It's Real
EP 1: It's Real. Hard to believe, but the joy of awakening lasted only a moment before disappointment set in. An itch spread below my neck like morning sunlight. "Cough." Blood came up with the cough—black blood. Awakening reshapes a person's body from the ground up, molding it into a form suited for mana and turning them into a superhuman. But if the body was already a wreck to begin with, a simple awakening couldn't cure everything.
I went to the bathroom, stripped off my blood-soaked clothes, and took a shower. The broken boiler meant cold water that jolted me awake. As the chill seeped into my skin, my mind gradually cleared. After washing all the blood from my body, I looked in the mirror. The mottled spots that once covered my reflection were gone. In their place, black veins spread outward from the center of my chest.
"...Hmm." I didn't understand it fully, but I knew I was screwed. Still, the hospital was out of the question. Just talking to the receptionist—let alone nurses or doctors—would push me past my limit. If I did nothing, though, I might end up writhing on the floor again in a few days and die.
"Cough, cough." The taste of blood filled my mouth with each cough. Going to the hospital was impossible. My condition was dangerous without emergency treatment. I had no medical knowledge. The situation was hopeless in every way, yet there was a way out. The conveniences of civilization were truly wonderful. Among them, logistics innovation stood out. Even someone like me, who would normally cause a scene at the hospital just by meeting a woman, could have emergency supplies delivered straight to my door in one go.
The only issue was delivery time. Normally two or three days. Even the fastest took a full day... if I didn't know about quick service, that is. Heh. Modern civilization had finally realized the shut-in's ultimate shelter. The world was well-made. Meeting women face-to-face? I could live without that. Ding.
"Quick service requires direct handover."
"......"
"Is there any way around it? I have circumstances that prevent me from receiving it myself."
"Sorry ㅠㅠ"
"I really, truly can't explain the situation. Please."
"Sorry ㅠㅠ"
"I'm begging you. There's genuinely nothing I can do about my circumstances... Please..."
"Sorry ㅠㅠ"
Ah. Damn modern civilization. Go to hell.
EP 1: It's Real. Hard to believe, but could I talk to a woman I'd never met before? The answer was NO. I'd seriously pass out within three minutes, foaming at the mouth and convulsing. The difficulty was extreme. But add the other party's conditions, and the situation shot up to impossible difficulty. Women hated men. Twenty years of scars etched into my body and experience proved it. What if the woman delivering via quick service was an even bigger misandrist than I imagined?
"She'll nitpick everything and try to hurt me." She might even post about it online.
He's been living like a cockroach hiding away lololololololololololololololololol
Address is Chirnix Workshop Dorm Room 203 lololololololololololololololololol
- Shaking like that? Cute kekekekekekekeke
- Target acquired kekekekekekekeke
- Let's throw rocks and break the window first kekekekekekekeke
"Aaaaaagh." This wasn't paranoia. What do I do?! "After everything I went through to hide...! Aaaagh..." I nervously bit my nails. Calm down. Assess the situation again. The only medicine in the house was for cuts; there were no recovery potions. Procuring medicine from outside was essential.
"...No choice, then." Yeah. Even a woman was still a person. She wouldn't punch me the second we met, right? I steeled myself. ...First, I should empty my stomach in the bathroom so I wouldn't throw up when we met.
*****
Han Ye-jin had no father. It wasn't some complicated family drama or secret birth story. Her mother had simply gotten pregnant through artificial insemination. In the current world where the male-to-female ratio had collapsed, that was normal. Women were everywhere. That's why—
"Aaaah! I want to meet a man!" Han Ye-jin despaired at reality. Dreams, once broken, had a way of loosening a person's life. The quick service job she'd said she'd quit soon had already lasted a year. "But I don't feel like going back to school." Even if she studied hard, competed, and climbed to the top, meeting and marrying a man was like plucking stars from the sky. It was better to just use her abilities to work and get by.
"Room 203. This is it." Han Ye-jin knocked on the door of Chirnix Dorm Room 203. On the way over, she'd used a basic mana search and sensed only one person in the dorm. 'Well, that makes sense.' Research assistant positions at workshops were infamous for terrible treatment. With frequent runaways, staff shortages were inevitable. If anything, the fact that even one person remained was strange.
"Hellooo. Are you there? If you're not, I'm just going to leave all this here~." She called out while knocking, and a reply came back.
"Um... Could you just leave the bag and go?" The voice was barely audible, crawling out.
Han Ye-jin sighed. Corporate procedures existed to shift responsibility onto customer mistakes or employee errors. The unread terms and conditions people never bothered with were there so the company could say "We disclosed it, so we're not liable" when something happened. In that sense, Yoo Ji-tae's words sounded different to her.
-If something goes wrong later, I'm going to raise hell with you.
Han Ye-jin responded in a gentle voice. "...I'm sorry. That's the policy. If you could just come out for a moment."
"I have personal circumstances."
"But it's policy. I just need to confirm your face."
"......."
After about ten seconds of silence, the door lock clicked open. A face appeared through the gap held by the security chain. "...Yes, if you could just sign here... please."
The first thought that came was pretty. Unkempt, unmanaged hair and gentle eyes. Like a puppy. Yoo Ji-tae's hand emerged through the gap, and the medicine bag moved backward as if avoiding it. "...Huh?"
