Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The pathetic scream that burst from my throat was so loud my eardrums rang. But I didn't have a single second to think about any of it.
Why was I, who'd definitely been on a bus heading home from work, suddenly on top of an enormous bed? Why was the voice tearing out of my throat a woman's voice? Why was the young woman who came in after hearing my scream wearing a maid's uniform? At the time, I didn't have the luxury of caring about any of that.
Because my whole body hurt so much.
The lights in the dark room all came on, and the maid shouted something. Then people rushed in at the sound, I was lifted in a flash and moved—
And when I came to, I was in a hospital.
The first thing I thought when I properly regained consciousness was that my throat was in terrible pain. As I stared at the white hospital ceiling and then turned my gaze slightly, I saw an IV bag connected to my left arm. I watched the medicine drip drop by drop for a moment, then tried to sit up to grasp the situation.
I tried to sit up.
But even the tiniest movement sent a violent shock of pain through my back and waist. No, not just my back and waist. My shoulders, elbows, hip joints, knees, every single joint we use to get out of bed was all agonizingly painful. It felt like I was forcibly twisting and wrenching joints that had stiffened solid from long disuse.
"Nghh."
When I finally couldn't hold back and let out a groan, the curtain that had been drawn around me was pulled aside.
"Miss? Are you awake?"
The person who came at the sound was a doctor in a white coat.
Maybe because I'd screamed my throat raw earlier, my voice wouldn't come out properly. When I made a moaning noise instead of an answer, the doctor nodded as if he'd gotten the gist.
Then,
"We've called the police, so you can rest easy," he said in a voice full of solemn gravity.
Police?
......Why?
I still hadn't grasped the situation, so I looked up at the doctor with a puzzled expression. The man, who looked like he'd just entered middle age, gazed at me with the look of someone witnessing something deeply pitiful and shook his head slightly.
No, I mean, I'd appreciate it if you gave me a reason.
Of course, that didn't come out as proper speech, but as a pained "Nghh..." sound.
Anyway, as the doctor said, it didn't take long for the police to arrive.
There were about four officers who came to the hospital. Two wore the kind of uniforms you often see on the street, but the other two were in plainclothes. With leather jackets and pants that looked easy to run in, they were probably detectives from the Violent Crimes Division, the sort you often see in dramas.
The officer who had followed the doctor and seen my condition immediately took the smartphone the doctor handed him. He frowned at once.
"Is she in a condition to talk?"
"She's regained consciousness, but I doubt she can hold a normal conversation. She can't speak...."
The doctor said that with a sympathetic look.
Meanwhile, I tried to turn my head and take in the situation, but no matter where I looked, only patients were around. I saw no family or friends.
......So it wasn't a traffic accident?
My head was a mess.
I'd definitely been on my way home from work. Tomorrow was Saturday, and I'd been relieved to finally escape the tiresome weekdays and sleep in. My last memory was dozing off in the very back seat of the bus, warm heater air blowing on me. Then out of nowhere I dreamed about a maid, screamed wildly, and ended up here.
"Ah, if you're worried about the people who came with you, there's no need. They're far away from here."
Isn't it more unsettling if the people who came with me are far away?
Never mind family or friends, if the person who brought me here would just give me some explanation, I'd feel better. Of course, if the bus had been in an accident or something, they might have just gone straight home. How many people are there who would take a total stranger to the hospital and wait until they woke up?
Ah, is that it?
Is my body this painful because I was in a traffic accident?
With my head slowly starting to function, I began to piece together the situation piece by piece.
I hadn't seen it clearly since I was dozing, but I'd apparently been in a traffic accident while riding the bus home from work. That's why my body hurt so much, and that's why the police were here.
"Student, you don't have to worry anymore."
The older of the plainclothes officers, a middle-aged man, looked down at me with a pitying expression. He had a rough face but was oddly handsome. He looked like a successful middle-aged actor playing a detective in a movie.
