Chapter 1: Encounter
Chapter 1: Encounter
"They say genes sometimes have traits that don't manifest easily. For example, being born with your grandparents' hair color instead of your parents'."
"They call this 'atavism.' Isn't it fascinating?"
I wondered if this was what they meant by 'preaching to a wall.' Unlike Lena, who was rambling on about things I couldn't care less about in a gentle voice, I was barely managing to keep my legs from giving out.
Whether intentional or not, her occasional sighs tickled my ears so suggestively that I felt like I might lose my strength and collapse at any moment.
"Did you know that some genes can remain dormant for a very, very long time?"
She looked like she wanted to continue, but after belatedly noticing my body trembling violently, she gave a playful smile and clapped her hands.
"Oh my. You didn't have to push yourself so hard. There, you can rest now."
Clap, clap. At the long-awaited command to rest, I collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. My limbs, tortured by a minute-and-a-half plank, were shaking uncontrollably.
Lena looked down at me sprawled on the floor as if she were watching an entertaining show.
I felt it once again—even looking up from below, her sculpted beauty was breathtaking.
She had long, straight blonde hair that reached her waist, porcelain skin without a single blemish, and strikingly exotic crimson eyes.
Those eyes, combined with her sharp, elegant features, boasted a beauty that seemed almost otherworldly.
"My, Jaejin, you really are a weakling."
"Call me... Ginger... ugh..."
Jaejin—or rather, the man who insisted on calling himself Ginger—possessed stamina that was clearly below average. His limbs had yet to recover from the aftermath of five sets of ninety-second planks.
"Hehe. It doesn't really suit you to use a name like that when you aren't 'red' at all, you know?"
I knew that. But changing my name was a declaration of my will to live here.
Rather than clinging to useless lingering attachments and homesickness for my old name, I wanted a mindset that allowed me to move forward.
As I cleared my head, a question that had been bothering me from the start naturally surfaced.
"So, why exactly do I have to do this?"
This wasn't what Lena had promised me. The blonde demon from another world—she had made a promise to me when I had lost everything.
*
The life of the man named Jaejin fell into the category of 'unfortunate.' His parents had separated before he could even speak, and they officially divorced shortly after.
He still didn't know the reason for their split. All that was certain was that young Jaejin had to spend his childhood alone, neglected by a selfish and indifferent mother.
Without a proper education, Jaejin grew into a typical, maladjusted boy. He never met a mentor or a friend great enough to help him correct his unrefined aggression.
Ultimately, he only managed to acquire a minimum level of civility and social skills after numerous trials and errors, by which time all his peer relationships had already been ruined.
Naturally, Jaejin’s heart became filled with a thirst for success, envy of others, and an inferiority complex. He dreamed of a fresh start in college.
That start seemed to go quite smoothly. He was accepted into the history department of a national university in a rural area where he had no connections. He made new friends and even got his first girlfriend after joining a volunteer club.
However, at some point, his relationships began to warp, as if regressing to the past.
For some reason, his friends gradually drifted away, and strange rumors about him began to circulate.
To make matters worse, his mother—his only blood relative—was demanding child support for the years she had "raised" him.
In the end, the same situation he faced back in his hometown unfolded again. No, it was actually worse.
He wondered if all of this was his fault, but the question remained unanswered. All he was left with were estranged relationships.
To Jaejin, who had grown to hate and resent everything in the world, the only human connection left was his girlfriend from the club.
Despite his deteriorating circumstances, their relationship endured, becoming Jaejin’s final lifeline.
With their mutual affection growing, the frequency of their dates increasing, and their physical intimacy repeating, Jaejin began to harbor hope.
He thought that maybe, just maybe, he could have a normal relationship. That he could finally have his first sexual experience.
And it actually happened, just as he had imagined. One evening, after a light round of drinks, the two of them stood outside a subway station, gauging each other's mood.
Exchanging silent glances, it was clear neither of them wanted to go home yet.
They didn't say it out loud. But when they bought alcohol from a convenience store and headed to a motel for a second round, their thoughts were undoubtedly the same.
The two fresh-faced college students, barely twenty, crossed the line just like that.
And then—
"This is the worst. Don't ever contact me again."
It ended abruptly, before the mood could even cool down.
Why? How? Why did it turn out like this? As Jaejin clung to her desperately, his mind flooded with questions, she summed it up in one sentence.
