Chapter 1
Finally, tomorrow—I return to school.
It wasn’t exactly a prestigious university in Seoul, but rather, one that happened to be located within the city boundaries. Still, to Eunchae, that campus was precious. Graduating from a university in Seoul had been her grandmother’s lifelong wish—the woman who had raised her. It was Eunchae’s dream as well.
Having quit the part-time job she’d held for two years to prepare for her return to school, Eunchae was now on her way home.
‘What’s this? A skincare mask?’
While cutting through the park—a shortcut—her eyes fell on a strange object. A sleek, metallic mask.
‘Weird. This doesn’t look like something that should be lying around here.’
Curious, Eunchae bent down and picked up the item from beside a bench. Its plain white design reminded her of a certain major corporation’s LED facial masks that were heavily advertised.
“……”
The sun had already set, and the sky was growing dim. She glanced around, but there was no one in sight. There was no way to know who might have dropped it.
‘Taking it to the police would be a hassle.’
Backtracking all the way to the station just to hand it in felt like too much effort—it was too far.
‘They say using one of these helps your makeup go on better… Maybe I’ll just try it once tonight and take it in tomorrow morning.’
As the saying goes, “Opportunity makes the thief.” Temptation crept in. After taking two years off following just one semester, she would now be surrounded by fresh-faced underclassmen. At the very least, she wanted her foundation to apply well so she’d look a bit younger.
Once home, Eunchae washed her face and lay down on her bed, switching on the mask.
[Beep—Welcome to Dreamcatcher (Beta Version 2).]
As she pressed a small button on the side, a mechanical beep rang out, followed by an AI’s calm voice filling her ears.
‘Huh? Dreamcatcher? It’s not a skincare device? Maybe it’s some kind of VR? A machine that gives you pleasant dreams?’
[First-time connection. Please state the world to be synchronized.]
“Huh? The world to synchronize?”
[Yes, the world to synchronize. Beginning search.]
‘Whoa! What the heck?’
[No results found. Please state another world.]
It felt like saying just anything wouldn’t be wise. Eunchae kept her mouth shut in response to the persistent AI voice.
‘Is it asking for the world I want to dream about? Hmm… Might as well choose somewhere with my ideal type. Like a movie or novel?’
She paused, pondering. After all, she would hand this thing over to the police tomorrow. For one night of a good dream, she had to choose wisely.
“The Broken Clockwork Doll.”
She spoke after a brief hesitation. It was the title of a web novel that had held the top spot on a free fiction site’s weekly best list for three weeks straight.
‘The Crown Prince in that story is totally my type…’
[The Broken Clockwork Doll. Beginning search.]
[Search complete. Synchronization available.]
[Searching for synchronizable characters. Please wait.]
‘I wish I could pick the character myself… but it’s random? That’s disappointing…’
Beep. Beep. The sound near her ears echoed mechanically as Eunchae grew giddy with anticipation.
‘If I could, I’d choose the heroine—she’s the most beautiful woman in that world. No, wait. That’d be too much work. I’d rather be a maid in the Crown Prince’s palace, as long as I can admire his face up close.’
[Search complete. Eliana Acklera. Synchronization available. Synchronizing now.]
‘Eliana Acklera? Never heard of her.’
[Synchronization in progress. 1%, 2%, 3%…]
‘It’s an unfinished novel. Maybe she hasn’t appeared yet? Yawn… Suddenly so sleepy. I really hope I have a good dream…’
As the AI’s monotone voice counted the percentages, Eunchae slipped into deep sleep.
[Synchronization complete.]
At the voice resonating directly in her mind, Eunchae jolted awake.
“Ugh, my throat… it hurts so much…”
The moment her consciousness returned, panic set in. It felt as if someone had scraped her esophagus with a knife—the pain was far too real.
“My lady! My lady, can you hear me?”
A frantic voice nearby made her head throb.
“Wa…water…”
Her voice came out hoarse and metallic, mixed with a painful rasp.
‘Why does my throat hurt this much? Isn’t this VR? The realism’s too much…’
The realism exceeded expectations. It didn’t feel like logging into a game—it felt like she had become this person.
“My lady, here’s water.”
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Eunchae propped herself against the headboard and took a sip of the offered water. Only then could she take in her surroundings.
“…Amy?”
So this was what synchronization meant. The girl, who looked about eighteen and was watching her with worried eyes, seemed familiar to her. Eunchae somehow knew her name.
Amy—her personal maid since the age of fifteen.
“Yes, my lady. I was so worried… I thought something terrible had happened when you collapsed and started coughing up blood.”
Beyond Amy’s tear-filled eyes, Eunchae noticed an old fireplace and walls of wooden planks.
“Amy… Where are we?”
“I brought you to the nearest inn I could find. You collapsed so suddenly, coughing blood. There was no time to find a better place.”
