Chapter 0: Prologue

A wide alley with many one-room apartments.

After work, I walked slowly, feeling tired.

I was looking down when I felt someone ahead.

A strange woman blocked my way.

She had dull pink hair and empty eyes.

I wondered if my eyes looked like hers.

“Excuse me.”

“Huh?”

“I saw good fortune coming, so I spoke to you. I am…”

“Shit, I am Amitabha.”

“…”

Do you know that even a cult can’t be a cult without seeing it?

I felt like he was trying to get money for ancestral rites by talking about ancestors I didn’t know, so I angrily passed him by.

“Excuse me! I’m not that kind of person!”

“What are you saying? I’m a student. Do you think I should buy you a drink and talk to you? Please go away.”

I don’t know why scammers, who usually gather in busy places to extort money from innocent people or tourists, are in the alleys of the one-room village where there are hardly any people.

I was about to pass by when she urgently spoke to me again.

“My name is!”

“Aparsec.”

When she spoke, the name Aparsec echoed in my head, leaving a deep impression.

The echo left me feeling unsteady, and I almost lost my balance. I heard her voice again.

“Please call me Par.”

I pressed my head, which was throbbing from the echo.

“Par… you?”

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Hangaeul.”

“Who are you? How do you know my name?”

“I am the divine spirit Par, who supports one side of the Heavenly Peach.”

What is the Heavenly Peach and what is a divine spirit?

Her introduction was unclear and strange.

My heart sank.

“Yes… What do you need from me?”

“I must protect the Heavenly Peach by repeating birth and death. But the fruit of this life has failed, and I haven’t been given a proper life.”

I couldn’t make sense of the conversation, so I just listened.

“My early death is happening faster than new fruit can be born. Because of this, the Heavenly Peach will be misaligned and collapse.”

“I have been looking for someone to prolong my life until my new birth.”

“Most humans are too foolish, but Han Ga-eul is suitable. I want to make you a believer and a saint.”

He kept talking, but I couldn’t understand.

“Saint… like in religion?”

“Yes, a saint, one who leads the life of the Holy Spirit.”

“I don’t understand the collapse part, but you need a saint to join your cause, right?”

“It’s not a religion, but you understand the essence.”

“But I’m a man. Shouldn’t I be a saint, not a saintess?”

Par responded to my question.

“A saintess must accept a woman’s power. If a man becomes a believer, my life will be consumed faster than the power I gain.”

“What happens if I accept less of that power?”

“My life will replace the saintess’s power, and without enough power, the Heavenly Peach will collapse.”

“No, I’m a man, even if I’m a saint. Then it wouldn’t work.”

“That’s why I want to change your gender.”

“…Yes?”

Par held out a bright pink bracelet.

“If you wear this, Han Ga-eul will become a woman and gain the ability to draw out sexual power.”

I took the bracelet without saying anything.

“…Can I put it on now?”

“No, you don’t have to. Think about it and do it when you’re ready.”

I stared at the bracelet and asked Par again.

“What do you mean by having no regrets?”

Par smiled faintly.

“Think about it carefully and decide.”

The bracelet felt transparent despite its pink color. As I examined it, Par disappeared.

When I looked ahead, she was gone.