First Pregnancy Activity
The morning after I'd picked an editor, an early phone call jolted me awake.
Nobody called me this early.
I grabbed the phone off the nightstand. It was Se-a.
"What's going on…?"
"Ah—were you still asleep? I'm sorry!"
She sounded thoroughly flustered. She knew perfectly well I was asleep at this hour, so she must have dialed without thinking.
"Don't worry about it. So why'd you call? We've still got time…"
"Right! Did you check NewTube?"
I stretched out on the bed while I listened. Apparently the video I'd uploaded in the small hours was blowing up. Whether the algorithm had blessed it or people had simply been waiting for the official NewTube drop, I couldn't say.
After hanging up, I was about to open the app when I noticed texts from Manager-noona and Hae-ryeong as well.
Do those two even sleep?
I was pretty sure they'd stayed up with me until dawn. Assuming they'd somehow managed to rest anyway, I opened NewTube.
Just how popular had it gotten for them to be this worked up?
The face-reveal—my first video—was sitting at number one on Trending, exactly as Manager-noona had said. And the view count was three million.
"Am I seeing that right?"
I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Still three million. In the few seconds I'd spent blinking, it had jumped another ten thousand. I'd uploaded it at dawn—barely twelve hours ago. How was this even possible?
"Did some controversy I don't know about explode overnight?"
Maybe some past incident the original owner of this body never wrote down in his diary had resurfaced. I knew that was unlikely, but the numbers were hard to process any other way.
I checked the comments. Thankfully, no controversy.
A few of the comments were pure unhinged devotion, but once I remembered the yandere factor, they made perfect sense.
I wasn't sure whether to be happy about that or depressed.
At least the video itself was fine. Next I checked the subscriber count Hae-ryeong had mentioned—it had already blown past four hundred thousand. I was pretty sure it had only been a little higher than my usual viewer count before.
Faced with one incomprehensible thing after another, I summoned Him.
Mindless single-celled organism mode.
It had been a long time since I'd called Him up, and the mental refresh did wonders. When you hit a wall no amount of thinking can solve, this really is the best option.
With a clearer head, I got out of bed and headed downstairs.
"Gonna need to hit the store soon."
The ramen stashed in the cupboard was almost gone. I made a mental note to go shopping before long and settled for cup ramen as an early lunch. Once I'd cleared the trash, I hopped straight into the shower. I had something important this afternoon, so I needed to move.
Waking up early might actually have been a blessing.
"I told Se-a as much, but she won't believe it unless I show her."
Now that there was no reason left to hesitate, I planned to be proactive. Today would be the glorious first step.
Once everything was ready, I sat at the desk and waited. The sofa was arriving tomorrow, so this was the only place to sit.
Hope she gets here soon.
A few minutes into waiting, a chat message came in from Se-a—and right after that, the intercom buzzed. I hurried over and opened the front door.
"Dan-woo, you checked the intercom properly before opening, right?"
"Huh? O-of course I did!"
The second she saw my face, Se-a hit me with the question. I answered through a jolt of panic. Digging any deeper into that would be trouble—she was a worrier, and she'd lecture me for ages. More than anything, I hated seeing her look sad.
"Come on, let's go! She'll be waiting!"
Before she could say more, I grabbed her hand and pulled her outside.
"We've still got time, you know… seriously…"
She sighed like she couldn't believe me, but she followed anyway. We climbed into the car parked in the lot, and I turned the key. The engine growled like some heavy beast and we pulled out. Expensive car—even the sound was luxurious.
"Every time I come here, I think the same thing."
We'd been driving maybe a minute past the residential streets when she spoke up out of nowhere.
"We need to hurry up and move."
"Why? Can't wait to live together?"
"Well, that's a given."
Se-a said it like it was nothing now. She didn't even blush.
"I mean the parking. Leaving it somewhere without a special reserved spot like that is dangerous."
Once or twice was fine, she said, but if we kept using that space, something serious could happen eventually. We always checked carefully before getting in, but people came up with ideas for crime you'd never think of. You could never be too careful about safety.
"Want to go house-hunting together soon?"
"Yeah. Let's look together."
Se-a agreed with a warm smile. After that we filled the drive with idle talk, and before I knew it we'd arrived. I parked in the special reserved section of the underground garage and we took the elevator.
At the eighth floor the doors opened, and a neon sign greeted us at once.
NEW FIT
Today's destination was the gym I went to. "Went to" was a stretch—this was only my second visit.
"Oh, you're here! Dan-woo-nim…"
"Ah—hi…?"
The moment we stepped off the elevator, the Seo-yeon and Seo-ha sisters were already waiting right in front of us, greeting me awkwardly. Two days ago, the first time we'd met, they'd been perfectly normal. Look at them now. The thought of pregnancy activity had them wound tight.
