The Elevator (Part 3)

View Part 1 of The Elevator.
View Part 2 of The Elevator.

God only knows what that creep had been doing with my girlfriend’s body all day, but at least now I was the one inside of it. I didn’t even want to think about what he was now doing with that businesswoman’s body, but it was no longer my concern.

The building was closing now, and I couldn’t hang out in the lobby anymore. I stood outside waiting as the last people funneled out for the night. There was no sign of her. Maybe she passed by earlier, and it just didn’t register with me since she had the body of that creep. (I hadn’t seen my own body either, but I’d worry about that next.)

I decided to head back to my girlfriend’s place. If she had left the building, maybe she’d be there. I had to be careful how I sat on the subway with my girlfriend’s short skirt; I kept having to remind myself I was a woman now.

When I finally got there, her roommate had told me about a weirdo that had stopped by looking for “me.” They eventually had to call the police. I could only assume that her, trapped in that creep’s body. I could just go down to the police station, pick her up, and we’d go down to the elevator in the morning. I’d be stuck as that awful dude, but at least I could get her back to normal...

Up the Mountain

“We know that thing that swapped our bodies is somewhere up in the mountain. I’m going to go up there, catch it, and force it to swap us back to normal,” Jack declared. He certainly didn’t want to. He didn’t want to put himself (and Emi’s body) at risk. But he had the training (even if he was worried Emi’s body didn’t have the stamina).

“I’m coming too!” Emi tried to pipe in.

Jack shook his head, “No, I can’t risk you. You’ll be fine. I have savings set up under my name.If I don’t come back, you can survive as me. You’ll be able to cope.”

“And you can survive just fine as me! You don’t need to chase after this thing!”

Jack thought about it, but he didn’t want to be stuck as a woman for the rest of his life. He knew he could do this...

Restrictions Apply

With all the fake props at the local comic convention, finding an actual magic lamp was probably unheard of -- of course, finding a magic lamp anywhere was probably unheard of -- but that’s exactly what Jared found. When the genie came out, Jared was thankful he was away from the crowd, and the sheer amount of cosplayers meant the genie could walk around without being noticed. Then the genie gave the rules. Apparently, Jared couldn’t wish for anything deemed to be “too big” or “too disruptive.” Jared asked how he would know, and the genie just explained that he’d let Jared know.

So Jared tried wishing for money, fame, and love; all of which the genie deemed to be ungrantable. In an effort to just get anything from the genie, he wished for the best costume at the convention. The genie nodded, but instead of upgrading Jared’s outfit, he swapped Jared’s body with the woman who had just won Best Costume.

Jared was getting more and more frustrated with the genie at this point. He would have to use at least one of his remaining wishes in order to get his own body back, and then he’d only have one left. Of course, that is assuming he could find something, anything the genie would actually grant him that didn’t involve swapping bodies with someone!

Recognized (Part 1)

Jason was quite proud of his invention. He could just input a few specifications, and his body would be completely transformed into anything he wanted. He had used data from various beautiful models to turn himself into a gorgeous woman. Then he went for a walk in the park.

Apparently, he didn’t make his inputs generic enough, as he was recognized fairly quickly. And with fashion week happening just a few blocks away, he was ushered to a place where he was told he was supposed to be. Now he was starting to wonder if he was going to accidently run into the woman he now appeared to be...

Biases

Diego could see the car’s owner looking at him with skepticism. He would’ve assumed the Great Shift would’ve broken down traditional gender roles, but it still seemed people weren’t used to seeing a female mechanic (even those who may have switched genders in the Shift themselves). Diego hadn’t even been a woman before the Shift -- though it’s not like that REALLY mattered. All that mattered was that he was good at fixing cars. In fact, he was the best in town (with some of the lowest prices), but all of that didn’t matter for people that couldn’t get over their own biases. He was sure this person wouldn’t come back next time. Though he’d still do a good job -- maybe so good he wouldn’t need to bring it into any shop for a long time.

So Wrong, Right?

“I told you we shouldn’t have come here,” Jeffrey lectured his husband Curtis, “I warned you that this country was not tolerant of gay people!”

“The resort said it wasn’t a problem! I assumed they got some sort of exemption or something!” Curtis tried to defend himself.

