Yoo Seo-ha. Twenty-two years old. A woman who was once a man.
No family. No friends. No chest.
Currently, her bladder muscles were distended, causing an intense pressure in her lower abdomen.
“I expected this. What is there to be flustered about?”
Beads of cold sweat trickled down her skin as she strove to remain calm.
It wasn’t as if she would never use a restroom or take a bath again, was it?
Her resolve was already firmly set.
With a slow, deliberate motion, she opened the bathroom door and stepped inside.
“…”
A short while later.
With a flushed face, she silently washed her hands and successfully escaped the bathroom.
Did you know that when a person is consumed by nervousness, they can’t urinate?
It was a fact she, too, had never wished to discover.
As a result, instead of resolving the situation in the shortest possible time, as she had simulated beforehand,
she ended up spending a leisurely, extended period on the toilet until her tension finally eased.
She had no desire to describe the specific, awkward, and profoundly embarrassing events that had transpired during that process, which were the direct cause of her flushed face.
Like everyone else, she had simply focused on emptying her full bladder.
‘From today onward, I have to go through this every single day?’
Just imagining it made her feel as though her mental fortitude was rapidly eroding.
She had never anticipated that her lack of experience as a woman would prove so utterly devastating.
“I touched it for the first time…”
*Smack!*
Startled by her own involuntary mutterings, she slapped her wretched mouth.
‘Forget it. This can’t be my first touch. I absolutely refuse to acknowledge it.’
Just as physical contact made during the treatment of an emergency patient is not punishable by law,
this was merely an unavoidable incident that occurred while she was attempting to save herself.
“Ah…”
Overcome by a wave of dizziness, she leaned against the wall.
It felt as though her humanity was gradually eroding each time she stepped away from the game and confronted reality.
This was especially true when she directly experienced an anomaly, as she had just now.
Thoughts she had deliberately tried to suppress now surged to the forefront of her mind.
If a certain outcome had been reached, then a corresponding cause must inevitably exist.
What on earth had caused her to become Yoo Seo-ha?
‘It seems an absolute transcendent being really does exist. And they surely must enjoy playing tricks.’
‘Why me? What about everything I built up during my two years of working? If it all becomes undone by a single prank from a god, then whatever I achieve from now on will be utterly meaningless…’
“Haa. Haa.”
Her breathing grew ragged.
She frantically searched for something to calm her mind and body.
Grabbing the rectangular device from her desk, she put it to her lips.
As she surrendered herself to the sweet, nicotine-laced vapor,
her small body relaxed languidly, and her tumultuous emotions gradually subsided.
Phew.
‘Now my head’s finally working again.’
‘Perhaps it’s the lingering effect of a childhood spent without friends. I think I was a bit pathetic just now.’
‘Anyway, isn’t it a problem that won’t yield an answer no matter how much I agonize over it?’
‘There’s no need to unnecessarily burden myself with something beyond my capabilities and turn my life into a tragedy.’
‘Two lost years? I have dozens of times more days left to live.’
‘So what if the lower part of my body, which I couldn’t even properly use anyway, is gone? My fingers are fine, so it’s a net gain.’
Having reached a clear conclusion, she pushed herself off the wall.
‘It was a good thing I bought an e-cigarette.’
Without it, she might have been holed up in a corner, scratching at the walls.
If pathetic thoughts ever clouded her mind again, she resolved to check if her body was lacking nicotine.
At least for her, it was a prescription that showed definite results.
Outside the window, the sunset was fading.
The first day since becoming Yoo Seo-ha was drawing to a close.
Though it was a bit early, she decided to go to bed.
‘It’s nice that the bed feels so spacious now that I’m shorter.’
‘So there are advantages to this, too.’
The blanket she burrowed into emitted a pleasant fragrance.
****
Kang Nari, the owner of an e-cigarette shop and a streamer, primarily featured games on her broadcast.
On the platform SOFT, to which she belonged, there were two main categories of games broadcast.
The first was Korea’s most famous 5 vs 5 AOS game (TL Note:
