I stared in surprise.
At some point, a cloud-like keyboard and a holographic screen had appeared in front of Kkami.
Seeing them floating in midair reminded me a little too much of that plastic bag drifting into the air before I died, which was mildly traumatic.
Standing on two legs, Kkami tapped away at the keyboard and began searching.
It was the kind of sight that made me want to shout, Technology!
“Let’s see. The work you spent the most time looking at in your lifetime was… Ah! The romance-fantasy webtoon Welcome to Aria’s Teahouse! Wow, you spent a whole 1,487 hours on it. That’s incredible!”
“No, see, that’s…”
That was the first series I’d ever worked on as a colorist.
Apparently, being forced to stare at something for work still counted as watching it.
“The work you spent the second-most time on was the martial arts novel The Heavenly Demon Who Will Destroy the World Has Returned! Total reading time: fifty-six hours!”
“Yes! That one. That’s my favorite novel right now.”
My face lit up at the mention of it.
It was the web novel I’d been religiously paying to unlock every day, hooked on its unpredictable plot and relentless dopamine hits.
The protagonist had completely lost his mind in the latest chapter, and I’d been dying to know what would happen next.
“Then would you like to be sent to the world of The Heavenly Demon Who Will Destroy the World Has Returned? Or to the world of Welcome to Aria’s Teahouse?”
The Heavenly Demon Who Will Destroy the World Has Returned began with the Heavenly Demon coming back to life, the world promptly going to hell, and practically every master in the martial world dying.
Meanwhile, Welcome to Aria’s Teahouse wasn’t even my kind of story.
It was mostly a cozy healing romance.
This wasn’t remotely a fair comparison.
It was basically:
Live somewhere with sword fights every day, overflowing with thrills and dopamine
versus
Live somewhere safe, comfortable, and boring.
Obviously, any real man would choose—
“Send me into the romance fantasy.”
Watching a story and actually having to live inside it were two very different things.
Besides, sure, I liked the novel I’d paid to read with my own money, but wouldn’t I naturally feel more attached to the series I’d spent 1,487 hours staring at while getting paid?
And no, this had absolutely nothing to do with me being a coward.
******
After saying goodbye to Kkami and Coco, I entered a strange space where a portal shimmered between the clouds, glowing with every color of the rainbow.
I’d been told that once I passed through it, I would begin a new life in another world, in a new body.
Without hesitation, I stepped through.
I felt myself being sucked forward at tremendous speed, and everything before my eyes turned white.
“…!”
I sucked in a breath.
Fresh air filled my lungs.
When I forced my eyes open, brilliant sunlight made me squint.
Did it work…? Wait. I never asked what kind of body I’d be getting, did I?
I’d been too busy hugging and petting Coco right up until the very end to remember something that important.
What mattered most, though, was whether this was really the world of Welcome to Aria’s Teahouse.
I looked around eagerly.
I wasn’t inside a house.
I was in a forest.
The ground wasn’t on fire, and I couldn’t hear martial artists screaming in agony anywhere, so I seemed to have made the right choice.
Whew.
But why were the trees so huge?
Even the flowers blooming beside me were almost as tall as I was.
Actually…
Wasn’t my line of sight way too low?
Don’t tell me I’m a baby?
A creeping sense of unease came over me.
I looked down.
And saw a smooth, white body.
More specifically—
A body covered in smooth white fur.
“Myaaak?!”
I shrieked.
Wait.
Why did I sound like that?!
A sharp, high-pitched cry had just come out of my mouth.
I looked at my hands.
Except they weren’t hands.
What I saw were little white paws, fluffy as tufts of cotton, with soft-looking pink toe beans nestled underneath.
“…MYAAAAAAAK!!!”
W-What the hell is this?!
I said I wanted to raise a cat in my next life!
I never said I wanted to become one!
******
Celia Rosette.
That was the name given to the youngest child and only daughter of Baron Rosette, who had one son and one daughter.
From a very young age, Celia had been exceptionally clever.
She was quick on the uptake, perceptive, and sharp enough to learn ten things on her own after being taught just one.
Of course, there was a secret behind that intelligence.
She retained the memories of her previous life.
Her true name was Kim Ari.
Considering that the soul inside her had received a twenty-first-century South Korean public education, it was hardly surprising that she appeared unusually brilliant for her age.
Unfortunately for Kim Ari—or rather, Celia—the family she had been born into was deeply conservative and hopelessly old-fashioned.
Baron Rosette had always disliked Celia’s habit of speaking her mind.
He would scold her for acting smarter than men when she was only a girl and tell her to behave with proper feminine modesty.
And that wasn’t all.
