Chapter 1
Jingle—
A bell rang to announce a customer. But the figure behind the counter didn’t move. Only her hunched shoulders gave the slightest twitch. Kim Jisu, her black cap pulled low, was staring at her smartphone screen.
“…… Welcome.”
The voice that finally came out sounded awkwardly lowered in pitch. It wasn’t as if she were comically pretending to be a man, but it didn’t sound natural, either.
But no customer paid it any mind. Even if they had, it was the kind of fleeting question that would vanish in a second.
The customer headed straight for the instant-noodle display, as if by habit, and picked up a favorite brand.
“Excuse me, could you ring this up?”
“… Would you like chopsticks?”
“Yes.”
“That’ll be 2,200 won.”
With a beep, Kim Jisu scanned the barcode and spoke without interest. She took the card the customer held out and finished the transaction with practiced ease.
“… Have a nice day.”
Jingle—
The bell rang again, and the convenience store was empty once more. Only then did Jisu let out a small breath she’d been holding and slump into her chair. As if she’d been waiting for this moment, she buried herself in her phone again.
And just then,
The store owner, who had been sorting drink inventory in the back, came over and clicked their tongue.
“Jisu, can’t you put a little more energy into your voice? You’re quick with your hands, and you do everything else well, but still.”
“… Yes.”
She only nodded and answered quietly. She’d be quitting this part-time job in a few days anyway. She didn’t want to waste her energy on it.
‘You think I don’t notice you staring at my ass?’
There was a reason she stubbornly wore nothing but baggy, oversized clothes. Her short leaf-cut hairstyle and the way she pulled her cap down low were for the same reason. She couldn’t stand men. Couldn’t stand them.
“Haa…”
Beep, beep, beep.
The mechanical sound of the barcode scanner repeated as a couple of customers came and went. Jisu didn’t look up once during any of it.
“Excuse me.”
It happened then. An unfamiliar voice came from right in front of the counter. Her gaze had been fixed on the point-of-sale screen the whole time. Only then did Jisu look up. The man standing before her was someone she’d seen regularly over the past few days.
He came in around the same time every day and bought the same pack of cigarettes. That was all. There was nothing especially memorable about him.
Assuming, as usual, that he wanted a pack of cigarettes, Jisu was just about to turn around when the man hesitated, then spoke first.
“Um… could I get your number?”
Her body, which had been about to move, froze in place. Only then did she get a good look at the man, beyond merely meeting his eyes. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with an ordinary, unremarkable face.
And his gaze was fixed on Jisu’s face.
“……”
“I’m sorry if I startled you. It’s just… I’ve seen you a few times, and I wanted to get to know you.”
‘You want to get to know me? Do you even know me?’
Jisu looked up at the man, her eyes cold. Her natural voice came out, without any effort to lower it. It was icy cold, yet perfectly clear.
“I can’t.”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t it basic manners not to ask a part-timer for her number?”
The man’s face turned red in an instant. He must have worked up all the courage he had to ask. But what did she care? His expression was a mix of embarrassment and awkwardness.
“Ah… I-I’m sorry.”
The man hurried out of the convenience store. Jingle—the door shut, but Jisu remained standing there for a long while. Her heart was pounding unpleasantly. When she opened the fist she hadn’t realized she’d clenched, her hand was trembling.
“Fuck.”
Bzzzz—
Just then, the phone she’d set beside her vibrated briefly. Jisu snatched it up irritably. Probably another spam message. Hold’em or betting or whatever—she felt like they’d been coming especially often lately.
‘Are they making fun of people with no friends?’
She didn’t have anyone to message or chat with as it was. With a heavy sigh, she turned on the screen—and Jisu’s eyes widened.
[Sent via Web]
[Gukdong University] Kim Jisu, congratulations on your final acceptance to the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering for the 2025 regular admissions cycle.
“…… It was today?”
The admission results. She’d completely forgotten. Even though she’d spent the entire year retaking the entrance exam with that day as her goal, when it finally arrived, it had slipped from her mind without making the slightest impression.
She had no intention of taking the exam a third time, so this should have been news she could accept with relief… But why? Why did she feel so strangely uneasy and stifled?
How could she put this emptiness into words?
The past year.
A time that seemed short, yet had also stretched into the distant past. How had Kim Jisu, an ordinary male high school student—she, he… no, I—ended up living in a body like this?
It’s a really, really long story.
===
That winter a year ago, after the College Scholastic Ability Test was over and I was waiting for the admission results—the most carefree, hopeful time of my life.
