The Sixth Delusion (1)
"Take this! Artemis Slash!"
"Yeah~ Blocked it."
"What the hell? You blocked everything! How do you know all my sneaky tricks..."
"Because I'm you, of course. It's only natural."
Ah! That made sense. Since she was exactly like me from the start, she would obviously know every strategy I normally used.
No wonder she predicted the timing of my attacks like a ghost, and I could read hers just as easily.
This made the whole game feel strangely off-kilter.
Still, it felt incredibly nice to have another 'me' to play games with like this. I'd never had anyone to game with before.
Hehe.
Wait, but is this really the time to be playing games!
I've come to a gender-reversed world, and here I am playing video games!
"Hey, let's stop the game here."
"Ah, are you getting bored already? Let's see. Huh? It's already been three hours? Yeah, that's a pretty long session."
"It's already six o'clock. I woke up a little after noon, so I've been in this world for nearly six hours now, but I haven't stepped outside even once. Let's go out at least once."
The commotion from waking up and suddenly facing another 'me' had happened a little after twelve. Waking up past noon might look lazy, but this was normal life for someone who'd just finished their college entrance exams.
Anyway! I'd spent the first hour after waking up in total confusion, then another hour calming down, washing up, and handling miscellaneous things. After that came an hour talking with Kim Gyeoul, who had become a girl, followed by three hours of gaming in that state...
Huh?
Does this make me sound like some game-obsessed loser?
"You want to go outside that badly? Are you curious how other people will react when they see your face?"
"Yeah... Gyeoul did say I was pretty, but it felt like the kind of thing a younger sister says out of politeness. It didn't seem like she truly thought I was unbelievably attractive."
Rather, she had seemed more shocked that another 'me' had brought a guy home. Since the original me had never shown any closeness with girls by the age of twenty-three, this version of Gaeul must have found it incredibly jarring.
Besides, if I was unbelievably pretty (by this world's standards for a man), shouldn't she be making a huge fuss and clinging to me? That's how it always went in gender-reversal novels. Even though she was my younger sister, she hadn't shown much reaction and simply disappeared into her room. It felt a little disappointing.
"Ah, this won't do. If I go out for no reason and other women start hitting on me, I'll end up abandoned..."
"Huh? What did you say?"
She seemed to be muttering something under her breath. Why was she acting like this all of a sudden? Did she not want to go out? I was a hardcore homebody who hated leaving the house too, so maybe that was it.
Clap!
Suddenly the other me clapped her hands.
"Ah! This will work perfectly!"
"Ah, you scared me! What is it?"
"Let's go to the movie theater."
"The movie theater?"
"Yeah. Honestly, there's not much to do even if we go out, right? So let's just go watch a movie together. The second part of that famous Dabata movie is out now."
That's right. Dabata 2. I couldn't go see it because of exam prep, but I'd heard it was released. I had enjoyed the first one so much back then—maybe we should go see that.
"Hey, but if we go to the movie theater, we'll be sitting in a dark room watching the film the whole time. How am I supposed to see how people react to my appearance?"
I wanted to witness people getting shocked by my looks.
-Whoa, does a pretty-boy like that actually exist?
-Should I try getting his number?
-No way, right?
-Just look at that face.
-You wouldn't stand a chance.
Things like that. If we were inside watching a movie, there was no way any of that would happen.
"Hey, that's not true. Think about it. What kind of people go to movie theaters the most?"
Movie theaters? I was a forever-single with hardly any friends, so I didn't go often and had no idea.
Ah! Could it be couples?
"Could it be... couples?"
"Exactly! There will be tons of couples. Since you're me, you must have read about it in all those novels. The protagonist with unmatched looks walking between couples. Relationships shattering left and right."
That was true. It was a classic scene that always appeared in gender-reversal novels or TS stories. A protagonist with overwhelmingly superior appearance would pass by, and the women (in gender-reversal novels) or men (in TS novels) in each couple would become captivated, unable to look away. Their partners would see this, grow jealous, and...
Slap! They'd hit their boyfriend or girlfriend and suggest breaking up!
Hell yeah!
Not bad at all.
"Oooh~. I like it, I like it. So let's go to the movie theater?"
"Yeah, wait a moment. We need to buy you some clothes before we go."
"Huh? Ah... clothes... right, I don't have any right now."
"These are technically my clothes, but they're a bit big on you, so wear them for now. Let's buy you some outfits and then go watch the movie."
That made sense. I didn't have any clothes of my own with me. No matter that this was a gender-reversed world, a guy walking around in women's clothes wouldn't stand a chance of attracting anyone properly.
