STVS 02

~Chapter 02~

At first, I didn’t even realize that I had transmigrated into Heavenly Lord of the Celestial Realm.

I had been so worked up about it, but in truth, it had already been several months since I last read Heavenly Lord of the Celestial Realm. In the meantime, I had devoured countless other novels.

Usually, if you transmigrate, isn’t it an unspoken rule that it’s into the most recently read novel—or at least your favorite one?

So when I finished my part-time job and was on my way home, crossing the crosswalk, only to be hit by a truck that suddenly came barreling out of nowhere—and then opened my eyes in this world—the very first thought that crossed my mind was this:

‘Is this a romance fantasy?’

A reincarnation truck charging straight at me, a body that should’ve been dead but was perfectly intact, and a ceiling that was neither an ambulance ceiling nor a hospital room ceiling, but something completely unfamiliar.

No matter how you looked at it, this was the classic opening of a transmigration novel.

Then the next scene should be obvious. I’d be lying blankly on the bed when—bang!—the door would fly open, and an impudent maid would burst in shouting, “Miss, why are you still lying around?!”

“Dana (旦兒)?”

…Nope?

“Dana, Dana, are you awake?”

I turned my head instinctively. A woman with a slender, pale face came into view.

“My goodness, Dana!”

Once again, I was caught completely off guard.

It wasn’t because she looked like an actress straight out of a historical drama, nor because such a person was calling me so familiarly, nor even because she suddenly burst into heartbroken sobs the moment she spoke.

‘An… an East Asian?’

Black hair, black eyes, pale wheat-colored skin, delicate features, and clothing with an unmistakably Eastern flair.

No matter how I looked at it, she wasn’t Western—she was East Asian.

East Asian? In a romance fantasy?

“Aah, heavens above, thank you, thank you! Dana—my baby—has woken up safely. How could I not be grateful for this… how could I not…!”

Even as I stood there flustered, the woman kept crying, tears streaming down her face. Then, all of a sudden, she grabbed my hand tightly and began rambling on about things I could barely understand.

“Dana, you don’t need to worry about your mother’s illness anymore. Don’t you know that if something happened to you because of me, it would only break my heart even more? When I heard you’d been hurt in the mountains, I thought my world was collapsing…”

“Excuse me? Hurt in the mountains? Who? Me? And who are you to—”

“Huh?”

“Uh?”

Silence fell.

“Ah…”

By the time I realized something was very wrong, it was already too late. The woman’s eyes widened in shock at my sudden words, and just as I tried to scramble for some excuse—

“Ah?”

The sensations that had dulled suddenly came rushing back.

Pain flooded my body all at once, so intense I could barely breathe. Heat surged up to my head, my whole body throbbing. I staggered, and the woman’s pale face turned even whiter.

Through my blurred vision, I saw her crying out, “Dana! Dana!” in panic, and a vague thought surfaced in my mind.

‘Ah… they said I was in an accident…’

That was the last thing I remembered before I passed out.

That was my first memory in this world.

* * *

When I regained consciousness again, I was lying alone on the bed.

As I stared blankly at the ceiling, the events from earlier resurfaced in my mind.

A sudden transmigration into this world, the appearance of East Asians instead of Westerners, the woman who had cried while holding my hand…

“Gah!”

I hastily pushed myself upright—only for dizziness to hit me instantly. I groaned and clutched my head.

Then I noticed something odd: the hair I grabbed was short.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just my hair. My hands, my feet—every part of my body was small. Even my field of vision felt strangely low.

Don’t tell me…

‘Did I transmigrate into a child?’

Sudden rejuvenation was alarming, but at least there was one small mercy—I was still female.

I ran my hands over my body once more, confirming it. Only then could I face the next, more pressing question I’d been putting off.

‘So… where exactly did I transmigrate to?’

Just as I was about to claw at my hair again—

“Child, are you alright?”

The door opened, and several people walked in. I turned toward them in a daze.

A short, stocky middle-aged man and a kindly-looking middle-aged woman stood there. The man spoke to me naturally.

“I was just about to go fetch a physician, but you woke up quickly. That’s a relief. Do you know how startled we were when Madam Seo came running over in tears? She kept saying you’d lost your memory and all sorts of strange things.”

“Pardon?”

“Then you collapsed—it caused quite a scene. We laid her down in the inner room for now, but I’m not sure she’ll be alright. Maybe we should still call a physician…”

“Madam Seo?”

I asked, bewildered. Were they talking about the woman who’d been crying over me earlier? What had she said again…?

You don’t need to worry about your mother’s illness anymore… if something happened to you because of me…

Mother?

Just as I got the sinking feeling that I’d said something wrong again, the two of them stared at me in disbelief.

“Y-you don’t know? Really?”

At that point, I had no choice but to explain my situation.

Of course, I couldn’t exactly say, ‘I just transmigrated here, so I don’t know anything,’ so I ended up claiming that I couldn’t remember anything at all.

Even that was enough to shock them. Their faces turned pale, and the middle-aged man let out a hollow laugh before speaking.

“You’re saying you don’t even remember who you are? Good heavens… how could something like this happen…”

The couple exchanged helpless looks. Then they moved to the corner of the room, pressed their foreheads together, and whispered intensely.

After quite some time, they finished their discussion and returned to my side.

“Then we have no choice but to explain everything from the beginning. My name is Po Il-ung, and this is my wife, Shim Ok-hyang. We’re your neighbors. Ah—first, let’s tell you your name…”

Putting together everything Uncle Po said, this was my situation:

My name is Seo Dan (曙旦).

I am the head of the household, living in Boluo County, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, caring for my sick widowed mother.

‘Head of the household…?’

That part shocked me.

I was definitely in a girl’s body—no matter how I checked, there was nothing between my legs that suggested otherwise.

But as I continued listening to the Po couple, I began to understand.

Seo Dan lived alone with her mother in Boluo County. With no father and no relatives, how could a young girl support a household by herself? Covering daily expenses was hard enough—let alone the cost of medicine.

In the end, Seo Dan disguised herself as a boy and drifted from place to place doing odd jobs. That was when disaster struck.

“Those wretched people! How could they pin a crime on an innocent child?!”

Seo Dan had been falsely accused and driven out.

According to them, she was caught stealing jewelry from the shop owner’s wife and expelled. Uncle Po exploded in anger, insisting it was utter nonsense.

As I listened like it was someone else’s story, I secretly thought:

‘Well… you never know. Maybe she really did steal it.’

Of course, the truth would never be known. The real Seo Dan no longer existed.

In any case, losing her job overnight must have left her desperate. She might manage daily expenses somehow—but what about her mother’s medicine?

In the end, Seo Dan went up the mountain to gather medicinal herbs. But when she didn’t return by nightfall, her worried mother asked the Po couple for help, and they went out searching together.

That was how things ended up like this.

My vision went dark.

‘Is this for real?’

I always thought that if I transmigrated, I’d become a princess, a duke’s daughter, a villainess, or a saintess—using my knowledge of the story to wreak havoc.

Who would’ve guessed I’d end up as impoverished girl breadwinner #1?

And with a sick family member to support, no less…

As I grabbed my head, Uncle Po clicked his tongue softly.

“If only I’d passed the news along a bit sooner, you wouldn’t have gone up the mountain. What a shame.”

“News?”