Chapter 8: Main character

March is still too cold to be called full-fledged spring.

I put on my outerwear and left the dormitory.

Transfer students in Hakdo are assigned to dormitories on the outskirts of Hakdo, because regular students of Hakdo already occupy the dormitories inside.

‘I just organized my luggage yesterday, but there’s so much to throw away.’

Having just put my belongings in the dormitory, I’m carrying heavy piles of trash to the recycling collection point today.

‘By the way, if my strength is this much…’

It’s a gender-reversed world, but my strength didn’t seem to be much different from my previous life. I measured my grip strength out of curiosity, and it was similar to that of women in this world.

I was easily able to overwhelm the boys during middle school physical education class, and I was on par with most girls.

I need to intentionally hide my strength.

‘A transfer student concept that hides his strength. It’s not even a web novel development.’

Of course, that doesn’t mean I should overestimate my strength.

My physical abilities are only similar to those of average women, and I’m no match for extraordinary women like Alice or Kim Noeul.

After walking for a while, groaning, the collection point came into view. When I was about to throw away the tape scraps and useless scrap paper, a woman approached me.

“I’ll help you.”

“It’s okay. I’ll throw it away quickly.”

“It looks too heavy for a man to clean up all by himself.”

“…Then I’ll gratefully accept your help.”

I glanced at the woman who was throwing away the luggage with me.

Her long black hair falling to her ears as she bent down and her prominent nose caught my eye.

To be honest, it was the first time I’ve seen such a beautiful woman in this world. Alice was too young, so let’s make an exception.

She had the ordinary features of a Korean, black hair and black eyes, but there was an attraction that made me unable to take my eyes off her.

She was wearing a thin gray coat, and because she was tall, part of her jeans’ thighs were exposed. She’s a little shorter than me, so she seems to be at least 170cm tall.

“This should be enough. Thank you for your help.”

When I bowed my head, she also bowed her head and left.

My dormitory direction happened to be the same as the direction she was going, so I followed her.

“Hey, Kim Noeul! Here!”

Then someone called a familiar name. The woman in front of me and I turned our heads towards the sound at the same time.

A woman in a sweater dyed blonde waved to the woman who had just helped me.

The woman who helped me smiled and ran to the blonde woman.

“What, you came all the way here?”

“Because you’re slow, Kim Noeul.”

“It’s still 5 minutes before the appointment time.”

“So how much money did you bring? We’re going to stay up all night at the PC room today.”

“I have a lot of mileage.”

Like ordinary high school girls, they talked about games and walked away from me. I thought carefully about the current situation.

‘Could Kim Noeul be the Kim Noeul I know?’

It’s not a common name. Besides, if you use that name within the Hakdo site… in the end, my guess is very likely to be correct.

‘Did I just see the main character?’

I was dumbfounded. I thought she was just ‘Beauty A who helped me on the street’, but she was a key player in this world.

‘Of course, the original Kim Noeul was also handsome…’

He was a popular two-top male character along with Alex, so I expected that he would become a beauty even if his gender was reversed.

But I didn’t expect to meet her like this.

The downtown area of Hakdo is usually on the outskirts, so she seemed to have come here to play with her friends.

I returned to my dormitory room and looked at the transfer notice again. The notice said the following.

‘Kim Maru is a transfer student at Haneul High School….’

Haneul High School was the high school that Kim Noeul attended. I thought I would meet her someday, but I didn’t expect to meet her while throwing away trash today.

According to the webtoon’s setting, Kim Noeul is 18 years old. Since Alice is currently 19 years old, Kim Noeul and I are the same age.

‘I hope we’re not in the same class.’

That hope became a reality.

On the day of the transfer, the homeroom teacher in the staff room introduced me to Kim Noeul, who was the class president.

“Well, here’s transfer student Kim Maru. This is Kim Noeul, the class president of our 2nd grade class 1.”

“Huh? The trash on the outskirts at that time…?”

“Noeul, you can’t call a person trash.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s the kid I helped collect trash.”

