EP.4 Five Wishes
Five Wishes
In complete darkness where nothing could be seen, Junho opened his eyes.
'Ugh... Did I survive? Where am I... Underground? Yuri! If I survived, maybe Yuri did too?'
Junho sprang up and wandered around, calling out with all his might for Yuri and her two daughters.
"Yuri! Hyemi! Hyeon! If you're alive, please answer! Yuri!"
But something was strange. No matter how loudly he shouted, there was no response, and no matter how far he walked, he couldn't escape the thick darkness with no end in sight.
"Aaah... If Yuri is dead, then I..."
Eventually, Junho collapsed in despair and cried in the darkness.
"Yuri..."
At that moment, a mysterious white light appeared before Junho's eyes. From within the light, a voice spoke.
"Shin Junho. Age at death: 28. Died from falling into a sinkhole caused by an earthquake, correct?"
Startled by the voice, Junho jumped up.
"Wh-who are you? I am Shin Junho, but... I'm not dead yet! I'm alive and well, so why are you saying I'm dead?! Please, send a rescue team! The people I love might be dying right now!!!"
Despite Junho's desperate cries, the white light replied coldly.
"No, you're dead. Isn't something strange? Before you died, your legs were badly injured, but now they're fine, aren't they?"
Only then did Junho look at his legs and, seeing them uninjured, realized he really was dead.
"I... I'm dead? Who are you... And where is this?"
"I am the absolute being who oversees the entire universe. Yes... In your words, you could call me God. This is the place where dead souls pass through. Normally, all memories would be erased and your existence would vanish immediately, but your pitiful life caught my interest."
As the light spoke, it took on a form. That form soon changed into a boy, and as the dazzling light faded, only a handsome boy remained before Junho's eyes. Then, no longer with a mysterious voice but with an annoying tone, the boy began to tease Junho.
"Wow~~ You really lived a pitiful life, huh? Born poor, so ugly you had no friends... Even got abused by your boss's wife at work, hahaha."
Junho was so angry he felt his blood boiling. He wanted to punch the boy in front of him, but the memory of the mysterious light when he claimed to be God made him grit his teeth and hold back.
"Who are you mocking right now?"
"Yeah! I'm mocking you, you idiot."
"What? You little...!"
"How did you live so pathetically? With that good body, if you'd bullied kids and extorted them, you'd have done pretty well in the underworld."
Junho took a deep breath to calm himself. In fact, he'd been approached by gangsters to work under them, and people had suggested he become a loan shark because of his tough appearance. But Junho didn't want to live like that, so he'd lived honestly, even though it was hard.
"Still... That's not the right way to live! As a human, I think there are things you should and shouldn't do."
"But for all that, you lived way too pitifully. Wow~ You were so ugly you stayed a virgin until 27, and on the day you finally became a couple with your crush, you died right before having sex... Hahaha, isn't that just too sad? Hahahaha."
Junho's face turned red with embarrassment at the harsh truth, but he couldn't argue since it was all true.
"Sigh... Well, I can't deny it. God, I don't care that I died, but could you tell me what happened to Yuri and her daughters? Please... If you're really God, please just tell me that."
At Junho's plea, the god in the form of a boy tossed him a newspaper.
"This is a newspaper currently published in your country. Read it."
Junho read the newspaper, was so shocked he couldn't even stand, and began to sob uncontrollably.
"Waaah, Yuri... I'm sorry... I should have saved you somehow... I can't believe I missed that falling ceiling..."
"Hey!! Stop crying, man. Why is a guy crying! Tsk tsk tsk."
But Junho's tears wouldn't stop, and the god began to get annoyed.
"Hey, shut up! If you keep crying, I'll erase the souls of those who died with you. I kept them because I was interested in you, but I'll erase them all!"
At the god's terrifying threat, Junho clamped his hand over his mouth and stopped crying. After calming his pounding heart and finally stopping, Junho asked the god,
"Um... If you haven't erased their souls yet, does that mean you want to propose something to me?"
"Well, not exactly a proposal... I was going to give you another chance to live. You're honestly the funniest and saddest human I've ever seen. Hahaha."
