Reversed Perspectives
In a small rented room somewhere in Seoul—no, Gyeongseong—a woman lay buried under a thick blanket while a man busily prepared breakfast. The clatter of side-dish containers, rice bowls, spoons, and chopsticks filled the quiet space.
“Juhyeon… wake up. It’s already half past eight…”
The man, who had been setting the table, called out to the woman still cocooned in her blanket, letting her know morning had arrived.
“Uuuuugh…”
Only the sound of restless tossing came from under the covers. She showed no sign of getting up.
“I said wake up.”
He urged her again.
“Ugh… what breakfast? You know I don’t usually eat in the morning…”
“But you told me yesterday to make it for you.”
“Did I…?”
The woman, who normally skipped breakfast, was Yoo Juhyeon. For about a year now, she had been living with her college classmate and boyfriend, Lee Minho. Both were university students.
About a week had passed since their world had suddenly flipped upside down. At first, they had both been utterly bewildered, but like Siwu, they seemed to have adapted somewhat to the new reality. The university they attended had changed its name entirely, and their family members and acquaintances had all become Japanese people with Japanese names who spoke only Japanese.
For several days, they had holed up in their rented room, cursing their situation and sinking into deep sorrow and depression. Then Minho was the first to pull himself together. He decided that wallowing in despair would solve nothing.
He went to their university and submitted withdrawal forms for both himself and Juhyeon. He had concluded they could no longer attend a school that conducted all its classes in Japanese. On top of that, he painstakingly gathered information about their new surroundings. He investigated whether the events of his childhood had happened the same way in this world, whether the people around them were the same individuals with only different names, and so on.
Through his efforts, he learned that some things remained identical while others had changed completely. For example, the car accident he suffered in elementary school had become a fall down the stairs. Some acquaintances were the exact same people, while others had entirely different faces and personalities. The information left his head spinning with confusion, but Minho knew he had to understand it all. They had no idea if the world would ever return to normal, so he needed to prepare for the future.
Perhaps because of all that, Minho’s face looked gaunt as he set the table now.
Finally, Juhyeon crawled out from under the blanket.
“What is this? Is this all you made? You expect me to eat this?”
The moment she got up, she spat out incredibly rude words that would make anyone who had prepared breakfast early feel embarrassed.
“There’s nothing I can do, Juhyeon… the situation is what it is…”
“Aaaah! I don’t care! I’m not eating!!!”
She seemed extremely displeased with the side dishes and dove straight back under the blanket. Rice, kimchi, seasoned vegetables, dried seaweed, and spam—Minho had done his best to prepare a proper breakfast, but it had all been in vain.
“So you’re starting that convenience store part-time job today?”
“Yeah…”
“Sigh… well, I guess you have to. Never thought all that otaku Japanese studying would actually come in handy here.”
Juhyeon kept spitting out barbed words that would irritate anyone who heard them. That was right—Minho had once studied Japanese to build up his resume for job hunting. He wasn’t fluent at a native level, but he could manage daily life. It was ironic that the Japanese he had learned for employment was now proving crucial for survival.
Without Minho’s Japanese skills, they wouldn’t have been able to go outside to gather information or submit the withdrawal forms at the university. Without him, Juhyeon would have been in serious trouble.
Yet she showed no appreciation for his efforts. Instead, she fiddled irritably with her phone.
“I’ll head out to work now. If anything happens, just call me—”
“I’ll handle it myself, so just go already.”
She snapped at her boyfriend, who was bravely heading out into a dangerous world completely different from the one they knew, all to earn money for their daily needs.
“Alright… I’ll be back…”
With a deflated expression at his girlfriend’s cold response, he stepped out the door.
Clunk. Beep-beep.
“Haa… what the hell is this, seriously…”
Whether Minho had left or not, Juhyeon stared at her phone and let out heavy sighs.
Is Joseon’s Male Population Sustainable? Male-to-Female Ratio Projected to Hit 5% Next Year
Gyeongseong Prosecutors’ Office Indicts Two Women in Their 20s and One Teen for Kidnapping a Man in His 20s and Forcing Marriage
“Even the 25th Wife Is Fine”—Woman in Her 30s Pays 10 Million Yen to Become the 25th Legal Wife, Sparks Controversy
Examinees Scour High Schools with Male Students—One Gyeongseong High School Sees Entrance Competition Ratio Exceed 1:98
“Fuck… what the hell is all this?”
