Chapter 1: A Pleasant Self-Introduction Time

Taehyun awoke in a bed.

He’d fainted in front of his monitor after receiving the email. He had no idea how he ended up lying down.

“Ugh….”

He sat up, rubbing his aching head, and sensed something strange.

“Huh?”

This wasn’t his cozy studio apartment.

There was no dim lighting, gaming PC, large illustrations on the wall, or figurines scattered around.

Only a white, clean bed surrounded by white curtains, like a hospital bed.

“Wh-what’s going on…?”

Taehyun muttered involuntarily, then startled himself.

The voice that emerged was that of a young girl.

No matter how he cleared his throat, it remained the same.

“Eek!”

Panicked, he frantically patted himself down. He now had long hair, small hands, slender legs, and while his chest… was similar, it was slightly softer.

“Oh my god!”

He scrambled out of bed, pulled back the curtain, and stepped out. He saw a desk with a futuristic monitor and a cabinet filled with medicine bottles, but those weren’t important right now.

‘A mirror… mirror!’

Taehyun looked around and ran towards a full-length mirror tucked in a corner.

Inside the mirror stood a young girl with a horrified expression.

Shoulder-length black hair, a pretty face,

Child-sized pants and a pink vest over a shirt,

And a white lab coat, like a doctor’s, the sleeves rolled up several times because it was too big.

She looked like a cute girl, maybe fifteen years old. But the name tag pinned to the lab coat read:

[School Nurse Han Ruah]

“Uh… uh… what is this…?”

Taehyun, now Ruah, stumbled backward in a daze.

He knew this person, or rather, this character. The NPC who provided healing spells in the infirmary in Hunter Hunting Academy.

Useful in the early stages of the game, but once you were past the beginner level, there was no need to see her. It was better to learn a healing skill than travel all the way to the infirmary deep within the academy.

‘I’ve possessed her. Han Ruah.’

Ruah gulped. He’d read plenty of web novels with this kind of setup, but he never imagined he’d experience it himself.

“Wait.Then…?”

A disturbing thought flashed through his mind. Ruah quickly reached into his pants.

—Nothing.

“Ah, ahh….”

It felt like the sky was falling. His lifelong companion, his junior, was gone. Sure, it had never seen any real action, but it had always been a source of small joys.

‘Of all the NPCs, why a female one….’

Whoever, for whatever purpose, had done this to him was certainly malicious.

If they were going to reward him, they would have put him in the role of the handsome, popular protagonist.

Being stuck as an unnoticed school nurse was more like a punishment.

“…….”

After a moment of thought, Ruah shook his head.

‘No, this is actually fortunate.’

The protagonist of Hunter Hunting Academy constantly meets new students, fights alongside companions, and builds friendships and romances.

—Ruah could never do that.

His social skills were practically nonexistent. No, they were nonexistent.

When meeting strangers, he couldn’t even make eye contact, let alone hold a conversation. Even asking the convenience store clerk, the person he saw most often, to ring him up made him breathless and his heart pound.

It was only natural, considering he’d been a shut-in for almost a decade.

So, becoming an extra, the school nurse, was actually a good thing.

‘…Wait a minute. This isn’t good at all.’

Suddenly realizing he was feeling relieved, Ruah shook his head again.

‘Just being in a school is a disaster!’

After his confession in elementary school failed, school life had become a trauma. It was a place where he spent his days friendless, just staring at textbooks.

He’d been liberated by graduation, finally reaching the haven of his studio apartment, but… why was he back in school again?

“Send me back… please….”

Ruah clutched his head and thrashed on the floor. But nothing changed, except for his clothes becoming disheveled and his hair messy.

Then it happened.

—Ding-dong, ding-dong.

A clear chime, signaling a school announcement, rang out from the ceiling speakers.

<This is an announcement from the Felix Academy broadcasting room. The entrance ceremony will begin shortly. All new students and faculty members, please gather in the gymnasium. We repeat…>

“I-I can’t go.”

An entrance ceremony? He couldn’t go. Crowded places and wide-open spaces were like hell for him.

Ruah immediately got up and crawled under the teacher’s desk. There was a perfect space to sit with his knees tucked in. It was dark and cramped, and it made him feel at ease.

“Phew, surely they won’t expect the school nurse to attend the entrance ceremony….”

He hid, worried someone might come looking for him.

…About ten minutes passed.

<This is an announcement from the Felix Academy broadcasting room. School Nurse Han Ruah, please come to the gymnasium immediately.>

“Ugh.”

Direct hit.

Ruah crawled out from under the desk and opened the infirmary door.

‘It’s exactly like the game.’

The academy hallway was identical to the one he had traversed thousands, tens of thousands of times in the game. But now, in reality, the resolution was incomparably higher.

Fortunately, everyone in the school was at the entrance ceremony, so the hallway was empty.

