A Life Stolen Whole
A rattling sound jolted me awake. “Ugh…” My vision was blurry and my mind felt foggy. An unsettling sense of alienation washed over me, as if this body wasn’t truly mine. But as time passed, light gradually returned to my eyes and the stiffness in my limbs faded away. The thick fog clouding my thoughts began to lift, and memories slowly trickled back in.
[Even a detestable reader like you deserves punishment, don’t you think?]
“Aaaagh!!” The horrifying memory slammed into me and I bolted upright—only to discover the ceiling of whatever space I was in was far too low. Thud! “Gah!” My head slammed straight into it, and I collapsed back down. Only then did my brain finally catch up with the situation.
Rubbing my throbbing skull, I looked around. The space was impossibly cramped. Soft sunlight filtered in through large windows set into both side walls. When I peered outside, a vast snow-covered plain seemed to be sliding past us. Of course, the plain wasn’t moving—I was.
A rattling, narrow compartment. Two windows. ‘A… carriage?’ I’d never actually ridden in one, but the distinctive features made it obvious. My last memory had been inside my room, yet now I’d woken up inside some mysterious carriage. And the scenery outside was far too beautiful, too pristine, to belong to South Korea.
That could only mean one thing.
‘Did I… did I really get isekai’d…?’
That memory wasn’t a dream? I’d actually been dragged into that damn author’s novel?
I couldn’t believe it. Reality was reality. No matter how much the modern world had merged with virtual spaces in the metaverse, some things were simply impossible.
“How the hell is isekai even possible?! You trash author bastard!!” I shouted, half-convinced the guy might be watching me from somewhere. No answer came. In the end, all I could do was grumble and lament to myself.
“Rotten piece of— I’m going to curse you for the rest of my—…”
I froze mid-sentence. An inexplicable sense of wrongness had seized me. Something was off. My head had been too muddled before to notice, but now I identified the source of the discomfort immediately.
‘Come to think of it… my voice. Isn’t it a little too high?’
With a sinking feeling, I cleared my throat and tried speaking again.
“Ah. Ah.”
They say bad premonitions are never wrong. The voice that left my lips was far too delicate and beautiful to belong to a man.
My pupils quivered like I was in the middle of an earthquake as I stared at the window. There, reflected in the bright sunlight, was a hazy silhouette.
Hair with a faint violet tint. Features that still looked youthful yet strikingly defined. Eyes of a clear, almost unreal amethyst—the kind of beauty rarely seen in my previous world. A woman with an appearance I could never have possessed in my past life was staring back at me from the window with a look of utter confusion.
I slowly raised my hand. A pale, slender hand appeared on the glass. When I parted my lips, the woman in the reflection did the same.
“N… no way…”
My trembling voice leaked out from a thin throat.
Don’t tell me… not only had I been suddenly isekai’d, but they’d even stolen my identity as a man…?
I looked down with a creaking neck. A skirt I had never worn in my entire life spread out beneath me. It was gone. The thing that had been my identity, my other half—it was gone.
“I haven’t even used it once yet… you damn author bastard!”
My entire life had been spent running desperately toward a single dream. I was just an ordinary, decent citizen who read novels as a small hobby to unwind. And that person’s life—both as a human being and as a man—had been completely, utterly stolen?
“Is that even something a person would do?! Huh?! Are you really a person… no, are you seriously claiming to be a god?!”
While I was busy pouring out curses at the author, a sudden thought struck me and I muttered blankly.
“…My money.”
The funds I had scraped together with blood, sweat, and tears to open my own café—my dream and life goal. The hard-earned balance in my bank account that always filled me with satisfaction just by looking at it. What about all that money? What about the traces of my hard work? …What about my café?
“Haha…”
With a hollow laugh, I slumped down. The cold floor of the carriage pressed against my backside. Why did it have to be me? I had never once wished to be isekai’d into a novel, nor had I ever wanted to experience a gender-bender transformation into a beautiful girl. Sure, I’d occasionally wondered what it might feel like to live as one… but if someone asked, “Want to be reborn as a pretty girl?” I would have answered with a firm “No.”
So why me… of all people? Why did it have to be me, someone who actually had a proper dream…?
“…This is too much…”
Maybe it was because I was now a woman. Despite the hollow despair, warm tears spilled down my cheeks. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d cried. Had becoming a woman made my emotions more sensitive? The tears came far too easily.
