episode_0002

Chapter 2: 2nd Round

Squid Rice Bowl.

You might wonder why such a spicy and heavy dish all of a sudden, especially in the morning.

“Could it be…….”

That single word resonated through my mind.

Thump-thump-thump.

Urgent footsteps outside the door are getting louder.

It was too familiar.

Something I had already lived forgetting for nearly 20 years.

And yet, my ears clearly remembered this longed-for sound.

Clatter!

The door swings open.

“Hey, you’re not still in bed, are you? Today’s the day you go to school!”

A spatula in one hand.

In the other hand, health drink powder.

Wearing an apron that might seem a little old-fashioned.

“Oh, Mother…….”

The figure of my mother, whom I had seen countless times growing up, was right there.

Surely my mother had passed away from cervical cancer right before I got my doctorate.

I thought I would never see her again, and that even her face was slowly fading from my memory…….

“……Ah.”

I get up from the bed.

And slowly approach.

As if hoping this wasn’t a dream.

“Oh my, what’s with him?”

Before I knew it, I was in my mother’s embrace.

I feel Mother startled for a moment.

“What’s suddenly gotten into him? Calling me Mother out of the blue…….”

But unlike my ex-wife.

Mother neither pushed me away nor pulled her hand back.

“Is my son sick? Did you have a nightmare?”

As if it were natural.

A touch of true love, which I had lived forgetting for nearly 20 years, stroked my head.

What on earth had I been hoping for?

What is true love and minimum respect?

It was right here nearby all along.

Whether it was studying, research, marriage, whatever.

The person who had given true love so generously was right here from the start.

It was just that I was blinded by futile things and couldn’t cherish it.

“Cough……!”

Having been betrayed by my wife, and taken advantage of by Bureaucrat Hwang.

By the citizens, by the state.

Even when I was abandoned by the world itself, I was unexpectedly calm, merely drinking alcohol.

“Mother, Mother, Mother……!”

In the end, I burst into tears in my mother’s arms.

Something I could only keep accumulating and piling up.

Shameful feelings that I had to bury alone even until just before death.

Only then could I finally pour them out.

“Okay. Okay. Mom’s here. Still, my son has to eat. I’ve made the squid rice bowl my son used to clamor for so much.”

My mother, who might have been flustered, wasn’t.

She just naturally accepted it, and until this dreamlike situation ends.

She was just continuing to fulfill her role as a mother.

I know it’s not a dream.

That I have regressed.

That I am experiencing something that would only appear in a webnovel, in real-time right now.

And even the fact that this is a truly worn-out cliché.

I know it all.

This shallow melodrama that always appeared whenever there was regression or return.

Someone would surely be indifferent.

They might complain that they wish such things would stop appearing.

Perhaps they might just skim past it.

Because I did too.

But whatever happens to such things is fine.

Because for me right now.

This worn-out moment.

“Okay, okay. My son has suffered a lot.”

Was a truly precious moment that I could never just pass by.

* * *

“He’s going to get indigestion. Eat slowly so it doesn’t get stuck in your throat.”

I wolfed down the squid rice bowl.

It’s really, truly delicious.

Eating at the faculty club or outside every day, it’s been so long since I’ve had such homemade cooking.

I can barely remember when I last ate a meal my wife made.

No, she’s not my wife anymore.

Since I’ve returned to the past, it means I haven’t even gotten married in the first place.

“Mother, it’s so delicious.”

“Oh my, look at him. Why ‘Mother’, unlike you? Ohoho~”

“Dear, isn’t squid rice bowl too much for breakfast?”

Of course, Mother was happy to see her son eating so well, but Father seemed a little disgusted.

Because it’s spicy, salty, and too stimulating to put in your stomach first thing in the morning.

“Oh, don’t even start. This kid saw some comic book and threw such a fit about wanting squid rice bowl for breakfast.”

Right.

Probably that Naver webtoon called ‘Yeoljeongman’ that was hugely popular around this time.

In that comic, there’s a protagonist named Yeoljeong.

