X
If you enjoy gender-bender stories with strong character development and yuri themes, TS Lily Archive is worth your time. It’s a focused library built for readers who want story first, without distractions.
Preview the site below, or open it in a new tab for the full reading experience.
It had been a week since I first stepped into this house as Yoo Seo-jin.
On the first day, I had holed myself up in my room, desperately trying to deny this new reality.
As time wore on, however, I had no choice but to accept that this was not a dream, but my undeniable new life.
In a world without Yoo Joon-hee, I was compelled to live as Yoo Seo-jin, so I fumbled through forgotten drama plots, naturally feigning his identity.
The acting itself wasn’t difficult; I had been doing it to exhaustion since my days as a child actor.
The real problem was that, unlike on set, there was no director here to call ‘cut’.
Yoo Seo-jin and I were fundamentally different, starting with our personalities.
Unlike my quiet nature, he was a pampered young master from a wealthy family, one who loved conversing with his parents and possessed an abundance of charm.
Beyond that, everything from our eating habits clashed, and I recalled struggling quite a bit even during the drama’s filming.
Living as Yoo Seo-jin every single day was proving to be an utterly exhausting endeavor.
‘I’m exhausted.’
Stopping midway up the stairs leading to the second floor, I let out a profound sigh.
Just moments ago, I had been caught by his mother, forced into a lengthy chat, all as part of my ‘dutiful son’ charade.
It was challenging to feign familiarity with stories of acquaintances I didn’t remember, yet the conversation with his mother wasn’t inherently bad.
The problem, however, lay in its sheer frequency.
If he was to be a villain, he should at least be an equally despicable one to everyone; instead, Yoo Seo-jin was an endlessly devoted son to his mother.
He wasn’t a bad son to his father either, for that matter.
With wealth that others envied, parents who showered him with endless love, and even a decent appearance, Yoo Seo-jin’s life was, in its own way, quite fortunate.
Yoo Joon-hee had been granted none of that: no parents to offer boundless love, no comfortable circumstances, nothing at all.
Looking back on a life where everything had to be fiercely fought for, only a bitter laugh escaped me.
‘Spoiled brat.’
Even after a week of living as Yoo Seo-jin, there were moments when reality felt distant, like a fading dream.
At such times, I couldn’t help but wonder.
‘Perhaps this place is, for me, a kind of heaven.’
For a heaven, it was certainly tiresome and difficult to constantly impersonate someone else, to not be myself.
But surely, it was still far better than continuing to live as the broken Yoo Joon-hee I once was.
‘Sunbaenim!’
From a distant, hazy place, I heard someone’s gentle voice calling my name.
To erase it, I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again.
That person wasn’t here, after all.
‘No, don’t think about it.’
I swiftly purged the useless memories that threatened to resurface.
My exhaustion must be filling my mind with such pointless thoughts.
Just as I was about to resume my steps towards my room, a man emerged into the living room and called out to me from the bottom of the stairs.
“Hey.”
My face immediately contorted upon hearing the rude, informal address, ‘Hey,’ instead of my name.
Turning around, I saw a man in a crisp suit leaning casually against the wall.
It was Yoo Seo-jin’s older brother, Yoo Ju-jin.
Yoo Ju-jin straightened up and strode forward.
His eyes, brimming with contempt, scoured me from head to toe.
My loungewear was fairly neat for being at home, but the message in his gaze was unmistakable.
He clearly wanted to criticize me for lazing around the house, doing nothing.
To me, Yoo Seo-jin, a rich idler that everyone dreamed of being, was the happiest person imaginable.
Here, however, it was different.
In Yoo Ju-jin’s eyes, Yoo Seo-jin was nothing more than a parasite, feeding off the money his father earned through arduous labor.
His mother, of course, was no different.
“Still no work today, just playing conversationalist with the old lady, I see.”
“The ‘old lady’? You mean Mother.”
Though I kindly corrected him, Yoo Ju-jin merely brushed it off.
The original Yoo Seo-jin would have bristled at this, but I simply let it slide.
“So, the old lady enjoyed another leisurely tea time today, I presume?”
“The weather is lovely, so one should enjoy their leisure.”
“Brazenness must be genetic, then.”
Yoo Ju-jin’s words almost made me laugh aloud.
While Yoo Ju-jin and Yoo Seo-jin had different mothers, they shared the same father.
Yoo Ju-jin, however, seemed to occasionally forget that fact.
“Perhaps that’s why you’re so brazen, brother. We are siblings, after all, aren’t we?”
Yoo Ju-jin quirked an eyebrow and met my gaze.
Watching him rack his brain, it seemed he had failed with words and was now searching for another way to provoke me.
I decided to wait and see what he would say next.