<We repeat, School Nurse Han Ruah…>

“I’m going, I’m going…!”

Grumbling softly at the air, Ruah hurried towards the gymnasium. The wind coming through the open windows in the hallway ruffled his white coat and long hair.

Felix Academy.

According to the lore of Hunter Hunting Academy, this school trained Hunters to fight monsters from the Gates. Located in South Korea, it had a global reputation and was filled with exceptional students.

As such, the school was huge, occupying an entire artificial island larger than most university campuses.

The largest building in the academy was the gymnasium. Usually used as the main training ground for the students, its vast space allowed them to practice even large-scale attack skills.

“Ugh, this is uncomfortable.”

Of course, for Ruah, the size of the gymnasium was a detriment. He hated wide-open spaces.

And there were so many people gathered. As far as Ruah could remember, there were about 100 new students and 50 teachers. Including the parents and education officials attending the entrance ceremony, the number was even higher. He couldn’t even bear to count.

“Excuse me, teacher, please go up there.”

A student wearing a “helper” armband approached Ruah, who was hesitating near the entrance, and pointed towards the stage.

The teachers of Felix Academy were sitting in a row on the stage. The students below were looking up at the teachers who would be instructing them, their eyes full of curiosity.

Ruah wanted to cry. This was like a zoo.

“C-can’t I stay down here?”

The helper student, seemingly surprised that a teacher was pleading with him, looked troubled.

“No, you can’t. It’s about to start.”

The student shook his head. Lacking the courage to ask again, Ruah climbed onto the stage and sat in an empty chair. Naturally, the students’ attention focused on him.

“What? Is that kid a teacher too?”

“Shh, be careful. You can’t judge a person’s strength by their appearance.”

“But she’s cute.”

“Yeah. Look, her feet don’t even touch the ground.”

The students’ amused whispers reached Ruah’s ears.

He tried his best to put his feet flat on the floor, but with his pathetic height, it was impossible.

‘Hurry up and finish, hurry up and finish, hurry up and finish…’

That was all he could pray for.

Fortunately, the students’ attention shifted away from him.

<We will now begin the 20th Felix Academy Entrance Ceremony.>

The announcer’s voice resonated throughout the gymnasium, and the students quieted down.

After a few solemn formalities, an elderly man stepped up to the podium in the center.

<Next, we will have a congratulatory address from Chairman Pyo Younghan of the Felix Foundation.>

Of course, Ruah knew this person. He was in the game too.

Pyo Younghan was a former S-rank Hunter known as “Snow Leopard” in his younger days. Now he dedicated himself to fostering the next generation.

‘It’s different seeing him in person.’

Looking around, Ruah spotted other key characters from the game among the students and faculty.

It was novel and fascinating to see them in real life after only seeing them as game graphics, but his social anxiety kicked in since they were now real people, not characters.

“…I believe a hero is among you. Thank you.”

While Ruah was lost in thought, the speech ended. Pyo Younghan left the stage amidst thunderous applause.

‘They’ve done everything they usually do at entrance ceremonies. Shouldn’t it be over soon?’

However, things never go as planned.

<Next, we will introduce the teachers who will be in charge of the new students for this year. First, Hunter Park Sihyuk, Basic Swordsmanship Instructor.>

Applause erupted from the students, and the teacher on the far left stood up.

He received a microphone from a waiting helper student.

‘…Huh?’

There was no mention of self-introductions.

To speak into a microphone, in front of all these students, with everyone staring at him?

“Eeeeeeek….”

The microphone was passed from one teacher to the next. As his turn approached, Ruah’s mind went blank, his stomach churned, and his hands and feet went cold.

He couldn’t do it.

Absolutely not.

He stammered and felt shy even with the convenience store clerk. How could he introduce himself in front of over 100 students?

“Greetings! I’m in charge of your physical training—”

While Ruah was panicking, the microphone had reached the person next to him.

‘I need to… think of something…!’

Amidst applause, the teacher next to him sat down. Finally, Ruah stood up, clutching his churning stomach.

“…….”

The students, parents, fellow teachers, and even Chairman Pyo Younghan, all looked at him.

Ruah steeled his resolve.

‘Alright, take a step forward.’

Since he was starting anew in this world, he would say goodbye to his previous life as a shut-in. From now on, he would no longer fear people and would live a confident life!

“Ah….”

Finally, Ruah opened his trembling lips and spoke.

As everyone focused on the sound of his voice breaking the silence—

“Ah, hello, I’m the school nurse, blaaargh!”

—What emerged was not a greeting, but a beautiful rainbow (censored).

“Kyaaa!”

“Wh-what’s happening!”

“Eww, gross…”

His fellow teachers quickly took action, and the situation was soon resolved. However, a subtle air of commotion lingered in the gymnasium until the end of the entrance ceremony.

Among the new students, whispers continued about the school nurse who suddenly vomited and was carried away on a stretcher.