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Cover image by Yuumei
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477Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dsemvhB6U
Have you ever wanted to switch lives with someone?477Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8vFzFNobO
If you had their achievements, their character traits, their family, their friends...
I think switching lives with someone, almost anyone, for a day or two would be fun, but beyond that, a lot of troubles are bound to show up. Yeah, something like "your name" or "I want to be you, just for a day (Your Throne)" would be nice. It's interesting, observing a family different from yours, a different environment, a different culture.
I mentioned briefly about my genius friends who seem to have it all in my previous issues... "A Tiring Day," right. Recently, I had had a talk with one of them after our last class. He came up to me, asking me if I wanted to sit with him and another friend. I usually wouldn't, being too lazy of an ass to move, but I decided I should put a little more effort into my friendships. I casually brought up the topic, saying, “if only we could swap lives.” (At this point, the friend had left… we were in a study room where many people could potentially overhear us but trust me, I’ve overheard weirder things.)
”You don’t want to be me.”
”Why not? You have everything. Great grades, a lot of friends, a major, job and future you enjoy…”
”Well, I have my problems, you know.”
”What problems?”
”…Are we really going to talk about this now? Don’t you have a lecture to watch?”
”Yeah, we’re gonna talk about this now. Tell me what problems you have so I can feel better about myself and get over my inferiority complex.”
“Well that’s your problem. Why do you want to be me? What don’t you like about your life?”
”Well, you can guess, can’t you? I don’t like what I’m doing. I’m suffering every day.”
We talked about why I chose our major, and why I wanted to earn a lot of money. I told him it was to get a good social status, being able to boast about my job and wage. A very surface-level goal of someone trapped in the scheme of capitalism. He mentioned that if I’m not happy, then what’s the point? If someone has a lot of money, but isn’t happy, what does that matter? I told him if someone boasted about their assets in front of me, despite me knowing they weren’t happy, it wouldn’t make me feel better. It’s better to be rich and unhappy than broke and unhappy, no?
”We’re similar,” he stated at one point before telling me to invest money, at which I responded I was too lazy to research what to invest in, and I’m not about to risk losing money unless I have a very high probability of success.
“Hey, we’re talking about your problems here, not mine. Why shouldn’t I want to swap lives with you? Do you have problems at home?”
”No… I’m just not happy.”
”Why? You’re doing something you enjoy. You have a good future set in front of you.”
”I wish I knew why.”
”Life is just meaningless, you know? There’s nothing to live for,” he continued.
I thought for a moment.
”But don’t you have a life goal? A dream you’ve always wanted to pursue?”
”Yeah, to have $100k in assets.”
”…and that’s not worth living for?”
”Is it? Is it really?”
”So that’s the main reason why you’re not happy? You feel there’s no point to life?”
”…I don’t know. Probably.”
”Maybe If I were you, I’d be happy.”
Sure, these weren’t the exact words spoken, but it’s close enough. The conversation got a little philosophical at times, and I joked about whether he was Friedrich Nietzsche or not.
”You know, come with me to the backrooms tonight. If we draw a magic circle at 12am, I’m sure we will be able to swap lives.”
”You watch too much anime.”
Please stop calling me a weeb. You’re more of a Koreaboo than I am a weeb. We talked a little about friendships and our fear of humans(?) when another friend came in to help him with Korean, who unfortunately was too busy to participate in our musings surrounding the meaning of life. Unfortunate.
If you could swap lives with someone permanently or long-term, who would it be? I think either of my two friends are pretty set.
Heh, it’s true that I feel terribly inferior next to them at times, but at the end of the day, talking and hanging out with the three of them is fun. They’re nice friends. We were leaving class the other day when I was about to part ways, so we just stood in front of an intersection, talking for a good few minutes.
”I’m going home,” I said for the 3rd time.
“To do what?”
”Sleep! Didn’t you hear him say it at least 5 times?”
“Oh yeah, you had an interview today, huh? Good work.”
”See you, and all the best for the test! I’m sure you two will ace it.”
”Thanks.”
”Uh, XXX… you know, we’ll be fine. We’ll pass.”
”Yeah, passing is easy.”
”Hahahaha, yeah, we’ll be fine. See you!”
…Just sit next to me in class when you see me next time. (There was a period of time where I would arrive to class and they would never come and sit next to me. Bro, I’m here? We’re friends, no??)
Ughhh that reminds me of all the questions I failed in the test worth 20% of my grade… my gpa is looking real sad…
“Hey, is that your cheat sheet? Whoa, there’s so much written! I thought you were the cheat sheet.”
”No I am. This is just in case, you know.”
”Hahaha, what a flex.”
You know, I’ll probably write an issue on how we met and funny quotes/situations with the four of us. Or just funny quotes in general. Heh, I know a friend who keeps track of those.
ns 15.158.61.17da2