Anticipating what fresh method Yoo Ju-jin would employ to anger me, I silently observed him, conjuring a few potential responses in my mind.
“How are things going with Han Jung-woo?”
This was somewhat unexpected.
Seeing my expression involuntarily crumple, Yoo Ju-jin grew even more triumphant and began to prod at the matter.
“You were so confident you could seduce him, but seeing you cooped up at home for a week, I guess you failed?”
“…Did I say that?”
I tried my best to feign ignorance, but the tactless Yoo Ju-jin showed no sign of stopping.
My head began to throb from the endless stream of talk about Han Jung-woo.
For the plot to unfold as in the drama, Yoo Seo-jin and Han Jung-woo should have had a one-night stand.
It was after that night that Yoo Seo-jin would lie to Han Jung-woo about being pregnant.
However, since I had escaped from that situation, nothing had transpired between Han Jung-woo and me.
The storyline was now diverging from the original drama.
“Last time, you seemed to be heading to the hotel together. Why, couldn’t Han Jung-woo get it up?”
“……”
“Everyone kept raving about him being an extreme Alpha, but it seems he was nothing special after all, was he?”
I already knew Yoo Ju-jin had people watching Yoo Seo-jin, so this didn’t surprise me.
Of course, Yoo Ju-jin wouldn’t know that I was aware of his surveillance.
“Or perhaps you’re the problem? After all, what Alpha would get aroused by a vulgar Omega like you?”
Patiently listening to Yoo Ju-jin’s nonsense was slowly reaching its limit.
I had far too many things to contemplate, and no time to waste on him.
“Your language is rather crude, brother.”
My unexpected reaction startled Yoo Ju-jin, halting his gleeful tirade.
Descending the stairs, I stopped directly in front of him.
Despite being a recessive Alpha, Yoo Ju-jin was still taller than Yoo Seo-jin.
Compared to Han Jung-woo, however, his physique was truly insignificant.
As I approached, he emitted faint pheromones, a territorial warning.
Frowning at the irritating scent, I halted three paces away from Yoo Ju-jin.
“Be careful. Imagine how disappointed Father would be if he heard you speak like this.”
“What-”
“You need to perform well. That’s how you’ll maintain your position as the successor, isn’t it?”
Yoo Ju-jin, now flustered, quickly scanned his surroundings.
Naturally, only the two of us were in the living room.
Realizing his blunder a moment too late, Yoo Ju-jin bowed his crimson face and quickly retreated.
As long as I was Yoo Seo-jin, I would continue to cross paths with Yoo Ju-jin.
Only a week had passed, and I was already this exhausted; the prospect of enduring this indefinitely felt utterly daunting.
‘Perhaps I should just say I’m leaving for good.’
While there was no better way to minimize unnecessary friction with Yoo Ju-jin, it was premature.
If I were to suddenly announce my departure, his parents would undoubtedly demand an explanation, and I wanted no part of such bothersome complications.
At the very least, I needed to create a plausible reason to leave during a small window of opportunity.
A reason so compelling that I would have no choice but to depart, no matter what.
‘This is difficult.’
As soon as I concluded the draining conversation with Yoo Ju-jin, I returned to my room, locked the door, and flung myself onto the bed.
Perhaps it was the expensive mattress, but even the considerable impact was instantly absorbed, not a single creak escaping it.
Staring blankly at the now familiar ceiling, a sigh involuntarily escaped me.
Living as Yoo Joon-hee, not Yoo Seo-jin; living as someone else, constantly aware of others’ gazes, was far from comfortable.
A deep vibration.
A loud vibration echoed through the quiet room.
Lost in thought, it took me a moment to retrieve my phone from the bedside table.
I wondered who could be so persistent in contacting me, but the moment I saw the name displayed on the screen, my face twisted involuntarily.
The caller was the very person I wanted to avoid at this hour, and indeed, indefinitely.
[Director Han Jung-woo]
In truth, this wasn’t the first time Han Jung-woo had contacted me.
Ever since I had left him at the hotel that day, calls and messages from him had arrived multiple times a day, but I had ignored them all.
This time, too, I waited for Han Jung-woo to tire first and end the call.
After a long wait, the persistent vibration ceased, which was a relief.
However, a message immediately followed.
[Director Han Jung-woo] [Come here right now and explain this.] 2:37 PM
Beneath the terse message, an article appeared.
Under the provocative headline ‘
“Damn it…”
Han Jung-woo might not know it, but that article had been released by our side.
It was the work of someone else who was just as eager as Yoo Seo-jin to get entangled with Han Jung-woo—or rather, with his family.
‘Yoo Hae-jung.’
Yoo Seo-jin’s father, the CEO of Haeun Construction.
He was the culprit behind this article.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read How to Catch Returnee! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : How to Catch Returnee
