Chapter 0. Prologue
The Wish of the Lamp
4:00 a.m.
My eyes opened before the alarm even went off.
It was a habit.
After working at a heavy industries site for more than twenty years, my body woke up on its own.
"Haah..."
I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling.
My back hurt.
My shoulders hurt.
My knees hurt too.
Forty-eight years old.
Young if you wanted to call it young.
Old if you wanted to call it old.
An awkward age.
I picked up my phone and checked the time.
04:02.
I had no intention of trying to sleep again.
I got up.
I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
After pouring myself a glass of cold water, I drank it down.
A blood glucose meter sat on the dining table.
Diabetes.
The damn thing had been following me around for years.
The doctor told me to drink less.
Quit smoking.
Exercise.
And why were there so many things I wasn't supposed to eat?
There was no fun left in life.
My son was asleep on the living room sofa.
He must have passed out while gaming.
He was at that age where he never listened.
I quietly opened my daughter's bedroom door.
She was asleep with her blanket kicked off.
A small laugh escaped me.
"You'll catch a cold."
I covered her with the blanket and closed the door again.
The master bedroom was empty.
My wife was working the night shift.
She was a nurse.
A job where she saved lives.
Thanks to that, we barely saw each other.
When I left for work, she was sleeping.
When I came home, she was getting ready to leave.
Even our days off rarely matched.
Sometimes, it felt less like we were married and more like we were roommates.
I took the bus to work.
Dawn in Ulsan always looked the same.
Factory chimneys.
Cargo trucks.
People on their way to work.
Cigarette smoke.
And exhausted faces.
"Hey."
"Yeah."
"Drinks tonight?"
"Obviously."
"Hahaha."
It was Seungman.
I'd known the bastard for more than twenty years.
The friend I trusted most in the world.
I worked all day.
Moved steel plates.
Welded.
Got yelled at.
Sweated.
Got yelled at again.
The hours passed quickly.
I got off work at eight in the evening.
When I returned home, no one was there.
My wife was at the hospital.
My daughter was at her academy.
My son was at a friend's house.
A dark, empty home.
It was a familiar sight.
I cracked open a can of beer and turned on the TV.
The news came on.
Murder.
Robbery.
Kidnapping.
Sex crimes.
Fraud.
War.
Drugs.
"Haah."
I changed the channel.
Another crime.
Another accident.
Someone else died.
Someone else got arrested.
Something else exploded.
"What a world..."
I took a sip of beer.
"Dirty as hell."
But none of it belonged to my world.
They were just stories on television.
I was nothing more than an ordinary middle-aged man working in Ulsan.
At least, that was what I thought.
Until that day.
It was the weekend.
For once, the entire family had the day off.
"Dad, let's go to the beach!"
"The beach!"
And so I ended up getting dragged there.
The beach was packed with people.
We put up a parasol and spread out a mat.
Then I immediately lay down.
"Dad, aren't you going to play?"
"Too much work."
"Dad, you're old."
"Shut up."
My daughter and son laughed as they ran toward the water.
I didn't know how long I'd been asleep.
Then I suddenly heard a scream.
"Dad!!"
My eyes snapped open.
My daughter was being swept away by the waves.
"Hey!!"
My body moved before I could even think.
I ran straight into the sea.
Cold seawater.
Violent waves.
I grabbed my daughter.
Pulled a tube around her.
Held her tightly.
And somehow dragged us back to shore.
"Are you insane?!"
"I'm sorry..."
"Were you trying to die?!"
My daughter cried.
My son stood nearby, watching nervously.
And then...
That was when it happened.
"Dad."
"What?"
"I found this."
My son held something out to me.
An old metal lamp.
It was covered in sand.
"Where'd you get this?"
"Near those rocks."
I turned the lamp over in my hands.
"An antique?"
And immediately...
Money entered my head.
"Think this thing's worth something?"
My son shrugged.
That night.
The kids were asleep.
The house was quiet.
I sat at the dining table, staring at the lamp.
"No way."
I chuckled.
"Wouldn't it be hilarious if a real Genie came out?"
As a joke, I rubbed the lamp with my hand.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
And then...
"Huh?"
The lamp began to glow.
