Eugene's misfortune began with nothing more than reading the wrong book.
A fellow trainee at the Guide Center had recommended it, saying it featured a character with the exact same name as him — and that book turned out to be a 19+ BL novel. It was a story about a world saved through the intense physical intimacy of espers and guides, all set against a backdrop of gates spewing out monsters. Working as a guide had left Eugene without any particular aversion to relationships between men, so he read the novel without a second thought.
And then, when he woke the next day after falling asleep, he found himself transformed into the novel's villain — Eugene Langford. Overnight, the world he'd been living in had changed entirely.
Eugene Langford was a character who resembled him in many ways, starting with the name. The natural good looks, the good family, the outstanding abilities — and a greed just a touch stronger than most people's.
On top of that, both Eugenes were the only S-rank guides in their respective countries. Which meant Langford also had the skill to make those ambitions a reality.
But the decisive difference between Eugene and Eugene Langford was this: Eugene, at least, had enough social awareness to read the room, even a little. Langford, on the other hand, had grown up doted on in a good family, and his personality was insufferably arrogant as a result.
In the original novel, Eugene Langford held the leash of the S-rank espers who would rampage without his guiding, and he yanked that leash however he pleased. Even the empire's emperor would defer a step to whatever Langford said. That immense power had surely deepened his overbearing nature even further.
And then, in the end, Eugene Langford met his ruin with the appearance of the novel's main receiver — a D-rank guide who boasted a 120% matching rate with the main attacker. After being tormented by Langford's tyranny, the enraged attackers killed him, and that was how he exited the story.
Since he couldn't die so pointlessly the way the original had, Eugene resolved to live a different life. He struck a deal with the system that kept slyly trying to steer him toward the villain's path, built good relationships with the attackers, and even became friends with the main receiver. Then, by closing the gate that had plunged the empire into a great crisis in the novel, he earned a wish from the system — and with it, the chance to return to the world he'd originally come from.
Having escaped his role as the villain, staying and living there wouldn't have been so bad. But Eugene had thought of himself as an outsider the whole time. They might have looked alike, but Eugene Langford wasn't him. Living inside someone else's body, pretending to be that person, gradually grew unbearable.
SYSTEM
You will use your wish to return to the world you originally came from. Once the wish is used, it cannot be undone. Do you still wish to return?
Eugene nodded without hesitation at the system's question. And just like that, he returned to the life of Kwon Eugene, the Republic of Korea's one and only S-rank guide.
"Mm..."
Opening his eyes, Eugene scrunched his face against the sunlight streaming through the blinds. He glanced lightly around him. The original novel had a medieval fantasy setting, so his room there had been filled with antique furniture.
But where he was now was a room with distinctly modern wallpaper catching his eye. After blinking for a moment, Eugene's expression turned to one of deep emotion.
I'm finally back.
He'd been a little uncertain whether the system would actually send him back, but it seemed he'd returned safely to his original world after all. Springing up from where he lay, Eugene ran his palm across the desk in front of him.
"Hmm."
But compared to his last memory, the room felt bigger than before. When Eugene had transmigrated into the novel, he'd been a raw newcomer, freshly admitted to the Guide Center. He had awakened as an S-rank and graduated at the top of his class from the academy under the Center, so he'd been given better dormitory quarters than most — but not to this degree.
And looking around again, the things decorating the room were needlessly extravagant. He had no interest in art, yet the walls were hung with the baffling works of painters whose names he didn't even know. On top of that, there was a carpet on the floor that looked like it had been made from animal hide, which left him aghast.
What on earth was going on? It didn't feel like a place he'd live at all, and the confusion mounted. Rushing frantically into the bathroom, Eugene peered into the mirror. He'd wondered whether he'd wrongly transmigrated into some other loser's body again.
"This... this is me, though?"
But the figure in the mirror was unmistakably his own. Not Eugene Langford, who merely resembled him a little, but his true self, the one from his original world. Kwon Eugene.
Relieved, Eugene let out a long sigh. He hadn't ended up in someone else's body, but he was still uneasy. After a rough wash-up in the bathroom, Eugene went back to the room.
