Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 3

#3.

‘I want to die. I don’t want to be a singer anymore.’

That was the moment Do-jae truly yearned to be a singer.

Back in Korea, Kang Do-jae felt an overwhelming surge of homicidal impulse.

Homicidal impulse towards others, and homicidal impulse towards himself.

Facing Song-hwan, who was trying to provoke him, Do-jae fully understood the powerful homicidal impulse that Kang Do-jae had been experiencing.

“What? You bastard. Are you on drugs? Are you crazy?”

Song-hwan exploded at Do-jae’s words.

Kang Do-jae’s life as a trainee had been fraught with difficulties.

Practice sessions stretched beyond 10 hours a day, sneakers wore out from the intense dance routines, and his allowance was never enough to replace them.

However, the biggest problem for Kang Do-jae wasn’t the physical hardship.

It was Song-hwan and his gang, who constantly looked down on him and harassed him.

‘It’s true that I was an easy target.’

They would hit him playfully, constantly make him run errands.

They frequently insulted him, pretending to worry about whether he could ever become a celebrity with such a cheap look.

Once, they even humiliated Kang Do-jae by pretending to pull down his pants in front of everyone, mocking his cheap training clothes from the market.

Yet, Kang Do-jae endured it all.

Song-hwan was the son of a building owner on Gangnam-daero [a major commercial street in Seoul], and Yoo Myung-woo, his backer, was the nephew of an executive at New Entertainment.

Moreover, both were already slated to debut and wouldn’t even participate in today’s evaluation.

‘He must have endured it because resisting would only escalate the harassment, and he would be the one to fall out of favor with the agency staff.’

Do-jae clicked his tongue inwardly.

Song-hwan, still glaring at Do-jae, called out to Yoo Myung-woo, who was approaching from behind.

“Hey, Myung-woo. This bastard’s gone crazy.”

“What? What’s going on?”

Yoo Myung-woo glanced at Do-jae and questioned Song-hwan.

“If you hit someone, you should apologize. Did you hit your head when you fell earlier?”

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. And you should apologize first.”

“What?!”

Song-hwan’s eyes seemed to bulge out of his head when Do-jae questioned him without averting his gaze, a stark contrast to his usual behavior.

“Earlier, you pushed me and made me fall. Thanks to you, my ankle still hurts.”

“When did I! When did I push you! You fell on your own.”

In his excitement, Song-hwan didn’t even notice that Do-jae’s *mal-tu* [manner of speaking] was strange.

Do-jae calmly retorted.

“Even though I was already late for the evaluation, you made me go to the convenience store five times to buy the same drink. When I said I was really late and couldn’t go, you pushed me. I fell. You threw the drink you were drinking, saying you were annoyed, and left.”

No matter how privileged they were, trainees were still trainees.

The grueling practice was equally hard for them, and Kang Do-jae was Song-hwan’s punching bag.

Kang Do-jae was anxious about being late for the evaluation, or not being able to participate at all, and the moment he fell and rolled on the floor, his pent-up grievances finally exploded.

Finishing his words, Do-jae frowned.

The pain in his ankle and the sticky feeling on his clothes, all caused by the person in front of him, filled him with annoyance.

“What are you talking about? Do you have any proof?”

“Where can I check the CCTV footage?”

Song-hwan was momentarily speechless, caught off guard.

Yoo Myung-woo, standing next to him, frowned and silently observed Do-jae.

If Song-hwan harassed Kang Do-jae in a crude, overt way, Yoo Myung-woo was the type to instigate the group from behind.

‘That kind of person is more vicious.’

Song-hwan, seemingly enraged, approached Do-jae, bumping his shoulder in an unpleasant manner.

“…Hey. Aren’t you worried about your mom anymore? Do you think you’ll debut tomorrow and not have to worry about food?”

Ah, right. One of the main reasons Kang Do-jae had been enduring was this.

The fact that Kang Do-jae’s mother happened to be a cleaner in the building owned by Song-hwan’s father.

It could be called an incredible coincidence, but considering the number of buildings the Song-hwan family owned in Gangnam, it might have been inevitable.

