Chapter 1: Lucky? Or not?
“Let’s go see the homeroom teacher! What’s your name?”
“How could you do that to Daniel???”
“MOM! I SAID STOP! YOU’RE F*****G EMBARRASSING ME!”
Daniel’s mother freezes, her hands fall from Logan’s shirt as she heard her only son’s anger towards her in front of the other students. She doesn’t know how to react, as she stands there pitifully looking shocked and embarrassed. She looks down and leaves silently after a while, not wanting to embarrass Daniel further.
As for Daniel, his words and his behavior puts him in a deep pit of regret and anger at himself for talking to his mom like that. He badly wants to go after her, but he lets the embarrassment he feels over his tormentors’ views of him win again. P.E. class ends just then and his classmates begin dispersing to get changed and return to the classroom. Logan and his crew stay watching him, as Daniel keeps looking down not wanting to meet his gaze. “Didn’t expect you to be that much of a loser to curse your own mom like that, Pikachu.” Logan smirks with amusement as he mocks him. “What an entertainment. But don’t think I’m letting you off for that bet I lost…”
Panjun Kim snickering “No wonder he’s such a loser. I mean his mom looks like a sore loser”
Mae Kim laughs “More like a walking corpse man….”
Daniel suddenly feels unexplained rage at hearing those words. “Stop talking about my mom…” he glares at them. His hands ball into fists at his side. Logan raises an eyebrow at Daniel but not saying a thing yet.
Mae Kim scoffs “Hah! What are you gonna do about that, loser?” he throws an infuriating mocking smirk at Daniel as Panjun adds “You don’t seem to care about her anyway, pig. Loser old lady gave birth to a loser fatso. Hahah-“ his laughter is cut short when the ball they were kicking earlier at Daniel fly at high speed and hit Panjun on the crotch and it bounces to hit Mae Kim on the side of his head, making both fall to the ground in pain.
Daniel meanwhile is frozen with his short leg midair, stunned and confused by what had just transpired.
Logan blinks, before he whistles “Damn, I guess Pikachu suddenly grew a pair of balls.” and he punches Daniel right on the face, making him fall onto his back.
Before Logan can do anything else, their P.E. teacher yells from a nearby window “GET TO CLASS IDIOTS! NOW!” before continue walking away to get to the teacher’s office.
Logan looks annoyed “You’re lucky again. Tch. Always needing someone to save you huh, Pikachu? Stay back after school… I need payback for that bet… Don’t go dragging your mom or anyone else to save your fat ass this time, got it?” he sneers before leaving. The duo on the ground glaring at Daniel as they get up and limp away. Daniel looks to the ground silently, as he processes what just happened. He stares at his broken glasses and soon tears fall from his eyes filled with regret, self-deprecation, and anger among many things. Logan’s words struck a chord deep within him that’s making him reevaluate his life choices and behavior especially towards his own mother.
Late that evening, he walks home slowly, slightly bruised from Logan’s little payback moment after school. But his mind is full of heavy thoughts, his body on auto pilot as he walks the streets to head home. Before long, he realizes he’s standing right in front of his house. He looks up, eyes watery as he wonders how his mother is feeling. He bites his lower lip before he unlocks the door and goes inside, “Mom, I’m home”
“Daniel… We need to talk” Seonhui says from the corner she’s sitting at in the living space.
Daniel gulps, but nods as he sits down looking at her. His badly taped together glasses hang against his nose haphazardly. He feels awkward, on top of his regrets and mixed emotions from earlier. He does not know what to say to his mom yet.
“Go transfer to a new school. I will handle the paperwork and everything. But I cannot come with you due to work. You’ll be okay by yourself, right?” Seonhui starts to say.
Daniel perks up, looking at his mother. ‘Why the sudden…? Is it because of today?’
“Studying is important. Who cares about friends, right?”
Daniel freezes, as his tears fall again automatically. ‘She knew!’
