age nine. When a stalker nearly stabbed her at seventeen.
He had been obligated to protect her life until she turned twenty-three, and he had faithfully fulfilled that duty for twenty-one years.
But now, with a grim expression, he said:
“You’re… already dead.”
“What are you talking about? Dead?”
A chill ran through her entire body.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she glared at him—then suddenly realized something was wrong.
Her hand had passed straight through her arm.
“…What is this?”
Unable to believe it, she cautiously pressed one hand against the other.
Her fingers sank right through.
“AHHHHH!”
She screamed in horror.
The demon sighed, looking at her as though she were an idiot for only noticing now.
“I saved you from death countless times… but I never expected you’d kill yourself. Did you want reincarnation that badly?”
“Su-suicide? Why would I kill myself?!”
The project was almost finished!
At her protest, the demon widened his crimson eyes like a cat in the dark.
“…You didn’t commit suicide? You pushed your body to its limit and died from overwork.”
Death from overwork.
Isu stared at him blankly, as if someone had smashed a gong against her head.
“That’s impossible…”
“If you didn’t want to die, why abuse your body like that? Human bodies are fragile. If you don’t eat or rest properly, the bond between body and soul weakens. Surely humans know that better than anyone.”
“…It’s not like I wanted to live that way. I had my reasons.”
“To every living creature, its own life is precious. And especially you—you were always obsessed with living. I suppose changing bodies changes the mind as well.”
His words struck her like a hammer.
Twenty-one years ago, as “Radian,” maybe that had been true.
But living as Isu had given her precious things: her loving mother and father.
The company they had built with their entire lives meant just as much to her as her own life.
No—more importantly, what twenty-something honestly expects to die from overwork?!
She remembered the last KakaoTalk message from her mother. Her mother, once a company director, had retired years ago due to poor health.
Guess weak genes really do run in the family.
Thinking of her mother—who was always worrying about her daughter despite being frail herself—made Isu’s chest ache.
How worried must she be right now?
Once she got back, she would quit the overtime and go straight home to hug her mother.
“Okay. I’ll be more careful from now on. So send me back. Back to my original body.”
“…I can’t.”
“What?”
Isu frowned sharply.
“What are you talking ab—ugh, I’m sleepy…”
Her condition clearly wasn’t good. Even after sleeping, she still felt exhausted.
Drowsiness crashed over her like a tidal wave.
“Th-the funeral customs here…”
“Huh? I can’t hear you well. Why am I so sleepy… Anyway, send me back… I still have two years left.”
Even while half-asleep, Isu pointed out the flaw in his logic.
The demon flinched guiltily—but before she could notice, she collapsed forward.
He quickly caught her.
“…What am I supposed to do now?”
He sighed deeply.
The body of twenty-one-year-old Isu had already finished its three-day funeral and was safely enshrined in a columbarium somewhere in Paju.
How could he possibly put her soul back into a body that had already been cremated into ashes?
The demon stared helplessly at the sleeping Isu.
A wandering soul separated from its body rapidly lost vitality. Once all vitality disappeared, the grim reapers from the underworld would come for her.
What had he spent twenty-one years protecting her for?
He couldn’t exactly turn her into soup and feed her to Cerberus.
Biting his lips until they turned white, the demon finally muttered:
“To hell with it.”
Then, hoisting Isu’s soul over one shoulder, he vanished into empty space.
“Our Isu even eats prettily.”
“What will our Isu become when she grows up?”
“Bwaaah! Mama! Abuuu!”
Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. I won’t live long enough to become anything.
Two-year-old Isu giggled adorably at the parents who loved her to death.
Her parents, who had fallen in love at first sight and married the following year, were famous at work for being utterly obsessed with their only daughter.
And Isu truly was lovable enough to melt anyone’s heart.
“How can she be this cute?”
“I know. She’s my daughter, but sometimes she’s so beautiful it shocks me.”
Seeing her young, healthy parents made Isu’s heart ache again.
“Mama.”
She reached out toward her mother.
But instead of taking her hand, her mother’s smile vanished as she stepped backward.
“Papa…?”
Panicked, Isu reached toward her father too.
But he turned away expressionlessly and walked farther away.
“Mama, Papa… waaahhh! WAAAAAH!”
Two-year-old Isu cried desperately, but no one came to her.
Then suddenly, the cradle beneath her feet gave way.
She plunged endlessly into a dark abyss.
“Gasp!”
Isu opened her eyes, drenched in sweat.
Above her hung a crimson canopy embroidered with elegant patterns.
Her long eyelashes fluttered rapidly in disbelief.
The princess-like canopy was nothing like anything in her house—
And yet, strangely familiar.
“Wh-what is this…?”
She hurriedly sat up.
“Lady Radian, you’re awake?”
A cheerful maid’s voice tickled her ears.
Startled, Isu clutched the blanket tightly and stared at the maid.
Everything was chaos.
She thought she would wake up to worried parents.
But instead—
“Lady Radian…?”
The maid looked equally alarmed. After all, Radian’s face was pale as a corpse.
“Lady Radian, are you feeling unwell?”
Isu looked carefully at the maid.
Neatly braided brown hair. Kind brown eyes. Sun-kissed skin dotted with freckles.
Wendy.
The maid who had been the kindest to her in her previous life.
“Wen…dy?”
Why are you here?
Was this still a dream?
Unable to believe it, Isu pinched her own cheek hard.
“Ow!”
Wendy lowered her head sadly.
The young lady has finally gone mad.
Honestly, after enduring such horrible married life for a whole year, it was amazing she had lasted this long. Wendy knew she herself would have lost her mind much sooner.
As Isu rubbed her sore cheek, a horrifying thought came to her.
With a trembling voice, she asked:
“Wendy.”
“Yes, Lady Radian?”
“What year is it…?”
Confused by the random question, Wendy tilted her head before answering honestly.
“Imperial Year 931, October 17th.”
Good heavens.
Isu’s face turned deathly pale.
She had returned.
And not just anywhere—
But to the very first year of the hellish marriage that had once ruined her life.