But even if the Song-hwan family owned a hundred buildings, would there only be a hundred buildings to clean in this ‘Republic of Korea’?

Kang Do-jae simply didn’t want to upset his mother.

He was an unfortunate *hyoja* [devoted son].

“I’ll worry about that myself.”

However, Do-jae had no intention of enduring like Kang Do-jae.

“Hwan-ah. Apologize if it’s true.”

Yoo Myung-woo took a step back, sensing that Do-jae’s attitude was unusual.

However, Song-hwan’s pride wouldn’t allow him to apologize.

“Hey. Are you really trying to mess with me? Do you think you can debut after this?”

“Can you?”

Song-hwan glared at Do-jae with an expression that screamed, ‘Is that a dog barking somewhere?’

He wasn’t yet used to ‘Kang Do-jae’s’ *mal-tu* [manner of speaking], so his original *mal-tu* [manner of speaking] kept slipping in.

Do-jae didn’t care and took out his phone from his pocket.

The red recording icon was displayed on the turned-on phone screen.

“…You!”

“If your humanity is questioned before you even debut, and the world becomes noisy…”

“Are you not going to delete that? This is blackmail, give it back!”

Song-hwan panicked greatly.

He had clearly forgotten the threats he had made until now.

Do-jae lightly dodged Song-hwan’s hand.

He had been acting recklessly, assuming that Kang Do-jae, desperate to debut, wouldn’t even dare to retaliate this much.

Indeed, four years of constant harassment had made Kang Do-jae shrink and become smaller.

Unable to even twitch.

Eventually, Kang Do-jae was driven to the point where he wanted to lock himself away and die.

“Apologize.”

Do-jae spat out through clenched teeth, and Song-hwan flinched.

“Sorry! I’m sorry, you son of a bitch. Happy now? You think you can debut with me even after this……”

“Hwan. Stop.”

Yoo Myung-woo stopped Song-hwan, who couldn’t control his temper.

It was still recording.

Do-jae pressed the stop recording button.

“Delete it right now!”

“We’ll see.”

Do-jae answered simply and walked past them.

“Did that bastard really eat something wrong?”

Song-hwan’s resentful voice echoed from behind.

***

Arriving in front of Kang Do-jae’s house, Do-jae was momentarily dazed.

It was a house that required taking the subway, a *maeul bus* [local bus], and then walking uphill for ten minutes.

It was the same house that was in his head, but seeing it in person evoked a different feeling.

‘There were poor people in the Daehan Empire too, but.’

The Republic of Korea seemed to have a more pronounced case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

Lamenting the modern and contemporary history of the Republic of Korea, which had taken a turn for the worse despite sharing the same roots, Do-jae took out the key.

‘Even the imperial vault uses digital safes these days. It’s inconvenient. I should start by installing a door lock…….’

As he entered the house, the mustiness unique to basement apartments assaulted his senses.

Do-jae recalled the foreign fairy tale *The Prince and the Pauper*, which he had read with great interest in his childhood.

The story was about a prince and a pauper who looked exactly alike, like twins, exchanging clothes and experiencing each other’s lives.

The prince, who wanted to escape the stuffy palace life, regretted his decision quite harshly as he experienced the life of a pauper.

‘Well…. Kang Do-jae isn’t exactly a pauper, but.’

It was clear that he had lived a *geo-ji* [beggarly] life in many ways.

But if you asked Do-jae if he regretted his dream of becoming a singer, he would say no.

The basement room was certainly shabby compared to the palace where the *hwang-ja* [prince] had lived, but…….

‘I can sing.’

That fact felt significant again.

Unlike Kang Do-jae, whose dream had faded due to constant comparison and harassment throughout his trainee life, singing was still a shining dream for Do-jae.

Do-jae clenched and unclenched his scarred hand.

The exhilaration of singing in front of everyone seemed to come back to life.

If he could sing.

If he could become a singer.

The reversed life didn’t seem so bad.

‘I don’t even know how to go back anyway…. I hope Kang Do-jae is doing okay by now.’

