“Keok!”


  Tae-hyuk woke up screaming.

  It was a bad dream.

  This happened sometimes. Sometimes there were dreams so real that he couldn’t even distinguish betweenthe dream and reality for a while after waking up.

  "Well, that was a shit dream.”


  In his dream, Tae-hyuk was a falsely accused criminal who received the death penalty.

  "Fuck.”


  Just thinking about it caused him to curse.

  Tae-hyuk sat on his bed and didn’t move for a while.

  “.……Wait a minute. So I was locked up for 10 years for a murder I didn’t commit? In the end, I was sentenced to death.”


  Tae-hyuk certainly didn’t kill anyone. However, the evidence was perfect. There was the CCTV taken at the crime scene. The weapon with Tae-hyuk’s fingerprints on them. An eyewitness also saw him escaping the crime scene.

  "This, damn!”


  His body started shaking.

  “Wait a minute. It is just a dream. Just think of it as a shit dream……”


  But something was wrong. It was too real to be a dream. It felt like he really had been confined in prison as a death row inmate until yesterday.

  If it was a dream then who was he now?

  Tae-hyuk looked around.

  It was a three pyeong room with a bunk bed and two desks. There was also a small bookcase with a simple structure.

  The unique dampness and mouldy smell was still the same.

  It was the room he shared with his brother Tae-min before he graduated from high school.

  ‘What? It feels like I’m reminiscing about a memory that is more than 10 years old. Crazy. This is all due to that realistic dream.”


  15 years had passed by in his dream.

  But in reality, only a single night had passed. Then what was this sense of incongruity?

  "Anyway, I am still a high school student, right? Not a death row inmate?”


  Tae-hyuk calmed his chaotic mind and wanted to check.

  "Yes, a mirror!"

  Tae-hyuk mindlessly searched the room for a mirror. He would resolve things after confirming his appearance.

  If he didn’t look like a high school student but a man in his 30s…… Just thinking about it caused him to have goosebumps.

  Eventually, he was able to find a small handheld mirror.

  “Ugh. A bad taste.”


  The demon carved on the mirror gave off a bad feeling.

  "Did we ever have a mirror like this?”


  It might belong to his younger brother.

  The place where he found it was in the bookshelf used by both of them.

  "…… Phew. Fortunately, I’m still a high school student.”


  The man in the mirror seemed to be in his late teens.

  “Wait a minute. What is this?"

  Tae-hyuk looked around with a strange expression. However, there was nothing.

  He looked at the mirror again.

  There were a lot of strange letters on it.

  [Seo Tae-hyuk]-

  Title: God of Crime-

  Rating: Commoner (Lacking conditions for upgrade)-

  Skills Possessed: None

  In addition to this, a status window filled the mirror.

  Tae-hyuk laughed to himself.

  "This is a well made toy.”


  The contents were commonly seen in popular online games.

  A person who liked things like this.

  Inside the house, there was only Tae-min.

  Either way, he was indeed a high school student.

  Tae-hyuk sighed with relief.

  He wasn’t a falsely accused death row prisoner. He was Seo Tae-hyuk, a high school student in the 2nd grade who lived with his older sister and younger brother. Then he started to remember some things.

  Unlike his brother, who was a good student, he had a slightly delinquent appearance.

  He sometimes missed school and he couldn’t exactly say that his grades were good.

  Thus, he was treated as a troublemaker.

  Still, at least he wasn’t a high school gangster.

  "Um. Has Tae-min already left?”


  He could smell the scent of rice cooking from somewhere. It seemed that his sister, Seo Ha-ran, was preparing breakfast. He started to realize that he was hungry.

  "Tae-hyuk! Come eat!”


  His sister’s voice was heard.

  Tae-hyuk scratched his head and headed towards the kitchen.

  * * *

  “.……”


  Tae-hyuk’s eyes turned red.

  Ha-ran asked with surprise.

  "What is it? Did you have a scary dream or something?”


  Tae-min, who was sitting opposite to Tae-hyun, stared at him before shifting his gaze back to the English words in the book before him.

  There wasn’t much time remaining for his exam, so even the preparation time while eating was precious.

  "Dust entered my eyes.”


  The menu for breakfast was kimchi stew. There was only a little bit of tofu, and didn’t contain a single piece of meat.

  Ha-ran hesitated before saying.

  “.…… I’m sorry, Noona will cook you one with meat when I get paid.”


  “It really is because dust entered my eyes. Also, Noona’s kimchi stew really is the best in the world,so delicious that I would want to eat it before I die.”


  It was a sincere statement.

  He put a spoonful into his mouth and could taste his sister’s kimchi stew.

  It was a dish that he couldn’t eat in his dream, after all.

  "Oh my, this child. You’ll be late. Eat quickly.”


  Ha-ran laughed as she moved her spoon. She didn’t dislike Tae-hyuk’s praise.

  Their parents had both died in an accident, so Ha-ran became the sole guardian of Tae-hyuk and Tae-min. Despite being a flower in her early 20s, she was working double shifts at the factory.

  She didn’t wear any makeup but to Tae-hyun, she was more beautiful than anyone else in the world.

  Tae-hyuk bit his lip.

