A Man Starves...?
Police interrogation room. A place where one is locked in a room sealed on all sides and thoroughly investigated. In his previous life, he had been confined in such places many times. That was why Shinwoo could steady his breathing and prepare himself. So he wouldn't lose the initiative to the other party. Even if it was to claim self-defense. Shinwoo snapped to attention and waited. But in reality—
"Um, then... interrogation... ah, no! Questioning... no! Could we... have a conversation together?! I mean... Shinwoo-ssi?"
"Ah, yes, sure..."
Who exactly was the police officer and who was the criminal? From the very start, Captain Ha Min-ah, who had entered to conduct the interrogation, had already surrendered the initiative. She broke out in a cold sweat as she carefully opened her mouth, only to bite her tongue.
"Ow ow ow...! Hoo! Hoo!"
"Are you all right?"
"Y-yes?! Ah, o-of-of-of course!! *cough cough*!"
Ha Min-ah choked at Shinwoo's single remark. She had conducted countless interrogations, but this time the circumstances were different. It wasn't just anyone. She was supposed to interrogate a man! It was like pointing a gun at the head of a client who had hired bodyguards. Unable to continue, she soon turned to the side. Through the one-way mirror, she sent pleading glances to her colleagues or seniors who would be watching her.
But the situation beyond the one-way mirror was no different from the interrogation room. In fact, it might have been even more chaotic.
"No, is this really okay?"
"Still, since he committed a crime, we should at least hold him..."
"It's an international disgrace! What country in the world locks a man up in an interrogation room?!"
"Even so, it's a case where a man was assaulted. Are we supposed to just let the person involved go free?"
The officers beyond the interrogation room were in complete disarray over Shinwoo's disposition. Those in favor of releasing him argued from the beginning that men shouldn't be judged by laws made by women. On the other hand, those in favor of detaining him insisted that even if it was a light punishment, some penalty had to be given since it was an assault case that caused bleeding. While the tense standoff continued—
"I am innocent."
Shinwoo spoke first to the flustered Ha Min-ah.
"It was self-defense. The other side started it."
"I-is that so? ...But I heard the other side only hit your sister, not you, Shinwoo-ssi..."
"That sister is my family. I simply retaliated equally as family."
At Shinwoo's final words, the interrogation room fell silent. For a moment, all the officers wondered if they had misheard. They all doubted their own ears. A man stepping forward for a woman. Even if it was family, in all their countless investigations, they had never heard such an extraordinary answer.
"So to summarize what Shinwoo-ssi said: you saw your sister being hit by the other party, Yoo Duhak, got angry, and retaliated in kind. Is that correct?"
"Yes. That is correct."
Shinwoo answered confidently. His face showed he had done nothing wrong. But after hearing Shinwoo's statement, none of the female officers could easily open their mouths in this unprecedented situation. Just then—
*Gurgle.*
"?!"
"Ah, I'm sorry."
Suddenly, the sound of Shinwoo's stomach growling echoed. Come to think of it, he hadn't eaten anything today. After finishing his workout and coming out to the living room, he had seen the lunchbox Chaewon noona left behind and headed straight to her school. There he caused an incident and even left the lunchbox behind. Pushed and pulled from one place to another, it was only natural he would be hungry. But this was an interrogation. He had long grown accustomed to hunger during his dieting period, so Shinwoo intended to continue the questioning as is.
"You're hungry?!"
Or so he thought...
"Time out!"
Like a referee at a sports match, Ha Min-ah urgently crossed her arms into an X and pointed toward the one-way mirror. At that signal, the three female officers who had been watching rushed into the interrogation room.
"What? What's going on that you're making such an urgent sign?"
"Well..."
"Shinwoo-ssi says he hasn't eaten anything today."
"Wh-what?!"
Shinwoo had simply wanted to continue the interrogation. He had experienced hunger countless times during his diet. More than that, clearing his name right now was far more important. But the mere fact that "a man had gone hungry" was enough to make the eyes of the female officers in the interrogation room flip over. And soon they sprang into action.
"It's already past 2 o'clock... and he's been starving this whole time?!"
"Excuse me..."
"We'll bring food right away!"
"Don't bring just anything! It has to be a 'male-only' meal plan!"
"Of course!"
"Excuse me..."
"We can't even wait for delivery! Assemble all personnel immediately and raid every fast-food restaurant in the area!!"
"Yes!!"
It was as if a national emergency had been declared within the police headquarters. In fact, emergency sirens blared throughout the entire building. Shinwoo tried to refuse. But the female officers had already worked themselves into a frenzy. They hurriedly helped Shinwoo to his feet, halting the interrogation, and guided him down to the first floor of the police station. All just to feed him.
Upon arriving at the first-floor lobby, Shinwoo unexpectedly encountered his family.
"My son!"
"Shinwoo! Are you okay? Weren't you scared?!"
Mijin probably couldn't come because she was at elementary school. But Mother had rushed over from work in a panic because of her son. The two women, still catching their breath and looking anxious, held each other's hands tightly. The case wasn't over yet, but Shinwoo smiled brightly at them to ease their worries. The two women quickly ran over, pushing aside the female officers on either side, and hugged their son (or younger brother) tightly from both sides.