There, he makes a fuss every morning demanding squid rice bowl and gets punched by his mother.

When I was young, I found that so funny that I even told my mother to make me squid rice bowl every morning.

Wow.

How long has it been since I even thought of this?

I never thought I’d relive a memory from over 20 years ago so vividly.

I never imagined I’d regress like a webnovel protagonist…….

“Right, you should eat well. From today, Gyeongjun, you’re a middle schooler. Is that why you decided to use formal language with your mother from today?”

“Huh?”

I almost choked while happily taking a big spoonful.

“Ah, yes…… middle schooler from now on…… that’s right.”

I awkwardly smiled and moved my spoon again.

But my speed was much slower than before.

It was definitely going down very well just a moment ago, but now it feels like my throat is blocked.

Middle schooler.

And not the 2nd year, but the 1st year entrance ceremony is today.

Certainly by the year, it would be 2008.

I had already figured out that I had regressed to being a middle schooler.

I had somewhat expected it after seeing ‘Math 7-Ga’ on the desk in my room.

But the important thing is middle school, and not just any year, but 1st year.

“Um… the middle school name, by any chance.”

“What’s with him? You’ve already forgotten your own middle school name? It’s Sinnong Middle School.”

Sinnong Middle School.

Unlike Sinseong Elementary School, which was relatively clean, it was a completely messed-up school.

To put it bluntly, I become an outcast there.

Rather than the word ‘jjin-tta’ at this time, ‘eun-tta’.

Or simply ‘wang-tta’ or ‘jji-jiri’.

Or terms like ‘jji-raeng-i’ or ‘jji-jji-burger’ were used more often.

Anyway, the meaning that my first year of middle school was hopeless remains unchanged.

No, if I had at least regressed after transferring to Ilsan in my second year, that would be one thing.

At least there, I wasn’t physically messed with.

It was somewhat of a studious atmosphere, with many cram schools, and so on…….

Perhaps the reason my first iteration of life ended up like such a pushover.

Tracing back and back.

Its beginning was clearly during my first year of middle school at Sinnong Middle School.

Being bullied and beaten by delinquents there, my self-esteem hit rock bottom.

After that, I transferred schools and studied, they say.

In the end, I ended up becoming such a pathetic monster overflowing only with inferiority complex.

“I ate well.”

―So I will never live like that again.

As soon as I made that firm resolve.

Ding!

[Tutorial Complete.]

[Content: You accept and begin your 2nd iteration of life.]

Something appeared before my eyes.

Could this be…?

[As a Tutorial Completion Reward, you acquire 1 『Life Point』.]

[Main Quest 『Inssa Life』 begins.]

“…Status Window?”

Have I really become like a webnovel protagonist?

* * *

The status window that appeared before my eyes while eating breakfast was indeed that status window from webnovels.

[Han Gyeongjun]

[Stamina: 5]

[Intelligence: 12]

[Charm: 3]

“It’s simple.”

It’s a bit different from what I usually saw in hunter or fantasy genres.

Stamina, Intelligence, Charm.

Just these three.

Especially one thing that’s distinctly different from the 『Strength·Agility·Magic』 that was usually seen in hunter or game fantasy genres.

“‘Charm’, huh.”

This is a status window I mainly saw in idol genres.

In idol genres, Charm is particularly important, as much as Magic in hunter genres.

So, to put it the other way around.

“Isn’t Charm 3 too much?”

Average would probably be 10.

In that regard, my middle school self was quite intelligent.

Stamina is slightly close to average.

And Charm, which is merely 3… I don’t need to say anything more, do I?

“…Still, I guess it’s a relief that I won’t be fighting bloody battles in gates.”

If a gate had opened, it would definitely have been a big problem.

I only studied, so I know nothing about fighting.

Besides, if it were a hunter genre after I finally regressed, all my past life’s experience would become useless.

Everyone would be using magic and skills, flying around, so how could I possibly use physics?

“Huh? What, there’s something more below?”