“It not a problem, because apparently when I went through that cute little jungle patch from our hotel to the beach, it transformed me into a woman so we could be their stupid ideal of a couple. I got to admit, I’m a little more than grossed out here, Curtis.”

“Well, I’m not. In fact, I --” Curtis paused as he looked Jeffrey up and down, “Ew, Jeffrey! That jungle! I think! I think it made me straight! I think I’m more in love with you like this. And, ew, that’s so wrong, right?”

Anomaly

It started with the screens at the electronics store glitching, then the lights flickered, but then the strange electrical anomaly began to affect people. When it hit Martin’s head, he felt paralyzed for a moment before it then seemed to release him. But the anomaly apparently also teleported the contents of his brain across the store and into a completely different body! He wanted to feel horrified as he looked down at the leather dress now on his very female body, but instead he felt happy. He wondered if that was still the anomaly’s electrical inpulses triggering the pleasure center of his brain. It should, after all, be shocking to have one’s electrical pathways placed into a new body, but instead of panicking, Martin was feeling alright.

Dance Class

When Mason was little, he always used to ask his mom to sign him up for ballet class. She would always refuse, telling him that ballet wasn’t for boys. Even through high school, he would ask and she would say no. When he finally went off to college, he had mostly forgotten about it as he focused on his studies.

But on winter break when he returned home, the Great Shift struck. Suddenly Mason was now inside the body of his own mother. He recalled asking about ballet class, and he now insisted, since he was technically female now.

As so he showed up to the first class in his mom’s body with a tutu. He paid attention to the teacher and was ready to try things out. Of course, his mom’s body was nearly 50 years old, so it didn’t move quite like a youthful ballerina might, but he was still damned determined to make it work. He had dreamed of this for 20 years!

PhD Thesis

Vincent had been working on his PhD thesis about electro-neural pathways, and he developed a theory about hooking up wires to just the right spots in order to read people’s thoughts. He had asked his friend Ayumi to help test it out. He began at a low level, and it didn’t seem to have any effect. He began to turn it up slowly, and it was soon at full power. He couldn’t hear a thought, but he sensed an emotion.

“Are you nervous, Ayumi?” He asked. When he got no response, he repeated, “Ayumi?”

He quickly reached over to sever the connection, but that’s when he noticed he wasn’t controlling his own hand anymore, he moving Ayumi’s! His own body just sat there lifeless. He tried powering down slowly, but he was still stuck as Ayumi! Even when off and disconnected, he remained her. Somehow instead of transfering active thoughts from her to him, he had somehow transfered all his memories and personality into her!

Character Creation (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Character Creation.

Graham had long ago lost track of the amount of time he had been stuck in this video game in the body of the character he had created. It had seemed like years -- at least in game time, which he hoped wasn’t too long if he was ever able to return to the real world. He had been on many quests, though he treated them with caution as he had no idea how a death in the game might affect him in real life; and leveled up a decent amount. As time continued on, he began to think of the body he had created as his own. He got used to the fact that he was a woman to the point where he questioned how awkward it would be if he ever found his way out of the game. But did he even want to get out? It was like a dream come true in here, and he was having the time of his life. The only negative had been his body, but now that he was used to that? Well, he could get used to being stuck in here.

Robbed

A few moments ago, Mei had heard noises in her apartment. When she had gone to investigate, something (or someone) had hit her over the head. The next thing she knew, she was looking down at herself. When she placed some laundry under her own head, she noticed the gloved hands she now had -- much larger than her own. She quickly rushed to a mirror to see a man in black looking back. She could only assume the man she was looking at was some sort of robber, and that she had swapped bodies with him after he hit her over the head. That meant he was likely passed out in her body in the other room. She couldn’t call the police; they’d likely just arrest her considering the body she currently had. She couldn’t just leave; trusting the robber alone with her body seemed like a bad idea. She decided to tie him up until he awoke. Maybe he had some answers, maybe he could explain why this happened, and maybe she could force him to swap them back to normal. She didn’t want to be in his body, and she certainly didn’t want him to be in her body either!

