episode_0005

Now, the familiar white ceiling comes into view. I woke up before the alarm went off, quickly washed up, and changed into the gym uniform from my high school days that was given to me by Joo Eunhye.

Because all the comfortable clothes I have are short, they’re not suitable for winter. It’s ridiculous that I only wear my school gym uniform… I should order something online today.

“While I work on my stamina, I also want to visit the place where the accident happened… The uncle might not wake up anytime soon, but I should come back as soon as possible.”

It’s unbelievable that I feel sore in my left arm after just one punch yesterday. If waking up early every day to run or doing morning workouts feels too heavy, I should do some home training.

Carefully closing the door, I leave the house and start jogging slowly. I roughly figured out the geography from yesterday’s outing, but I need to conserve my energy to avoid getting tired quickly if I run aimlessly.

“It must be close from here, right? Oh, just around that corner…”

Rows of familiar store signs. Since I’ve been to this street in my own memory and in Joo Eunhye’s memory, I run towards my destination without difficulty. It’s fortunate that Joo Eunhye is not directionally challenged… Her memory seems to be good instead.

Digging through these small memories, about 20 minutes pass, and I finally arrive at the street where I had the accident.

“Heuk… Heuk… I’m really weak.”

Even though I jogged slowly and repeated resting, my legs feel wobbly. I haven’t been exercising, but this seems too severe.

Because of my pathetic weak body, I resolve to learn martial arts and head towards the spot where the accident happened.

“It was a bit dark, but it was a spacious intersection with many people… It’s this way.”

I’m just chasing the memory of the night I fought with my ex-girlfriend, but the accident was an accident, so I didn’t wander around with the incident imprinted in my mind.

As I arrive at the street where I saved the woman who almost had an accident, the memory of that day starts to vividly come back.

“I saw that woman here, and she seemed to jump in as if possessed by something?”

I only saw her face from afar, but I can’t understand why I made such a reckless move. Was it because she was pretty? I’m not a face lover, and I’m not the type to risk my life to save a stranger.

To be honest, I’m a selfish person who only thinks about myself. Although I sacrifice for my brother’s university tuition and rent through hard part-time jobs, my affection for my family has long since faded away. So, when I become an adult, I planned to live with a senior who lives alone, but things turned out like this…

“But in the end, it’s more convenient this way.”

Even though I’ve become Joo Eunhye’s body, just breathing quietly earns me money, a big and comfortable house, and freedom without anyone’s interference… Except for the discomfort of changing clothes or going to the bathroom, there’s really no better place than this.

Having such thoughts, when I reach the point where I collided with the truck, I notice something strange.

“There are no traces of the accident… What happened?”

It’s hard to believe that there was an accident, as it’s so clean even though it wasn’t that long ago. I vividly remember colliding and flying somewhere, hitting something, but no matter how much I look around, I can’t find any traces of that.

“If I check the CCTV, I might be able to find out for sure, but that’s impossible… And all the shops that were open at that time are closed now, so it’s pointless.”

After wandering around for almost an hour, I found nothing. Was it just a vivid dream? But if it was a dream, why did I end up like this…

*

I went to the accident site, but in the end, I found nothing. I wasted a lot of time and mentally exhausted myself, but at least I got a lot of exercise from walking.

“What? Are you still sleeping?”

When I arrived home, it was already 8 in the morning, but the old man was still asleep. Of course, it was the weekend, so I didn’t think much of him sleeping late, but it was truly mind-boggling to see him lying there with the alarm ringing at the entrance, his ears plugged.

“Wake up, old man! Why did you even set the alarm if you’re going to sleep like this!”

“It’s not late, so leave me alone… I’ll sleep more…”

“You set the alarm because you had something important to do, right? Get up quickly!”

I tried to grab the old man’s pillow to force him to wake up, but he closed his eyes, clutching the pillow as if in a deep sleep.

“If you sleep more, what about breakfast? Stop sleeping!”

“Shut up and leave me alone. Can’t you see? I stayed up late playing games…”

“Goodness!”

