"Snore... cough! Ghk! Cough! ...Damn...."
Inside the bustling emergency room, Haran—who had been snoring away on a hospital bed—shot awake in a fit of violent coughing.
"Ugh... What the...?"
Where is this?
Who am I?
Still blinking away the stiffness in his eyes and wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he sat up in confusion.
"Urgh..."
"Oh! You're awake?"
"Huh? Ah... yeah...?"
The nurse who had been walking back and forth between the beds brightened immediately and hurried over.
"You really shouldn't be sitting up like that yet. Could you tell me your name first?"
"...Haran."
"Yes, Mr. Pyo Haram. Do you know today's date?"
"Pyo Haram? I'm just Haran."
"Right. The date."
"Well... I don't usually keep track of dates."
Why has she been talking down to me this whole time?
The nurse tilted her head.
Then, pretending nothing was unusual, she scribbled more notes onto her chart.
"All right. Then do you know where you are?"
"Uh... hmm..."
Haran rolled his eyes around.
The air smelled of blood and disinfectant.
Everything was spotless and white, while injured people occupied bed after bed throughout the room.
"...A hospital?"
"That's right, Mr. Pyo Haram. This is Korea University Hospital. We've admitted you to the emergency room for now. We checked your identity and found you're an E-rank Hunter. If you'd prefer, we can transfer you to a Hunter Hospital, and also—"
"Wait. Hold on."
"Yes?"
"What have you been talking about this whole time? You keep calling me Pyo... Haram? I'm just Haran. And what's a... Hun? Hunter? I don't understand a damn thing you're saying."
"Uh..."
The nurse's pen froze in midair.
Her trembling eyes shifted between Haran's face and the patient information attached to the bed.
Then...
"Um... Mr. Pyo Haram?"
"I keep telling you I'm just Haran."
"Ah... I see. Then... Haram."
"Haran."
"Right. Um... could you wait here for just a moment?"
"...?"
"Just a second. Doctor! Doctor!"
The nurse immediately turned around and hurried away, apparently to fetch someone.
Haran shook his head.
What a bizarre woman.
As he did, something black hanging in front of his face swayed and brushed against his eyes.
"...Huh."
What's this?
Tilting his head, he reached toward his face.
His fingers caught a head of rough, coarse hair that felt like a dog's fur.
"...?"
Huh?
Hair?
Wait...
My hair?
He tugged at it.
Pain shot through his scalp.
Haran's eyes widened.
A few strands came loose.
They were jet black.
'...My hair is silver.'
Now that he thought about it, the back of his neck felt strangely bare too.
Running his fingers over it, he realized the hair was much shorter than it should have been.
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Cold sweat began trickling down his back.
"W-Why...?"
His trembling hands frantically felt across his own face.
"W-What's with these soft cheeks? Why is my face so round? And this body... there's nothing but bones!"
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
His face turned deathly pale as he looked around in panic.
Just then, he caught his reflection in the polished metal pole holding up an IV bag.
A pale complexion.
Rough-looking skin.
A gloomy young man with long bangs covering part of his face.
"No... No!"
He threw back the blanket.
Only then did he finally notice the strange clothes he was wearing—something he hadn't paid attention to inside the dungeon.
Still desperately refusing to believe reality, he frantically searched every part of his body.
Several unfamiliar objects emerged from the pocket of his shirt.
A black... brick-like object covered in cracks like a spiderweb.
Something flat made of worn, peeling leather.
And one more thing...
"...A suicide note?"
He unfolded the crumpled piece of paper.
The writing was unlike anything he had ever seen.
Yet, for some reason...
He could read every word.
My name is Pyo Haram, an E-rank Healer.
My phone number and address are...
Suicide Note.
Those neatly written words sat at the very top of the page.
Among everything written beneath them, what caught Haran's attention most was the unfamiliar name and the personal information describing its owner.
The meaning couldn't have been clearer.
His body had changed.
"Ah... Ah... AAAAAAH! NO! My dimensional-transfer spell! My body! AAAAAAH!"
Haran—
No.
The former Great Archmage, now trapped inside Pyo Haram's body...
Finally realized something.
His dimensional-transfer spell had only succeeded...
Halfway.
Watching Haram scream in complete shock, trembling from head to toe, the intern quietly turned toward the resident.
"...Should I ask Radiology to prioritize reading Mr. Pyo Haram's brain scan?"
The resident sighed deeply.
"...Tell them we need it as soon as possible."
* * *
After a brief full-scale mental breakdown, Haram barely managed to pull himself together thanks to the desperate pleas of the medical staff.
