“…?”

I stopped in my tracks, feeling something off.

I blinked blankly at the unbelievable scene before my eyes.

“Where am I…?”

Just once.

It was just a single step.

No, was it even a blink?

I’m not sure. My mind was in such chaos that I couldn’t make a proper judgment.

In just a single moment, a place completely different from where I was walking until a moment ago unfolded before my eyes.

As  if the world had turned upside down in an instant.

[Hello!]

“…?”

Even after standing blankly for a while and looking around, nothing changed. The scenery that had changed instantly was still spread out before me.

I had no idea what was going on right now. It was beyond confusing.

In that situation, I suddenly heard someone greeting me.

I quickly looked around, but all I saw was a back alley with no people in sight.

A completely different place from the main street I had been walking on.

There was no one there to greet me.

A greeting coming from a place with no one around.

Hearing that, I made a judgment.

“What, is this a dream.”

[It’s not a dream, you know?]

“A lucid dream? This is really weird.”

[I’m telling you, it’s not a dream!]

Whenever I had dreams, my mind always felt like it was hazily dyed.

This was the first time I had such a clear awareness that I was dreaming.

The voice of a young girl keeps yelling in my head that it’s not a dream, but…

What else could it be  if it’s not a dream when the location suddenly changes instantly?

“… It’s weird.”

I clearly remember everything I did today, but I think this is all a dream.

Just looking at the dark back alley was exciting.

The cell phone I always carried was suddenly nowhere to be seen, but I didn’t care.

How strange.

Do people who have lucid dreams always feel this kind of joy in their lives?

I heard they put a lot of effort into practicing lucid dreams.

…Should I try?

As I was thinking that and looking around, it happened.

The girl in my head shouted loudly.

[Argh! I told you it’s not a dream! How do I explain this…!]

“…Ugh, this is a bit much. It’s loud.”

Where on earth is that voice coming from?

I wished for the owner of this voice to disappear, but it had no noticeable effect.

Since it was a lucid dream, I thought things would go as I wished. However, I guess it’s not perfect.

“Oh, what’s this? A half-decent looking chick.”

“What brings you here? Here to play with us?”

“Why else would she be here?”

“Heh heh.”

… What’s this now?

As I tried hard to ignore the voice in my head and admire the scenery, two thugs were suddenly laughing and chatting.

Frivolous voices, as  if intimidating some woman they had grabbed.

Was my imagination always this good?

It was so realistic that it made me frown. I moved to leave the spot.

“What, are you ignoring us?”

“Cheeky, just like you look… So that’s how it is, huh?”

It was pitiful for the unknown woman who seemed entangled with these annoying guys, but I had no intention of helping her.

She’s just a dream character anyway.

She’ll get intimidated like that, then disappear once I leave….

“…?”

“You can’t just ignore us like that.”

“When someone talks to you, you should respond, right?”

What the hell are with these guys?

Why are they coming up to me?

I have no intention of getting in your way.

Do what you were doing. There is no need to involve me.

Not wanting to get involved with these annoying fellows, I tried to change direction and leave.

“…Ah, seriously. You’re pissing me off.”

My body suddenly swayed greatly, and my vision spun.

I turned my head to look behind me, and sure enough, one of the thugs had grabbed my wrist.

So that’s why, because my arm was grabbed.

I felt a slight pain in my arm, perhaps because my wrist was suddenly grabbed.

…Wait, pain?

“I let it slide that you came here alone, but ignoring us is a no-go.”

“I thought you might be a superhuman, so we watched for a bit… Looks like you’re just a stupid pretty face.”

“A normal person entering an alley like this needs to give up on leaving unscathed, got it?”

The thugs were saying something noisily, but I just blankly stared at my arm where I felt pain.

“…This isn’t a dream?”

If it was a dream, there’s no way it would hurt, right?

Perhaps they heard me muttering blankly.

The thugs looked at me with slightly worried expressions.

“Hey, is this chick alright in the head?”

“Dunno. Seems a bit out of it. But since her face is pretty, we can sell her for a high price.”

“Hmm, is that so.”

…Woman?

Come to think of it, these guys have been talking to a woman this whole time.

Realizing that fact, I quickly looked around.

And what I saw was a desolate alley and a slender arm still being held by the thugs.

“Wh-what…?”

Only then did I notice the discomfort in my body.

The countless inconsistencies I had brushed off, thinking it was a dream, suddenly became a reality.

Delicate arms.

Heavy chest and a lower point of view than usual.

A soft voice, lower than typical for a woman but still clearly feminine.

A different sense of balance.

Such big changes that I couldn’t understand how I hadn’t noticed.

There was only one truth those changes pointed to.

The woman those thugs kept talking to was me.

“Wh-what happened….”

“This chick still doesn’t get the situation, huh.”

“It’s convenient for us. By the way, she’s way better than I thought…Hey.”

While I was still lost in confusion, I noticed the thug’s eyes scanning my body and realized.

I was in an extremely dangerous situation right now.

