Chapter 1 : And it All Begins…

KWAANG—KA-BOOM!

“Help, somebody help!”

“Save meee!”

In the grim city of Gyodam, where villains run rampant, citizens’ happiness index ranks the lowest in the world.

It’s the number one city people don’t want to live in.

Rumors say you can enter freely, but when you try to leave, even the mayor turns into a villain demanding bribes.

People say if an outsider walks for 10 minutes, they’ll get pickpocketed, mugged, and swindled—and by the time they turn a corner, all they’ll have left is a single pair of underwear.

Parents scare their crying kids by saying, “If you keep crying, we’ll move to Gyodam!”

And the child immediately stops.

A beloved homeland of all sorts of heinous criminals, Gyodam City is, yet again, far from peaceful today.

“Mom, I want to move! Waaah!”

“Mom wants to move too!”

With explosions going off left and right, frustrated cries of people wanting to move burst out across the city.

But Gyodam City is a hellhole where getting in is easy, but getting out takes enormous resolve.

The rumors go that a whole truckload of people who tried to move have simply disappeared without a trace.

“Tch, what now?”

Hearing the series of explosions and seeing people running in panic, Iris frowned and pushed up her oversized glasses.

“I thought it was weirdly peaceful—here we go again.”

It was a regular occurrence in Gyodam City—once or twice a week, like clockwork.

With her lemon-yellow hair tied back, she remained calm and unfazed, like any true citizen of Gyodam, and quickly evacuated the danger zone.

Thanks to her essential survival skill—running fast—she’d managed to live safely to the age of 22.

Far from the blasts and sirens, Iris finally stopped and leaned over, panting.

“I want to move…”

She muttered the go-to line of every Gyodam City citizen, then shook her head.

It was a hopeless dream.

Others might not know, but she understood it was practically impossible to move away from Gyodam City.

How did she know?

Because this place was the main setting of the superhero comic she had been possessed into.

After pulling multiple all-nighters, her eyes had gone dark.

One day, she fell asleep watching a superhero comic—and died from overwork.

She even watched her own funeral as a spirit.

Then she was reborn.

With all her memories intact.

At first, she thought this was just a regular place on Earth.

But she eventually realized this was the crime-ridden city from the comic she used to read—and she desperately tried to escape.

Her bizarre behavior led others to think she was just a strange child.

Her grandmother, who raised her after her parents died in an accident, assumed it was just puberty.

That phase passed, and now at 22, she’d reached the mindset of, “It’s easier if you just give up.”

Like everyone else in Gyodam, her only goal now was survival.

For now, at least.

“You can’t survive without power.

But I have no way to get any.”

If you’re stuck in a superhero comic, you need power to survive—or at least stay out of the hero-villain crossfire.

Thankfully, she had read a decent amount of the comic before dying.

Thanks to that, she knew the tricks to avoid a gruesome end in Gyodam and adapted quickly.

Gyodam City Survival Manual, Chapter 1: ‘Avoid any place where there’s noise.’

If she heard explosions or cries for help, she ran without hesitation.

That’s how she survived this notorious city.

Sloths couldn’t survive here.

Babies in Gyodam took their first steps while kids in other cities were still learning to roll over.

Elderly folks with gray hair would chuck their canes and run at the first sign of trouble.

After 22 years of growing up in this harsh environment, Iris had developed some pretty good running skills.

Confirming she was safely out of the danger zone, Iris paused to rest for a moment.

Just as she began walking home, a soft sound caught her ear.

“Meow, nyaa-ow!”

“Huh…?”

A cute tabby cat sitting at the corner of a quiet alley let out a meow, as if asking to be petted.

Smiling brightly, Iris bent down and reached out her hand toward the cat.

“Aww, so cute. Just a second… sorry.”

“HISSSSS!”

She whispered an apology to the cat, then gave it a gentle pinch.

The cat’s big, shiny eyes suddenly turned fierce.

It arched its back and hissed, then darted off before Iris could grab it.

Clicking her tongue in disappointment, she smacked her lips.

“Geez… If you’re gonna hiss, you might as well bite me while you’re at it. Guess it didn’t work this time either.”

Gyodam City Survival Manual, Chapter 2: ‘To gain power, get bitten.’

In most superhero comics, both heroes and villains awakened their powers after being bitten by an animal or insect.

Having survived in this comic book world for twenty-two years, Iris had come to the conclusion: if she had to live a heart-pounding life every day, she might as well get powers.

Unfortunately, being bitten by mosquitoes or bedbugs had done nothing for her.

She suspected it was because people like Mosquito-Man and Bedbug-Man already existed, so her turn never came.

Even after twenty-two years, nothing miraculous happened when she got scratched or bitten.

But since she couldn’t give up hope, Iris had developed the habit of sneakily pinching stray cats or wild dogs whenever she came across them.

Unluckily, nothing ever happened, and she remained an ordinary citizen.

Ugh, if I keep living like this, I’m gonna die before my time.

I have to get powers and get out of this city!

There were even rumors about the boy next door, who suddenly vanished after being bitten by an ant.

Her boss at the bakery laughed it off as nonsense, but Iris believed it—because she had read the comic thoroughly.

She was sure it was true.

He must’ve awakened powers after being bitten, and whether he became a hero or a villain, he probably escaped the city and was now active somewhere else.

If you get bitten by an ant, you become Ant-Man. Bitten by a raccoon?

Raccoon-Man.

Bitten by a cat?

Cat-Girl… Gaining powers through a bite is comic book law!

Sadly, mosquito and bedbug bites hadn’t done the trick, but Iris still hadn’t lost hope.

Her turn might be just around the corner.

In this bleak city, awakening powers was like winning the lottery.

Each ability in the comic world was different, and if you were unlucky, you might just end up with some lame skill that made you slightly stronger than a regular thug.

But even that was better than nothing.

Better than being a powerless civilian constantly on the run.

Even the weakest powered folks were stronger than the criminals with no abilities.

That’s what powered people were in this comic.

Hoping for at least that much strength, Iris kept pinching dogs and cats.

But the miracle of gaining powers never came.

Still, if she could just get powers, she could survive longer—maybe even live a slightly better life.

And if she was lucky and awakened a special ability, she could do things regular people never could.

Being inside a superhero comic, it’s only natural to expect I’ll get powers someday… Sigh, but no luck again today.

Back during puberty, she’d thought maybe there’d be some special perk to being a transmigrator.

But nothing ever happened.

Over time, Iris came to accept her reality.

She wasn’t the main character of the comic—just a background civilian.

And her best shot at survival was to keep running so she wouldn’t get crushed in the crossfire.

With a sigh, Iris straightened up.

She clenched her fists and cheered herself on inside.

Life in Gyodam City was hell every day, but honestly, her past life of overwork hadn’t been much better.

Since she got this second life, she might as well live it as best she could.

Her eyes sparkling, Iris hurried toward home.

She wanted to check out what she bought today as soon as possible.

Even in this comic world, where she lived a relatively ordinary life, she had one hobby:

Spending her part-time wages on strange items from antique shops.

At first, she’d bought them hoping they might awaken her powers.

But over time, she gave up that fantasy, and it became a pure hobby.

Items almost never cause awakenings.

The comic only mentioned them in passing… Still, maybe it’s because this city has a cursed energy flow?

There are so many strange things here.

The belt she bought today was another odd object that instantly caught her eye.