Claiming that a woman who was too accomplished would undermine her husband, the baron even forbade her from reading books.
“Father’s right. What kind of girl reads books this thick? If you want to marry into a good family, you should spend your time taking care of your looks instead.”
Celia’s older brother went even further.
He would tear her books to pieces right in front of her just to taunt her.
With her mother having passed away when she was young, there was no one in the family willing to take Celia’s side.
She had no choice but to grit her teeth and endure it.
Whenever that happened, the head maid would get angry on Celia’s behalf.
“They won’t even let you read? Honestly, the men in this family are hopeless.”
The head maid had looked after Celia since childhood and loved her as though she were her own daughter.
Perhaps that was why she became even angrier whenever Celia was treated unfairly.
“The Baron really is foolish. He pours every bit of education into Young Master Selon, even though the boy has no interest in studying and spends every day drinking with his friends.”
“Of all the children I’ve ever seen, you’re one of the brightest, my lady. If you were allowed a proper education, you would be far more useful to this household than Young Master Selon ever will be. The Baron simply doesn’t understand.”
As she brushed Celia’s blond hair, she would always tell her the same thing.
“My lady, when you’re older, you must go to the capital. I’ve heard that women there receive an education, run businesses, and even set the trends themselves.”
“You’re far too good to waste away in a backwater like this. Go to the capital and live proudly, on your own terms.”
The head maid had always been Celia’s greatest source of support.
But before Celia even turned fourteen, the woman fell ill and passed away.
Left alone, Celia began desperately saving money so she could escape the household.
Every night, she secretly slipped outside disguised as a maid and took whatever side jobs she could find, such as paid sewing work.
Then, when Celia turned nineteen and finally came of age, the Baron attempted to marry her off to a wealthy old nobleman as though he were selling her.
Celia knew her time had come.
She had endured everything until then, but deep down, the dream of going to the capital and living proudly had never died.
Just as the head maid had always told her to.
So, in the dead of night while everyone slept, Celia fled with all the money she had saved and the dowry prepared for her marriage.
Afraid that her family would send people after her, she hid among cargo in freight wagons and sometimes pretended to be a woman fleeing an abusive husband so travelers would let her ride with them.
Most people took pity on her and helped conceal her identity.
After an exhausting month-long journey, Celia finally reached the capital.
The first thing she did was obtain false identification under the name “Aria.”
Escaping far from the Baron’s territory had been one thing.
Actually settling in the capital as a commoner with no connections was another.
The barriers were simply too high.
With no other choice, she eventually made her way to a village some distance outside the capital.
She hadn’t expected much.
But the village she found was lively without being overwhelming, bustling pleasantly with people while surrounded by lush green forests and beautiful scenery.
Aria fell in love with it almost immediately.
She decided to settle there.
Using her dowry and nearly everything else she had saved, she purchased an old two-story house.
Aria picked up the tools herself and began repairing it.
After painstakingly fixing up every nook and cranny, the dilapidated building was transformed into a warm, cozy space with a charming vintage feel.
She opened a teahouse on the ground floor.
Once she hung up a wooden sign bearing the elegant words Aria’s Teahouse, the place looked even more picturesque.
Drawing on her experience working part-time at a café in her previous life, Aria confidently opened for business.
And yet—
No one’s coming.
A month after opening, the teahouse remained painfully empty.
She had decorated the interior with adorable little ornaments and put considerable effort into the décor, but perhaps because the shop was tucked away in an out-of-the-way location, hardly anyone ever stopped by.
So this is why people say location is everything.
Having learned the bitter reality of opening an independent café firsthand, Aria let out a long sigh.
Tap, tap.
A faint sound came from outside the door.
Aria immediately rose from her seat and hurried over.
“Yes, I’m coming.”
Jingle, jingle.
The clear chime of the bell rang out as she opened the door.
But there was no one outside.
Puzzled, Aria lowered her gaze.
“Meow.”
A white cat greeted her.
“Hello there. Where did you come from?”
Aria crouched and held out her hand.
The cat didn’t shy away.
Instead, it casually placed one little paw on top of her hand.
Wait… Did it just give me its paw?
Aria stared blankly at the tiny paw resting on her fingers.
No way…
She hadn’t even asked.
Cats were intelligent animals, of course, but as far as she knew, they weren’t particularly easy to train.
As though proving it had been nothing more than a coincidence, the cat lowered its paw again.
Its short white fur had a soft, healthy sheen.
It was far too clean to look like a stray.
I’ve never seen this cat around the village before.
“Do you want to come inside for now?”
Aria stood and stepped aside.
The cat briskly shook each of its four paws in turn—
then marched straight into the teahouse as though it belonged there.