“Be careful. She may be top-grade goods, but…If we damage her, the price will drop a lot.”

“…Tsk. I guess so.”

“Let’s hold back a little. If we can sell this woman, we’ll be able to get so many chicks we’ll be tripping over them.”

I’m not sure about the details myself.

But one thing is certain…

If things continue like this, who knows what will happen to me.

Realizing that, I desperately tried to shake off his hand and run away, but…

This frail body that wasn’t my original one couldn’t shake off the men’s arms.

“Let go, let go…!”

“Huh? What’s this.”

“Looks like she’s come to her senses?”

“…Tsk. This is getting annoying.”

What on earth is going on?

If it wasn’t a dream, did I move to such a strange place in the blink of an eye?

No, in the first place, why did my body change like this?

Putting those thoughts aside, I tried my best to get away from here, but…

The result of my struggle was met with violence.

“Ugh, urgh…!”

“This, is, annoying, you know. Stay, still, like earlier!”

Not enough to cause injury, just light violence.

But even that light violence was unfamiliar, and I quickly shrank back.

…It hurts.

It hurt so much.

[Hmm…. Getting beat up by extras like them is a bit much….]

Why do I have to suffer this kind of treatment?

What the hell is going on?

Just as tears were about to fall from the unfairness of it all.

The auditory hallucination that had been speaking in my head talked to me.

[Reader-nim. You need to escape this situation quickly!]

“E-escape…? How…?”

“Escape my ass! Shut up and stay put!”

“Aah, aaah…!”

I unconsciously muttered the hallucination’s words, and the thug who heard kicked me even harder.

I could only cower and endure his malice and desire.

[Hmm…. How should I explain this…? There’s something called mana… Do you know about it?]

Something inside the body? Mana?

It was a terribly shoddy explanation, but I had no choice but to listen to the hallucination’s words.

To escape this situation.

Clinging to it like a drowning person grasping at straws, I desperately tried to find that something inside my body the hallucination spoke of.

I-is this it…?

[You found it? Then try to focus your power with the feeling of making it go boom!]

The feeling of making it go boom, huh?

Again, with the vague instructions.

How do I make this explode?

But I obediently followed the hallucination’s words, and the result was shocking.

“Aaaaaargh! My, my arm…!”

“?! A-are you okay!”

“Uuuurgh…! Shi-shiiit…!”

Swoosh.

Something thin swiftly passed by in an instant.

“…A thread?”

I blankly watched the thread fall gently before my eyes.

A single thin, small thread brushed past my vision.

But in the path the thread moved, a long cut was left behind.

As  if something sharp had passed through.

It was only natural.

The hand of the man hitting me, who had been standing in the thread’s path, was sliced off in an instant.

“Y-you crazy…! A superhuman…! Shit…! Why were you just taking it…?!”

“A-are you okay?!”

“Worry about me later. We don’t have time for that! Hurry and kill that bitch before we both die!”

“Eek, eeek?!”

Faced with this sudden series of events, I was paralyzed with fear.

In a place I didn’t know, with someone’s voice in my head, in a changed body…

So, my actions were extremely simple.

The moment those thugs started moving to outright kill me.

The method the voice had taught me, I tried it again.

This time, with more force.

Something inside my body moved.

Violently

Boom.

The result was horrific.

“…Huh?”

Thud thud.

Along with blood, dismembered bodies rained down on the ground.

A few fingers from the man who had been about to punch me lightly tapped my cheek as they fell.

“Urp, uurgh…!”

Witnessing that horrific sight, I spent a long time retching.

I’m not sure how I did it, but one thing was clear.

I killed them.

[Hmm, it was more shocking than I expected…?]

As I kept vomiting, unable to recover from the shock for a while, the voice in my head muttered.

[Haa…. It’s a bit hard but…. Ta-da! Reader-nim? Look ahead! It’s okay now, right?]

“Uurp….O, okay…?”

I immediately regretted lifting my head at the voice’s words.

The corpses had vanished.

Nothing.

As  if they had never been there in the first place.

[Reader-nim, hello!]

“….”
That’s when I realized.

This wasn’t some auditory hallucination.

It was something far more dangerous.

“Wh-what the hell…is this….”

[Hehe, you used quite some power! You shouldn’t be fazed by killing a few puppets like them, Reader-nim!]

“… puppets?”

[Yep, puppets! Guys who can’t even get on stage!]

After that, the voice in my head rambled on about things I hadn’t even asked.

That it brought me here, that it wants to make the world fun…

I couldn’t properly understand most of what they were saying.

But there was one thing.

One thing I wanted to make clear.

“…What should I call you?”

[Hmm… Let’s see! Call me Author-nim!]

“Author-nim…?”

[Yes!]

I looked around once more.

The bloody scene that was there until a moment ago had vanished as  if I had hallucinated it.

That was my first encounter with Author-nim.

Translator’s Corner

Moving on, I’ll start using Reader-nim and Author-nim when they refer to each other.

Also, how should we refer to the actual author of the novel?

-Ruminas