Life Reversal (2)
In the end, I fell asleep right there in the car. The reason was simple. Despite my mind remaining clear after everything that had happened today, my body had accumulated quite a bit of fatigue. On top of that, the seats were far more comfortable than those in an ordinary sedan, which was more than enough to bring on drowsiness. It really was true that money was good. As the car started moving, I had been gazing at the cityscape I hadn’t seen in a while when I simply passed out.
I woke from that deep sleep to the sound of his voice coming from the driver’s seat. “Seoa! We’re here. Time to wake up.”
“Mmm… okay…”
“…You must have been really tired. Still, you can’t stay in the car forever, can you? This is going to be your home from today on, so first impressions matter.”
As my consciousness slowly surfaced, I opened my eyes and answered in a drowsy voice while stretching. He glanced back from the driver’s seat, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly, then got out of the car first. From the sight of his figure passing the window and the small vibration from the rear, he was probably unloading the luggage from the trunk.
Only then did I realize I had dozed off so suddenly. I rubbed my eyes and wiped my face with my hands. I had literally passed out. Part of it was probably exhaustion from everything that had happened, but ever since I’d taken on this form, I seemed to need more sleep. In the past, I had barely ever taken naps. This was probably the influence of the body I had created through transformation. It wasn’t anything worth worrying about, but I couldn’t shake a vague sense of unease.
After pushing the thought aside, I stepped out of the car. The sunlight I still wasn’t used to made me squint for a moment, but my vision soon cleared. The instant I saw the building in front of me, my eyes widened to their limit.
The first thing that caught my eye was the massive front gate. Beyond it stood a sleek, standalone house. Something already felt off. Even before the catastrophe, Seoul’s housing prices had been notoriously high. After the dungeons broke through and contaminated the land, making large areas uninhabitable, the situation had only worsened. Seoul had already been cramped; now livable space had shrunk even further. Skyrocketing real estate prices were inevitable. The sudden collapse of public safety after the catastrophe was probably influenced by these same factors. People who had lost their homes overnight. A government that had lost most of its functions and could no longer care for them. And, most decisively, ordinary people suddenly granted unknown powers. It was the perfect storm of disasters.
Once things reached that point, what happened next was obvious. Some of those who had fallen to rock bottom awakened abilities and turned to crime just to survive. Against these newly empowered individuals, the already weakened authorities were powerless. A long period of chaos followed until the Council finally appeared. …I’d gone off on a tangent, but the conclusion was simple. Even after the Council restored order, Seoul’s housing prices remained absurdly high. As a result, even people who considered themselves wealthy lived in ordinary apartments in Seoul. That was why the scene before me felt completely unreal. And it wasn’t small, either—it was the size of a grand mansion. The high walls surrounding the property were so imposing they were almost frightening.
Faced with something beyond imagination, my expression went slack and my mouth fell open. I had roughly guessed that the man who adopted me possessed enormous wealth. It was common knowledge, even among ordinary people, that higher-ranked hunters earned exponentially more. And he was one of the few S-rank hunters in the country, so it wasn’t hard to imagine. But there was a vast difference between imagining it and seeing it with my own eyes. To someone who had lived in a tiny room barely larger than a goshiwon, the enormous house in front of me was like an entirely new world. At the same time, the fact that I had been adopted by an S-rank hunter finally sank in. This was exactly what people meant by a complete reversal of fortune. Of course, the fact that my appearance had changed completely was the catch.
“……”
I stood blankly in front of the unusually tall entrance, staring straight ahead. When I had regained ownership of the magic stone I had once given up, I had been overjoyed. But if someone asked how I felt now… I couldn’t find the words. Joy, confusion, and worry all mixed together in a complicated swirl of emotions. I had thought I was fully prepared when I accepted his offer, but that had been nothing more than a stubborn delusion. The reality that suddenly pressed against my skin was simply too enormous to handle.
