The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 2

< Intro. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Life >

Intro. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Life

Sanghyun stared blankly at the river, a sudden urge to jump in washing over him.

Lee Sanghyun.

A self-made, successful 38-year-old businessman.

The owner of 8 billion won [approximately $6 million USD] in assets.

CEO of a stock trading consulting firm operating between Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

He reflected on these titles that once defined him, but now, in Sanghyun’s mind, they felt like relics of a bygone era.

In 2025, Sanghyun’s company was ultimately forced into bankruptcy due to the financial crisis that had originated in the United States.

In truth, bankruptcy could have been avoided.

If only Sanghyun hadn’t incurred the displeasure of the *chaebol* [large, family-owned industrial conglomerates] network he usually despised, and if the bank hadn’t blocked his cash flow with excessive loan scrutiny and unfair collateral valuation.

The reason for his unpopularity likely stemmed from his unwavering defiance towards the financial *chaebols* until the very end.

‘The collateral will be seized soon. Am I really broke now?’

Desperate, Sanghyun forced a smile. His parents had passed away long ago, and his younger sister had been married for three years. He wasn’t particularly fond of his sister’s husband, but he had no right to interfere in her life.

He broke off his engagement with his fiancée with surprising ease.

What good is love or anything else when you’re penniless? Now he was truly alone. Still, he couldn’t possibly allow himself to starve.

‘Mother, Father.’

For Sanghyun, life had been solemn and sacred since his parents’ unexpected passing. It was about living each day that his parents had wanted to live but couldn’t.

This sense of sacredness drove him to work tirelessly and made him a rare self-made rich man in Korea.

“I have to live diligently.”

Sanghyun looked at the river one last time. He longed to see the river, but he couldn’t afford gas money, so he had walked a long way.

After gazing at the open sky and the river, he felt a glimmer of hope that everything would be alright.

Because he was still young.

-Screech.

-Bang!

Then he heard the ear-splitting sound of tires screeching and a collision.

Surprised, Sanghyun looked back and saw a man wearing a motorcycle helmet flying through the air. And next to him, a motorcycle that had lost its balance was sliding towards Sanghyun at a tremendous speed.

-Wham!

The motorcycle struck Sanghyun, broke through the bridge railing, and plunged into the river.

But neither on the bridge nor under the bridge was Sanghyun.

***

-To my elite peeps with the murderous mystiques. I hit the streets with beats and they critique for weeks. They be like “How that kid Ra reach the peak?”

Rakim’s ‘When I be on the mic’ echoed from somewhere.

“Ugh……”

Sanghyun frowned and groped for his neck to turn off the alarm. He couldn’t find the necklace-type wearable [a type of smart device] that he usually wore. The jarring alarm sound wasn’t coming from the wearable.

‘What, where is the alarm coming from? And what is this song?’

Sunlight streamed in through the narrow window.

He couldn’t open his eyes because of the glare.

“Ugh, my head.”

Holding his head, which throbbed with a hangover, Sanghyun got up.

Did he drink yesterday? Who did he drink with? What is that clock? And where is this? The refrigerator is so small and old.

Sanghyun, who turned off the alarm clock next to the old bed, frowned deeply. Then a scene flashed in his mind.

-Screech.

-Bang!

“Uh……?”

The sliding motorcycle definitely hit him. As he recalled that terrible pain, Sanghyun jumped up from his seat. His body, now exposed as the old blanket slipped off, was naked.

He didn’t know why his clothes were off, but was he not hurt? Where is this? Is this a cheap motel? Is this some kind of organ trafficking?

Sanghyun, examining his body, slowly regained some composure.

Anyway, all he had in his pants pockets was his wallet and smartphone. He was bankrupt, so there was nothing of value to take.

Sanghyun got out of bed and opened the small refrigerator to take out water.

“Is this kind of refrigerator still running?”

It was like the auxiliary refrigerator he had at home when he was in middle or high school. Sanghyun, who took out water from the small, old refrigerator and drank it, felt something was wrong.

The voice coming from his mouth was too young.

Come to think of it, the hand holding the water bottle was too young. His belly, without any fat, was also strange. His skin was too white, and he didn’t feel the chronic scoliosis, neck disc issues, or blurred vision that he had developed while working at a financial IT company.

Sanghyun slowly looked around. It was somehow a very familiar space.

‘Old bed, small refrigerator, closet on top of the refrigerator. If you open the door and go out, there’s a bathroom…….’

He threw the door open. He saw a bathroom with no bathtub and a low ceiling. And Sanghyun saw himself through the mirror in the bathroom.

“Ah!”

The ‘boy’ in the mirror, who looked like a high school student, screamed in surprise.

-Oppa [term used by younger females to address older brothers or close male friends], did you eat well?

“Yeah, Sangmi. How’s the school trip? Did you have dinner?”

-I haven’t eaten yet. The school trip seems fun. But Jeju Island is in the south, so it’s a bit hot.

“What nonsense are you talking about? How far is Gwangju from Jeju Island in terms of latitude?”

Sanghyun spoke bluntly, but his voice trembled. He tried to pretend to be calm, so his tone changed.

-Is that so? But your tone sounds a bit strange.

“What tone……. Anyway, eat well, listen to your teacher. Don’t go to dangerous places. Oh, what’s your account number?”

-Account number? Why the account number?

“Ah, there’s something I’m going to set up for automatic transfer.”

-Really? There’s a notebook next to that TV. It’ll be there.

“*Oppa* will send 100,000 won to your bank account, so if there’s anything you want to eat, don’t save money and eat as much as you want with your debit card.”

-What money are you send…….

“I’m hanging up.”

-Beep beep beep.

Hanging up the phone, Sanghyun transferred 100,000 won to his sister Sangmi’s account via telebanking.

And then he cried out loud.

Sanghyun, who had gritted his teeth rather than cried from adulthood until he was 38 years old, couldn’t help but cry now.

2005. The year he turned 18.

That year, his parents died in a car accident at the same time, and Sanghyun and Sangmi became orphans.

Today was the first day he forced his sister to go on a school trip, scolding her because she was too depressed, about three weeks after the funeral.

At first, Sanghyun couldn’t believe that he had been in a car accident and returned to the past. It was either a dream or he was crazy.

But no matter how much he denied it, as soon as he realized that this absurd thing was true, he cursed at the sky. Returning to the past was unbelievable. But extreme anger preceded the doubt that he couldn’t believe it.

Why didn’t he go back just one year, or even one month? Why didn’t he give him a chance to see the faces of his parents, whom he missed so much even in his dreams?

Why does the sky send me to the past to tear my heart apart once again?

“Ugh!”

His head ached as if it would break.

He was suffocating, and it felt like all the walls in the house were rushing to crush him to death. Sanghyun grabbed his head and ran out of the house.

The sensation of his body was distorted as if he was drunk.

When he moved his arm, it was like moving an artificial arm. His whole body ached. Was it phantom pain from the confusion of the sensory system that couldn’t adapt to the suddenly younger body?

‘Could it be that I’m crazy? From the shock of my parents’ death?’

But the memories and knowledge were too clear to think he was crazy. The books he ran to the library to look at were proving that his knowledge was correct.

Could he imagine 20 years of the future in a crazy state?

Even academic knowledge that he hadn’t even learned in high school?

Sanghyun accepted reality. He desperately wanted a drink, but he was refused when he tried to buy *soju* [Korean distilled beverage], and he had to admit once again that he had become younger.

< Intro. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Life > End

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