Chapter 1: Activation

I came into a small studio apartment that was about 7 pyeong in size, plopped down on the mattress, took the bracelet out of my pocket, and examined it.

It was evening, the sun was setting, and it was getting dark.

Even though the room was slightly dark because the lights weren’t on, the bracelet was brightly shining and seemed to be shedding a pinkish light.

“What the hell is this situation? I have no regrets?”

I lived a life of emptiness without any regrets.

That doesn’t mean I want to die.

As people often say, I want to live until I shit on the wall.

Not only do I not have the courage to die, but even the thought of dying is scary.

I lived an ordinary life.

I lived so ordinary that it was a problem.

I went to middle school, high school, engineering school, the military, and worked at a tech company for a men’s company.

I lived my whole life in a pepper field, and I was an idiot with an ordinary appearance who had never held a woman’s hand.

Aside from my ordinary hobby of playing games, I had never had any special hobbies or club activities.

After graduating from a two-year local university, I came all the way to Seoul alone to get a decent job and started living in a studio apartment.

I would go to work, play games at home, watch internet broadcasts, fall asleep when I got tired, and go back to work.

When I was 28, money problems started to surface at home.

Having suffered from domestic violence in the name of Confucian education as a child, I decided that this was the time to cut ties with my family.

After working for almost two years, I got fed up and quit, and my severance pay was just over 5 million won.

I threw myself into games as soon as I got my paycheck, so I didn’t have any savings.

I was spending all my money at home, eating and playing, and then I ran out of money, so I worked hard at a construction site and earned 100,000 won, and on the way back, I met Par.

All I had left was a small studio apartment, a computer that I bought a few years ago with my first paycheck, and the 100,000 won I received today.

As the years passed, I felt like my emotions were wearing down.

I stopped playing games that were so fun after quitting.

All I do is watch internet broadcasts and fall asleep.

“Hmm.”

The bracelet on my palm emits a splendid light.

“What will I do about dating if I change? No, do I really want to date a woman?”

I do like women, but I’ve never been in love before, so I don’t understand how sweet love is.

“You have to try to know…”

I don’t feel like working, and working hard and eating dust feels like shit, so I can’t do it anymore.

Even the games I thought I couldn’t live without are no fun.

I don’t know if it’s because I don’t have money, or if I’ve lost interest as I get older.

As I stare blankly at the bracelet and continue my thoughts, I come to the thought that I can’t answer,

“If I were a woman, wouldn’t I be able to live a little more comfortably?”

“Is there a reason not to use this?”

I don’t want to die, but living isn’t fun either.

“Would life be a little more fun if I put you on?”

There was no answer from the bracelet that was streaming light.

I don’t know if writing this will really work, and I’ve lived too realistically to believe in such an unrealistic thing.

“But didn’t the person disappear right in front of me?”

Reality and unreality coexist.

Or am I mentally ill?

It’s probably one of the two.

“Let’s go!”

I put the bracelet that didn’t fit on my left hand in.

Crunch. Crunch.

Then, out of nowhere, I heard a strange sound.

I thought it was coming from the bracelet, but it was my thigh.

No, it was the sound coming from my entire body.

My whole body shook and shook.

Crack! Snap! Snap!!

A sound like my bones were breaking resonated through my body.

Only then did I feel a maddening pain.

“Kusaaaak!”

Like a deflated balloon, like someone who went on a crash diet, my flesh dangled as the fat disappeared, and all my bones in my body were breaking.

“Kusaak.”

All I could do in the maddening pain was collapse and drool.

“Ugh… I should pass out at this point… I’m going to die.”

I don’t know how many minutes have passed.

My mind is clear, but I can still hear the sound of my body being crushed.

At that moment, I was begging and begging for someone to just pass out.

Strangely enough, the pain disappeared in an instant.

“Haa, huah. What the hell is this? Shouldn’t it just be a light that flows out and then change in a flash? You crazy holy spirit bastard!!”

Even though I screamed like crazy, fortunately, no unfortunate incidents occurred where the neighbors came to visit.

It seems that since the work is done early and finished early, not all the people have arrived yet.

I slowly caught my breath and got up and walked toward the bathroom.

“Ugh. What the heck, why are your eyes like this?”

It seemed that my body was not adjusting well to the change and I was staggering.

Click.

I arrived at the bathroom, turned on the fluorescent light, and when I looked in the mirror, I saw myself.

