Retribution
It had been roughly five hours since I fell into this suspicious world. Throat parched with thirst, the first person I encountered looked like nothing more than an ordinary young man. But we couldn’t communicate.
He kept babbling something in front of me, yet I had no way to respond. It wasn’t English, Chinese, or Japanese. Even if it had been one of those Earth languages, it wouldn’t have mattered. After all, I was just a native Korean who could only speak my mother tongue.
That said, attempting clumsy body language felt too risky with the assault-rifle-looking weapon he had pointed at me. It was impossible to ignore.
No owner detected. Is that the case?
While I hesitated over how to answer, the man—who appeared to be the first resident of this place I’d met—spoke again.
He looked to be in his early twenties. His disheveled navy military uniform and the worn rifle slung over his shoulder gave off anything but a disciplined impression. He seemed flustered, too. He didn’t look like a proper professional soldier at all.
The way his bloodshot eyes kept darting over me felt genuinely unpleasant. Still, there was no need to pick a fight first. As long as he didn’t turn violent, I had no intention of responding roughly either.
I didn’t know what the words meant, but I could tell he’d let out an exclamation of amazement. The gun barrel had already lowered. It seemed he’d decided I wasn’t a threat. I wasn’t about to miss the chance.
I put on the most innocent, harmless expression I could manage, lowered my arms, clasped my hands neatly in front of me, and offered a gentle smile.
The man froze for a moment, then suddenly cleared his throat. But that stiff reaction lasted only a second. Before I knew it, he had stepped right up to me. I realized he was staring straight into my eyes.
Even though we’d just met, his gaze burned with something like longing. Passion. The kind of intensity those words might describe. I tilted my head up to meet his eyes. The fact that he was easily forty centimeters taller than me made my blood boil a little, but I kept it hidden for now.
Of course, I still had no idea what he was saying. I shook my head side to side to show I didn’t understand.
Seeing my reaction, the man muttered to himself again. He looked like he’d just woken up—his hair was flattened on one side and he scratched at it roughly. After staring at me with a gaze that felt like he was licking me all over, he finally spoke.
As he said that, he raised his hand and pointed somewhere. Naturally turning my head to look, I saw what looked like a small container-style building. It stood beside the passage connected to the elevator I’d arrived in. A makeshift structure fused with a broken traffic barrier. Was it a guard post? It had windows and what looked like a light fixture on top, so that was probably it. Maybe they needed to verify identity or fill out an entry log.
I was grateful he wasn’t trying to arrest me outright. I picked up the amethyst I’d set on the floor earlier and followed after the man who had already started walking ahead.
I had no idea how things would turn out since we couldn’t talk, but honestly, I was ready to just go with the flow.
The interior of the guard post we reached shortly after was simple. A small work desk. A chair. A binder with papers in it. A half-filled bookshelf. A simple cot in the corner. A kettle. The place felt less like a guard post and more like a duty room.
The man gestured at me as I hesitated near the entrance. It seemed he wanted me to come further inside. I wasn’t exactly thrilled, but he didn’t seem hostile, so I obeyed.
I stared at him, wondering what I was supposed to do next.
“──?”
I wasn’t sure how he interpreted my look, but the man grinned disgustingly and set his rifle down in the corner. Then he suddenly yanked off his top.
He was scrawny. Just removing the uniform revealed a body that could never be called attractive. It was obvious he hadn’t eaten properly while growing up. Not that it mattered.
──What the hell is this bastard doing?
What the hell is happening right now?
The sticky emotion I felt from the man who had suddenly stepped close and reached out for me—it hit me then. That emotion was pure lust.
If I had actually been a woman, I might have noticed sooner. Normally, you could tell just from the atmosphere and expression. But until a few hours ago, I had been a man. A middle-aged guy worn down by work, at that. Single for over ten years, relegated to permanent solo status. I’d lived thinking those particular cells in me had already died.
Even so, the man who had come right up to me grabbed one of my breasts and shoved his face close.
His reckless, aggressive behavior made his intentions crystal clear. However, the horrifying event of kissing a complete stranger never ended up happening.
Even if my romantic cells were dead, I was still heterosexual. Even though my body had changed, the only real difference I felt was that my field of vision was lower. I still preferred women as a man. Therefore, I could not accept a man’s kiss, and having my chest groped only filled me with disgust.
No—beyond that physiological revulsion, this was a matter of human rights. There wasn’t a single trace of consideration for my consent in anything this man was doing.
“──Die.”