"Son, it's okay! Mother will figure something out!"
"No, Mother. It seems to be resolving itself fairly well, and I just..."
"You didn't threaten my brother separately, did you?!"
"O-of course not! How could we possibly do such a thing..."
The two women glared at the surrounding female officers with murderous eyes. Shinwoo wanted to calm them down, but the two had already come to see the police as enemies. A man's mother or a man's older sister. In this world, that alone made them national heroes. The three female officers, including Ha Min-ah who had been interrogating Shinwoo, could only sweat nervously under their sharp gazes.
Just then, a greasy smell reached their noses.
"Ah, it seems the male-only meal has arrived."
"Male-only meal...?"
Following the female officers' guidance, Shinwoo entered the police station cafeteria. There, spread across a long table, was a colorful feast of various dishes...?
"What... is this?"
"These are foods that gentlemen often enjoy. Since we didn't know what you liked, we consulted your mother's opinion and brought them."
The entire meal plan was painted in shades of brown and red. Chicken, pizza, hamburgers, popcorn, donuts, french fries, tteokbokki, and so on. They were delicious if you liked that sort of thing, but they were all foods focused more on taste than nutrition. Besides, what was this "male-only meal plan"? Did the men of this world live eating only things like this?
"Son, why aren't you eating? The officers asked what our son likes, so I picked based on your late-night snack card history from a month ago. Is it not to your liking?"
"No, it's not that I dislike it..."
Mother looked at him with sparkling eyes. If he said he wasn't going to eat this, it felt like she would collapse on the floor and cry, just like during his diet last time. Left with no choice, Shinwoo sat down. He started by taking a bite of a chicken drumstick. It was delicious. The crispy texture and juicy meat inside were especially excellent. But after eating three pieces of chicken, one hamburger, and two slices of pizza, he was quickly full.
"Phew, that was good."
"...That was good?"
After finishing his meal and standing up, Ha Min-ah—who had been watching the man's meal under the pretext of interrogation—looked bewildered at the scene that had already ended. But the real shock came next.
"By the way, is there any salad or vegetables here? I'm getting a bit sick of this..."
He had only eaten greasy food and wanted something refreshing like vegetables. At Shinwoo's casual remark, all the women in the cafeteria staggered backward in shock.
"Vegetables...? A man... wants vegetables?"
"Did I hear that wrong...?"
"Does your son usually act like this?"
"No... This is the first I've heard of it too..."
"Shinwoo..."
The three female officers who had been watching Shinwoo from beyond the interrogation room slapped each other's cheeks repeatedly, wondering if this was a dream. Ha Min-ah was slapping her own cheeks alone. Mother began to cry, thinking her son might be sick, and Chaewon noona tried to hold it in but eventually started shedding tears like her mother. At the sight, Shinwoo couldn't understand and stood there dumbfounded.
"...Yes?"
But his daze lasted only a moment.
"If it's salad you're after, I have some. Want a little?"
A woman approached Shinwoo and offered the salad cup she had been about to eat. She wore sunglasses and a black suit, and at a glance she looked anything but ordinary. But this was the police headquarters, not some other place. Seeing the woman in sunglasses approach a man without permission, the female officers quickly came to their senses and surrounded her all at once.
"Who are you?"
Ha Min-ah, standing at the front, asked.
"Oh my, how scary. I'm not a suspicious person."
"I don't know about that. Don't you know that suddenly speaking to a man like you just did is punishable by at least ten years in prison?"
"...Really?"
She was a little surprised, but even Shinwoo, a man, thought the law was a bit excessive. Still, even though she was surrounded by veteran female officers from the police headquarters, the woman in sunglasses continued to smile leisurely. Ha Min-ah tried to drag her outside. Sensing she was about to be handled roughly, the woman in sunglasses pulled out something—her notebook.
"Ha! What? You're a cop too?"
"Well... not exactly a cop, but let's just say we're fellow civil servants."
Ha Min-ah snatched the notebook from the woman in sunglasses as if it were laughable. As she and her colleagues checked the identity of this supposedly impressive person, cold sweat soon began to drip down their faces as they opened the notebook. The identity of the woman in sunglasses—
"N-N-N-National Intelligence Service?!"
She was none other than an agent of the National Intelligence Service. It was the most secretive and dangerous administrative organization in South Korea, capable of doing anything except turning women into men.
"National Intelligence Service?"
"Crazy, why is an NIS agent suddenly here?!"
Ignoring the startled female officers, the woman in sunglasses walked toward Shinwoo. Unlike other ordinary women, she smiled naturally at him. Then she boldly extended her hand and offered a handshake to the man first.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Han Shinwoo-ssi. Since we determined that Shinwoo-ssi is a man capable of communication, I greeted you like this even though I knew it was rude."
"Ah, yes..."
"I am Yoo Han-kyung, Team Leader of the Male Development Department at the National Intelligence Service. If it's not too much trouble, may I speak with you for a moment?"
The first normal woman he had met since coming to this world. Shinwoo smiled, oddly pleased, and took the hand Yoo Han-kyung offered.