...I was well past the age to be called a student, but if that's what he thought, I wasn't about to argue.
"That's right. Just relax. You just need to answer our questions... No, just nodding your head is fine."
The younger detective next to him, who looked about my age, chimed in.
The middle-aged detective politely handed the smartphone back to the doctor and strode over to me. He bent slightly toward me, then seemed to realize the height difference was still too great, so he knelt on one knee on the floor.
Then, in a quiet voice, as if to keep the neighboring bed from hearing, he asked softly,
"Have you ever been subjected to domestic violence?"
"......?"
What the hell was that?
I'd thought I was more or less grasping the situation, but apparently not. Was there some connection between a traffic accident and domestic violence? Could I actually be suspected of being the culprit in the accident or something?
I blinked a few times and stared at the detective's face, but there was absolutely no look of suspicion. On the contrary, seeing him keep a certain distance while meeting my gaze, as if trying not to intimidate me, it seemed those words were meant literally.
But domestic violence, really. I couldn't have been a victim of domestic violence. I live alone. In a studio apartment with only me, what family would there be to hit me? And even when I lived with my family as a kid, I was never subjected to domestic violence.
When I shook my head, the detective spoke with a grave expression.
"We already know. We saw the bruises on your back. Those are marks that couldn't have come from anything but violence."
Seriously, this guy was asking a question with the answer already decided.
And if there are bruises on my back, then of course they're from the traffic accident, not violence. Forget domestic violence, I'd never even been hit on the street, so why was he going on and on about this? When I shook my head again, the detective's brow furrowed.
"But, student—"
"That's enough."
Just as the detective opened his mouth to try to persuade me again, I suddenly heard a sharp woman's voice.
Turning toward the sound, I saw a young woman in a black coat that reached her ankles standing at the entrance to the emergency room. She had a blunt-cut bob and a beautiful but rather severe-looking face.
...Uh, I think I've seen that face before.
It was definitely from the dream I'd just had.
"The young lady said no."
Young lady?
Before I could even wonder about that phrasing, men in black suits began pouring in through the emergency room door.
"Ah, excuse me, you can't do this......!"
The doctor cried out at the sight of people flooding in, but the woman looking at me didn't so much as glance away.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing causing a scene in a hospital?"
In the end, even the detective who'd been questioning me stood up, frowning.
"Before that, why don't you take this call first."
The young woman said something rather unexpected to the detective.
"A call? What call, what are you—"
The detective's expression stiffened as he was replying. Because before he could even finish speaking, the phone in his pocket started ringing.
"......."
The detective pulled out his phone, looked at the screen, shot a fierce glare at the young woman, and then answered.
"Yes, Chief."
The call didn't last long. A few short answers, yes, yes, I understand, I'm sorry, and then the detective hung up.
He looked down at me once, then at the young woman, let out a deep sigh, and roughly scratched the back of his head.
Then, looking at his fellow officers who had come with him, he said,
"Let's go."
"Huh?"
"But—"
"For now."
But the older detective cut him off mid-sentence and immediately headed for the door. The flustered officers had no choice but to follow.
"......Student."
After a few steps, the older detective turned back as if he'd just remembered something.
"If anything happens, contact the police right away."
"Nothing is going to happen," the young woman said, but the detective just kept looking at me for a moment.
When I nodded, the detective sighed deeply again and turned away.
The young woman, who had been watching all the police leave the emergency room, immediately turned toward the doctor who had brought them.
"We'll be checking out."
"What?"
The doctor looked incredulous.
"But the patient's recovery is still..."
"This hospital."
The young woman cut him off flatly.
"How much do you think Yujin Group donates to this hospital?"
"......."
The doctor's mouth fell open.
...A whole corporation was stepping in just to get me discharged? That was strange.
Could a company be involved in the bus accident somehow? No, more than that; I'd never even heard of a group called Yujin Group. Samsung or LG, that's one thing. But a company that can throw its weight around in a hospital like this and get away with it?