I spent a long time letting the tears fall, pouring out all my feelings. When the flow finally stopped and my nose no longer sniffled, I clenched both fists and opened my eyes wide.
“…Just you wait.”
I repeated to myself over and over that it would be okay, forcing my aching heart to calm down. I had endured far worse despair than this. When the woman I once called mother ran off with another man. When my father, who had missed her terribly, passed away and left me all alone. When I had to grit my teeth and survive in a cold society where no one would help me. There had been countless moments when I wanted to give up on everything, yet I had stubbornly pushed through and lived an upright life.
Did that author really think someone like me would crumble just because I’d been gender-bent inside a novel?
“You picked the wrong person, you hack.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and stood up on both legs. This time I rose carefully so I wouldn’t hit the ceiling, then sat down on the carriage seat and folded my arms.
Let’s think this through. This wasn’t a completely hopeless situation where I could do nothing. Although the body looked delicate and feminine, it didn’t seem particularly weak or injured. And most importantly, I knew the contents of this novel quite well.
Of course, there was no guarantee this was actually that novel’s world… but I recalled the author’s last words to me right before the transmigration.
If you reach the ending, you’ll be able to return… so don’t worry too much~
The ending, huh. If my guess was right, it meant I had to see this novel through to its conclusion.
‘He can’t seriously expect me to follow the original ending, right?’
The abrupt appearance of the Northern Grand Duchess who annihilated the protagonist’s party and the Demon King, followed by an open ending that hinted at a second final boss. There was no way he wanted me to witness that trash ending. Most likely… he meant for me to reach some kind of conclusion through my own story.
‘…First, I need to figure out if this is even the world from that novel.’
The idea that this was the world of Please Protect the Saintess’s Private Life was nothing more than my own hopeful wish. I had no way of knowing exactly where that author had dumped me. If he’d thrown me into some apocalyptic setting, things would be bleak beyond belief. But if it really was the world of the novel I’d read, then even if I couldn’t return, it wouldn’t be the worst possible outcome.
After all, I had no parents or lover back home—just the life of a worker bee. Changing worlds wouldn’t change much. Sure, losing all that hard-earned money was painful enough to bring tears to my eyes… but other than that, there wasn’t anything holding me back. The biggest inconvenience would probably be living as a woman. Money could always be earned again.
The body I’d transmigrated into was quite a beautiful girl. There would be plenty of ways to make a living. At the very least, it was better than those days when I was too young to even get a part-time job. Judging by my appearance, I looked like I had just entered high school. That meant time was on my side.
If I worked hard, I could probably secure a building on the outskirts of the empire before I even reached my thirties. Not bad. If I couldn’t go back, I could just open a café in this world. A hipster vibe would fit right in. In most romance-fantasy worlds where tea was the trend, there probably weren’t any daily coffee drinks like Americanos. If I used the knowledge from my previous life, I might be able to spark a massive trend here.
The more I thought about it, the better it sounded… Imagining people happily drinking my coffee and beverages brought a natural smile to my lips.
‘Hehe… just you wait, otherworld.’
I’ll teach you all the taste of caffeine. Before long, I’ll turn you into people who can’t live without it.
While I was lost in those happy fantasies, I closed my eyes and examined my situation more carefully.
‘Now that I think about it…’
Still, throwing you in without anything would be too cruel. I’ll give you one small gift.
A gift. Right, that author definitely said he’d give me a present. I wasn’t expecting any overpowered cheat abilities like the protagonists in other novels usually got, but since he was basically a god-like being, it wouldn’t hurt to have some expectations.
I hurriedly searched my surroundings and checked every pocket of my clothes.
“I… it’s here…!”
Something was hanging at my waist. With an excited heart, I pulled it out—only to tilt my head in confusion at the familiar shape.
‘…A scroll?’
It was a scroll. Or rather, an object shaped like one, the kind you’d often see in classic fantasy worlds. The only difference was that it was made of luxurious black leather. I wondered what was written inside. Maybe a defensive magic circle that protected the user from fatal death? Or a powerful scroll containing a massive spell capable of obliterating enemies in one strike? Perhaps it was even a summoning circle like in Naruto that could call forth something incredible.
Half curious, half excited, I unrolled the scroll.
Whoosh—
With a refreshing sound that eased both body and mind, the scroll revealed its hidden contents. After staring at what was written inside for a long time, I could only mutter blankly.
…This.
“What the hell is this?”