The Yoga Class (Part 4)

View The Yoga Class (Part 1) here.
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Over the next few weeks, Keysha assumed Ming’s life. Ming tried to fight for it back, to explain who she really was. However, because of the brief period where the class had agreed to be who they appeared to be, it became impossible to convince everyone of the truth after the fact. Keysha loved being Ming; she loved being beautiful and skinny. She enjoyed going to the gym and being able to do effortlessly do things.

She switched into a different outdoor yoga class, but one day after a year, a new participant joined. It was Ming. Ming looked at her former body with disgust.

“How could you?” Ming asked, “The Great Shift took my body from me and gave it to you by chance. But you took everything from me by choice -- my life, my husband, everything! Why? Is being me really what it takes to make you feel better about yourself? I’ve started dating again after your husband wen missing during the Shift. You probably don’t even know he went missing, did you? You’re just happy that you took mine. I know your body may not exactly be the most conventionally attractive, but I’m feeling good about it now. I continue the workout stuff not to make your body look better, but because I enjoy it. Doing these things simply makes me feel better! I can find my own happiness no matter what body I am in. But you are just a b*tch who needs to take it from other people. I’d watch your back if I was still you.”

Leading Edge (Part 1)

David had always been a bit enamoured with the idea of a festival dedicated to self-expression, and even though he knew it had recently felt taken over by tech bros and Wall Street types, he had to believe the original spirit was still there.

And so he arrived at the desert with high hopes. It was wild, but even as he tried to lose himself to it all, he still felt like some of the magic was gone. It didn’t help when a woman approached him to tell him about some “weird shit” some tech bro was showing off, and how it was going to be “bigger than the iPhone.” He tried brushing her off, but she was persistent; he finally agreed to come along with her.

He didn’t get to hear what the thing did when the tech bro was already asking for volunteers. The woman grabbed David’s hand and raised it with hers. He walked over and aimed a small device at them both. It sparked; it flashed; it caught fire.

David was about to laugh, but as he put his hand on his hip, he noticed something felt strange. It seems that despite getting destroyed in the process, the device had worked as it was designed; and it swapped David’s body with the woman’s. He was now her, and (looking at the state of the device) it seemed like he would be for quite a while.

VR Malfunction (Part 3)

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A few months passed, and I began to really began to embrace the fact that I was a beautiful woman. Part of this was likely due to the fact that I had quit my job immediately (I felt like I couldn’t explain what happened to me with a straight face), and I ended up taking up work as a model to pay the bills. The photographers and talent scouts were underandably impressed with the sort of superhuman things I could do.

Marvin also helped with the rent in the early months before the checks starting coming in. He was always a good friend, and his name was on the lease of the apartment we shared, so it made sense. Because of our long friendship and his kindness, we tried dating. Unfortunately, my super strength extended to all the muscles in my body, and I ended up severely injuring him when we got close enough to try sleeping together. While he was in the hospital recovering, I stayed by his side with only short trips to the nearby park for some fresh air. I used it to clear my head; I thought about breaking it off. But we ended up deciding to stay togethr; we just weren’t going to do THAT again any time soon.

A Choice

Eddie had estimated it had been about two weeks since he was locked in this glass cage. He didn’t know for sure; there were no windows to see the sun and no clocks. And who knows how long he had been passed out after all the weird experiments he had been put through -- the latest resulted in him being in the body of a woman. He’d often yell at the people who brought him food or brought him to the various experiments. They never responded.

Except for today.

“Haven’t you done enough?” He shouted, “Let me go!”

The figure looked at him for a moment, “Is that what you really want at this point? The world would never believe you, and we will never be found. Your brain is presently Miss Cortez’s body. You know nothing of her life. It might be fine, or it might be more difficult than you could ever imagine. We will keep you safe here, and ensure your safety when we are done. If you left now, you’d be on your own in a life you are not at all prepared for. Is that what you truly want? Perhaps I should grant your request for freedom, but I might give you one more opportunity to change your mind.”

Eddie took a deep breath before giving his answer...

Theatre

With his wife out of town on a business trip, Sean had decided to go see a movie on his own. A couple on a date together sat down next to him, and he was so engage with the plot that he didn’t even notice when he swapped bodies with the woman sitting next to him until her date leaned over to try to make out at one point. He screamed, which set off a chain reaction. It seemed a few other people in the theatre had swapped bodies without noticing. Despite a bit of chaos, Sean was able to exchange information with the couple in order to stay in touch. As he walked home, he still couldn’t believe he was now a woman. What was he going to tell his wife?

