I Awakened! And Now I'm a Girl?!

I awakened!

And I became a woman.

My reflection in the glass shard showed a girl who looked about twelve, dressed in pure white — one arm crimson red, the other pitch black.

So this is really me?

And why is one of my hands shaped like... that?

She had the kind of face that looked like it belonged to someone with a suspicious amount of family money — the elegant, old-rich sort.

On top of that, something felt slightly off around my chest.

Half disbelieving, I reached up and touched it. What greeted my fingers wasn't the firm hardness of a man's chest, but that distinctive softness unique to a woman's.

And the moment I realized it, another thought struck me — my lower half felt strangely, achingly empty.

Honestly, I was too scared to check.

But it was something I had to confirm.

'Please, God, no. Not this. Anything but this.'

With trembling hands, I lifted the waistband of my pants — and there it was. The treasured companion I'd known for over twenty years was simply gone.

"I'm— I'm— I'M A EUNUCH!!"

That single sentence carried ten thousand different emotions at once.

I'm no light-novel protagonist — I opened my eyes and I was a girl! I never even got to date once in my whole life!

I'd been staring at my reflection in the glass shard for about five seconds when,

A status window — the kind only Awakeners could see — suddenly floated before my eyes.

'Huh? Awakening? What the— all of a sudden?'

Me, an Awakener? My thoughts ground to a halt on the spot.

'But would it have killed you to leave me a man?'

'Why did you have to turn me into a girl, of all things?!'

In my entire life, I had never once heard that awakening turned you into a eunuch!

But apparently the status window couldn't hear my thoughts, because it kept spitting out messages.

"Wait, is this for real?!"

Honestly, I was a little — no, insanely shocked.

Becoming a woman was one thing, but what really stunned me was the grade of my skills.

Even among ordinary hunters, it's not that common to have even a single B-Rank skill.

Produce an A-Rank, and guilds will practically bend over backward to recruit you, no questions asked.

So what did the status window show for my skill grades?

An EX-Rank skill I'd never even heard of, an S-Rank skill usually carried only by Ranker-tier hunters, and an A-Rank on top of that.

At this level, I was leagues beyond even your average Ranker.

'Hmm. So I traded my manhood away for Ranker-class skills, is that it?'

At this payoff, getting a self-inflicted castration would've been a bargain.

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My heart was pounding so fast and so loud I could practically hear it. Whoa — okay, let's look at the skill descriptions first. High grade doesn't necessarily mean good performance, right?

Yeah. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and just check them.

And so, the skills I checked were...

"YES!! There it is!!"

I was so overjoyed that I shouted out loud before I could stop myself.

That only lasted a moment — the thought that someone might be nearby snapped my mouth shut — but still.

The skill descriptions were weird, sure, but the activation conditions were written out crystal clear.

In other words: incapacitate a magical beast of sufficient rank, and killing it would simultaneously let me absorb its power. Wasn't that what it meant?

The problem was that I had no idea where the bar for "incapacitated" was set. But the fact that the absorption ability itself was completely broken? That was undeniable.

And the Body Enhancement skill I'd gained was definitely the kind of spec that decent guilds would scout me on the spot for.

That also gave me a rough idea of why my arm looked the way it did. Apparently it was a trait of my class.

Just as I was marveling over my skills, I noticed something I'd overlooked because of them.

"Huh? Then why don't I have a name?"

I most certainly had a name.

Which meant my name was definitely...

What was it again?;;

No way I could forget my own name.

And yet, right now, no name was coming to me.

'Th-this is weird... Gasp — don't tell me I have dementia already?!'

Just as I was spiraling into increasingly absurd fantasies,

that very moment —

Shff!

The sound of something being cleaved apart rang out.

And trailing after that sound came a scream — one that sounded like a magical beast's cry.

It was a sound I shouldn't have been able to hear normally, but the awakening seemed to have let it reach my ears.

Could it be a hunter?

If it was a hunter, they'd find me and take me somewhere safe.

