Yonghoon stared at the Dimensional Connector in his hand.
After a moment of staring, he put the connector on his head.
Rather than die in pain like this, he decided to see his other self in another dimension one last time.
With trembling hands, Yonghoon flipped the switch.
Yonghoon grimaced as he once again felt the strange sense of space.
The situation was already bad, and now he was feeling even more uncomfortable.
It was a pleasant day off with no overtime, and Yonghoon was on his way to the convenience store near his house in workout clothes.
He planned to grab some snacks and spend the day drawing after a long time.
But his joy vanished the moment he saw the playground in front of the convenience store.
A group of local thugs were arguing with a woman at the playground.
The woman, who looked like a college student, was trying to pull away a girl with dyed blond hair from the group of thugs, while the blond girl resisted.
“Heeyoung, let’s go home. You’re only hurting yourself by staying with this trash. I’ll try talking to Mom.”
The woman yelling at the other blond girl was someone Yonghoon knew-Heesu, the president’s daughter.
“No! I’m not going back to that suffocating place!”
And the girl who was resisting seemed to be the president’s second daughter.
He hadn’t recognized her at work, but now that he saw them together, the resemblance between the sisters was clear.
Yonghoon was troubled. He couldn’t intervene in a fight with thugs, but he also couldn’t just ignore it.
In the end, while Yonghoon hesitated, the situation escalated.
Slap!
Another woman, who had approached Heesu without notice, slapped her across the face.
“Who are you calling trash, you bitch?”
As Heesu touched her cheek in shock, the other thugs moved in closer.
Heesu’s eyes widened as she saw the thugs approaching her.
Only then, shaken by fear, did Heesu start looking around. She seemed to be thinking of asking for help.
But the place was a secluded alley.
It was so deserted that one had to wonder why the convenience store even operated there.
As her expression worsened from not finding anyone to help, Heesu spotted Yonghoon in front of the convenience store.
The look of relief on Heesu’s face was reflected in Yonghoon’s eyes.
Shaking off the unpleasant feeling, Yonghoon sighed. There was no other option now.
As he walked toward the thugs, Yonghoon decided to buy a lottery ticket on his way home. It felt like he was using up a month’s worth of bad luck all at once.
And from there, things took a turn for the worse.
Yonghoon tried to stop the thugs but ended up being seen as Heesu’s ally, escalating the conflict.
It didn’t help that she mentioned he was an employee at her dad’s company, which only fueled the fire.
Standing next to her, with his height over 180cm and close to 100kg, his size may have been soft, but it still gave off some intimidation.
As a result, he ended up looking like a bodyguard for the company president’s daughter, which really ticked off the thugs.
Yonghoon desperately tried to reason with the growling thugs, but Heesu made things worse with one more comment.
“I remember all your faces. I’m going to sue every one of you. Get ready for prison food!”
Terrified, Heesu seemed to feel safe with Yonghoon’s presence and blurted out her anger without thinking.
Her words made the thugs’ faces turn red, while Yonghoon’s face went pale.
Heesu also realized her mistake and covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide open.
“Looks like we can’t just let them go now.”
The thug who seemed to be the leader stood up.
He was a young man, over 180cm tall and well over 100kg, but unlike Yonghoon, his body was packed with muscle.
He had just been watching from the back, but Heesu’s words seemed to force him to step forward.
As he stepped up, the other thugs also moved toward Yonghoon.
The girl who had spoken also trembled in fear, grabbing onto Yonghoon’s clothes, and Yonghoon gave up completely.
And just as Yonghoon raised both hands in surrender, the first punch flew in.
“Guh!”
The first punch landed in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
Yonghoon immediately curled up, and fists and feet rained down on him. They seemed to be trying to make sure he was hurt enough not to report them. Yonghoon curled up as tightly as he could.
All he could do was hope the beating would end soon.
But then, the punches suddenly stopped.
Even in pain, Yonghoon was confused. He slowly lifted his head.
In front of him stood the thug leader from earlier. He had stopped the others.
“So you’re just a big guy with no bite? What a waste of time.”
He looked at Yonghoon with a disappointed expression.
“We’ll be seeing each other around. No need to get on bad terms.”
He patted Yonghoon’s shoulder. He clearly recognized Yonghoon as someone who passed through this alley often.
“Talk things out with that girl. It’d be best not to go reporting this to the cops.”
Yonghoon nodded immediately. Since he wasn’t planning to leave the area, that really was the best choice.
Yonghoon breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was finally over.
“Well, since I stepped in, I should say goodbye properly, right?”
