NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2
I wasn’t really one to believe in an afterlife.
When humans die, they return to nothing.
That was my worldview on death, and that belief remained until the moment I passed away.
“─Hey!”
That’s why the realization that I hadn’t died came after I heard a familiar voice shaking me awake.
“─Yujin!”
As I barely regained my senses, the first thing I noticed was the uncomfortable dampness covering my entire body.
What is this?
It seemed I had lost control of my bodily functions during the seizure.
It wasn’t a common occurrence, but I had experienced it before, so I accepted it quickly.
…Although my self-esteem did take a hit.
“Excuse me!”
Only then did I see the owner of the voice that had been waking me up all this time.
It was my mother.
‘Huh?’
But for some reason, my mother looked strange.
Starting from her pale complexion to her slightly trembling fingertips.
‘What’s going on?’
Something was off.
And the weirdness reached its peak when my mother blurted out her words.
“Yujin, where is our Yujin?”
It was a bizarre statement.
Why was she looking for me, as if I were missing?
It felt like someone searching for their glasses while wearing them.
“What are you talking about?”
“Where’s Yujin?!”
My mother’s voice rose in pitch.
Seeing her behave like this was unimaginable; it made me flinch without even realizing it.
“Uh, Mom… what’s wrong? I’m right here.”
“…What?”
My mother’s expression took on an incredibly strange hue.
It was an incomprehensible reaction.
“What? Why are you acting like this?”
“…Stop joking around! Where is our Yujin? Who are you! That outfit, it’s Yujin’s!”
“Who, who do you mean? Clearly, I’m Yujin─”
I was at a loss for words.
At first, I thought this discomfort was just in my head.
But after witnessing my mother’s absurd reaction, I couldn’t just brush it off anymore.
“Do you know where Yujin is? Tell me! Quickly!”
It felt as if she was treating me like someone else altogether.
“Uh, um…?”
My gaze slowly went down.
The liquid I thought was urine had an oddly murky black color.
‘What is that smell…?’
That wasn’t the only odd thing.
‘…My chest?’
Reflected in my stained t-shirt was definitely a woman’s asset.
Not too big, but not small either—just the right pretty shape.
For someone like me, who was already scrawny, that was something I should never have possessed.
I moved my hand without thinking.
My lower half felt exposed.
There were things that shouldn’t be there, and things that should be missing.
“Uh, uh?”
In a hurry, I turned my face toward the malfunctioning smartphone on the floor.
Long, silver hair.
An exotic, yet distinctly Eastern aura radiated from my mysteriously beautiful face.
How could I even describe the vibe emanating from me? Yet if I had to put it into words…
Beautiful.
That was the only way my impoverished vocabulary could express that face.
And that face belonged to none other than me.
“…This is insane.”
Now everything was clear.
I had become a woman.
“Are you ready to talk now? Where is Yujin?”
My mother’s voice pulled me back to reality, although I was still frozen for a moment.
“Uh, so, um…”
“Tell me. Where is our Yujin right now?”
My mother’s voice had softened from before.
She must have thought that getting angry wouldn’t solve the situation.
What should I say?
I didn’t know if my mother would believe me if I told her I was Yujin.
I couldn’t even believe what was happening to me right now—how could I expect her to?
My pondering didn’t last long.
Regardless of whether my mother would believe it or not, I had no reason to lie.
“…I’m Yujin.”
“What did you just say?”
Her previously softened voice sharpened again.
It was an incredibly unfamiliar sight for someone who had only ever seen my mother’s warm and dedicated side.
“I’m… Yujin Lee, your son.”
Commonly, blood is thicker than water.
But the change I had undergone was so drastic that even my mother, who had always been by my side, doubted my identity.
‘Hmm.’
Well, I couldn’t really blame her.
I myself couldn’t even believe what was happening to me; how could I expect my mother to easily accept it?
And then… a question-and-answer exchange disguised as a conversation ensued.
“……”
“……”
It was simultaneously long and short.
Initially, my mother glared at me as if she wanted to kill me, but as I kept talking, her expression slowly morphed into something bewildered.
“Is it really… you, Yujin?”
“I know it sounds absurd. But it’s true—I’m me.”
My mother, a well-known former anchorwoman, was the definition of a ‘learned’ woman.
In other words, she was highly rational except for when it came to my issues.
Of course, she’d have a hard time believing such nonsense, but her uncertainty was palpable.
“…Please wait a moment.”
My mother said that and opened a security app on her smartphone.
She wanted to check the footage from the security camera at the front door.
“……”
While she tried to feign calm, her eyes were shaking violently.
Naturally, the recorded footage showed no signs of anyone coming or going.
And my claim gained even more weight because there was no way ‘Yujin,’ who couldn’t even walk, had gone out through a window.
“Yujin…”
My mother was on the verge of tears as she nearly dropped her smartphone.
“Is this really you…?”
Shaking hands brushed over my face.
They were still warm.
“How did this happen…?”
I wasn’t sure if she was finally starting to believe what I said or if she was half-resigned to an impossible reality.
But one thing was clear: my mother was starting to listen to me, at least outwardly.
“I don’t really know either. I had a seizure… and when I woke up, I was like this.”
“Are you okay? Is there anywhere you’re in pain?”
“…I think I’m fine.”
Now that I thought about it, it was strange.
What had happened to my body was far from ordinary.
Beyond just my gender change, my entire physique had transformed into something resembling a completely different person.
Despite such a monumental change, I felt almost ridiculously normal.
‘…Wait.’
Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind.
If my body had really changed completely, perhaps the illness that had shackled me might also be gone.
‘No, that can’t be true.’
I dismissed the hypothesis that had sprung up in my mind.
‘After all, the change in my body happened because of the seizure. My illness can’t have vanished.’
When did it start? The fear of being hopeful crept into me.
It was a form of paranoia and a defense mechanism that had arisen from being blocked by the walls of reality for everything I’d ever wanted to do.
‘Still… there’s nothing to lose.’
So, even though I tried not to expect much, at this moment, my heart was racing uncontrollably.
‘Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up.’
Even as I repeated those words to myself, I slowly pressed my palms to the ground.
“Ha.”
Taking a deep breath, I pushed off the ground with my palms and stood up.
My mother’s expression grew incredibly strange as she watched me.
“Yujin…?”
Regardless of her reaction, I focused my mind as much as I could.
How do I use my legs?
Is it like this?
Like I was surrendering to instinct, I slowly started to lift my body.
Bit by bit, little by little.
Like a baby taking its first steps.
I took my very first steps in life.
Thud!
Perhaps because I wasn’t accustomed to the idea of walking at all, I couldn’t take more than a few steps before I fell.
But I had definitely walked.
“Ah! Are you okay?!”
My mother screamed, but I couldn’t help laughing.
“I… walked!”
“…Huh?”
Only then did my mother seem to realize what I had done and her expression gradually froze.
“How… how did you…?”
It was strange for ordinary people without disabilities to even feel discomfort watching.
But for me, it was a long-desired wish I wanted to achieve at any cost.
“I… walked!”
The significant fact that I had become a woman had long since faded from my mind.
What was important was that I could now walk.
I had become a woman.
No, I had gained a new life.