How I Survive 1

1

Lee Jiwoo stared out the window, his pen spinning endlessly between his fingers. He should have paid more attention back then, but that was just another ordinary day, like any other, and somehow, after going without food for nine hours, he was in the middle of having his perfect combination dinner. Two packs of instant noodles, cold rice and bachelor kimchi. 

“So, what happened next?”

It was a purely perfunctory question. Jiyeon, his best friend, family, and worst enemy all at once, was quite a popular BL novelist. While he had to work four part-time jobs every month, Jiyeon earned more money just lounging at home and writing.

Her hobby was telling Jiwoo the latest plots of her novels. If he seemed too indifferent, she would unleash a storm of nagging, so Jiwoo responded moderately while mixing his cold rice thoroughly into the noodles.

“I’m too tired to think of something new, so I’m just going to kill him off in a car accident. He’s just a side omega anyway, it’s not like he’s truly important.”

Jiwoo stopped his spoon mid-motion as he looked at her bright smile. What did he just hear? She was going to kill the side omega? Until now, Jiyeon’s novels had been loved for including all kinds of toxic relationships, drama, and explicit scenes you wouldn’t expect even from R-rated movies, but he was pretty sure none of the characters had ever died. 

From what he had carelessly heard, the plot followed her usual formula. A flawless seme with absurd wealth, ability, and looks, who had promised to marry the main uke when they were young, but due to a tragic accident, the uke lost his memory and ended up in an orphanage.

The seme went searching for the disappeared main uke, but suddenly, the orphanage made a mistake by switching up the uke with another child, who would be the side omega. Jiwoo wasn’t sure when, but the seme took the wrong uke from the orphanage. In the midst of all this, there was even an explanation about their secondary genre: the seme was an alpha, and the uke was an omega. 

Well, since the two had to end up together somehow, the place where the main uke started working when he turned twenty happened to be the seme’s house. There, he meets the side omega, now having a terrible personality after living luxuriously. And finally, after all kinds of hardships…

Jiwoo paused briefly while thinking. Wasn’t this Cinderella meeting her prince after enduring abuse from her stepmother and stepsisters? Anyway, the main uke would recover his memories and realize they had been switched. However, he would be kicked out due to the side omega’s schemes, and then the seme would try desperately to find him again, while the side omega continuously interfered between them…

Despite all that, the love between the protagonists deepened, and somehow they even ended up having a child together. Jiwoo had no idea how a man could get pregnant, so he just focused on remembering the important part. The continued chaos caused once again by the reappearing side omega led to a miscarriage.

Even setting aside the overly dramatic content that reminded him of one of those old dramas where people slapped each other with kimchi, the side omega, after so many evil actions, wasn’t going to walk the path of redemption. Instead, he would be easily killed off in a traffic accident, and the two protagonists would finally live their love… That was the story. 

“Why kill him? Isn’t he pitiful too? It’s not like he lied and deceived everyone himself; you said he was accidentally switched at the orphanage.” 

“Baby… We know better than anyone that life isn’t fair. Anyway, look! These are the characters’ design. I already warned you, and I’m showing them to you in advance, so don’t complain later.”

This was beyond ridiculous. Why? The character who died in the car accident looked just like him, and judging by her strange comments in advance, it didn’t seem to be just a coincidence. And on top of that, the character’s name was Lee Jiwoo! 

“Hey, you… Are you seriously using your friend’s face and name now?”

Unable to take it anymore, Jiwoo threw his spoon at Jiyeon. Never mind not giving him a good or cool role, why would she shove a friend into a BL novel? Besides, he didn’t think he had a remarkable face: brown hair, often mistaken as dyed due to the lack of pigment, large eyes, a complex of his, and a height of 174cm that he could swear was average.

As he glanced at the drawings Jiyeon handed him, he noticed the main uke did seem somewhat delicate, but still, if one were to look at this drawing, it could almost be considered a police composite sketch.

“I thought you could at least experience romance in a novel.”

“Just because you’ve got a mouth doesn’t mean you should say anything. What romance? You said he will just torment the main characters and then die!”

“That’s why you should go out and try dating someone. Really, with your face and looks, why are you still single? If your friend is a BL writer, shouldn’t you at least provide some material from your gay life?”

That day, he bitterly regretted telling her he was gay.

He still remembered the conversation, the fact that he left behind two packs of noodles and cold rice that he should’ve finished, and the general plot of  Jiyeon’s novel. However, he couldn’t remember minor details and how exactly the traffic accident happened. 

Every morning, he’d wake up hoping something would change, but it had already been a week, and nothing had changed. He had no choice but to accept the fact that he had become a character in Jiyeon’s novel, just like those transmigration novels he used to read for fun.