Quick Decision

Brandon hadn’t slept a wink since swapping bodies with that taxi driver yesterday. He was in shock when it happened, yet somehow managed to drive back to the cabbie’s filthy apartment, as if by instinct. He read the journal and immediately vowed to find a new body. It was a grueling task as he darted through traffic on the streets of one of the busiest cities in the world. Night was pretty dead, but the morning rush offered him hope. Sure enough, a woman headed to Times Square from Brooklyn had a ride that was just long enough to trigger a swap. He knew he didn’t have much time to decide. She wasn’t exactly pretty, but her clothes looked expensive...and (of course) he’d be a woman. As she got out, he took a deep breath and said, “Have a nice day.” A gust of wind hit his face as he now stood outside. He had stolen the woman’s body, leaving her trapped inside the cab driver’s body until she stole a life of her own.

Law of Averages

While it’s true that when you go to Exchange Island, you have a chance of swapping with smoking hot body; you also have the chance of ending up with a body that’s truly horrible. But most of the time, you end up with a body that’s just sort of average. I supposed it was fair. My average middle aged male body went into the pool for someone to get for the week, and in exchange, I got this average middle aged woman’s body. Like I said, it wasn’t a jackpot, but it wasn’t bad either. I could still experience womanhood, and I will still having a pretty good time. When I looked around, I knew there were better bodies, but, really, there were many like the one I had as well, probably most of them. It was all just the law of averages...

Sloth

Calvin lived a hard life. He spent long hours at work, and still often had to put in time on side gigs just to make ends meet. He envied celebrities that seemed to live such easy and carefree lives. He wished he could live the life of a celebrity. And one day, he awoke to find his wish came true. He woke up in a strange room, but when he looked in the mirror, he certainly recognized the female face that now looked back. Being a female wouldn’t have been his first pick, but he couldn’t complain.

Over the next few months, he just sort of lounged about, doing whatever he wanted. He ignored calls from the woman’s manager and agent. And that sloth lifestyle eventually got the better of him. He would look in the mirror and no longer recognize himself due to the weight gain. He finally answered a call from the woman’s personal trainer and met up at the gym. Getting back in shape was going to be hours of hard work, and plans to get back into the limelight sounded like they were going to be even more difficult. But it also appeared he was going to have no choice, the debts this woman had that he had ignored since finding himself in her body were coming due...

Blind Date (Part 1)

I nervously walked into the dimly lit restaurant to meet my blind date that my friends had set me up with. The hostess brought me to the table, and I didn’t even get a word in before she said...

“I don’t think so. I don’t date slackers.”

I was about to tell her about the tech company that I had founded, but I didn’t get the chance. Of course, she didn’t get the chance to walk out so quickly either. It was at that moment the Great Shift struck. While we’d all come to learn the body swapping event affected the entire world, when it happened, I was much concerned that I was now in the body of my blind date.

I sat there dumbfounded. From my own body, she looked at me the same way. We sat down and talked. Some of it was weirdly typical first date stuff. I learned her name was Jennifer, and that she was a lawyer. Or I guess my name now was Jennifer? Some of it was much more focused on the issue at hand. She told me about things like her birth control pills, and how to properly take care of a woman’s body -- normally, I’d say that was information I didn’t need, but given the situation, I clearly did.

Safe Space

In his four years at college, Ethan only ever found one place where he fit in, and that was with the gamers. They’d play D&D, board games, video games, whatever. They all knew they weren’t popular, but they didn’t care. But when the Great Shift struck, it was like they all won the lottery. Suddenly, they were all in very attractive bodies. Ethan, for instance, was in the body of a junior named Christina, who could’ve easily been a model. Unfortunately, he was also now the only girl in the gamer club. And it seemed like all his geeky friends (now in the bodies of quite attractive guys) seemed intensely interested in Ethan’s affections. She looked across the table to Mia for help or support, but Mia (who had been the only female member before the Shift placed her in a man’s body) was also a little interested in Ethan herself. It seemed the gamer club was no longer the safe space for Ethan it once had been...

