Chapter 0 : New world

“Ah, what a shitty game!”

I yelled involuntarily at the message that popped up in my field of vision and kicked at the air.
The 15 seconds of waiting after a defeat felt especially long, thanks to the needlessly realistic implementation of the five senses.

“Seriously, how much more do I have to carry?”

The perfect image of the game going down the drain and the word ‘Defeat’ still lingering in the air.
Because of this, the 15 seconds spent moving to the personal waiting room after the game always ended up consisting of all sorts of political maneuvering and infighting.

As expected, the usual scene for the losing team was unfolding.
Political fights in the waiting room after being completely dominated from beginning to end in the game.

“You were the worst.”

“Look at him blaming others without thinking about his own trolling.”

The sharp voices of my teammates.
They all huddled together, shifting the blame solely onto me. I couldn’t help but let out an empty laugh.

“This happened because you guys were busy kissing Queen Bee’s ass!”

“Oh, so you’re saying it’s my fault? Ah, thank you, PrettyBitna, for the 100 candies~ Today as well, Bitna!”

The beginning of the game was good.
That is, until *that girl* stopped in the middle to strike a weird pose, making that nasally voice.
My Gold promotion match was nothing more than entertainment for them, and in the end, I failed to rank up.

“How could it have gone well when you were standing there, waving at the air the whole game? f*ck!”

“Yeah~ I’ve already reported you for verbal abuse. Capsule machine accounts are shared, so I’m totally getting your account suspended. You can’t play other games either, good luck with that~”

Even her way of speaking is shitty.
Like the internet streamer she is, she’s a master at making people’s blood boil.

“Your mom.”

Whether she’s a streamer or whatever, that user with the nauseating nickname ‘Bitna’ did nothing but dance with her character, spam voice lines, and spray graffiti throughout the game.
Not even during crucial team fights, or when teammates were getting picked off one by one.

She was just silently drawing her gravity on the ground.
That stubbornly persistent b*tch.

While we were arguing, the 15 seconds passed, and my body fragmented into small pixels, starting the transition to the game lobby.
I gave her the middle finger as she disappeared and waited for the loading screen, thinking I might as well start the next game.

My promotion match is ruined anyway. Time to switch back to M-Pain mode until I climb back up.

Or so I thought.

[ 928 users have simultaneously reported you. Your account will be suspended for one week due to accumulated reports. ]

“Huh?”

Turns out, she was more popular than I thought. Her stream chat coordinates were shared, and I was forcibly disconnected from the game.
Because the capsule machine shares all game records and reports, I couldn’t do anything and was logged out of the device.

Other games are also inaccessible during the suspension period.
It’s true that I used abusive language, profanity, and engaged in malicious behavior, but even a saint would have flipped the table in that situation.

“What the…”

I quickly opened my phone and turned on CandyTV.
She kept mentioning ‘Candy’ or something during the game, so she must be streaming on CandyTV. It’s the biggest platform anyway.

[ Wow~ Thanks, Bitna’s bugs! The guy who cursed at me got suspended~ ]

Even before I could search for her name, which I vaguely remembered, <Bitna, Just Chatting> appeared on the popular broadcasts list, so I went straight in.
In the broadcast, a pretty girl was acting cute while talking behind my back.
And the viewers were eating it up.

I thought that if they saw her stream, the viewers would understand my frustration. I desperately typed my defense in the chat. I was so frustrated that I wanted to express my opinion even if it meant recharging my account. If you guys experience the same thing in your promotion matches, you’ll come to your senses.

BitnaShibak donates 100 Candies!
– Honestly, wasn’t it justifiable to curse after seeing that ‘WooSeokPlaysWell’ gameplay?

I even donated to make my defense visible to everyone.
100 Candies is 10,000 won. She might reconsider, right?
If she stopped and danced during the game for just a few thousand won, she’d apologize for the money’s sake, right?

– Yeah lol WooSeok is 컫!!
– WooSeok is here lol WooSeok is here lol WooSeok is here lol WooSeok is here lol
– You’re an insect~
– You started the fight with Bitna~ It’s not Bitna’s fault~

Contrary to my expectation that she would at least apologize, there were no allies among the people in the rapidly flooding chat.
Bitna, as she was called, quickly caught on to the atmosphere and continued the stream, completely ignoring the donation message.

– Lol WooSeok paid 10,000 won and got ignored, huh?
– WooSeok’s level is already showing. Scared?