Do-jae hoped that Kang Do-jae would have a less difficult time while their bodies were switched, considering his upbringing and past memories were so pitiful.

‘At least he won’t be looked down on for being poor. And there won’t be anyone to harass him.’

It was when Do-jae was about to change out of his *jjip-jjip-han* [unpleasant] clothes.

The door opened and his mother came in.

“Oh? Son, you’re home early.”

“Moth… Mom. You’re here?”

Do-jae was a little surprised and stared at Kang Do-jae’s mother.

Her back was slightly bent, and her eyes had deep wrinkles…….

She had the same face as the Empress of the Daehan Empire, but she was a completely different person.

It was clear that not all faces in the two worlds were the same, but there were overlapping faces.

“Did you have dinner?”

“Not yet. Uh… what about Mom?”

“What were you doing without eating dinner? Change your clothes and come out. I’ll make you stew.”

Do-jae nodded in a daze.

After finishing dinner with Kang Do-jae’s mother, Min Hye-kyung, as naturally as possible,

Do-jae went into his room and lay down on the bare floor.

‘The Daehan Empire and the Republic of Korea are similar, but definitely different. Not to mention the situations of Kang Do-jae and Lee Do-jae.’

Debuting as a singer…….

The fact that tomorrow was the day New Entertainment would confirm the members of the group that would debut next year made his head spin.

He had to make a decision before he could even adapt to the environment.

“Yeah. I guess that’s what I have to do.”

But the answer came more easily than he thought.

***

‘My back hurts from sleeping on the thin blanket.’

Do-jae rubbed his back as he finished getting ready and left the house.

His mother seemed to have gone to work even earlier than Do-jae.

The house was empty.

He didn’t originally use a bed because he had lived in the palace, but the thick silk mattress was as good as a regular mattress.

It couldn’t be compared to the thin cloth that Kang Do-jae used.

‘I need to have some money to change the door lock and fix the bedding.’

Around that time, Do-jae had arrived in front of the New Entertainment building.

The hallway leading to the practice room was more chaotic than usual.

Song-hwan and Yoo Myung-woo, and four others, had already been confirmed as debut members, and two more would be selected based on yesterday’s evaluation.

The trainees gossiped among themselves about who would become a debut member, but they all secretly hoped that they would be the lucky ones.

Debuting in a group from New Entertainment, one of the top 3 agencies.

The success of that group was as good as guaranteed.

“Who do you think it will be?”

“I don’t know. Based on yesterday, Kang Do-jae? He was the best.”

“Ah, he wasn’t really that good before.”

“What? Isn’t he originally a predicted debut member? He’s good-looking too.”

“Well, he’s also close to Song-hwan, right?”

“Even if you haven’t been here long, you really have no sense. Is that being close? He’s a lackey, a lackey.”

Do-jae listened to the chattering of the group in front of him without any change in expression, as if he were listening to someone else’s story.

‘I wonder what the result will be.’

There was no part that made him nervous.

Because Do-jae’s choice had already been made.

10 AM.

Everyone, including those who had already been confirmed for debut and the female trainees, gathered in the practice room to hear the member announcement.

In a rather tense atmosphere, the trainers and the new talent development team entered.

“As a result of summarizing the evaluation results from yesterday. The members of the new male group that will be released next year are Yoo Myung-woo, Song-hwan…….”

As expected, they called out the names of the confirmed members.

The named members went to the front of the practice room like triumphant generals.

And finally.

“Kang Do-jae.”

Do-jae’s name appeared.

At that moment, Do-jae checked the Yoo Myung-woo group in front of him.

Everyone was smiling at Do-jae.

The meaning of the smile was not difficult to grasp.

Even though he was just a nominal 3rd *hwang-ja* [prince], Do-jae was a member of the imperial family.

He was unshaken by all sorts of schemes and petty slander.

Do-jae didn’t panic and smiled back at the Yoo Myung-woo group.

“Congratulations. Kang Do-jae. We picked you because we believed in what you showed in yesterday’s evaluation…….”