That didn’t mean I was consumed by fear. The feeling was definitely there, but anticipation for the future outweighed it. Living together with an S-rank hunter who possessed unimaginable power and a fragile monster hiding its true identity—if you looked at it that way, it was the setup for a terrifying thriller. But this decision had been mine alone… so this risk was one I had to bear.
While I was steadying my resolve, he spotted me after finishing with the luggage and hurried over with an awkward smile. “Whoops! Sorry, sorry. I completely forgot to open the door for you. Just wait a moment.”
He offered a quick apology, approached the front gate, and began operating something. Moments later, the gate—taller than an adult man—swung open on both sides, revealing what lay beyond. While my gaze remained fixed on the now-visible house, he spoke in a kind voice.
“I still have some work to finish, so why don’t you look around inside first? The place looks simple from the outside, but there’s plenty to see indoors. Ah, and your room is already prepared on the second floor. I put extra effort into it, so take your time. The front door should be unlocked—just go on in.”
After gently patting my head, he walked back toward the car’s trunk. Having my head touched by someone around my apparent age felt strange, but my attention was already elsewhere. My room had already been prepared…? I could somewhat accept that he had gotten luggage ready, but preparing a room as well was slightly shocking. His thoroughness bordered on obsession. And how much money did he have to casually do something like this even while knowing I might refuse? As an ordinary citizen, I couldn’t begin to understand. No matter how many spare rooms there were, redecorating one would obviously cost a fortune.
In the end, I gave up thinking about it. What was the point of worrying now? Since I couldn’t read his mind, there was no meaning in it. I just accepted it as it was. With that thought, I slowly stepped through the gate.
The first thing that greeted me inside was a neatly maintained courtyard. The harmonious blend of green foliage and flowers looked so well-kept that even I, who knew nothing about gardening, could tell at a glance. I knew houses sometimes had yards, but this place deserved the word “garden” far more than “yard.”
Following a reasonably wide path through the greenery, I soon reached the front door of the house. Click… Just as he had said, it wasn’t locked. I wondered if the security was too lax, but remembering the gate I had just passed through, I quickly understood. The walls surrounding the entire property were fortress-like. No ordinary thief would even dare to approach. And what kind of insane thief would try to rob an S-rank hunter’s house? No one in their right mind would even consider it.
The interior, as I had been told, had a charm different from its exterior. While the outside had given an impression of clean, unadorned lines, the inside felt warm and classic. Various artworks placed throughout emphasized that atmosphere. After walking a little farther from the entrance, a living room of enormous size befitting the house’s scale welcomed me. The countless rooms lining the walls made me truly feel the house’s immense size. I had once read a line in a manga about a house so big you could get lost, and at the time I had thought it was nonsense. No matter how big a house was, how could anyone actually get lost? But seeing this, it no longer seemed like an exaggeration. The first floor alone was already unbelievable, and there was supposedly another floor just like it above… It was too big, more like a noble’s mansion from a fantasy world than a normal house. Honestly, if someone told me this was an office building, I might have believed them.
Worried that I wouldn’t be able to find my room on the second floor at this rate, I headed up the nearby staircase. My bad feeling proved correct. Just as expected, there were so many rooms lined up that it was impossible to tell them apart. While I was debating whether to go back down and ask him at the gate, I heard a small sound from somewhere.
At first, I thought it was the wind. But when I focused on it, I realized it wasn’t. Enhancing my hearing through transformation, the unidentified sound grew clearer. It was a person—a woman—humming.
“Hmm~ Hmm hmm~ Hm~”
A woman humming a tune, as if in a good mood. Realizing this, I couldn’t help but feel flustered. The source was clearly coming from inside the mansion—from the second floor where I was currently standing. My first thought was that it might be a ghost or a thief, but that was obviously impossible, so I dismissed it. My next thought was that it might be his wife. From my perspective as someone who had just been adopted, that would make her my stepmother. I had heard before that he was already a married man. So that seemed like the most reasonable conclusion, yet something felt off. If that were true, why hadn’t he mentioned her while he was downstairs sorting luggage? If he had known she was home, he would have at least given me a heads-up. Besides, from what he had said, I hadn’t gotten the impression that anyone else was in the house.