“Really? You were already acquainted.”

Kim Noeul cleared up the misunderstanding to the homeroom teacher and greeted me.

“Should I… speak casually? Since we’re the same age. I’m Kim Noeul.”

“Kim Maru.”

Kim Noeul smiled faintly when she heard my name.

That smile.

It’s shockingly similar to the original drawing style. For a moment, the smile of the male Kim Noeul overlapped.

I didn’t feel anything when I saw it in the webtoon, but since she changed into a woman and smiled, it was difficult to maintain composure as a man.

‘A similar feeling to when I was with Alice.’

“It’s almost time for the morning assembly, so let’s go to class 1. Go there, introduce yourself briefly, and prepare for class. Ah, you can get the textbooks at the administration office.”

The three of us headed to class 1 as soon as the morning assembly time came. When I opened the door of class 1 and entered, the students who found the teacher became quiet.

And the gaze was fixed on me, a strange student.

“He’s a student who transferred this year. If there’s anything you don’t know, teach him well.”

When the teacher gestured, I opened my mouth.

“I’m Kim Maru.”

Perhaps embarrassed by the concise greeting, the students did not respond. Then, Kim Noeul, who was standing side by side next to me, applauded.

“Welcome.”

When she applauded, the students also applauded.

“Fortunately, the seat next to Noeul is empty, so you can sit there.”

The teacher pointed to Kim Noeul’s seat in the back row. So my seat is the window seat in the back corner.

‘It’ll be good to concentrate on studying.’

I went to the back with Kim Noeul and sat side by side.

“And soon there will be the March mock exam and the Hakdo self-mock exam. Based on that, level-based classes will be organized, so watch them well.”

When the teacher who finished the morning assembly left the classroom, Kim Noeul moved her desk closer to me.

“What? Why are you moving it closer?”

“You don’t have a textbook today, do you? Let’s look at it together.”

Come to think of it, my bag only had a tumbler, a hand mirror, a notebook, and writing tools.

“Okay… If you’re not annoyed.”

“Today, the first period is speech and composition.”

I stared blankly at Kim Noeul taking out the speech and composition textbook.

Kim Noeul was trying to be friendly to me in her own way, but I felt unnecessarily burdened.

Well, anyone would be embarrassed if a guy they originally knew as a man changed into a woman and started talking to them.

“Wow~ Kim Noeul is so sweet~”

Some girls who seemed close to Kim Noeul came and whistled. While doing so, they glanced at my face.

“He said he didn’t bring a book because it’s his first day today. So I’m showing it to him.”

“Are you interested?”

Kim Noeul avoided answering her friends’ mischievous jokes with a smirk. The blonde girl tapped Kim Noeul’s head and talked to me.

“Kim Maru, if she bothers you, tell me.”

Come to think of it, it was the blonde girl who went to the PC room with Kim Noeul at that time.

“…Thank you.”

Kim Noeul sighed and answered the blonde girl.

“Maru will misunderstand.”

“Wow, Kim Noeul is already calling him by his first name.”

“This is the alpha girl’s flirting…”

Overall, Kim Noeul’s friends seemed to have high tension. Still, they didn’t cross the line, so it was just enough to laugh.

‘Rather, it’s more familiar to me to get along with women than men.’

The women in this world were not much different from the men of my previous life. So I didn’t hate the current atmosphere that much.

Rather, it was more annoying to receive envious gazes and admiring gazes from the same men.

The former was usually the gaze received from strong bully men, and the latter was the gaze from shy or celebrity-loving men.

“Ah, f*ck. It’s so noisy.”

While Kim Noeul was talking with her friends, a loud curse resounded in the classroom.

Then the students all became quiet. I turned my head towards the woman who cursed.

A female student with pink rolls in her bangs and drawing her eyebrows while looking in the mirror. She didn’t look like a model student no matter how you looked at it.

“I can’t concentrate on drawing the line.”

When she grumbled, Kim Noeul smiled kindly and apologized.