Still half out of his mind, he listened as a doctor explained that his brain scans showed nothing seriously abnormal and that they would simply continue observing his cognitive function.
Everyone around him clearly believed something was wrong with his head.
But Haram was so consumed by his own worries that he never even noticed.
Finally...
Some time later.
'...My body.'
'My handsome face...'
Rush—
Receiving suspicious looks from the nurses, Haram escaped into the restroom.
He stopped in front of the sink.
Standing there blankly, he splashed cold water onto his face before slowly raising his dripping reflection toward the mirror.
"Haaaaah..."
Fine.
Forget the messy hair.
But these eyes, this nose, this mouth...
Was this seriously supposed to be a face?
And why did these ridiculously soft, dough-like cheeks belong on a body that was nothing but skin and bones?
"My God...
...Fuck."
A round face.
Slightly upturned eyes.
Long, thick eyelashes.
Clear white sclera.
Large pupils.
Maybe because of those eyes, the body's age looked even younger than it actually was.
His frame was already painfully skinny and small enough that it looked like one shove would knock him flat.
"...Sigh."
He hated every part of it.
His original body hadn't exactly been muscular either...
But it had been infinitely better than this.
'I was tall... broad-shouldered... I looked athletic even without working out....'
He groaned miserably.
'I should've realized something was wrong the moment my left leg started hurting... no, the moment my eye level got lower....'
"Ggh..."
As he let out another miserable groan, someone shouted from inside one of the restroom stalls.
"Could you keep it down in there?"
"...?"
"You think you're the only one using this bathroom?"
"..."
The despair on Haram's face melted into hollow disbelief.
Running a wet hand through his messy bangs, he quietly walked back out.
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
He had barely begun thinking about it when—
"Ugh...!"
The world suddenly spun.
His face instantly drained of color as one hand shot out to catch himself against the wall.
Eeeeeee—
A shrill ringing filled his ears.
At the same time, something hot and metallic dripped from his nose.
He instinctively lowered his head.
Through his blurred vision...
Dark red drops of blood splattered across the white floor.
"...Ah."
Amid the piercing ringing...
A faint, ticklish voice whispered.
'Uncle.'
Fragments of memories that weren't his slowly surfaced through the haze clouding his mind.
A dog he had raised as a child.
His parents scolding him.
His older sister's wedding.
Family dinners.
And then—
'Run...! Run away...!'
'Noona...!'
'Waaaaah!'
BOOM!
An explosion echoed through his mind.
For some reason...
His left eye...
And his left leg...
Both throbbed with pain.
Bzzzt—
Bzzzt—
Bzzzt—
A vibration from his pocket yanked him back from the blurry boundary between dream and reality.
Haram sucked in a sharp breath before instinctively wiping the blood from beneath his nose with his sleeve.
"...Snff."
Then he fumbled through his pocket and pulled out whatever had saved him.
"Ah...
A...
Phone...."
Holding the cracked black brick—
No.
The phone—
He looked at the screen.
Morning Star Kindergarten
Incoming Call
Even though he had no idea what a kindergarten was...
His heart suddenly clenched.
Almost unconsciously, he touched the screen to answer.
"H-Hello?"
"Hello, Uncle Sua. This is Morning Star Kindergarten."
"...Yes."
"It's time for Sua to go home. I wanted to check whether she'll be taking the bus today. Our records say you'll be picking her up yourself..."
"...Ah. Pick-up... Yes. I... I'll come myself."
His voice trembled pitifully.
The one speaking now wasn't the Great Archmage Haran.
It was Pyo Haram's body.
Its memories seemed to be moving on their own, pushing Haran aside and taking control.
"About what time do you think you'll arrive? Sua's been saying she really wants to see her uncle."
Whether Haram remained frozen or not, the cheerful voice on the other end continued speaking.
He had never heard the name before.
Yet the instant he heard "Sua"...
The image of a little girl's bright face flooded into his mind.
Something caught painfully in his throat.
Like someone being strangled, he forced out each word through a hoarse, metallic voice.
"...I'll...
be there...
as soon...
as I can."
"All right! Then we'll get Sua ready for pickup. See you soon."
Click.
The call ended.
As though it had accomplished its purpose, Pyo Haram's memories quietly sank back beneath the surface.
At the same time...
Control of the body returned to Haran.
During those few brief moments, the strength had completely left his legs, and cold sweat soaked his entire body.
Panting heavily, he stared at the phone in his hand.
'Memories...
The body's memories can influence... the body itself....'