The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

001 Waking Up in Another World

White snow falls heavily.

Christmas carols echo through the streets, and young couples walk past him, laughing and linking arms.

Today is Christmas Eve, a day of happiness for everyone, especially lovers.

“Ha, damn it.”

Kim Joo-hwan pulled his coat tighter and lowered his head. His nearly two-meter frame hunched awkwardly.

Kim Joo-hwan was swept into the crowd like a wave.

Amongst the sea of happy faces, only Kim Joo-hwan, a head or two taller than everyone else, stood out with a gloomy expression.

Like an ostrich hiding its head under its wing, Kim Joo-hwan lowered his head even further. He walked, staring only at the ground, trying to avoid seeing the happy people.

After walking for a while, he arrived at a familiar subway station, where a red outfit that hadn’t been there yesterday caught his eye.

A man dressed as Santa was kneeling on the ground at the entrance.

It wasn’t that he wanted to see it. It just naturally came into view as he walked, staring at the ground. A crookedly written sign was placed on Santa’s knee.

[Please tell Santa your wish.]

Santa’s red outfit was slightly dirty with soil. Santa shivered as Kim Joo-hwan passed by and held up the sign. Amidst the noise, Santa’s stomach growled loudly.

‘What a sound.’

Kim Joo-hwan, who was about to pass by, stopped in front of the subway entrance, at the top of the stairs. He sighed.

On a day when everyone is happy, there are two people who are unhappy, albeit in different ways.

Santa and himself.

Who is more unfortunate, he who lost his parents at a young age, or Santa, who is begging alone on a day like this?

On any other day, he would have passed by without a glance, but today was Christmas Eve, the day his parents died in an accident.

Thinking of it as an offering to his parents, Kim Joo-hwan turned and stood in front of Santa. White breath flowed out like smoke and scattered into the air.

From the plastic bag he was holding, he took out five triangular kimbaps he had planned to eat as snacks today and placed them in front of Santa. There were still three triangular kimbaps left in the plastic bag. It was a little, no, quite insufficient, but it couldn’t be helped.

He also took out a ten-thousand-won bill from his wallet and placed it down.

As he was about to straighten up after pressing the money down with the kimbaps, Santa grabbed his hand.

“Kind sir! I want to repay you. Please tell me your wish.”

“….”

“Please, I beg you. The Santa industry is currently in decline due to a lack of customers. Without human wishes, we cannot survive. Please, think of it as doing a good deed on this wonderful Christmas and tell me your wish.”

“….”

—

—

I thought he was simply begging in a Santa suit. But it seems I was wrong. He appears to be somewhat mentally unstable.

I tried to remove Santa by grabbing his wrist with the hand holding a plastic bag, but he didn’t budge.

“!”

Even though I didn’t show it outwardly, I was startled. He was not only tall but also big. He was strong. To exaggerate a bit, he was strong enough to knock over an average person with just one finger.

Moreover, he was quite rough during high school. Now he’s an ordinary office worker, but back then, he wouldn’t avoid a fight even if he encountered gangsters. He had fought several gangsters alone, so he must have been quite strong and skilled in fighting. The fact that I couldn’t move him at all was a first for me.

Maybe this Santa is a very dangerous person. Kim Joo-hwan instinctively took a step back. His intuition was flashing red, warning him of danger.

But Santa didn’t let go. Instead, he grabbed my other hand and spoke even more forcefully.

“Kind person! Please, make a wish, make a wish. I am here to grant your wishes. I can’t return to Santa Village without hearing a wish. Please, I beg you.”

Santa’s eyes were bloodshot. He definitely looked crazy. I wanted to get away from this Santa as quickly as possible.

“If I make a wish, will you let me go?”

I said that without realizing it, and Santa nodded enthusiastically, his eyes sparkling. His white beard and red hat shook up and down frantically in front of my eyes.

“Then, winning a billion-dollar lottery…”

“Lies! I smell lies. That won’t do. Please tell me your true wish.”

“….”

How did he know it was a lie? No, maybe it was obvious. Kim Joo-hwan tried to pull his hand away, but it still didn’t budge.

Santa looked into his face with a strong gaze. His heart became inexplicably uneasy. Anxiety and restlessness swirled inside him.

Somehow, Santa’s eyes seemed dangerous. At that moment, his true feelings came out without him realizing it. It felt like someone had forcibly pulled his wish out of his mind.

“I want a wife like a rabbit and a daughter as cute as a mongoose.”

As soon as he said that, Santa shook his hand vigorously.

“That’s easy, an easy wish. Kind person! I will stake everything on fulfilling that wish. Ah, what a relief. Your wish has been maturing for a long time. It is very suitable for us.”

Santa closed his eyes. He took a deep breath as if smelling something. Santa’s nose came close to touching Kim Joo-hwan’s skin.

“Ah, the smell of this earnest desire. I can tell it’s a soul that has lived in loneliness for a long time. You have lived a similar life continuously. Meeting such a soul, today is truly a lucky day. Thank you, thank you.”

Santa’s nose twitched.

“To change the trajectory of your lonely life, an ordinary person won’t do. If done wrong, they will be dragged into the same misfortune by your soul. But don’t worry. Santa can grant all wishes. Your wish has been firmly received.”