"If I can live again... Does that mean you'll reincarnate me in the past? Then can I meet Yuri again?!"
Feeling hope, Junho asked, but the god crushed his expectations.
"No, that's probably impossible. Even a god can't turn back time. Instead, I'll send you to another world with your memories! And I'll reincarnate the five souls here with you. Though, they won't remember you—they've already been made into soul beads."
"Thank you!! Really, thank you! I don't care about memories! I'm just grateful I can meet them again! I'll find Yuri and become her lover no matter what!"
The god, unimpressed by Junho's gratitude, dug in his ear and blew the wax away as he spoke.
"Whatever, do as you like... I'll make your next life a bit easier, so I'll grant you five wishes. Of course, if you ask for 'make me a god' or 'give me a hundred wishes,' I'll erase you on the spot."
Junho began to think hard. Since the god had already promised to reincarnate Yuri, his top priority, he started thinking about how to meet her.
"Um... Can I ask one thing first? What kind of world will I be reincarnated into?"
"That much I'll tell you as a service. It's what you'd call a fantasy world. There are seven countries, magic and mana exist, and various races live there. The civilization level is high, so you won't have trouble adapting to food, clothing, and shelter. But I won't allow inventions like electricity or gunpowder. Not that you'd know how to make them anyway, haha."
The god laughed and clapped, mocking Junho, but Junho really didn't know how to make such things, so he had nothing to say.
"My first wish: Please let Yuri remember her past life."
"Ah! That's impossible, sorry. Since you haven't been made into a soul bead yet, I could let you remember, but once you're a soul bead, it's impossible. But since she hasn't been washed in the River Lethe yet, she might remember you by willpower. Do you want to make 'not being washed in the River Lethe' your wish?"
Junho was disappointed, but grateful even for that, so he made it his first wish.
"Okay, first wish granted! Second?"
"Make my body the best among humans!"
"Hm... The best body?"
"Make every part of my body the pinnacle of humanity! Muscles that never tire, that sort of thing!"
"That's easy, sure! The body you're born with will be the strongest human body from head to toe! And... as for the important part... Haha, never mind, I'll look forward to that later. Oh, and I can't do anything about the brain, so you'll have to study and develop your own intelligence! Same goes for learning skills."
Junho grumbled about how much the god couldn't do, but shut up when threatened that all his remaining wishes would be canceled if he kept talking.
"Okay! Third wish?"
"Um... Please make it so that any woman who has sex with me feels the greatest pleasure... and when we have sex, a special mark appears so I can know how much pleasure she feels..."
Even Junho thought this was an embarrassing wish, so his face turned bright red. As a virgin in his previous life, Junho had been anxious during his first experience with Yuri, not knowing how much she enjoyed it, so he made this wish.
"Hah... You're a real pervert, aren't you? How did you live just masturbating all the time? Hahaha, okay, granted!"
The god put his hand on Junho's head, closed his eyes for a while, then opened them and gave Junho a lewd grin.
"You dirty bastard!! Looking into your memories, I can tell what kind of mark you want... You mean those womb tattoos from the comics you watched while masturbating, right? The bright red ones on the mound?"
Junho, whose secret was completely exposed, blushed again, but since it was exactly what he wanted, he nodded.
"Fine, I'll make it just like that, and as a bonus, women with that mark will only get pregnant when you want them to. So no matter how much you finish inside, it's fine. Wow, I'm being generous today, huh?"
Junho was so grateful for that feature that he bowed deeply to the god and made his next wish.
"Please let me be born with a status that lets me live comfortably and eat well in the richest country in the world!!"
"Hmm... Okay! How about a prince?"
"Yes!! That's perfect!! But I don't want to be too busy running the country, so... not the crown prince."
"Wow, you sure ask for a lot... Fine! Last wish?"
"...Please let the souls reincarnating with me be born into statuses where I can easily meet them."
At Junho's last wish, the god gave a sly smile and readily agreed.
"Alright, all five wishes granted, so live well! When you die, I'll call you back here with the five who died with you, so you can tell me your thoughts~"
With that, the god disappeared, and Junho felt his vision darken. At the same time, his consciousness faded away.