A Walk
The walking path we arrived at was no different from anything back in the old world.
A river ran alongside it, a bike lane ran parallel, and greenery was planted all along the way. Being late January, only bare branches remained on the trees.
If I had to name one difference, it would be the entrances built at intervals from some material I'd never seen before.
When I asked Se-a about them, she said they were stairwells leading underground. Follow the stairs down and you reached bomb shelters, built in preparation for dungeon breaks—when monsters spilled out of the dungeons. The material was ore mined from the dungeons; it had no special properties beyond being ridiculously hard and heavy.
"What do you usually do, Noona? Just sit around on standby the whole time?"
Walking in silence forever wasn't going to cut it, so I decided to ask about the things I was curious about regarding her.
"I train hard enough that I could head out on escort duty at a moment's notice. If you just sit around waiting for a call, your body goes stiff."
"Diligent of you."
I pictured her training. Moving energetically in a high-mobility sports bra and leggings. Gray workout clothes gradually soaking through with sweat, skin gleaming. Roughened breathing and a flushed face. A space thick with sweat and heat, pheromones humming in the air.
And after training, Se-a walking toward me with that big ass swaying, and then she'd just—
Get a grip!
I shook my head hard, shoving the thought off into the far reaches of my mind.
"What's wrong all of a sudden?"
"Nothing!"
She looked at me with a worried expression, asking if something was the matter. Not knowing any better, it would just look like weird behavior. I couldn't tell her the truth either, so lying was the only option.
Seriously, what's wrong with me? At this rate, even daily life is going to be rough.
Lately I'd even started wondering whether it might be okay to just accept these feelings. In the old world, maybe not—but in this one, where men were scarce, wasn't this the correct set of values? That was the thought creeping in.
Technically, it's not wrong.
In this world it really was the right mindset, the disposition everyone longed for. Someday I'd probably surrender myself to that ideology completely.
But not yet. At the very least, I wanted my first time to be with someone I loved. Se-a would be more than ideal—but I was the type who cared about the mood, too.
...What? I have a pure side. Sue me.
Still, training, huh...
I needed to work out myself. This body was far too weak—in strength and stamina both. No matter how hard I trained, I didn't think I'd ever get as strong as that rapist who'd stood there like a wall, unmoved. He was the first real wall I'd ever faced in my life. Something physically impossible given the structure of a male body.
Think of it like how, back in the old world, a woman who trained just as hard still ended up weaker than a man who did the same. What I wanted was enough strength to run if something went wrong. Stamina was the more-the-merrier kind of thing.
"Noona, mind if I tag along when you train sometime? I want to work out too."
"Hm? Well, I don't mind. I hit the gym on the side as well."
Having said that, Se-a asked with a look of mild surprise.
"There are a lot of other escort officers there, though. You going to be okay?"
"Of course. Escort officers aren't going to jump me, right? And even if they did, you'd protect me."
"Heh. Of course I would. You think I'm a Special-Class Escort Officer for show?"
She puffed out her chest with a proud look. It was an adorably cute gesture—but she had every right to be proud.
This seemed like a good point to explain what escort officers actually were.
Every male-related profession, including male escort officers, required passing a test called the MPRT—short for Male's Profession Regular Test, the periodic exam for male specialist occupations. Even after passing, you had to retake it every six months, and failing meant your qualification was stripped.
Only after clearing that test could you even sit for the exams to become a Class 1 through 3 male escort officer.
There was also something called the MSVT—the Male's Special Vocation Test, commonly just called the Special Exam. Pass that and you never had to take another test again, and you could hold higher-tier jobs than people who'd only cleared the MPRT.
The Special-Class Escort Officer Se-a was talking about was a rank only MSVT passers could reach, and the exam itself was so brutal that some years saw no successful candidates at all.
So what were the perks of becoming a Special-Class Escort Officer?
First: priority on escorting high-grade men. Grade 1 men in particular were always assigned exclusively to Special-Class officers.
Second: social standing. Simply passing the exam marked you as elite, and people looked up to you. In the modern age, it was one of the few real chances at turning your life around.
Third: preferential treatment in the pregnancy activity system, including discounts and other benefits when it came to sperm provision. Most women coveted this perk above all else. Honestly, even becoming a male escort officer barely got you any chance to meet men who never left the house.
In a single sentence, the MSVT offered incredible benefits—in exchange for being an absurdly difficult exam.
And Se-a, walking the path with our fingers laced together and a bright little smile on her face, was a Special-Class Escort Officer who'd passed that very test.
"That's amazing. A Special-Class Escort Officer..."
Explaining it all out loud like this, it really did feel impressive.
"What's so amazing about it? Anyone can do it if they work hard enough."
If any other women had overheard that, they would have been furious.
"You're more amazing than I am, Dan-woo."
"Me? Why?"
"You're Grade 1. That takes effort and a body you were born with."
Looking at the Grade 1 requirements, sure, effort was needed—but it wouldn't be strange for a lot of people to wash out on physical conditions alone. Of course, that "effort" was by this world's male standards. By old-world standards, anyone who met the physical criteria could hit those marks.