Juhyeon was reading Korean internet news articles on her phone. The headlines left her utterly dumbfounded. In this world where men were extremely rare, these were everyday stories, but the more she read, the more her insides burned with irritation.
In the previous world, Juhyeon had casually dated multiple men, switching partners almost every year. In this new world, not only was serial dating impossible, it was difficult to even date a single man. In fact, finding a one-to-one couple was nearly impossible. Most relationships consisted of several women sharing one man. Women who monopolized a man were extremely rare. Even women with enormous wealth or high social status almost never had a man all to themselves.
“Aaaah… fuuuuck… this is so fucking shitty.”
She opened her SNS account. The inbox that used to be filled with messages from men expressing interest in her was now completely empty. Truthfully, she had been getting tired of Minho and had been preparing to break up with him to move on to a more handsome guy.
“Haa… he was so fucking good-looking too…”
She sighed and lamented. Honestly, Juhyeon wasn’t particularly beautiful. But being a woman in her twenties gave her overwhelming advantages in the dating and marriage market. Men would line up for her without her doing anything. If she put on a little makeup and went to a club, she would get hit on. Those days were now unimaginable.
“I was getting sick of him and planning to switch… what the hell is this, seriously…”
She muttered words that would have shocked Minho if he had heard them. No matter how absent he was, her comments made one question whether she was really his girlfriend. In truth, Juhyeon thought Minho wasn’t that ugly. He was average. Yes. Just average. That was the reason.
Minho hadn’t done anything wrong. She had simply decided to break up with him the moment a more handsome and appealing man appeared. This relationship had only started because Minho confessed first, and she had accepted on a whim. The kind-hearted Minho had spent a lot of money to make her happy, believing it would bring her joy.
But to Juhyeon, the money and gifts he offered were simply expected. She had never truly liked him. She had moved in with him only because she didn’t want to pay rent herself. It had been a completely one-sided relationship: the woman treated the man like a tool, while the man genuinely loved the woman. The power in their relationship had rested entirely with Juhyeon.
There was a saying that the one who loved first lost. In Juhyeon’s mind, Minho had been nothing more than Extra #1. As if to prove it, the breakfast he had carefully prepared was growing cold on the table, but she wouldn’t even glance at it. Even when she was hungry, she refused to eat. Just looking at it annoyed her. All of this explained their relationship. It also explained why Minho had never been able to talk back to her.
… … …
“Ugh, there’s nothing fun on… and it’s all in Japanese so I can’t even understand it…”
Growing bored with her phone, Juhyeon now flipped through TV channels. Outside, the sun was already beginning to set. That’s right. Shockingly, Juhyeon had stayed buried under her blanket doing absolutely nothing from morning until now. When she got peckish, she would just grab a few snacks. The breakfast Minho had prepared still sat there, cold and abandoned. Even that seemed to annoy her, so she had shoved it into a corner.
Anyone watching would have said Minho was truly pitiful.
“Aaaah… I’m so fucking bored… what should I do?”
Just as Juhyeon was fidgeting from unbearable boredom—
……! ……! ……
Faint voices of people talking could be heard from somewhere.
“…What is that?”
Juhyeon’s ears perked up at the sound. She turned down the TV volume. The faint voices gradually grew louder and clearer. They were coming from the direction of the front door. It was a mix of a familiar voice and an unfamiliar one.
“I told you I have a girlfriend! Please just leave me alone…”
“Why do you keep playing hard to get? Hm? Come play with noona. Is it because you need money?”
“I said no! Just go away!! Okay?”
The voices were so loud they could be heard clearly even inside the apartment.
Beep-beep-beep-beep. Click!
Finally, the sound of someone urgently punching in the door lock code was followed by the door opening.
Bang!
Minho quickly slammed the door shut.
“Haa… haa… haaa…”
He was breathing heavily, as if he had run all the way here. He collapsed right there in front of the entrance. His entire body was drenched in sweat. His clothes were disheveled, as though he had been in some kind of scuffle.
“Pfft… pffft… Hey, you… what the hell? What’s going on?”
While Minho wore a rather serious expression and tried to catch his breath, Juhyeon found the sight hilarious and burst into laughter as she asked her boyfriend what had happened.
“………”
No answer.
“Hey, what is it? Tell me.”
“Juhyeon……”
“You have to speak for me to understand. Hurry up and tell me. Did something happen with that woman outside?”
“Yeah……”
“What?”
Minho nodded.
“She kept following me, telling me to date her……”
“Pfft…… hahaha! What?! You?!”
