Chapter 0
Chapter 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: Prologue
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Heteromorphs.
Races that commonly appear in fantasy stories.
From elves and dwarves to harpies, dragons, fairies, spirits, and so on...
Beings you’d never see in the modern world—creatures that only exist in media.
Why bring this up out of nowhere?
Because... I’ve become part of that fantasy.
“Yoon Seo-hyun.”
“Yes.”
The professor called my name, and all eyes turned to me amid a wave of whispers.
No wonder they were murmuring.
A massive pair of jet-black horns curled like a ram’s right above my head.
That’s right.
When I came to my senses, I had become a dragon.
And with my gender switched, no less.
* * *
There were just too many assignments.
Why do all the Korean Literature professors love group projects so much? I vented every complaint I could think of as I fiddled with the PowerPoint somehow.
To make matters worse, over half the group were international students, so our schedules never aligned. They skimped on research, and that was bad enough—but they didn’t even know how to make a decent slide deck.
What exactly can you do? I wanted to snap, but I held my tongue. Fine, I’d just pull more weight. Truth be told, though, the real culprits were my own department underclassmen.
They called themselves juniors, but they had zero connection to an outcast loner like me.
Still... no matter how distant we were, wasn’t it crossing a line to straight-up tell your senior you had no clue how to handle the slides?
Who the hell does? I wanted to fire back, but with my already tarnished rep in the department from that incident last time, stirring things up would only invite more headaches.
I’d just swallow the bullshit. Damn bastards.
In this hellhole of a department, it was practically a department rule that returning students always ended up leading group projects. No helping it.
At least I managed to cobble together a paper from the scraps of research the others had bothered to submit. Fixed the weird footnotes, clarified citations. Once that was done, I dove into the slides.
As expected, it was a nightmare. No clue where to start. Damn it, I’m clueless about PowerPoint too. They all shoved it off on me, so here I was.
I somehow muscled through and finished the deck. Copied a high-quality template from one I’d made before, tweaked it to look polished and readable.
The second I uploaded it to the group chat, the perfunctory replies rolled in.
[Thanks for your hard work.]
[You really suffered! (A weird crying bunny pic)]
[I’ll buy you a meal sometime, leader! (A barrage of ecstatic emojis)]
Even fake gratitude had its limits. I was just flabbergasted. The one junior who’d actually put effort into research was straightforward and cool about it—just a simple “good job”—while the slackers piled on the flowery bullshit.
Fine, so the presentation’s on me too.
The project was on classical poetry.
We had to analyze it and find modern reinterpretations in movies, dramas, poems, novels, etc., then break them down. Luckily, it wasn’t too tough, so I wrapped it up quick.
But this wasn’t the end. Six more group projects were stacked on top. Was this any way to live? I seriously wanted to drop out, but I shoved the urge down.
The tuition I’d already sunk in was too precious. And the prestige of Korea University.
Sure, liberal arts meant cheaper fees, but that was it.
Even so, this was ridiculous. Way easier than STEM, maybe, but six group projects? All as leader?
I did have a few close friends among my cohort, but group assignments were all random draws.
Yeah, it was a nice system that accounted for loners like me, but why not just make them individual assignments instead?
“Goddamn assignments.”
I wanted to complain to the professors, but with my speck-of-dust-sized guts, no way. In the end, I muttered curses under my breath while busting my ass to finish the group projects as fast as possible.
A whole month until presentations, but since I was already stuck leading, I figured screw it—might as well go all out. I cracked the whip, demanding at least the papers from the group ASAP.
Of course, I’d insured myself for backlash. I took on all the research, papers, slides, and presentations. For all six projects.
It was a raw deal, but no choice.
The minute you try collaborating with them, it drags on forever and spits out half-assed crap.
Fine, you’ve got your excuses—so I’ll sacrifice myself. Watching you lot flail around, I’m better off solo anyway.
Plus, I had zero desire to get personally tangled with those types.
Research trickled in from the other projects too, so I just edited papers and whipped up slides. Sacrifice the weekend, and it’d be done.
Their opinions? Who cares. Toss ’em the finished product, and if presentations were random, one line covers it.
Read the paper and slides, then present. Don’t choke. Done. What more do they want?
I set the group projects aside for a bit and stepped outside. It was 4 a.m. Holy shit. When did it get this late?
Needed some air.
Most people would light up a smoke at this point... but not me.
Never started smoking, and I quit booze. Hangovers wrecked me too hard—one night out, and the next day vanished. Time’s too valuable.
Classmates ask what fun I get out of life, and I just say, this is my fun.
No real career dreams either.
What the hell am I gonna do to make a living?
The breeze was a little healing. On impulse, I looked up at the sky. Hadn’t done that in ages.
No stars. Kinda disappointing.
Wanted to see some stars. Duh, not like this is the countryside. 4 a.m. in a one-room in the middle of a glittering urban sprawl.
The projects... whatever. Knock out the slides over the weekend, and it’ll be fine.
Exhausted.
I kept mulling it over in the wind.
How to wrap up the group projects, what to prep for job hunting after.
No real answers, though.
Staring at the sky that long, I realized wasting time like this wasn’t cutting it.
Right. Finish these damn assignments quick, then game or watch some idol streams.
What I needed most wasn’t career angst—it was rest, now. Gotta wrap this up.
That’s when I turned to head back inside.
Suddenly, my vision blazed white.
Something far off sparkled like brilliant starlight.
...What the hell?
Meteor?
No... not a meteor?
That was my last memory of that day.