"But do you have money? Clothes are expensive, aren't they?"
"Even if I look like this, I've earned plenty working part-time while attending university. Don't worry and just pick out whatever you like. I'm you, after all."
Whoa. Hearing that from myself felt incredibly touching. Even though it was me, to help out someone who literally had nothing like this... The other me really was an angel.
I had spent four years locked in my room studying for the college entrance exam and didn't have a single penny to my name. The contrast was painful. Was I just trash?
"Anyway, let's head to the mall and go shopping!"
Yeah, let's buy some clothes first and think things through later.
Huh?
But that meant I was going to the mall to shop for clothes with a girl, just the two of us. Shopping alone with a pretty girl?
Did that make this a 'date'?
Ah. No, it couldn't be a date if I was going with 'myself.'
Yeah. Well, from her perspective, she had arrived in a gender-reversed world. Of course she would want to go outside and see how other people reacted. If I had gone to a female-to-male reversed world, I probably would have worn thin, revealing clothes and walked around just to watch men's reactions.
But that wouldn't do.
Just going outside with that appearance would probably cause chaos. If she wore thin clothes that showed everything?
People would swarm and stare only at her.
She might even get kidnapped. For now, I should make her wear my clothes and dress warmly.
Other women would fall for her the moment they saw her... If pretty girls started hitting on her, someone like me would get abandoned without even having a chance to seduce her. That couldn't happen. From the beginning, you are 'me'!
If not with me, then who would you end up with?
Still, I probably couldn't stop her from wanting to go outside. What should I do? How could I...
'Ah, that's right! The movie theater!'
Yes. Going to the movie theater would work.
If we went to the theater, we'd be sitting in a dark place watching the film, so other women wouldn't be able to see her face properly, right? That Dabata 2 had a runtime of over three hours. If we watched that and came back late at night, people wouldn't get a good look at her face!
Besides, most people at movie theaters were couples. They wouldn't dare hit on her right in front of their own partners, would they?
Okay. Let's do that.
"Let's go to the movie theater."
"The movie theater?"
"Yeah. Honestly, there's not much to do even if we go out, right? So let's just go watch a movie together. The second part of that famous Dabata movie is out now."
"Hey, but if we go to the movie theater, we'll be stuck in a dark room watching the film the whole time. Then how can I see what people think of my appearance?"
"Hey, that's not true. Think about it. What kind of people go to movie theaters the most?"
"Could it be... couples?"
"Right! There will be tons of couples. Since you're me, you must have read about it in all those novels. The protagonist with unmatched looks walking between couples. Relationships shattering left and right."
Could it really happen like that? Those clichés were all just stories in novels. There was no way it would happen in reality.
"Oooh~. I like it, I like it. So let's go to the movie theater?"
"Yeah, wait a moment. We need to buy you some clothes before we go."
"Huh? Ah... clothes... right, I don't have any right now."
"These are technically my clothes, but they're a bit big on you, so wear them for now. Let's buy you some outfits and then go watch the movie."
Let's go buy clothes first. Whether she planned to do internet broadcasting or anything else, she would need clothes to live. I should buy her clothes that matched my taste.
And I had always wanted to try shopping with a guy at least once. So was this my first date in life?
It took about ten minutes to walk from our house to the shopping mall. We passed by quite a few people along the way, but no one became enchanted at first sight and tried hitting on me.
?
What was going on?
Why?
Wasn't I supposed to be incredibly pretty?
Maybe it was because I was wrapped up tightly in this weird long puffer jacket. I needed to go shopping quickly and change into some decent clothes.
No matter if this was a gender-reversed world, if I had no popularity I wouldn't be loved at all! Then what was the point?
"Here we are. We've finally arrived. Wow, there are so many people. Let's go buy you some clothes first."
The other 'me' said as she opened the door to the shopping mall. There really were a lot of people.
Tremble tremble tremble.
Huh? Why was my body doing this all of a sudden? Was coming to a crowded place making me scared?
Ah. It really had been a long time since I'd been somewhere with this many people. That's right. I had always been afraid of crowded places.
"W-what? Hey, why are you suddenly linking arms? Did you suddenly start liking me?"
"Hey, as soon as I came to a place with lots of people, my body started trembling. I can't stop it. Why am I like this?"
"...Good grief. Hey, you're me. Why are you suddenly scared? No one will think strangely of you. And this is a 'gender-reversed' world, where you're the protagonist. To any woman, you're an irresistibly attractive man. No celebrity could possibly be prettier than you. Have some confidence."
"Lean on 'me.' This 'me' will help you out."