Chapter 4 - Chapter 2: Episode 1 - Reincarnation
By the time my senses had sharpened enough to truly take in the world, things started to feel familiar. The language my parents spoke, their black hair and eyes, the everyday items scattered around the house—it all felt like home.
The place I'd been reborn into wasn't all that different from where I'd lived before.
The country was still called Korea, and luckily, I was still a boy.
By the time I was nine months old, that was the extent of my knowledge.
A man with delicate, almost pretty features—androgynous would be the right word—leaned over me and smiled.
"Time for num-nums, my beautiful Seon-ah."
"Ma-ma. Num-nums!"
"Giggle! Oh, you're just so cute."
My mother's name was Lee Min-ah, and my father's was Kim Hyeon-tae.
In my last life, I grew up without parents. By the time I was old enough to understand the world, I was already alone.
My "family" consisted of the other orphans and the teachers who looked after us with a detached, professional kindness.
Since we weren't blood-related, it was hard to form real bonds. The other kids were as selfish as any young children, and the teachers would move on to other jobs in a matter of months or, at most, a couple of years.
This unconditional love—the kind only a parent can give—was something I'd never experienced before. It was the first time I'd ever felt truly, selflessly loved.
Even though I've started to get used to it, my gratitude toward them only grows deeper every day.
Feeling the warmth of their gentle hands as they stroked my hair, I'd drift off to sleep in their arms, promising myself that I'd be the best son I could be to the parents I'd finally found.
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Every weekday, Mom would get ready and head out to work.
Dad would make her breakfast, and when it was time for her to leave, he'd hold me in his arms as he saw her off at the front door.
It felt... off. Watching Mom go to work every day, seeing Dad's gentle, domestic nature, and noticing that even the news anchors and reporters had their genders swapped—it finally clicked.
This was a world where gender roles were completely reversed.
It didn't take long to realize that it wasn't just social roles. Physical capabilities, sexual drive—almost everything had been flipped.
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By the time I turned five, the full scope of this reversal became clear.
Strength, values, behavior, desire—everything was the exact opposite of my previous life.
Underwear and cosmetic ads were dominated by delicate male models, and the world was crazy enough that men were the primary victims of sexual assault.
When I started daycare, the boys my age were content playing house, while the girls were running around like little rascals, having mock sword fights.
It was enough to make my head spin.
But there was another major difference in this world:
Monsters. Fifty years ago, "Gates" began to open, allowing creatures from other worlds to invade. Simultaneously, certain people—the Awakened—gained supernatural powers.
To close a Gate, you had to destroy the core hidden deep inside.
However, Gates followed a strange set of laws. Not only were they impervious to outside attacks, but
inside, gunpowder and ammunition would spontaneously explode. Firearms were useless. Humanity was forced to rely on cold weapons.
But even an army of ordinary people with swords couldn't easily storm a Gate crawling with monsters.
That was where the Awakened came in. They possessed superhuman strength, durability, and magic.
Those suited for combat became known as "Hunters."
They eventually formed the Hunter Association to protect their rights, manage their profits, and serve as a powerful organization that could negotiate directly with the government.
While the military managed the perimeter of the Gates to handle emergencies, the Hunters were the ones who went inside to kill the monsters and shatter the cores.
Over time, people realized that the Gates were more than just a threat—they were a gold mine. The herbs that could heal wounds instantly and the materials harvested from monster corpses were worth a fortune. Today, Gates are viewed as a natural resource, much like an oil field or a gold mine.
Once humanity realized there was money to be made, the terror of the unknown faded, replaced by corporate greed.
But the most shocking thing I learned was about the monsters themselves.
When monsters escape a Gate, their absolute priority is to capture human men.
Fifty years of research has revealed that the monsters invaded our world due to a specific "resource depletion."
And that resource was humans.
Most monster species are either asexual or entirely female.
They take human men for one reason: propagation.
The fact that they hunt "males of a species that can breed year-round" to use as seed-sowers was horrifying.
In the media of my previous life, you'd see orcs or goblins taking human women to use as hosts. But from a biological standpoint, that's inefficient.
It's much more effective to capture a single male who can impregnate dozens of hosts. The exchange ratio is simply better.
Even if it means a hellish, agonizing existence for the victim.
Even with human women, things were different here. Their stamina and sexual drive were so high that it wasn't uncommon for men to end up in the hospital—or worse—after a night of intercourse.
