"Mom, that man's face is scary."
The person the child inside the convenience store was referring to stood in front of the counter.
He was certainly unusual.
"......"
His face was tightly covered with a black cap and mask. However, the parts that weren't covered stood out, his jaw, neck area, and the sides of both ears. His skin was severely red, uneven, and covered in deep scars.
His slightly misshapen ears were no exception.
The man looked at the child.
-Swish.
His gaze was chilling. His entire presence exuded a gloomy aura. If someone were to see him late at night, they would be startled for sure. Because of that, the child's mother flinched and quickly pulled the child's hand.
The two hurriedly left the convenience store.
The man, who stood still, stared at the door where the child had exited. Was it his eerie presence? It seemed like he was about to do something, but that wasn’t his intention.
‘Ah- did I stare too much? Maybe I should have just waved.’
The man, who had momentarily stopped moving, slowly stepped forward toward the counter. He was there to pay. The items he placed down included ramyeon, kimchi, and other essentials. He spoke.
"Please ring these up."
His voice was deep and gloomy. The cashier, seemingly intimidated, stole nervous glances at the man while scanning the items.
-Beep, beep.
The eerie man packed his purchases into a plastic bag and left the convenience store. Soon, he checked the watch strapped to his wrist, a secondhand smartwatch he had recently bought, something he had wanted for a long time.
-[Monday, June 1, 2020]
-[PM 8:16]
Letting out a low, profound sigh, the man roughly wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead. The cap and mask only made the heat worse.
"Whew- this damned summer."
Though he could tolerate the heat and humidity, having fewer ways to cover himself was uncomfortable. In winter, he could wrap himself up with winter gear, but his face was another matter.
The man scratched his exposed jaw and ear outside the mask.
‘Tsk, so itchy.’
Every summer, his entire face would become itchy and irritated, that was another problem. Entering a narrow alleyway, he unlocked the door to his dimly lit semi-basement studio. A place just as gloomy as he was. His home.
The location was near Giheung Station in Yongin. Though the interior was small and dark, it was surprisingly tidy, and a pleasant scent lingered in the air.
As soon as he arrived, the man took off his cap and mask and headed straight for the bathroom.
-Swoosh.
He splashed his face with cold water.
Nothing worked better when his face was stinging or itchy. The man lifted his face, water dripping from his skin, and stared into the mirror. His heavy, emotionless expression turned into a sorrowful gaze.
"......"
Over 80% of his face was covered in scars. Red, bumpy, or deeply wrinkled. His lips and ears were oddly misshapen, and his eyebrows were nonexistent. His hair had thinned significantly.
"Hideous, when will my hair stop falling out?"
His name was Kang Rojun. He was 24 years old.
His face became like this because of a fire. About three years ago, a fire started from a neighbor’s portable heater and quickly consumed everything. His parents. His life. Kang Rojun survived miraculously, but his parents did not.
"Even if I'm a monster, I'd at least like a full head of hair."
With such a hideous, monstrous face, Kang Rojun no longer felt like he was truly living. Two years as a monster, with no hope, only resentment. Naturally, he lost connections with people, spoke less, and became gloomier. The longer he was alone, the more his eerie aura intensified.
"Whatever, let's just eat ramyeon and go to sleep."
After carefully wiping his face, Rojun put water on the stove for his ramyeon.
For quite some time, he had been going to a nearby labor office every early morning. After recovering from the fire, he had tried to find various jobs, but it was impossible. People either looked at his hideous face with discomfort or, in worse cases, ignored him completely or even told him to get lost.
In an instant, the world became hell for Kang Rojun, and the difficulty level of his life skyrocketed.
In the end, he was surviving on the insurance payout and labor jobs. At least, Rojun was managing to work somehow.
He placed the roughly cooked ramyeon on the small folding table. Mealtime was done in ten minutes.
Thirty minutes later, after washing up, Rojun lay down but kept tossing and turning.
His face was too itchy for him to fall asleep.
Letting out a small sigh, he turned onto his side and switched on the TV. A boy group was performing on a music show. Rojun silently watched them for a while.
"......"
They sparkled. He muttered in a dim, sincere tone.
"I'm jealous."
A few hours later, at dawn.
Was it around 5 AM? Before heading out, Kang Rojun covered his face with a cap and mask. His eerie aura multiplied. He arrived first at the labor office near his house. The stern-looking boss, who seemed familiar with him, spoke in a rough tone.
“There might not be work today.”
“That’s fine.”
“Just wait and see.”
About thirty minutes later, the labor office began to fill up. Most of the workers were foreigners. Among them, only two were Korean, including Rojun. Since there was a lot of competition, there were plenty of days when he didn’t get picked, but today.