“f*ck this life.”

I’m sick and tired of this shitty world where you become the victim regardless of right or wrong as long as you have a pretty face and a sweet voice.
Although anger clouded my judgment, looking back, it was likely a mission given to her by her viewers that made her do that.

My mood soured. I ended the stream and decided to go outside for some fresh air.
I can’t play games for a while anyway.

Honestly, what do I lack compared to her?
Not being a woman?
Being bad at the game?

I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
A so-called winner in life.
Good things are good, my life has been smooth sailing.

The one thing I lacked the most.
I was bad at games.
Terribly so.

Actually, the reason I was particularly irritated earlier was because I had tried streaming myself.
Even if I had a good face, I could have streamed my face, but the thought of acting cute for women who don’t know me through a monitor was also disgusting.

I didn’t really need the money either.
So I chose gaming, but the result was a talent abandoned by the world.
I wanted to be recognized by others through the games I loved while streaming.

“Should I just give up on gaming at this point…?”

I grumbled as I opened the door to leave, and something caught my foot.
An old, artifact-like bow with some Chinese characters written on it was lying on the floor.

“Did Dad leave this here?”

My dad’s only hobby was collecting old junk and antiques, so I figured he might have dropped it carelessly or hadn’t put it away. I picked it up, intending to put it somewhere appropriate.
He sometimes left things unorganized like this, and there were quite a few useless items lying around.

The moment I picked up the bow, suppressing my irritation, the world spun.

* * *

< The gentleman does not compete, but in archery he does. >

Dong, dong –

The sound of drums struck my ears.
Looking around, a shirtless man was beating a drum, and a huge roar filled the space.
The pungent smell of sweat and the scent of dust kicked up by people in armor stomping their feet tickled my nose.

“Everyone, prepare!”

Roaring responses matched someone’s voice, growing louder and louder.

“We will never be defeated, so even if we die, take at least one down with you! We are the last line of defense for this nation, we are hope itself. Fight the enemies before you for your family, for your loved ones!”

Dong – dong –

The drumming continued to grow louder.
The man at the front, who appeared to be the commander, pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back.
What was different from what I knew was that he was infusing some kind of blue energy into the arrow as he shot it.

Setting aside *why* I was seeing a scene straight out of a historical drama, I couldn’t take my eyes off the man.
I felt every single one of his movements, sending shivers down my spine.

The arrow he shot, different from its ordinary initial appearance, pierced through enemies, causing massive damage.
As a result, I felt the morale of the endless enemy troops plummet, and the tide of the battle began to turn in our favor.

“Do not let your guard down! Complacency is the root of all failures!”

However, the battle, which I thought was turning in our favor, shifted again with the appearance of a woman.
As if I knew this woman well, I gritted my teeth hard enough to make a sound, recalling her title.

“Sword Princess….”

Without a word, without a change in expression, she drew out what seemed more like a sculpture than a sharply and beautifully crafted sword and charged toward me.
The sweat of the collapsing soldiers reflected off her sword, and I stared straight at it.

“With you until the very end!”

Perhaps knowing it was the end, I felt like I could somehow manage to loose one last arrow that would reach her, beyond my limits.

I see the last arrow, imbued with power, its tail quivering as it flies toward her.
At the same time, I feel the sensation of her sword tearing into my skin.

“Gah-”

Dirty blood, hastily coagulated by moving the energy within my body, spilled from my mouth, but I had no time or mind to wipe it away.
It seemed to be the same for her. She stared back at me with a gaping hole in the center of her chest, large enough to see through.
Still with the same expressionless face.

“A draw…in the end.”

My vision blurs.
I can hear voices calling out to me, but with the ringing in my ears, all I can see are their mouths moving.

Ironically, what I thought of first as death approached was the very person who killed me.

With great effort, I turned my head to look at her, and Sword Princess, too, was looking at me, her hand on her pierced chest.
That she wasn’t instantly killed by that… a monster is a monster.

Living as dogs of the nation, we went from being allies, backs against each other, to enemies, weapons pointed at one another.

What are you thinking that makes your eyes look so full of regret?
The thought that came to me in the moment of death was unexpectedly trivial.
I was simply curious about the thoughts of a certain woman.

And so, I died.

* * *

“Gasp– Gasp–”

A metallic clang rings out.
I don’t know when I dropped it, but the bow I was holding now lay on the floor, back in the same state as when I first saw it.

