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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Born to Be Loved
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001
It was a car accident.
My legs wouldn't move.
I tried to wipe my eyes, but I couldn't even lift a finger.
I didn't have to check to know. I was probably covered in blood.
‘Damn it.’
Why today of all days?
I just won an award today.
It was the 'Best Supporting Actor' award, after a long career in obscurity.
‘Even though the director was nagging me to wrap up my acceptance speech, it was the first award I'd ever received...’
I was on cloud nine.
My consciousness was fading. A broken bone must have been piercing my lung; it was getting hard to breathe.
‘Ah, so this is how I die.’
A laugh escaped my lips.
To think I'd die like this.
My acceptance speech today was killer.
Standing on the stage, I'd said with a tremble in my voice,
“I wish I could be ugly for just one day.”
The actors laughed. It was a joke meant for them, but their laughter didn't feel entirely welcome.
If a truly handsome guy had said it, at least one or two people would have shot him a look of disgust.
I looked at the precious camera and said,
“Because I’m ugly every other day.”
The audience erupted in laughter. And with that, I left the stage.
‘Ah, damn it. If I'd known I was going to die like this, I would've said something cooler.’
To think my last words would be about being ugly.
My vision started to blur. I heard a song from somewhere.
‘Born to be loved? Excuse me, are you talking to me?’
I'm too ugly for that.
I'd never been used to being loved in my entire life, nor had I ever wished for it.
With a face like this, I was lucky if I wasn't getting cursed at, let alone loved.
Honestly, it was my acting ability that got me this far, not my face.
‘Why this song, of all things, as I'm dying? It's like they're mocking me.’
I heard sirens.
‘Mr. Ambulance, you're too late.’
And so, I died.
I'd lived a reasonably diligent life, but it was a shame I had to live it being ugly.
* * *
Everything was white. I looked around. Unfortunately, there was nothing to see.
‘Hmm, is this heaven?’
Of course it was. I grinned.
‘If I don't go to heaven, who does?’
Lee Hanjo, the master supporting actor.
Also known as the Wingless Angel.
In life, I was interested not only in acting but also in various social issues. I volunteered and donated as if it were my daily bread.
If someone like me doesn't go to heaven, then who would?
‘I was serious about volunteering and donating.’
Of course, at first, it was just for image management.
‘But I grew to like it.’
An ugly actor going around making donations had the effect of making me seem more sincere, too.
‘So I worked hard at it.’
If I had earned more, I probably would have given more. The problem was, I didn't earn much.
‘There's a limit to what a supporting actor can make.’
I sighed.
‘If only I were handsome...’
I could have played so many more roles. Damn it, why was I born with this face!
‘Isn't anyone coming?’
I waited for an angel to appear.
Just then, a caption suddenly floated before my eyes.
I crossed my arms.
‘What's with this song... again?’
They mocked me as I was dying, and now they're mocking me after death? Are they trying to kill me twice? No, three times?
“The angel I was waiting for doesn't show up, and I get this instead.”
Since when did heaven use a contactless system? It was utterly absurd.
“Three wishes? Seriously. Hey, I told you I worked hard volunteering and donating.”
I muttered, waving my hand through the caption.
“You can't just fob me off with this. If you do good deeds, you should get a proper reward.”
No matter how much I tried to scatter the letters with my hand, they wouldn't disappear. Instead, the line below changed slightly.
I narrowed my eyes.
‘So-so?’
Ah, that's harsh. I'd say I was in the top 10% of good people!
“Hey, I even volunteered in Africa.”
It was for a TV show, but I gained a deep sense of enlightenment while volunteering for a month. My public image improved a lot thanks to that, too.
I looked at the caption again. The text changed slightly once more.
‘At-least-somewhat?’
The wording seems to be getting harsher. Or is it just me?
“First the contactless system, and now this. So impersonal. How is anyone supposed to die in peace?”
I protested, but the caption didn't change.
Grumbling, I looked at the caption again.
‘Wait, what did I just... what?’
I came to an immediate conclusion.
‘What a load of bullshit.’
If I were really born to be loved, I wouldn't have been born with that face.
Still, this part sounded pretty good. But you always have to hear a Korean sentence to the end.
I crossed my arms and fell into thought.
‘A price...’
Right. There's no such thing as a free lunch. I looked at the caption and asked,
“What kind of price, and how does it work?”
The text changed again.
Jeez, talk about stingy.
‘How am I supposed to make a choice if you won't tell me?’
Still, I stared blankly at the words.
Honestly, there was only one thing I wanted.
‘My face.’
But the mention of a price bothered me. I read the words again.
A grin spread across my face.
“Three wishes, huh.”
There was a wish I'd always wanted to make if a moment like this ever came.
“My first wish is to have a quadrillion wishes.”
Something I always thought of whenever I watched Aladdin.
Couldn't Aladdin have just wished for more wishes from the start?
It says it'll grant anything, so why stick to just three?
‘Well, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.’
Honestly, I expected to be rejected. But the caption moved.
Huh, it worked?
I narrowed my eyes.
‘Causality? Sounds like a landmine...’
Still, a quadrillion wishes didn't sound too bad.
‘Whatever the price is, how bad can it be? There can't be many people who lived as good a life as I did.’
Honestly, even with what little I had, I helped a lot of people both at home and abroad.
‘When there was a typhoon, I helped with typhoon relief; when there was an earthquake, I helped with earthquake relief...’
At first, I did it to post on social media for my image, but later I stopped even doing that. I started doing it sincerely, because I genuinely enjoyed the good deeds.