“I’ll take care of the expenses. Just trust me and go to the new school.” Seonhui smiles warmly.
“M-Mom…” he can’t help it as he cries his heart out and for the first time in a long while, he throws his arms around his mother making Seonhui grunts out “Ooof!” before returning the embrace gently, looking surprised.
Daniel cries into her shoulder as he hugs her tight. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry mom for what I said to you today. Of how I behaved towards you all these time…” he sobs out, tears soaking her shirt.
Seonhui gently rubs his back, soothing him as she lets him cry “It’s okay. Mom understands. I’m sorry too for not trying harder, for not having taken good enough care of you….”
Daniel stops her right then and there feeling all the guilt and regret return. “No! Mom, you did everything you can. I’m the one that’s being ungrateful and pathetic! You did a lot for me and I never repay you even with kindness. I’m so sorry for what I have said to you today a-and how I have been acting lately…”
Seonhui looks surprised at first, before she smiles as she wipes away Daniel’s tears “It’s alright Daniel… You’re still growing, still learning and have needs. I should be taking care of you better.”
Daniel shakes his head as his tears start to subside, “Still doesn’t excuse my behavior mom. I’m sorry…”
Seonhui smiles even more, “Alright, alright… apologies accepted. Now have you eaten anything?”
Daniel shakes his head slowly “No… Let me be the one to cook today. You should rest.”
Seonhui tries to argue but Daniel is already up and heading for the kitchen. She sighs with a smile letting her son do what he wants to instead, just watching him cook. Later the mother and son duo chats as they enjoy the meal Daniel cooked. Daniel sleeps that night with a warm heart full of hope and new determination to be a better son to his mother.
Two days later finds Daniel and his mother at the bus station, standing near the bus that will take Daniel to Seoul. “Don’t worry mom. I can handle it on my own. I’ll call you when I get there okay? Take care of yourself too.” He hugs her one more time before getting onto the bus and takes his seat near the window. He waves her goodbye as the bus starts to depart from the station, heading for the city. He makes a promise to himself to stand on his own two feet, and be a son his mom can be proud of while he watches the scenery goes by through the bus window.
When he arrives at the city, he heads for the old shack his mother gave him the address to. He starts cleaning the place and setting his things up around the house. By late evening, he is resting on the floor of the house, calling his mother as promised to tell her that he’s settling in well.
He spends the next day to get accustomed to the neighborhood, the bus routes and the people around his place. He also checks out the route to school, and settles any matters with relation to school.
He spends the weekend to explore the neighborhood and part of the city, just to get used to Seoul and the area his neighborhood and his school are. He suddenly stops at a hair salon, looking at his reflection in the window. He contemplates on a haircut, hand feeling up his hair for a while. Deciding to get a new haircut to celebrate his new start in this city, he walks into the salon and is greeted by a very handsome young guy with purple hair and a hat. “Welcome. You want a haircut?” Daniel gulps a little, seeing the nice interior and also the good looking guy smiling at him. The smile relaxes him a little as he replies with still some nervousness in his voice “U-um.. yeah… h-h-hair c-c-cut that’s right. Yeah…”
The man smiles, “Well have a seat here” he gestures to the corner seat making Daniel feels even more relaxed. At least no one will stare at him as he gets his haircut. Daniel settles in the seat, getting comfortable and soon the guy sets him up for the haircut.
“May I suggest the ‘two block’ style for you?”
“What is that? Sorry I’m uh not familiar with hairstyles”
“It’s okay. Well it’s the style where the sides and lower back of the hair is shaved. Lots of celebrities have this style you know?”
“Oh uh, sure. Okay. Let’s go with that, I guess…” he says timidly.
The guy looks at Daniel silently as he starts to cut his hair, ‘This guy seems to have a lot on his mind. Wonder what his story is…’
“Why don’t you take off your glasses, Sir? You should wear contact lenses, you actually have great eyes.”
“Yes, really. The optician’s shop next door would be able to help you with that.”
