Daniel Park died at twenty-seven doing the thing he did best: overworking himself for money that still wasn't enough. He remembered everything — the flickering office lights, the bitter instant coffee, the late-night exhaustion, and the sharp pain in his chest before everything went silent.
He expected darkness.
Instead, he opened his eyes in a room he'd never seen before.
A small dorm.
A desk cluttered with notebooks.
A cheap fan humming in the corner.
A face mask and a half-used bottle of sanitizer on the nightstand.
He sat up, confused.
Then he froze when he saw the calendar on the wall: March 2020.
"Wait… 2020?!"
Daniel scrambled to the mirror. A much younger face stared back at him—smooth skin, bright eyes, no stress wrinkles.
He was eighteen again.
"…No way."
But reality hit fast when he looked outside. Students in masks walked across the Hunter College campus. Cars honked in the distance. A siren wailed somewhere in Manhattan. It was unmistakably New York City.
Then he noticed the poster taped above the desk:
A blonde pop star with a familiar face, but the name was wrong.
Stella Swyft — New Album Out Now!"
Daniel blinked.
"That's Taylor Swift… but not."
Parallel Earth.
Same world.
Same locations.
Same culture.
But famous people had different names.
If that changed, then his future knowledge couldn't be 100% trusted.
Before he had time to panic, a sudden DING went off inside his skull.
A blue holographic screen unfolded in front of him.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
Skill Acquisition System v1.0 Activated
Welcome, User: Daniel Park
Status: Regressed — Age 18
Location: Hunter College, Manhattan, New York City
Year: 2020 — Pandemic Active (Parallel Variant Detected)
Daniel stared.
"…A system? I… actually got a system!?"
Another notification popped up.
[New Mission Available]
He tapped it.
MISSION 001: Walk Forward 10 Steps
Reward: 1 Random Skill
Failure: Seriously?
Daniel sighed and did exactly that. Ten steps across the dorm.
DING!
MISSION COMPLETE
Reward Granted: Random Skill Unlocked
Please be combat.
Medicine.
Programming.
Something useful
The screen flashed.
Congratulations!
You have obtained: BASIC TRASH SORTING MASTERY
Daniel froze.
"…What."
A description followed.
Expert-level proficiency in identifying and sorting waste according to NYC sanitation rules. Includes compost knowledge.
He slowly sat back down on the bed.
"I died… came back… and my first skill is trash management?"
Another calm message appeared.
[SYSTEM NOTE]
Fame Points and Cash Credits increase with mission success.
Parallel-Earth differences may interfere with future knowledge.
Use caution.
Daniel inhaled sharply.
He had future knowledge — but the world was different.
He had a younger body — but the timeline wasn't exact.
He had a system — but his first skill was basically glorified recycling.
And worst of all…
It was 2020 — the year everything went wrong.
He grabbed the face mask from the nightstand and stood at the door.
"Fine. Let's try this again… smarter this time."
The system chimed again, the next mission already ticking down.
Daniel Park, eighteen, reborn, confused, traumatized, and now a master of trash sorting, stepped out into the chaotic world of New York City, 2020.
His second life had officially begun.