The man had wandered the sea of information for so long for this day alone.
'Today's the day.'
If not today, he didn't know how much longer he would have to wait.
CC Inside, the largest online community in South Korea.
The Hunter Gallery, one of its major forums, was flooded with all sorts of information and rumors about Hunters.
Naturally, Son Si-woo was among them.
No, he accounted for the largest share of the posts.
The man had made countless attempts to verify the information, searching for the one single truth hidden among the countless lies.
Two pieces of information were successfully verified.
That a drunk Son Si-woo enjoyed chatting with his designated drivers, and that he occasionally showed up at a bar in Gangnam when he wanted to drink alone.
'The preparations are complete.'
After getting his driver's license through a tough exam and loitering here for days on end, the result was this.
He had appeared.
'Now, if he just comes out….'
He came out sooner than expected.
He appeared, his face flushed from the alcohol, and stood in front of his car, staring up at the sky as if lost in thought.
'Now.'
He slowly approached the man, who was likely waiting for his driver, and greeted him.
"You called for a driver, right?"
"Ah, you must be the driver."
Though he looked skeptical at first, he soon relaxed and handed over the car keys.
The man drove at a moderate speed.
The distance from here to his home was about twenty minutes.
'If I go a little slower, maybe thirty minutes….'
He had to get the answer he wanted within that time.
The golden scales had already been summoned beside the man.
However, it wasn't the massive size it had been when it first appeared, but a mini, palm-sized version.
"Sir, are you married by any chance?"
"Ah, no."
The conversation had begun.
With the easy laugh of a drunk, he struck up a constant stream of conversation.
It was almost as if he had no one to talk to in his daily life.
The man was wondering how to bring up the topic of a trade amidst all the trivial talk about marriage and people they liked when it happened.
"I'm envious of your youth. Back when I was young…."
An opportunity walked right into his lap.
Son Si-woo himself had brought up the topic of youth.
After playing along with some light banter, the man casually posed a question.
"If you and I could swap bodies, Hunter-nim, would you do it?"
"You and me?"
At a question most people would have laughed off, he paused, lost in thought.
Then, he spoke.
"Wouldn't that be too much of a losing deal?"
Ah, I'm screwed.
He never imagined he would get such a response.
'You said you were envious of youth in that video, you bastard!'
Had it all just been a lie to encourage the students?
He was crestfallen.
He spoke with a self-deprecating smile.
"Of course, since you have so much, Hunter-nim…."
Right.
Why would a man who had already achieved everything in his youth start over with nothing?
Just as the embers of hope were about to die out…
"No, no, I meant for you, the driver."
His words didn't just revive the dying embers; they fanned them into a roaring blaze.
"Excuse me…?"
His answer was something else.
"With youth, anything is possible. It'd be a huge waste to trade it for someone like me. Don't you think?"
At his words, the scales began to tremble violently.
He had elevated the value of the man's youth while devaluing his own life.
And at those words, the man thought.
'So youth was that incredible.'
He, who had only ever scoured the internet from the corner of his room, began to grasp the value of youth he never knew, and its worth soared even higher.
The trembling scales soon grew still.
Their positions had reversed.
The weight that had been tipped completely toward Son Si-woo had now swung to the opposite side.
[The value has been converted. The user's value is now higher than the target's.]
Seeing his own side of the scale sink to the bottom with the added value, the man cheered inwardly.
He wasn't just happy that his youth held such value; he was ecstatic that he could finally swap bodies with him.
For a man suffering from such terrible lovesickness, nothing held more value than her.
"H-Hunter-nim. This is…."
He looked at the one-million-won check in his hand.
To think he would give money he'd never received from anyone to a mere designated driver.
A jolt of electricity shot through his body at the thought that this wealthy man would soon be him.
Shoving the check carelessly into his pocket, he offered Son Si-woo a final farewell.
"I think I still prefer your body over my own, Hunter-nim."
Perhaps thinking the man was simply expressing envy, he replied with a thank you.
'He has no idea what's about to happen.'
After thanking Son Si-woo for handing over his entire life, the man rushed home breathlessly.
"E-Equivalent Exchange! Swap my body with Son Si-woo's!"
The tiny scales instantly swelled in size.
[The target's body is of lower value than the user's. Will you proceed with the trade at a loss?]
[Yes / No]
'Yes' and 'No' floated before his eyes.
He was about to mindlessly reach for 'Yes' when he managed to stop his finger just in time.
"Ah, wait."
There was no need to make a losing deal.
If his own value was higher, he could just add more conditions. Why wouldn't he?
He thought for a moment, then added a few conditions.
The scales trembled with each new condition.
He continued setting conditions until they were perfectly balanced, without a hint of error.
[The value of the two subjects is now perfectly equal. Do you wish to proceed with the trade?]
[Yes / No]
He looked down at his own body one last time.
A rotten piece of flesh with not a single good thing about it.
Of course, his own laziness had played a huge part in getting to this state, but still.
"This gutter-like life is finally over!"
He laughed like a madman and slammed his fist toward the 'Yes' button.
"Ah…."
At the same time, an intense wave of sleepiness washed over him.
Strange sensations swirled throughout my entire body.
A cool feeling, as if I'd shed clothes I'd worn for a long time and was now naked.
A sense of liberation, as if I'd finally cast off the last remaining layer, coupled with a feeling of dominance, as if I could grasp everything around me in my hands.
Ah, ahhh.
The feeling of having the very thing I'd spent thousands, tens of thousands of hours learning to master now beneath my feet.
With a light flick of my fingers, it becomes a roaring flame. With a gentle wave of my other hand, the wind follows its movement.
A sense of omnipotence, that I could do anything, fills my body.