Santa opened his eyes wide. He looked into Kim Joo-hwan’s eyes with his red eyes.

“I will find you a wife with a heart as white as snow and a beautiful daughter who truly respects and follows her father. Please have a joyful and happy life.”

This Santa had gone mad. But perhaps he was someone who kept his word, as Santa let go of his hand and laughed loudly with joy.

Kim Joo-hwan turned away from Santa as if fleeing. He wanted to get away from this crazy Santa as quickly as possible. Santa shouted from behind him.

“Sir, be happy! I will use all of Santa’s power to grant your wish. All the Santas in Santa Village are cheering for you!”

Santa’s voice seemed to keep chasing him from behind. It was a strange feeling.

—

—

Juhwan Kim looked at his wrist only after he got on the subway. The part where Santa had grabbed was red. Such immense strength. It felt somewhat frightening.

It was late at night, and there were hardly any people on the platform. After waiting for a while, a light approached from the dark tunnel. Juhwan Kim boarded the empty subway and headed to a corner.

Inside the subway, a couple who seemed to be lovers sat on the opposite seat. They whispered to each other and then burst into loud laughter, finding something amusing. They looked like a happy couple. Next to the woman, a small cake box was placed as if boasting of their happiness.

Juhwan Kim sat down and crossed his arms. The plastic bag on his lap rustled. There was still a long way to go before he reached home. He didn’t want to see the couple’s appearance. Thinking he should sleep until he arrived, Juhwan Kim closed his eyes.

The announcement of the next stop echoed in his ears. Be happy. Santa’s voice mingled with the couple’s laughter and lingered in his mind.

I want to be happy.

A slight moisture gathered under his tightly closed eyelids.

*

A strange smell. It was a stench like old feces and urine. The smell was so strong that his head throbbed even while he was sleeping.

Juhwan Kim jerked his head up as his body shook violently. It was shaking so much that he wondered if there was an earthquake.

To realize it only now, he must have been deeply asleep. The thought that there might have been an accident made his body tense.

“Huh…?”

But it wasn’t that. It wasn’t an accident, nor was it the subway. No, it was a problem before even mentioning the subway. As soon as he opened his eyes, Juhwan Kim’s mouth dropped open at the sight.

‘Where am I?’

He had clearly fallen asleep on an empty subway, but for some reason, he was sitting cross-legged in a carriage packed with people. Moreover, he was stark naked. Not a single piece of clothing.

“Achoo!”

He sneezed violently in the severe cold. His entire skin was covered in goosebumps like a plucked chicken. It was so cold that it felt like his flesh was being thinly sliced by the wind. His body started to shiver. He felt like he would freeze to death before he could even figure out the situation.

Juhwan Kim hugged himself tightly with his arms and crouched down. The area under his buttocks was sticky, damp, and cold.

—

There are no such people on modern Earth. If this were a movie shoot, it might be different, but it definitely isn’t.

He lifted his head and looked out through the bars of the carriage window. There was no asphalt in sight. No cars, no apartments. Only a desolate land and bare trees swaying in the cold wind.

There were several more carriages similar to the one he was riding in, both in front and behind. Other carriages also carried men who looked like prisoners. Though it was hard to see clearly, it seemed there were also carts carrying goods besides the ones with people.

Around the carriages that rattled along in a procession, there were about a dozen soldiers walking with spears.

He could hear the soldiers talking through the open bars. It was a language he had never heard before. It wasn’t English, German, or French.

‘No way.’

Kim Joo-hwan straightened up and looked around once more. There was no familiar environment anywhere. He was in a strange place, among strange people. It seemed he had come to a distant past, the Middle Ages, or another world.

—

The voice of Santa shouting at him to be happy strangely lingered in his ears. It couldn’t be because of that Santa, could it?

Maybe it was a dream that felt as vivid as reality. If it was a dream, he wanted to wake up quickly. Anyway, it was too cold.

His fingers felt like they were made of glass. He had no sensation. He tried rubbing his skin to generate some heat, but it didn’t warm up. His skin was so frozen that it only hurt. He felt desperate, thinking he might really die like this.

Kim Joo-hwan looked at the man sitting a little distance away.

The man sitting one person away was hunched forward and didn’t move at all.

The man’s half-closed eyelids were covered with white frost. His shoes were off, and he was barefoot. The man’s feet looked as hard as a mannequin’s.

The man hadn’t moved at all since earlier.

‘Is he dead?’

Kim Joo-hwan swallowed hard. Stripping clothes off a dead person was something he would never have thought of doing until now.

But when people face a crisis, ethics and reason disappear in an instant. Feeling cold, hungry, and overwhelmed by the fear of dying, his hands moved on their own.

After all, the person was dead. Clothes were more necessary for the living than for the dead. That thought suppressed his guilt.

Kim Joo-hwan forcibly took off the stiff clothes from the frozen man’s body. The fabric was hard from the cold. He rubbed the man’s clothes to break the ice and soften them before wrapping them around himself.

Taking off the pants was even harder. By the time he managed to strip the clothes off in the rattling carriage, he was completely exhausted.

—