Toughest Professor (Part 3)

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And so reluctantly, Doug went to the mall to pick out an outfit like the one’s he seen girls in his class wear on Friday nights, and he forced himself to wear it before heading to a club.

The loud music bothered him at first in a way that loud music had never bothered him before. He went to the bar to buy his first beer, spitting out the first sip due to how disgusting it tasted. He was ready to call it a failure and go home until a pink drink with an umbrella showed up next to him. The bartender told Doug it was from a man at the end of the bar; Doug didn’t even look to acknowledge.

The pink drink wasn’t bad, and he ended up having several more. This gave him the courage to go on the dance floor. Things didn’t seem nearly as bad now, and he was feeling happy for the first time in forever.

He returned to the bar again and another pink drink was waiting for him. The bartender explained it was from the same man. Doug looked over to see an older man -- scratch that, technically this man was now probably around his age -- who looked like a silver fox. Doug couldn’t believe it, but his body was actually feeling excited, and to a man at that! Doug decided to take the next step and flirt a little. He put on the biggest smile he could and walked over.

Digging Through Debris

Knowing the storm was likely to knock out power lines, Grant and Julie had intended to use the Medallionof Zulu to swap bodies for a bit as the bad weather passed overhead. It was certainly entertaining to be someone else for a little while. However, the storm ended up being more severe than predicted, and they were forced to evacuate. Unfortunately, they had left the Medallion behind, and (even worse) when they returned, the entire house had been destroyed. Grant immediately began to dig through the debris, not wanting to spend longer in Julie’s body than he had to. It ended up being a fool’s errand. The Medallion was nowhere to be found, and it seemed Grant and Julie would be stuck as each other forever.

Doctor's Visit (Part 3)

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I left the doctor’s office fairly angry, but I asking myself what if he was right? I sat down for a moment to try to clear my head.

If I had been a guy up until today, there should be some sort of evidence -- photos, social media, or something, right? And if I had a slight bit of a secret desire to be a woman, shouldn’t I be happy now? Was I happy now? I’m not exactly unhappy with this body. I just went to the doctor because I was...concerned that it happened.

But what if I had always been a woman? And this whole thing was just my way to cope with being trans? Wouldn’t I want to go back to being a guy? I didn’t feel like I wanted to go back. Do I miss the old me...if the old me even existed? I mean, I guess. But am I going to be happier like this? I don’t know. The biggest draw back when I woke up was people not knowing who I really was, but (based on my doctor’s visit) that doesn’t seem to really be a problem now...

Sister (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Sister.

Jeremy had a miserable summer following the instructions Kelly was yelling at him all the time about what to eat and when to exercise. He would ask his father every day if the body swapper was fixed, but his dad would often just shake his head or answer with a sigh.

When fall rolled around again, Kelly would have to go off to Jeremy’s college and Jeremy would go off to Kelly’s. She made him promise to follow her workout routine and diet. He agreed, but with the unlimited food at the college cafeteria and without Kelly yelling at him, he certainly slipped.

When winter break came around, both returned from their colleges, and Kelly was horrified to see how much weight Jeremy had put on her body. She watched him prepare a meal that was gigantic! She began to yell at him about it when their father entered the room, saying the machine was fixed and able to swap them back to their own bodies.

Kelly cried, saying she no longer had her body to return to. As Jeremy ate, he licked his fingers and spoke with a mouth full of food, stating that he didn’t mind staying like this either. Kelly shouted that wasn’t what she meant, and that she wouldn’t swap back until Jeremy lost the extra weight he had put on. Jeremy smiled and told her she was going to wait forever then.

Rural Route (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Rural Route.

It was a few miles back to my grandparent’s old farm, which would usually be easy enough to walk to. However, this woman’s heeled boots and leather pants wouldn’t make it easy. I decided to try it anyway. Not many cars drove down this way, so I paid attention if any came.

As it turned out, two did drive by that day. When they did, I tried my best to grab their attention. I waved my hands frantically and put on the biggest smile I could to seem non-threatening. Of course, neither of them ended up stopping.

About a mile in, I made the decision to turn off the main road and onto a small path. If memory served me correctly, it was a bit of a short cut, and I figured the sooner I could get to shelter and regroup, the better.

Unremarkable (Part 4)

View Unremarkable (Part 1) here.
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View Unremarkable (Part 3) here.