So, even if I didn't announce it myself, word got out on its own.
‘Anyway. I should still take some minimum precautions.’
I said to the caption,
“Second, good health.”
This was extremely important. No matter how much money you have, it's all useless without your health.
This caption thing was pretty cool.
‘And next is, of course...’
My last remaining wish.
I spoke slowly, my voice trembling on its own.
“...I, I want to be conventionally handsome.”
My heart fluttered just saying the wish aloud.
How wonderful would that be?
‘I'll take every lead role in the world.’
How much money would I make then?
With that money, I could give generous donations to those in need.
As if it knew what was in my heart, the caption moved.
Just then, as if on cue, a tremendous gust of wind blew.
Suddenly, the world dropped out from under me. I was falling headlong into somewhere.
My vision shook. I covered my face with my arms.
That was the last caption. When I opened my eyes, I was in another world.
* * *
The first thing I felt upon waking was a bone-chilling cold.
‘Damn it! Am I in Antarctica?’
No matter how much I curled up, the cold wouldn't subside. I tried to scream, but then I realized.
‘My... my head won't move.’
I couldn't support my own head. Wiggling a few fingers was all I could manage.
‘What the. Why is this happening?’
Hey, caption! My wish definitely included good health, right? So why does my body feel paralyzed?
‘And why am I freezing to death?!’
The cold wind stung my cheeks. On top of that, I couldn't see anything.
‘Good health my ass!’
I cried my eyes out and shouted,
‘Is anyone there?’
But what came out of my mouth was a completely different kind of cry.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
For a moment, even I was shocked.
‘Wha-what the!’
I was so startled I thought I was going to get the hiccups.
‘That sounded like a baby crying?’
I tried to vocalize again.
‘Is anyone there?’
The sound that reached my ears was cruel.
“Waaaaah!”
Aha. Damn it!
At this point, I was starting to understand the situation.
‘Am I... a baby?’
I swallowed hard.
Well, sure. I died, so it makes sense I'd be reborn.
‘But why am I freezing to death the moment I'm born?!’
I did a lot of good deeds, so shouldn't I be in a warm room, feeling a mother's touch?!
The cold wind nipped at my nose. I tried to think calmly. I was a baby with a weak immune system. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before I died.
‘Plus, I can't even hold my head up. I don't think I can crawl, either...’
Damn it. This was an express train back across the River Jordan.
I was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of injustice. I screamed with all my might.
‘Help me!’
Of course, what came out was the cry of a baby.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
What else can a baby do but cry?
‘...Damn it.’
The problem was, I was getting too tired to even do that.
‘Am I going to die just twenty minutes after being born?’
My cries grew weaker from exhaustion. My head felt dizzy, and my consciousness began to fade.
‘This can't be happening...’
I couldn't give up like this. With the last of my strength, I managed to cry out.
“Waaah....”
Just then.
Someone picked me up.
“Sister! There's a baby here!”
It was a child's voice.
Child or not, they were my savior. I was so grateful that tears welled up.
“Oh, Lord! How could this be!”
“The baby's cheeks are so cold!”
Something warm wrapped around my body. I let out a pitiful cry.
“Ngaa....”
“Oh, dear Lord! The poor thing is shivering so much it doesn't even have the strength to cry.”
“Sister! There's something here next to the baby!”
The Sister held me tight and said,
“Noah, can you bring that? First, we need to get this poor baby somewhere warm.”
“Yes, Sister!”
Soon, we were inside a building.
I must have been shivering outside for a long time; I still felt cold.
I moved my slowly thawing lips.
‘I think I get the gist of it.’
It seemed whoever my birth mother was had abandoned me near an orphanage run by a nun.
‘Damn it.’
Seriously, I was reborn as a reward for my good deeds, and I'm an orphan?
I wasn't asking for a silver spoon, but I should at least have a normal family.
It was so unfair I started to cry. I gripped the Sister's clothes tightly and scrunched up my eyes.
“Oh, you poor thing.”
The Sister patted my back.
“It's all right, little one. You're safe now.”
Hic.
“Why would someone abandon such a small child? If they had to, they could have at least waited for a warmer day....”
My thoughts exactly.
Her comforting words only made me feel more wronged. I clutched her robes and whimpered.
“Hiiing....”
Maybe because I was a baby, my voice was quite cute.
“It's okay, little one. Are you warm now?”
It really was warm. A pleasant heat soon spread across my cheeks. I whimpered and snuggled into the Sister's embrace. The Sister expertly patted my back.
“It's okay, little one. Everything's okay now.”
Thank you, Sister. You will be blessed.
“Here, let's try eating this.”
The Sister immediately put something in my mouth. I drank frantically.
“There we go. You're eating well.”
Only then did I realize I was drinking formula.
‘....’
It was finally sinking in. I had been reborn, and I was truly an orphan.
‘Isn't this a total scam?’
Unaware of my inner turmoil, the Sister repeatedly wiped the corners of my eyes.
“Oh, my dear baby. Don't cry. Oh my!”
The Sister looked at my face and gasped. For a moment, she was completely still.
“...I've never seen such a beautiful baby. Goodness gracious!”
For a moment, I forgot I was even drinking formula.
‘Beautiful? Me?’
The Sister continued to pat my back as she spoke.
“His eyes are so big, and his nose is so well-defined! Even the babies on TV aren't this pretty.”
I was suddenly reminded of that scam-like caption.
-I want to be conventionally handsome.
Back then, the caption had written,
Well, what do you know?
