Prince from another dimension becomes an Idol chapter 2

He didn’t know how the dinner ended.

Shoving food down his throat while sitting on pins and needles left him feeling queasy as he exited the dining hall.

The chefs who worked hard to prepare the best-tasting and best-looking dishes would be disappointed if they knew.

Not wanting to cause any unnecessary concern, Dojae maintained a blank expression to avoid worrying Chamberlain Kim or the palace staff.

He especially felt sorry for Chamberlain Kim, who always bore the brunt of the Emperor’s displeasure because of him.

“We’ve prepared your usual room. Please rest comfortably. If you need anything, feel free to call on the staff.”

“Chamberlain Kim, you must be tired too. Please go and rest.”

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll come to escort you in the morning.”

Chamberlain Kim bowed politely and left.

Dojae looked around his room, which had now become a ‘guest room.’

Instead of his musical instruments, only a small desk and a thick mattress remained, making the room feel empty.

Dojae took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie.

The soft sleepwear prepared by the palace staff had a delicate floral scent.

‘I’m enjoying luxury right now.’

As he changed into the sleepwear, Dojae tried to convince himself.

After changing, he turned on the TV hanging on the wall.

He couldn’t stand the now unfamiliar silence of the room.

The TV was broadcasting the ongoing pre-festival event.

— My heart doesn’t beat, without you…

The singer who had been rehearsing earlier was performing.

Dojae stared blankly at the screen.

He wasn’t asking for much more in life.

He knew that his current life was more than enough for some people.

But, there was one thing.

“My heart…”

Dojae, who had been singing along softly, stopped mid-sentence.

He wanted to sing.

Tsk. Before his feelings grew any stronger, Dojae hurriedly turned off the TV.

The room instantly fell silent again.

Dojae’s pale face was reflected on the dark TV screen like an afterimage.

“……”

Seeing his own face on the screen, a surge of emotion welled up inside him.

Though others might not understand, Dojae, who had dreams, couldn’t find any meaning in this life.

The words he hadn’t uttered since he was eighteen, when he received his first and last whipping from his father, the Emperor…

Eventually, Dojae spat them out like a curse.

“I want to be a singer… a singer.”

And at that moment.

“……!”

The black screen reflecting Dojae’s pale face shook violently.

In it was someone with the same face as Dojae…

But dressed entirely differently, clenching his teeth and expressing his frustration even more intensely.

“I want to die.”

“……”

“I don’t want to be a singer… anymore.”

Dojae, startled, touched his cheek with his hand.

The person on the screen was crying.

But Dojae’s cheek was dry.

“What… is this…”

As Dojae tried to stand up, unable to believe what he was seeing…

Thud!

Dojae collapsed right there.

When Dojae opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting in a pitch-black room with no lights on. It was a conference room with a large desk and several chairs. Dojae had never seen this place before.

‘Am I outside the palace…? Wait. Why did I suddenly collapse? Did I eat poison? Was it a terrorist attack? Kidnapping?’

Dojae looked around in confusion.

But he soon realized the reality.

If it were a kidnapping, his limbs wouldn’t be so free.

Dojae sighed and thought to himself.

‘Who would kidnap the third prince, who has no power and can’t do anything?’

Due to conflicts with the emperor, Dojae had been participating less in official events lately, making his presence faint.

Occasionally, he only came into the spotlight when Imperial Family photos became a topic of discussion or when people asked online, ‘What is the handsome youngest prince doing these days?’

Dojae raised his head and saw a large monitor installed on the wall.

His reflection on the dark monitor looked unfamiliar.

“What the…”

His clothes and hairstyle were different.

He was wearing a shabby gray tracksuit and had dyed his hair brown.

It was just like the person he saw on TV before he collapsed…!

Dojae hurriedly touched his cheek.

It was damp, as if he had been crying a lot.

At that moment, he felt dizzy again.

Creak. The office door opened.

Dojae stared blankly at the light coming through the open door from the hallway.

“What are you doing here, Kang Dojae? We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“……”

“It’s your turn soon. Come to the practice room. Hurry.”

The person who opened the door spoke bluntly.

No one in the Korean Empire spoke to Dojae in that manner.

‘He didn’t even call me Lee Dojae… he called me Kang Dojae.’

That’s right. Dojae was now ‘Kang Dojae.’

The flood of memories that had just swept through his mind belonged to the owner of this body, ‘Kang Dojae.’

Because of those memories, Dojae could identify the man he had never seen before.

He also knew exactly where the practice room was.

‘Have I possessed someone else’s body?’

However, it didn’t feel like someone else since the face was the same.

“Hey, aren’t you coming?”

The man urged Dojae again before turning and walking away.

Rising in a daze, Dojae suddenly felt pain in his ankle.

Dojae had never injured his ankle before.

Even when he collapsed, he hadn’t twisted his ankle.

Living as an Imperial member, Dojae had never experienced physical pain before.

Dojae inspected his body again.

His hands had many small cuts.

When he rolled up his pants, he saw bruises around his calves.

This body was definitely not Lee Dojae’s but ‘Kang Dojae’s.’

Even though the face and body shape were exactly the same as his original ‘Lee Dojae.’

“It looks exactly the same, but it’s not my body…”

It was absurd.

There was something else.

Dojae noticed something strange in ‘Kang Dojae’s’ memories.

Enduring the pain in his ankle, Dojae stepped into the hallway.

He fished a phone out of his pocket.

Walking down the hallway, he opened the internet browser.

The first portal site that appeared wasn’t one he often visited in the Korean Empire.

[Republic of Korea]

Yes, just as ‘Kang Dojae’s’ memories indicated, this was not the Korean Empire but the Republic of Korea.

Not the Kingdom of Korea, but the Republic of Korea.

The search results confirmed that the historical knowledge and memories ‘Kang Dojae’ had from middle and high school were accurate.

This world operated on those facts.

‘Republic of Korea… a name I’ve never heard, yet it uses Hangeul and shares the same history as the Korean Empire.’

Their histories were identical up to the Imjin War (Japanese invasions of Korea).

Afterward, they began to diverge slightly, becoming completely different during King Jeongjo’s reign.

Modern civilization development was similar, but there were slight differences.

A world that seemed similar but was different.

‘A parallel world?’

Thinking this far, Dojae considered the idea of parallel worlds.

‘Can something like that actually exist?’

Dojae, not a scientist or an expert on the universe, couldn’t prove the parallel universe hypothesis at that moment.

However, the situation he was in was evidence of its existence.

Examining the messages on the phone, Dojae realized that the newly acquired knowledge and memories were all true.

“Sigh.”

A sigh escaped him.

He was still confused and bewildered.

‘Then where did the owner of this body, Kang Dojae, go? Could it be…’

Had their souls been switched?

As this shocking hypothesis formed, Dojae found himself standing in front of the practice room door.