I looked around frantically, trying to locate the hunter. Only then did I finally grasp where I actually was.

The glass scattered across the floor came from shattered test tubes, and the dimness all around was because every single light had been smashed — torn apart by claw marks.

Yes. This place was a laboratory!

A very illegal-looking one, at that.

And I figured that out about eight minutes in.

N-no way, this doesn't make me the weirdo here! I mean... this is... Ah! Right! It's just the shock of suddenly turning into a girl! That's all!

So, muttering excuses to no one in particular, I headed toward where the sound had come from.

Maybe I walked for about ten minutes?

The sound of blades cutting into magical beasts and the beasts' screams kept filling the corridor.

You might wonder if I was heading in the right direction, but the sounds seemed to be getting closer — every step in this direction made them louder.

After walking a little further, I began to make out what looked like a human figure in the distance.

'Found someone this fast?'

I picked up the pace until I was practically running.

When I got there, what I saw was a gray-haired woman wielding a sword — clearly guild-affiliated, a hunter — cutting down a magical beast that looked at least B-Rank.

And behind her, magical beasts of all shapes and sizes — easily several dozen — were piled up in a mountain.

Seeing that, I thought, If I can just reach her, I'll survive, and hurried to approach —

I skidded to a halt mid-step.

Up until seconds ago, I'd been sure that reaching her meant safety.

But now, just getting close...

Felt like I was going to die.

Like my flesh would be carved up with scalpels, like I'd be injected with suspicious drugs, like parts of magical beasts would be forcibly transplanted into my body.

My brain insisted there was no way any of that would happen — but my body just wouldn't stop shaking.

Before I knew it, my feet were slowly backing away, and my breathing was growing ragged.

And when I came to my senses, I was running.

At one point something like a transparent barrier blocked my path, but I seemed to pass straight through it.

After wandering through that unfamiliar building for who knows how long,

I finally made it outside.

Worried someone might see me, I slipped into my home on tiptoe, muffling even the sound of my breathing.

How did I make it all the way home, you ask?

Fortunately, it was near somewhere I recognized, and I crept home hugging the walls, sticking to the routes with as few pedestrians as possible.

Yep — this neighborhood really does earn its place among the worst for public safety.

Of course, no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠matter how deserted the streets were, I was bound to run into at least one or two people.

Thankfully, nothing actually happened.

Though with every encounter, my lower half got progressively wetter, which meant I had to keep insisting —

"No! It's not like that! It's sweat! SWEAT!"

...Anyway, I definitely need to change my clothes.

Once I got home and calmed down a little, I started thinking back on why I'd reacted like that.

Sure, I hadn't run into a single magical beast on the way out — but what if I had?

'Hmm, maybe it wouldn't have mattered? I do have an S-Rank skill now.'

Even setting that aside, I could've gotten lost or run into some other mess of a situation.

And thinking back on that moment,

'Something like... memories came flooding in.'

What on earth was that?

But dwelling on it probably wouldn't change anything.

Whatever the case, I'd made it home safe and sound, so no harm done.

Except I still had one very important thing left to do.

And that is...

Gallery-posting!

...

What, you got a problem with that?

I survived and made it back in one piece, so what's the issue?

And I'm not just some freshly-awakened kid anymore, am I?

An EX-Rank hunter awakening. How am I supposed to keep THAT quiet?

This is guaranteed front-page material.

'If I hold this in, I will literally DIE, aaaaargh!'

And so I posted to the gallery.

There was a slight hiccup in the process, though.

"Wait... I'm right-handed..."

But something that trivial could NEVER stop my quest for the front page!

"I hereby renounce my right hand, HuntBro!"

Scrolling through the gallery, it seemed like nobody believed a word I said.

'But it's the truth, though?'

Believe it or not, the truth doesn't change.

I am an EX-Rank hunter. Muhahaha.

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And as I kept gallery-posting away, I realized one crucial thing.

I had no money!

"Oh god, what am I supposed to do."

And thus rang out the scream of a man whose total bank balance was a grand total of 135 won.