Crow

Three months ago, the world ended.

More precisely, humanity lost its war against the monsters.

Digging through my memories, it all began with a single emergency alert.

A Super-Colossal monster.

The largest monster humanity had ever encountered was barely a Large-class — and even that was enough. A single Large-class monster, the one that appeared in China long ago, wiped out 40% of that continent's population.

And now they were saying Super-Colossal.

"...Fuck. We're so screwed."

For someone who'd made a bunker his home, there was no paradise left to run to. All I could do was pray to gods I didn't believe in and trust the durability of the bunker I'd poured my entire fortune into.

"Come on, buddy. If you crumble, I'm actually going to die..."

The Super-Colossal's attack range was vast enough to blanket the entire planet. The grotesque substance it spewed out swallowed the skies of the whole world in black. When I watched through the external cameras, for a moment I genuinely thought night had fallen.

I'm really going to die, I thought — but thankfully, the bunker held.

Thank you! My son.

Of course, the aftermath wiped out 70% of the Earth's population. Not everyone had built a bunker and lived in it like I had.

The Super-Colossal monster, which hadn't flinched even under the combined assaults of fully awakened hunters, withdrew gracefully after that single attack. And then the System, as if rebalancing a game's power curve, granted the surviving humanity a completely unannounced Second Awakening.

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

And so, my life as a woman began.

"She's definitely pretty, but..."

The apocalypse — in other words, a lawless world — made gender a matter of survival. In a place where strength was everything, a woman was always the easiest target.

The closest thing to public order was a hunter group on the level of a village watch committee. There was no way they could stamp out every crime erupting all over the place. In the end, most women went into hiding, and the streets crawled with nothing but monsters and men.

Wasn't there something about birth rates rising during wartime? Men desperate to relieve their lust roamed the ruins hunting for women to assault. Of course, a strong female hunter would have been the exception.

The problem was that I was not one of those women.

Which is to say... this lunatic had put me in an extremely awkward position.

The Crow had one hell of a loose beak.

A single post on the Korea Gallery. The moment I saw it, I lost it completely.

"I'm going to kill her..."

Cat. That was the code name I'd been given back in my mercenary days — and the first time I crossed paths with the Crow was back then too.

Embarrassing as it is to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠say myself, Cat was something of a local celebrity in the Gangwon region. Not because I was strong or had impressive abilities, but because sightings of an idiot wandering around in a cat mask kept getting posted online.

It was mostly that kind of shitposting, but every now and then someone would dump screenshots of me moving around on the gallery. I'd only gone outside twice in a single month — that was it — and yet there were over ten posts documenting my whereabouts.

At first I was flattered, like I'd become a somebody. But if this kept up, it was only a matter of time before my identity got dug up. Attention-seeker or not, having information leak out like this was life-threatening.

So I'd been lying low, living like a dead woman — and now this Crow bitch was shouting "Cat's actually a woman!" from every rooftop.

By now, every horned-up male out there was probably stiffening up and setting their sights on me.

"Argh!"

I grabbed the cat mask sitting beside me and hurled it at the wall.

Crack—!

I heard it shatter, but I didn't even look. Thinking back, the Crow had always been a walking public menace. Since the Crow and I were both non-combatants, we'd ended up running a couple of missions together by sheer chance.

She was always acting all sweet while making the most uncomfortable requests — and every single one was creepy and perverted. Naturally, I never once obliged. She mainly hit on women, so why she bothered acting friendly with me was a mystery.

...Don't tell me she'd suspected I was a woman since back then?

Well, fair enough — back in those days I hid my frame under baggy clothes and covered my face with the cat mask, so it was an easy guess. Besides, I'd never once spoken to my mercenary teammates out loud.

"...Hm. Next month is a problem now."

My plans were ruined. I'd meant to hold off on surface looting for a while and resupply comfortably at the Crow's Convenience Store instead. That was no longer possible. Who knew what she'd do if I showed up as if nothing had happened?

The Crow was, as far as I knew, the premier pervert among everyone I'd ever met. If I did go to the store, I'd need to be thoroughly prepared.