“Hey, you. Get going.”
Maybe because he was young, or maybe because of his face, the stern boss always prioritized Rojun. Kang Rojun boarded the waiting van outside. Inside, the other workers flinched when they saw him. Some avoided eye contact, while others awkwardly stared out the window. The van departed, regardless.
The job changed daily. Today’s task was at an apartment construction site.
Rojun was satisfied.
‘The daily wage is high, and they provide good meals. Not a bad start to the day.’ Searᴄh the NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
After spending time on training and preparation, his first task was moving materials. He carried heavy sacks and stacked them on the assigned floors. Sweat streamed down his face, making it sting and itch, but when he worked, his mind was blissfully empty. He was competent at his job, so much so that even his coworkers praised him.
“That eerie guy… works damn well, though.”
Then lunch time.
Though he was hungry, it was an uncomfortable time. He had to remove his mask to eat.
As expected, people gave him strange looks. He was used to this, but the occasional murmurs still stabbed at his heart.
“Damn… that guy’s life is completely ruined.”
Kang Rojun, sinking into extreme gloom, lifted his head. The murmuring workers hastily dropped their gazes. His eerie presence had intensified.
‘Let’s just eat quickly and leave.’
After finishing his meal, Kang Rojun climbed to the apartment rooftop.
As if it were routine, he spread out a thick piece of Styrofoam, taller than a person, on the ground and lay down on top of it.
It was unbearably hot, but the sky was clear.
Finally free from his cap and mask, Rojun took a deep breath in and exhaled.
Then, suddenly.
-Swish.
He sat up and approached the edge of the rooftop.
Tiny, ant-like people moved below.
Watching them intently, he murmured in a low voice.
“If I fall, will I get to be reborn?”
At that moment, a sharp sting pricked his wrist. Startled, he removed his smartwatch.
“What the hell?”
Nothing seemed wrong. Tilting his head in confusion, he glanced down at the dizzying height once more, then let out a small chuckle. Lying back down on the Styrofoam, he closed his eyes and muttered.
“As if I’d be reborn. I’d just end up a splatter on the ground.”
Later.
After finishing work, Kang Rojun returned to his semi-basement home. His entire body ached, but he didn’t feel bad. He had worked, and he had gotten paid decently. After a quick shower, he plopped down on the floor and turned on the TV. Then, glancing at his phone, he mumbled to himself.
“Haven’t had Chinese food in a while.”
At that moment.
“Hm?”
Kang Rojun noticed something strange.
There was an unfamiliar app installed on his phone.
"What's this?"
The icon had the word "AI" prominently displayed.
The app’s name was,
-[‘AI Simulation’]
Rojun furrowed his brows in confusion.
"‘AI Simulation’?? I never installed this crap."
He tapped on the ‘AI Simulation’ app. The app launched. A spinning loading circle appeared briefly before white text appeared on a black screen.
-[A character will be automatically generated through user analysis.]
-[User: Kang Rojun / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 cm]
Kang Rojun’s eyes widened slightly. He hadn’t entered anything, yet the correct details appeared on their own. His name, age, even his exact height, it was all accurate.
“What the hell- is this a game?”
Instead of answering, the app displayed another message.
-[Select a profession for the simulation.]
Rojun furrowed his brows even more.
“A profession? What profession?”
His phone screen instantly filled with an extensive list of careers. From specialized jobs like doctors and lawyers to self-employed professions and writers, there were too many to check one by one. Skimming through, Rojun’s thumb suddenly stopped on one job.
-[Idol]
He recalled the shining boy group he had seen the night before. Feeling envious and without much thought, he selected ‘Idol.’ The screen changed.
-[You have selected the profession ‘Idol.’]
-[Proceed with character appearance customization.]
Now, it was asking him to customize his appearance. Letting out a gloomy sigh, Rojun’s eyes suddenly widened in shock. The reason was simple.
“...My face??”
His exact face was displayed on the screen. The scars, the red and bumpy skin, the slightly misshapen ears and lips, it was all identical. Startled, Rojun recalled the RPG games he had played in the past. The character creation screen where you customize the face and body in the beginning.
It was just like that.
Except it was in 3D, modeled entirely after Kang Rojun’s own face.
“Wow- this quality is insane.”
How was this even possible?
He hadn’t uploaded a picture, yet it had recreated him so perfectly? Fascinated, Rojun moved the 3D model of his face on the screen. It rotated smoothly, even showing the back of his head, where his thinning hair was evident. It looked like he had lost even more hair.
At that moment, another message popped up.
-[Confirm your desired appearance customization and press ‘Confirm.’]
