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Korea. Noryangjin-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul Special City.
A room in Noryangjin General Hospital.
When Haejun opened his eyes, that was his location.
"You finally opened your eyes! It's truly a miracle that you survived being swept away by the rapids! Haha."
The doctor said.
It was puzzling for Haejun.
Because he had clearly died in the American desert.
As a consequence of destroying a private military company.
'...How did this happen...?'
But there was no need to try hard to figure out what had happened.
Zing-!
After Haejun opened his eyes, a sharp current ran through his head.
Next, he began to understand everything that had happened to him.
Five minutes after opening his eyes, he realized this.
Before Haejun's soul possessed this body.
The rapids swept away the original owner of this body while chasing a robber during a heavy rain warning.
He died afterward, and Haejun's soul took residence in the now-empty body.
Three hours after opening his eyes, he realized that the original owner had a loving family.
This was because the family rushed to the hospital upon hearing that Haejun had woken up.
All the way from Jeju Island.
"Sob...! Haejun! Justice and a sense of duty are good, but you need to think about your body first! Why have you worried your mom and grandmother so much since you were little, you rascal!"
The original owner's grandmother and mother cried for a long time in front of Haejun and then left.
For Haejun, who had lived as an orphan all his life, this situation was unfamiliar.
Six hours after waking up, he realized that the original owner of this body was a 'rookie police officer' who had been appointed for less than a year.
He was a person with a crazy sense of justice who spent 34 weeks at the Central Police Academy repeating the phrase, "Young police officer, the country believes in you!"
That was the original owner of this body.
So it was no wonder he got into trouble while excessively trying to catch a thief.
"Officer Gu! It's a huge relief that you woke up! From now on, let's take care of our bodies first. Oh, and I got you a two-week medical leave. So don't worry about anything and just get some good rest."
The precinct team leader, who came to visit after hearing that Haejun had woken up, conveyed his comforting words.
After a full day had passed, Haejun had synchronized more than 50% with the original owner of this body.
‘Name: Gu Haejun. Age: 28. Height: 183 cm. Weight: 78 kg. No girlfriend.’
Coincidentally, the original owner of this body had many similarities with Haejun.
They had the same name, the same height and weight, and even the fact that they didn't have a girlfriend was exactly the same.
It was a truly uncanny coincidence.
Of course, there were many differences too.
For one, this young man was five years younger than Haejun, who was 33 in his previous life.
And he was more educated than Haejun.
Unlike Haejun, who was a high school graduate, this young man graduated from Korea University’s Police Administration Department, which was classified as an upper-middle-ranked school in Seoul.
Moreover, he also completed his graduate studies in Criminal Psychology at the same university.
If this young man had used these credentials to apply for a special recruitment position as a criminal psychology analyst, he might have become a profiler like those often seen in TV dramas.
But he didn't do that.
His goal was to arrest criminals directly in the field.
Profiling was merely a tool for it.
‘…What an unusual personality.’
Lastly, unlike Haejun, this young man had a very gentle impression.
Pale skin, a sharp jawline, bright eyes, and even glasses without lenses.
These features not only made him look gentle, but also gave a delicate impression.
‘...Indeed, my face was better before.’
Looking in the mirror, Haejun showed a somewhat regretful expression.
But at some point, he heard the nurses whispering behind him.
“Wow... he’s really pretty…”
“Isn’t he a trainee from an agency?”
“Does he have a girlfriend?! Would it be rude to ask for the number of a patient who just woke up?!”
The nurses were whispering and glancing at Haejun.
With his sharp ears, Haejun found their reactions absurd.
‘What’s so good-looking about this soft face? In Africa, this face would be seen as so weak that I wouldn't even get food...’
Regrettably, Haejun had a certain pride (?) in his original face.
Well, in fact, appearance didn’t really matter.
What was important to Haejun was the fact that he was given a new life.
There were also differences between the original owner of this body and Haejun.
The most extreme difference was personality.
Unlike the original owner, who burned with a sense of justice, Haejun shuddered at the mere mention of old-fashioned words like justice.
‘Justice? Are there still people who believe in such lukewarm things?’
Haejun scoffed at the thought.
***
Two days later.
After confirming that there was nothing wrong with his body, Haejun began the discharge procedures.
The first thing he did after leaving the hospital was to find 'home'.
It wasn't difficult to find the home of the previous owner of this body.
All he had to do was look up the address on his resident registration card and go there.