Yes. I'd have to make her pay for leaking my info to the gallery.

The floor of the convenience store's storage room. The Crow lay sprawled there, writhing like a lunatic.

"AAAAGH! Fuck, please! Make it stop!"

A video of mating turtles had been forcibly crammed into her vision, and she was on the verge of throwing up. Even with her eyes shut, even with her hands over her face, the repulsive footage stayed perfectly clear.

This was, without a doubt, Cat's awakened ability — the power to interfere with another person's vision. The Crow was clearly sharing Cat's field of view right now.

Just as she was rolling around on the floor, retching, the turtle video abruptly cut off and the view switched to a sheet of paper with writing on it.

"..."

An unexpected sentence. She'd assumed this was Cat raging over catching a glimpse of her chest the other day — apparently not?

The gallery post? All this, over that?

She'd known from the moment Cat started looking at her like a bug while ignoring everything she said — but a crazy bitch was, in the end, a crazy bitch. It's just one lousy forum post.

As she grumbled inwardly, a small, snow-white hand slid into her field of view and — tap — flipped the paper to the next page.

Pop—!

Her vision snapped back to normal. Grumbling all the while, the Crow hunted down a pen and paper and scrawled out a reply to stay alive.

The instant she finished writing, her vision was forcibly switched again. Cat, apparently at the end of her rope, was hammering her fist into a pillow over and over.

...Crazy bitch.

In a fit of rage, I used the Convenience Store Ticket again. A mask instead of the cat mask, a comfortable t-shirt and shorts I could move in. Clutching an aluminum bat for self-defense, I was just slowly stepping one foot into the portal when —

The Crow, who came bolting out from the other side without warning, body-checked me back.

Shit, so people can ride the portal in the other direction?

"You crazy bitch! How dare you shamelessly use the ticket again?!"

This was the first time another person had ever set foot inside my bunker. This place had been mine and mine alone, from the very first day to this one. Instinct screamed at me to eliminate the intruder immediately, and my body moved.

I swung the bat with everything I had, but a woman's build simply wasn't enough to land a real hit.

Whoosh—! Bam—!

I either sliced through empty air or impaled one of my own belongings. Watching my precious bunker get wrecked for no reason made my stomach churn, so I stopped.

"Haa..."

"Cat! Just — just calm down for a second!"

Sweating, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Crow suddenly fished a tiny machine out of her pants pocket and held it up.

"You! Do you know what this is?"

"...I-I don't."

"What was that? Why is your voice so tiny?"

"..."

"Anyway! This is a high-precision GPS tracker! If you keep trying to kill me, I'm broadcasting your location to the gallery live, right here, right now!"

I had to kill her. This son of a bitch, right now. Separate her head from her body with the bat.

I tightened my grip again.

"Wh-whoa there! Put the weapon down! This thing transmits to the gallery the second I press one button, I swear!"

Well, fuck. Reluctantly, I lowered the bat to the floor.

"Phew... fuck, I lived. Let's have a conversation. A conversation."

"..."

"Man, why won't you talk to me?"

"I-I have nothing to sa—"

"I can't hear a single word. Speak up."

She was right. Talking to people was, hands down, the hardest thing for me. The words caught in my throat and wouldn't come out, and honestly, I had no idea what I was even supposed to exchange with another human being. Every time I opened my mouth, sweat seeped cold into my palms, my vision blurred, and I found myself staring at the floor. That was just my everyday.

How nice would it be if I could talk as freely in real life as I dumped shitposts on the gallery — if I could shout, "Fuck off, get out of my house!"

"Why are you sweating so much? Does something hurt?"

"..."

"At least take off the mask. It's seriously suffocating just looking at you."

"D-don't come clos—"

"What are you even saying? Stop mumbling and say it properly."

I tried to push the Crow away with both hands, but the difference in strength made it utterly useless. Closer and closer she came, step by step.

What the hell is wrong with this guy...?

The Crow gently pulled my mask down, then whispered:

"Wow... you're fucking gorgeous."

And then, out of nowhere, she yanked my loose t-shirt straight up.