This is a side story commemorating Children’s Day that has little to do with the main story!
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A city of steel and concrete, with skyscrapers towering dozens of meters high, small steeples, and red neon crosses everywhere.
Wheeled metal beasts storm down neatly paved black roads like ferocious predators, while people dressed in colorful clothing hustle about, glued to the devices in their hands.
Instead of corpses stabbed with knives or scar-faced robbers, unwashed people in shabby patchwork clothes walk over dirt-covered ground littered with dog poop, a scenery vastly different from a world where the most luxurious mansions are only three or four stories tall.
“Uh…?”
When I opened my eyes, I found myself back on Earth.
Instead of a shadowy alley filled with corpses or scarred thieves, I saw stray cats rummaging through trash and punks hiding and sneaking a smoke.
A world isolated from corpses, plunder, slaughter, and savagery – a world of law and order.
Back to my true home.
◆◆
‘…What is this? A dream?’
I had returned to Earth, to Korea—
—was a delusion that was impossible to have.
If it were true, it would have been an immensely joyous thing, but I immediately knew that wasn’t the case.
Regrettably, oh so regrettably, this was not reality.
There was no way this could be reality. Of course not. What was I even expecting?
“…Ha.”
I raised my left hand, stared blankly at it, and let out a laugh.
The hand of a twenty-year-old knight clad in dark gray armor.
As I chuckled, hoping for a moment it wasn’t a dream, my uncolored lemon-yellow hair tickled my ears.
Yeah. If this really were reality, and I had returned to my original world out of nowhere without any premonitions…
Then, of course, I would have returned to my original body, not this form.
I scoffed as I looked at my reflection in the convenience store’s glass.
In the heart of 21st-century Seoul, here I was sporting a medieval yet slightly game-like metallic armor.
It was an utterly alien sight.
The people bustling around me reacted not at all to my presence, which was eerie enough to be slightly chilling.
A Western beauty in full armor and wielding a sword walks down the street, and no one looks? There’s no way this is reality.
Sure, someone might mistake my outfit for some sort of cosplay, but even if it were cosplay, wouldn’t it be normal for someone to at least show some interest?
They’d glance from a distance, whisper amongst themselves, take sneaky photos, or maybe even muster the courage to approach me with some ‘Excuse me?’ kind of cringy English.
Any Korean would act that way.
If they weren’t completely oblivious to my presence, there’s no way they could ignore someone so conspicuous.
Thus, this must be a dream. A remarkably elaborate one, but still, a lucid dream.
…Ah, thinking about it, it’s absurd.
Even in a dream, I look like this? How accustomed have I become to this body? At this rate, I might even forget my original appearance completely.
In reality, I couldn’t vividly recall my original looks either.
I remembered the image, but it felt a bit hazy regarding the details, if I’m honest.
In fact, the current image and my former appearance had begun to blend in my mind, ultimately forming the image of a refined young Asian man who resembled Brunhilde, only with a different race and gender.
‘……’
Who is this handsome guy?
Although I can’t clearly recall my original looks, I’m sure I didn’t resemble the image I imagined, at least not like that.
If I did, I’d be better off having twenty limbs or something!
…So, when a young man with exactly the same appearance as my imagined image walked by me, I was caught off guard and nearly jumped up.
“Uh…?”
It was like the image inside my head had leaped into reality.
He covered his face with a mask and a hat, but from my perspective— the perception of Brunhilde— I could see through the mask’s obscurity.
…What the heck, who is that?
Even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, the face remained exactly the same as in my imagination. Where did this guy suddenly come from?
Is this just a dream thing?
Perhaps the entire world is a lucid dream, and my imagination is being reflected in real time?
A situation I couldn’t comprehend at all.
In my panic, I unconsciously reached out and grabbed the young man’s shoulder to stop him.
“Excuse me!”
“…….”
No response.
No, he couldn’t have responded. My voice probably didn’t even reach him.
Not unless he was some sort of shaman.
‘Can’t touch him….’
Just after I failed to grab his shoulder, I finally grasped the kind of being I had become in this dream world.
‘No way, was I some sort of ghost?….’
A ghost.
Not the type of ghost that you would have to slay with holy weapons or divine miracles, but an actual, visible entity’s absence – the spirit of a dead person.
In this dream world, I was something akin to that.
I couldn’t touch people, and I wouldn’t be heard if I tried to speak.
So, I wondered if I could pass through objects too, and when I tried to step out into the street, unsurprisingly, vehicles passed right through me.
It was quite a strange experience.
◆◆
After confirming that in this dream world, I was merely a ghostly tourist, I followed that man for a while until I woke up from the dream.
I didn’t have any particular intention behind my following him; I was simply curious.
“Could you ring me up, please?”
“Uh… that’ll be four thousand won! Do you need a bag?”
“Yes, please bag it.”
The novelty peaked the moment he took out his wallet at the convenience store.
The name and resident registration number on the glanced-at ID in his wallet matched my previous information.
In other words, this guy was none other than “me” in this dream world. He looked more like Brunhilde than the real me.
“Uh, excuse me… could I possibly get your number…?”
“Sorry, I’m seeing someone.”
“Ah….”
Whoa, the me in this dream is out here getting numbers at a convenience store. Apparently, he’s even got a girlfriend.
It wasn’t so much amazing or remarkable as it was just plain embarrassing.
Common sense dictates that I wouldn’t feel satisfied or amazed watching the dream-me get numbers from girls, right?
It felt like my long-buried desire for validation was bearing its ugly head in this scene.
And the casual manner of the convenience store worker, along with her rejection, came off as woefully contrived and clumsy because…
‘…You’d only know if you’ve experienced it yourself.’
Perhaps it was because I had never actually experienced anything like that in reality.
Like a sort of data shortage?