To resolve the questions filling my mind, I steeled myself and slowly moved toward the sound. I kept my presence and footsteps as quiet as possible so she wouldn’t notice me first, continuing my stealthy approach. A moment later, I arrived at a bathroom. But this wasn’t an ordinary bathroom. There was a separate area attached beside it for drying or styling hair, something you often saw in bathhouses. I was briefly surprised by the unfamiliar layout, but then my eyes caught sight of a woman through the wide-open door—the source of the sound.
She was drying her hair with a towel in front of a long horizontal mirror. She looked like she had just finished bathing. Her long black hair still glistened with moisture even from a distance. I couldn’t find anything particularly suspicious. But in the meantime, my face had turned bright red. The reason was none other than what she was wearing. She had barely covered her upper body and lower half with a white towel, and even from behind, the sight was dizzying. Having lived my entire life without any experience with women, the sight of her bare white skin made my head spin. And objectively speaking, I was currently peeking at her in secret. My heart pounded wildly from the tension of possibly being caught and the suddenness of the situation, and my eyes trembled as if there were an earthquake.
I only came back to my senses when she had roughly finished drying her hair. This was dangerous. To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, I needed to get away. Making up my mind, I carefully began backing away. She seemed focused on the mirror and showed no sign of noticing anything else. So if I just retraced my steps exactly, she wouldn’t detect my presence. Having made it this far without being noticed once, I was confident. But there was one thing I hadn’t accounted for. I hadn’t come to this enormous house alone.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Clear footsteps echoed in my ears. Someone was climbing the stairs. And because the bathroom happened to be near the staircase, the sound reached us clearly. Which meant… she had heard it too. Startled by the sudden noise, she lifted her head and turned toward the door, and our eyes met directly—she hadn’t managed to leave in time either.
“?………”
Two pairs of eyes stared at each other without wavering. Frozen like ice, we simply looked at one another for a while. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and mine had widened the moment I saw her face. Because the woman staring back at me looked far too young. With her beautiful features still carrying a hint of youth, she looked at most in her late teens. In other words, she didn’t look like his wife at all. She looked more like she could be his daughter.
While we were silently observing each other, the footsteps grew closer, and their owner appeared. “Aha~ There you are. I figured you couldn’t find your room, so I came up to… huh?”
The man in a suit who had appeared behind me spoke in a friendly tone as he approached, then stopped. The reason was obvious. He had also spotted the woman through the open door. His eyes, initially filled with confusion, gradually twisted into shock. It was the expression of someone who had seen a ghost.
“Y-you… why are you here?! Without even calling first……”
His voice rose in agitation, but he had to stop again. His gaze had finally moved to what she was wearing. To the towel that barely covered her slender, curvaceous body. Of course, she noticed his stare. Her face flushed like an apple, she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed.
“Kyaaaaah!!! Where are you looking?! Move out of the way! You pervert! Pervert! Pervert!”
“Ack! Whoa! Okay, okay, I’ll move! Stop throwing things!”
She curled up and, in a fit of rage, threw whatever she could grab at him. The objects flew in graceful arcs over my head and struck his face one after another. He raised his arms to block them but ultimately had no choice but to flee the spot. In the midst of this scene straight out of a manga, I stood there dazedly watching before belatedly raising my own arms. Since I had been the one peeking first, I figured it was my turn next. But no matter how long I waited, nothing came flying. When I cautiously opened my eyes, I saw her still huffing angrily. Her fiercely burning gaze was directed not at me, but at the place where he had been standing. Looking at her, who didn’t seem to care about me at all, I tilted my head in confusion—and immediately understood why.
The cute white dress I had changed into right before leaving the research facility. The small but clearly defined curves visible in my line of sight, the slender arms with fair skin, and the tiny, adorable hands. Whether I wanted to or not, I was forced to understand. And with that realization came a completely new kind of shock that struck my mind like a hammer. …Suddenly, I felt like crying.