The First Day as a Netkama in a Gender-Reversed World
"Ugh... my head." I groaned, sitting up at my desk as a sharp pain throbbed behind my eyes. I let out a long breath, trying to steady my racing heart. "So, this is a gender-reversed world?"
Information about this reality had been forcibly injected into my brain. First off, this was a world where the typical personalities and habits of men and women were the complete opposite of my original world. Furthermore, the gender ratio was 1:4, making it a heavily female-dominated society. But the most important thing was...
"Are all the men here just complete idiots?"
The best-looking guys were at most average-looking actors, their physiques were either stick-thin or obese, and their personalities were either delinquents or total losers. "Honestly, I could probably pull in viewers just by streaming as a guy here."
As I thought about taking the easy way out, an opaque window shimmered into existence before my eyes.
[You have deceived the gods of this world!]
[As punishment, you must continue your life in this world solely as a Netkama.]
"?" I blinked. "And if I don't want to?"
[...]
[Hmm...]
[Die.]
"Whoa, hold on!" Did it really think I'd just roll over? "I mean, it's obvious I'd succeed if I just streamed as a guy, so there's no reason to play a Netkama, right?"
I tried to resist the system, but— "Ugh!" Suddenly, my breath hitched, and my entire body began to convulse.
[I mean it. Die.]
"Okay! I get it! I'll do it!" As soon as I conceded, my breath returned. "Haa... haa..." Just like that, I was forced to continue my Netkama career in this new world. "But do I really have to do internet streaming?"
[Yep.]
"Hmm..."
[Die.]
"I said I got it! I'll be a Netkama streamer again, so please, just stop." I calmed the system down and checked my situation. "But my place is exactly the same? How did you bring only me into this world?"
[Not just the house! I brought your bank account and all your other personal information too!]
"Really?" I checked my phone balance and saw the 5 million won I’d worked so hard to save. "Hmm... I was hoping I might get a family in this world..." I’d been an orphan since birth in my old life, so I’d hoped for a fresh start, but I guess that wasn't in the cards.
"But won't this cause social chaos?"
[Uh...]
"'Uh'?"
[Well... it probably doesn't matter. I used mass hypnosis, so it's fine!]
"That's a terrifying thing to say..."
[It's fine as long as the government and your landlord think you've always existed in this world, right?]
"I suppose so." Since I didn't have any friends or acquaintances outside of the internet, it didn't matter as long as the government—who registered my ID—and the landlord—who signed my lease—recognized my existence.
"The government is one thing, but what about the landlord?"
[The landlord here is blind, so it shouldn't matter much!]
"Aha." It was a very convenient setting, but I didn't feel like arguing, so I just nodded.
*Grumble~*
"Ah." I checked the time; it was already past 2 PM. "Let's go get something to eat."
[Warning!]
"Yeah?"
[Wear a mask and a hat!]
[If you fail to do so...]
"Okay, okay, I die, right? I'll wear them." I grabbed a black hat from my closet and a white mask from my desk and headed out. "Ugh... this is stifling." I was used to walking around confidently, but being covered up like this felt suffocating. Strangely, the people outside didn't seem to notice me at all. 'Why?'
[That's because they can't recognize you as a man!]
'They can't recognize me as a man?' What was this? Did the hat and mask have some kind of special function?
[It's not that! It's just that there are no men in this world with a build like yours!]
"Ah." As I let out a sigh of realization, heads suddenly turned toward me.
"Huh?"
[Shh!]
[If you speak, they'll know you're a man!]
Then, a woman approached me. "Excuse me, are you... a m-man?"
My first outing was already a disaster. 'But do I really need to avoid getting caught? I'm already wearing a mask and hat, aren't I?'
[Do you think you can keep being a Netkama if they find out you're a special kind of man?]
'Huh? That wouldn't be a problem, would it?'
[There would be many. Countless women would start stalking you!]
'Aha.' Realization dawned on me, and I pulled out my smartphone.
"Huh? I definitely thought I heard a man's voice...?"
