Chapter 1: Failure Penalty: You Become a Furry

I am an illustrator.

My beginning was no different from any other illustrator.

I liked scribbling with a pen since I was a child, and my parents sent me to an academy to prepare for art school entrance exams…

But…in middle school, I stumbled upon a strange light novel where saving the world involved dating and kissing, and my trajectory went awry.

I had purely enjoyed drawing and picked up the pen because of that, but under pressure from my parents, I was half-heartedly preparing for art school entrance exams.

The impact of the light novel’s illustrations on me was indescribable.

It was the first time I felt a sense of arousal from a drawing, and it was only natural for a puberty-stricken teenager, whose brain was controlled by sexual desire, to start focusing on drawing 2D, anime-style illustrations.

The result.

Seven years after that shocking first encounter with a light novel.

Now, at twenty-two years old, I…

Have darkly evolved into someone who sells lewd art on Pixiv, Fanbox, and Patreon.

“Wow, that’s sweet.”

There was a time when my parents demanded an explanation for why I wasn’t going to art school and was drawing strange things, but since I was earning an income comparable to a regular office worker through Patreon, they couldn’t force me to go to college.

For my parents, their children’s independence was defined as ‘when they secure an income sufficient to support themselves,’ and I was making that level of income.

Even though I was only twenty-two, my parents drew a line themselves and respected my wishes.

“Around 150 into stocks, 70 into savings, and the rest into a parking account for living expenses…”

And I’m not the type to manage money thoughtlessly.

I do tend to put a lot into stocks, but even that is mostly in US stocks to secure dollars…

So in terms of financial planning, I have a vision…

“Huh?”

But even for a solid young man like me, crises can arise.

***

-Hello.
I’m Johnson from the United States.
I want to request a commission.
I’m using a translator.
So communication isn’t fast.

A 150-dollar commission request came in with a strangely awkward, typical Korean translation.

At that time, I didn’t realize this request was a sign of a disaster that I should immediately run away from.

Because I was used to commissions from foreigners.

I waited for Johnson’s next message, thinking I’d make a good profit today.

-I can’t explain the composition in detail because it is a translator anyway.
I’ll just put up the tags.
cat girl, nakadashi, large breasts, wide pelvis, black hair, black eyes, doggy style….

In fact, I personally preferred foreigners who just threw tags at me over Korean commission users.

Because there were many types who, if they could communicate, would rush to get the picture they wanted as much as possible.

“Nakadashi is the tag for internal ejaculation… Okay, cat girl with emphasis on internal ejaculation fetish…”

I combined the tags Johnson sent to create a rough sketch of what I thought was the most ideal composition, and since I was satisfied with the quality, I immediately started working on it.

I’m a fast worker, so I was able to upload it to Pixiv in three days, and I sent the high-resolution, uncensored image to the client separately through private chat…

-No, no, no, this, f*ck, f*cking, ye, this is girl cat, I, want, cat girl do you understand? understand?

Johnson started to express his shock, sometimes using the translator and sometimes not.

“What the f*ck are you saying…”

I frowned and rechecked the image I sent to Johnson.

Honestly, I don’t know what the problem is.

Teary eyes, sweat-drenched skin, the light reflecting off the sweaty skin, the cat ears and tail that have a completely different texture from human skin, and finally, the milky white fluid that overflows and drips out of the cat girl’s insides.

“What’s the problem, really?”

It had been a while since I had produced a drawing this satisfactory, so I unconsciously broke the seal on my keyboard’s enter key.

I even turned on the translator to ask what his complaint was…

-I told you, asshole.
This is girl cat, I want cat girl.
Still don’t understand?
Are you an airhead?
Is your head full of air?

“Ah, f*ck…”

Now I think I get it.

This bastard is a furry.

I could already feel my anger rising, and I suppressed the urge to curse out loud as I continued the chat.

“I wrote in my commission notice that I don’t draw furries.
Why the hell are you being a pain in the ass when you didn’t read the notice?”

-What?
Why?

“Because I’m not a furry.”

-ah…….

“Alright, I’ll give you a refund, just go.
The picture itself turned out well, so I’ll just release the uncensored version as this month’s membership reward.
Let’s just agree on this.”

-I’m don’t understand.
Why you hate furry?
why?

“Well…”

I’m a human, not an animal, so why should I draw furry lewd art?

It’s ridiculous that I even have to explain this.

I’m a person with normal sexual desires.

Right after those words almost reached the tip of my tongue.

“Huh…?”

My body, which had been typing on the keyboard, tilted and then fell straight to the floor…

The last sentence that entered my eyes before I lost consciousness was…

-Then we are enemies.

Which was a…

Completely nonsensical sentence.

***

Clearly, there was a feeling of suffocation and dizziness that filled my head.

A heart attack.

Yes, that feeling was definitely a heart attack.

To have a heart attack while dealing with an annoying American who wanted a furry illustration, the reason for my death is truly absurd…

“And who the hell are you?”

Who is this woman in the mirror?

Flowing black hair.

A petite face with large eyes.

Fair skin and a slightly curvy body.

And to top it off…

“What the f*ck,”

Even a clear voice.

An unmistakable ‘woman’.

Was in the mirror of a room where an illustrator who only draws lewd pictures stays.

Which means…

“That’s me? That?”