This old man is talking nonsense and falling back asleep. He had everything planned out, but he stayed up all night playing games and now he’s acting like this in the morning? What a grown man-child!

“Hey, let go of this… Are you a child?”

“Ugh! I don’t want to hear from a grown adult who plays games late at night!”

I wanted to grab him firmly, but I couldn’t handle the old man’s strength. Well, it’s a fight between a healthy adult man and a weak woman… The outcome is obvious.

“Stop it!”

“Eek!”

With a determined look, the old man pulled me towards him. Because of that, my body became weightless, losing balance and slowly tilting towards the direction where the old man was lying.

“I expected this, but he’s pulling me in so easily… He’s really no match for me. Huh? Is the old man getting too close…?”

– Flustered~♡

“…”

“…”

It was fortunate that I fell onto the bed. But whether it was a good or bad direction, the old man woke up from his sleep, maintaining his composure, while I blinked like a rabbit.

“Old man… Are you awake?”

“Uh… Uh! I’m awake…”

The old man’s voice, full of confusion, echoed.

If I were to accurately describe where that voice echoed,

Should I say it was under my collarbones, where two mounds were?

Anyway, since I woke up the old man, it’s a success, right?

“How long are you going to stay like this, old man?”

“I-I have to get up!!”

The old man, who had his face buried in my chest, got up from the bed with an awkward, robotic movement. But looking at his appearance, it seemed like he lacked delicacy, which made me sigh.

“Old man… Even though I’m a fake wife…”

“Uh, why?”

“Why are you standing in front of me with your underwear exposed… Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“What? What? …Ugh!?”

*

There was a small struggle, but seeing the old man blushing and running to the bathroom, I felt relieved and could prepare breakfast with a light heart.

The menu may have only been upgraded with egg rolls, spinach miso soup, and Vienna sausages from yesterday’s lackluster menu, but I think it’s excellent for just a breakfast.

Ah, do I prefer bread over rice for breakfast? I should ask later. If it’s bread, I should also get some sliced ham and cheese, and since there’s not much eggs left… I should order a few more.

“Sorry for the wait.”

The timing was perfect as the man in gray shorts and a black t-shirt appeared. He would have come out in his underwear like earlier if I hadn’t pointed it out…

“You slowpoke… Sit down and eat quickly!”

“Ugh.”

Although I’ve become this man’s fake wife, it’s only been two days, so… It doesn’t matter to me that the content is male, but I’m worried about the woman who will marry this man in the future, so I need to start educating him firmly from now on.

In that sense, I generously piled bean sprouts onto the man’s plate, who had only been eating Vienna sausages until now. You need to eat a variety of foods to grow up healthy, Mr. Adult.

“Don’t be picky, sir.”

“Hey, why did you give me so much food?”

“Well~ I put in a lot of effort to make it, so you should eat a lot.”

“…Eat everything in your mouth first.”

“What do you know? Having a full mouth means you’re that much happier, right?”

“Fine, just eat.”

What’s with that pitiful look and making a fuss?

“Anyway, I’ll help clean up.”

“Shouldn’t you get ready and go out, sir?”

“Oh, the appointment got canceled. Something urgent came up.”

Huh? Then why did you make such a fuss for no reason? Come to think of it, I told you not to interfere in my personal life… Did I violate the contract first?!

“I’ll do the cleaning up! You go inside and play games or whatever! I’ll take care of the rest!”

“Why are you suddenly being so nice? I don’t have anything to do, so don’t worry about it. I’m not really into games right now…”

“Then sit over there! You’re usually busy working, so you should rest on days like this!”

“It doesn’t suit you to be polite… Fine, I got it.”

Phew~ I need to make sure not to pay attention to these things. There’s not much to clean up anyway.

“Oh, aren’t you going anywhere? If you have nothing to do, want to play a game together?”

“A game?”

As I quickly stuffed the remaining rice into my mouth, I noticed that the man who came out of the room was holding a Nintendo Switch game console that I had only seen in TV commercials.