On the right side of the phone screen, various buttons appeared. Face shape, skin tone, eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, everything. In other words, he could change his appearance however he wanted. Kang Rojun, now fully intrigued, reached for the first option.
“Let’s get rid of these scars first.”
The burn marks on his face. He adjusted his skin tone to remove the redness and smoothed out the rough, bumpy scars. In an instant, a clean and clear version of Kang Rojun appeared on the screen. It was just an app, but his mood lifted dramatically.
“Okay. Next, what else? Obviously, a full head of hair.”
But he wasn’t satisfied yet. Next, he thickened his hair and shaped his eyebrows. Then, he refined his face shape, eyes, nose, and mouth. He focused on defining the so-called ‘T-zone’ to make his features more striking. He even referenced the handsome men on the TV screen for inspiration.
After about an hour.
“Done.”
The final result appeared. The face displayed on his phone screen was still Kang Rojun, but also not. Clear, flawless skin. Thick, healthy hair. Bright eyes with sharp, alluring contours. A well-defined nose and proportionate lips, no longer deformed. Naturally, he added eyebrows, long, bold, and perfectly shaped.
A ridiculously handsome man was born.
At this level, he wasn’t just handsome, he was a different kind of monster, one that could disrupt the hierarchy of good-looking people. The new ‘monster,’ Kang Rojun, smirked eerily.
Heh, heh, heh.
The last thing to set was his voice. There were multiple voice tones to choose from, but for some reason, Rojun decided to keep his own.
“My voice is fine. I’ll leave it as is.”
He pressed the ‘Confirm’ button. At that moment, a sharp sensation tingled on his wrist again.
What the hell?
It had happened earlier at lunch too. Confused, Rojun removed his smartwatch. The moment he did, the ‘AI Simulation’ app displayed a message.
-[Connection error.]
Frowning, Rojun put the smartwatch back on. This time, a different message appeared.
-[Connection stable.]
Curious, he repeated the process, taking the smartwatch off and putting it back on. The app displayed the same messages again.
“So, I have to keep wearing the watch for this to work, huh?”
Whatever it was, the phone screen once again displayed "Loading..." with a spinning circle. It only lasted a moment before the ‘AI Simulation’ app generated a result.
-[Analysis complete. Application will take approximately 8 hours and 11 minutes.]
Eight hours and eleven minutes?
He had no idea what was being applied, but creating a single character taking over eight hours? His excitement quickly faded. Annoyed, Kang Rojun closed the ‘AI Simulation’ app and casually tossed his phone aside.
“Who the hell plays a game where character creation takes eight hours?”
Sprawled out on the floor, he stared up at the ceiling. Right now, his mind was completely occupied with the god-tier face he had customized, so stunning that even the most handsome men would bow before it.
“Honestly… that was kinda fun for a moment.”
The next morning.
Lying flat on the floor, Kang Rojun suddenly snapped his eyes open.
“...Did I just sleep like this?”
His memory of how he fell asleep was hazy. Sure, he had been tired, but it felt more like he had been knocked out, like anesthesia had put him under. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced at the smartwatch on his wrist. It was already past 8 AM.
“Shit.”
For the first time in a long while, he had overslept. He should consider today's work gone. Clicking his tongue, Kang Rojun decided to just take the day off. Might as well make the most of it. Stretching with a yawn, he got up and cracked his neck side to side. Then, he stepped into the bathroom to wash up.
Without much thought, he turned on the faucet and glanced at the mirror. Only to freeze on the spot.
“...Huh?”
As if broken, he stared at his reflection, unmoving. For about ten seconds, he remained completely still. Finally, with a shaky right hand, he reached up and.
“Who… the hell is this?”
He stretched both cheeks, pressed his nose, touched his eyebrows, and pulled his ears. Thinking it might be a dream, he even slapped his own face. But the reflection didn’t change. Kang Rojun’s eyes widened, widened even more, until they felt like they might pop out of his skull.
And honestly, his reaction made sense.
Because in the mirror. The exact face he had customized the night before was staring back at him.
“This face… the one I created yesterday…”
A ridiculously, insanely handsome man was looking right at him.
“This- what the hell is this?!”
His brain practically short-circuited from the shock. For a moment, he just stood there, staring at the stunning face in the mirror.
Then.
-BAM!
He bolted out of the bathroom. Desperately, he grabbed his phone and quickly opened the ‘AI Simulation’ app, the same one that had mysteriously installed itself yesterday. And then, his eyes grew even wider, several times over.
On the main screen of the opened 'AI Simulation' app.
“...What is this? Is that… me?”
Because another Kang Rojun was standing there.
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