On his way home after his usual 10 p.m. shift, while riding his bicycle, some drunk idiot hit him with a car.  It was an unexpected accident, and he was too surprised to avoid it, so his body simply flew through the air. 

As he lay on the ground, not even feeling the pain, the driver’s footsteps approaching him were severely staggering. On top of that, when the man leaned in closer, trying to get a better look at him, the stench of booze was overwhelming.

At that moment, all he thought was…

He wanted to be loved. Truly, wholly loved by someone.

He wanted to love and be loved. He wished to have someone on his side in this world.

He wanted to live comfortably, without worrying about money every day. Just… Things like that.

But why did he have to end up as the side character in Jiyeon’s novel? If the universe was going to grant him a wish, shouldn’t he be the main character?

What kind of twisted law turned him into the side omega who tormented others only to die in a car accident, just like in his original life?

He kept telling himself it had to be a dream, but every morning he woke up feeling heavy and lethargic, his whole body weighed down, making it difficult to get up. And when he saw how people looked at him, as if he were a bug, he gradually started to accept it as reality.

He also wanted to know exactly how Jiyeon had written the side omega. 

His original height of 174 cm had shrunk to just under 170 cm. He used to do many manual part-time jobs, had a fairly muscular and solid build, good strength and stamina, plus moderately tanned skin…  But now, he was frail and underweight, his skin pale from low blood pressure. He looked like those female protagonists from cheesy romance novels, someone who’d collapse if you pushed slightly.

From the drawings, he’d thought the character looked a lot like him, but with slightly more upturned cat-like eyes than his own. Jiyeon had always insisted that all protagonists appearing in her novels had to be beautiful men and women, regardless of their role. He could feel that even though he was the villain, she had spared no effort with his appearance. He was truly weak, but she’d at least made him attractive.

She’d also described the side omega’s personality as nasty and cruel. From the cold treatment and contemptuous looks, that reputation had followed him despite having an appearance that could evoke maternal instincts. 

2

Jiwoo was looking down at the open notebook on his lap. It was a small journal he carried around just in case. Whenever he remembered something of this crazy novel written by Jiyeon, no matter what he was doing, he immediately jotted it down.

In Jiyeon’s story, the plot begins when the side omega turns twenty and goes to college. The main omega, who had graduated from a high school specializing in butler training, started working in the house as his new butler. Apparently, the side omega had such a nasty personality that no butler lasted longer than six months. After much deliberation, the one hired this time was Joon, who was the same age as him.

For now, there wasn’t much content, so the plotline was simple. The side omega was preparing for marriage with the male lead as promised in childhood, and in the process, as the male lead started visiting the house more frequently, Joon and the alpha fell for each other. 

While Jiwoo was scribbling in his notebook for a while, he heard someone approaching and turned around. Sure enough, Joon, his assigned butler, had entered. The indoor garden, where Jiwoo currently spent most of his time, was his favorite place in the house, but coincidentally or not, it was also Joon’s favorite spot in the novel. Warm, with moderate sunlight, and well-maintained flowers… But above all, there was a daybed big enough for two people to roll around comfortably. 

Since it was a novel written by Jiyeon, there had to be room for 19+ scenes to happen anytime and anywhere, of course. Still, the fun of rolling around and snacking on this daybed during the day was unexpectedly enjoyable.

“Shall I prepare some tea?”

As I lay on the daybed and looked up, Joon boasted an unrealistically beautiful appearance. Easily 180 cm tall, with a lean figure, golden hair that shimmered like silver in the sunlight, and vivid blue eyes. He was so strikingly beautiful that Jiwoo half-expected wings to sprout from his back.

Jiyeon had always insisted that looks were everything. And for once, Jiwoo had to admit this one lived up to the hype.

“No. I’m fine.”

Jiwoo let out a small sigh and hastily gathered the books spread around him and the open notebook. After all, this was Joon’s favorite place, and since it was described as a kind of sanctuary where he could rest his tired body while working, Jiwoo needed to quickly get out of his way. Besides, the two protagonists had met quite often in this place as well. 

“Then, is there anything else you need?”

With a soft smile that matched the description of his gentle nature, Joon looked down and spoke in a calm tone. Somehow, just listening to him made Jiwoo feel like he was the villain. I  simply shook my head. It wasn’t like I had nowhere else to go, and as a university student, I should at least go to the study and figure out what this body was supposed to be learning.

***

I gave up halfway through one of the supposed “textbooks” and collapsed onto the sofa in the study.

“Ugh… I really don’t want to study.”

Jiwoo started thinking about himself again. It was said that he was abandoned in front of the orphanage in a basket with a note containing only the name ‘Lee Jiwoo’ and a date of birth. He was just 5 months old, and not knowing anything else, he grew up that way in the orphanage.