With those words, the thug swung his fist at the still-dazed Yonghoon.
He punched Yonghoon like he was hitting a punching machine, sending him flying backward.
“Whoa~”
As Yonghoon flew back, he heard the thugs’ exclamations. He felt pathetic, like a human punching bag.
Just before hitting the ground, he thought he should probably start going to a martial arts gym.
Slam!
Sparks flew in Yonghoon’s head.
Screams of shock rang out from all directions. Wondering about the sudden impact, Yonghoon lost consciousness.
Yonghoon slowly lifted his eyelids. He had no strength left in his body. He could barely feel any pain now.
Maybe the morphine was still working, or maybe his body just couldn’t feel pain anymore-he couldn’t tell.
Yonghoon gave a bitter smile inside.
The other world’s Yonghoon wasn’t in much better shape. If he had been ejected, the other Yonghoon must have been in bad condition too.
He had probably suffered severe psychological trauma.
In his blurry vision, he saw something moving.
Yonghoon blinked. A young soldier in uniform stood before him.
But seeing the gray film over the soldier’s eyes, it looked like he was one of the corrupted humans.
Yonghoon was relieved that it seemed to be ending quickly and felt thankful to the young soldier. He really didn’t want to die slowly, bleeding out alone.
The soldier, who had been observing him for a moment, pointed the gun he was holding at Yonghoon’s head as soon as he opened his eyes.
As he stared at the muzzle approaching his face, Yonghoon recalled Sunhee’s final expression.
He imagined her moving her lips with a blank face like a doll, and silently apologized to her.
‘Sorry, I think I’ll be really late.’
Bang!
The fired bullet shattered both the Dimensional Connector and Yonghoon’s head, which had been glowing red.
The broken connector went dark, and blood flowed from the hole in Yonghoon’s head.
The soldier stared at Yonghoon’s corpse for a moment, then turned away and walked off.
“Kyaaah!”
Heesu screamed at the sight of Yonghoon hitting his head on the metal bar.
Like a movie villain, Yonghoon had been punched and sent flying, slamming his head hard on the bar behind him.
The sound of the impact was so loud that even the thug who hit him and the others flinched.
Yonghoon lost consciousness on the spot, and the thugs looked at each other. Something was clearly wrong.
“Kyaaah! He’s bleeding!”
Heesu’s scream rang out again.
The thugs turned their heads toward her and saw she was screaming at the sight of Yonghoon collapsed.
Blood was flowing from Yonghoon’s head as he lay on the ground.
Everyone slowly approached Yonghoon, worried that he might actually be dead.
A few of the thugs leaned back, ready to bolt if things went south.
Despite everyone’s concern, Yonghoon lay motionless. He wasn’t even breathing-there was no sign of movement at all.
Even more thugs began stepping back.
But then, after a moment, Yonghoon’s fingertips twitched, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.
Then, Yonghoon, who had his eyes closed, opened them. Lying down, he placed one hand on the ground and slowly pushed himself up.
Everyone breathed a second sigh of relief. Thankfully, he seemed able to move.
Yonghoon lifted his head and looked around. Then he wore a puzzled expression.
He raised his hand in front of his face to check it, then examined the rest of his body. Finally, he touched his head and frowned when he saw blood on his hand.
He cautiously stood up. Still dazed from the impact, he staggered as he rose.
He stood and began to move his body little by little. It seemed he was in pain from the beating, as he occasionally grimaced, but he loosened up his whole body.
To others, it looked like he was doing military calisthenics.
Everyone watched him tensely. His behavior after opening his eyes wasn’t normal. Worried he might have suffered brain damage, they observed him closely.
Yonghoon clenched his fist one last time and winced. The pain was still quite intense.
But then he lifted his head and stared at the leader of the thugs who had punched him.
“I don’t know what just happened, but I should repay the debt, right?”
With those words, Yonghoon charged at the thug.
He quickly closed the distance, and the thug, startled by Yonghoon’s sudden movement, reflexively threw a punch.
Yonghoon saw the incoming punch and ducked.
The fist passed over Yonghoon’s head, and as it did, he straightened up and punched toward the thug.
Yonghoon’s punch, coming from outside the thug’s field of vision, landed squarely on his temple.
Thud!
This time, the thug collapsed backward.
The thug, whose head had been violently shaken, passed out on the spot.
It wasn’t as flashy as when Yonghoon was sent flying, but his sudden counterattack left everyone gaping.
Yonghoon shook his hand from the pain, then clenched his fist again.
Then he looked around at the thugs and said,
“Next!”