I turned my gaze away.
Before I knew it, the space around my bed was packed with men in black suits, all standing with their backs to me.
Their shoulders were broad enough to draw every eye at a gym, and there seemed to be nearly ten of them. With that many people gathered around me, it almost looked as if a black aura were creeping up from above their heads.
"We will be checking out," the young woman said again, putting firm emphasis on the words.
In the end, the doctor had no choice but to nod.
The young woman turned on her heel and walked toward me. The black suits surrounding the bed immediately stepped aside so she could face me directly.
Standing squarely before me, she placed both hands politely over her abdomen, bent at the waist in a precise ninety-degree bow, and said,
"Young lady, I apologize for making you wait."
.......
Only then did I remember that she had called me that earlier too.
...Young lady?
*
"Young lady, is your body feeling a little better?"
Considering she'd made all the arrangements and moved me here before I could answer anything at the hospital, I had no idea what I was supposed to say to that.
Of course, there was also the fact that my voice still wasn't coming out properly.
More than anything, I still had no grasp of the situation.
In the car on the way back, I'd felt around everywhere I could reach, and one thing was certain: this was not my body. I was too embarrassed to touch certain places, so I left those alone for now, but whether this body was young, underdeveloped, or both, it clearly wasn't the kind of figure that made you gasp at first sight.
Being carried princess-style by one of the huge men in black suits was extremely humiliating, but I also wasn't in any condition to walk on my own, so I decided to go along with what they were doing for the time being.
If I really had entered someone else's body, I needed to understand the situation at least a little first.
So, for now, I nodded to the young woman.
Now that she had taken off the coat she'd been wearing and was back in her maid uniform, she saw my nod, lowered her head neatly, and backed out of the room.
Only after the enormous double doors closed silently and smoothly behind her could I sort through my thoughts in the quiet.
So... what exactly was this situation?
Countless light novels and web novels I'd read before came rushing through my head.
All those unrealistic stories I'd assumed could never happen to me: falling into the world of a novel, ending up inside a game or another world, becoming one of the characters there.
The rational part of my mind rejected the possibility. Honestly, the idea that I'd suffered a serious head injury and gone insane seemed far more plausible than the idea that I'd become a character in a novel.
And yet another part of me couldn't stop wondering whether those delusional-sounding stories had actually happened.
Because that was exactly what seemed to be unfolding in front of me.
I tried to lift my arm, then gave up.
It still hurt too much. It wasn't as bad as when I'd twisted around screaming earlier, but the pain was definitely still there. I was in no shape to sit up and rummage through this huge room for clues.
I turned my head and looked around, but there wasn't much useful information.
The room was decorated in a modern, minimalist style, like the bedroom of some absurdly wealthy chaebol daughter from a drama, but I didn't recognize the setting. To be honest, I read far more web novels than comics, so even if I knew the story, it was only natural that I wouldn't easily recognize a place unless it had some very distinctive feature.
No matter how detailed the description, every reader imagines a different room.
...Maybe I should just sleep for today.
When I left the hospital earlier and was loaded into what looked like a black ambulance, probably run by this household, the sky I'd seen for a moment had been completely dark. In other words, it was late enough to sleep.
The clock hanging far across the wall was pointing to one in the morning.
Apparently, I'd woken up screaming in the middle of the night.
My whole body still ached, and my throat stung.
I lay there blinking for a while, then let out a deep sigh.
Right. Sleep. I'll sleep first and think after I wake up.
If this was really just a dream or a delusion, everything would be over once I woke up.
And if the absurd situation I was imagining had really happened... then I still needed to recover at least enough to figure out what kind of situation I was in and whose body I had entered.
I closed my eyes for a moment to sleep, then opened them again.
Not for any grand reason.
...How do I turn off the lights?
*
In the end, last night, no, this morning, I closed my eyes tight under the bright lights, then pulled the blanket over my head and forced myself to sleep.