The dream world was ultimately a construct built upon my own memories and experiences. You can’t seamlessly stage situations you haven’t faced.
So when I thought about that, it made sense why such artificial situations and clumsy lines were playing out.
…Yet understanding it only made me feel more embarrassed.
Consider this. The image of ‘the most perfect me’ living a life full of women’s attention and affection?
If you really think about it, this is about as close to a nightmare as it gets.
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
It felt like being caught reading a poetry book I’d scrawled in during middle school at the age of twenty.
Even if we’re talking about nightmares, I’d have felt much more at ease being chased by a monster or something.
“Krahhhhhh—!!”
…No, I didn’t mean for a real monster to show up!
◆◆
“KYAAAAA!”
“Wait, what the heck is that a monster?!”
Suddenly, the world transformed into a disaster zone.
People walking down the sidewalk sipping iced coffee threw their cups down and rushed to escape, while cars sped off like they had thrown out the speed limit entirely.
—Bang!
The direction everyone was fleeing from echoed with a terrifying roar, as if a bomb had gone off; glass shards and smoke shot high up into the air.
—Wheeew!
Just then, a siren blared. A frantic alarm rang out from the speakers installed on the traffic lights.
“Emergency alert! Emergency alert! An unidentified gate has been detected at Myeongdong 6-gil! Please evacuate the area immediately if you are nearby!”
Gate alarm.
I had a rough idea of what it meant, but even so, it was all so sudden and absurd that I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
What the heck was going on here?
There’s a limit to genre drifting. One moment it’s regular everyday life, and then suddenly it morphs into some gate monster film?
And with not a single foreshadowing or warning beforehand?
Right as I muttered that I’d prefer a nightmare where I was being chased by monsters, those two-dimensional gate monsters popped out.
Maybe it’s because it’s a dream, but the flow of the narrative is simply terrible.
…Surprisingly, this was only the precursor to the real chaos.
“Damn it, why here of all places…!”
The dream version of me scowled, clicking his tongue while looking at the fleeing people.
His expression resembled that of a cubicle monkey receiving work messages from his boss during a vacation.
‘…Is that guy not running away?’
In the moment I felt that confusion, my dream-self emptied the drink he bought from the convenience store in one gulp and dashed into the alley beside the shop. He didn’t seem to be running away from the gate’s appearance in Myeongdong 6-gil but instead seemed to be trying to hide somewhere nearby.
I decided to follow to find out why he was acting that way.
“Alright, no one’s watching me…?”
In a dim alley, a young man muttered nervously, clearly on edge as he looked around.
Of course, no one else had the leisure to glance into the dark back alley; everyone was too busy trying to escape.
‘What’s up with this guy…?’
Except for me.
Of course, I was practically a ghost, so to the dream version of me, it probably felt like no one could see him. He must’ve breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to himself.
Then, he placed his left hand over his heart and muttered softly.
“Transform.”
An unbelievable murmur that made me question my ears.
‘Transform, what? Did I just hear that right?’
As I tried to process the absurdity of what I had just heard, I suddenly witnessed…
—Swoosh!
A dazzling blue light erupted from my dream-self’s chest, enveloping his entire body.
“Wait a second, what the heck is this?!”
A question slipped out of my mouth due to my shock. I stared at the boy being enveloped by the light in a daze.
—Whoooooooosh…!
The blue light that illuminated the alley faded away, and standing in front of me was someone entirely different from the young man.
Lemon-yellow hair with a slight wave at the ends. Ocean-blue eyes and a youthful yet cold face.
A blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl looking like a middle schooler, wielding a magnificent sword and gazing out of the alley.
It was as if the age of the current me… that is, Brunhilde had been reduced by about six years.
Except for her absurdly extravagant dress adorned with ice-formed armor.
‘…No way…’
Dumbfounded by the sight before me, ‘little Brunhilde’ dropped the convenience store bag to the ground and leaped forward, soaring up to the rooftop of a nearby building.
—Crash!
Then, she launched herself toward the Myeongdong 6-gil, where the roaring of monsters could be heard, using a superhuman strength that seemed to come from another dimension.
Each time she soared, something like a mist of snow and ice trailed behind her, sparkling beautifully.
I found myself following her in a daze.
Even in the dream, that superhuman physical prowess was intact, and since I could run through walls, it wasn’t hard to chase after her.
And so, in the blink of an eye, I reached Myeongdong 6-gil, where I witnessed….
“Grahhhhhhh!!!”
“KYAAAAA!”
A towering monster, swinging a gigantic axe at a bus that couldn’t escape in time, and the sight of a blonde, blue-eyed girl creating a barrier of ice to block its path as she fell from the sky.
—Crash!
The ice barrier shattered against the weight of the monstrous axe.
Before the shattered shards could hit the ground, they transformed into light and vanished, like a mirage. No, like magic.
“It’s a magical girl! A magical girl has come!”
“It’s Brunhilde of the Ice Realm!”
People trapped inside the mangled bus cheered with faces filled with relief, shouting a name that was far too familiar to me.
“GRAHHHHHHHH…!!”
The monster roared ferociously, its twisted face contorted in rage at having its axe blocked.
But the girl who had stopped the monster didn’t seem afraid; she smiled confidently and aimed her sword at it, all the while declaring her identity with great pride.
“I am the Ice Realm’s magical girl, Frozen☆Valkyrie Brunhilde! I have descended here!”
I stopped thinking.
There was no need to think. The knight Brunhilde had transformed into the gender-fluid magical girl ‘Frozen☆Valkyrie’ and was now fighting a monster in Myeongdong.
It was better for the one thinking to just take a loss. I might as well enjoy this crazy dream and keep my mind blank.
Because there’s no way this crazy world isn’t a dream.
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