Chapter 1. When I Woke Up

It was quite some time ago that I possessed this body.

Let’s see……

One, two, three……

Hmm……. It’s only been three years?

It feels like ten years, but it’s surprising.

Anyway, I, Yoon Ji-ah, an ordinary citizen of Earth, was living my life steadily despite my sad past as an orphan.

Unlike my friends who wandered, unsure of their dreams, I had set my path early.

From a young age, I showed exceptional talent in cleaning, maintaining the room I shared with twenty children at the orphanage sparkling clean, and displaying extraordinary talent in classroom cleaning at school. Friends would clap whenever I rolled up my sleeves and grabbed the mop.

Why did I clean everything by myself?

It might look like I was being a pushover to others, but it was actually because of my personality.

No, how can you say you’ve cleaned when there’s so much dust? Can’t you see the soot stains over there? Aren’t you going to remove the mold on the ceiling?

Seeing others clean half-heartedly made me so frustrated that I couldn’t just stand by.

I had to step in.

Everything looked brand new after I cleaned.

Why can’t others clean this easily?

I didn’t understand.

And I realized this was a special ability when I became a high school student. Others really couldn’t clean this easily.

Mold remover, bleach, detergent.

It’s normal to need their help.

“Why am I like this? What’s with my hands?”

It seemed like a special ability but was unclear.

How should I use this seemingly useless ability in a capitalist society?

Hmm.

The janitor’s salary is better than I thought?

I don’t have money for college tuition, and anyway, there’s everything I want to study on YouTube these days, so whatever.

I became a janitor at an early age.

Whenever there was a complaint about a dirty place, I was dispatched.

Dog poop, discarded plastic, decaying leaves. After cleaning all these, I would hear citizens’ praises.

“Oh my, it looks like a new street! Just cleaning it changes the atmosphere so much?”

Yes, that’s right.

Cleaning can make such a big difference.

Hiding in a corner of the street, I rubbed under my nose proudly.

Those were my ordinary days.

After work, I’d heal by reading web novels, and at work, I’d diligently do my job……

“Let’s see. Another 1.5 million won in savings this month.”

Click. Click.

As I checked the bank app on my phone and looked for news to read on the computer, I suddenly stopped.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

A real estate news thumbnail caught my eye.

When I clicked the video, the screen was filled with news about real estate transactions in the billions.

Watching the real estate market, where billions changed hands in just a few months, made my chest feel tight.

Ah.

When will I, living in a rental, ever buy a house?

Some might say it’s too early for someone in their early twenties to think this way, but unlike others, I had no one to rely on.

If you don’t have a house, just live with your parents. That doesn’t work for me.

I didn’t even have a single relative to contact.

Feeling depressed, I closed the internet browser.

Whatever.

All I can do is clean thoroughly, so what else can I do?

My goal is to save like crazy and retire at forty!

FIRE……!

Now, let’s read some web novels.

Turning my eyes away from reality, I quickly immersed myself in the novel.

“Crazy guys. Hehe.”

Watching the male leads struggle in the novel made me feel inexplicably happy.

I’m so mean.

Why is it so fun to see someone else suffer?

“They’re so obsessed with the female lead. Wow, I’d like to live like Aveline. Purifiers are rare, so the salary must be high.”

I fell asleep thinking such useless thoughts.

And I never imagined that when I woke up, I would learn the salary of a purifier.

* * *

Bam bam ba bam ba bam bam bam Good morning… bam bam ba….

The alarm should be ringing like this, so why isn’t it ringing?

Sunlight is pouring over my eyelids.

It definitely feels like morning.

‘Did I… end up being terribly late?’

The thought made me not want to open my eyes.

But I couldn’t keep them closed forever. Sigh…

Reluctantly, I slowly opened my eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment.

Hmm? Something feels unfamiliar.

Where did the white ceiling go, and why am I seeing a wooden one?

It must still be a dream.

But something felt off.

The next moment, I shot up from the bed. Then I looked around.

“Huh…?”

What is this place? Where am I?

“Why am I in a place like this…?”

I couldn’t finish my sentence and just gaped in astonishment.