"Young lady...?"
I woke to a slightly flustered voice calling me and slowly lowered the blanket that had been pulled all the way over my head.
It was the young woman from yesterday, the one in the maid uniform.
The confusion in her voice was written just as clearly on her face. Her expression was completely different from the blank look she'd worn while half-threatening the police and the doctor yesterday.
She looked back and forth between the blanket that had been pulled over my head and the lit ceiling, then slowly walked to the bedside table and picked up the small remote sitting on it.
Beep.
The moment she pressed the button, the room lights went out with a small sound.
...So that was how you turned them off.
I'd never lived in a house with modern facilities like this, so the thought hadn't even occurred to me. Now that I thought about it, maybe a friend's apartment had once had a similar function.
As my face flushed with embarrassment, the maid gave me a worried look and placed a hand on my forehead.
Her hand was very cold. Or maybe I was hot.
Honestly, rather than a cold or fever, it was more accurate to say my face was burning from embarrassment.
"You still have a slight fever. It would be best to cancel today's schedule after all."
I had no idea what schedule had been planned for today, but that was a relief. I didn't remember any of it.
No, saying I didn't remember wasn't quite right. More accurately, that information had never entered my head in the first place.
I wasn't this rich young lady to begin with.
"Please lie down and rest today. Once your condition improves, you can start moving then."
I nodded obediently.
The maid smiled at me, bowed politely, and said,
"I will bring breakfast shortly."
Then she backed out of the room and quietly closed the door.
After counting about ten seconds from the moment the door shut, I pushed myself upright.
"Ngh..."
My back and waist still throbbed, and my arms and legs trembled, but I was much better than yesterday, when I could hardly move at all.
I brought my hand in front of my eyes.
It was far smaller and more delicate than the hand I used to have. A hand that made the word 'young lady' sound perfectly natural. A hand that had clearly never known hardship.
Each joint ached, but I could still clench and unclench my fist.
"Ah, ah."
I opened my mouth and tried making a sound.
Unlike my original voice, which had been on the lower side, what came out was the slightly high voice of a young girl.
The moment I heard it, cold sweat ran down my back. It felt far more real than when I'd touched my body or looked at my hand.
"...One, two, three."
I muttered as if testing a microphone, but the sound coming from my throat was still the voice of a frail young girl.
It was a little hoarse, probably because I'd screamed yesterday, but objectively speaking, no one would have been surprised to call it a pretty voice.
"Whew..."
I rubbed my face.
I felt bangs much longer than the ones I should have had as a man. When I reached behind my head, I felt hair flowing all the way down my back. It was incredibly well cared for.
"...Okay."
After sitting there blankly for a while, I eventually nodded and muttered to myself.
First, I had to understand the situation. What kind of world I was in, what kind of person this body belonged to. Whether I was someone from a work I knew, or not. That was what I needed to check first.
As I thought that, one idea flashed through my mind.
Usually, when someone crossed into another world, they got at least one convenient ability. Even if it wasn't a superpower, there was a certain method authors borrowed to show a character's abilities clearly and neatly to readers.
It seemed worth testing that first. I didn't know whether it would work, but if it did, it would be an enormous help all on its own.
I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and spoke in a clear voice.
"Status Window."
Nothing appeared.
"Uh... Status?"
Still, nothing happened.
"......."
Was my pronunciation off? Maybe my throat was too hoarse.
"Ahem, ahem."
I put a hand to my throat, cleared my voice, and shouted again, more clearly this time.
"Status Window!"
"...Young lady?"
"......."
At the sudden voice calling me, my whole body went rigid.
Slowly, I turned my head and saw the maid staring at me in astonishment, holding an elegant brass tray.
On the tray was a bowl of white porridge.
Ah. Come to think of it, she'd said she was going to prepare breakfast.
"......."
I slowly raised a hand and covered my face.
No, seriously, how do you open a door without making any sound at all?