Juhyeon laughed even harder, as if it were the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard, and began teasing her boyfriend. In contrast, Minho’s expression remained deadly serious. He was even trembling slightly, as if he had encountered a tiger outside.
Shaking with fear, Minho finally spoke.
“I… I can’t work anymore……”
“What?”
The playful look on Juhyeon’s face vanished instantly.
“The women outside… they’re too scary…… The person teaching me at the convenience store today, the customers too… they’re all so scary……”
“You’re a man and you’re scared of that? What exactly are you scared of? Are you even a real man?”
Minho’s terrified plea did not reach Juhyeon at all. Instead of offering comfort, she looked at him as if she couldn’t understand why he would be scared and hurled sharp words at him.
“I get that there are a lot of women in this world, but you’re a man. If you can’t even handle this, what are you going to do? How are we supposed to buy food?”
“Couldn’t you… work instead……”
“What?”
“Me?”
Her expression turned vicious. She reacted as sensitively as if he had uttered some forbidden word. And then Juhyeon said something she should never have said.
“Should we break up?”
It was the ultimate weapon that only the one holding the power could use. Juhyeon seemed so unwilling to work that she was willing to resort to such an extreme measure.
“You said you’d treat me well while we were dating, but now you’re acting like this?”
She slowly stood up, as if to solidify her dominance, placing her hands on her hips as she continued.
“What?”
Minho looked up at her, his face filled with shock. He had been trembling with his head lowered, but now he stared straight at her.
“Br… break up?”
“Yeah. Since you’re acting like this, I don’t have a choice either.”
“What do you mean ‘acting like this’?”
“Was everything about treating me well just a lie?”
Their conversation was rapidly turning into a full-blown argument. On Minho’s face, which had been trembling with fear, anger began to spread slowly like ink on white paper.
“I’ve been good to you all this time…”
“What exactly have you done for me?”
“I bought you gifts all the time, paid for all our meals, paid for all our trips…”
“Did I ask you to do any of that?”
“What?”
This was what people called gaslighting. Even though Minho had done nothing wrong, Juhyeon acted as if it was obviously his fault.
“I never asked you to do any of it. You did it because you wanted to, and now you’re acting like it’s some huge favor?”
“That kind of…”
Minho repeated her words with a look of utter disbelief. All the years he had spent with Juhyeon flashed through his mind like a panorama.
“All the other guys treat their girlfriends like that~ You’re not the only one. Why are you acting like you did something amazing?”
“………”
“You’re so damn cheap, seriously… Do you think there’s no one else I could date? You’re the one who confessed to me first.”
“………”
Just as she always had, Juhyeon tried to manipulate Minho by fully exercising the power she held over him. Minho’s face twisted with rage for a moment, but then his eyes filled with tears and he hung his head again. He couldn’t even respond to her words.
‘Got him.’
Juhyeon thought triumphantly to herself. It seemed her plan had worked. Minho had wilted again. That was how she interpreted his expression.
As was usually the case with gaslighting, Juhyeon wasn’t actually trying to break up with him. Of course, she had been thinking about it until recently, but breaking up now would clearly be a loss for her. The line she had just thrown at him—“Do you think there’s no one else I could date?”—had now become something Minho could say to her.
The current world was extremely unfavorable to Juhyeon. Women were everywhere. Even if you had ability and money, it was hard to meet a man. On the other hand, Minho was one of the extremely rare males. His mere existence held value. He was like gold. Like water in the desert.
Moreover, since Juhyeon couldn’t speak Japanese at all, she would have a hard time surviving without Minho. Therefore, instead of clinging to him, she had decided to act exactly as she always had—using her dominance to make him behave the way she wanted.
“………I’m sorry…”
It seemed Juhyeon’s goal had been completely achieved. Minho apologized to her.
“Haa… good, as long as you understand. Don’t do it again.”
She inwardly cheered and softened her attitude slightly. She judged that pushing him any further might make things worse.
However—
“……I’m sorry… for everything until now……”
While it was technically an apology, it was not the kind of apology Juhyeon had wanted.
“Let’s end it now……”
In fact, Juhyeon had overlooked two things. One was that Minho, due to whatever he had experienced outside, was already psychologically at his limit even without her pushing him. The other was…
“Let’s break up.”
…that Minho had already endured far more than she realized.
“Huh?”
When the world flipped, so did the power dynamic. The gender that held value simply by being born was no longer women, but men. Hearing Minho’s unexpected words, a dazed sound escaped Juhyeon’s lips.
And so, the relationship of one couple came to an end.