“Sure! Thanks. You are a good person. I’ll go there after this.”
The guy smiles and continues to cut Daniel’s hair silently after that. Once he is done, he shows Daniel how the style looks even from the back. Daniel checks out the finished cut, he hums as he tries to remember where he has seen this hairstyle before.
“I did my best for you. I hope you like it.” The guy grins satisfied with his ‘artwork’. The other patrons and hairstylists can’t help but gape at the result.
Daniel smiles at him “Well I guess it’s cool. Thanks for this.” He goes to pay for the haircut and proceeds to leave the hair salon, and goes next door to get himself a pair of contact lenses to replace his broken glasses. He keeps the old glasses since his mom bought them for him long ago. He leaves the optician’s shop afterwards, looking to continue with his exploration for the day.
He walks around feeling a bit confident with the new hairstyle, but deep down he is still trying to remember where he has seen this haircut before. Probably some variety show he saw on his phone or something. As he walks, he hears whispers around him making him feel embarrassed and excited at the same time. Perhaps this haircut is a nice thing after all, since it gets people to talk. However, he feels something inside his mind screaming at him to remember where he had seen this style.
He suddenly stops dead in his track, right outside a shop with a glass window that enables him to see his reflection clearly. He turns robotically, to stare directly into his reflection in the window. ‘KIM JONG UN!????’ he gapes as he remembers now where exactly he has seen this hairstyle. The whispers from the people now makes a lot more sense. It was not in awe, but of disgust and probably amusement with him walking around with this hairstyle. Comical tears fall down his chubby cheeks as his head falls with gloomy aura surrounding him.
“Excuse me, are you alright?” a young lady’s voice is heard from behind him.
He flinches, before turning around slowly. He tries to pull a smile wanting to say he is okay, but it turns into an awkward smile as he is unable to utter a word. Add with the hairstyle he has, it makes the teenage girl that seems to be around his age to freeze. She shivers where she stands, unsure how to react to this odd person’s look and how he is behaving.
“Mira, you waited long-“ a guy around his age too arrives, and frowns seeing the situation Daniel and this girl named Mira are in.
“Oh Zack…” Mira turns her head to look at him. The guy, Zack approaches them “Who’s this guy? You know him? Why’s he smiling like that at you?”
Mira grabs his arm, trying to pull him along “Nah, I don’t know him. Let’s just go. It’s nothing Zack”
Zack looks at her, “Nothing?! Let me go for a sec!” he then gets her hand off his arm, turning to Daniel “Hey! You! Yeah, you with that ugly haircut! How old are you?”
Daniel feels a sense of déjà vu, as trouble seems to come find him always.
“Same age! Hah!” he scoffs, ready to pummel Daniel’s face as he gets closer.
But Mira grabs onto his arm stronger, pulling him away “I SAID LET’S GO!” Zack clicks his tongue against his teeth loudly “Tch! Fine. You’re lucky today. But I’m gonna remember your ugly face!” he yells to Daniel as he lets himself be dragged along by Mira.
Daniel winces, again with those words. And again, pity look from girls. Is he bound to never stop facing this same cycle again and again? He remembers his promise on the bus, a promise to himself. He should try to make friends, and this misunderstanding need to be cleared up.
Daniel runs after them making the decision to try and fix things, “Hey wait up! I need to-“ before Daniel can continue speaking, a fist hits him on the face as soon as he gets near them. Zack growls “F*** I told you to not come near Mira!” he advances on Daniel and starts to hit him with a few more punches. The crowd gathers and begins to snap photos and record videos as if it’s a spectacle to be watched. None of them even try to stop Zack, as Daniel is hit with those punches.
