A New World
Leaning comfortably against the living room sofa, I began searching on my phone. First, I typed "why are there so many women" into the search bar. Scrolling down through the results, one particular online article caught my eye.
— Last December, the proportion of the male population broke record lows once again. South Korea's male ratio has maintained a downward trend for ten straight years.
According to the 'December 202X Female-to-Male Sex Ratio Trends' released by Statistics Korea this January, the country's population ratio of women to men stands at 74 to 26. This widens the gap even further compared to 69 to 31 a decade ago. Consequently...
It had been published just yesterday. Double-checking the date, the year was remarkably close to the one in which I had died in my past life.
Female-to-male sex ratio?
Right from the very first article, an unsettling feeling washed over me that something was profoundly amiss. I delved deeper, combing through article after article and pouring over statistical data, until I reached an undeniable conclusion.
This was not the world I once knew.
It was a reality where women made up the overwhelming majority and men were an exceptionally scarce commodity. That explained why I hadn't crossed paths with a single man out on the streets.
The level of technological advancement and everyday life seemed largely identical, yet the sociocultural landscape wrought by this demographic imbalance was starkly, radically different. What was more, that discrepancy was by no means limited to Korea—it extended across the entire globe.
This complicates things.
I had felt confident that I could navigate this new life with ease, drawing upon the vast reservoir of memories from my previous existence. Now, however, I realized I couldn't rely solely on the wisdom of my past. The Earth beneath my feet bore an eerie resemblance to the world I left behind, but it was fundamentally another place altogether. I would have to study from scratch the universal norms, tacit agreements, and social order of this society.
A massive hurdle had sprung up in my quest to live out a complete, unburdened life.
“Oh my. Jeongseo, you're down here?”
“Auntie.”
“I'm so sorry. It's unpleasant to look at, isn't it? I thought you were still up on the second floor.”
Barely minutes had passed since my online research revealed how different this world was from my previous life, yet the internal framework I had meticulously constructed was already threatening to crumble.
It was because of Auntie, fresh out of her workout.
Stepping out of the home gym, her face twisted in flustered embarrassment the moment she laid eyes on me.
“I'm fine,” I offered mildly, picking a safe, innocuous response after a beat of contemplation.
“Auntie should have been more careful. I'll get inside right away.”
She hesitated for a second before jogging lightly toward the bathroom with bouncing, hurried steps. With every bounding stride, her ponytailed hair and pale, ample bust swayed in tandem.
Why was she so flustered? And why apologize?
She had distinctly asked if it was 'unpleasant to look at.' That implied I had seen something that could offend or distress me.
Our eyes met as she walked out... It didn't seem like she was referring to anything else.
I mentally replayed her appearance just moments ago. Whether from an intense bout of exercise, her face and body were glistening with perspiration. Her hair was neatly gathered in a single ponytail, and a sports towel hung over one shoulder. She had stripped off her shirt during the workout, revealing her sports underwear, while wearing a pair of short athletic shorts below.
What struck me most was her physique.
She possessed a remarkably toned, robust build. When we first met, I had assumed she simply had a large frame—not fat, but distinctly voluptuous and thick. Seeing her semi-nude body proved that to be a total misconception. The primary cause of my mistake had been her enormous breasts. While her underlying skeletal frame was undeniably broad, her figure wasn't bulky from excess weight. Her body defied any standard impression one might harbor of a woman in her forties; it was the product of years of rigorous, dedicated physical training.
Not that her physique has anything to do with it.
Her toned body and her apology seemed entirely unrelated. Then my focus shifted to the fact that her upper body was stripped down. Going by the common sense of my past life, it was an unusual situation, as women were typically ashamed or guarded about exposing their chests.
Granted, it's her own home, so she can walk around however she likes...
Yet Auntie hadn't seemed embarrassed about exposing her bust. If anything, her expression was tinged with concern for me.
After turning the puzzle over in my mind through several rounds of internal debate, a plausible scenario took shape: in this world, perhaps a woman exposing her chest to a man was considered a grave breach of etiquette, even an act of disrespect or aggression. It sounded absurd on the surface, but nothing else about the interaction explained her reaction.
Contemplating the hypothesis, I picked up my phone again. My old common sense was useless here. I paused, pondering what keywords would yield a definitive answer.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Hey. It's clear.”
“Okay.”
Just as I typed "woman's breasts" into the search bar, Yeo-eun came downstairs, her heavy footsteps thumping heavily against the wooden steps. Deciding to finish my research on the computer in my room, I got up from the sofa. I walked quietly on tiptoes so my own steps wouldn't clatter against the stairs. By the time I reached the second floor, I caught sight of her back as she slipped into the computer room, clutching a square-shaped object in one hand.
The quiet hours before dawn.
