As if in response to his tumultuous scream, the numbers flooding his vision had vanished and been replaced by an unfamiliar sight.
"Where am I…?"
Seojin found himself in the middle of a decorous room, looking like a noble's residence. His cravings for an instant ramen intensified as he looked around.
Growl!
Behind him, blue curtains fluttered in the breeze from an open window, beside which stood a desk with books. To his right, a luxurious bed rested atop a prodigal mat, while a large closet occupied the left side of the room.
The walls were made of pristine stone, and the floor gleamed with polished wooden planks. Above, a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.
"Ah. This…. must be a hallucination."
Seojin closed his eyes and calmed his breathing.
He had read articles mainly about people seeing things after a prolonged hunger, as starvation had always played tricks on the mind.
"Yeah. This had to be that."
Blink!
Just as he expected, he was back standing under a street lamp beside the crosswalk when he opened his eyes.
"Heh. I knew it."
Then again, a familiar sensation hit his nose— a nosebleed! He did what he had done earlier, raising his chin to stop the blood from flowing.
It subsided after a few seconds.
"Puft."
Seojin spat a frothy blood off the road, then wiped his nose with the back of his palm.
"I feel like shit. I better wash up."
Step, step.
Deciding to head back, he walked through the pedestrian crossing. His house was only about 700 meters away, so it would be approximately 7 to 8 minutes to walk back home.
But suddenly…
Thud!
He bumped into something, or perhaps something bumped into him. He couldn't tell who was the one at fault.
Stumbling backwards, his vision swirled here and there like a Van Gogh painting.
"Look at your stupid way, damn it! I'm already pissed off enough as it is, don't…"
Seojin swallowed his words, silenced by the breathtaking beauty of the woman before him, who held her arm out with a stiff and straight posture.
"Forgive me, my lord. I have no excuses for my lack of attention. Please take my hand."
Her twin ponytails moved as she shifted her weight.
"…Eh? What did you just say?"
"Pardon?"
She looked confused, but believed she had no right but to oblige and repeat her words if the lord ordered her to.
"Ah. I have no excuses for my lack—"
"No. The one before that."
"Forgive me, my lord…?"
'…My lord?'
Seojin stared at her, then down at the hand still offered to him, then back at her face. All they had done was bump into each other, yet she was already being submissive.
'Wait, wait, is this it?! Are my exceptional genes finally taking effect? Perfect. At this rate, ramen is guaranteed tonight. But scratch that, I need more than just ramen.'
Standing up, he accepted the hand offering help.
"If you're really sorry, then take me to dinner. Let's go, I know a good place."
"..."
Bonk!
Seojin bumped the nails of his pinky finger on something when he confidently walked back, eyes closed— the base of the desk.
"O-o-ow!! That— h-huh?"
Turning around, the woman stood still, her brows raised as she looked at him.
Only then did Seojin realize he was back in that noble-like room as he clutched his aching toe, stifling a groan of pain.
"It seems you are not yet fully awake, my lord."
"..."
She walked past him and gently closed the windows. Snowflakes had been drifting inside, and she feared Seojin might catch a fever from the cold.
But just because the air was frigid did not mean he should forgo his bath.
"Please, take your time to refresh yourself in the bath. I shall return shortly with breakfast."
Creak.
The woman closed the door.
Seojin, now left alone inside this unfamiliar room, scowled.
He couldn't tell where this place was. Hallucinations might trick the eye, but could they conjure pain so vivid it burned through his toenail?
No.
There was no banner hanging inside the room like a usual 'noble' family, nothing that could hint at his origins or tell him where he belonged.
Thus, he walked to the window and looked outside.
However, only rows of trees stretched into the distance, their branches touched with a thin layer of snow. It indicated that snowfall had only begun a short while ago, perhaps a day or perhaps less.
"Strange. Is this the doing of the great, mighty truck-kun? No way, it definitely felt like a person. …And as if trucks crossed the pedestrian, heh."
He thought of all the possibilities as he stretched his body.
Another strange thing was, there was no heaviness or delay in his movements as often described in those tales of people "sent into another world".
This place certainly looked like another world, after all.
Step, step.
Shaking his head, he moved toward the door beside the closet, but then he stopped when his eyes caught the calendar pinned against the wood.
"...That calendar!"
Displayed before him was a calendar, it showed only one month as others were flipped behind it.
The name of that month read [Bruma], and beneath it were a total of 53 days. Then, he flipped back through the earlier pages, and each month before that carried only 52 days.
More than the numbers, what unsettled him was the familiarity.
Seojin knew about this calendar. He had seen it before, studied it before, and lived with it for seven years!
"N-no way…"
He recalled his own comment on that post pinned by the author:
> Seojin, looks like me and is a genius like me. Any genius skill.
Hastily, he rushed into the adjoining bathroom. There was no mirror in his room, only the vanity here. He leaned forward and stared at his reflection more closely.
"My body… it really does look exactly like me."
The reflection showed black hair, but he knew better.
His true hair was a very dark brown in color, so dark it often appeared black in dim light, yet under the sun it revealed those brown tones.
His eyes were the same as well, those rare irises.
In South Korea, such eyes were rarer than winning the lottery, falling as jjok within the ancient o‑bang‑saek hues.
"If that's the case… then have I transmigrated inside that novel, and that author's post wasn't just bullshit?!"
Normally, he should be happy about this, but he had no privilege for that.
After all…
"If I look exactly like me, then that unhinged drawback should also be—"
Ding!
[A character matching your description has been found.]
A system interface appeared before him.
[Attempting customization.]
[The character's name cannot be altered. The original name has been restored.]
[Character customization complete!]