“I see…”
Eunchae lightly touched her forehead with one hand, wincing as a sharp ache pulsed through her skull. The memories of this body were flooding in—fast and unrelenting—and her head throbbed from the sheer force of it.
“Miss, does your head hurt?”
“Mm… a little.”
“Please, lie down and rest. I’ll alert the knights and fetch a physician right away.”
“Alright… do that.”
Eunchae allowed Amy to help her back into bed, her voice tinged with bitterness. The memories were now painfully clear—why this body had collapsed, coughing up blood.
‘Seriously, what kind of character is this? The setup’s a nightmare.’
As Amy’s footsteps faded into the distance, Eunchae tried to gather her thoughts amidst the chaos in her mind.
‘Sure, this world’s medieval or whatever, but who the hell sells their only daughter to a man over seventy just for money?’
Her fists clenched involuntarily.
‘How hopeless must she have felt…’
The reason behind the coughing, the collapse, the pain—she had swallowed poison. A desperate act to end it all.
‘What do I do now?’
Piece by piece, the puzzle came together. Eunchae’s heart sank.
‘Forget seeing the Crown Prince’s face—at this rate, I’ll end up as some seventy-year-old’s eighth wife.’
Two knights, thirty soldiers—guards and watchers, all at once. Eliana’s only way out had been suicide.
‘Dreamcatcher, my ass. This is a complete nightmare. And it’s not just an old man—it’s a disgusting pervert. This is beyond bad. This is hell.’
Maybe it was because she now occupied this body, but Eunchae felt a visceral, almost sickening understanding of why Eliana had chosen death.
“Dreamcatcher! I’m done! I’m not doing this—log me out, now!”
This wasn’t a time to hesitate—logging out was survival. Her thoughts raced.
She had to shut the system down before Amy returned. No time to waste.
[Initiating Dreamcatcher synchronization reversal. 1%, 2%, 3%, 9%…]
‘Unbelievable. I should’ve known when it said beta version.’
What was she expecting? This kind of sci-fi VR wasn’t supposed to exist yet.
‘I got my hopes up for nothing. I should just take it off and go to sleep…’
[Beep! System error detected. Synchronization reversal failed. Logout failed!]
Eunchae jolted upright. The AI’s calm voice hit her like a brick.
“Dreamcatcher! Log out! End the session!”
[Beep! System error detected. Logout failed!]
No matter how many times she shouted, nothing changed. Her consciousness was trapped in Eliana Acklera’s body.
“Hey! I have to go back—I start school again tomorrow! You hear me?”
Her chest tightened at the thought of the five million won tuition, earned through grueling part-time work, now hanging by a thread.
‘No! My five million won! I have to go back—I need to go back! Get me out of here! It’s not like I got hit by a truck or something…’
Kim Eunchae, 22 years old.
Never dated.
Now logged in to a body that was supposed to die.
Logout: Impossible.
* * *
“So pretty… Unreal.”
While Amy had gone to find the physician, Eunchae had managed to sit up, mesmerized by her reflection in the room’s small, cracked mirror.
‘If I had this face, no way I’d waste it by dying.’
Barely 160 cm tall, with a slender, fragile frame.
Her complexion was ghostly pale—a side effect of the poison—but her emerald eyes and silky silver hair, even under dim lighting, shimmered with a magical glow. Her small face was perfectly balanced; every feature distinct, expressive, and captivating.
She looked like something out of a fairy tale illustration—a living, breathing enchantment.
“Agh… My legs are shaking already.”
Of course, there was another standout feature: pathetically low stamina.
“Dreamcatcher! I can’t log out—what the hell can I do?”
Even just standing had her knees buckling. Eunchae hurried to wrap up her self-admiration before she collapsed.
[Auto-translation function active. Search and navigation features are available.]
Unexpectedly, the AI’s voice echoed in her mind again.
The system, which she’d thought completely fried, was responding.
“Genie? No—Dreamcatcher?”
[Yes. Please state your command.]
“Search how to disconnect. I want out of this.”
[Beep—System error detected. System integrity compromised. Initiating emergency recovery.]
“When will it finish? Hurry up already!”
[Collecting error data. Transmitting to developer.]
‘Recovery in progress? That means… I might still escape this mess.’
The thought gave her a sliver of hope. There was a chance, however small.
“How long will it take?”
[Wireless signal weak. Data transmission unstable.]
“Ugh! That ancient router! Totally useless!”
Eunchae cursed herself for not replacing her failing Wi-Fi router. She had been putting it off for weeks. Now, regret crashed over her like a wave.
‘So the system can recover… but there’s no telling when. No guarantee.’
She sat on the edge of the bed, trying to calmly process everything.
“Dreamcatcher! If I die in here, doesn’t that force a logout?”
A sudden idea struck her. Desperate times, desperate thoughts.
If she died while synchronized… would she wake up?
[Upon character death, synchronization will transfer to another available character.]
‘Damn it. I knew I should’ve quit when I saw it was a beta version…’
