yaoigeek

Min Jae is an average guy from Korea, drifting through life in his cluttered house with nothing but instant noodles and unfinished DIY projects—until he discovers a trapdoor in his basement that leads to a peaceful fantasy village.

Mistaken for a legendary wizard, Min Jae uses duct tape, sarcasm, and Earth gadgets to solve the villagers’ bizarre problems. In return, they shower him with rare magical items—which he quietly trades back home to earn real money.

Now juggling a double life, Min Jae starts growing into someone he never expected to be:
a creative fixer, a village hero, and maybe even… a responsible adult.

THE OTHER WORLD IS JUST MY BASEMENT

Well, technically, it had been delivered exactly where Min Jae left it: just outside the boundaries of Rivertown, near the cursed orchard. But when he returned through the portal with Sunwoo at his side, what they found was a broken seal, a scattered trail of goods—and no sign of whoever took it.

Worse, the enchantment tags Minji had embedded in the goods?

"Well, that's unsettling," Sunwoo muttered, poking a torn sack of mana crisps with his shoe. "You said these were tagged with rune-tracers?"

"They were," Min Jae muttered, inspecting the ripped crate.

> Thanks for the samples. You're more generous in person.

Min Jae clenched his jaw. "Third Market? Or... something else?"

Someone wasn't just intercepting his goods.

He made his way into Rivertown proper, blending into the back alleys as usual.

The shops were lively, crowds moving through the cobbled streets—sorcerers in patched cloaks, merchants shouting enchantment offers, potion testers blowing small smoke rings.

People looked at him differently. Not suspiciously. Not even fearful.

Someone even nodded at him and said, "Evenin', Gatekeeper."

Min Jae froze. "What did you say?"

The man blinked. "You don't remember me? From the east square. I bought that stabilizer charm from you—worked great! Haven't been teleported into a wall since!"

Min Jae smiled stiffly. "Ah… right. Glad it helped."

He turned the corner and muttered, "WHAT STABILIZER CHARM?!"

Min Jae found his way to Jun, an elderly potion dealer who sometimes traded information for dried plum candy. Today, Min Jae had brought three.

"Someone's pretending to be me," Min Jae told him.

Jun took a long slurp of his boiled root tea. "Tall fellow in a mask. Calls himself the Gatekeeper. Sells cheap charms. Has a goat."

Min Jae nearly dropped his cup. "He what?!"

Jun raised a bushy eyebrow. "Doesn't look like your goat, though. Bigger. Meaner. Spits fire."

Jun pointed to the burned-out marketplace ruins near the hills.

"Set up shop two nights ago. Disappears during the day. But people say he walks like someone who owns the road."

Sunwoo muttered, "Copycat energy. And he's got off-brand Goji."

Back in the basement, Min Jae called an emergency meeting.

"I'm locking down the portal," he said. "No deliveries, no access without me, and no enchanted goods outside this room."

Minji frowned. "How'd they copy your signature? Your portal trace?"

"I don't know," Min Jae admitted. "But someone's playing a very dangerous game."

Seojin suggested, "Maybe someone saw you leave the crate and stepped in to impersonate you—try to rise in the black market using your name."

"Maybe to build the illusion," Seojin said. "If people believe there's a Gatekeeper with a magical goat, they won't question it."

Min Jae stared at Goji. "You've become a mascot. A security flaw with horns."

Goji kicked over a broom in protest.

Before he could get any rest, Min Jae's mom handed him a letter.

He blinked. "Where did this come from?"

"Left at the door," she said. "No return address."

Inside the envelope, on a scrap of parchment, was a simple message:

> You're losing your brand. Fix it, or we will.

Min Jae stared at the note, then at the glowing portal, then at Goji licking peanut dust off a mana stone.

The Fake Gatekeeper