Return (1)
As my fading consciousness returned and I looked around, the room was nothing like the one I faintly remembered as my own.
"Where on earth did she send me...? Huh...?"
In that instant a deep sense of wrongness struck me.
The voice that had just left my lips was not the one I had always known. It was thin, delicate—a young woman's voice.
"No. No, it can't be...!"
I slid off the bed I did not even remember lying on and hurried straight to the bathroom mirror.
"No—why...?"
I had trusted Partruna when she promised to send me home. The face that stared back from the glass filled me with shock and a raw sense of betrayal.
Short orange-red hair that caught the light with a crimson sheen. Amber eyes that glowed like polished stones. Lips as red as ripe cherries. A beautiful young girl looked out at me.
I left the bathroom, dropped heavily onto the edge of the bed, and stared at the floor while my mind raced.
"Why? How? She said she would send me back. So why do I look like this?"
The trust and faith I had built with her over so many years were crumbling.
"You said you'd send me properly... hic... Why... why this body...!"
Tears spilled freely from those amber eyes before I even realized it.
Only after I had cried myself empty did the tears finally stop. Then my stomach gave a loud, insistent growl.
"Fine. First things first—figure out the situation and fill my stomach. There has to be something around here."
I stood and started toward the kitchen. On the table lay a letter sealed with Partruna's emblem.
"That's... Partruna's mark? Why is it here?"
I tore the envelope open at once and read.
If you are reading this letter, it means you have regained your senses. I am truly sorry I could not tell you beforehand.
Even with my divine seat restored, interference in another world is nearly impossible for me. Observation was all I could manage.
The place to which you have returned is indeed the world you came from. Yet the god of that world has died and vanished.
Because of that, after I sent you, the rank of the divine seat I reclaimed proved strong enough to bestow blessings and deliver you to a place of safety. You will be secure for a time—use it to adapt.
With Gaia, the god of Earth, dead and gone, the world's providence activated a system meant to restore balance. That system, called the Tower, appears at set intervals and seeks to erase every intelligent being in the world.
Fortunately, in her final moments Gaia scattered power among the people so they might endure the trials. Other gods of distant dimensions, like myself, have also sent those who once came to their worlds back to Earth, so that this one might not collapse entirely.
It will be hard. Still, just as you once saved our world and survived, I pray you will survive here as well.
The letter was packed with the most absurd news I had ever read.
"I clawed my way back here and now the world's ending? Damn it all..."
Rage trembled in the young girl's voice.
I was about to set the letter down when I noticed writing on the reverse side and kept reading.
One more thing. Because of the final blessing—the Blessing of Love—you will have been transformed into a form beloved by all things. I am certain you have become a lovely young girl who resembles me.
There are other effects as well, but I shall explain those another time.
The earlier blessings of Courage and Protection will function normally, and I have enclosed your arms and armor in the envelope as well.
The world is currently marching toward ruin because of the Tower, yet as I said, I have used every scrap of power I possess to ensure you can live safely for roughly one month.
I have also sent an item crafted by Thoth, God of Wisdom. Please examine it. I am told every person on Earth now uses one.
It will be difficult, but do not despair of the world. Take heart and endure.
— From Partruna, Goddess of Love and Purification
"Wait—hold on. What did she just say? The Blessing of Love? What the hell does that mean?!"
Learning the contents of the final blessing I had never been told about made my head throb and spin.
Then the sheer, characteristic absurdity of the name and its effect sank in. The headache faded, replaced by helpless laughter.
And what exactly is this 'additional effect' supposed to be?
Well... she did keep saying I would end up looking like a girl who resembled her...
Every time I finished a trial she would go on and on about her own beauty, calling me her little sister or her daughter until I wanted to plug my ears.
"Sure, gender-bender returns show up in stories sometimes... but why does it have to be me?!"
I let out a long sigh, opened the envelope, and shook it. Out tumbled a golden rosary set with a deep red ruby.
It looked expensive, yet still restrained—exactly the sort of piece a goddess who preferred simplicity would allow herself when she finally decided to indulge a little. The power sealed inside it, however, was the same vast holy force I had always felt from her.
"So the arms and armor are stored in this, huh?"
I moved the holy power within my body the way I always had when calling on the gear she gave me.
"Wh-what? Flames...?!"
Sudden fire wrapped around me. In the next breath a robe and full set of armor fitted perfectly to my new body appeared—exactly as they had in Maderona.
I opened the eyes I had squeezed shut in surprise. Crimson cloth formed the base, overlaid with silver armor.
I flexed my hands, twisted at the waist, and examined the whole ensemble. I rather liked it.
"Oh, not bad at all. Gauntlets, greaves, chest plate, waist guard—the whole design looks like something out of a game."
