Realization

"Yes. Now then, for what reason might you have brought me here?"

Asking her older sister for help had seemed like a good idea at first.

What should she even call him? Mister? Mr. Handsome? His name was Cheon Seojun, apparently — and even his name was gorgeous...

Anyway, it seemed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man who'd left her utterly speechless had forgotten where his own home was.

And so, under the pretense of helping him, she'd managed to hold out until her sister arrived with backup.

But something felt off.

Is he... mentally ill?

The outfit she'd mistaken for a Heavenly Demon cosplay, and that very real sword. Movements with no gaps whatsoever, and the kind of speech that belonged to a grandmaster of the Murim.

And yet his words and actions denied the very existence of Mukgeomrok.

She'd heard the news before — that thanks to advances in virtual reality, more and more people were developing a condition where they couldn't tell the real world from the game.

A man that gorgeous, and he's sick... how much must he have suffered...

"It's okay. Everything's going to be alright..."

She couldn't bring herself to actually touch him, so she comforted him with words alone.

And if I end up healing this man's wounds while I'm at it...!

"Heheheh..."

What an unsettling laugh. She'd assumed he was a bit dim, but was he actually a proper lost cause? Though — was it perhaps polite around here not to call a lost cause a lost cause? In that case, she'd committed a grave rudeness indeed.

Still, he was technically the man who'd helped her when she was lost.

"Hehe..."

Somehow lecherous and dim-witted all at once. Not a pretty sight, exactly...

"Are you quite alright? I mean — Mister Cheon Seojun?"

For the sake of that hardworking sister trying to help her, she'd best let it slide.

"Indeed. Cheon Seojun is correct — that is my name."

"Losing your way must be a little disorienting, but just bear with us a moment. We'll find it for you right away."

They'd said the two of them were sisters. The younger one had introduced herself as nuna — wait, no, as the sister of that one.

In truth, the two resembled each other enough that anyone could tell they were sisters at a single glance. Though when it came to physical development there was a slight — no, a considerable difference. They were alike, all the same.

And yet the younger sister was dim-witted while the older sister wasn't merely sound of mind but downright brilliant... It made no sense whatsoever.

"It is quite all right. This body has naught to occupy it — no need to hurry on my account."

There was nothing he needed to do at present. Nothing he wanted to do, either. He merely wished to feel that he had come home.

It wasn't that he'd hated Murim. It was simply an exhausting place in many, many ways.

"Ahaha, is that so? Then... might I offer you a cup of coffee?"

Coffee... coffee, hm. In Murim he had always steeped and drunk tea instead. West Lake Dragon Well had suited his palate well enough that there'd been no reason to grind coffee beans — but having come all this way back, perhaps a cup or two wouldn't be amiss.

"I have all the time of a single cup of tea, whenever you please."

"Then... you accept?"

He gave a quiet nod, conveying his assent.

It had been a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long while since a woman had offered him tea. Once he had ascended to that seat, there were no more women who dared.

"Huh? Unnie!"

That was when it happened. The woman who had been staring blankly into space suddenly flared up and started shouting.

"Address confirmed. It's not far from here at all."

Apparently this was a common occurrence.

Watching her casually ignore her younger sister, who was twitching like someone had jabbed her in a pressure point, it seemed such things happened often. Not something a stranger like himself needed to concern himself with.

Though honestly, they looked less like sisters and more like brothers, did they not.

"How far is it, precisely?"

"One moment, please..."

She asked him to wait briefly and then pulled out her smartphone.

Was she going to ask someone? He thought so, but no voices of conversation came. A few taps on the screen later, the woman looked up and turned to face him.

"They say it's about a ten-minute walk."

"I see."

Ah, right — maps had such features too. Adapting to all this would take considerable time.

"What about the coffee, then..."

"We shall stop by your home along the way. I would ask for your guidance."

He followed the woman, who wore a grimacing face, out onto the street. And the moment they faced the bustling district — every single plan he had crumbled to dust.

"My apologies. But there shall be no time for that cup of tea..."