[Inssa Power: 0]

[Assa Power: 87]

[※Assessment: You are currently a 『Jjin-tta』.]

“Shit, what is this.”

I was dumbfounded.

No, wasn’t this a regression contemporary fantasy?

Wasn’t it just about soaring like a genius with my regressed knowledge cheat?

“No, well, I guess I could soar… but….”

Not making the mistakes I made before, not doing useless things.

From the start, my academic mind and knowledge from when I was a professor before regression.

And combined with the overflowing time I’ll have after regressing, a Nobel Prize isn’t impossible.

I’ll just win one no matter what.

Because I already know which research won Nobel Prizes and have read all those papers.

Bluntly speaking, winning a Nobel Prize is easier for me now than becoming an ‘inssa’.

“But this is a bit… this is really not right….”

[Main Quest 『Inssa Life』]

[Content: Break free from being an Assa Jjin-tta and become an Inssa.]

[※If Assa Power reaches 100, you die.]

If I become an Assa, I die?

My Assa Power is 87 right now?

I don’t know how close 13 is.

But it’s a number almost close to 100.

Considering my miserable first year of middle school, I’m bound to die soon after entering.

“What is Inssa Power on the other hand? Does it increase if I act like an Inssa? And decrease if I act like an Assa?”

Surprisingly, my guess was accurate.

[Negative thoughts are very Assa-like.]

[Assa Power increases by 1.]

Because the status window proved it right away.

“No, does this make sense? Hey! Change it back! Assa-like thoughts, my foot…!”

Bang!

Just as I was getting angry and making a fuss by myself, the room door suddenly opened.

“Why is it taking you so long to get dressed?! Your father already left!”

It was Mother.

But wait.

[Yoo Jeonghee]

[Inssa Power: 89]

[Assa Power: 17]

[※Assessment: The leader of the mothers’ group Inssas]

“Mother, you were an Inssa…?”

“What?”

Feeling of betrayal.

Clearly Mother is an Inssa, so why am I…?

Or on the contrary, is Father really an Assa?

Actually, considering my mother’s network of ajumma acquaintances, it’s not that surprising…….

Moreover, the center of that group was probably my mother.

You know, the mothers are super close with each other, but their children aren’t friends.

Rather, that was the problem.

Every time Mom would casually say.

『Are you getting along well with Sanghyeon~? I met Sanghyeon’s mom yesterday~』

Every time this happened, I was so awkward/embarrassed.

“Inssa? What’s that word again?”

“Ah, well.”

“Anyway, I’ll only take you today, so hurry and get dressed and come out! There’s no mercy from next time! Stop reading weird comics on the internet in moderation! Hurry up and get dressed!”

“Ah, yes.”

Although I had regressed, I guess she’s still Mother.

Before I knew it, I was wearing my school uniform at Mother’s scolding.

Thump, thump, thump.

Finally, Mother left.

“Hoo….”

At the same time, as I finished putting on my school uniform at a slightly slower pace, I looked at the status window before my eyes again.

“…Right, so this is the kind of status window it is.”

Inssa Power and Assa Power, of all things.

Such stats were something I had never seen in any webnovel from the start.

But even so, there are rules that don’t change.

Swish.

A student tie that I was wearing for the first time in a really long time.

Putting on the tie that just needed to be slid up to the neck without tying.

“It definitely said I got 1 point as a tutorial reward.”

I extend my hand forward.

Woong.

The feeling of touching something in the air.

I swiftly swipe the status window with my finger.

Then, the status window screen changes according to the movement of my hand.

“It must be there. There are so many works of this kind lying around.”

A continuous series of unbelievable events.

But it’s familiar.

In reality, it’s all something I’m experiencing for the first time, like something from fantasy.

Because they are all things I know.

And soon, I discover it.

[2nd Iteration Perk Shop]

[Acquired points can be used in the shop.]

2nd Iteration Perk.

Here in reality, which is neither a hunter genre nor game fantasy.

Just how great it must be to even have the name ‘Perk’ attached to it.

“Crazy.”

This single word was enough.