An Unprecedented Situation
My body felt light. Truth be told, ever since I fell into this novel, my physical condition had become incomparable to my original body. Kang Jae-hee truly lived up to the Geumtaeyang look—his physical abilities were outstanding. Sleek, rock-solid muscles… and, just for the record, his dick was huge too. Add in the special abilities on top of that, and it was basically like being an outright superhuman.
I sprinted across the center of the battlefield where everyone had frozen in place as if their breath had been stolen. I came to a stop right in front of the Giganoid that Lee Hyun-woo and Han Seo-ah were piloting.
I glanced back and forth between the fallen Giganoid and Brunhilde, who was flaunting its presence while floating in the air far away. The creature had stopped moving too, observing me. I had to act fast before it resumed its attack.
I leaped up to the cockpit where Lee Hyun-woo was seated. The entrance is normally locked, but since I’d registered as a reserve combatant, the lock disengaged. Inside, I grabbed the collar of the unconscious Lee Hyun-woo and shook him hard.
“Hey, you bastard! Wake the hell up!”
“Ugh… uhhh…”
Lee Hyun-woo’s lips twitched as consciousness slowly returned, but there was no time to waste. I slapped his cheek.
Slap. Slap.
“Ugh… what the—! Who the hell are you?!”
“It’s me, dumbass.”
Lee Hyun-woo finally snapped back to his senses.
“No time to explain. Get down right now and get as far away from here as possible. Head for the base. Got it?”
“W-what about Seo-ah?”
“I’ll bring her. Don’t worry about it.”
Even though he’d regained consciousness, Lee Hyun-woo was completely exhausted. Normally it might have been different, but right now he could barely control his own body. He looked frustrated, but he accepted the situation. He was the kind of guy who could make that call.
When he nodded, I shoved him out of the cockpit. A short scream and a dull thud followed, but hey—he was a superhuman too. A drop from that height should be fine.
There was no time to waste. I opened the emergency access hatch beneath the seat Lee Hyun-woo had been sitting in. It led to the main body where Han Seo-ah was connected. I crawled down through it.
After opening the hatch and wriggling my way in, I saw the entrance to Han Seo-ah’s cockpit. The moment I slipped inside…
Han Seo-ah had lost consciousness, head hanging limp. Her arms and legs were locked in an X-shape inside tube-like restraints, with cables running all over her body.
It had sounded weird in the novel, but seeing it in person… it was honestly insane.
Who the hell would call this a piloting posture? Looks like some tentacle bondage shit.
The suit for female operators was completely different from the combat suits. The special plastic material worn directly against bare skin revealed Han Seo-ah’s figure with zero restraint. Large breasts, tiny waist, and those killer hip lines. Her outstretched arms and legs were locked into cylindrical restraints while thin cables ran across her body. The ones running front and back through the most sensitive areas especially gave off a lewd vibe.
Honestly… it was fucking hot.
“Ha, shit. What the hell am I thinking at a time like this… I really am a terrible person.”
I shook Han Seo-ah’s body the same way I’d shaken Lee Hyun-woo, trying to wake her. But she didn’t stir. This wasn’t in the novel at all.
No, why isn’t she waking up when it’s so urgent? Damn it…
Meanwhile, my every action was being broadcast via auxiliary camera to Lieutenant Colonel Lee Kwan-yong and the other operators.
Did Kang Jae-hee always have this much drive?
Lee Kwan-yong found himself reevaluating the cadet. As an educator he wasn’t supposed to hold prejudices, but honestly, Kang Jae-hee had never been one of his favorite students. Yet his current actions were more than enough to serve as a model for the others.
He had charged into extreme danger to rescue his comrades. He had already saved Lee Hyun-woo and was now trying to save Han Seo-ah too. Lee Kwan-yong felt ashamed for having judged the cadet based solely on appearance.
But a problem had arisen. No matter how hard Kang Jae-hee tried to wake her, Han Seo-ah wouldn’t open her eyes. It had to be ability exhaustion. On top of that, Kang Jae-hee was frantically trying to pull her out of the restraints but clearly didn’t know how.
That was only natural. He had only received combatant training, not operator training.
“Is communication open?”
“It should be.”
“Then connect it immediately!”
I was drenched in cold sweat. I’d rushed in so confidently because I knew the novel’s plot, but this shit wasn’t supposed to happen.
From inside the torso control room I couldn’t see what was happening outside, which only made me more anxious. According to the novel, Brunhilde was about to fire another beam any second.
“Fuck… fuck… you piece of shit author…”
I desperately tried to release the devices locking Han Seo-ah’s arms and legs, but it wasn’t like I’d ever seen this before. Her limbs were clamped perfectly tight by the machine and wouldn’t budge. Slapping her cheeks and yanking on her arms and legs did nothing. She wasn’t dead—her breathing was steady—but she wouldn’t wake up.
Ah, fuck, wake up already!
While I was panicking, a communication line crackled through.
“Kang Jae-hee, Kang Jae-hee. Do you read me?”
“I read you!” I answered instantly.
“The operator’s restraint system cannot be released by you. It requires registered authorization.”
What kind of bullshit setting is that? Then what the hell am I supposed to do?
