Bang! Bang!
Breaking free from the damned demons and that old-man party, returning to Earth after so long felt oddly nostalgic.
It had already been 20 years since I lived off sword fights in that fantasy world, so I was a little worried that the era had changed into some kind of cyberpunk dystopia.
But looking around, the scenery wasn’t much different from my hazy high school memories.
Seoul’s signature towering skyscrapers and jam-packed roads remained the same, as did the fine dust polluting the sky.
Well, I had returned to modern Earth, after all.
If I had landed in a world where implant cyborgs were all the rage, that would’ve been a full-blown delivery error.
“Alright, so far, so good.”
Maybe the goddess had taken care of the details because my outfit was nothing like the armor I used to wear over there.
Instead, I found myself in a North Face padded jacket and fleece-lined jeans.
Yeah, this was exactly how I dressed back in high school.
Saying it out loud made me feel ancient, but facts were facts.
[202X-12-11]
[12:30]
The only strange thing was the date on the phone in my pocket.
It didn’t match my memory—it was off by about two years.
Had the world compressed 20 years into just two to maintain balance?
Checking my current state, I estimated I had about 10% of my strength from my hero days.
Maybe this time shift was necessary to make my return make sense in this world.
“Is this right, Goddess?”
I repeated the question in my head, but the goddess—who was always available for communication—remained silent.
She had promised I could return to the other world whenever I wanted, so the connection wasn’t completely severed.
Maybe the link was just weaker in this world, or perhaps she was momentarily looking away.
Hmm.
Or maybe she was giving me some privacy, afraid I’d immediately do something indecent.
…No, that couldn’t be it.
The goddess I knew, despite her title as the guardian of order and causality, had a peculiar hobby—spying on others’ daily lives for entertainment.
There was no way she’d willingly miss out on the content of a freshly returned hero enjoying himself.
[… … …]
No response.
That alone made me uneasy.
Feeling a bit restless, I decided to grab a carbonated drink and stepped into a nearby fast-food joint.
Beep!
As I went through the ordering process, I checked the cash and cards the goddess had prepared in my wallet.
Good.
Everything worked fine.
So far, so good.
Just paranoia, I thought.
But after a few minutes of browsing the internet in a quiet corner, I stumbled upon:
[You too can become an elite hunter! Get a taste of the Hunter’s Guide for just 79,000 won!]
[S-rank Hunter Shin Arin! Solo-clearing an A-rank dungeon! Why magic training is easier for women than men.]
[This year’s Special Ability Exam was hellfire difficulty… Students despair over unfair testing standards.]
“…Oh.”
Hunters? Magic? Dungeons?
These strange terms were popping up without any attempt to hide them.
This wasn’t the peaceful Earth I had hoped for.
“Wait, is this real?”
Was I seriously expected to go through another round of this?
[The ‘balance of order and causality’ claims this is just a misunderstanding and insists it was necessary.]
Misunderstanding, my ass.
What a load of nonsense.
I wanted to slap someone.
[W-Wait! Saying such harsh things to the goddess you’ve been close to for years… That really hurts, you know?]
“So you can reply instantly, huh, Goddess?”
[Ah! No, no! It’s just that since you’re in another world now, I can’t talk as freely as before!]
Oh, so she couldn’t talk freely—but she was still keeping an eye on me?
[Ahh, aah! Stop thinking like that!]
This goddess.
She always pretended to be innocent, but she was actually a menace who loved teasing people.
I wasn’t about to fall for it again.
[Aww, Hero, if you say it like that, you’ll make me sound like an evil god! It’s not like that, really. Because of dimensional rules, I couldn’t send you to the exact same Earth or timeline.]
[Besides, I gave you everything you asked for! You’ve got abilities, you won’t have to worry about money, and I even found you the perfect world for romance and career success!]
[Didn’t you beg me not to send you to some depressing apocalypse? Didn’t you say you’d rather be in an overpowered hunter world or a harem academy story? Well, I did that for you! It’s not even a full-on apocalypse—this world is actually ideal for a successful hunter!]
She kept rambling, listing every reason why this world was the best possible choice for me.
By the time she finished, I had already wolfed down my Quattro Cheese Burger set.
I hadn’t responded the entire time, just quietly listening.
That must’ve made her even more anxious.
“Hmm, I see.”
So this time, it wasn’t about interstellar battles or exterminating space demons.
She had thrown me into a hunter world with a bit of a twist.
Just great.
All I wanted was a romantic high school comedy, and she pulled another one of her stunts.
As I mentally tallied up all the reasons to murder this goddess, I suddenly replayed part of what she said.