This is not Earth. This cannot possibly be Earth.

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"Hm..."

His head ached. His head truly, genuinely ached.

"Shameful. Utterly shameful..."

How could hale and hearty men go about displaying their bodies so shamelessly in broad daylight!

"Shame... I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sorry, what did you say?"

"Shameful, I say! How can they parade such indecency from broad morning onward!"

Whether there was actually anything lodged in her head worth calling a mind — he truly had to wonder.

A man draped over a woman's arm, rubbing himself against her freely. A man in a tank top with his thighs bared to the world. Even a man pinching his own lover's waist.

"Are they not like common strumpets...?"

"Er... they're men, though...?"

What exactly was he so displeased about? He may have been muttering, but she could hear every word. Where in that appearance did he see anything resembling a man!

"Whew..."

Complaining to anyone accomplished precisely nothing.

The Heavenly Demon, Mukgeomrok — set against this monstrous, absurd spectacle, even those seemed like fairies dancing in a dream.

"..."

"Sh-shall we keep going? With the directions, I mean?"

Watching these people, who felt not even a whisper of unease at any of it, he began to suspect that he was the strange one.

"Very well."

This world had something called the internet. Surely he would be able to find information there.

"What manner of lunacy is this..."

That was what he'd thought — but he found nothing. More precisely, he could find no explanation of why the world was this way. The only thing he could confirm was the fact that the positions of men and women had been inverted.

"Men's frames are smaller than women's..."

Apparently men had grown a little smaller than women since ages past. The gap had widened bit by bit, until the average man's height had settled at a hundred sixty centimeters.

"I thought I had returned to my homeland, yet it seems I was mistaken. What in the world possessed them to send me to a place like this..."

He decided to change his approach. Brooding like this would only waste this Earth-like environment. Countless conveniences that Murim had never possessed. So the sexes had been swapped — the conveniences themselves had not vanished.

This was not the home he'd returned to. Then what was different?

"Nothing worth weeping over. Exactly so."

He had no family. No relatives. No lover. No friends. What he had — and what remained even now — was the house and property left to him as an inheritance.

"Whew... Right. Let us look into Mukgeomrok and the Heavenly Demon, then."

That promised to be far ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more fruitful. Better to investigate the Heavenly Demon than agonize over this trivial little world.

"Muk... geom... rok... Typing truly is an inconvenient art."

How had he ever typed these things so quickly before? It was almost miraculous.

"I see now. It was entirely natural that they would mistake me for the Heavenly Demon."

When he searched Mukgeomrok, the very first result was an image labeled "Mukgeomrok PV." In it stood a man dressed exactly like him — black martial robes, embroidered with a golden dragon.

"So that is the Heavenly Demon. There is no pressure about him at all."

The Heavenly Demon in the image was a delicate, pretty-faced young boy. In Murim, underestimating someone for looking weak was the same as running headlong toward your own death.

"I am the Sword God, after all."

The one who slew the Heavenly Demon.

"Mihah!"

"You all sounded like you were dying to hear the story, so I started a bit early. Guys, I saw a SERIOUSLY insanely hot guy today."

"Ugh, well, my sister's a cop, so I couldn't exactly take photos."

"I dunno!! Blame genetics. I got the whole gene pool dumped on me. For real..."

"Oh, how hot? Ahem. Like — is this even a man?? Everything I've seen in my life until now was what, exactly...? Not even celebrities can hold a candle to him. Nobody."

"Ahh stop it! My sister's a cop! She's being monitored!"

"Stop the brainrot! Anyway my standards for men are permanently ruined now. I'm gonna die alone... sob sob."

"That's right — it's not that I don't date, it's that I— HEY!"

"You little— Ugh! It's not that I don't date, it's that I CAN'T date!"

"Ah! Unnie!"

Riiiing!

"Oh! Oh, is this the right guy — thank you so much for the 3,000 won donation! Er, wow... it IS him! Even seeing him again, he's gorgeous..."

"Er... yes."