Blue smoke shot all the way up to the ceiling.
I dropped my beer can.
"What the fuck?!"
A massive figure slowly took shape inside the smoke.
And then the being spoke.
"At last, you have awakened me."
"I am the Genie of the Lamp, the spirit who grants wishes."
"I shall grant you three wishes."
"...Seriously?"
The Genie smiled.
And at that moment...
I still had no idea.
That my life...
No.
That the entire world...
was about to be turned upside down.
Chapter 1. This Is Actually Real?
"So..."
I stared blankly at the blue giant floating in front of me.
The beer can I'd been holding had fallen to the floor and rolled to the other side of the living room.
But picking it up was the last thing on my mind.
The living room, which should have been illuminated by its usual familiar lights, was now completely covered in a strange blue glow.
Just a moment ago, it had been an ordinary night.
The kids were sleeping in their rooms.
My wife was working the night shift.
And I had been alone in the living room, drinking a can of beer while watching TV.
It was the end of a completely normal day.
Nothing special.
Nothing strange.
Yet now, something impossible was floating in front of me.
It looked exactly like something you'd see in an old children's story or a movie.
A huge being with blue skin stood with his arms crossed, looking down at me.
No matter how I looked at him...
He was a Genie.
A real one.
"Speak your three wishes. Anything is possible."
For a while, I couldn't say anything.
My brain understood what was happening.
Common sense simply refused to accept it.
"...Seriously?"
That was all I managed to say.
The Genie stared at me in disbelief before letting out a deep sigh.
"Over the last several thousand years, I have met countless humans, yet their reactions are always the same."
For some reason, hearing that snapped me back to my senses.
I jumped off the sofa and walked toward him.
Then I carefully reached out and touched his body.
There was definitely something beneath my fingertips.
"Huh?"
Without thinking, I touched him again.
He was real.
Not an illusion.
And I wasn't hallucinating because I was drunk.
"Wait. So I can seriously make wishes?"
"Yes."
The moment I heard that short answer, my heart started pounding like crazy.
Three wishes.
Anything was possible.
Once I accepted that fact, countless possibilities raced through my mind.
Money?
Become rich?
Own buildings?
Become some sort of tycoon?
But I quickly shook my head.
That was too obvious.
Of course money was nice.
I wasn't one of those people who pretended money didn't matter.
Money made life easier.
It gave you options.
But money alone didn't guarantee happiness.
I had lived for forty-eight years.
I wouldn't claim to understand everything about the world, but I knew at least one thing.
Money was not a magic key that solved every problem in life.
Then if I had been given an opportunity like this...
I should choose things money couldn't buy.
I slowly raised my head.
"All right. First wish."
The Genie smiled with interest.
"Speak."
At that moment, I remembered a documentary I'd once watched on my computer.
A creature so tiny compared to a human that it was practically a speck of dust.
Yet when it came to survival, it was absurdly powerful.
"A tardigrade."
The Genie's expression froze.
"...A tardigrade?"
"Yeah."
"That tiny bug?"
"It's not a bug. Those things are incredible."
I even waved my finger around as I explained.
"They can withstand extreme pressure, radiation, even survive in space. They can endure without oxygen, survive the cold, survive heat..."
The Genie simply stared at me.
I didn't hesitate.
"Give me those abilities."
Silence lasted for several seconds.
Then suddenly, the Genie grabbed his stomach.
"Puhahahahaha!"
"What?"
"No, it's just... Humans usually ask for immortality, absolute authority, world domination, things like that."
"I'm not like that."
"And your first wish is a tardigrade."
Still laughing, the Genie snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Blue light flashed.
Something entered my body.
"Ugh?!"
My entire body instantly became scorching hot.
It wasn't merely a fever.
My bones.
My muscles.
My blood.
My organs.
Everything that made up my body felt as though it was boiling all at once.
"Aaargh!"
I collapsed onto the floor and curled into a ball.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
I had no idea how much time passed.
Then the unbearable pain vanished as if it had never existed.
"Huff... Huff..."
I lay on the floor drenched in sweat, breathing heavily.
"It is done."
"...What's different?"
The Genie grinned.
"Check for yourself."
"How?"
