LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 3
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: NicoleTempest
Chapter 3 Tutorial Quest (1)
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a ceiling he had never seen before.
‘Where am I now?’
He tried to get up, but his arms failed to follow his will.
He felt a sharp pain in his head, as if he had been hit hard, and lay back down on the bed.
He felt nauseous, as if he had been trapped in a hamster wheel and spun around. His stomach was twisted, as if he had eaten something wrong.
He curled up for a long time, but the nausea did not go away.
‘Did I enter Cheon Ise’s body…?’
He felt a bit calmer as he lay still. He slowly lifted the blanket and got up.
[Hello, Lim Hyun-seong! Congratulations on taking your first step as Cheon Ise!]
I haven’t even taken a step yet.
Before he could fully regain his senses, the status window he had seen in the strange space popped up in front of his eyes like a pill.
The on both sides, as if they were mocking him, stole his gaze.
And next to it was the puppy he had seen before the quest was forced to start.
It was wearing a necklace that said Lv.01 □□, which he hadn’t seen before.
“Are you saying I really became Cheon Ise?”
He asked the puppy, who wagged its tail and greeted him.
The status window shook loudly and came up again.
[Yes! Do you want to start the tutorial for a smooth adaptation as Cheon Ise?]
[Yes/No]
He had accepted it as if it were a coercion, but that didn’t mean he could understand the situation.
“Wait a minute, you have to explain properly. What’s the state of my real body right now?”
He had been told that he was already dead in the strange space.
He had no hope of returning to his original body, but he still wanted to check.
Ding-
Instead of changing the pop-up message on the status window, the TV turned on by itself without him touching it.
Woof-!
The puppy barked silently, pointing at the TV screen.
[Jo Young Food’s representative Lim Hyun-seong, who was praised for leading the globalization of Korean food with various franchise operations, had his funeral this morning.]
[The chief mourner is the deceased’s father, Lim Seong-hwan, and the funeral is crowded with people from the company, as well as nationwide chain store owners.]
‘He had a funeral…’
He had said that he couldn’t resurrect, so he must have been in that state, but he felt strange watching his own funeral in someone else’s body.
His father, who held his portrait with a dark face, and his stepmother, who cried and guarded him.
His brother, who raised his voice and said he would inherit his business.
‘You killed me.’
He felt like chasing them and grabbing their collars.
[You cannot interfere with any events related to [Lim Hyun-seong’s Wish] until you complete the preceding quest.]
As if it had read his mind, a pop-up window with red and bold letters pushed into his eyes.
“Ugh, I just thought about it! Just thought!”
So this was how he came back in someone else’s body.
He felt like he couldn’t get his revenge unless he completed the quest as Cheon Ise.
There was no such thing as a free favor.
He sighed and caught his breath, then asked the puppy.
“I have a lot of questions, but don’t you have a contract or something? How long do I have to fail the quest until there’s a penalty clause or something?”
He had stamped his seal without his will, but he had to check the terms and conditions when he made a deal.
The puppy lay flat on the floor, as if it had encountered an unexpected error, and made a troubled expression.
Squeak, squeee-
[Please wait a moment. The terms and conditions are being written. Estimated waiting time: 3 minutes]
What’s so flimsy?
He narrowed his eyes and casually moved his gaze to the mirror next to the bed. He saw a young man with clear features and fair skin.
As soon as he saw his face, he remembered where he had heard the name Cheon Ise.
He had briefly met him as a screenwriter for a food coaching show.
Of course, he didn’t have a solo shot, let alone a line, so he had no memory of what kind of person he was.
‘I thought he was pretty handsome, but he really lives in a nice house.’
It was an officetel that seemed too spacious for a young man to live alone.
He could tell that he had spent a lot of money on high-end furniture and utensils.
‘Let’s take a look around.’
He still felt unreal, as if he was dreaming, but his senses were vivid.
He tried to get up with both hands.
“Ugh-.”
He bent forward with a huge vomit.
[Your body recovery is not yet complete. Please wait a little longer.]
[Current progress 33%]
You didn’t even say that!
He clenched his teeth and glared at the percentage that had just changed from 33 to 34.
The small status window next to him was restless, as if to calm him down.
Squeak-.
What, are you trying to comfort me?
He felt his strength gradually returning as the percentage rose.
He soon felt better enough to walk with a limp.
He was still having trouble moving, but he had to ask.
‘This should be enough…’
As soon as he got up without waiting for 100% completion, an error message blocked his eyes.
In the corner of the screen, the puppy barked silently as if to warn him.
And then he blinked his round, black eyes and stuck out his tongue, as if he was worried about him.
The pink tongue under his moist, black nose was cute, but he was not the type to be weak for cute animals.
[Your body recovery is not yet complete. Please wait a little longer.]
[Current progress 92%]
You’re so annoying!
He had to sit down for about 15 minutes until he reached 100%.
Finally, when the number changed to 100.
The puppy spun around in place, as if to congratulate him.
[The status abnormality ‘poisoning’ has been cured. Please note that there will be conditions for future status abnormality recovery, such as linked quest clear.]
He saw the vomit and the pills that hadn’t melted on the floor next to the bed.
‘Is this the cause of the poisoning…’
He decided to put off cleaning up for later and check out where he was first.
As he barely got up and looked around the furniture, he couldn’t help but marvel.
