Lee Minjoon and Seo Eunhye, a recently married couple, held the baby tight on their chest.
“Our baby, he’s so cute…” said the wife.
The baby laughed. At the smile, Minjoon and Eunhye collapsed with a grip on their chests.
From the blessings of the heavens, they were blessed with an ever so gentle child. He did not need much nor did he cause his parents antagonizing troubles.
Other married couples envied Minjoon and Eunhye. They too wished for their child to behave like the baby.
“Seojoon, our cute little baby. We love you so very much…”
“Papa… Papa…” smiling too cutely, the baby called the father’s name.
Minjoon and Eunhye’s heart melted.
Their offspring, Seojoon, was only a baby but already he had round sparkling eyes and sharp features. The baby’s face was like sunshine in the spring. He was an adorable existence.
“Hnnngh…” tired, Seojoon yawned.
Eunhye patted Seojoon’s chest and gently laid him down on the crib while Minjoon pressed a button on the CD player that was resting atop the drawer.
Soon, a piece of melodic and serene music gently flowed out.
***
Baby Lee Seojoon’s big eyes fluttered open.
‘Umm… it’s so big,’Seojoon thought.
The door in front of him was far too conspicuous and large. It was the door leading to the library and contained all the memories of his previous life.
A baby’s hand as big as a maple leaf pushed the big library door forward, but it didn’t budge.
This was a given.
At times he’d be born with substandard intelligence, preventing him from opening all the doors to his memories.
He called this substandard intelligencefoolish. It unwittingly absorbed the ability of the outside body to look beyond its limit. The door would remain shut and never to open several times in his life.
‘Let’s give up this door.’
Seojoon waved his hand and the large door disappeared sideways and a smaller one appeared in front of him.
His library of memories had many doors and each one had a standard requirement. Much of the lives he lived had substandard intelligence.
In short… the larger the capacity of intelligence his body could hold, the larger the door, the smaller the capacity of intelligence, the smaller the door.
The size of the book with all his previous memories also varied. If he had lived a long life, the book would be big and thick and the opposite of the lives he lived was short-lived.
Seojoon kept waving his hand. The doors kept growing smaller and smaller. He passed through doors that were five-story long… three-story… till finally, he came to a blue-colored door the size of a dog house. It was the smallest library he had.
‘It’s the library that was built when I was a slime.’
Seojoon once lived the life of a slime, a fool who died three days after his birth. He sighed, sitting in front of the small door and agonizing over his embarrassing slime life.
The appearance of the library changed alongside the present body he held. He was a baby now—a seven-month-old human.
He could only lay on the floor while looking at the library door. Sometimes he’d flip his body over, but that was all he could do other than positioning himself to a sitting posture.
‘If it were any other time… I’d already been able to open it…’
It was a simple door. All he needed to do was touch the door of the library. Seojoon raised his legs and kicked into the air.
A failure…
‘The growth of a human child is too slow.’
The only books he was able to look at were useless books such as slime books that consisted of hopping and jumping or fairy books that taught one how to fly.
Whenever he passed away only to be reborn, the memories he had previously were recorded down and compiled into a book. He couldn’t remember much of the lives he lived. Some had been forgotten.
Since it was his first time to live the life of a human, he needed to look at the necessary books that were appropriate to this world.
‘Well… I don’t think I need to look at it now…’
He was just a baby who did nothing but eat and sleep. Though the moment that he was born, he had practiced theelves’ basic breathing methodsince he was conscious of his new life.
His handsome looks, which shone ephemerally, were all thanks to the basic breathing techniques of the elves.
Seojoon lowered his legs, which kicked around in the air a while ago. Using his legs, he propped himself up and turned around. Flipping had become an easy feat.
‘Hmm?’
As he turned, he saw a very small door next to the dog house. Apart from the small door, the next one next to it was dusty, dark, and black. If he hadn’t noticed it, the black door would remain hidden.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this before…’
Seojoon tilted his head, curiosity filling his mind. He reached out and pushed the door open. Slowly, it creaked.
He crawled towards the door and shoved his head inside. There, he saw a simple book—a book he had never seen before.
He grabbed the book and pulled it out of the door. It looked old. No, it was old. Dust covered the book and he blew on the book, causing the dust to fly away.
Slowly, Seojoon opened the book.
It was in Korean.
…This was his first life.
The only life remembered as a human was that of an unnamed actor. He couldn’t remember how he died.
He read through the book slowly. It was written in awkward hangul.
It was an interesting memory.
He lived as a man but the memories he had were blurred and he felt like it was the life of someone else and not his. But he tried to become an actor. He had failed and ultimately died in an accident while filming.
‘Umm…’
There was a short sentence written at the end of the book. This must’ve been his last thought before dying.
「I want to be an actor even if I’m born again. I want to be the main character in my next life.」
Baby Seojoon looked at the sentence in silence. His heart felt jumpy and jittery. He wondered if there was a time where he had lived a hard, difficult life as this man.
No, there was not.
He could only remember that he’d been too busy surviving. Later on, he’d get bored with life.
Baby Seojoon snorted. Somehow, the book had influenced his thoughts.
‘OK! Let’s do it. I’ll become an actor!’
The baby looked at the book in front of him.
‘No.’
He patted the book as if to console himself, the previous him who had died in vain.
‘Why stop at being an actor? You should be a superstar… an idol.’
Yes… he’ll become an idol who’ll forever go down in the annals of history.
This was the promise baby Seojoon made in front of the book and the man who once had aspirations before dying.\n