Thankfully the lower half was not the short skirt so common in anime and novels. Knee-high greaves and tassets that reached mid-thigh kept the silhouette practical and clean.
When I turned my head I felt the rosary that had held the gear resting against my throat.
I spent a moment simply admiring the armor that suited me so well. Then the hunger I had forgotten while reading the letter returned with a vengeance. I dismissed the gear and went to explore the kitchen.
"She said she sent me somewhere safe and told me to adapt. That probably means I'll have to leave this place once the month is up."
I opened drawers, cabinets, and the refrigerator. There was a surprising amount of food.
"Is this enough for a whole month?"
Most of it was instant—cup ramen, jerky, other preserved goods. There were also smaller quantities of fresh vegetables and meat that would last several days.
"So that's why there's even a little fridge."
Amusingly, a container of kimchi sat inside as well—the one staple every Korean household is supposed to have.
Looking over the food, I realized almost everything was something I had once mentioned wanting to eat while chatting with her.
"She remembered all of it. I was just venting or killing time when I said those things..."
I took out the instant ramen I had dreamed of eating first upon my return, filled a pot with water, and set it on the stove.
Just as Partruna had promised, even in this ruined world she had arranged for electricity, water, and gas to work for me.
"Ramen first, of course! Simple, delicious, and you can even add rice!"
Humming under my breath, I finished cooking, carried the pot to the table, and carefully lifted a bite of noodles with the chopsticks.
"Mmm~ I couldn't quite remember after so long, but yes—this is exactly the taste!"
I slurped the noodles at a rapid pace and spooned up the broth once, twice... and then, suddenly, I was full.
"What? Normally I'd finish every drop of broth or at least mix in rice."
Yet a good amount of soup remained, and the rice I had prepared sat untouched. I set the chopsticks down, stomach already satisfied.
"Is it because I'm a girl now? Still—even a girl should be able to handle one pack of ramen, right?"
I sipped water to cool the heat and thought back to the face in the mirror.
"I looked pretty young. Middle-school age, maybe? Height around a hundred and fifty centimeters..."
I raised an arm and looked down at my legs. They felt slender, almost fragile.
If I wanted to survive in a collapsing world I would either need to put on some weight or learn to reinforce my body with the holy power inside me until fighting felt natural again.
I decided to save the leftover broth for later and wrapped the rice before returning it to the fridge.
"Come to think of it, it's bright out. Must be daytime. Maybe I should take a look around outside."
As I started to move, something brushed my foot. I looked down and found a device shaped like a smartwatch.
"Is this the thing Partruna mentioned—the one made by that god Thoth? Do I just tap the screen?"
The moment I touched it a soft ping sounded and a hologram bloomed in the air exactly like something from a comic or a movie.
"Whoa! That startled me. Okay, what does it say?"
Name:Charlotte Magnier
Age:22
Gender:Female
Date:Year 2033
"Name: Charlotte Magnier? Age twenty-two? Right up until I lost consciousness I was a forty-year-old man. Now it's the complete opposite."
Born a healthy boy, I had become a young girl. Even my name had shifted from Korean to something Western.
I had tried so hard to keep my fading memories alive—writing them in a notebook, speaking them aloud—so I could survive the other world and return. In the end every scrap of that old self had vanished, leaving only a young girl who looked like Partruna.
"Haa... Well, what can I do? I guess I just have to accept it now. More importantly—the year is 2033? That doesn't line up with how long I was gone."
I had expected far more time to have passed while I was in the other world, but the timelines must have been different. Relatively little time had actually gone by here.
"Ah, whatever. First let's look outside."
I walked toward the terrace. There was no television, no computer—only bare, bleak furnishings: a dresser, a wardrobe, a bed.
On a second glance I noticed a large mirror standing near the terrace rather than the bathroom. I had been too panicked earlier to see anything but the bathroom mirror.
I opened the window and stepped out. The view that greeted me was anything but pleasant.
"This is the world now...?"
Under a clear sky stood no dense forest of skyscrapers, only crumbling buildings overgrown with green vines, and far in the distance a single towering spire that stabbed toward the heavens.
I looked around more carefully. The building I stood in was likewise half-swallowed by plants, ruined beyond any hope of ordinary habitation.
"Haha... damn it. I never saw this coming. If I'd known... if I'd only known...!"
I slumped against the terrace wall, pulled my knees to my chest, and sat there, stunned.
All I had wanted was to reclaim a peaceful everyday life.
All that remained of my family and friends were hazy fragments... and... and... what else? I could not remember.
Whenever I tried to call up those memories, only the present nightmare rose instead.
What should I do from here? Were the people I still half-remembered even alive? Those questions circled endlessly.
I think I came back the wrong way.
No—according to Goddess Partruna, I should never have returned to Earth at all.