The Wrong Route

I wanted to snap at the female students who were openly staring at me. What the hell are you looking at? But I held back. ‘What are you staring at, you bitches? I’d love to say that, but they’re pretty so I’ll let it slide.’

Unlike the male students, whose admission standards were laughably low, the girls who entered the National Hunter Academy were far from ordinary. Every year, genuine mana-awakening prodigies—the kind hailed as once-in-a-generation talents in their regions—enrolled here. And the better one handled mana, the more it refined and enhanced the awakened body. In other words, every female freshman at the Hunter Academy was at least reasonably attractive.

Of course there was some variation even among them, but by this world’s standards, they all fell comfortably within the top ten percent in terms of looks. The real problem was that this was the world of a gender-reversed eroge to begin with—nearly every woman was already a beauty. Which meant this place was packed with the crème de la crème of beautiful girls.

“Ugh…”

‘Oops. I burped too loudly.’

A wave of embarrassment washed over me. I quickly glanced around. The girls who had been watching me with curious eyes were now snickering, clearly finding me ridiculous. I felt my face grow even hotter and ducked my head, focusing intently on my food. My cheeks were burning, but there was no way I was going to stop eating. The meat was just too damn good.

Besides, it was a buffet. Not eating would be a loss, right? Were all these kids from rich families? Was something this extravagant just normal for them?

Come to think of it, this world’s setting did say that awakened genes were slightly hereditary. So most of the students here probably had parents who were hunters, which would explain why so many of them seemed well-off.

‘Whatever, not my problem. As long as the food tastes good, I’m happy. Hehe. Lobster is the best. The salmon sashimi is amazing too… and the ribs, the tomahawk steak—everything is incredible…’

While I was busy devouring plate after plate, one particularly pretty female student approached me. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes and a sly, almost predatory smile. It was right around the time I was refilling my sixth plate.

“Hey. You’re the guy who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠got in through the Male Hunter Service Special Admission, right?”

‘Male Hunter Service Special Admission…? What was that again?’

It took me a long moment of digging through my memories before I finally remembered what that term meant. It was one of the unique settings of the National Hunter Academy within this eroge world. And unfortunately, yes—I was the guy who had entered through the Male Hunter Service Special Admission.

Depending on the base stats you chose before starting the game, your admission route changed. My starting stats had all been F-, which normally would have made me ineligible for admission. So the setting had placed me in this special “service” route instead.

But if I carelessly revealed that, my school life would be completely ruined. The service department was essentially a group of male students with pathetic combat abilities who had been deliberately recruited to relieve the overwhelming sexual frustration of the female awakened. It carried a strong undertone of comfort women—sexual relief workers. That was why they mostly selected boys from poor families with no connections. That way, the massive penalty fees in the admission contract and the academy’s pressure made dropping out nearly impossible.

If you tried to skip class without permission or quit on your own, the academy would demand billions in breach-of-contract fees. That was why, according to the internet wiki I’d read before entering the game, openly admitting you were in the Male Hunter Service Special Admission was considered incredibly stupid.

Of course, the wiki had also noted that if you liked being publicly humiliated and wanted to play the “gangbang cumrag” route, then it was highly recommended. In short, if you didn’t want to start the game as a living toilet and sex slave, you should never, ever reveal it.

Taking this route basically locked you out of the hunter route entirely. You could forget about enjoying a normal harem sex life as a male protagonist. All that awaited you was being milked dry of semen every day as the academy’s public cum-dump toilet.

“……Um, no?”

“Bullshit. It’s obvious just by looking at you. If you’re going to lie, at least answer faster. Besides, one of my awakening abilities is lie detection. I didn’t even need to use it—you’re so bad at lying it’s written all over your face.”

“……”

“Hehe. So you really are from the Male Hunter Service Special Admission… Kkuk. Getting caught this early? How are you planning to survive school life? Well, the girls—including me—will certainly enjoy it. Good luck.”

‘Ah, shit. I’m so fucked… I completely forgot about this.’

The girl who had asked me about the service route made a circle with her fingers toward the group of girls she’d been eating with. She must have promised to let them know whether her guess was right. The moment they saw her signal, their expressions turned downright lewd. A variety of emotions flickered across their faces—mostly lust, contempt, and dark amusement.

‘Ah. This is why I should have been more careful and read the room like everyone else. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I’m completely screwed. Is there seriously no “restart game” button?’

Of course there wasn’t. This world had become reality. There was no magical reset button.

My early-game route had gone completely off the rails.

‘Ugh, whatever. What can I do? It already happened. How aggressively can a bunch of pretty girls come at me anyway? And if they do… well, that’s not exactly a bad thing.’

I ignored the stares around me, stuffed myself with even more meat, patted my painfully full stomach, and left the cafeteria.