'...From now on, I have to start a new life there.'
With an excited heart, Haejun arrived at the house of his new body.
But when he arrived there a moment later, he encountered an unexpected sight.
"…How can a room be this small? It's not even a prison… It wasn't even like this when I live in Africa…?"
A faint gasp of astonishment escaped from Haejun's lips.
In front of him was a tiny, narrow gosiwon* room, barely one pyeong (approximately 3.3 square meters) in size.
(T/N: *A type of small, budget accommodation in South Korea. Originally, these rooms were intended for students preparing for exams, particularly civil service exams (gosi), but they have become popular among various groups, including low-income workers and people looking for inexpensive living options.)
A small bed that touched the wall if you lay down straight,
A narrow desk,
A few coats hanging on a rack,
Thin walls that didn't block sound, and so on…
The environment of the cheap gosiwon was enough to make even a battle-hardened mercenary shake his head in disbelief.
“…34,000 won a month for a room like this. The first thing I'll do when I earn money is move out.”
Muttering to himself, Haejun continued his exploration.
In the narrow room, barely one pyeong in size, the place that held his gaze the longest was the bookshelf.
It was filled with numerous books.
Criminal Procedure Act, past exam papers, etc...
Those books clearly showed how hard the previous owner of this body had worked to become a police officer.
Next, Haejun's gaze turned to the post-it notes stuck on the wall above the bed.
[Let's become the most righteous police officer!]
It was indeed a belief befitting a guardian of justice (?).
Upon discovering that, the word "Geez" came out of Haejun's mouth.
He didn't like the previous owner of this body, who had burned with a sense of justice so intensely that he ended up burning himself.
Rattle-
Haejun's final place to search was inside the drawer.
There lay a pair of silver handcuffs engraved with a unique serial number.
Every police officer is issued a pair of handcuffs with a unique serial number upon their first appointment.
Thus, these handcuffs were the number one treasure of the previous owner.
Because these handcuffs were the only pair in the world that were 'his own.'
He had vowed countless times to use these handcuffs to punish all the criminals in the world...
But that dream now seemed to be out of reach.
It was because the soul that possessed his body was that of a money-crazed mercenary, Gu Haejun.
"How much is a patrol officer's salary these days? Two hundred? With allowances, two hundred fifty? No wonder they can't escape from living in a gosiwon. Tsk."
Having once served in the special forces in Korea, Haejun knew roughly how much a public servant's salary was.
Of course, he was not inclined to work for such an amount.
When he was carrying out special missions in his past life, he used to earn at least ten times the salary of a patrol officer.
And that was just for a day's work.
To Haejun, the police salary was just too low.
"...It would be better to open a detective agency using the know-how I learned in my past life. Then I could earn at least five times the police salary."
Having briefly planned his future, Haejun now sprawled out on the bed.
The worn-out mattress creaked loudly.
As befitting a cheap bed, it was only slightly better than the wild grasses of the African savanna.
Still, Haejun was somewhat satisfied.
Whether the room was small or the bed uncomfortable, it had been a long time since he had enjoyed such a comfortable life.
After the grand battle that marked his resignation from his previous company, it had been ages since he had this kind of leisure.
Moreover, although he had experienced it for only a short time, his returned to his homeland felt so cozy that he thought he would like to live there.
So, although he didn’t quite understand what was going on, this new life was an immense gift to Haejun.
‘...But why did those souls revive me? And why did they put me in this body?’
Lying in bed and idly passing the time, Haejun pondered deeply.
Although two days had passed since his body changed, he no longer heard the voices of the souls.
Even the bell ringing in his ears was gone.
They had definitely asked him to become their mercenary.
And they had promised generous compensation.
So what kind of mission did the souls want to entrust to him?
Haejun thought about it for a long time, but no clear answer emerged.
“...Oh well, whatever. Since I’ve started a new life, let’s not be too greedy this time and live well. And try not to cause any trouble.”
With that thought, Haejun pulled the blanket up to his neck.
The cozy feeling of the blanket quickly brought sleep upon him.
A pleasant smile lingered on his lips as he slept.
He planned to enjoy such leisure and peace from now on.
***
However, just a few hours after harboring such feelings, Haejun faced an obstacle.
When he opened his eyes after dozing off lightly.
".....Who are you?"
A suddenly menacing voice came out of Haejun's mouth.
On the chair at the study room desk, a pale man was looking down at Haejun.
It was a man he had never seen before, dressed in a black police uniform.
