When I opened my eyes, the whole world had changed. Even myself.

Seung Joo stared intently at his reflection in the mirror. The traces of stubble that had distinctly darkened overnight were unfamiliar. It had always grown a bit, but not to this extent.

“What the, who’s this ahjussi…?”

The person in the mirror undeniably had the appearance of a mature adult man. His jawline was sharp and his eyes looked deep-set. Since it was his own face, it was hard to assess the level of his looks, but to Seung Joo whose consciousness was stuck at eighteen, it just seemed like some ahjussi.

Not only had his face changed, but most of all, his body had grown overnight. His height didn’t seem that different from yesterday, but his shoulders were broad, his chest and thighs thick, making the clothes he was wearing stretch taut as if about to burst.

“……”

After looking at the mirror for a while, Seung Joo turned his gaze to look around the house. Changes caught his eye here and there. The wooden floor looked a shade deeper, weathered with the passage of time, and the ceiling that had water stains from the rain looked clean as if it had been repaired. The room he woke up in was originally his room, but the wallpaper and flooring had changed overnight.

This house originally belonged to his late maternal grandmother and she had passed it down to Seung Joo, her grandson. When his mother started living apart from his father, she had taken Seung Joo and come here to live, just the two of them.

[Live as a mistress for the rest of your life if you want. I absolutely cannot divorce him, never!]

One night, upon hearing his mother shout those words, he learned that his father was demanding a divorce. Not long after, his parents began living separately.

[Your father and I just need some time to think things through.]

His mother tried to hide his father’s infidelity somehow, but Seung Joo had noticed it all.

When leaving the house, Seung Joo found out for the first time that there was almost no assets in his mother’s name. The numerous real estate properties she had inherited from her family had all been gradually sold off to expand the business, and all that was left was her stake in Daewon Group. Even the dividend payouts were reinvested into the company as soon as she received them, leaving her with hardly any cash on hand.

After the separation, his father didn’t send them a penny for living expenses. It was a ploy to tighten the purse strings so that she would eventually be unable to endure it and agree to a divorce.

However, his mother persevered, and from then on, their standard of living dropped significantly. Thanks to his mother’s friends pitching in to help, they didn’t go hungry, but he could no longer attend the private school he used to go to and had to transfer to a regular school nearby.

[Still, Mrs. Kang, how fortunate that you held onto your shares and didn’t hand them over to your husband. If he doesn’t come to his senses and keeps acting like this, you can just kick him out from the chairman position, can’t you?]

One day, Seung Joo overheard his mother’s friend who had come to visit console her like that.

[Even so, he’s still Seung Joo’s father. Considering Seung Joo’s future, I have to wait and see if he has a change of heart.]

His mother sighed.

[Anyway, even if we divorce, I’m going to hold onto the shares till the end and pass them onto our Seung Joo. Daewon Group is what my father built. I can’t let it fall into the wrong hands.] [You thought well, Mrs. Kang.]

There was determination in his mother’s voice.

[No matter how painful it gets, I’m going to endure to the end and protect our Seung Joo.]

– I’m sorry, Seung Joo. Mom is just too exhausted now.

A year ago, his mother who had said those words suddenly left the house, leaving behind only a short letter, and Seung Joo was left alone.

Perhaps Chairman Kwon was afraid of people’s scrutiny since his high school son was living alone. He persistently urged Seung Joo to move in with him. He even sent his secretaries a few times to forcibly take him, but each time, Seung Joo escaped and returned to this house.

In the first place, the reason they separated was because of his father’s affair. Just because his mother had gone missing didn’t mean he had any desire to live under the same roof as such a father.

And so, Seung Joo stayed alone in the house and waited for his mother to return. Washing his own clothes, cooking his own meals, waking up alone in the morning to go to school.

A few days ago, his father made a final ultimatum over the phone to Seung Joo who had been holding out for a year.

– Move back in right now. Otherwise, this time I’ll really demolish that damn house!

Then last night, when some woman suddenly appeared talking about demolition, he thought, it’s finally here.

But that woman said she wasn’t a secretary sent by his father.

[This year is 2022, and you’re thirty-three years old.]

It was hard to believe, but it was true. Otherwise, the world couldn’t have undergone such an upheaval overnight. Above all, his own reflection in the mirror was proof of that.

‘Why on earth…?’

Even if he got into a traffic accident and lost his memories, why return to this point in time of all things? He could have gone back to a year ago, or ten years ago. He tried to rack his brain but couldn’t think of a reason.

Seung Joo sighed and turned his gaze away from the mirror.

He felt strangely anxious. Of course it was only natural to feel uneasy when fifteen years had passed overnight, but somehow it was a different kind of anxiety.

Seung Joo realized the reason when he looked at the clock. It was time to go to school.

His unconscious mind, trained by habit, kept urging him that if he didn’t leave right now, he would be late. But in reality, it had already been over ten years since he graduated high school.

Not only that, according to her, he had already graduated college as well.

[This is an article from when you were inaugurated as the CEO.]

In the article the woman who claimed to be living in this house showed him, there was a brief summary of his background. It said he had graduated top of his class from the business administration department of Korea University.

The business department of Korea University was where Seung Joo had originally aimed to go. He had been diligently studying even after being left alone, thinking he must get accepted and make his mother happy when she returned.

But to think he had already graduated. The goal of his life had vanished into thin air overnight.

His current self was apparently the CEO of Daewon Construction, but he couldn’t go there either. In the first place, he didn’t even know where the company was located.