From the dishwasher to the fridge, to the oven, everything was high-end, even though they seemed unused.
He opened the high-end fridge from a famous brand and saw some basic ingredients that someone had stocked up.
‘It looks like they barely touched them.’
They were in the same state as when they were put in, as if they were waiting to go bad.
“Let’s see… kimchi, eggs, tofu, green onions, red pepper paste…”
Only the most basic things were barely filled.
Most of the fridge was empty.
He opened the bottom drawer that was somewhat full and a bunch of diet pack salads, chicken breasts, and a pack of fruits poured out.
It seemed like he only nibbled on the salads and diet foods that he threw in the bottom drawer.
‘I wonder what he did with the freezer?’
He opened the freezer door and saw frozen foods and ice cream that didn’t look good for the body.
The fridge and the freezer were both like this…
It was either one of these:
He was barely surviving on diet foods.
He was alternating between binge eating delivery foods and extreme dieting.
He reached for his stomach and headed to the balcony. His body was soft on the outside, but he felt the hard core muscles.
That’s right, he was the main dancer. He must have taken good care of his body, even though he never got on stage.
He maintained his slender figure, even though he seemed to have been unable to use his body for a long time after the car accident.
He opened the balcony door behind the kitchen and found a file of plastic trash from food deliveries.
How come these rich kids these days are all the same?
They don’t know how to cook a stew with their own hands.
They’d rather order delivery food than eat hot rice with steam.
They sink into the swamp of unsatisfying meals, skipping meals with salads or shakes.
He sighed and recalled the information he got from the strange space earlier about Cheon Ise.
The youngest of the Cheon Soo Group and a clueless kid who his mother nagged at.
A failure who couldn’t make it even with the massive support from his family.
A brat who didn’t get any reaction with his mediocre entertainment skills and selfish attitude and blew all his chances.
He shook his head as he only thought negatively about Cheon Ise.
Don’t think too negatively. Maybe he had some internal problems that outsiders didn’t know about, and he was cornered by his family.
He grimaced as he saw the huge amount of sleeping pills and stomach acid that he had ignored earlier.
[We apologize for the wait! Please confirm the terms and conditions below.]
He didn’t have time to clean up the vomit when the terms and conditions popped up in front of him. He stopped trying to get a tissue and focused on the status window.
“It said it would take three minutes, why is it taking so long?”
The puppy at the bottom of the status window tried to comfort him by jumping in the air with his short legs and acting cute.
He looked a bit cute, but that wasn’t important right now.
[Terms and Conditions – You are deemed to have agreed in advance by starting the forced quest-]
They really do whatever they want.
I wanted to complain that this was a violation of the commercial law, but… it didn’t seem like it would work. I decided to keep my mouth shut for now.
[1. Lim Hyun-seong will become Cheon Ise and be able to proceed with the quest for the first test period of about six months.]
[2. If you pass the test period of six months, you will be considered to have met the qualifications as an ‘idol, Cheon Ise’. The main quest will begin.]
[3. While you are Cheon Ise and proceeding with the quest, you cannot interfere with any incidents related to Lim Hyun-seong.]
[4. If you fail to achieve the final goal within the quest period or fail to pass the test period, Cheon Ise will also be considered to have exhausted all his remaining life due to the contract expiration. The penalty for failing the quest will be applied immediately, so please do your best during the test period.]
I don’t know what the failure penalty is, but six months…
Considering that Cheon Ise couldn’t make it for five years with the support of the Cheon Soo Group, it was too short.
“Isn’t six months too short? How are you going to succeed as a celebrity in six months when you couldn’t make it for five years?”
As I complained, a beep, a warning sound, and a red pop-up window came up again. The puppy also growled and made a face like a human.
[Six months is a temporary setting period for the test period, and you will be able to check the reason for the period setting in the tutorial that will be conducted later.]
[In addition, after the test period of six months, the deadline will be assigned according to Lim Hyun-seong’s quest progress. The Human Happiness Foundation System calculates the optimal customized period for each quest. We do not accept any objections to this.]
In the end, it meant that I could only accept OK, OK, OK.
It was better than having no chance to get revenge and going to the other world after complaining. I scratched my head and accepted the situation.
[Shall we start the tutorial now?]
[Yes/No]
Since the situation was like this, it was better to adapt quickly and find and do what I could.
I nodded my head as soon as I made up my mind.
[Yes]
[Before starting the tutorial, please name □□.]
The puppy next to the small status window spun around in the same place as if □□ was the word that referred to him.
“Hey, calm down. Just stay still.”
As I muttered as if scolding him, the puppy sat down quietly as if he understood. He was a bit smart and cute… Well, it didn’t matter anyway.
Soon, a keyboard-like input window appeared. I typed in any word that came to mind.
[Balbari]
Woof-!
The puppy growled and turned his head as if he was dissatisfied.
What, he should just accept it if I name him, why is he so picky?
I typed in a few more words that came to mind, but they were all rejected.
Brownie, Whitey, Ddori, one after another, I was denied my naming sense and eventually raised my voice.
“You’re so fussy!”
His fur was fluffy, so I tried Fluffy for the last time.
Then my hand slipped on the keyboard and I made a typo.
[Pposili]
Then the puppy seemed to be satisfied and flashed a light.
The keyboard melted away from my fingertips.
Woof…
And then something seemed to start and I heard the system booting up.