"Mmm." Han Ye-jin stared at the man visible through the door crack. 'Why is a man working at a dump like this workshop?' "Do you have something you'd like to say?"
"Could you open the door?"
"......Yes?"
Han Ye-jin recalled the sex education she'd received in high school. -"Over the past several decades, crimes targeting men have plummeted. But there are still three types who commit abuse against men without hesitation. Even if two of them are unavoidable, you must always harbor hostility toward the last one. Those people confine men in rundown apartments to breed them, turn them into gigolos, use brainwashing to prevent escape, or drug them into sex slaves—worthless bitches with no right to live. As future model wives and mothers, train your bodies daily so you can kill them on sight." -"Teacher, what if the other person is stronger than expected? You could end up dead instead." -"Selfish bitch." -"Yes?" -"Then you'd rather the man die? Sacrificing everything for a man and dying in the process is a woman's true happiness. If you want to chase your own happiness, get out. Live alone and die lonely, you empty-headed girl."
Han Ye-jin's eyes turned cold. She tapped the security chain. "Open it."
"......."
She interpreted the near-silent reluctance as a cry for help. Misandrist trait: Act first, ask questions later. Han Ye-jin grabbed the security chain through the gap. Crack. The chain crumpled. "Huh? Huh? Huhhh?"
The superhuman strength unique to ability users was used without hesitation for unauthorized entry. She tore off the chain and shattered the doorknob like tofu. In that moment, Yoo Ji-tae saw Han Ye-jin as the axe-wielding man from The Shining.
"Huhhhh? Huh?" Yoo Ji-tae backed away and collapsed onto the floor. He hadn't expected a crazy woman to rip off the security chain and barge into someone else's house. He'd been careless. Han Ye-jin strode inside and kicked the bathroom door open with her foot. She opened the shattered bathroom door and peered inside. "Huh? Not here." She'd heard there was usually at least one organization member monitoring the man in these situations. Maybe they were using brainwashing? Han Ye-jin nodded to herself, then suddenly thought of the owner of this place. '...Then Chirnix is behind it?' There were companies that pretended to be moderate corporations on the surface while dabbling in crime behind the scenes. "Still, male abuse crosses the line."
Han Ye-jin walked over and grabbed Yoo Ji-tae's shoulder. Yoo Ji-tae stared at the bathroom door that had been torn apart by a single kick over her shoulder. A monster. 'I'm dead.' Han Ye-jin patted the pale-faced Yoo Ji-tae's shoulder. "Tell me everything that's happened so far."
Yoo Ji-tae avoided her gaze, fidgeted with his hands, then barely managed to lift his head. Han Ye-jin's eyes held no light. Faced with a gaze that looked ready to kill someone at any moment, Yoo Ji-tae begged, crawling. "I-if I tell you, will you leave? I don't want to die."
Han Ye-jin felt a rage that twisted her insides. How much brainwashing and abuse had he endured to worry about retaliation even when help arrived? Han Ye-jin clutched her chest and sobbed inwardly. Her heart felt torn apart. Brainwashing dominated and weaponized the victim's mind. She pitied the trembling man before her. She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault and hold him, but she couldn't bear it. 'But first, I need to understand the situation.'
"Yes. I'll leave right away." A lie. She had no intention of leaving. "...But what exactly do I need to tell you?"
"Things that were difficult. How you ended up here. Things like that."
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because I want to." Overwhelmed by her brazen attitude, Yoo Ji-tae had no choice but to comply. He needed to appease her to get through this. Yoo Ji-tae haltingly recounted his painful memories. The days he'd cursed being born to a mother who despised him. His childhood, shattered like a toy by his older sister and younger sister. The indifference of adults who mocked his suffering and told him to endure. The present, abandoned without reason one day and barely surviving. He wanted even a little sympathy from her. Twenty years was a long time. The emotions suppressed all that time melted away through the act of speaking, condensed and carbonized feelings gradually dissolving. Eventually, the words that had continued for several hours became nothing more than a confession he'd wanted to make.
Even with an SS-rank skill, his physical abilities were below average. Driven by the single thought of survival, Yoo Ji-tae bowed his head submissively. "Please save me. I'm begging you."
The trembling Yoo Ji-tae lifted his head. Han Ye-jin placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's only natural for a woman to save a man in crisis, isn't it?" Yoo Ji-tae stared blankly at Han Ye-jin's face, unable to understand the situation. Her face was smiling kindly, yet blood trickled from her bitten lip, and her eyes were filled with killing intent.
"Huh? No. You said you'd leave."
"Ah. That. It was a lie." Han Ye-jin smiled brightly. It was summer.
*****
If you were a civilized person, you should stay away from religion. Gods unhesitatingly sank human civilization, destroyed lives, and their saintly knights burned cities according to divine law. Unwavering faith broke down iron doors and cut through the doors of sturdy shelters. And as time passed and the modern era arrived, it forced open dormitory doors and raised swords to reveal divinity. Because God's will was there.
"Is this the police? Yes, this is Chirnix Workshop Dorm Room 203. I'd like to report male abuse." Shut-in shelter. Ruin. "It looks like he's been abused for at least twenty years, and he's psychologically unstable too. Also, after working at Chirnix for a long time, he seems to have developed some abnormalities in his body. Since Chirnix employs ability users, please send a specialized unit."
Crusade. Commence.