He is soon on his knees on the ground, clutching at his stomach painfully, his cheek swelling up a bit as he looks up at Zack “I-…” he tries to speak up to hopefully clear up whatever is this misunderstanding between them, but he flinches seeing Zack’s punch flying towards him again. He clenches his eyes shut ready to receive the punch, but nothing. When he opens his eyes slowly, he sees a tall man with his back towards him, catching the punch with his hand. He squeezes Zack’s fist to not let him pull it away “What the hell are you doing, Zack Lee?” the man says in a deep voice, sounding annoyed.
“Tch! Let me go Vasco. None of your business!” Zack scowls at the man. Vasco doesn’t let his fist go, “You’re causing a scene in public, tormenting someone weaker. You should at least find someone at your own level or stronger next time…” Zack pulls his fist away angrily, cursing under his breath when he realizes that there’s a crowd gathered around them.
He glares down at Daniel “You’re damn lucky guy. I’ll get you next time, weirdo!” he grabs Mira’s hand and leaves the scene immediately, turning his cap around to hide his face some as they go through the crowd.
Vasco turns and crouch in front of Daniel, “You okay, little guy?” he asks with a warm smile. Daniel can’t help but blush receiving such kind gesture, and warmth from a stranger. He never experienced that before. “I- uh.. um… yeah I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me much” he says softly. Compared to what Logan and his minions did to him, this was nothing. But still it hurts and that guy terrifies him a bit. Hopefully he never crosses path with that Zack guy again, or his girlfriend for that matter. Daniel begins to stand up carefully, bracing his hands on his knees. Vasco immediately helps him up. “You need help with anything?” Daniel shakes his head giving off a fake smile “Nah, I’m good. Thank you for uh.. stopping that guy. I think I need to go home…” he tells Vasco.
Vasco turns to get the crowd to disperse, and Daniel starts to slip away quietly, heading home with embarrassment more than feeling pain. Vasco turns to address Daniel to ask for his name but he is gone by then. Vasco frowns, hoping the little guy gets home safe.
That late evening as Daniel lays on his bedding on the floor, he ponders on his decision to come to the city if he’s still going to face the same torment from others. But that Vasco guy seems nice. Maybe he will get good friends at school tomorrow. To get his mind out of the dark hole, he grabs his phone and just browse through social media. That’s when he saw a video of him being punched around by Zack. His eyes widen in horror as he reads through the comments and how many reactions the video has received since the upload after the event in the afternoon. Tears fall down as he sobs pitifully, wondering how can people be so mean making him feel less than a human. ‘Mom… Why am I like this? Why are they so cruel? I’m a human too… I’m so sorry mom for being such a waste of space..’ Daniel continues to sob as he wraps his arms around his knees, overcome by his emotions and the loneliness he feels. What was initially a hope for him to start anew, a comfy nest for him, has now become a pit of loneliness and dark feelings. He cries himself to sleep a while later.
Daniel wakes up groggily hours later, it’s already dark outside. He groans as he gets up from his bedding, and begins to head for the bathroom to relieve himself. He washes his hand and as he does so, his eyes begin to get clearer looking into the mirror. ‘Huh, I was sure I took off the contact lenses after the bath earlier….’ He blinks as he stares into the mirror for a while. “Aaaah!” he jumps back and out of the bathroom in shock at the sight of a stranger in his mirror. Oddly, the ‘stranger’ seems to yell and move just like him.
He pants harshly as he looks around, searching for the stranger but nothing. ‘Wait a minute!’ his eyes fall onto the bedding he was on earlier, seeing himself still laying there. He gasps, “Oh gosh! I’m dead?? Why am I seeing myself??” he shrieks in horror, rushing over to try and wake himself up from this nightmare. With a snort, he wakes up inside his body only to see the same stranger in the mirror falling onto his side, naked. Daniel shrieks “Ahhhh! What the hell???” jumping off the bedding, away from the stranger.
He blinks after calming down some, seeing as the stranger seems to be unconscious. Or is he dead? He gulps, worried if that’s the case. He slowly edges closer until his feet is near the body of the stranger. He toes the guy’s feet at first, then his leg. But the guy seems to not react. He feels even more worried now, so he kneels beside the stranger, and tries to feel for a pulse on his neck. Finding a pulse, he lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank God you’re not dead. Hey, wake up.” He shakes the guy to try and wake him up after seeing that there’s no injuries on him anywhere.