A woman who was so ordinary that she seemed to be protesting that she would give up on taking care of herself, blinking her hazy, light blue eyes as she looked in the mirror.

I looked at my face in the mirror and saw that it was me.

“I did change, but what the heck. Shouldn’t a saint change to be a little prettier?”

Even her voice sounded rough, and if I kept listening, it was enough to make me feel uncomfortable.

The clothes were loose because they were men’s clothes, and my shoulders were visible, and the jeans that were fastened with a belt were all loosened up and barely hanging on my other hip.

“No, it’s just my hair that’s grown out. Why is my hair so long, down to my tailbone?”

My hair was disheveled as if it had been torn off, and my skin was rough.

“Is this it? Why is my hair a dirty, dull pink that looks like a drop of ink was sprinkled on it? Did that Holy Spirit fall asleep while dyeing it?”

The result of all the suffering and transformation was too miserable.

No matter how much I thought about it, it was too unfair.

“What was that con artist’s name? Paris?”

As I muttered because I couldn’t remember the Holy Spirit’s name, a strange sound came into my ear.

Wooooowow!

A humming sound that sounded like the resonance I had heard outside had grown louder, and the mirror in front of me began to flash and I began to see something faint.

“Eww! You, what are you!”

The thing reflected in the mirror was the Holy Spirit that I had seen outside, and that I had been desperately searching for just a moment ago.

“Hello, Contractor.”

“Contractor? Contractor?? You crazy fly, what is this? What is this? And why did you jump out of the mirror!”

“It’s not a fly, it’s a par. And the reason I came out using the mirror is because I wanted to minimize the power needed to project my image.”

“I almost lost my liver. So that’s not important. What is this appearance right now? Is this the saint you mentioned or something? And what about the pain I went through earlier?”

My speech naturally becomes rough due to the pain and my unpleasant appearance.

“Let me explain it to you one by one. The pain from the changes in your body was because I couldn’t relieve the pain because I didn’t have enough strength.”

“Then you should have told me in advance. That level of pain would either lead to mental illness or shock, one of the two.”

“I have nothing to say about that except that I’m sorry. Since it was my first time, I didn’t know it would be that painful.”

“No, you’re talking about a spirit or something, but why are you so dumbfounded? So even if it passed, why is my face like this?”

Par’s dead eyes slowly moved and turned to my face.

“That’s the same. Since my power was lacking, I transformed my appearance to be as similar as possible to my face before changing, and focused my efforts on changing my bones and organs to those of a woman.”

“Huh, then why is your hair a dull pink?”

“That color is also the symbol of the Heavenly Peach.”

“You keep talking about the Heavenly Peach, but are you talking about the Heavenly Peach? From what I know, the Heavenly Peach is closer to red?”

“That’s because your power is still similar to that of a regular believer, and it’s impossible for a human to reach the Heavenly Peach.”

“Is it true that it will gradually change?”

“That’s right. And I will give you the power to gather the most important divine power and change.”

Par in the mirror waved his hand in the air.

“What, what?”

Words suddenly appeared before my eyes.

A translucent outline appeared in the air like a hologram, and words were written inside it.

[Name: Hangaeul] [Age: 21] [Position: Saintess] [Affiliation: Cheondo] [Contract Spirit: Aparsec] [Shop]: Inactive

“This is the last strength I can give you.”

As I read the written words, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Huh, it’s just personal information. Why did you rejuvenate your age like that?”

“I reverted your physical age to facilitate the life of the contractor as a saint.”

“This is the change I like the most so far. What’s the store?”

“What you saw earlier is just information, as the contractor said, but the store written at the end is the power that is closest to the authority that grants most of my power.”

Authority sounds grander than I thought.

After reading a little more, I pointed to the deactivation next to the store with my finger.

“What about that deactivation?”

“It’s just a temporary restriction. It will be lifted naturally if you engage in productive activities, so don’t worry.”

Suddenly, the word productive activities felt too confusing.

“Productive activities? Are you talking about earning money?”

“That’s right. That’s the condition for unlocking the store, and the money earned becomes the medium for utilizing the power of the store.”

“Why money out of the blue?”

“A medium must be imbued with the power of value, and among the most valuable things to humans, I chose the easiest to access and consume.”

“So all I have to do is earn money?”

“No, money is just a medium for utilizing the store, and gathering sexual power is a different story.”