If a man were captured and violated by dozens of monsters... nine out of ten would either die or lose their minds.
I knew I had to do whatever it took to make sure that never happened to me.
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Today, I'm staring into the mirror, still trying to get used to the face looking back at me.
I was a beautiful child, inheriting Hyeon-tae's soft features and my mother's sharp, piercing eyes.
Since I hadn't hit puberty yet, the resemblance to my father was striking. Every time he hugged me, I'd see his face in mine.
The sound of the front door opening echoed through the house, followed by the familiar rhythm of footsteps.
"There's my beautiful boy! Mommy's home!"
"Mom! You're back!"
I let go of Dad's hand and sprinted toward the entrance, jumping into Mom's waiting arms.
She scooped me up and peppered my face with kisses.
"Stop it, Mom! That tickles!"
My mother, Lee Min-ah, was a striking woman. She stood nearly six feet tall with short hair and a sharp, cool gaze that made her look older than her twenty-seven years.
She was a B-rank Hunter, a seven-year veteran of a major guild.
The only reason our family could afford a house in a safe zone was because of the support from her guild.
I know it's strange for someone with the mind of a thirty-year-old to act like a spoiled child, but it isn't an act. It's genuine.
Despite my memories of my past life, I've never craved love as much as I do now. I'm soaking up every bit of affection my parents give me.
The void in my heart that I could never fill with women in my past life is finally being mended by them.
They say children who grow up without a mother often suffer from attachment issues. Since I had neither parent, I'd spent my whole life desperately seeking attention.
My past relationships—even the mess I made by two-timing with Mi-na—were probably just symptoms of that same deep-seated need.
A bitter smile, far too weary for a five-year-old, crossed my face.
Dad's voice drifted in from the living room.
"Seon-ah! Are you really going to abandon your poor old Dad the second Mom gets home?"
Hyeon-tae pouted, looking genuinely sulky that I'd ditched him the moment the door opened.
"I'll hug you too, Dad!"
I suppose some things never change, no matter which gender is in charge.
I just wanted this happiness to last forever.
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Lee Min-ah was more than just a veteran Hunter; she was a rising star in Hwaryong, one of Korea's top ten guilds.
Reaching B-rank by the age of twenty-seven placed her in the top five percent of all Hunters—a true elite.
The guild master and senior executives had been tracking her growth for years. They'd already tagged her as a candidate for management and planned to promote her within the next few years.
Given her trajectory, it was highly likely she'd hit A-rank eventually, which would elevate her from a simple executive to a high-ranking officer.
Park Yu-ra sat on her sofa, nursing a cigarette as she reviewed Min-ah's profile.
"Three more years," she murmured to herself. "Give her three more years, and she'll be ready for the board."
Park Yu-ra, an A-rank Hunter and one of Hwaryong's founding members, had been the first to spot Min-ah's potential.
As the guild's Managing Director, she was at the very top of the hierarchy. She'd made it clear to the other factions that Min-ah was under her protection, and it was her influence that had seen Min-ah promoted from a reserve team leader to a permanent one.
A guild, after all, wasn't much different from a corporation.
Internal politics and factional "lines" were everywhere. If you weren't careful, you could find yourself demoted and exiled to some backwater provincial office.
When Yu-ra was younger, she thought the only thing that mattered was building her own tower. Now that she was older, she realized the real challenge was making sure that tower didn't collapse.
She knew her position was only as solid as the people standing with her, so she was constantly scouting for talent to pull into her faction.
"I should set up a dinner with Min-ah's family soon."
"She has a five-year-old son, right? Perfect. I'll bring my daughter along so they can get to know each other."
Park Yu-ra's daughter was five, the same age as Min-ah's boy.
At thirty-seven, Yu-ra had given her entire youth to Hwaryong.
She was one of the key players who had turned a struggling startup into a national powerhouse. Because she'd been so focused on the guild's early days, she'd married late.
Her workaholic habits were deeply ingrained. She was rarely home, and as a result, her relationship with her husband and daughter was strained and awkward.
Yu-ra felt a sense of satisfaction at the thought of spending time with her family this weekend while simultaneously checking off a work task.
She didn't realize that her family might resent her for turning their precious weekend together into just another business meeting.
To her, it was efficiency. To them, it was just more work.