Right. In case it wasn't obvious—today's purpose was pregnancy activity with the two of them. I'd contacted them yesterday to confirm that ovulation dates and the rest of the pregnancy-activity system wouldn't be a problem. If you weren't ready to have a child, you got excluded from the pregnancy-activity lottery.
"Looking forward to working with you again today, coaches!"
They looked so tense I tried to lighten the mood with a bright greeting. Something in their faces eased a little. We agreed to change into workout clothes and meet back up.
I came out of the locker room in the same outfit as last time and found Se-a waiting—along with one more person.
Long red hair. Red eyes. A red sports bra and skintight dolphin shorts. The woman was red from head to toe. This had to be the witness Se-a had mentioned.
"Dan-woo, let me introduce you. This is Special Escort Officer Hong Si-an—my senior, and the one who'll be standing in as witness for today's pregnancy activity in my place."
"I'm Hong Si-an. I'll be witnessing today's pregnancy activity."
At Se-a's introduction she held out her hand in a stiff voice. She was trying to look composed, but anyone could see how nervous she was.
"Looking forward to working with you!"
I took her hand, met her eyes, and greeted her—and she froze solid on the spot.
"Unnie's with the Support Escort Unit, so she's never actually met a man before. Situations like this aren't familiar to her."
Not that any other Escort Officer would be used to this either, she added.
I managed a wry smile, but inside I was curious.
What's a Support Escort Officer?
Did Escort Officers have classifications beyond rank? Si-an looked like she'd need a while to unfreeze, so I just asked.
"Si-an-unnie's awakening ability is mobility-type, so she got assigned to Support—so she can deploy in emergencies."
Escort Officers belonged to the Protection Agency under the Ministry of Male Protection. Beneath that, branches split according to each officer's traits. There was the Direct Escort Unit, which stayed at a male's side; the Support Escort Unit, which stood by in peacetime and scrambled when a male was in trouble; and the Inspection Unit, which monitored and investigated Escort Officer misconduct, among others. Se-a was Direct Escort. Si-an was Support.
"She has an awakening ability and she still became an Escort Officer?"
Even with the chance to meet men, being a hunter seemed better in every other way.
"Ah—right, you wouldn't know."
"Know what?"
"Most people who apply to be Escort Officers already have awakening abilities."
Protecting a man was considered an honor in itself, so every year the applicants poured in.
"Then do you have an awakening ability too, Se-a?"
If most of them did, wouldn't she? It almost seemed stranger not to. But contrary to my expectation, she shook her head.
"I don't. It's not exactly a substitute, but… my mother was a hunter."
Sometimes a hunter's traits carried over to their children, she explained. Not a full awakening ability, but hair color or physical capability far beyond ordinary people. Se-a had inherited both her hair color and her physical gifts from her mother, who'd been an A-Class hunter.
"Hah— I… what am I even…"
Around the time our conversation wound down, Si-an luckily opened her eyes again.
"You're back with us. Shall we head in, then?"
Still dazed, she started guiding me anyway. I turned back one last time, waved to Se-a, and followed toward the room where the Seo-yeon and Seo-ha sisters were waiting.
"This is it."
Given what we were here for, I'd been shown to a different room from last time. A real room with solid walls instead of glass. Why a gym corner had a room like this, I had no idea—but if it was here, we might as well use it.
"As you can see, no one outside can look in, and I'll be guarding the entrance from this side."
Ordinarily, Se-a—my assigned Escort Officer—would have served as both witness and safety officer for the pregnancy activity. But since she was my lover, another Escort Officer had taken the role for the sake of fairness.
"Thank you. Shall we go in, then?"
I opened the door and stepped inside. The two women waiting jumped and froze mid-motion. Was freeze tag trending these days?
"Why have you two been freezing up all day? Just relax."
I walked over to them and pulled out my phone, opening the Male White Paper app. Normally I used the website, but for pregnancy activity you needed the app—or a computer. Why bother with the site when there was an app? Even in a reversed world, government-made apps were still garbage.
"Here—pregnancy activity codes. I've got them open, so go ahead and apply?"
A male's unique ID number didn't get used for much, but this was when it mattered most. Apply for a pregnancy activity code and the system scrambled that male's twelve-digit unique number at random and handed it over. Enter that, and you could enter the pregnancy activity lottery.
007532912315-1. That was mine.
The trailing 315 was how many males of the same grade had been registered since unique numbers began. The -1 indicated the grade. Grade 2 got -2, Grade 3 got -3, and so on. In other words, I was the 315th Grade 1 Male.
It looked like a lot at a glance, but unique numbers had been around for decades and there were still only 315 of us—vanishingly few. With South Korea's current male population sitting in the four-million range, that should give you some idea of the scale.
"I—I entered it."
"Me too… done."
After a short wait, Seo-yeon and then Seo-ha told me they were finished. Somehow their voices were shaking even harder.
Doesn't feel like workout time…
The original plan had been to finish today's training and then start the pregnancy activity. We weren't on strength work yet—just flexibility—so exercising first wouldn't have left us wiped. But with them this tense, even that looked impossible.
