Awakening into a Nightmare: My Body's Betrayal
The world had looked beautiful the moment I first awakened. If someone like me, living in a world of dull gray, suddenly saw colors, would this be the feeling? The moldy-smelling one-room apartment had turned into a rainbow garden—I almost believed it.
**Awakening.** Awakening. Chosen minority. The job where I could earn the most money in this world—**Hunter**.
Should I run around the place shouting “I awakened!” or hang up a banner somewhere saying “Proud Awakening Birth!”? Either way, I knew this situation could be fixed.
When I realized the world wasn’t just dumping crap on me, a rush of memories flashed through my mind like a train at full speed.
Sudden gate opening. The monsters that dropped right on top of us. My parents’ deaths. Barely surviving with my little sister.
When I woke up, the hospital bills piled up like a mountain. The insurance I barely managed to keep up with in this empty household? Just one policy. With the money from that, the hospital fees were barely covered, but looking ahead felt hopeless.
I had worked odd jobs since childhood. I’d had my share of getting cheated and plenty of painful ones, but I had kept living by the last words my parents gave me.
And finally! The reward for all that suffering had arrived! Come on, bright future! Goodbye, pathetic past!
Of course, there was no guarantee I could walk the straight path without bumps. I’d probably get hurt or even die. But what did that matter? If I just cleared the gate as an awakened and defeated the monster, it would be one-hit-kill money!
‘First, I’m gonna slap the part-time job chief across the face twice…’
Imagining something pleasant, I filled out the awakening report and went to sleep last night.
And today, I lost my mind.
“Wha—?!”
The moment I opened my eyes, I screamed. I had no choice but to.
Even my voice had gone up a tone.
Saying bad things in such a beautiful voice—someone’s gonna have to teach you a lesson, missy? Hahaha.
…Forget denial. I had to check the situation first.
The narrow one-room apartment, exactly as it was. The mattress with the spring popped out, exactly as it was. The wallpaper covered in mold, exactly as it was. The empty spot in the room where my little sister worked her part-time job, exactly as it was.
[Oppa, what are you doing right now? Are you busy?]
[I packed some side dishes in the fridge, so eat them]
The messages from my little sister, exactly as they were.
My body, the sensation I should have had in my lower half—wasn’t the same.
“What is this!”
The gender itself changed just because I awakened? What kind of crap is this!
I jumped out of bed and looked at the mirror.
“Wah, damn. Insanely pretty.”
It didn’t match the tone of my voice at all—the perfect beauty.
They said the hair color changes when you awaken, but it didn’t seem to apply to me. Still the same jet-black black as before.
Sharp eyes, but the features were so perfect they turned even that sharpness into something attractive.
Slender and graceful, with the elegant curves of a woman alive in my body.
“W-what is this.”
In my bewilderment, I couldn’t help but mutter to myself.
*Knock knock.*
“Hello, I’m here on behalf of the **Awakener Registration**. Please respond if this is Seo Harang.
Even though I hadn’t adapted to the changed gender, someone had come looking for me. Judging by the way she spoke, she was probably from the Awakener Association.
Thinking I couldn’t let this slip, I immediately answered.
“Ah, yes. Here I am.”
“…Huh?”
“Just a moment.”
I opened the door. A man wearing a baseball cap stood there.
My gaze rose. It was because I had become shorter.
“Ah… that.”
The man staring at me flinched. Then he stepped back one pace, looking flustered.
“You said you were here for the awakener registration, right?”
“Ah! Y-yes! Umm… are you a family member? According to the registration, there’s a younger sister listed…”
“Um…”
I couldn’t say what I wanted to say.
If I said it was me and it turned out to be the first case where gender changed…
Human experimentation! Dissection! Taxidermy!
A dangerous three-car pile-up replayed itself in my brain on automatic. If my future of walking the straight path as an awakened ended like this, I would never allow it!
…But no excuse came to mind. I couldn’t just deny it.
If I didn’t file the awakener registration, I wouldn’t get paid even if I cleared gates or defeated monsters, so I had no choice but to file it.
After a moment of hesitation, I somehow managed to open my mouth.
“I… am the one.”
“You are? Ah! I’m sorry for staring! That’s… I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Rather, I awakened and something like this happened…”
“Ah…”
A gulp. I heard the sound of swallowing.
Why was I swallowing saliva.
“That… yes, it’s not common, but there have probably been precedents. I’ll report this matter to my superiors and secure the necessary conditions for you…”
The woman took out her phone.
“U-um… could I have your contact number? You’re just… too much of my type…”
Insane person!
Even after hearing that my gender had changed, I refused with a nationwide cry for help.
She seemed sorry, but she didn’t press further. Probably because she had a civil service stamp.
Anyway, I somehow finished the paperwork without any unexpected issues. Yeah, gender didn’t matter. Earning a lot of money, eating well, living well—that was the important thing.
After sending the staff away, my thoughts naturally turned back to the changed body.
‘Thinking about it…’
I looked at the mirror. My original clothes hung loosely on me, exposing the shoulder line. It felt rather degenerate.
Eyes with a slight upward curve, smooth jet-black hair. An appearance that could be called a beauty in every sense.
‘Maybe I should go on a broadcast after all? Why, with the feel of a laid-back woman.’
There were plenty of choices. I had awakened. I could sell my face or do manual labor or anything—I could do it all.
So? If someone asked which choice I had picked among them…
“Harang-ah.”
“…Superhuman Seo Harang.”
“You don’t check the official name right away? Missing it? Which matchmaker is it?”
“Superhuman Jeong Seung-ah, sorry. I’ll educate you properly.”
“If you’re sorry, does that mean the awakener life ends?”
I had been hooked by the high pay and forced into unit life.
“And Seung-ah, there’s no one but women in the unit anyway. Why are you wearing makeup? You don’t need to wear makeup after awakening—you get appearance compensation for free anyway. Do you like women?”
“That’s not really the case.”
“…Okay. Teach me properly.”
“Understood.”
It wasn’t just any unit—it was a special unit made only of female awakened.
I felt like something was horribly wrong, but I couldn’t pull out. I had already signed the contract.