I fell into an unknown world.

 

I didn’t see an unfamiliar ceiling as soon as I opened my eyes.

 

I was just lying on a vast prairie.

 

The gentle wind shaking the grass field felt quite pleasant. However, I didn’t like the sunlight directly shining on me.

 

I slowly raised my upper body on the green prairie.

 

My chest felt heavier than usual. My hair was unnaturally long, and the sensations I felt were significantly different.

 

I tried to grasp the situation while holding my aching head.

 

“What is this……”

 

But it was ineffective. It only added to the confusion.

 

The voice that escaped my mouth was too thin to be mine.

 

It wasn’t just thin. It was the softest and most beautiful voice I had ever heard.

 

It was a pleasant tone, but I didn’t feel good. The dissonance I felt when I thought it was my voice was beyond imagination.

 

“Ugh!”

 

I had to vomit everything I had due to nausea.

 

I threw up what I had eaten. Though I had no memory of eating anything in this body.

 

It took considerable time for me to accept and acknowledge that I had become a woman.

 

***

 

After changing into a woman’s body, my state of mind went through three stages.

 

Confusion, anger, and acceptance.

 

At first, I was confused. Moving in a woman’s body was more uncomfortable than I thought.

 

Even walking wasn’t easy at first. You don’t just know how to walk in another body.

 

So, I had to learn to stand and walk on two legs again.

 

The world I saw was different because of my height. My field of vision was lower than I expected, and I was still clumsy when walking, so I don’t know how many times I fell.

 

After struggling like that, I moved on to the anger stage.

 

I think I was angry about why I had to go through this, how I became a woman, and why it had to be me.

 

I cursed out loud and even raised my middle finger towards someone whose face I didn’t know who had made me like this.

 

Of course, nothing happened.

 

The arrows of anger that arose can only be expressed if there’s a target.

 

I couldn’t know who had made me like this or for what reason.

 

Eventually, I thought anger was meaningless in the current situation, so I moved on.

 

That’s how it is now.

 

After time passed, I somewhat accepted reality: that this was a different world from where I lived and that I had to move to survive here.

 

Living in nature seemed quite dangerous, so I wanted to go to a village where people lived first.

 

I wondered if I could communicate with the people of this world.

 

Maybe it was a world where humanity didn’t exist. Because the amount of information I had was extremely limited.

 

I knew too little, even though I knew nothing. I only knew that I had become a woman and that the scenery was natural.

 

Thinking I should know something, I passed through the prairie with clumsy steps. The wind that would have felt good normally didn’t feel that way now.

 

When the wind blew, the silver hair that was probably mine shook.

 

When the white hair entered my field of vision, it told me that I still hadn’t woken up from this nightmare.

 

Silver hair, huh.

 

It’s bad enough that I turned into a woman, but it seems I’m not even an ordinary woman.

 

At least in the common sense I knew, a woman’s, no, a human’s hair wasn’t this color.

 

After leaving the prairie, I saw a forest with large trees lined up.

 

Such a natural landscape wasn’t something you could see in 21st-century Korea.

 

It was clean scenery untainted by humans. The clear air and fresh grass scent brushed my nose. It was a scene too beautiful to be called a nightmare.

 

Also, scenes that were too realistic to think of as a dream continued.

 

“……”

 

But looking at my body, it was still undeniably a nightmare.

 

Standing at the entrance of the forest, I paused briefly before entering.

 

Unlike the unnecessarily peaceful prairie, the forest of this world looked a bit dangerous.

 

Untouched by human hands, it was a space where various ecosystems would unfold. If I was unlucky, I might encounter dangerous animals.

 

Even if I didn’t encounter them, the rugged terrain of the forest ahead would be harder to pass than the prairie. At least that much seemed certain.

 

“Sigh……”

 

I let out a deep sigh before entering.

 

In fact, my legs felt weak even now, and I wanted to sit down right away.

 

It’s because I’m not used to this body. It’s no exaggeration to say I used up all my stamina just by walking.

 

Crossing the prairie was hard enough, and now I have to cross this dangerous-looking forest.

 

If this is a dream, I really want to wake up.

 

I rested there for a moment, then started moving again.

 

I didn’t really want to go in, but I didn’t want to just sit down and die, so I walked.

 

My mind was clear as I passed through the dense forest. Until now, it was as complicated as if dark clouds had gathered, but it was good that I could forget such things for a while.

 

I climbed a small hill.

 

The forest was a place that was quiet yet full of its own sounds.

 

The sounds of various creatures were mixed. Things like birds chirping or small animals crying.

 

Of course, as I had somewhat expected, not everything was good.

 

“Aah!”

 

I lost my footing on the way down after climbing the hill.

 

I was already clumsy walking on flat ground. How much worse would it be on a bumpy downhill path.

 

“Ugh, ah, aah, uu……”

 

I rolled down the hillside for quite a while like that. Maybe I came down much faster than if I had walked down.

