Today, My Dick Died

Park Jeong-ah. Fourteen years old. Claims she was a Hero in her past life.

Today, my dick died. Or maybe it was yesterday. I woke up thinking it was just asleep, only to find it was already gone, so I don't know exactly when it vanished. It's not like I became a eunuch or anything. I've literally turned into a girl. And a very pretty, cute one at that.

It's not the absolute worst-case scenario, but definitely the second worst. I basically traded my dignity for my life. Though, if you think about it, that's a pretty cheap price to pay for survival.

How should I even describe my current state? I've entered someone else's body while retaining my memories, so is it possession? Or is it reincarnation, since I've been given a new life? "Ugh..." My head hurts. I don't understand any of this. One thing was clear: I needed to investigate. I needed information on my current situation. And so, I began looking into this unprecedented crisis of suddenly turning into a young girl.

First of all, this place was an orphanage, and I was an orphan. That was the very first fact I established. I was fourteen years old, and currently, I was a person of interest among the orphanage staff. The reasons? Refusing to go to school, barely eating, barely speaking, and so on. Still, I figured the original owner of this body wasn't a total delinquent. This was actually pretty mild. All of this was information I gathered from the logbook kept by the orphanage caregiver.

Right now, I was taking advantage of the caregiver's absence to sneak into her desk and gather information. Flipping through the logbook, I found a page where the ink hadn't even dried yet. It seemed she had added a new ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entry following our conversation earlier.

It was written exactly like that. A sigh escaped my lips. I suppose that's how it would look to an outsider. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rather harsh assessment stung a bit. But her opinion didn't matter. The truly important information lay elsewhere.

Park Jeong-ah. Seriously? It sounds like Jeong-bak-ah—did they name her to sound like "retard"? It's only one letter off from my original name, Park Jungwoo. Then again, my family always had a weird way of naming us.

No tears came. It just felt like a reconfirmation of facts I already knew. Park Jeong-ah—so the current me was recorded as the youngest daughter of our family. Originally, we were a family of four, and I only had one younger sister. It seemed history had been rewritten so that Park Jeong-ah was born, and the original me, Park Jungwoo, had died instead. But there was something even more shocking than that.

That single sentence raised a dozen question marks in my head. A Rift? Monsters? Awakened? What on earth does all this mean?

Originally, my family died in a car accident. It was ruled a crash entirely caused by a drunk truck driver. It seemed that when I became Park Jeong-ah—a younger sister who had never existed—history warped, changing the accident as well. But the reason was baffling. Monsters? Awakened? These were words I had never seen in my life. I couldn't even begin to guess their meanings. I spent a moment agonizing over the cryptic sentence, but my questions remained unanswered.

"Jeong-ah, are you in here?"

My information-gathering was cut short by the arrival of the caregiver, who let out a deep sigh as she walked in.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. It's about time for school. You absolutely cannot skip today."

"School..."

This was hardly the time to be leisurely going to school. I was too busy trying to figure out this mysterious phenomenon that had happened to me. But the problem was, I had no valid excuse to refuse. The original Park Jeong-ah they knew would have gone to school without a fuss. Besides, running away from the orphanage when I didn't even have food, clothing, or shelter secured was out of the question.

Wait, who says I can only gather information at the orphanage?

After a moment's thought, I changed my mind. Just like the caregiver's logbook, school would be an excellent place to learn about the girl named Park Jeong-ah. And about this world, which felt strangely off. While I was at it, I could also look up the meanings of words like "Rift", "Awakened", and "monster". Maybe the teachers there would tell me if I asked.

"I'll head to school now."

"O-oh, alright."

With that calculation in mind, I acted completely cooperative with the caregiver's attempts to send me to school. Though bewildered by my sudden change in attitude, she carefully packed my backpack for me.

"Now, last class we learned about the occurrence of Rifts and the first Awakened, right? This class, we'll look into how Rifts occur and the monsters that emerge from them..."

As it turned out, coming to school ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a great decision. It wasn't because I had a sudden passion for academics or found joy in hanging out with kids; it was purely because school was an excellent place for information gathering. Just sitting here quietly yielded a massive amount of data. I didn't even need to ask the teacher about the things I was curious about. I could learn everything just by listening to the lecture.

I looked down at my textbook.

Photos of elongated, blue-tinted oval shapes, house-sized beasts, and people beating them down filled the pages. Reading through the text, I realized one undeniable fact.

This place was completely different from the Earth I originally knew. Frankly, it wouldn't be strange to call it a parallel world. A world where superhumans with supernatural powers existed, where space warped, and where monsters emerged from within—it was far closer to the fantasy world where I had lived as a Hero. In my memory, Earth was a peaceful world where none of those things existed.

It felt as though all my common sense was being rejected. I definitely needed to look into this in more detail. I had to carefully examine, step by step, what exactly was different compared to the Earth I knew.

"That's all for today's class. Don't forget what you learned. Class president?"

Ah. While I was busy sorting out my thoughts, the class had ended. There was still so much more I needed to know. But it was fine; I still had recess. I could follow the teacher to the staff room and ask my remaining questions. It wouldn't be strange at all for an enthusiastic student to ask a teacher about the lesson.

However, I never got to have my planned Q&A session. The moment the bell rang and recess began, several figures swarmed my desk as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.

"Jeong-ah, where are you going? You have to play with us."

"Why haven't you been coming to school lately? We missed you."

"What's with the textbook? Are you actually going to ask the teacher a question?"

The kids surrounding me wore bright, beaming smiles. Were they Park Jeong-ah's friends? I figured a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush; I could just use these kids to clear up my doubts. Even if they were just immature children, they should be able to answer simple questions.

But that, too, was a miscalculation. These kids were not Park Jeong-ah's friends.

"As if a retard like you could ask a question. You can barely even speak."

"Hey, we're going to the snack bar, so follow us. You brought money, right?"

"No answer? Damn, you've gotten soft after taking a few days off, huh?"

No normal friend would treat Park Jeong-ah like this. They mocked her name, shoved her around aggressively, and casually demanded money. Come to think of it, the cover of my textbook didn't say [Park Jeong-ah]; it said [Jeong-bak-ah]. At first, I thought the original owner had just gotten confused or written her own name wrong. But logically speaking, there was no way. It was obviously these punks' doing. I didn't even need to ask.

I turned my head and scanned the classroom. Even though a gang of bullies had approached and was openly threatening me, the other kids in the room said nothing. In fact, the moment our eyes met, they flinched and quickly looked away. They were intentionally ignoring it.

It felt like another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. The caregiver's logbook had mentioned that Park Jeong-ah was reluctant to go to school. It seemed she had a very good reason. Systematic bullying, being an orphan, having absolutely no one on her side... the picture painted itself. It was a burden far too heavy for a young child to bear. It was utterly pitiful.

"What are you doing? Hurry up!"

But did I need to act pitiful too? The original Park Jeong-ah might have, but not me.

That was my thought as I followed the glaring, gesturing girl out of the classroom.