It was about time to head to the entrance ceremony.

I trudged along until I reached the venue. The large indoor auditorium had rows upon rows of chairs set up for the students. I picked one at random and sat down. It didn’t seem like seats were assigned anyway.

As I sat there spacing out, a few male students eventually gathered around me. Since there were so few boys in the entire academy, they must have spotted me and decided to sit nearby.

“Hi? Nice to meet you. I’m Park Jihoon.”

Several of the boys started talking to me. But their speech patterns were so feminine and cutesy that it honestly sounded awful. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠There was something about a guy acting bubbly and playful, trying to sound adorable, that made me want to punch him in the face.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you too.”

“Hehe~ Your tone is so stiff. You sound just like a girl.”

“…”

“Ah! Sorry, that was rude, wasn’t it…? I’m sorry. So, what’s your name?”

“It’s right here on my name tag. Kim Dojin.”

“…Oh right! Hehe. There’s a name tag. Kim Dojin… got it.”

Park Jihoon looked surprisingly sharp and masculine, yet he kept sitting there all prim and proper, fidgeting nervously the entire time. His constant discomfort right next to me was starting to seriously piss me off.

And because I’d snapped at him earlier about sounding like a girl, he seemed to think I was angry at him. He kept stealing anxious glances at me, clearly worried that he’d made an enemy on the very first day. He was probably desperately looking for a chance to smooth things over.

‘Ugh. So annoying. Just ignore him.’

I decided not to even look in his direction. Instead, I scanned the room, wondering if there were any pretty girls around. I still had quests to complete, after all.

That was when I suddenly remembered I had spoken with a girl earlier.

‘Why didn’t it complete? I literally just talked to a girl. Is this bugged?’

I frowned, confused that the quest hadn’t triggered. Then it hit me.

‘Ah. Maybe because I didn’t initiate the conversation?’

It was possible. I started looking for an excuse to talk to a girl nearby. Asking when the entrance ceremony would start seemed like a safe bet.

I turned to the closest female student.

“Excuse me, do you know when the entrance ceremony starts?”

“Hm? It should start at ten. There’s about ten minutes left.”

“Oh, thanks for letting me know.”

‘Hehe. Looks like I was right.’

I received one bonus stat point. Without hesitation, I dumped it straight into Height. If I had known I was actually going to enter this game world, I would have gone all-in on height from the very beginning. Other stats could improve and people might just think “oh, he got stronger,” but height was something others would immediately notice if it changed drastically.

Of course, since I was only twenty, it wasn’t completely unrealistic for a guy to still be growing. Still, I felt like focusing on height first was the smarter move. It was just my personal opinion though—I wasn’t entirely sure what the optimal order was.

There had even been criticism in the game community about whether height stats were necessary in a gender-reversed world. But the developers had insisted on including it to stay true to the male-oriented eroge genre. They even added a “Shota Curse” for players who changed their minds later—if a character didn’t like having to look up at you, they could curse you, permanently locking your height at F- until the curse was lifted. I’d read that on the wiki.

‘So it doesn’t grow instantly like in the game.’

Since the game had become reality, height seemed to increase gradually in a more realistic way. From what I remembered, the height chart went something like this:

SSS+ (189.5cm), SSS (189.0cm), SSS- (188.5cm), SS+ (188.0cm), SS (187.5cm), SS- (187.0cm), S+ (186.5cm), S (186.0cm), S- (185.5cm), A+ (185cm), A (184cm), A- (183cm), B+ (182cm), B (180cm), B- (178cm), C+ (176cm), C (173cm), C- (170cm), D+ (167cm), D (164cm), D- (161cm), E+ (158cm), E (155cm), E- (152cm), F+ (149cm), F (146cm), F- (143cm).

It started at 143cm for F- and increased by 3cm per rank until B-, then by 2cm, then by 1cm starting at A-, and finally by 0.5cm from S- onward.

‘I should probably push height up to A+. Exactly 185cm sounds clean. After that I’ll invest in other stats. Going for S- feels wasteful with the 0.5cm increments.’

Raising it from A- by 1cm increments all the way to A+ felt a bit inefficient, but stopping at B+ just didn’t feel neat. I wanted it clean at exactly A+.

‘Hehehe. Growing taller this easily is so satisfying.’

Since it said new related quests ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been generated, I checked. They were similar to the “talk to someone” quest but with a much more sexual flavor.

‘What counts as a sexual word? Pussy? Cock? Sex?’

I was wondering how to complete it when I noticed a girl dozing off in a nearby chair. An idea immediately came to mind. I walked over to her.

“Hey. Hey. Wake up. Cock…”

“Mmm… huh? Wha…? What did you…?”

“I said cock. Wake up.”

‘Nice.’