Chapter 4

The room was dark.

Something strange happened in the bedroom.

The man, dressed in a trunk and running shorts, lay sprawled out with the blanket half-draped over his legs, sound asleep. He was short, fat, bald, and very ugly, but something strange was happening to his body.

The sound of bones cracking and stretching.

It was a human body, not a doll.

Despite the fact that this should not happen to a human, the man surprisingly did not die and remained deeply asleep.

The strange noise of bones being pulled and stretched continued for a while, and then suddenly stopped. It seemed that all the necessary bones had been adjusted and extended. Then, a different kind of strange noise began, which was somewhat different from the previous one.

Of course, this noise was also strange.

It sounded like meat sizzling on a grill or blood being squeezed out, and the situation was indeed bizarre. As this strange phenomenon seemed to be coming to an end, the noise gradually subsided, and a new change began.

All the openings in the man's body were open, and a dark liquid was flowing out. Although the liquid varied slightly depending on the opening, each one emitted a terrible odor. If the man had been awake, he would have probably clamped his nose and fled, as the smell was overwhelmingly foul.

Snore!

Yet, the man showed no signs of waking.

He was still sprawled out, sound asleep.

Was such a thing possible?

It seemed so, given that the man was still alive and sleeping.

But even more bizarre was that the waste that had been flowing out had now stopped.

It was clear that everything had come out of the openings.

Flash!

Then, a light radiated from the sleeping man.

A mysterious and luminous light.

After a moment, the light disappeared.

Float!

As if to signify that the entire process had been completed, the man floated up from the bed.

After a moment,

Creak!

The man came back down to the bed.

His appearance looked like a work of art, sculpted to perfection.

A complete transformation!

The man before and after sleep looked like two different people.

Although this was not a normal phenomenon,

It had clearly happened here,

And the man was still deeply asleep.

The only difference was that,

Compared to when the process was happening,

The man now had a happy expression on his face.

It seemed that, while he appeared to be sound asleep without feeling any pain, the events that had just unfolded in his subconscious might have been like a dream.

*

I had a strange dream.

Or maybe I'm still having it. I felt as if someone was pulling, pressing, and bending my body, but I accepted it as if it were happening to someone else, like a sleepwalker.

Perhaps because I didn't feel any pain.

It felt as if my senses were temporarily blocked, and I didn't feel any pain even as my bones were being bent and stretched.

I also didn't feel as if I were in an incredibly hot furnace, but it wasn't unbearably hot.

And what was even more amazing was that,

After the process ended, I felt something being expelled through my pores, and it was an indescribable pleasure.

It felt as if all the unnecessary things in my body had been pulled out, leaving me feeling incredibly light and refreshed.

After all the processes were completed, a luminous light enveloped me, and my body, now as light as a feather, floated up into the air. When I was laid back down on the bed, I felt so comfortable and happy that I couldn't help but smile.

Ding ding ding! Good morning!

The alarm clock rang, signaling the start of the day.

Was it just a dream? Yes, it was a strange dream.

Fumbling around,

I reached out to the side of the bed while still closed-eyed and touched my phone to turn off the alarm.

Since I was awake, I needed to get up.

“Ugh!”

I sat up in bed.

If I lingered, I would want to stay in bed.

Today is a meaningful day.

It's my first morning here after buying the hill. I plan to have a joyful and energetic day. Although I'm living alone, I'll eat breakfast, go to the garden, and climb the hill.

“But what a bizarre dream.”

I had a truly strange dream last night.

I usually don't dream much, but this one was definitely the strangest I've ever had.

In the dream, my bones were being bent and stretched, and my flesh was being burned, but I didn't feel any pain. However, I vaguely remembered experiencing these things as if they were real.

“If someone went through that, they would be dead, not alive.”

I chuckled and got out of bed.

It was just a dream. Although it was bizarre, I decided to shake it off.

At that moment,

“What is this smell?”

I pinched my nose and scrunched up my face.

It was an incredibly foul smell. The bedroom, where I had slept, was filled with a nauseating odor. I must have farted a lot in my sleep.

Creak!

I quickly opened the window.

Although the fresh morning air flowed in, the smell was still there.

Moreover, what was even more surprising was that

The bed I had slept in was a mess.

“Wow! What did I do all night?”

While sleeping, I had somehow made the bed sheets and blankets completely soaked with a dark liquid.