Spotting the watch he'd left on the nightstand beside the bed, Eugene turned on the screen. The watch, issued to him when he'd entered the Guide Center, held a vast amount of information. First, he checked today's date.
"2059...?"
His eyes went wide at the year, which didn't match his memory at all.
The first gate had opened in the summer of 2026. Thirty years after that, in 2056, Eugene had entered the Guide Center. That was as far as his last memory went. He'd been recommended the novel by a fellow trainee at the admission welcome party, and he'd transmigrated into it before officially starting work — so he'd never even made it in for his first day.
But three years had passed since then? How?
Something was wrong. Eugene, too, had spent three years in the world of the novel. Struck by an ominous feeling, he called out into the empty air.
"System!"
In the world of the novel, Eugene had received the system's help.
Whether it should be called help or surveillance, he wasn't sure. But it was a fact that thanks to the system, he'd avoided death and returned to his original world.
For some reason, even now that he was back, he had the feeling the system would answer. And sure enough, a bright blue system window really did appear before Eugene's eyes.
SYSTEM
The voice of Transmigrator #kp2199 has been confirmed.
SYSTEM
The user's stats are being adjusted by another dimension.
SYSTEM
Time remaining: 29m
Just as he'd expected. System windows popped up one after another in a cascade, cluttering his vision. Eugene sighed and raked a hand through his hair.
"What is going on here? Why have three years passed? Wasn't I supposed to return to the point when I first transmigrated?"
Eugene demanded, huffing.
Of course, the system had never said exactly when he'd be returning. It had only said it would send him back to his original world as he'd wished. The fault was largely his own, for not examining things carefully before making his wish.
But still — three years into the future? While he'd been off in another world, had someone else been living in this body of his? The thought sent a chill crawling over his skin.
No — maybe this was a parallel world, and he'd entered the body his future self had been living in. But there was too much that felt off for him to believe that.
Even if it were a parallel world, a spacious room plastered with furniture and ornaments that didn't match his taste in the slightest? He wouldn't want to stay in a place like this for even a moment. And besides, he knew exactly one person with taste this terrible.
SYSTEM
Due to a change of user, the elapsed time can be reversed with an item.
"Change of user?"
Eugene repeated the words written on the system window in a daze.
Setting aside the fact that time could be reversed with an item — a change of user? He'd assumed all along that the "user" the system referred to was himself.
But the system had always called him by something like an identification code. Watching that, he'd guessed that he wasn't the only one transmigrating into other worlds. And now, he became all the more certain of it.
"Who was the one possessing my body for the past three years?"
Eugene asked, confirming with the system even though he already anticipated the answer.
Someone who could enter this body while he was off transmigrating into another world. There was only one person he could think of.
SYSTEM
Viewing another user's information requires an item or an ability.
"Dammit."
The system wouldn't tell him who had possessed his body. To obtain an item, he'd have to go into a gate, but he couldn't just do that on a whim. And he'd never obtained an item like that in the other world either.
"...Hold on."
Then a thought flashed through his mind, and Eugene started moving. Leaving the bedroom, he searched for a room that might serve as a study. And he soon found one that looked like it.
If Eugene Langford had been the one possessing this body, then he — unfamiliar with modern civilization — had likely written down important information on paper and kept it. Eugene peered at the papers strewn across the desk.
"Ha..."
There, written on them, was a language not used in this world. It was the tongue spoken in the Fernando Empire, the world of the original novel. And the handwriting was identical to Eugene Langford's.
Eugene had gone to such lengths pretending to be Eugene Langford in the other world that he'd even tried to match his handwriting, so he recognized it at a glance. With trembling hands, he picked up a sheet of paper.
Had Eugene Langford really occupied this body while he'd been off in the world of the novel? Eugene's brow furrowed.
As the certainty set in, unease slowly crept over him. Having read the novel, he knew all too well what a piece of garbage Eugene Langford's personality was. And to think that a man like that had gone around living as him. Eugene's eyes swept over the luxury goods that had colonized even the study.
Beep, beep-beep-beep!
Just then, an alert tone rang out from the watch on Eugene's wrist. His gaze turned to the watch's screen.