“However, there is an emergency ejection code that can launch the restraints along with the operator. Look at the panel to your right.”
Following Lieutenant Colonel Lee Kwan-yong’s instructions, I looked right. Sure enough, there was a panel with multiple buttons.
“The ejection code is HXRJ—”
I pressed the buttons exactly as told. A plastic cover-like shield began to envelop Han Seo-ah’s X-shaped body.
“Hurry the hell up! You call this an emergency ejection? It’s so damn slow.”
It wasn’t actually that slow, but the situation was urgent enough that it felt like it.
The instant Han Seo-ah’s body was fully sealed and ejected from the Giganoid, Brunhilde released another energy wave. This time it wasn’t conical. It was a direct, straight-line beam aimed at a single target. The nature of the energy was completely different from before.
She—Brunhilde—was feeling an unknown emotion toward the extremely peculiar being that had appeared before her eyes. It was an emotion she had never experienced since the moment of her birth. A life form so fragile it could not even be compared to her. Yet it was also the very existence she had longed for all this time.
Her species possessed a very special ability that could only be used once in a lifetime. She decided that now was that exact moment.
The beam stretched out as if time itself had stopped. In reality, the flow of time had halted to near infinity. And while everyone else was frozen, the only ones still moving were her and me.
“Ugh… ughk… heu… haa…”
It felt like my body was floating. A strange sensation. Like I was being squeezed… wrung out. Predation. She devoured greedily.
After what felt like an eternity of connection, when there was nothing left to extract, she withdrew, brimming with satisfaction, and began to return to the rift.
It was the realization of a cliché.
My mind was hazy. I could feel people shaking my body and lifting me.
“Quickly, move her now.”
“I can’t believe it.”
What the hell are they saying…
“Is this child really Kang Jae-hee?”
“Then who else could it be?”
The voices sounded like noisy static. But I couldn’t move a single muscle. There wasn’t an ounce of strength left in my entire body.
…And then I was placed on a stretcher and carried somewhere.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital. I looked at the mirror.
There, the reflection of a truly delicate girl stared back at me.
I couldn’t believe what had happened to me.
Long, straight hair that fell all the way to my waist. It was a bright golden blonde. Other than the blonde hair, the only remaining trace of the original Kang Jae-hee was the slightly upturned shape of the eyes. But the difference between male and female completely changed the impression.
It wasn’t an appearance that looked Korean. Yet it didn’t quite look fully Western either. Long eyelashes, large sparkling eyes, flawless porcelain-white skin. There was no doubt she was a beauty.
No, let’s be real—a fucking stunning beauty.
But she looked far too fragile.
Feels like she’d blow away in the wind.
The body that had once boasted firm muscles had transformed into a slender frame with soft curves. I lifted both hands and stared at my arms. They really were like thin reeds. My strength had genuinely decreased. I couldn’t not notice it—especially after spending several days in this world showing off steel-like muscles.
A hollow laugh escaped me. My head was spinning. The curve of my chest was obvious, so I moved past it and let my hand drift downward.
It was gone. The big gun was gone. Geumtaeyang’s greatest asset had disappeared.
“…Author… you son of a bitch.”
Even that trembling voice was ridiculously thin and delicate.
At that same moment, a meeting about how to handle Kang Jae-hee was underway at the academy’s main headquarters. The colonel in charge of the medical department began his explanation.
“Cadet Kang Jae-hee is currently, biologically, completely female.”
“Has it been confirmed that the girl is truly Cadet Kang Jae-hee himself?”
The question came from the academy principal, Lieutenant General Yu Sun-chan.
“He was wearing Kang Jae-hee’s combat uniform, and all five tests—including brainwave scans—matched perfectly. There is no room for doubt. These are elements that cannot be altered even by transformation abilities.”
Transformation abilities. Although the current Kang Jae-hee situation was unprecedented, the world did contain ability users who could change their own or others’ appearances, as well as relics that granted such powers. They were extremely rare, but that was why the academy was considering the possibility.
Of course, even then, transformation abilities only changed outward appearance. There had never been a case where the gender itself was altered like in this incident.
“Then should we handle this case the same way? How long does a transformation on another person usually last?”
“It varies depending on the strength of the ability. However, given the monster’s Kilian reaction value measured during this incident, it is nearly impossible to estimate. The number is completely without precedent.”
The principal and other high-ranking officials let out heavy sighs. No precedent meant no clear answer.
“Does the ability remain? If the ability has disappeared, we would have to expel the cadet.”
The only instructor present—Lee Kwan-yong—shot to his feet at those words. He had only been summoned as a witness and technically had no right to speak, but the word “expulsion” forced him to act.
“That is unacceptable! We may not be able to award a commendation, but expulsion? That’s ridiculous!”
“Stay quiet. If the ability is gone, keeping up with the curriculum will be difficult anyway. It would be better for the cadet as well. What is your assessment?”
“As a combatant, the aptitude is… very low, but it barely meets the passing line.”
“That is fortunate. What about as an operator? Since the subject is biologically female now, that path should be possible as well, no?”
“Theoretically, yes. However, complete re-education would be required. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, we cannot predict when—or if—the subject might return to male form…”
“Then the decision is made.”
And so, Kang Jae-hee’s treatment was decided.