Not only that,

The liquid was also sticky on my underwear and limbs, and my hair was matted and sticky as if I hadn't washed it for a month.

“What is this?”

I didn't have time to complain.

The smell was so foul that I quickly stripped off my underwear. I rolled up the bed sheets and blankets and took them to the laundry room.

Shower!

I went into the bathroom and washed myself several times.

The smell didn't easily go away, so I used soap multiple times.

After washing, I dried my hair with a towel and looked in the mirror.

“Wow! Incredible!”

What had happened overnight?

There was something strange about my legs.

I had felt something odd while washing, but the smell had distracted me, and I didn't have time to examine it closely. However, the reflection in the mirror was definitely not my original size.

What about my abdomen?

My protruding belly had become smooth.

It had even turned into a six-pack.

“What about my hair?”

I hadn't noticed that my hair had grown longer because it was so matted.

Now, I could see that my hair had changed.

The M-shaped bald spot was gone, and my bangs had become thick. My hair was now so full that it changed my appearance.

I am thirty years old,

But the reflection in the mirror looked like someone in their early twenties.

“Am I still dreaming?”

I couldn't adapt to my new state and stood there in shock for a while before slapping myself.

Smack!

My cheek stung.

It seemed I wasn't dreaming.

A stranger was in the mirror.

Is that me?

Is it really me?

The phenomenon was hard to believe, and I repeatedly opened and closed my mouth in shock.

“Wow! How tall am I now?”

My height, which was 162 cm, had grown significantly.

I looked at least 180 cm tall.

“My face has changed too…”

I had always thought my face was ugly, but it wasn't.

My jawline was sharp.

My nose was higher, and my eyes were bigger.

My skin had improved dramatically.

All the acne scars were gone.

“Wow! Is this real?”

I had changed so beautifully.

It was like the utopia I had dreamed of.

I had always felt inferior about my appearance, but now I looked like a top-tier model.

“Is that really me?”

The reflection in the mirror was me.

When I smiled, it smiled, and when I frowned, it frowned.

“Yikes!”

Not satisfied with slapping myself, I pinched my arm this time. The pain confirmed that it wasn't a dream.

“Unbelievable…”

Then, there was only one answer.

I had drunk the mysterious liquid I found on the hill yesterday.

It was a milky, mysterious liquid.

I had only taken one sip.

I hadn't done anything else.

“Was it really the ginseng oil?”

The transformation in the novels.

My current appearance was definitely that.

Although it was hard to believe, I had encountered a rare opportunity.

There was no other way to explain my transformation.

I hadn't noticed any changes yesterday, but overnight, it had transformed me so beautifully.

“I need to go to the hill right away!”

I couldn't waste any more time.

I rushed out.

Although my jogging suit was now too short at the ankles and wrists due to my increased height, it wasn't important right now.

There was an incredible liquid in the hill.

One sip had done this much.

If I could bring back more, it might save dying patients and even grant eternal youth.

I grabbed an empty water bottle.

I planned to scoop up all the water from the rock.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

I ran up to the middle of the hill without stopping.

Despite the intense physical change, I wasn't out of breath at all.

“Here it is!”

I reached the spot from yesterday.

But the rock was gone.

The turtle-shaped rock had disappeared as if it had run away overnight.

Without the rock, the water was naturally gone too.

“This is… definitely the right place?”

I looked around the ground.

There were fern stems and leaves that confirmed I was in the right place.

The leaf I had used to scoop the water was half-folded and lying in the bushes.

So, I had definitely found the right spot, but the turtle rock had vanished.

“Wow! It's like a ghost story.”

It felt like a dream.

If I hadn't tasted the water yesterday and just gone down the hill, what would have happened?

“If I hadn't, I would still look the same.”

I had made the right decision to follow my instincts.

The one sip I had taken with the leaf might have been the right amount for me.

“Hahaha!”

I burst out laughing.

I was so happy to have encountered this rare opportunity.

If I had greedily drunk a lot of the water yesterday, what would have happened?

“It might have been disastrous.”

My ordinary body might not have been able to handle the immense power, and I might have died.

“I'll go back down.”

Although I had come up for nothing, I whistled and walked down the hill with the empty bottle, feeling good.

Buying this hill might have been the best luck of my life.

It looked like an ordinary hill, but it clearly held a mysterious secret.