"Do you have a knife?"
I had a bad feeling.
Still, I went to the kitchen and brought back a small fruit knife.
"Don't tell me..."
"Cut yourself."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
After hesitating for a moment, I carefully sliced my palm.
Slash!
"Ow!"
Sharp pain came with a stream of blood.
So pain was still pain.
"See? I'm bleeding..."
I couldn't finish the sentence.
The open wound began to move.
My eyes widened as I stared at my palm.
The skin wriggled almost like a living creature, and the cut rapidly closed.
It didn't even take five seconds.
The wound vanished completely.
Not even a scar remained.
"...Holy shit."
I turned my hand over several times.
Nothing changed.
"Wow."
This time, genuine admiration escaped me.
"Wow... Wow! This is actually real?!"
The Genie nodded with satisfaction.
"Next."
Now that I had confirmed the first wish was real, there was no reason to hesitate anymore.
"Second wish. Teleportation."
"Anywhere?"
"Anywhere."
"Even space?"
I went quiet for a moment.
Just imagining it was terrifying.
"...That's a little scary."
The Genie chuckled and snapped his fingers again.
Snap!
My head became slightly dizzy.
And then it was over.
I blinked.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"That was kind of underwhelming."
"Try it."
Still doubtful, I looked out through the living room window.
It seemed smarter to start somewhere nearby.
I pictured the rooftop of my apartment building.
And the instant I did...
Whoosh!
The world flipped.
The scenery changed in an instant.
Cold night air brushed across my face.
I was standing in the middle of the apartment rooftop.
"...Huh?"
I looked down.
It was definitely my apartment building.
"What the hell is this?"
I couldn't stop myself from laughing.
"This is insane. Seriously insane."
About ten seconds later, I pictured the living room again.
And instantly, I returned to where I had been.
Teleportation worked too.
Now I had only one wish left.
I looked at the Genie.
"Last one."
"Yes."
"Superhuman strength."
The Genie asked,
"How much?"
Once I actually had to define it, I wasn't sure.
"Superman level is impossible, right?"
"Impossible."
Apparently, there were limits after all.
After thinking for a moment, I came up with a comparison.
"Then... enough strength to lift a ship?"
"A small boat, you mean?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"A big ship."
This time the Genie silently stared at me for quite a while.
I wondered if I had asked for too much.
Then the corners of his mouth rose.
"Possible."
Fwoosh!
Blinding light wrapped around my entire body.
Unlike my first wish, there was no pain.
Instead, tremendous power erupted from somewhere inside me.
Every muscle, every bone, every nerve felt as though it were being reborn as something completely different.
Eventually, the light faded.
"...That's it?"
"That is all."
I slowly clenched my fist.
Pop!
That was all I did.
Yet the air around my fist trembled.
My expression stiffened.
"Wait. Isn't this seriously dangerous?"
"Of course it is."
The Genie had been smiling.
But for the first time, his expression became serious.
"However, remember this."
"...?"
"Your powers will not last forever."
My excitement vanished instantly.
"...What does that mean?"
"They will disappear someday."
"When?"
"There is a condition."
"What condition?"
But the Genie didn't answer.
Instead, his enormous body gradually began to fade into smoke.
"Hey! What condition?!"
I rushed toward him.
"Tell me!"
But the Genie kept smiling until the very end.
"Discover it yourself."
With those words, the blue light scattered.
The Genie vanished completely.
The strange glow that had filled the living room disappeared with him.
The house became completely ordinary again, as though nothing had happened.
I stood there for a long time without speaking.
The beer can I'd dropped earlier was still lying on the floor.
Everything felt like a dream.
But the palm I'd cut with a knife didn't have so much as a mark on it.
I had teleported.
Just clenching my fist had made the air tremble.
It was all real.
Then...
What was I supposed to do with these abilities?
I stared at the lamp for a long time before muttering to myself.
"...Starting tomorrow."
A slow smile spread across my face.
"Maybe I'll start with Sinan."
At the time, I had no idea.
That the casual choice I'd just made would completely change my life.
That I would travel beyond Korea, pass through countless countries, and eventually wander across the entire world.
And that this was only the true beginning of my three wishes.