"Oh... I see. Excuse me." Thankfully, I managed to get through the first crisis. 'It's hard just to go out for a meal.' After barely surviving that, I arrived at a burger franchise. 'If I come here, I can order takeout without speaking.'
I decided to use delivery as much as possible from now on, and I ordered a burger set through the kiosk. "Customer number 298! Your order is ready!"
I carefully approached and picked up the bagged burger set. "Customer?" As I turned to leave with the bag, the part-timer spoke to me. 'Did... did I get caught?'
"We're currently conducting a survey for in-store customers, would you like to participate?"
Thankfully, it was just a survey request. I was about to nod, but— 'Wait, wouldn't I have to write down my personal info?' I shook my head and hurried out of the store.
'I don't think I've ever done anything this mean in my life...' Ignoring the kind part-timer as I walked out... this was probably one of the meanest things I'd ever done.
[The meanest thing you've done is being a Netkama!]
'...' Nobody was fooled, yet it fooled itself...
[What?]
'Nothing.'
I quickly returned to my studio apartment.
"Phew! Finally, I can breathe." I threw off the stifling hat and mask and set the burger, fries, and cola on my desk. "What should I watch while I eat?" I started looking for something to watch.
"Oh, she's pretty." I went to a live streaming site and saw many beautiful people. "What is this? Are all women here pretty?"
[Hmm... maybe?]
"Why 'maybe'?"
[That's... a secret!]
"..." If you were going to talk like that, you shouldn't have brought it up...
[I can hear you cursing me in your head right now!!!]
"I meant for you to hear it."
[...]
"At least you have a conscience. You're not blackmailing me with that, at least?"
[Hey!]
"Ow!" My body suddenly went rigid. "Sorry! Sorry!!"
[Hmph!]
So unnecessarily emotional... "I can hear you!"
"No, no! I can't even control my own thoughts!"
[Then just don't think!]
"How am I supposed to do that!"
[If I tell you not to do something, don't do it!]
"..." This dog-like... "Argh!!" After a while of unintentional self-torture, I finally started eating my burger. "This is fun." I was watching a female streamer doing a talk show. It was fascinating to see a woman doing this, but...
[When are you streaming?]
"Me?"
[Yeah!]
"Well... maybe I'll start right after I eat?"
[Great!]
A few minutes later, I finished eating and prepared to start the stream. "Come to think of it, I need to change my nickname."
[Why?]
In my old world, I used "Baek Miru," my real name. But in this world, I needed to keep my personal information to a minimum, so I had to think of a new one. "Hmm..."
[Baek Miru... White Dragon... Hakuryu?]
"Hakuryu?"
[It's White Dragon in Japanese!]
"I like it." But I wondered if that would be too specific... "Who would name a person White Dragon anyway!"
"..." My parents hadn't named me that, so I couldn't say anything. Come to think of it, I didn't even remember who had named me. "Ha... being an orphan is so sad..."
[Cheer up!]
I ignored the system's encouragement and changed my nickname to Hakuryu. "Is the Virtual Avatar still there?"
A Virtual Avatar. It was a tool for streamers who didn't use cameras to convey emotions more intuitively and show off their character. My avatar was a black-haired beauty, and the concept was a queen.
"I spent so much money on this..." I’d poured a significant amount of capital into it, including money earned from streaming and part-time warehouse jobs. "Oh! It's here." I found the avatar and the voice modulation software nearby. 'Everything is set up.' It seemed the computer was exactly the same as in my old world.
"Now, I just need to decide what to do..." Since it was my first stream, I thought a casual game would be best. "Hmm..." I couldn't think of anything good. "Should I play MinerCraft?"
I’d bought it for a collaboration, but I never had the chance to play it because I didn't have any streamer friends. "Suddenly, I'm sad." Thinking about that, I felt grateful to the many people who had watched my Netkama streams.
"Let's just turn on MinerCraft." A screen made of square pixels greeted me. "So I just make a map and enter like this." After learning how to create and enter a map, I finished all my preparations.
"Time to start the stream."
"Hmm... I don't think that'll get any attention." The title didn't seem provocative enough. "Ah!"
"This should bring them in." Satisfied, I started the stream.