The small room had just enough space for a bed and a table, and next to it was a kitchenette with a tiny bathroom. And what startled me was…

“Is this a dream…?”

The face reflected in the window looked strange.

No, this wasn’t my face.

My black hair had turned a light brown, and my black eyes had changed to a brown with an orange tint.

And the facial features, the small details of the face…

“I’ve become a different race.”

What is this?

How can a dream be so vivid?

“Is this a lucid dream… ouch!”

I slapped my cheek hard and shuddered at the pain of my self-inflicted slap. The sleepiness vanished completely.

As I got out of bed and looked around, I saw a hand mirror on the table. I quickly picked it up and looked into it, and the face that was blurry in the window became clear on the mirror’s surface.

And the moment my eyes met those in the mirror,

“Gasp!”

A tremendous wave of memories surged in.

Whoosh!

“Aaah…!”

I clutched my head and sank to the floor.

As an overwhelming amount of information flooded in all at once, my brain throbbed in pain.

What is this?

Pain, joy, bitterness, pride, wounds, fear…

These are someone’s memories… no, their life.

Numerous memories and emotions settled inside me as if they were mine.

“Seraphina, is something wrong?”

Someone knocked and asked about my well-being in a worried voice.

And I frowned.

What did they just call me? Seraphina?

As soon as the question popped into my head, the answer also came up.

The memories of this body were telling me.

My name is Seraphina.

And I already knew this name.

An extra character from the novel I was reading before I fell asleep.

Occasionally mentioned in the reminiscences of the male leads who were entangled with the female lead, Aveline…

“No way! This can’t be real!”

Bang bang bang!

“Seraphina! Are you sure you’re okay? Open the door!”

“I’m fine! Aaaah! I’m not fine!”

“If you don’t open it, I’ll break it down!”

“Just leave me alone for a moment!”

I died heroically on the battlefield before the female lead appeared, but even after death, I was constantly compared to her in the media because I had the same abilities as her…

“I’m that Seraphina?!”

No way!

* * *

I calmed down only after letting in the mysterious friend who was about to break down the door.

“Groans, screams. What’s going on to make someone worry like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

I replied nonchalantly, looking at the guy in front of me.

His name was Marc.

A low-ranking mercenary.

Should I be grateful that he came after the wave of memories hit?

Otherwise, he might have found it strange that I suddenly didn’t remember anything.

Marc was originally a wandering mercenary, but he had settled in Elmon, the capital of the Granz Empire, for a few years now. Because the pay was good. He got to know Seraphina after seeing her face several times in battles, leading to natural conversations.

Anyway, we were friends now.

Even though I knew him through Seraphina’s memories and not personally, I felt an odd sense of familiarity.

I had absorbed her emotions as well.

As if I were the real Seraphina.

“By the way, what’s up?”

In response to my question, Marc scratched the back of his head.

“I just had some time and was curious about what you were doing…”

He awkwardly trailed off, rolling his eyes uncomfortably, then suddenly seemed to remember something and exclaimed, “Ah!” He handed me what he was holding.

“It was in the mailbox, so I brought it.”

“Oh, thanks.”

For something like this.

He’s quite a warm-hearted friend for someone doing rough mercenary work.

I took the envelope Marc handed me.

Rip.

I tore the envelope open boldly and found two sheets of paper inside.

“What’s this?”

“Who knows…”

Seeing Marc’s genuinely clueless face, it seemed he really didn’t know.

Well, let’s read it.

Flip.

My eyes moved left and right following the text.

The strange thing about memories is that even though it was my first time seeing the language, I could read it fluently. According to the memories, Seraphina was also an orphan but lived diligently. She even taught herself to read.

“Hmm…”

As I read the document, my brows furrowed.

“What is it?”

“I got accepted.”

“Where?”

To the position of an official purifier of the Imperial family.

As I flipped through the papers with a complicated expression, my eyes widened.

The first document was a letter of acceptance, and the second was the terms of employment for an official purifier.

“Gasp!”

Holy moly…!

How many zeros are there in this salary?

Amidst the stringent conditions, an incredible salary that covered everything was written.