The woman who is mirroring my actions is, in fact, me.

Clearly, I think I understand the situation.

The woman in this mirror is me.

But I, who have lived as a man for 22 years…

“Who are you, really…”

Turning into a girl who looks like she’s only in middle school, it’s driving me insane…

“Hayoon! Aren’t you going to school? It’s 8 o’clock, 8 o’clock!”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘Huh?’ Are you not going to school?”

“No, that…”

“That what?
Are you saying you’re going to eat breakfast?
Isn’t school at 9?
Can you get there on time if you eat breakfast?”

“Ah.
No, I’ll get ready.”

“Okay.”

The woman who came to nag at me for not getting ready for school was definitely ‘my’ mother.

But that mother is calling me ‘Hayoon’.

“What the hell is going on…?”

Only then did Hayoon, who had been staring intently at her reflection in the mirror, turn her head to look at the door that her mother had briefly entered and then closed.

And, the door stopper installed on the top of the door.

The moment she saw the set of school uniforms for girls hanging on the stopper, along with the school uniform vest with her name ‘Min Hayoon’ printed on the name tag…

“Why does no one think this is weird?”

I realized that I had returned to the past.

But, the people in the past, they were taking it for granted that I was a girl.

Why…

Why did this happen?

Just as that question was about to sound an alarm…

“Hayoon! School! Don’t go back to sleep!”

“Ah, yes!
F*ck, I’ll go wash up!”

As if she had no intention of letting Hayoon, who was blankly organizing her thoughts, go, her mother, who had gone back to the main room, shouted again…

And so, Hayoon began to prepare for middle school, which she had graduated from more than 5 years ago.

***

There was no time to wash every nook and cranny of my body.

According to my old memories, in order to get to middle school, which is about four bus stops away, on time, I had to leave by 8:40 at the latest, and even then, the bus schedule had to be just right for me to arrive without being late.

“Ugh, it’s cold…”

In my pajamas, I went straight to the bathroom, wet my hair, and washed it with fluffy, foamed shampoo.

Then, I immediately rinsed off the soap by pouring cold water from the shower head over my head.

My hair was long, so it took a little time, but I managed to wash my hair somehow, and finished brushing my teeth and washing my face in about 6 minutes.

“24 minutes?”

After checking the time, I ran back to my room and turned on the hair dryer to dry my hair.

“Ah, f*ck…”

Is it because my hair is long?

It feels like it takes more time than when I wash my hair.

In the end, I dried only the scalp area and turned off the hair dryer at around 32 minutes.

Next up, I have to change clothes…

“Huh…”

I paused.

Hayoon, standing in front of the mirror next to the built-in closet, stared intently at herself in the mirror.

Then, she slowly started to take off her pajamas…

“Ahem, ahem…”

Holy sh*t.

Her body development was not normal for a middle schooler.

Not to mention her breasts that had begun to rise, even her wide, curved hips.

Hayoon, who was watching, felt her face flush for no reason, and she shook her head and started taking out her uniform that was hanging on the door.

The top was nothing too strange.

Put it on, tie the slightly short necktie, and wear the vest with the name tag.

It’s the same as a man’s.

But the bottoms are…

So very different.

“Ugh…”

Clearly, I’m a man, I was a man…

The unpleasant feeling of having to wear a skirt now.

However, there is a strange sense of pressure that, as a student, I have to wear a school uniform skirt.

But if I quit school, middle school is mandatory education…

“Annoying…”

In the end, while expressing her displeasure at this situation, which was so disadvantageous to her, she reluctantly put on the check-patterned skirt that was typical of the 2010s school uniforms…

Anyway…

“39 minutes…”

This is somehow the end of my preparations.

Hayoon frowned at the feeling of the wind constantly blowing under her skirt and brushing against her thighs, but she grabbed her phone, wallet, and bag and rushed out the door.

“I’m off!”

“Okay, have a good day.”

She didn’t forget to say goodbye.

Even though they think of me as a girl, my mother is still my mother.

Acting as if I really became a middle schooler, I pressed the first floor button in the elevator to go to school and waited for the floor number to slowly decrease…

[Emergency Mission!]

Earn one million won with a ‘Furry’ illustration!

A situation that usually appears in novels, commonly referred to as a ‘status window’…

Appeared in front of my eyes, and Hayoon immediately flipped the status window the middle finger.

“F*ck off, you bastard.”

Even if I died of a heart attack for refusing a furry illustration commission.

Even if I came back to life as a woman, I have no intention of drawing furry illustrations.

“I’d rather break my pen than draw that kind of thing, f*ck.
You’re the one who killed me and made me a woman, right?
Huh?
Just wait, I’ll kill you, for real.
You bastard……”

Dealing with a furry like that and dying, and then coming to my senses as a woman, it’s already terrible, but was it a problem that I have to go back to school again?

Hayoon, whose stress had already reached its limit, angrily responded to the air while swearing, f*ck, f*ck.

And the status window’s response to that was…

[Mission!]
Alternative

-You, ‘Min Hayoon’, have a strong conviction as an illustrator!
We highly value that conviction!
We will respect your wishes.
Instead, earn 10 million won with your illustrations before the end of 2019!
Success Reward: ???
Failure Penalty: You will become a furry.

“Huh…?”

That was a terrible threat.