“Wait… Harem academy? But from what I just read, it’s already the graduation season for third-years.”
[…E-Eh? Y-You think I wouldn’t account for that?]
[I swear, I wasn’t trying to trick you! I even got a divine reading from my friend to pick the best possible world for you!]
[‘The Flowing River of Fate’ reluctantly acknowledges being dragged into this mess.]
Oh? Even another world’s chief deity got involved?
Then maybe this wasn’t entirely her doing…
As she kept defending herself, the goddess finally revealed something important.
[Besides, real youth starts in college, right? True love happens when you’re an adult!]
Turns out, in this world, I had already graduated from high school.
[This year’s Special Ability Exam was hellfire difficulty… Students despair over unfair testing standards.]
[Archmage Arhen: “If you can’t use magic, at least be good at swordsmanship. If you can’t do anything, just quit. I don’t get why they keep whining.” His remarks shock students and parents, fueling the meritocracy debate.]
The so-called Special Ability Exam.
Instead of the usual subjects like Korean, English, and math, this exam tested knowledge of dungeons, monsters, magic, and aura.
Obviously, as someone who just arrived here, I had no clue about this world’s specifics.
I knew how to pilot a starship and hunt demons across the galaxy, sure—but I had zero experience with this world’s common sense.
Thankfully, the goddess hadn’t set me up for failure—apparently, I had already taken the test and passed.
[I was going to keep it a surprise a little longer, but…]
Not just passed.
I had gotten into the most prestigious academy in the world.
Seoul Supernatural Ability Academy.
An elite institution with hundreds of years of history, located in Seoul’s Academy Special Administrative District.
I didn’t know anything about that history, of course.
But if this school only accepted the best of the best, then the students here must be something else.
At this point, I wasn’t sure if I had returned to modern Earth or if I had possessed a character in a novel.
But at least, instead of some nightmare monster invasion hunter story, this was supposed to be a harem academy setting.
“Now that changes everything.”
A strange sense of anticipation settled in, and my unnecessarily honest heart began to feel at peace.
After finishing my burger, I headed to the house the goddess had prepared for me.
And what came into view was an extravagant luxury apartment complex.
“Oh…”
Just from the exterior, I could tell—it was ridiculously expensive.
Back in the original world, an apartment like this would have easily cost 50 or 60 billion won.
And the luxury wasn’t just on the outside.
The inside was just as opulent—
A spacious living room, three private bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and when I stepped out onto the balcony—bam—a breathtaking view of the Han River.
This apartment alone was this luxurious, and when I checked my mobile banking app…
I had enough cash to buy several more buildings just like it.
‘…This might not be so bad.’
Sure, this world had supernatural abilities, and monsters popped out of dungeons—those were small inconveniences.
But after spending decades as a warrior killing demons, maybe this world suited me better.
I had never planned for a long-term career or serious social life anyway—
I just wanted to buy some buildings, laze around in my room, and maybe have a love life.
If the goddess had been right in front of me, I might have raised hell, but… I could somewhat accept this.
Honestly, this isn’t bad at all.
I was caught off guard, but maybe… this was actually a good thing?
‘Still, next time I meet her, I need to have some words as her assigned warrior.’
For now, I had no choice but to live here.
Since I had more than enough money to burn, I went shopping at the department store, bought furniture and clothes, and moved everything into my new apartment.
I decorated each room and placed a king-size bed right in the center of the largest one.
A mattress this soft?
Unthinkable in a medieval fantasy world.
Yeah… it was a small thing, but I missed this kind of comfort.
After cleaning up, I ordered jokbal (pig’s trotters), cracked open a beer, and started eating.
Then, out of nowhere, a thought crossed my mind—
“Do they have the manga and movies I used to enjoy here?”
Curious, I searched.
To my surprise—they did.
Not exactly the same, but… they existed.
Feeling nostalgic, I started watching one.
And soon enough, I was—shocked.
The story didn’t take any wild turns like suddenly killing off the protagonist or abandoning the heroine, but…
A lot had changed.
“What the hell…?”
- The male protagonist had turned into a female.
- The magical girl character was now a boy.
- A well-known superhero movie had its entire cast’s genders swapped.
“…What does this even mean?”
Then, a realization hit me—
I instinctively understood what was going on.
This world was similar to my original one, but something had flipped.
Men didn’t wear makeup or skirts, but women were naturally stronger, so they took on those roles instead.
On one hand, this meant I was even more special now…
But on the other—
“Girl Avengers, Assemble.”
Ugh.
My head.