"Got it, confirmed! Then shall we start right away?"
The pregnancy activity lottery had direct selection and random selection. With only the two of them this time, I went with direct. The moment I hit confirm, both their phones chimed with notifications. Something along the lines of You have been selected for Yoon Dan-woo's pregnancy activity, I figured.
You have been selected for Yoon Dan-woo's pregnancy activity.
"I-it actually went through… I'm going to be with Dan-woo-nim…"
"Holy shit… photos…! I need photo evidence!"
Seo-yeon still couldn't believe it. Seo-ha scrambled to leave proof. Sisters, and their reactions were complete opposites. Seo-yeon showed no sign of coming back on her own, so I waited until Seo-ha had her wits about her before speaking up.
"Come on, are we all just going to stand here zoning out? Whether it's a workout or pregnancy activity, we've got to do something!"
"R-right! It's not a dream!"
Seo-ha clasped her phone to her chest. The way her arms pressed in and mussed the shape of her breasts was extremely lewd. There was no need to hold back anymore, so I freely let the blood rush downward.
"At this rate we won't even manage a workout."
I spoke as I slowly approached Seo-yeon.
"Let's just start the pregnancy activity."
I reached the still-dazed woman, cupped her cheeks in both hands, and stroked them gently. She snapped back to herself with a jolt.
"Huh? I was—eep!? D-Dan-woo-nim!?"
She tried to stumble back in shock. I looped both arms around her neck, pulled her down, and kissed her.
Seo-yeon was a little taller than Se-a at 170 centimeters, so the angle was awkward, but I didn't care. I'd even made peace with my small stature by now. Complaining wouldn't make me grow.
"Mmh…!"
It was only a light bird kiss, lips brushing lips—and suddenly she shoved me away.
"D-Dan-woo-nim! What on earth are you—"
"Ah… you're not supposed to talk during a kiss."
Se-a did it, Seo-yeon did it—why did everyone start talking mid-kiss? It wasn't even the kind of sweet whisper that built the mood. That mood-killing voice made the lust that had been boiling up go cold on the spot.
"That's not what we should be talking about right now!"
"Then what should we be talking about?"
After going as far as applying for pregnancy activity, this was starting to get frustrating.
"Unnie, what's your problem? If you're not doing it, move."
I wasn't the only one feeling that way. Seo-ha, who'd been watching from the side, stormed over in a temper. She shoved Seo-yeon aside, then took my cheeks in her hands.
"This okay?"
"Of course."
She leaned in until our noses nearly touched, then closed her eyes. I closed mine too and savored the soft, moist feel of her lips. Without either of us leading, our mouths opened and our tongues tangled. Our lips didn't seal completely, so from the side you could have watched our tongues intertwining in vivid detail—exactly the way Seo-yeon was staring at us right now, eyes locked on.
"Mmh… chup… slurp…! Haa…"
After a short, deep kiss, Seo-ha let out a heated breath. She met my eyes for a moment, then turned her head toward her older sister.
"How long are you going to stand there like that? If you're not doing it, get out. If you are, say something."
"You—talking to your unnie like—!"
"So what if you're unnie?! We got insanely lucky with a pregnancy activity—with a guy like Dan-woo—and you're just standing there? Does that make any sense?"
Faced with her little sister's razor-edged glare, Seo-yeon flinched. She lowered her head and spoke in fits and starts.
"I want to… I want to do it too…! But I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm scared I'll make him feel bad. That he'll hate me…!"
She wasn't crying, but her voice was a tangle of anxiety and fear.
Just because this was a reversed world didn't mean everyone was as forward as Seo-ha. There were people who'd tried to rape me, and people who tried to protect me. There were aggressive people and passive people, shameless people and timid ones. Some were sadistic, some masochistic. Some dominant, some submissive. The world couldn't be split cleanly into two of anything.
She's going to make me soft-hearted at this rate.
I turned to face Seo-yeon. One step closer, and I cupped her cheeks in both hands and lifted her face. Her lowered head rose, and I saw violet eyes trembling with unease.
"You said you watch my streams. And you're still worrying about that?"
"Even so…! Mmh—"
Even so, nothing. I sealed her mouth with mine and cut the rest off. I didn't need to hear it. Odds were she was about to say even so, I can't help worrying, or even so, real life might be different.
If anything I'll go harder than on stream, not softer. She's fretting over nothing.
I gently coaxed the tongue that had retreated deep inside and refused to come out. Scraping the back of her gums with mine, sweeping along her teeth, I slowly drew her tongue forward to meet me. I tapped and teased it out, and once enough of it had emerged, I caught it between my lips. To keep it from slipping free on the spit, I lightly pinned the tip with my tongue.
"Hiih!? D-Danu-nim!?"
"If you're not planning to take the lead, just do as I say."
Soft heart or not, we still had a job to do.
It was time to punish her for thinking of me like any other man in this world.