I quickly looked down, and the Chinese characters written on the bow caught my eye.

[Yanggung Geoshi]

I don’t know how to read Chinese characters.
At the same time, the memories from earlier flash through my mind like a scene on a CRT TV.

A man’s life, his memories, play out like a rewinding film reel.
A life that began with struggle and ended with struggle.

“What…what is this…?”

Cold sweat trickled down my back, drop by drop.
Then, the sound of my heartbeat seemed to grow louder and louder.

Thump– Thump–.

In time with the rhythm of my heart, the muscles in my body began to spasm, and an incredible pain surged through me.
I started to hear the drumming from my dream again.

Dong– Dong–.

Whoever said that a person can’t speak at the limit of pain is wrong.
Maybe even Guan Yu couldn’t speak from the pain while he was having his bones scraped.

“Bitna, you b*tch…”

Today, which should have been an ordinary day, just like any other day, was ruined.
As I tumbled down the stairs, I saw someone from the floor below rush towards me, shouting my name upon hearing the commotion, before losing consciousness again.

* * *

When I next opened my eyes, I was in a hospital.
The luxurious private room and neatly organized space clearly indicated my father’s involvement.

I must have hit my head during the fall. I held my still-throbbing head with one hand and pressed the nurse call button to let them know I was awake. Without thinking, I turned on the TV.

With the clear voice of a stunningly beautiful announcer delivering the news as background noise, I turned on my phone to play my usual mobile games.
To think I’d reach for a game the moment I wake up after collapsing for some unknown reason… I felt that I truly couldn’t be separated from games. However, the headlines on the portal site were extremely strange.

[ Extreme obsession and delusions among women due to extreme disparity in the male-to-female ratio emerge as a new social issue. ]

It’s not like the world was playing a Truman Show prank on me, but everything around me felt slightly off from what I knew.
As if to support that thought, the announcer on TV spoke.

“With the rapidly declining male-to-female ratio now down to 500,000 to 1, is this really okay? Amidst arguments that humanity cannot sustain itself indefinitely through artificial insemination, we’ve invited a doctor who has proposed a solution. Dr. Ji-Young Kim?”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Ji-Young Kim, a specialist in male psychology. As a representative of women, I’m here today to argue that it’s time to shift our perspective on men from protection to ownership….”

Utter nonsense.
One thing’s for sure: the world is going crazy.
How could such a broadcast be aired during prime time on a major broadcasting station?

This wasn’t the time to wait for the nurse.
I decided to call my parents and leave the hospital to go home.

Since my father probably paid the hospital bill anyway, figuring out the situation was my priority.
Such news being broadcasted so openly… this couldn’t be a prank.

I’d only walked a short distance from the hospital when I started feeling stares from all around.
Uncomfortable, I quickened my pace, and then a woman, seemingly the representative of the group staring at me, approached and spoke.

“Excuse me…. You’re a man walking alone in a busy area…. If there’s any problem, would you like us to escort you to a nearby police station?”

“What?”

“I apologize for approaching you first. But you’re a man walking around without a bodyguard…. Could you tell us where your bodyguard went? If talking to us is uncomfortable, it might be better to contact your bodyguard.”

She had a beautiful face and perfect figure, similar to the announcer on TV.
She was stammering, unable to make eye contact with *me*, someone I normally wouldn’t even glance at.

Behind her, the gathered people were also murmuring and taking pictures of me as if I were some mythical creature.
The funny thing was, they were all just as beautiful as the woman standing in front of me.

“Wow… wouldn’t being that guy’s bodyguard be the silk road of life?”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t stray more than a meter away.”

“He looks kind of frail, like those sickly pretty boys you only see in drawings.”

“I’d retake the bodyguard exam out of sheer spite.”

“As if someone like you could get into the most competitive job. I’d have a better chance becoming the mayor of Seoul.”

“b*tch.”

The conversation, the atmosphere, everything was strange.
Everyone was cautious around me.

The number of gazes on me kept increasing, and unable to bear the feeling of being observed, I shook them off and ran home.
I heard them calling after me, but I knew in real-time that something was wrong.

There were no men as I passed through the busy streets on my way home.
In the passing scenery, everything had been replaced by women.

Women in military uniforms, women driving, women doing manual labor.
I couldn’t see a single man.

Only then did I realize.

That the news on TV wasn’t some kind of prank.

It seems I’ve woken up in a world where the genders are reversed.