1. [ You will be won over in 100 days. ]
"What?"
[ You Will Be Conquered in 100 Days. ]
I rubbed my eyes and checked the empty space in front of me again. But no matter how much I squinted, the translucent blue screen remained—a status window, without a doubt.
Wait, hold on. I thought I'd just been reincarnated after dying. But it turned out I was in a game world?
I'd spent all this time struggling to adjust to a woman's body while carrying the memories of my previous life. It wasn't easy for the mind of a twenty-eight-year-old man who'd worked himself to death at a company to endure the embarrassment of wearing swishy skirts and putting on makeup. Adjusting to an unfamiliar foreign environment and learning a new language had been a tremendous ordeal, too.
Why is it that in novels and anime, people get cheat skills or status windows after reincarnating? The reincarnated protagonist uses a status window to coast through life on super-easy mode. That's a plot you see everywhere.
Honestly, after reincarnating, I'd secretly shouted "Status window! Status window!" more times than I could count. One time, my little sister caught me and treated me like I was crazy.
And it wasn't even some romantic world with hunters or medieval fantasy, either. It was just an ordinary Earth.
Well, it was technically a parallel-world sort of Earth, with minor differences like how everyone had to attend the High School Academy for three years once they turned twenty...
And I'd been born in Japan, the country next door, instead of Korea. Anyway, I'd managed to survive all alone without any help from a system or cheat skills.
So why had a status window suddenly appeared out of nowhere? It made no sense.
And what the hell was that message supposed to mean? If you're going to show me a status window, shouldn't it have things like levels, stats, and quests?
'You will be conquered in 100 days?'
Conquered by what, exactly? Are aliens invading or something? Or is Hiroshima getting a Season Two? The least it could do was give me a proper explanation. What kind of status window was this unhelpful and ridiculous?
"Yuka~! Come eat!"
My mother's piercing voice came from downstairs. Oh, right. I had to eat.
But what was I supposed to do about this? I clutched my throbbing head and tried to make the status window close. It vanished, as if responding to my will. At least it wasn't going to hang around in front of my eyes forever. That was a relief.
"Coming~!"
I sighed, stretched, and made my way down the stairs.
When I reached the first floor, I saw my father sitting there stoically with a newspaper in hand. In the kitchen, my beautiful mother—who looked nothing like someone in her forties—was ladling soup.
"There you are. Come sit down and eat breakfast."
"Okay."
I sat at the table, where rice and grilled fish had been laid out, and my mother placed a bowl of soup in front of me. When I turned my head, I saw my little sister Yume already sitting to my left. She looked like me, but with chubbier cheeks that made her even cuter.
Yume picked the meat off her fish and gave me a sideways glance.
"Eonni, why do you look so grumpy today? And why's your hair such a mess?"
"What are you talking about? I look fine."
"No, you don't! You're obviously scowling. And you have dark circles, too... Did you stay up late gaming again?"
"Are you a psychic or something?"
As I muttered and picked up my chopsticks, my father spoke quietly from beside me, still reading his newspaper.
"Don't stay up too late."
My mother clicked her tongue and added her own lecture.
"Yuka, you were dawdling again and got up late, didn't you? A girl shouldn't come downstairs without drying or brushing her hair properly. Who's going to want to take you out like this? Hurry up and get ready for school."
"Yeah, yeah~ Thanks for the food."
"Honestly. You're not even listening."
Omma... Sorry, but I don't think anyone's going to take me out. I've spent seventeen years living as a girl, but marrying a man still doesn't come easily to me.
Of course, if I were willing, I could probably manage. But I'd rather not. I'd gotten confessed to by plenty of guys since middle school because of my looks, but every time, an inexplicable sense of discomfort and revulsion welled up inside me, so I turned them all down.
I gave a half-hearted reply and shoveled food into my mouth. Listening to my sister grumble and my parents deliver their usual lectures, the status window that had appeared in front of me moments ago almost felt like a dream.
[ You will be conquered in 100 days. ]
Of course, it wasn't just a dream.
After I finished eating and brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror. A pretty schoolgirl with a sulky expression and slightly sharp, catlike eyes was staring back at me.
...Right. There's no point overthinking it. Whatever happens in a hundred days is a problem for me in a hundred days. For now, Nishino Yuka's top priority is getting to school. I hastily tied my brown hair into a ponytail, slung my shoulder bag over my shoulder, and headed out.
**
"Ah, Yuka-chan's here! Hi~!"
"Yeah. Hey."
"You're here."
The moment I opened the classroom door, my friends from the Gyaru clique swarmed around me as if they'd been waiting. The one with bright yellow twin-tails and flashy nail art was Michiru. The one with a short black bob and an indifferent expression, who gave me a brief reply, was Reika.
By the way, wasn't it hot wearing a choker in summer? It looked like it'd get all sweaty. The world of Gyaru was a mystery. I tossed my shoulder bag onto a chair and sat on my desk, crossing my legs.