The man, who had been leaning in with half-lidded eyes to kiss me, realized something was wrong and reacted with belated horror. It was only natural. A soccer-ball-sized amethyst was flying straight toward his chin.
Of course, I hadn’t actually intended to kill him. Starting off with murder and a criminal ending was not the future I wanted. I had adjusted my strength accordingly. If I had swung with full power, it would have definitely cracked his skull like a watermelon and turned the inside of the guard post into a sea of blood.
In a way, this might have been a lucky outcome for him too. If I hadn’t taken down that giant centipede robot before entering this place, if I hadn’t experienced using power beyond human limits by denting a metal door, he might have actually died.
The proof was that a light upward smack with the amethyst in one hand had sent him flying backward with a choked grunt. His durability wasn’t all that different from what I knew of humans.
Setting that thought aside, I summoned a silver metal pipe into one hand. I’d been worried it might not appear, but the white-glowing pipe showed up as if it had been waiting for my call. Suddenly, an incomprehensible power surged through me.
Come to think of it, I’d felt the same way when I fought the centipede. …It felt a bit like I was relying on equipment, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.
“Hey. Get up.”
I pushed down the anger threatening to explode out of me, my heart still pounding from shock, and spoke. The fact that we couldn’t understand each other didn’t matter right now.
I moved the long metal pipe—easily 120 centimeters—and poked the fallen man in the chest. The man who had been briefly knocked out from the blow to his chin jolted upright as if he’d been electrocuted.
Our eyes met in midair. I saw his eyes, still sitting on the floor, filled with pure terror.
“──W-why?!”
“What do you mean, why?”
I glared at him with every ounce of contempt I could muster. The man shouted back as if he were the wronged party.
“Why is a doll attacking a human?!”
“Doll? What the hell are you talking about? Wait a second.”
I was about to snap back at his ridiculous victim-playing attitude when I froze.
‘We can understand each other?’
It was definitely a language I didn’t know, yet suddenly I could understand it. Not only that, it seemed like he could understand what I was saying too.
There was no need to overthink how it happened. I glanced at the metal pipe in my hand. If there was anything different from a moment ago in our conversation, it was this mysterious pipe.
…Don’t tell me it even has a built-in translation function.
While I felt relieved at the convenient setting, something about it also felt slightly off.
“The doll… isn’t? Now that I think about it, you can talk too……”
“Are your eyes broken? Why would I be a doll? I’m clearly a person no matter how you look at me.”
“T-that’s impossible! How could you be outside with a bare body like that……”
“────Just shut up, you crazy pervert.”
I pushed the distracting thoughts aside and thrust the metal pipe in front of the babbling man. My head already hurt enough; I couldn’t let him keep adding noise. I couldn’t stand being in the same space as this man any longer.
It looked like I’d successfully taken the initiative. If I kept pressuring him, I could probably make him obedient. Besides, I had the physical advantage, so if I handled this well, I could definitely escape.
“What? No, but you agreed to it, didn’t you? You smiled and seduced me! You stayed quiet even after hearing everything I said! That’s why I did it! So why are you—!”
Even while I was thinking, the man only looked wronged. Yeah, it was true that we couldn’t communicate at first, and it was partly my fault for being slow on the uptake like an idiot. I’ll admit that. But so what? That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a disgusting perverted piece of trash who got horny over a girl young enough to be your little sister.
“──I said shut up!”
The fear of the nonstop stream of unreal events, the rage at nearly being sexually assaulted—they boiled over. I shouted and swung the metal pipe, slamming it into the floor beside the man.
BOOM!
The deafening roar echoed through the entire passage. The solid metal floor split open, exposing its cross-section. It looked like it had been struck by an industrial-grade cutter. Still, unlike when I fought the giant centipede, it didn’t emit extreme heat, so the surroundings didn’t melt.
Maybe it was because I hadn’t truly wanted to kill him.
“──”
But even that seemed to be more than enough of a threat for the man. He let out a choked gasp, his face turning deathly pale, and frantically nodded while clamping both hands over his mouth. He didn’t even glance at the rifle he’d set down in the corner before trying to assault me.
It was a pathetic display for a soldier—not even considering resistance. But for me, it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.
“If you don’t want your head smashed open, shut your mouth. And don’t move.”
“───.”
It seemed he misinterpreted my trembling voice as extreme anger. The man nodded obediently and enthusiastically. I forced a smile at his attitude, kept the metal pipe pointed at him, and spat out whatever came to mind.
“Hand over all the money you have.”