Conditioned by years of living with the Monk, I woke up at the exact same hour as always. Auntie and Yeo-eun still seemed fast asleep. After a quick shower, I set about preparing breakfast: gimbap and egg drop soup. Although I had boldly volunteered to take charge of the housekeeping, my culinary repertoire was admittedly limited.
“Oh? Jeongseo?”
“Good morning.”
“Goodness. Why did you wake up so early? And what is all this?”
“You have an early departure, don't you? Do you have time for breakfast?”
“Well, yes, but... I just feel bad making you do this.”
Auntie had emerged while I was rolling the prepared gimbap. Fresh out of bed, she was wearing a thin negligee.
“Don't worry about it at all. Would you like to wash up first?”
“Yes... Thank you. I really gained a wonderful son, didn't I?”
Rolling the gimbap, I reflected on the revelations of the previous night. My hours on the internet had unearthed a wealth of astonishing truths.
First and foremost, men in this world were exceedingly scarce. The female-to-male ratio in my age group sat at roughly seven to three. In a society where women made up the overwhelming majority, they naturally comprised the vast bulk of the active workforce.
Yet scarcity alone wasn't the only reason men shied away from public life. There was another critical factor: female libido.
If my past life was plagued by sexual offenses targeting women, here the dynamic was entirely reversed. Even though modern times had ushered in draconian legal penalties and sweeping public awareness campaigns, sexual crimes against men remained a persistent, rampant issue. Consequently, a deep-seated cultural tendency had developed where men refrained from unnecessary outdoor activity. Thus, even setting aside fear of crime, an economic reality had formed where women dominated virtually every sphere of public life.
I would need to study further to fully grasp the societal nuances and historical backdrop.
Is society currently in a transitional phase?
According to recent articles, the proportion of socially active men was on the rise. The state actively incentivized male participation through institutional benefits—ranging from sweeping educational subsidies and comprehensive healthcare coverage to prioritized employment assistance. The government showered men with privileges so extensive that, from another perspective, it bordered on reverse discrimination.
“Jeongseo-ya~”
“Yes?”
Just as I finished rolling the last gimbap, Auntie's voice called out from the bathroom.
“I'm really sorry... but I forgot to bring a change of clothes in here.”
“Yes?”
“I'm just not used to having someone around. Would you mind stepping upstairs for just a moment?”
“I don't mind at all. Please don't worry about me.”
We spoke through the bathroom door. I made sure to assure her that I felt no discomfort whatsoever and that she should go about her routine as she always did.
Her apprehension was directly tied to yesterday's encounter. As it turned out, my earlier theory was spot on.
In this world, men genuinely felt instinctive fear and aversion at the sight of a woman's breasts. Naturally, individual reactions varied depending on context and temperament, but as a general rule of thumb, a woman keeping her bust covered around a man was considered basic decency. The reason Yeo-eun had warned me yesterday to endure her attire had also been about her exposed chest.
Not that it bothers me in the slightest.
Returning to the stove to taste the egg drop soup, I mentally reviewed my schedule for the day. I decided to postpone a few minor errands and dedicate more hours to studying this reality. After all, the men and women of this world seemed to possess physiological differences from those of my past life as well.
Click.
“I'm sorry. I'll get inside quickly.”
Having weighed my words, Auntie finally opened the bathroom door and slipped out, clutching a bath towel wrapped securely from her chest down to her hips.
“It really is fine,” I reiterated. “I don't feel any aversion at all.”
“Really? Well, that's a relief, but still...”
“Ah, what should we do about Yeo-eun? She seems to still be asleep.”
I caught her before she disappeared into the master bedroom. Hearing my repeated reassurances, her expression relaxed considerably.
“Could you wake Yeo-eun up, too? We won't be seeing each other for a while.”
“Sure. I'll go get her.”
All that remained was slicing the gimbap. Turning down the flame beneath the soup pot, I headed straight for the second floor.
Knock, knock.
“Noona. Hey, Noona.”
No response came from within, no matter how many times I called out. Gripping the doorknob, I hesitated. She had strictly warned me not to barge into her room without permission.
Ugh, seriously...
I called out louder and knocked repeatedly, but met only dead silence. A sudden wave of irritation washed over me at the fact that I was agonizing over this in the first place. Her own mother was leaving early in the morning for an extended trip; couldn't she have the decency to get up on her own?
Strange... Why am I getting annoyed so easily?
While I was naturally more prone to irritation than other emotions, it felt unusually acute since yesterday. For some reason, my temper flared especially easily around Yeo-eun.
Deciding to observe how things played out, I pushed the door open. Reasoning that she had been the one to break her promise first by sleeping through her mother's send-off, I told myself it was fine.
Lying in the dim room behind closed blackout curtains was a completely naked woman.