Chapter 01
I died.
Shot.
In America.
‘Who did it?’
Who the hell shot superstar Kim Chanran in the head in a foreign country like this? A grudge? Revenge? Did anyone dare to hold that kind of resentment toward me?
After thinking for a moment, I smirked.
‘Ah… actually, quite a lot.’
It couldn’t be helped. I lived fiercely.
What I wanted was high above, and I started with nothing.
So I crawled up a thorny path like a madman.
‘Repay kindness as much as you receive it. Repay grudges tenfold.’
That’s how I lived. Because of that, the number of people who hated my guts had quite a long history.
‘What a shame.’
I was an atheist, but I still made the sign of the cross out of habit.
Still, something felt strange.
‘Everything should have been settled already.’
The trash reporters who tried to drag me down to hell, the sponsors who took my work away because I rejected their dirty offers, the relatives who tried to scam people using my name—I had dealt with all of them long ago.
‘Hmm… then who was it?’
And the timing was unbelievable.
‘Why now?’
Tomorrow was the peak I had always dreamed of. Fame, money, power—everything an actor could achieve. I was just one step away from gaining even more than that.
Why do you think I was in America right now?
For an awards ceremony.
‘Just one more step.’
With that step, I would finally reach the peak that had been the reason for my life.
‘And I die with my head blown open right before it.’
When I bent my legs and looked down at my own body, I saw shards of glass scattered around it.
It was a wine glass that had contained my protein milk.
‘Damn.’
Suddenly, I felt incredibly wronged.
‘I should’ve eaten tteokbokki at least.’
To think that my last meal was that. Well, I had been managing my body, so it was normal for me.
With a sigh, I reached out toward my well-maintained body.
I couldn’t touch it.
I was really dead.
‘Damn. The world is big and full of people, but a handsome guy like me isn’t common.’
A sigh escaped naturally.
No matter how I looked at it, that body was now just a corpse.
‘Where’s the grim reaper? Or since this is America, will an English-speaking angel appear? Hmm… how long do I have to stay like this?’
Though even if something appeared, I wouldn’t let it take me quietly.
I stretched my body calmly.
Whether they spoke English or Korean, I had no intention of going quietly.
‘Would a side headlock work on an angel?’
I was seriously thinking about that when—
Bark!
A dog barked somewhere.
Bark!
The sound was even getting closer.
Still sitting on the ground, I turned my head slightly.
Ridiculously enough, a Welsh Corgi came running toward me, its fluffy tail wagging.
‘Huh?’
The moment I saw it, I recognized it.
“Jjong?”
The corgi immediately slammed into me as if it had been waiting.
With the heavy impact—like being hit by a calf—I fell flat on the ground.
Then the corgi began licking my face frantically.
My guess became certainty.
Pant, pant.
The excited barking was too familiar.
It really was Jjong.
“Jjong!”
Woof!
Jjong barked lightly as if answering.
Then he kept licking my face.
“It’s been so long!”
I laughed brightly and petted him over and over.
His golden fur and strong back legs felt just like I remembered. Smelling the familiar scent of dog slobber, I hugged him and rolled around.
“Jjong, have you been doing well?”
His fluffy tail thumped against my shoulder.
I smiled widely as I hugged him.
Now I understood.
‘They say when a person dies, the dog they raised comes to greet them…’
Jjong must have gone first and waited for me.
‘Good boy. You even came all the way to America to meet me.’
It must have been hard coming this far.
Holding him, I buried my nose in his fur like I used to.
He looked healthy.
‘You were really sick before.’
I looked at him again.
His joints and fur looked just like when he had been healthiest.
At the end, he had suffered so much that I worried he might still feel pain even after death.
Thankfully, he looked perfectly fine.
“Jjong, did you miss me?”
Woof—
“Me too. I missed you.”
Now that I thought about it, he was the only being I had ever truly given love to in my life.
At that moment, Jjong suddenly lifted his head.
Then he ran forward.
“Are you telling me to follow you?”
Jjong tapped the ground with his short front paw as if urging me to hurry.
“Alright, alright.”
I was about to follow him when I suddenly stopped.
My legs wouldn’t move.
‘Is this really the end?’
Memories of my past rushed through my mind.
I had become an actor loved all over the world. In Korea, there was no one who didn’t know my face.
But that success hadn’t come easily.
Nothing had been given to me from the beginning.
A crown full of thorns always has its price.
Even if you crawl to reach it.
And I had crawled.
For the peak, I used every possible method.
For the sake of tomorrow, I sacrificed everything.
‘Just one day. I only needed that one day!’
Who was it?
Who shot me?
My fists clenched with anger.
Jjong barked again at me.
Woof!
“Ah… Jjong. Sorry.”
I muttered quietly.
“I’m too resentful to go. I can’t leave like this.”
As I breathed heavily, Jjong came closer again.
Then he jumped up and kicked my knee with his short legs.
I staggered and lost my balance.
Hey, you wild boar of a dog.
“That hurts.”
That habit hadn’t changed.
I sighed and looked down at him.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Jjong had something thin in his mouth—a notebook.
Seriously, that habit hadn’t changed.
“Didn’t I tell you not to bring stuff like that? You’re not a goat.”
Jjong seemed annoyed and headbutted my leg again.
Staggering from the familiar pain, I examined the notebook.
It was thin, with clear teeth marks and dog drool on it.
‘Whose is this?’
How would I return it?
Does it even have an owner?
Looking at the cover, there was no name.
I opened it.
Honestly, I expected blank pages.
But—
‘Huh?’
