Loved by Someone Other Than Family

That week, the hospital doors swung open and I stepped back into the world.

“Duda dada!”

Of course Dad was right there with us.

“Honey, you worked so hard. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when Yena was born.”

“It’s okay. You weren’t doing it on purpose, and you had to stay behind to protect everyone, right? So I’m fine. I even fell for you because of this side of you.”

“Honey… I’ll do better from now on.”

“You’re already doing great.”

“Haha. How did a little angel like you end up married to me?”

“Oh. You’re the one who’s hopeless.”

The air around us felt strangely warm. I had never once dated, so watching my parents’ romance was like drinking sweet milk that was too rich. My stomach kept fluttering, and it took every ounce of my composure to keep my face still. The couple’s soft whispers eventually died down, and things felt normal again.

“I’ll make dinner. You two stay right here and wait for me.”

“Sure.”

Mom headed toward the kitchen, and I stayed tucked safely against Dad’s chest.

“Uuu!”

“Huh?”

I pointed at the mirror.

I just had to see what this new body looked like.

I didn’t really care if I was a girl or a boy. I had never once lived my life according to some stupid gender label, so what difference did it make? The guy who couldn’t even date was never going to understand the weight of it anyway.

Ah… thinking about it makes me sad.

I needed to stop. No matter what, this was the truth I had come here to say. Gender didn’t matter. What really mattered was how you looked.

If your appearance was good, whether you were male or female, then it was all right.

And for the past week I hadn’t been able to look at my own face at all.

I had only lived inside the neonatal ward.

The neonatal ward didn’t have any mirrors.

Another piece of knowledge unlocked.

“Tta!”

I had to check my face right now.

“Mirror? Yena. You’re pointing at the mirror?”

“Tta!”

The baby might not understand words yet, so I just kept pointing at it with my finger.

Thanks to that, I could finally see.

Inside the mirror held by Dad’s hand, I looked… adorable.

Of course I knew it was only a one-week-old baby. Judging a whole person from such a tiny face was impossible.

But I had spent thirty years with an ugly face in my last life.

There was no mistaking ugly from not ugly.

Thank you!

I didn’t know who had given me this new life, but I wanted to say thank you. This time around I was going to enjoy myself in peace because I had been born beautiful.

As I settled into my new appearance, the System window popped up.

[Reward: Add the desired ability to the System window]

[Example] Vocal Mastery: D

The instant the System window appeared, I knew exactly what to pick.

It has to be appearance.

Once I added my appearance, there had to be some way to level it up. There was no reason for the System to just throw it in randomly.

Perfect. Let’s do it!

I opened my mouth in front of Dad and shouted, “You are cute!”

Wait… it feels kind of embarrassing.

The habit of calling myself ugly was too deep. Saying I was cute still felt unnatural.

But I couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Tta tta!”

“Dad! Yena smiled!”

“Really?!”

I’m cute!

Even though my lack of teeth made the pronunciation a little messy, I cleared the mission without a hitch.

[This week’s mission cleared]

[Reward: Add the desired ability to the status window]

Add appearance.

I managed to calm my racing heart and stared at the System window again.

Not long after I started watching, appearance appeared.

Name: Lee Yena (Lee Baek-ho)

Level: 1

Title: None

Appearance: S

Characteristics: Infinite Potential

I knew my features weren’t fully formed yet because I was barely a week old, but even then the rating was absurd.

That’s high, right?

It couldn’t possibly be SSSSS rating or something?

No way. I’ll believe it. I saw it in the mirror myself. This is the new face.

It was clearly adorable. The kind you wanted to pinch.

So I would believe it. S rank was a very high grade.

Maybe the System wanted to ease my doubt. A second later another window popped up.

Thank you.

The System has recognized my S-grade appearance.

I couldn’t wait to see how far I could grow.

Thinking about it, when was the last time I felt this happy in my life?

Except for the time Dad and Mom took me to the amusement park as a kid, this was the first time.

I had never felt this happy before.

#2

Haaah… nice.

Today was the first time I would leave the house.

Until now I had only lived inside the hospital and home, so I had no real contact with anyone else.

Of course I talked to the nurses, but now I was an older sister, not a baby.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠neonatal ward was full of babies, so it wasn’t really interaction. I had only watched them eat, cry, and sleep.

So today’s outing would be the first time meeting people with my new appearance.

One hundred days old.

Let’s go.

Out into the real world.

“Hmm? Yena. Why are you so tense? You’re squeezing your fists. Relax, it’s fine.”

The moment Mom said that, I loosened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my grip.

I guess I was tense without even realizing it.

I had no choice. Until now, leaving the house had felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like a declaration that I was going to be stared at, whispered about, and looked down on.

On the days I passed near the girls’ high school, I would hear the passive voice of guys saying “There goes your boyfriend, right there.”

Every girl who saw me would frown.

That was why, starting in middle school, I stopped looking girls in the eye.

Even then I had to face them when they punched me, but…

Anyway, time to go outside.

I was no longer ugly.

I could finally look girls in the eye.

Yeah… I should be fine.

Uuuh…

It should be okay, right?

#3

I sat in the stroller and headed to the supermarket.

I was born in 2007.

By now the supermarket had completely taken over the market.

Inside the big store, people were everywhere.

Ah. Too many girls.

Of course there were a lot of girls. Supermarkets drew mostly women shopping for groceries, so women made up about eighty percent of the crowd. Among them were high-school girls following their moms.

Ah… she saw me.

A high-school girl in the corner noticed me.

I shrank back like Pavlov’s dog and lowered my head.

Ah! I can’t look her in the eye!

I knew my appearance was completely different now.

But I had no choice.

I had lived with an ugly face for thirty years.

It was only two weeks old. I couldn’t suddenly be confident.

Uuuh…

As I started to tremble, a voice came from beside me.

“Wow! The baby is so cute! How old is she?”

“She’s two weeks old.”

“Can I get closer? Of course I’ll just look!”

“Sure, go ahead.”

She came.

“Hi.”

I slowly raised my head in front of the voice and met her eyes. Not my mom or dad. Another girl.

For the first time in sixteen years.

She didn’t frown…?

The girl didn’t make a face like she had seen something disgusting.

She was even smiling. Like she was looking at something precious.

That gaze was the same as the one Mom and Dad gave me.

“What’s your name?”

“Yena.”

“What a pretty name!”

“Right?”

“Yeah!”

The girl said.

“Yena. Your name is as pretty as your face. I can tell you have a bright future! Keep growing up just like this!”

Ah…

Had anyone, besides my family, ever smiled at me and said nice things?

Definitely not.

“Uuu…”

Yeah. I wanted to be loved too. Not just by family. By someone else.

I had just known it was impossible in reality, so I never dreamed of it.

But maybe now it was possible.

The dream of being loved by someone outside my family.

On this day, for the first time in thirty years of my life, I was loved by someone other than my family.