NOVEL WEB Chapter 1
Chapter: 1
Ding ding ding~ Good morning~ Ding ding-
I instinctively moved my hand to turn off the alarm ringing by my bedside.
I don’t know who composed this piece, but it’s really a great track for waking someone up forcibly.
Hearing the pa pa pa sound that follows would definitely be stressful enough to make me jump out of bed without a second thought.
Anyway, my body feels a bit warmer than usual.
Is it because I stayed up reading a novel until dawn?
Back when I was a student, I could pull all-nighters reading and still go to school looking fine, but now, just a few years older, my body reacts differently, making me acutely aware that I’m aging.
I didn’t think much of it before, but looking back now, I realize those student days were actually quite nice.
The novels I’ve been reading lately focus on academy life for that very reason.
Of course, since I graduated from an all-boys school, I never had the chance to interact with cute girls like they do in the novels, but I can’t help but think how nice it would have been to experience that kind of school life.
I’ve always been an academy genre enthusiast and tend to pick up even the less popular works.
The one I finished reading last night, The Sacred Sword of the Academy, was one of those.
I think its decent writing and charming characters got overshadowed by the constant adversities and the dark atmosphere caused by the deaths of supporting characters.
Although I usually prefer a lighter, more carefree vibe, I found myself quite engrossed in how the protagonist and heroine navigated through their struggles and binge-read it to the end.
And then, bam! I got hit hard from behind.
After overcoming countless adversities and reaching the climax, the protagonist and heroine were thrown into an unavoidable pinch, and the final chapter ended with just one line:
“Can you save them?”
I was left dazed.
The reader within me screamed to send a 5,700-character complaint email to that evil author, but being a lover of genre fiction, I timidly settled for leaving a comment saying, “This is absurd…” out of fear that I might get kidnapped into the world of the novel if I made a fuss.
It’s not like it was an indefinite hiatus, yet this feeling of incompleteness after seeing the conclusion reminds me of the first time I thought, “Is this guy actually laughing?”
Thinking about it again makes me even angrier.
Maybe that’s why I feel even warmer now.
I thought I might take a shower, so I opened my eyes and got up, but something was blinding.
Is the sunlight strong? I squinted and lowered my head, but
My body was on fire.
Not metaphorically, but literally.
I made a dumb Eh? sound, blinking as I looked at my burning body, wondering if I was still dreaming.
For a moment, I thought I should extinguish the flames and headed to the bathroom, turning on the shower.
Then I got a shock.
The water was freezing cold!
I quickly turned the lever to the left and waited for the water to warm up, standing there in a daze, but for some reason, the fire on my body wouldn’t seem to go out.
Am I going to turn into a Meramon?
While I was thinking that, I suddenly felt something strange and glanced down, only to realize something shocking.
I was showering while fully clothed.
Why my clothes were intact while my body was on fire was secondary to the fact that I was an idiot showering in my clothes, which pierced through my heart like a dagger.
As my mood plummeted, the flames that had been blazing on my body suddenly extinguished.
Then, the curvy body I had been trying to ignore since waking up came into view.
Honestly, I had a rough idea of the situation since my body was on fire, but of all things…
I tried to stay calm and turned off the water, standing in front of the mirror above the sink.
In the mirror was the image of a soaked beauty with red hair and red eyes, her body’s curves clearly visible.
Under normal circumstances, I would have admired such a pretty and sexy sight, but seeing it as myself felt so different.
“Of all things… why TS?”
My heart ached because of that unnecessarily lovely voice.
Being drawn into the world of a novel is a common cliché, but TS (transsexualism) is a minor genre.
It’s even impossible to live a laid-back life while engaging in fantasy novels.
So what’s the point of TS?
What? Female corruption? I have no clue.
If I had been throwing a fit at the author saying, “I can’t accept this ending!” or had thoughts like, “If it were me, I could have done better…” I might have understood, but it wasn’t even that.
So why am I subjected to this and forced to switch genders too?
As I felt despair toward reality, my body kept moving diligently.
After taking off my soaked clothes, I dried my hair and body with a towel.
My hair was unnecessarily long, making it a hassle to dry.
After drying off, I changed into the clothes hanging on a hanger.
It was the uniform worn by a character on the cover of The Sacred Sword of the Academy that I had read yesterday.
I felt uneasy in the short skirt, but ultimately I had no choice but to conform to the situation.
A moderately full chest confirming that this was indeed a female body.
Even when I lifted my skirt slightly to check, the emptiness below was shocking.
Sighing, I slipped my hand into the pocket of my skirt and, unsurprisingly, found a student ID.
As I took a glance at the student ID, I felt sparks darting through my hair.
It seems that when my emotions intensify, my body catches fire.
And I was quite angry at the moment.
The student ID showed the face I had seen in the mirror, and the name field read:
“Scarlet Evande”
“Evande…”
I’m convinced the author is an incredibly timid person.