The woman who had held his hand with teary eyes at the hospital came to mind.

[Seung Joo, it’s me, Mom. Are you awake?]

Although he had never seen her face, he had a feeling she might be the woman who had made his mother suffer. There was no reason, it was just a feeling. Seeing how she confidently called herself Mom, his father must have already remarried.

He couldn’t go to school, to the company, or to his father’s side. There was no place for him in this world. It felt like he had been dropped alone in the middle of a vast desert without a map or compass.

The only thing connecting him to this world was this house where he used to live with his mother. If not for this house, he had nowhere else to go.

…And that woman.

He couldn’t remember her face or voice, but strangely, it didn’t feel like he was meeting her for the first time. She seemed to be wary of him, and yet, she felt oddly familiar.

Perhaps it was because she was the only one he could rely on in this current world.

Seung Joo sat crouched in a corner of the main room, his large body huddled, and waited for the woman who had gone to work to return.

*

[Sleep here for tonight. I’ll go to work tomorrow and contact the secretarial office.]

Honestly, she found it hard to believe he had lost his memories, but she also couldn’t bring herself to turn away the man who claimed to be eighteen years old. After all, he was the person who saved her life.

So for now, she let him sleep in the empty room.

The next morning when she got up and peeked inside, the man was asleep with his large body curled up. Seeing his swollen, red-rimmed eyes, she felt complicated. He must have cried all night.

Eun Seo’s mind continued to be in turmoil as she left for work.

She had let him stay for a night, but she couldn’t keep him here forever. Above all, since he claimed to be eighteen, it would be best to hand him over to his parents.

Of course, as a mere employee of an affiliate company, she couldn’t directly contact the chairman, so she had no choice but to go up and tell the secretarial office.

“Eun Seo, where are you going?”

As Eun Seo tried to slip out of the office, Sun Ah caught her in the hallway.

“Oh, just somewhere. Why?”

“It’s about our Seung Joo. Why hasn’t he come to work for days?”

Sun Ah worried as if it were her own business. Eun Seo, who couldn’t say that man was currently at her house, desperately played dumb.

“Uh, maybe he went on a business trip abroad or something?”

“Then his messenger status would show ‘on a business trip’. But it keeps showing ‘away from desk’, see?”

Sun Ah held out her cell phone. Look at this, she said.

“Maybe the chairman sent him off somewhere else? Like as the CEO of some tiny company in the boonies.”

“Oh come on, no way.”

“No way what! Don’t you know he was sent to our company in the first place because it was the most insignificant affiliate? It was about to undergo a business withdrawal before the CEO came and built it up.”

“But he joined as a director from the start, didn’t he?”

“Tsk tsk, this is why they do media play, because there are people who fall for it hook, line, and sinker.”

Sun Ah clicked her tongue.

“The headquarters bribed the reporters a ton, articles were pouring out. These days, most chaebol children join as regular employees, but for Daewon Group’s eldest son Kwon Seung Joo, it’s special treatment, they said. Since people kept suspecting he was being neglected as the ex-wife’s child, they blatantly did media play.”

Sun Ah spoke as if she herself were indignant.

“What’s the point of just giving him the title of director? It’s all for show. In reality, it’s like saying I’ll give you this insignificant affiliate, so don’t covet the group.”

Eun Seo hadn’t known there was such a story behind it.

[He was born as a chaebol’s eldest son and joined the company as a director, so everything in the world must be so easy for him. Reaching the CEO position in just 4 years, he must think other people are all laughable and stupid.]

Remembering what she had shouted at Kwon Seung Joo, Eun Seo belatedly felt uncomfortable.

Sun Ah looked around and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“I read an article a while ago that the chairman wants to make his second son born from his second wife the successor.”

“Really?”

“His mind is already made up, but he can’t bring it up because of what people will think. Originally, Daewon Group belonged to the late chairwoman’s family, and the chairman is practically just a son-in-law. He can’t openly push for it because people will point fingers, saying he’s taking from the ex-wife’s child to give to the mistress’s child. Plus, our CEO is so competent.”

It was a well-known fact that the current Daewon Group’s foundation came entirely from the assets of the late chairwoman’s family. Even Eun Seo, who was ignorant of the ways of the world, knew this much.

“So these days, the chairman is hellbent on finding fault with the CEO.”

“What? Why?”

“What do you mean why? He’s trying to find some excuse to make his second son the successor!”

Sun Ah looked heartbroken for the world.

“The reason CEO only sleeps three to four hours a day and works without any days off is because there’s a reason behind it. It’s his late mother’s assets, you think he wants it taken away by his half brother?”

Eun Seo flinched.

…That man was currently eighteen years old.

Moreover, the world he knew was frozen fifteen years ago. At this rate, forget performing the duties of a CEO, even leading a normal social life would be difficult for him. There could be no greater flaw in the world than this.

‘If this story reaches the chairman’s ears…?’

He would jump at the chance and establish his second son as the successor.

In fact, it didn’t matter to Eun Seo who became the group’s successor. But the thought that a person’s life hung on her single utterance made her hesitate to act rashly. Even if that person was the endlessly despicable Kwon Seung Joo.

At the very least, she felt it would be right to first tell him about the situation and let him speak up himself if he was going to.

Sun Ah suddenly asked as if a thought occurred to her.

“By the way, Eun Seo, didn’t you say you were going somewhere?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Eun Seo shook her head.