 

The place where I rolled down was close to the center, the middle of the forest.

 

It was a bit deeper and darker than where I was before.

 

After stopping my roll, I immediately checked my body condition. Having rolled down a rocky path, my body must be in tatters.

 

I must be covered in wounds.

 

“……Huh?”

 

But I couldn’t find any wounds anywhere on my body. Come to think of it, it didn’t seem to hurt that much, either.

 

How can it not hurt after rolling down a mountain? There were many sharp rocks too.

 

It’s an unrealistic dream after all. I thought it was a bad dream and pinched my cheek, but I couldn’t wake up.

 

I brushed off the dirt stuck all over my body with my hands.

 

Although there were no wounds, my clothes weren’t unscathed. They were half torn, in a state too embarrassing to show others.

 

Well, it doesn’t matter.

 

Finding a village was the priority now.

 

However.

 

I was about to stand up and continue walking, but I sat back down on the spot.

 

“Huu……”

 

Because I had encountered it.

 

The thing I least wanted to meet in the forest.

 

-Grrrr……

 

There were many eyes looking at me. Several beasts were surrounding me, baring their sharp teeth.

 

I couldn’t tell what kind of animals they were. They only appeared as black silhouettes because they weren’t too close.

 

Am I going to die after all?

 

Without having done anything since my body changed.

 

Cold sweat flowed, and I felt my clothes sticking to me as they got wet.

 

But I had no time to worry about such things. My body trembled with extreme fear.

 

I didn’t want to die. I picked up a small stone nearby as best I could.

 

It would be meaningless anyway, but thinking of it as a last struggle.

 

“……”

 

Could I take down at least one? I’m doing this because it’s too unfair for me to do nothing until the moment I die.

 

I stepped back one step while breathing roughly.

 

As I did so, my gaze naturally went down, and I could only sigh at how ridiculous it was.

 

‘These arms are so damn thin……’

 

I had momentarily forgotten that this wasn’t my original body.

 

With such slender arms, killing even a small animal would be hard. The heavens were indeed not on my side.

 

I put down even the stone and quietly leaned against a tree with my eyes closed.

 

I waited for death.

 

But death didn’t come even as I waited. I didn’t feel any pain either.

 

When I opened my eyes slightly, the pack of beasts was leaving without attacking me.

 

They weren’t just leaving. They seemed to be fleeing in fear of something they saw.

 

Is there something else here besides me?

 

I looked around from that spot but couldn’t find any other presence besides myself.

 

It doesn’t seem like they fled after seeing me, though.

 

I, who almost died on my first day of falling into another world, couldn’t move from that spot for a while.

 

I didn’t know such things existed in this world. I had entered expecting at most wild boars if there were animals in the forest.

 

Indeed, this world was a bit different from the common sense I had. It was certainly a more dangerous place than where I was originally from.

 

I was lucky this time, but I should be more careful in my actions from now on.

 

***

 

After shaking off the pack of beasts, I walked non-stop in the direction I had rolled down and was able to come out of the forest.

 

Luckily, the place I saw as I exited the forest showed traces of humans.

 

I saw a path that seemed to have been deliberately made by someone. If I followed this path, would I see a village where people live?

 

I think I saw a little hope. Even though it was already late and the sun was setting.

 

Should I sleep outside today?

 

Seeing the beasts from earlier, sleeping outside was quite dangerous, but there wasn’t any other option.

 

I was already exhausted both physically and mentally. I didn’t have the strength to walk any further.

 

It was when I closed my eyes, almost fainting like that.

 

Some time passed.

 

“Hey! What are you doing lying there?!”

 

“……?”

 

I half-opened my sleepy eyes.

 

The first thing I saw was a large object. Now, I’ve developed a reflex to bend my body whenever I see something big.

 

I was initially scared, but looking closely, it wasn’t a living thing.

 

Of course, there was something that could be called life included, but at least it didn’t look threatening.

 

‘Is it a carriage…?’

 

A vehicle that looked like it belonged in medieval times entered my vision.

 

I rubbed my eyes a few times, thinking I might have seen something wrong, but it wasn’t a dream this time either.

 

The carriage door opened, and a middle-aged man inside came out.

 

He was angrily shouting, matching his rough-looking impression.

 

“What are you doing lying there like an idiot! Are you crazy, wanting to be run over and killed?!”

 

“Ah……”

 

Listening to him, it seemed the carriage had stopped before running me over.

 

He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. Then he waved his hand as if telling me to get out of the way quickly.

 

I grabbed the sleeve of the man trying to clear me off the road and start the carriage again.

 

It was a gesture with a bit of desperation.

 

“Excuse me……”

 

“What now?”

 

“Could you give me a ride too?”

 

“There’s some space in the luggage compartment. Get in if you want.”

 

Doesn’t good luck come after a streak of bad luck?

 

I thought it was a bit much to offer help after almost running me over, but I wasn’t in a position to be picky now.