Chapter 1

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: penny

Chapter: 1

Chapter Title: I Awakened and Became a Girl

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Four years ago, gates appeared all across the world.

That single event turned countless lives upside down.

Some gained great fame and fortune.

Others lost family to the sudden monster invasions or had their homes snatched away.

But there are those who don't fit into either category.

For instance, people who couldn't obtain the powers of an awakener—known as hunters—so they just keep spinning their wheels in the same monotonous daily grind.

Or those who had nothing to lose in the first place.

And I'm one of the latter.

Yang Hayang.

Yang Hayang, even if you read it backwards.

I got teased a lot as a kid for having a girly name—what kind of name is that? Sure, it was mostly kids who already disliked me picking on me for no good reason.

And that same Yang Hayang—me—today, as always, was wrapping up another day in a stuffy, shack-like house in the slums, reeking of damp mold.

Screeech... creak...!

"...No water coming out anymore."

I'd been washing my hair with laundry soap before bed.

But no matter how much I twisted the faucet, it wouldn't give a single drop.

With a sigh, I turned it off and roughly scrubbed my head with a rag that could pass for a towel or a floor cloth.

Whatever. I can wash it later.

So what if it gets a bit soapy?

It's laundry soap, after all. The towel will come out cleaner—it's probably thrilled.

Muttering that ridiculous excuse to myself, I trudged to the living room feeling utterly deflated.

Calling it a "living room" was a bit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a stretch.

This rundown place didn't even have clear separations between living room, kitchen, and bedroom to begin with.

It was a bedroom when I slept, a living room when I sat, and a kitchen when I ate.

That was it—my one and only home.

"Remote..."

With the fluorescent light on the fritz, I fired up the TV for light, same as always.

It was an old set my grandma had scavenged from somewhere back when she was still alive.

No wall mount or anything—just a bulky CRT-looking beast.

The picture quality was awful, but it was enough to make out sounds and images.

For me right now, it was my one source of entertainment.

- ...Ranking 2nd, S-Rank Hunter Han Yuseol has become the first in the world to solo clear a Collapse Gate, earning praise from countless people...

No cable, so I stuck to the basic public broadcast channel.

The screen lit up with footage so high-quality even my crappy TV couldn't hide it: a stunningly beautiful woman sweeping the crowd with her icy gaze.

Even I, who's cut off from the outside world and living like a hermit, knew that name.

Han Yuseol.

Current world ranking 2nd hunter, known as the Sword Empress.

She belonged to no guild, accepted no support, and still clawed her way to the top on her own. An incredible woman.

People like her probably don't have worries like mine, huh?

Will I have food tomorrow?

Will I get to sleep in this house again tomorrow?

Will I see cockroaches and rats scurrying out tomorrow and sigh in relief instead of jumping in fright?

She wouldn't sweat stuff like that.

Our worlds are just too different.

I wanted to be someone like her.

Not exactly "great," though.

I know better than anyone how lacking I am.

The words I heard growing up were always along the lines of, "That kid can't do anything right."

But I did have one dream.

Even someone as deficient as me—even this hopelessly inadequate person—wanted to be of use to the world, to be a light for someone.

That's why I'd hoped some god-given chance like the awakeners got might come my way too.

But apparently, God says trash like me isn't needed by humans either.

"...Bedtime."

Beep. I hit the remote to kill the TV and pulled the threadbare blanket up over my head.

Watching just made me feel more down.

Not that my life had much further to sink.

Like that saying about how even the bottom has a bottom—no need to crawl even lower.

I hugged myself to shake off the gloom.

My scrawny, unmanly frame felt especially pathetic tonight.

A draft snuck through the creaky doorframe, rudely whipping through the blanket.

If only a miracle happened to me too.

I knew it was pointless, but I kept repeating it in my head.

I hated myself for it, cracking a bitter smile.

I felt so worthless, tears pricked at my eyes.

Still, I forced myself to calm down and closed my eyes.

Crack... crunch...

The last thing I heard was bones breaking and reforming somewhere.

Then my vision went black.

It was the sweetest sleep I'd had since Grandma passed—my first real rest in ages.

Caw! Caw!

"Nngh..."

The crows were noisy from the crack of dawn again today.

They always flocked around this slum.

Like they were mocking passersby, cawing whenever, wherever.

"If you got nothin', at least be diligent!"

Shouting like that, they kept up their racket.

In the end, I had no choice but to give up the rare deep sleep and crawl out from under the covers.

But... huh?

What's this? Was my eye level always this low?

As I sat up, I tilted my head at the rundown dresser right in front of me.

Weird.

Our dresser was always super short and small, so it used to look a bit lower.

Now the top was right at eye level.

Had I been slouching without realizing?

Tilting my head, I headed to the bathroom to splash some water on my face.

A chipped mirror caught my eye, and I instinctively checked my reflection...

"...Huh?"

My brain short-circuited.

And for good reason—the mirror showed a girl I'd never seen before, not me.

Wait, who's this? What the? Am I dreaming?

Albinism, maybe?

Her hair was blindingly white, like fresh snow.

And those eerily red eyes perched precariously in the shadows beneath.

This mysterious girl I'd never laid eyes on was twisting her face right along with my grimace.

Stretch—

"Ow?!"

I experimentally pinched my cheek quick.

A sharp sting shot through.

And the girl in the mirror did the exact same thing.

Only then did it hit me.

This stranger was me.

Somehow, overnight, I'd gone from man to girl.

Why? For what reason?

The question I couldn't voice rolled around my tongue...

"Eek?!"

The sudden translucent text window nearly made me fall on my butt.

Wh-what is this?

Status screens are supposed to appear for awakeners, right?

Then why me...?

No way.

Did I awaken while I was asleep?

Is that why I turned into a girl?

But why's my age like this?!

I was a high schooler, more or less!

Okay, I never actually went...

First time hearing that awakening changes your gender and age.

Doubts flooded in, but I had to accept it for now.

I was clueless about the outside world anyway.

Plenty of things I didn't know must be out there.

But what's with the skill description?

The choppy explanations—like some illiterate wrote them—made me frown.

Couldn't they explain in detail?

Hard to grasp what it does from this.

Action Foresight and Ally Enhancement stand out, at least.

More importantly, Constant Status Lock? Don't tell me I'm stuck with these trash stats forever?

No way.

I scoffed, but a bead of cold sweat trickled down anyway.

For real?

These rain-like stats... really mine?

The one lifeline tossed to my life turning out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to be rotten rope?

Average fresh awakener stats are around 20, right?

Recalling some vague rumor, despair crashed over me.

So deflated, I nearly splatted onto the filthy bathroom floor.

No, maybe not. It says Combat Status Correction!

But at the very end.

That faint glimmer in the dark let me steady my wobbling legs.

Not just that, though.

Even a nobody like me had finally gained awakener power.

I wanted to cling to that slim hope of being useful to someone, somewhere.

Screw it. Let's give it a shot.

This life was probably destined to fade away alone in a corner anyway.

One last gamble couldn't hurt, right?