  ‘I’ll have to get a job straight after graduating high school so I can help Noona.’


  Then he was startled.

  A memory from his dream of being a death row prisoner popped up.

  ‘I graduated from school. I obtained a job with a private security company because I had nothing useful, save my body. And I worked there for two years. Then……’


  He was framed and went to jail.

  ‘No! It’s a dream, a dream! Damn……!’


  Tae-hyuk turned on the TV to shake off the memories of the death row prisoner-

  The prosecution is looking for the whereabouts of Yoo Cheol-ho, a prisoner who escaped from Central Prison on the 9th……

  Ha-ran shook her head and made a fuss as the news of a horrible criminal was heard.

  “Omo. He still isn’t caught. It was said that he might be near here. Tae-hyuk, if you go outside, then only go when it is still light. If someone goes up to you then don’t follow them. Do you understand?”


  “Noona. I’m grown up. And why don’t you say something to Tae-min?”


  "Tae-min is steady.”


  "Then I’m bad?”


  "Ohuhut!”


  Tae-hyuk and Tae-min were already high school students, but Ha-ran still viewed them as children.

  Tae-hyuk smiled at his sister’s worry and nodded.

  “By the way. That person still hasn’t been caught? He was clearly caught……”


  Yoo Cheol-ho. A familiar name.

  He had stayed in the room next to Tae-hyuk’s for a while.

  In order words, a neighbour.

  ‘Of course, that was just in my dream.’


  Tae-hyuk knew why he had such a dream. It was because he kept hearing these things in the news every day.

  "Hyung. Did you eat something bad? Yoo Cheol-ho was caught after committing seven murders three months ago, and broke out of prison just last week. So he hasn’t been caught.”


  Tae-min, who was eating rice quietly, interrupted.

  Tae-hyuk frowned. Tae-min was interested in such things. This time, he was wrong.

  For sure……

  "What are you talking about? Yoo Cheol-ho escaped for six months and was caught after committing three more murders.”


  Tae-min sighed and said.

  "Phew, Hyung. Don’t just read manhwa. You should watch the news as well. Yoo Cheol-ho was caught? They are completely clueless. There is also a pretty good reward…… You must have dreamt about catching him.”


  Wait a minute.

  Didn’t Yoo Cheol-ho clearly get caught after his escape?

  He was a complete psycho and quite talkative.

  Furthermore, he didn’t sleep so he talked about his story until dawn.

  After two successful breakouts, he gained the nickname ‘King of Jailbreaks.’ The place he went and how he escaped were all vivid in Tae-hyuk’s head.

  “So Yoo Cheol-ho’s nickname isn’t King of Jailbreaks?”


  Tae-min moved his index finger to the side of his head and moved it round and round.

  "Hey. That isn’t something you should do to your hyung!”


  “Ah. It’s already 8 o’clock. You should hurry if you don’t want to be late. The student manager said he would break your legs with a paddle if you are late again.”


  Tae-min got up and ran to his room.

  ‘Indeed, a terrible dream.’


  Not even the Pirate King but the King of Jailbreaks.

  "If the dream is correct then Yoo Cheol-ho’s accomplice should be caught in S City by now. But he isn’t.”


  Tae-hyuk unwittingly said the thought that came to his head.

  “You must be half-asleep.”


  Ha-ran laughed.

  A few minutes passed.

  "T-Tae-hyuk.”


  Ha-ran, who was eating while watching the news, starting shivering like she had seen a ghost.

  “Huh?”


  “.…… You were just talking about Yoo Cheol-ho’s accomplice right?”


  “Yes. Why?”


  "L-look at that.”


  Ha-ran pointed to the TV with a trembling hand-

  Breaking news. The accomplice to Yoo Cheol-ho’s escape was caught in S City.

  Tae-hyuk’s mouth gaped open. He was so surprised that he didn’t notice the falling spoon.

  ‘Wait. What is this? What is this?”


  The content of the news was the same as his dream. The evidence was the same as Yoo Cheol-ho’s first escape.

  ’A dream. It’s a dream! Then why is it happening in real life?’


  “.…… Noona. Is that a rerun? This actually happened yesterday, or the day before, right?”


  “That…… a live broadcast……”


  The words stabbed at Tae-hyuk’s chest like a dagger.

  It was a dream, so what was this?

  A foresight dream? Returning to the past? Or was it just a coincidence?

  Ha-ran gazed at Tae-hyuk with worried eyes.

  Tae-hyuk tried to look bright.

  “Haha! I just said it. It came true by chance. Maybe I should go and buy a lottery ticket?”


  "Hey ~ you really scared me.”


  "I have to go to school. Doesn’t Noona come home late at night? You should be careful at night.”


  "Prince-nim doesn’t have to worry, I’ll be careful. Have fun at school.”


  "Yes, Noona.”


  Tae-hyuk left the house with his bag.

  His laughter instantly disappeared from his face.

  According to his dream, Yoo Cheol-ho shouldn’t be far from here.

  ‘I need to confirm if Yoo Cheol-ho is really there. Only then will I know if that was just a dream.’


  He felt sorry for his sister but he wouldn’t be able to go to school.