Neil was absolutely exhauted after the latest swap. He had already passed out, but he still felt like he wanted to sleep for a week. He was snapped back to an alert state by a familiar voice.

“Hey, Melissa,” The guy said addressing Neil, obivously without knowing who he really was, “What are you doing hanging out with that loser?”

It was Brett, a guy who was always needlessly mean to him. He was sitting there with his girlfriend. Neil thought back to all the times Brett had made fun of him for not being “manly” enough. With the last ounce of his energy, Neil swapped their bodies.

He wasn’t conscious to see it, but apparently they both totally freaked out. While Melissa enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to tell Neil about it, she was getting more than a little concerned about Neil’s health and (for that matter) any sort of ill-effects that her own body might end up inheriting, as Neil was still in possession of it at this time.

Engagement Photos

In the days after The Great Shift, there was a lot of disagreement amont scientists about what was going to happen next. Some insisted the body swapping everyone experience was permanent; others suggested that people might realign back to their own bodies in a relatively short amount of time. Jenna chose to believe the latter group and asked a favor of her friend Tyler.

Jenna had engagement photos for her wedding scheduled and Tyler was the one in her body. She asked if he wouldn’t mind doing the shoot in her place.

Tyler took a breath before he spoke, “You’re asking me, a gay man stuck in your fabulous body, if I wouldn’t mind putting on a gorgeous wedding dress and posing in front of a camera for a few hours on the beach? Honey, you don’t even need to ask! I am there!”

Jenna and Tyler both smiled. Of course, the swaps caused by the Great Shift never reverted, but Tyler was still more than happy to take the photos.

Weird New Roommate (Part 1)

When my old roommate moved out, I put up an ad online looking for a new one. I was a little surprised to only get one response, a woman named Mihn. From day one, Mihn was sort of odd. She never seemed to have a job, but was also never late on her share of the rent. She would strike up conversations without saying hello on the oddest topics.

“Would you ever want to swap bodies with someone?” She asked one day.

I shrugged. I hadn’t really thought about it.

“Let’s try it,” She said as she pulled a medallion out of her bag. She then touched it to me, and we transformed into each other! We quickly swapped our ill-fitting clothes. I was in shocked as I look at Mihn in my body while I was now in hers, wearing the turtleneck she had on a few moments before.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“Don’t worry,” She said, “It’s temporary. We can use the medallion to switch back after 12 hours. Unless you want to stay swapped for longer!”

“I don’t think I want to be you at all, but if we’re stuck like that, I guess that means we’re stuck like this. Just try not to embarass me at work...”

“Ooooh! I get to go to work! That should be fun!”

Like I said, she was weird.

Stop

There was probably some explanation why I suddenly swapped into this woman’s body as she stood at the altar. The eyes of the church were on me. I think they were expecting me to say “I do,” but instead I ran. I found the nearest bus stop and waited. I didn’t have any money on me, so I hoped the driver would take some pity on me and let me skip the fare. I just don’t know how this happened! I was just an average guy playing video games one Saturday, and the next I’m in the body of a bride. Well, that was one commitment I didn’t sign up for, so I wasn’t about to go through with it. I don’t know why these thoughts still ran through my head as I waited. I knew I shouldn’t feel guilty for running, but for some reason I did. For some reason, I needed to keep rationalizing it to myself. I hadn’t even yet considered how I was going to get my own body back...

Kpop Star (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Kpop Star.

Jason had assumed he would swap back to his own body right after the concert -- which went surprisingly well; he nailed the lyrics and somehow even the dancing -- however, instead he was rushed by Kim Soo’s management team to her hotel room. He felt nervous when he changed into more casual clothing, as it felt like he was violating Kim Soo’s privacy. Being in someone else’s body made sleeping difficult; in fact, he ended up staying up all night. Mostly he watched TV, but he also had a lot of time to think. Was he ever going to swap back to his own body? Maybe when he was finally able to sleep? He didn’t know if this was a dream come true or a nightmare. He loved being able to attend the concert, and it was even better experiencing it from a first person point of view, but did he want to be Kim Soo forever? But did he even have any sort of choice in the matter? As he thought about it, there was a knock on the door. He was going to need to catch a plane back to Korea.