“Sorry, Ahn Hyojin. We were too noisy in the classroom.”

“It’s okay if you know.”

The woman called Ahn Hyojin put her hands in her pockets and left the classroom. After she left, the atmosphere in the class was released again.

“Why is that b*tch complaining again.”

“Then don’t make noise during break time, make noise during class time. She also made noise during break time.”

Some of Kim Noeul’s friends grumbled while looking at Ahn Hyojin’s back. It must be that Ahn Hyojin is the bully of 2nd grade class 1.

How do I know…?

‘An extra who is taught a lesson by Kim Noeul in the early part of the webtoon.’

In the prologue of the webtoon, Kim Noeul hates that Ahn Hyojin ruins the atmosphere of the class, so she secretly meets Ahn Hyojin and the two of them, and then she beats her to a pulp.

Kim Noeul had an image of a model student, but in fact, she was not a completely kind student.

Rather, that kind of personality suited my taste. A protagonist who only gets hurt and is helplessly kind is out of the recent trend.

“I guess we were too loud.”

“No, what should I do with this pushover, Kim Noeul.”

Kim Noeul just smiled at her friends’ insults. Seeing it from the side, I got goosebumps on my arms.

As I was stroking my goosebumped arms, the first period bell rang. The kids returned to their seats, and I skimmed through the book Kim Noeul had taken out.

‘Speech and composition… It’s a piece of cake in the CSAT Korean language, but that’s an old story.’

Just in the recent CSAT, the correct answer rate for the killer question of speech and composition was only in the 30% range. If you get caught up in the prejudice that it’s easy and neglect it, you’ll shed tears of blood.

“Well, a strong and healthy morning today too~.”

For the first time, the words of the Korean teacher who came in with a strange greeting began the class.

The class itself was worth listening to. I looked alternately at the textbook and the writing on the blackboard and pressed the contents into my head.

As I focused, the first period ended quickly.

“Then have a strong and healthy day today too~.”

Once again, when the teacher left the classroom with a strange greeting, the girls suddenly started to run wild.

Some ran out of the classroom saying they would borrow something, and the rest took out clothes from the locker and left the classroom.

“The next period is physical education.”

I understood why the girls were going crazy at Kim Noeul’s words.

‘It’s time to run around and play.’

For me, who has lived for more than 30 years in terms of life, it just looked cute. Of course, their bodies were not cute.

“Hey, don’t change here!”

A male student shouted at a woman who took off her top in the classroom. The woman, not caring, exposed her bra and changed into her gym clothes.

“Because it’s late if I go to the bathroom to change!”

Saying so, the woman ran towards the playground with a soccer ball. While doing so, she shouted to Kim Noeul.

“Kim Noeul! The PE teacher asked me to get the dodgeball net from the warehouse.”

“Okay.”

Kim Noeul responded to her words and turned her gaze to me.

“You don’t have gym clothes, do you?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll bring the textbooks and clothes during lunch time, so you’ll have to wear your school uniform today. I’ll tell the teacher in advance.”

“Okay.”

“Our class kids will be gathered on the playground, so just join them there. I’m the PE manager, so I have to go now.”

Saying so, she walked in the direction that the girl who had run out with the soccer ball had gone. Left alone, I spent time blankly among the boys changing clothes in the classroom.

Then some boys approached me. It was a group that seemed quite close, and a male student at the forefront spoke.

“Did you say Maru? Aren’t you changing clothes?”

“I don’t have gym clothes.”

“Aha.”

He closed his mouth for a moment. There was a gap in the conversation, so I observed the male student who spoke to me.

He seemed to care a lot about his appearance. There was no difference from the male idols I saw on TV.

His school uniform… judging from the fact that he shortened his pants quite a bit, just looking at his appearance, he had the appearance of female bullies of my previous life.

‘He must be popular with girls.’

“You seemed to have a good atmosphere with Noeul.”

The male student said so and looked at me suspiciously.

No way, this guy…