Exit, Meow!!!

Exit, meow!!!

The status window — proof that I'd awakened.

And a completely useless ability.

Along with those two things, three invitations had floated up before my eyes.

But none of that mattered to me.

My body had changed from a man's to a woman's. That single fact alone was enough shock to last a lifetime.

It wasn't as if I'd never imagined living as a woman once. But that had always been just that — imagination. Now it was reality.

What had been there was gone. A crushing sense of loss washed over me.

Ten billion won versus my manhood. If I had to choose, it was manhood every time. And now?

I sank to the floor and stared into the mirror.

It was a face and body of maddening beauty — beautiful enough to erase my despair as if it had never existed.

Normally, looking at that body should have made me feel embarrassed. It was a woman's body, after all. But it didn't. Maybe because I was a woman now? There was no lewd or sexual feeling at all. Just a quiet sense of this is my body.

I picked up the shirt I'd thrown off and put it back on.

"Woo-wooong… Hup!"

A delicate voice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from a delicate body. I clamped a hand over my mouth. Come to think of it, my speech had changed too — that nasal, mewling lilt at the end of every sentence.

No talking!!!

It was mortifying. A grown man going meow-meow? That didn't make any sense!

I was alone in the house, so I wouldn't be opening my mouth anyway — but better safe than sorry.

I turned my head and checked the clock.

The interview… is a lost cause.

It was well past one and barreling toward two. Even setting the time aside, going outside in this state was absolutely forbidden.

Wearing nothing but a shirt, I wandered the apartment. After three or four aimless loops, I ended up back in front of the mirror.

Okay, yeah… she's pretty.

I looked down and felt over my body. The boxers I'd always worn didn't fit. Even pulled up, they were so baggy they couldn't function as underwear — just made things more uncomfortable.

Gonna have to buy new ones.

At least I wasn't one of those idiot beastkin wandering the streets. That much was a relief. My intelligence hadn't tanked along with everything else.

I sat down at the computer to order underwear. I hit the power button and waited for the monitor to light up. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the water glass sitting next to the mouse.

I stared at it. Hard.

"……"

I curled my hand into a paw and batted the glass. Each tap nudged it a little farther sideways.

Tap. Tap.

Eventually the glass teetered on the edge of the desk. One last swat.

And then—

CRASH!

"Hgyak?!"

I leapt straight up at the sound — a pure, unconscious reaction my brain couldn't keep up with. Crouched on the chair, I peered down at the floor like a fisherman staring into the sea from a cliff's edge.

The glass lay in a thousand glittering pieces.

What the hell?!

Did I just… do that?

I went blank at the unbelievable sight. Just now, I had truly become a cat. A cat that followed nothing but animal instinct!

SMACK!!!

I slapped myself hard across the cheek.

Get a grip!!!

Was I going to let instinct swallow me whole? Had my instincts awakened as a beastkin too?!

I steadied myself.

"Hoo-ha, hoo-ha."

After sweeping up the glass with a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dustpan, I sat down calmly and meditated. It wasn't any proper technique, but I managed to scrape together a little river of peace.

Then I got back to the internet surfing I'd meant to do. After browsing around, I clicked on the smallest size underwear set on Rocket Delivery Lupine. Just plain, patternless ordinary underwear.

Order this!

It would arrive by dawn tomorrow. I shut off the computer and flung myself onto the bedroom bed. Between a beastkin's superior physical ability and my tiny frame, I hung in the air for a surprisingly long time before landing.

Lying there, I thought. I needed a way to suppress my instincts. If I kept batting things off desks like earlier, someone was going to bleed.

So I checked the three invitations I'd ignored before. One was the Tower invitation — every Awakened received one automatically. Non-Awakened had to go to the Tower in person. Next was the Awakened Community. I'd look at the Otherworlder Community later; for now, the Awakened Community first.

There might be someone else who got TS'd like me.

I hit the enter button.

Just the bare essentials. I needed information, so I clicked the board.

The board was full of people talking to each other. Strategy posts, bait posts — the troll posts stood out the most, but I didn't bother clicking them. It looked no different from any other community floating around the internet.

I typed TS into the search bar.

I should have clicked the question post at the bottom… but my instincts slammed the second one instead.

"……"

I had nothing to say. Because that was exactly what I was doing right now — propped up in bed, squishing my soft belly. My whole mind seemed to melt into it.

No, no! This wasn't the time. I hurriedly clicked the next post.

"Ha……"

I couldn't even laugh.

If I ever fell into the hands of a guy like that…

I shook my head hard. After that I dug through other TS-related posts, but there wasn't a single case of a man turning into a woman like me. Either that, or they were hiding it. One or the other. And apparently no one had ever had their entire species change either.

I wanted more information, but there was nowhere obvious to ask. Especially not for someone with zero friends.

What am I supposed to do?

Honestly, the surest answer was just to go ask the Association… but going outside in this condition seemed impossible. Stepping out with this young, delicate little body? Complete with the ears and tail of those idiot beastkin? I couldn't even begin to guess what kind of disaster would hit me.