"Why? You're seriously asking because you don't know? It's too small. Seriously, this is just wrong, don't you think?"
Two knuckles of an index finger. She gestured with her thumb and flipped her hand over, looking as dumbfounded as if she’d been hit in the back of the head.
As if saying, 'How dare you covet my body with something only two knuckles long,' she continued her vitriol, looking utterly appalled.
"I joined this club because they said it was a good place to meet guys. Your face is decent enough, but how did I end up getting involved with a loser like you?"
"I thought it would at least be big, but where does this confidence even come from? You're not even a jalapeño."
He had thought she was out of his league. He knew it wouldn't last long. But he never imagined it would end like this.
Jaejin could do nothing as he watched her back as she stormed out after saying her piece.
Everything was over. His relationships with his family and friends had ended long ago. His only hope, the fragile bond with his lover, had just snapped.
And in the most miserable way possible.
"I give up."
Jaejin’s self-esteem plummeted through the floor, and he began to sob uncontrollably in the empty room.
In a motel with good soundproofing, there was no one to hear his cries and knock on the door.
Just as his sobbing began to subside from sheer exhaustion, he felt a presence behind him.
He hadn't heard the door open. Startled, Jaejin turned his head to find a woman he had never seen before standing there.
Her waist-length blonde hair and alabaster skin made her look like a Western beauty, but her blood-red eyes were exotic, looking almost like cosplay lenses.
Her outfit was incredibly lewd: garter belt stockings that reached her thighs, a short dress with side slits that exposed her hips, a daringly low-cut neckline revealing her cleavage and abdominal muscles, and tights covering her arms and upper body.
She stood there silently, as if she had been there from the beginning—the most beautiful and provocative woman he had ever seen in his life.
"Oh my. Do you like my outfit?"
The woman waved her right hand to draw his attention and lightly stroked her abdomen. To his surprise, the white skin that had been covered by the tights was revealed.
Is it a magic trick? It looks like real magic. Whatever, it doesn't matter.
Seeing such a beauty at the end provided some small comfort. At the very least, he was glad that his last memory wouldn't be that pathetic display.
Sensing Jaejin’s resignation, the woman began to speak as if she were reading his mind.
"Wealth, honor, family, social status, talent... are you tired of a life where you have none of the things others enjoy as if they were birthrights?"
Did she read my mind? No, it was slightly different. It was as if she had been watching him fall apart all this time.
"Who... are you?"
It was strange. For her to appear at such a perfect moment... she was far too bizarre, standing there as if she had expected this to happen.
Naturally, Jaejin’s aimless rage turned toward the blonde woman.
"It's because of you, isn't it?! My life being ruined like this. All of it...!!"
It was a vent. How could this mysterious woman have possibly ruined his life?
But Jaejin was so cornered that he couldn't endure it without blaming someone else, without pointing a finger at a culprit.
"You poor thing. It should go without saying, but it's not my fault that people hate you."
Who else could he blame? It was Jaejin’s own fault for being flawed from birth.
It was his fault for not being able to get along with others. It was his fault for having something only two knuckles long.
"Would you like to start over? Leave your current life behind and start fresh in a place where no one knows you."
No matter how despondent Jaejin was, he still had some common sense. Approaching someone in emotional distress and whispering sweet words was a classic scammer's tactic.
No, in the first place—
"There's no way that's possible. I've already failed here. No matter where I go, I'll just..."
He couldn't even fathom the idea of starting over. That was the reality of Jaejin’s life, which had been nothing but a cycle of failure and despair.
"It's possible with my help."
The woman spoke confidently, leaning her face close to his. Her overwhelmingly beautiful features possessed a seductive charm and a strange persuasiveness that was hard to resist.
Speechless, Jaejin saw something strange at the edge of his vision. On either side of the crown of her head, there were horns reminiscent of a goat's.
Only then did he begin to see the things that had been hidden by her provocative body.
On either side of her waist were things like bat wings, and dangling near her thighs at the back was a tail.
"Wha... what on earth is..."
Jaejin crawled backward on the floor, away from the extra body parts that moved far too vividly to be mere cosplay props.
"Oh? You're only just noticing? It's alright. I won't hurt you."
As she gave a thin smile, fangs that were definitely not human peeked out from between her lips.
"A... a demon..."
The mysterious woman before his eyes was a demon.