Suicide Lancer

"Ah, this sucks."

He looked at the body reflected in the mirror.

A paper-pale face with deep dark circles under his eyes.

His abundant hair was greasy and shaggy.

From the torso down, he was totally devoid of muscle.

"Well, at least this is still the same," he checked his crotch. "Mm, no. In fact, it's bigger."

He smiled unconsciously.

He'd been sleeping peacefully after a long day at work, only to wake up in a new body.

Not only that, the apartment, like the body, stank; literally.

Beer cans littered the stained and moldy floor, and unwashed clothes covered bowls of noodles.

Sighing, he lit a cigarette and took a drag.

Smoke wafted through his nostrils and then his lungs, finally being released through his mouth.

A grayish air momentarily surrounded him.

"What should I do now?"

He had long since stopped questioning whether this was a dream, joke, or something else.

Not that he could do anything about it, of course.

After the obvious initial surprise and confusion, exclusively a contemplative state remained in him.

"First the name, I guess."

He rummaged around until he finally found the wallet.

He opened it and from there he pulled out his new ID.

"Seol Jihu..." He mutter.

Fortunately, in a strange and magical way, he could read and speak Korean perfectly.

However, any other kind of memory or knowledge, he was denied.

"How annoying." He clicked his tongue.

After going through everything in his wallet and such, he proceeded to take a shower.

It was impossible for him to stand the smell of his current body any longer.

It was unpleasant to say the least.

"Seol Jihu, you sure were slovenly." He complained.

Not only that, more than someone lacking in hygiene, he was a mess as a person.

A quick glance at the place where Seol Jihu resided was enough to realize.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were a gambling addict, or worse, a drug addict," he judged.

In any case, he hoped he didn't owe anyone money.

He certainly didn't get his hopes up.

* * *

With nothing in sight to help him dry off, he simply positioned himself in an area where the sun through the window would reach.

In the shower, he had pondered what he would do from now on, and nothing in particular came to mind.

Getting a job was to be expected.

Otherwise, how would he live?

He couldn't live on air alone, could he?

So, with the above in mind, he determined that getting a job would be his top priority.

But then he remembered the apartment where he would be residing.

"I take that back. Top priority is cleaning up this dump," he nodded.

Realizing that his body had already stopped being damp, he dressed in any moderately soiled garment; he couldn't hope for better.

Stretching, he said. "Let's get to work."

Starting with the clothes, then the bowls, and finally, the rest.

In that way, and without much complexity, he began to arrange his new home.

Which, if you looked at it from a certain perspective, was nothing new at all.

Of course, it was not easy.

There were times when he was on the verge of vomiting what little was in his stomach.

The garbage bags didn't do much to fix the smell.

On top of that, there was another inconvenience added.

'I'm hungry.'

It was a constant thought in his head throughout the cleanup.

A thought that, as time went on, only gained momentum.

He had resisted because he knew he didn't have much money on hand.

He also realized that if there was money on his card, he wouldn't be able to withdraw it because he didn't know the password.

Furthermore, he also had no idea of the process of how to change it in South Korea, nor did he have the time to do so at this time.

Likewise, he was getting frustrated at his total lack of pertinent information.

A few moments later, no longer able to hold out another minute, he gave up and decided. "I'll go eat and come back to finish cleaning up."

He just had to be less frugal and be very careful with his spending.

Grabbing the keys hanging in the entryway, he hurried out of the apartment.

He completely ignored how he was dressing.

A Hawaiian flower print beach shirt.

Covering it, a simple shorts.

On his feet, he wore only flip-flops that unexpectedly made a perfect match.

Not that he had done it on purpose, but it looked like he was going to the beach more than anything else.

* * *

He quickly arrived in front of a nearby convenience store.

He could go find a restaurant, but again, his resources were limited.

Seol Jihu sigh heavily. "Truly, I am an unfortunate person."

He must be, otherwise this wouldn't be happening to him; he couldn't remember having gone through a similar precarious situation before.

Without further ado, he entered after crossing the automatic doors made of glass.

Although it wasn't particularly grand or spectacular, he couldn't help but be curious about something that others would find mundane.

He had never been outside the borders of his country, let alone the continent, so this was all new to him.

He felt like a tourist.

An unexpected benefit on the roller coaster that only seemed to be going downhill.

He walked over to the shelves and looked for something he fancied.

There was a lot of food he had never seen before, which excited him.

However, when he saw the prices, he walked away without a second thought.

He tried in his positivity to find food that looked delicious and at an affordable price, but failed miserably.

Giving up, he settled for a cup of ramen.

Then, he went to pay.

"Here you go sir, they will be..."

Hearing the price, he felt his heart skip a beat.

With resignation, he handed over a portion of the little money he had left.

His hand trembled with pain.

"Thank you for your purchase, would you like to donate to the children with cancer?"

'Bastard! Can't you see I'm just as fucked up!'

"The children will thank you," the cashier said with a cheerful smile.

In the end, he handed over what money he had left….

Now, admittedly, his situation was entirely better than that of the truly disadvantaged.

Naturally, the blow did not subside.

With his back lowered, Seol Jihu left the convenience store in the hope that tomorrow would be better.