[ Hey Kim Jisu, you get along with girls so easily. I’m telling you, you should make the first move! ]
[ LOL I asked around, and apparently almost everyone in our department’s a guy? ]
I stayed up late fooling around with my friends in our group chat. Retaking the exam? That wasn’t happening in my life. I’d applied to an ordinary university that matched my decent scores, and everyone knew I’d get in without a problem.
All I had left to do was work part-time and save some money, right? Once that was done, I could jump straight into campus life.
MTs, start-of-semester gatherings, a new girlfriend, clubs…
That night, I fell asleep with those hopes in my arms, never knowing it would be the last night I spent as ‘Kim Jisu,’ a man.
“Ah… Ah… Aaaah!! Mom! Mom!!”
My mother and I faced each other in a ridiculous scene, with me clutching my breasts, which had swollen up enormously. My bare legs showed beneath my loose boxer shorts, without even a trace of body hair.
And for some reason, I was standing with my legs pressed tightly together. Between my trembling thighs, I could feel the absence of what had always been there between my legs. In its place was an unfamiliar cleft.
“Mom! Something’s wrong with me! My body… my body’s wrong! It’s gone! And… something’s appeared! My chest—why do I suddenly have breasts?!”
Despite my panicked cries, my mother, who had been preparing breakfast, remained astonishingly calm. She turned off the sizzling frying pan, wiped her hands on her apron, and walked toward me slowly. Her composed gaze made it seem as though she’d known all along this would happen.
“… Jisu.”
Mom gently cupped my cheek.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner.”
“Tell me what…?”
“Jisu, the blood of a succubus flows through you.”
A dream demon. A succubus.
It was ridiculous, right? I honestly thought Mom was joking. Though my body had changed, I figured it had to be some rare illness at most. A hormonal disorder… or some kind of physical abnormality…
The one small blessing was that I didn’t have to go back to school for the rest of the year. There was no way I could meet my friends in this body. I cut off contact with everyone at once. I locked my door. I put away the mirrors. I shut myself off from the world. A few friends kept calling me relentlessly, but… it would be over soon. Soon.
Once my body went back to normal, I could call them or make plans as much as I wanted.
“I’ve made your food… Come out and eat whenever you’re ready.”
Mom didn’t try to force me out of my room. After that, she never once brought up succubi or any of that far-fetched nonsense again.
Then, one day.
On a winter night when the world outside the window seemed unusually bright, I woke to the soft light slipping between the curtains and felt a strange heat welling up inside me.
My lower belly burned, and it felt as if the blood throughout my body was flowing faster than usual—a strange, unfamiliar sensation.
“… Haa.”
The blankets felt suffocating. It was hard to breathe. As I tossed and turned, overcome by an inexplicable restlessness, I felt a sharp pain, as if something had stabbed me near my tailbone.
“Ugh…!”
That day, a tail sprouted from me. The damn heart shape at its tip was an added bonus.
As if she’d been waiting for this very moment, Mom came to find me and explained.
“It’s because of the full moon. Once a month, on the night of the full moon, a succubus’s instincts awaken.”
“…… How does that make any sense?”
“I’m sorry, Jisu. It can’t be helped. Succubi… exist only as women.”
‘Succubi exist only as women.’
That was why I’d become a woman. The moment I realized that my life as ‘Kim Jisu,’ a man, was well and truly over, I decided to retake the entrance exam. I couldn’t face the people who knew who I used to be.
I really did cut off all contact. I changed my phone number, too. After talking it over with Mom, we even moved.
Somehow, Mom managed to get me a new resident registration card, too. The second half of the ID number began with a ‘4’ instead of a ‘3.’
How could I possibly study for the entrance exam again in this situation?
Maybe it was just an excuse. But one thing I could say for certain was that the menstrual cramps that came like clockwork once a month had made my personality fucking awful. And maybe, just maybe, having my period coincide with the entrance exam had affected my score. As it turned out, my score range was exactly the same as it had been when I first took the exam.
Maybe that was the source of the emptiness I’d felt when I saw the acceptance text at the convenience store counter. What had the past year really meant to me? What had I gained?
I’d lost my friends and my future as a man, and I’d been through all kinds of shitty experiences. Getting hit on for my number was nothing by comparison.
My gaze drifted to the calendar in the corner of my room. Mom had circled a date a while ago.
[ Gukdong University Freshman O.T ]
It should have been the first orientation day I’d dreamed of. I’d excitedly told my friends I’d dress up in all sorts of stylish clothes as soon as I got accepted.
I pulled a dull, baggy black hoodie out of the closet and put it on. The same went for my pants. There wasn’t a trace of fashion sense in the outfit.
The cap covering half my face was an added touch.
“I’m heading out.”
My words echoed unanswered. Mom had left for work early that morning, so the house was empty and quiet.
Carrying my pointless irritation and hurt with me, I took the first step into my college life.