The guy stirs and the next thing he knows, he feels himself tilting to the side and falling onto the bedding out like a light. Only to open his eyes to the sight of his own body falling onto the bedding, soon fast asleep. His eyes widen as he scrambles away in shock and confusion “Gaah! The hell!??” With erratic heartbeat, he looks down at the hands and the body he now inhibits. It feels so strange. He looks back at his own body, feeling even more confused. “What is going on here?”
After a few tests, waking up between his own body and the strange body, he finally realizes he is somehow in control of both bodies and he will wake up in the other body whenever one is asleep. Back in his original body after his last checking, he watches the strange body now resting on his bed. He takes in everything from head to toe, the handsome face, the perfect muscular body, flawless skin. Just looking at it more and more makes him feel less human, especially with what happened earlier. Daniel hugs his knees, gazing elsewhere finally. His mind is reeling with the discovery of this second body that he somehow can control. He tries to find an explanation for it, but fails to even come up with something logical. After a while, he stares back at the perfect body, contemplating if he should go to school tomorrow using that body. For sure he would get friends, and attention compared to going there in his original one.
“Always needing someone to save you huh, Pikachu?”
“It’s okay. Mom understands. I’m sorry too for not trying harder, for not having taken good enough care of you….”
“You’re damn lucky guy. I’ll get you next time, weirdo!”
“You need help with anything?”
He closes his eyes, as those words repeat themselves within his mind. It makes him feel even more and more worthless. Always needing someone to save him, always needing pity from others. They consider him lucky, but is he really? The hell he has been living through, he snorts to himself “Luck, yeah right…” He opens his eyes, with a steely gaze as he makes his decision after remembering his own promise to himself when he moved here. “I’m gonna do this on my own no matter how hard it is! I HAVE to stand on my own two feet and make mom proud!” he smack his cheeks hard as he feels unexplained fire deep within him lighting up, making him feel that hope again. The hope that he can change his own life, and make it in this place on his own. He begins to get ready for school, when he realized it’s already an hour left before sunrise.
He leaves for school that morning with a renewed determination. After ensuring the second body is comfortable under the blankets and sleeping okay, he locks the door and heads towards school, remembering the route to take. He wears a hat today, planning to get a haircut after school to change from the current one he has. He definitely will grill that hairstylist for what he did.
Daniel mostly ignores any stares he gets from the students as he arrives at J High School. He steels himself, knowing some might even recognize him from that viral video. Thankfully no one seems to stop him or bother with him, despite some whispers among them. He straight away goes to meet his homeroom teacher, so that he can be introduced before the first class begins.
“Alright everyone, settle down!” the homeroom teacher says as he walks towards his desk in front of the Fashion Department class. “We have a new transfer student today, so please welcome him and help him out with anything he needs. Alright, you can come in now” he calls out to Daniel who is waiting outside. He takes a deep breath before opening the door and entering the classroom.
Daniel Park stands in front of the class, feeling slightly nervous as he introduces himself to his classmates. He nervously looks around to see their reactions, and he is not surprised to see disinterest from majority of the class. Only a few regards him with some curiosity, some in amusement.
He walks to his assigned seat, ignoring some of the whispers from them. “Piggy” among some of them. He wonders if he should have used that odd body that’s currently asleep at his rented place to come to school.
He internally steels himself, as he heads for his seat. He will go through this no matter what. He made a promise to himself when he moved here.
He suddenly freezes seeing a familiar face sitting right beside his seat. The person seems to recognize him too, as their eyes narrow and then turn into a dark glare. “You….” Zack growls. Daniel gulps, ‘Great, whoever said I’m lucky can go to hell now. Of all places, this guy has to be here!?’