Something was written inside.
What kind of curse is that?
I turned and looked at Jjong.
“What did you bring me?”
Woof!
He barked proudly and stared at me.
“Why?”
At that moment—
Jjong suddenly turned around and ran away without looking back.
“Jjong?”
I shouted something I had said countless times when walking him.
“Hey! Come back!”
But Jjong didn’t listen.
Just as I tried to chase him—
‘Huh?’
Something pulled me.
The ground beneath my feet suddenly disappeared, and my vision turned black.
I couldn’t see anything.
No matter how hard I blinked, the world only grew darker.
Woof—
I heard Jjong barking in the distance.
‘I need to catch Jjong quickly…’
That was my final thought.
***
“Jjong?”
I quickly got up.
I needed to catch him.
As I pushed myself up from the ground, I noticed something strange.
I looked down.
Something sticky clung to my palm.
‘Huh?’
“…Blood?”
It was already half dried.
Slowly, I looked around.
I was in the hallway of an old building.
‘An abandoned place?’
Before my eyes adjusted, my nose caught the smell.
A musty scent of dust filled the air.
Looking down, I saw broken mirrors and blood all over the floor.
Did gangsters fight here or something?
‘Why did I wake up in a place like this?’
Then suddenly—
My head felt like it was splitting apart.
Unfamiliar memories violently forced their way into my brain.
“Ugh!”
I rolled on the ground, clutching my head.
‘Damn it… what is this?!’
My vision spun.
My breathing became rough.
But what was truly unbearable were the pathetic memories being forced into my mind.
Again.
In other words—
‘Oh Chanran. 15 years old.’
The name was almost the same as mine, except for the surname.
But the person in these memories was…
‘All he does is eat and poop.’
He had no talents, no hobbies.
No goals. No dreams.
The only advantage he had was that his family was rich.
‘Well… that’s still something.’
But a week ago, his parents left home.
‘His mother went to America. His father to a hotel.’
He tried contacting them, but both had changed their phone numbers.
‘He even went to his father’s company and got kicked out.’
One day, he was suddenly abandoned by two parents who were still alive.
After that, things got worse.
Neglect.
With no one left at home, Oh Chanran left as well.
He went to a PC café with nowhere else to go.
There, some delinquent punks beat him up badly.
“The last memory is him hitting a mirror and passing out.”
And that’s when I—Kim Chanran—woke up in Oh Chanran’s body.
First, I checked the back of my head.
My hair was stuck together with dried blood.
By coincidence—
‘That’s exactly where I was shot…’
I pressed the wound a few times, then shook my head.
‘Forget things that don’t make sense.’
I moved my arms and legs.
My fingers twitched.
My toes moved.
‘It’s nothing special… but it feels good.’
When I got shot in the head, the scariest moment was when my body collapsed and my limbs stopped moving.
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any paralysis.
I took a deep breath.
So… I really became Oh Chanran?
‘This body is now mine—’
No, wait.
A curse slipped out.
“Damn it! Where did my handsome face and my Forbes-selected hot body go?!”
I checked this body all over.
It was thin, with barely any muscle.
Just as I was about to be disappointed, I noticed the proportions weren’t bad.
But—
“He’s ugly.”
Searching Oh Chanran’s memories, there wasn’t a single moment where he was considered handsome.
I didn’t know why I came into this body.
But one thing was certain.
‘No way.’
I couldn’t live in a body that wasn’t handsome.
I didn’t know how to live like that.
This was unacceptable.
I picked up a shard of glass.
‘Maybe I can reset it if I— wait.’
The shard reflected Oh Chanran’s face like a mirror.
I narrowed my eyes and examined his jawline.
‘Huh? Not bad actually… Usually if the lower half of the face is good, the overall face shape is decent.’
I turned my head this way and that.
But his messy hair covered most of his features.
No way.
Clink!
I threw the shard down and pushed Oh Chanran’s hair back.
And then—
“…Whoa.”
I was shocked.
‘His nose is high. And the line from his lips to his jaw is insane.’
I blinked and looked closer.
His eyes were large and attractive without double eyelids.
“Damn it.”
Oh Chanran, are you crazy?
You hid a face like this?
I couldn’t help but admire it.
It was…
‘I’ve never seen such ideal eyes… or such a perfect face.’
Eyes. Nose. Lips.
The spacing between the eyes, the shape of the eye corners, the high nose bridge, the lips and jawline.
I could say this confidently.
This face was insane.
‘And the skin is good too.’
I touched my cheek.
Even though my hand was covered in dried blood, I could feel clear, smooth skin.
I had to admit it.
“A face more handsome than Kim Chanran, the galaxy-level star…”
In my life, I had never seen anyone more handsome than myself.
‘Alright. Since it’s like this, let’s check everything.’
I smiled.
I made different expressions.
Since he rarely used facial muscles, they hurt badly.
But it was fine.
‘You can train that.’
Next, I tested some basic vocal exercises.
“Police station iron bars are… ugh! Twin iron bars? Soy sauce factory manager is… ack! Kang manager and soybean paste factory—ugh!”
I bit my tongue three times.
Tasting blood, I let out a long breath.
‘Did this guy never talk? His tongue and vocal cords are a mess.’
I would have to retrain my voice from the beginning.
But that was fine.
I could learn again.
Besides, the voice itself didn’t seem bad.
Of course, I’d need to record it to be sure.
‘Good.’
Now it was time for the final check.
In some ways, the most important part.
‘If this checks out… this body is officially mine.’
I looked around carefully.
Then, very discreetly…
I lifted my pants.
