[Real-time: Working the Night Shift at a Convenience Store...]
A photo was uploaded showing a woman with sagging cheeks like a bulldog, sitting on a chair in a convenience store, drinking. The table in front of her was littered with green soju bottles, and a half-eaten bowl of instant noodles had a cigarette butt stuck in it.
The woman, with thick thighs, sat cross-legged, a cigarette in her mouth, lighting it with a lighter.
Below the photo, the poster's comment read:
[This lady has been sitting here drinking for hours;; Is this for real;;; It's too much, guys;;;
It's tough making a living;;; Who drinks and smokes inside a convenience store;;; If she gets caught, am I getting fined too;;? This is way too hard;;;]
Comments followed:
[Soo-ah, that lady's the real deal; If it were me, I'd join her and chug soju straight from the bottle, lol. For real, look at her size—she's probably benching 600 in the big three, a total alpha woman. Say something wrong, and our Soo-ah… your spine might snap in half.]
↳[Lol, for real, she's a true alpha woman, unlike those trendy schoolgirls. Construction ladies usually scarf down food and haul cement like it's nothing, haha.]
↳↳[Soo-ah, they don't do that kind of manual labor anymore;;; Machines handle it.]
↳↳↳[Next caller, please.]
[Soo-ah;;; Don't just stew in silence—call the cops;; If someone snitches, you'll get fined too;; Don't risk writing a tear-soaked apology at the police station just to earn a few bucks. Report her quick!]
This place is wild.
I read through hundreds of comments, all full of people joking around since it wasn't their problem. Teasing others like this is kind of fun, I guess.
While skimming the top posts with lots of comments, I noticed a newly refreshed post and clicked on it.
[Unidentified Body Found in Incheon Gapjongdo Park]
The uploaded photo was a screenshot of a news article:
Incheon, Gapjongdo—A male body of unknown identity was found in a park, and police have launched an investigation. According to Incheon Central Police Station, the body was discovered at 10:15 AM on the 26th.
Ms. A, a park maintenance worker, reported the body around 11:00 AM. She stated that she noticed a strange smell and ventured deeper into the park, where she found the male body.
Police are investigating the identity and cause of death. Evidence of violent resistance, along with bruises and abrasions on the victim's chest, thighs, and solar plexus, suggests foul play.
Authorities are also exploring possible connections to recent murder cases.
Comments followed:
[The cops are useless, the world's gone to hell.]
↳[I saw the cops chilling at Dunkin' Donuts with coffee the other day. They're definitely slacking.]
↳↳[Is this even a country? Amazing Hell Joseon.]
↳↳↳[This kind of thing makes me think we need to plaster CCTVs everywhere, like Japan or China. Blind spots keep causing these violent crimes.]
↳↳↳↳[What about the rights of ordinary people if you put CCTVs everywhere? And killers like that don't care about cameras anyway.]
↳↳↳↳↳[You're missing my point, Soo-ah. I'm saying CCTVs are for catching criminals, not preventing crime. When did I say it was for prevention? I meant for catching people committing serious crimes in blind spots…]
It seems like men are vulnerable to violent crimes here. Rape followed by murder? Well, even in a gender-reversed world, crime doesn't just vanish.
The comments suggested that violent crimes like this had been frequent lately, with many mocking the police for their incompetence. Reading them made me realize this world was far more dangerous than I'd thought.
Having a home or not makes a huge difference. Wandering around as a homeless person has its limits, and you're way more exposed to violent crimes than most.
Even in a gender-reversed world, you can't exactly enjoy being a victim of rape or assault. Obviously, people committing those crimes aren't exactly model citizens.
The thought of being crushed under that convenience store woman, forced to "spill my essence," made me shudder. No thanks, not even for me.
I glanced at the LED clock in the sleeping room. It was 5:00 PM. I rummaged through my wallet, finding the money I'd earned from the delivery job.
I stuffed my phone into the pocket of my jjimjilbang outfit, left the sleeping room, and drank some water from the cooler. The cold water cleared my head a bit.
Honestly, lying around scrolling on my phone wasn't the move. I had no house, no money, and this world was different from the one I knew. The big corporations weren't Samsung or LG but TS Group, and place names were off—Gangnam Station was Seocho Station, Hongdae Entrance was Cheongdae Entrance, and so on. Who knows how much else had changed?