Just then.
The fall began.
Everything that had soared high into the sky was now plummeting toward the ground.
No, no!
I don't want to lose it.
I flail my arms and kick my legs pathetically, trying not to forget the sensations I just felt.
Some things are lost, others are held tight in my grasp.
Finally, something was layered over my endlessly falling body.
The sensation of changing into new clothes after taking off old ones.
And as new clothes often are, I'm enveloped in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar feeling, as if it doesn't quite fit my body yet.
"…ent."
Whatever, at least now I can sleep, albeit uncomfortably, I thought.
Clang, clang, clang!
"Student Dojin!"
"Ugh!"
The noise of someone pounding fiercely on a metal door and a voice calling my name dragged my consciousness to the surface.
"Ah… what the."
I think I was having a really pleasant dream.
Clang, clang!
"Student Dojin, are you okay?"
"...?"
Did I get drunk last night and fall asleep in some cheap motel instead of at home…?
No, that's not right.
I'm sure I had a nice chat with that young driver on the way home… and then I fell asleep in the guest room.
"Where the hell am I…?"
I opened my eyes to find myself in a completely different place.
Thump, thump!
"Student Dojin, if you're awake, could you open the door?"
Looking around, it wasn't a motel room.
Judging by the mess, it was clearly a place where someone lived.
Is this the home of the student named Dojin, the one the woman outside is calling for?
"Student Dojin!"
Ah.
My head is a mess.
I don't know what's going on, but I need to send the woman outside away first.
I undid the old lock on the door.
"Wow… isn't this the kind of lock I used back when I was a kid?"
It felt nostalgic.
The lock was just like this when I first started living on my own in a single-room apartment.
Click!
I cautiously opened the door and stepped out to find a woman brimming with mature beauty standing there.
"Wow…."
An exclamation of awe escaped my lips.
She looked to be in her early to mid-thirties.
A gray dress that revealed the curves of her large chest and hips made it hard to know where to look.
I wondered if this was the so-called 'New City Mrs. Look' that was all the rage online.
Trying not to be rude, I raised my head to look at her face.
She had a look that was somewhere between a young lady and a married woman.
Her large eyes and small, red lips were captivating.
But still.
Just how tall is this woman…?
I remember my height being around 185 cm, so for me to have to look up at her, just how…
"Student Dojin, are you okay…?"
Her eyes, which looked innocent for her age, were filled with worry.
My body reacted automatically to her concerned question.
"Ah, hello, Ajumma."
Ajumma!
My mouth had moved on its own and called a woman who looked much younger than me 'Ajumma.'
Had my mouth lost all sense now that I was older…?
However, the woman showed no sign of being offended.
Is she an angel?
"I came up to give you some side dishes, but I kept hearing you groaning inside…."
I see.
She was holding five side dish containers in her hands.
So she came up to give these to the person living in this room.
Isn't she an angel?
"Oh my, look at all this sweat."
The woman set the side dishes down and wiped the sweat from my forehead with her sleeve.
She's definitely an angel.
"Ugh."
Was it because it had been so long since I'd been touched by a woman?
The feel of her skin and her scent brushing against my forehead was incredibly intense.
The distance between our faces was very small.
So close that if I breathed out even a little too hard, she would hear and smell everything.
Her clear eyes were gazing at me.
I felt like I was about to be sucked right into them….
"Huh?"
Something was strange.
Since she was facing me, the reflection in her clear eyes should have been me.
But who in the world is that?
"Student Dojin…?"
I took another step forward without realizing it.
The distance between us grew even smaller.
Startled, the woman called my name with an awkward smile.
"My name…?"
The name the woman called was clearly Dojin, but why is that my name?
And why am I accepting it so naturally?
"Hmm, are you feeling really unwell?"
The woman placed one hand on my forehead and the other on her own.
"You don't seem to have a fever."
My mind was in chaos.
Tension gripped my entire body.
"Ah…."
A wave of lightheadedness washed over me.
I stumbled, instinctively bracing myself against a wall, and she grabbed my arm to support me.
"Student Dojin! What's wrong, are you dizzy?"
"Yes, a little…."
I answered in a daze and lowered my head.
My downcast eyes saw something they shouldn't have.
My stomach was unbelievably bloated.
I couldn't see my feet at all.
"My, my stomach…?"
I reached out the hand that was on the wall and touched my stomach directly.
I could feel the sensation perfectly, so it had to be mine.
Which made it all the more strange.
My body, which had undergone a complete metamorphosis upon becoming an S-rank Hunter, shouldn't have been able to gain weight no matter how much I ate.
Suddenly, a dizzying thought flashed through my mind.
That this might not be my body.
The moment I had that thought, my entire brain buzzed, and a sharp pain shot through me.
"Keuk!"
I thought I had grown accustomed to every pain a human could feel after decades of fighting monsters.
But even I couldn't bear this agony. I clutched my head and collapsed to the floor.
"Student Dojin!"
The woman—no, the ajumma—crouched down, her voice urgent.
It was flooding in.
The memories that had been tucked away in a corner, held in abeyance for a short time.
The life of Kim Do-jin, the owner of this body, not Son Si-woo.
It began to pour into me in the clearest form imaginable.
"Grrrrrk…!"
The unthinkable had happened.
That bastard, the designated driver from last night!
He took my body—Son Si-woo's body—and ran!
"That son of a bii—kyaaaak!"
Nearly twenty years of memories flooded in like a tsunami.
The rage that came with them induced a state of shock.
My mind, judging it all too much to bear, sank deep beneath the surface of consciousness.
"Student Dojin, Student Dojin!"
My vision grew… distant, fading away.