"Effort, huh..."
But had the original owner of this body even tried? Some guy so scared of women he locked himself indoors, working to improve his sexual function? I couldn't picture it. It probably wasn't just his nature, though. There had to be some other reason.
"Hey, Noona. There's something I've been wondering about."
"What is it?"
"Do escort officers ever date the people they're protecting? That kind of thing?"
Wasn't that a classic movie setup? Falling in love with the person who guards you. I'd even admired those films, honestly. Would I ever find someone I'd throw my life away to save? I'd ask myself that after the credits rolled.
"Uh—y-yeah!? D-date? Um... I wonder?"
Se-a visibly flustered, stumbling over her words.
"Why so rattled? Don't tell me... you've imagined it?"
"Hhk!? N-no! Imagining something like that..."
This time she flinched hard and went red in the face. Flustered one second, blushing the next—busy woman.
Watching her, the words slipped out before I could stop them.
"So you haven't, huh. I have."
"Huh? What did you say?"
She looked at me with a startled face, eyes gone round—genuinely shocked. That only made me want to tease her more, so I dropped my gaze to the ground and kept going.
"Well, she has a pretty name and a nice voice. Don't you start wondering what she looks like? Is she beautiful? Is she cute?"
"A nice voice..."
She echoed my words under her breath.
"I just never expected her to be angel-pretty like this."
This time I turned my head entirely, looking out at the river running beside the path as I said it. I could feel her sharp intake of breath through our joined hands, vivid and clear.
"Wait. What did you just say? Can you say that one more time?"
Her voice was a perfect mix of fluster and excitement.
"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything. Come on—we've got walking to do!"
Saying it again wouldn't have been hard, but I deliberately didn't. Her reaction was just too fresh and cute. I kept calling her cute, didn't I? Well, it was true. What was I supposed to do about it?
"W-wait! Just say it one more time!"
I supposed this was what made her a Special-Class Escort Officer—her adaptability was something else. We'd only just agreed to drop the formal speech, and already she was treating me like a friend. It made me smile.
Looking at how she acted, she wasn't all that different from women back in the old world, and that put me at ease. Maybe, deep down, being dropped into another world had left me more unsettled than I'd admitted.
"Noona. Thanks."
"Hm? For what?"
She tilted her head as she asked.
"Just because."
"Okay... Hey—don't change the subject!"
She really was a cute, fun person.
Walking the path with her, we drew an absurd amount of stares from other women out for strolls of their own. Maybe it was the novelty of a man who never left his front door actually going for a walk. Or maybe it was just that men were that rare a sight. Probably both.
"So instead of college, you took the exam?"
"Yeah. It took about two years, so average, I guess? I got lucky and passed on the first try, then went straight into escort officer prep."
She called it average, but for a once-a-year exam that often produced zero passers, it was extraordinary. Anyone who cleared the MSVT was exceptional even among elites. Doing it in one shot went without saying.
"Two years, so if I do the math... am I your first male client?"
After turning twenty, one year building a basic physique, two years on the MSVT, another two on escort officer prep and training. Then at the start of this year, she'd been assigned as my personal escort.
"What a weird question. Heh. Most male escort officers only ever get assigned one or two men. Since the guys barely go outside, there's almost never any real danger, so you just stick with whoever you get first."
"Then what about whoever was escorting me before? You only took me on at the start of this year."
Right. If what she said was true, there was a problem—the escort officer who'd been assigned to me before her. There was no way I'd had no one before she was posted.
"Ah! You might not know, Dan-woo. The senior who had you before retired because of her age. I was assigned as her replacement."
Fair enough. The window for working as an escort officer was short. At best you lasted into your late thirties, and only if you managed yourself ruthlessly.
"What happens if a man rejects his escort officer?"
"Rejects her? Wait—do you not like me?"
"Huh? Where did that come from all of a sudden?"
It was so out of left field that the words left my mouth before the thought finished forming.
"You just suddenly brought up rejecting someone..."
Her voice trembled as she spoke. She was like an onion—peel after peel, and the charm just kept coming. The longer we spent together, the further she drifted from that first impression, and now she was even showing me this timid side.
"It's not like that. I'm genuinely just curious."
At my words she slowly nodded, then opened her mouth.
"Rejecting escort officers as a whole? Or rejecting that specific person?"
"Both."
She thought for a moment before answering.
"You can't refuse escort officers as an institution. The system exists for men's safety. If you don't like the particular officer assigned to you, they'll swap her out for someone else. The original one gets investigated, and if there's no issue, she gets reassigned to another man."
"So the escort officer doesn't get a say?"
"Of course not."
She said it matter-of-factly, but it was a harsh arrangement. It wasn't about whether the woman had done anything wrong—it all hinged on the man's feelings.
Without meaning to, I tightened my grip on our laced fingers.
"I'm not letting you go, Noona. Stay my escort officer."
"Hah... Y-yeah. Of course."
Hearing the strange heat in her voice, I smiled with quiet satisfaction.