I couldn't just keep eating and sleeping in a jjimjilbang.
I looked out the open window at the scenery below. Towering skyscrapers reached for the sky, and with rush hour approaching, office workers poured out like ants. Naturally, most of the exhausted-looking ones were women. In this world, men probably handled housework, so women must be the breadwinners.
This used to be my one-room villa complex.
I'd lost my home somehow, but since I'd only moved in a week ago and it was a fully furnished place, I wasn't too attached.
What about my mom and dad? Could I find them? And my friends—what happened to them?
Thinking seriously, there were problems everywhere. Would I even find them if I went to my hometown? What if, like my apartment, their house was replaced by some other building?
Wait—my ID card has my home address.
I opened my wallet and checked. My resident registration card listed Daegu, Dong-gu, Sinjeon-dong—thankfully, the address was the same. But one thing was different: my name. It used to be Kang Areum, but here it was Han Areum. Must've taken my mom's surname.
If I took the night bus now, at 6:00 PM, I'd get home around 10:00 PM. Maybe I could have some home-cooked food? With 100,000 won, I could eat, take the bus, grab coffee—plenty to cover it all.
Looking at the cash, I noticed the historical figures on the bills were unfamiliar. The 50,000-won note didn't have Shin Saimdang but someone named Heo Nanseolhyeon. Empress Myeongseong? I thought she wasn't considered a "great figure." Maybe she's a female historical figure I didn't know about. I'd have to read a biography later.
No point thinking too hard. I'd just scroll on my phone during the bus ride home.
But… what if my parents' faces aren't the ones I know? That's the worst-case scenario, but it's entirely possible. Buildings and company names had changed—why not my parents? I might pass them on the street and not even recognize them.
A chill ran down my spine. If it came to that, it'd be like I was in another world entirely, with only Korean language, Hangul, and modern civilization as anchors.
I fumbled for my phone and checked the call log and an app called Cocoatalk, which was clearly this world's version of KakaoTalk. The contact list was unchanged. I checked my parents' profile pictures—thankfully, they looked like the mom and dad I knew.
Mom loved hiking. Her profile showed her posing in front of a local mountain, wearing sunglasses and a blue hiking outfit, with apartment buildings like matchboxes in the background. Another photo showed her holding a fish as big as a child's arm, giving a thumbs-up after fishing. Below it, she wrote: "Rockfish~~~ Gotta cook this for Areum's dad."
Dad's profile was… "Fighting for tomorrow ^,^~" His photos were all flowers—sunflowers, dandelions, balsams—with a caption: "Love every moment, be happy every moment. Those moments make up your life."
Mom and Dad had swapped roles. What about my brother?
His profile was blank, no comments, no posts. Typical—he never cared about this stuff in the original world either. Come to think of it, my profile was blank too.
I checked the group chats. There was one with Hyeonsu, Minjae, and Kangwoo; another with just Hyeonsu and Minjae; and one with Minjae and Kangwoo but no Hyeonsu. What is this, a combinatorics problem? Did they make every possible group chat combination?
Why so many group chats? One would've been enough.
I opened one and saw Minjae posting a photo of himself in a white shirt with blue stripes: "What do you think??? Bought it today??"
Kangwoo replied: "OMG!!!! So pretty!!!! Where'd you get it???? Insane!!! An angel descended ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ Total boss vibe ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ Give me the details~~~~!!!~~~!!!!!!"
The chat was full of long, enthusiastic replies—no short answers here. It was like they'd get their fingers chopped off if they wrote less than ten characters.
Kangwoo, that guy's got some serious testosterone.
In the original world, he was quiet, a bit old-school, and patriarchal, but here he was the ultimate devoted husband type. His profile showed him smiling brightly, obsessed with clothes, food, and musicals. That smile was practically a serial killer's grin.
Damn, Kangwoo, you look like a creep—take that profile pic down. I wanted to say it in the chat, but… something told me I shouldn't. It wasn't like I was picking a fight, but still.
I'd figured out enough about my relationships here. Time to head to my hometown.
I went back to the men's bathhouse, changed, and stepped outside. It was already 6:30 PM. Just then, my phone rang.