Not that beastkin never walked the streets. You saw them now and then. Most of them lived like stray cats. Think about what stray cats are like. People constantly coming up to them with Churu treats, right? Now imagine those aren't ordinary strays, but beastkin who act like clingy house cats?

I'd lose my mind. A cute stray cat that even listens when you talk? Nobody can resist that!

I spent a moment picturing my miserable future.

Horrifying…

Absolutely not!

I squeezed my eyes shut. The one consolation was that I wasn't one of those idiot beastkin. I was an Awakened! I had the qualifications of a Climber who could freely ascend the Tower!

If I didn't want to become a dumb beastkin, I had to climb. Climb the Tower and become a smart, recognized beastkin.

I turned my gaze to the Tower invitation.

The Tower of Heaven. Clear just the first floor and you could enter the Climber Community — one more source of information.

I pushed myself up from the bed and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed a kitchen knife. Floor 1 only spawned a single goblin, so a few good stabs should do it. Then I put on a padded jacket as makeshift armor. Couldn't let this delicate body get scratched up. Even if I overheated, so be it.

I hit the enter button.

Enter!

My vision flashed white.

I came back from the Tower.

"Eughhhhooong."

I buried my face in a pillow and heaved sigh after sigh. Those stab-stab sounds should have been coming from a goblin. Instead—

"Eughhhhooong."

My miserable body and Awakened ability couldn't even hunt the weakest goblin.

I stared at the pathetic ability and sighed again.

"Eughhhhooong!"

About ten minutes earlier…

Summoned into a forest clearing, I looked around with the kitchen knife in hand. I was an Awakened, after all — one goblin should have been easy. That assumption was a catastrophic miscalculation. My expectations were thoroughly demolished.

"Kiiiruk!"

The instant I spotted the goblin, I flung the knife away and dropped flat to the ground.

"Hyaaak!!!"

My tail dropped low and puffed up to twice its size. Hands and feet planted on the earth, back arched rigid — the exact defensive posture of a cat that had just met a predator, inflating itself to look bigger.

What is wrong with my body?!

It moved on its own. Even though my head knew I needed to charge that goblin and stab it repeatedly with the kitchen knife, all I could do was watch. The instinct of a cat facing an unknown creature. I couldn't control it.

Then the goblin moved.

"Haaaak!!!"

I hissed and bolted. Body and mind completely out of sync.

At least throw a meow-meow punch…

My desperate inner scream never reached anything. Before long I cracked my head against Floor 1's boundary barrier and went sprawling.

"Hwaaak!"

The goblin was charging at my fallen form. It was definitely going to hurt me. With no way to suppress my instincts, I had zero chance of winning. Terrified of an ugly goblin, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I screamed—

"Exit, meow!!!"

Those messages appeared, and I was back home.

And that was how it happened.

"Uuuugh…!"

An Awakened who couldn't even clear Floor 1. A half-baked failure. Faced with just how useless my awakening was, I had no choice but to bury my face in the bed for a long, long time.

The next day arrived.

I'd washed away every scrap of yesterday's humiliation on Floor 1.

"Ahem."

I was not the type to dwell on that sort of thing. I carefully opened the front door, and there was the underwear I'd ordered yesterday. I put it on right away. Perfect fit for my body. Aside from the slightly strange feeling, it was fine.

Me, wearing women's underwear.

Live long enough and you really do see everything.

Today's agenda was set: suppress my instincts. I'd already concluded that wasn't going to work at home.

There's no tension here.

So I decided to try the convenience store out front. Putting constraints on myself. And conveniently, brunch today was going to be convenience-store food anyway.

Two birds, one stone!

Suppress instincts while filling my stomach. Perfect.

I opened the wardrobe and pulled out a black oversized shirt. White ones were see-through — way too embarrassing. The long pants didn't fit the length, so I grabbed shorts. Held up against my body, they nearly covered my shins.

Can't be helped.

I resolved to buy clothes that actually fit this body, then jammed a hat down on my head. The black cat ears got squashed, but there was no choice.

I have to hide the ears and tail.

That was the plan, at least.

How do I hide the tail, though?

I tilted my head, thinking.

Tape it down, maybe…?

The way it swished around on its own was pretty tiring.

No! What kind of instinct-suppression training involves taping things down?

That wasn't training. Therefore: the tail got stuffed up inside the shirt. Putting it down the pants just made it poke out, so upward was the only option.

"Prep comple— hup!!!"

My voice slipped out on its own and I clamped my mouth shut. I'd almost let a meow-meow sound escape.

"Hooo……"

I slid into slippers far too big for my feet and stood in front of the full-length mirror. The all-black outfit had happened by accident, but my celestial-tier looks completely blew away any gloomy vibe.

I look like a model.

That aura hit me so hard a smile rose on its own. Savoring the shimmering atmosphere, I spun in place.

Shall we?

I shuffled out the front door in my dragging slippers.

But I…

Really should not have gone to the convenience store.