"Yuka-chan, your ponytail looks so cool today! You always have such a vibe, no matter what you do~"
"...I just tied it up in a hurry because I overslept, didn't I?"
"Exactly."
Michiru said, handing me a strawberry milk.
"Right, right. That's what makes you so charming, Yuka-chan."
...How had things ended up like this? It had been twenty years since I'd been reincarnated into a girl's body, but I still had a hard time acting feminine. Because of my past life, I often acted more like a laid-back guy...
Maybe that was why? Those Gyaru, who sat at the very top of the Class Caste, had been following me around since middle school. Against my will, I'd ended up at the center of their group, and it had already been five years.
They weren't exactly a pain to deal with, and I'd been close with them since we were kids, so I usually went along with it. But honestly, having to respond to them every single time could be exhausting. Still, thanks to these girls, the guys who kept hitting on me had finally stopped.
"Oh, right! Yuka-chan, did you hear? We're getting a transfer student in our class today!"
"Huh? A transfer student? At this point in the year?"
I took a long sip of strawberry milk through the straw as I glanced at Michiru. A transfer student, even though it wasn't the beginning of the school year?
"I saw him when I passed the teachers' room earlier. He was pretty tall and... handsome."
"...He's probably just a kid, though."
"True~ He was totally the kind of guy Yuka-chan hates. Kind of a delinquent type?"
"Mm. Yuka said her type was someone mature."
"Yeah, yeah. That's right."
You two. When the hell did I say that?
During some forgettable girls' talk, Michiru had relentlessly asked me what my type was, and all I'd said was that guys my age didn't register as romantic prospects. How had that somehow become "Yuka's type is someone mature"? It wasn't like I could be interested in men in the first place.
I tuned them out and rested my chin on my hand. If he was a delinquent, I hoped he'd just quietly sleep through class and leave. I didn't mind so much now, but back in the day, delinquents had tried hitting on me more times than I could count.
Just then, the front door slid open and our homeroom teacher walked in. Even today, the shiny bald spot right in the middle of his head was gleaming. The chatter in the classroom began to quiet down, and Michiru and Reika hurried back to their seats.
"All right, everyone, sit down. Before homeroom... It's a little late in the year, but let's introduce our transfer student first. Come on in."
Pfft!
The moment the teacher finished speaking, the guy walked into the classroom. The sight of him nearly made me spit strawberry milk all over the back of the model student sitting in front of me.
Tall, standing with a cocky, lopsided stance. Bright blonde hair. Deeply tanned skin. A shirt with a couple of buttons casually undone, and one hand shoved into his pocket like he owned the place.
His entire appearance screamed 'I'm a Golden-Tanned Delinquent.' A textbook example. Who knew guys like that actually existed?
At the same time, a string of unsettling words flashed through my mind. NTR, Golden-Tanned Delinquent, training, Female Corruption, and...
[ Main Character 'Kurosawa Ren' has appeared. ]
[ Time remaining until you are conquered: D-100 ]
Fuck.
The status window flashed red in front of my eyes, and I realized.
I'd thought I'd been reincarnated on an ordinary Earth, but it was an adult game? And was I seriously playing the role of the girl who'd be conquered by that Golden-Tanned Delinquent in a hundred days?
"I'm Kurosawa Ren. Nice to meet you."
He tossed out a greeting as he sauntered in, without even giving a proper introduction. The guy's delinquent attitude put the whole class in a strange sort of silence. I could even hear a few girls squealing quietly. No, why did anyone like a guy like that?
"All right, Kurosawa. Your seat is... Hmm, the one in the very back next to Nishino is open. Go sit there."
Oh, please, no. The teacher pointed straight at the seat next to me. Damn it... So this was the price I had to pay for trying to coast in the very back row. I swallowed all the curses I wanted to hurl at our bald teacher and tried to turn my attention to the window.
Step, step.
The sound of his slow footsteps drew closer, then stopped beside my seat. I heard him toss his bag onto the desk.
Ignore him. The best thing to do is stay out of it. But he's sitting right next to me... Was it even possible not to get involved with him for the entire school year?
But really, it could all just be a matter of prejudice. Even if he looked like a Golden-Tanned Delinquent, there were plenty of those classic types who worked honest part-time jobs and kept up with their studies, right? Yeah. Maybe he supported his elderly mother at home or took care of his little siblings all by himself.
...
I tried to convince myself of that as I looked out the window, but I could feel a sticky gaze on me. I turned my head a little and saw the Golden-Tanned Delinquent standing there crookedly, staring down at me. W-What? Why wasn't he sitting down?
The moment our eyes met, the corners of his mouth curved into a grin. It was an obnoxious, brazen smile, like he'd just found an interesting toy. His gaze seemed to be sizing me up.
The instant I saw it, I knew.
...This bastard was the real deal. He was absolutely not one of those guys who looked like a Golden-Tanned Delinquent but was actually a decent person.
I was fucked.