Chapter 14: Power struggle

I woke up at 3:00 AM, having slept unusually early. Right, school today. I realized this belatedly and tried to go back to sleep.

Oh, sh*t.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned before finally getting up. This is a disaster. I still have four hours until school.

My body was stiff from lying in bed, so I sat at my desk. Seeing the laptop reminded me of yesterday.

…Hwajuyeon tricked me into becoming an assistant mod of the Yuri Gallery. I’m a newbie, and an assistant mod? It’s too much.

But it’s done. Speaking of the gallery, I wondered if the regulars were online at this hour.

At 3:00 AM? Doubtful. Curiosity piqued, I powered up my laptop and logged onto the Google community. The first post was jarring.

[Crazy b*tch, no mods, so tactical nukes are flying.][17]

Tactical nukes? I didn’t understand what was happening. I refreshed the page to see why everyone was cursing.

[Single lesbians having fun at 3 AM, then a tactical nuke ruined their mood lol][23]

[It was fun without mods, but one idiot ruined it.][6]

[What the f*ck is going on at 3 AM?][3]

[Mods, get your asses here!!!][7]

It seemed “tactical nuke” referred to NSFW images. Scrolling down, I noticed a post with an unusually large number of comments.

What kind of picture would cause this kind of reaction? My curiosity was piqued. I should check it; I’ll have to delete it eventually.

I’ll have to see these eventually if I’m going to be an assistant mod. It’s better to build up my tolerance now; a preemptive strike. I clicked on the post.

And I understood why they were shouting about “tactical nukes.”

…What?

“Sh*t…?”

The image was the most shocking thing I’d ever seen. An old man was lying down, holding his flaccid genitals, and the large mole on his buttock was appalling.

I wanted to unsee it. I hated my curiosity. I deleted the offensive post immediately.

[Oh, the old man pic is gone.][8]

[Mod, why are you so late?! 😭][5]

Several users welcomed the mod’s late arrival. I responded.

[Title: Ah.][32]

[Author: Kim Jia]

I’ve seriously never seen something like that before…

[Likes: 24 / Dislikes: 2]

[All Comments]

00: Why are you so late!

Kim Jia: I just woke up and turned on my computer.

00: What time did you go to bed if you just woke up?

Kim Jia: Around 9:00?

Loo: This assistant mod is a goody-two-shoes…

YuriGalleryUser: Kind of cute lol

00: This assistant mod has never seen an old man pic before?

Loo: Unless it’s a secondary account, it’s probably their first time. Their reaction proves they’re a virgin.

Loo: Seeing it at this hour must be shocking.

00: I need to troll more because of the assistant mod’s reaction.

Loo: Posting NSFW pics to see the assistant mod’s reaction and getting banned vs just living normally.

Loo: f*cking hell lol

Loo: Isn’t living better than getting banned? I’m terrible at these games lol

Kim Jia: Please don’t…

YuriGalleryUser: Oh…

Loo: I choose the first option lol

Loo: Crazy b*tch lolololololololololol

Kim Jia: What…?

The last comment was unnerving. It was definitely a joke; the laughter emojis confirmed it.

But why were the trolls increasing? I checked; it wasn’t my imagination. It had started with one person, but now several were joining in.

And checking each image to delete it was exhausting. I had to read every post.

[Having a hardworking assistant mod makes gallery management easy.][8]

While struggling to manage the gallery, I wanted to temporarily ban them. But the onslaught of NSFW images drained my energy.

The NSFW pics were okay; this was a yuri gallery, and many reacted strongly to them, but I’d seen worse before the transformation; I could handle it.

The old man pic was different. Each time, it made me uncomfortable and drained my mental energy. Who started this? I wanted to find them and give them a good beating.

The morning arrived; I hadn’t slept, dealing with trolls and anxiety. I felt mentally exhausted; I wanted to skip school and sleep all day.

The night with the trolls was the worst.

***

“Jia, is something wrong…?”

My sister’s first words upon seeing me. Was I really that bad? I touched my face and shook my head.

“Uh… no. I think I was sleep-paralyzed.”

I’d definitely been sleep-paralyzed. Tactical nukes, sister, were torturing me. I swallowed the words; I didn’t want to tell her about the gallery.

I didn’t want to worry her. I forced a cheerful tone, looking at my concerned sister.

She seemed suspicious, but let it slide. Then, Mom, seemingly just awake, asked if something was wrong.

Was it that obvious? After brushing my teeth and washing my face, my dark circles and droopy eyes were the only visible changes.

…It must be pretty bad. The atmosphere was gloomy.

Three hours of no sleep doesn’t cause this level of exhaustion. The tactical nukes were clearly to blame. The internet ruins people; I want to strongly discourage anyone from joining online communities.

Regardless of my state, I had to go to school. Ugh, I don’t want to. I slowly changed into my uniform; this was the second time, so I was a little more used to it.

After preparing and hugging Mom and my sister, I left. A faint warmth lingered on my body, improving my mood.

Despite the sleepless night, I managed a relatively normal walk to school. I planned to fall asleep immediately.

But that didn’t happen. The moment I sat down, Yejin approached. Raising an eyebrow, she approached cheerfully.

“Hey Jia, want to eat lunch with us if you don’t have anyone?”

They all want to be friends with you. Yejin added excitedly. Me? Why? I wondered, but I couldn’t refuse. I nodded.

Eating lunch alone was fine before, but having friends to eat with was exciting.

“Yay! Let’s head to the cafeteria!”

“Okay.”

“Jia, you’re the best!”

Yejin said, over-the-top, and touched me. Wait, what?

“Uh…? Uh?”

“What’s wrong? Do you dislike me?”

Yejin poked my cheeks with playful curiosity. Before the change, I avoided physical contact with women, and even after, I hadn’t touched women besides Mom and my sister.

I had absolutely no immunity to this.

“Ah… it’s just…”

My face was undoubtedly red. I stammered. Yejin noticed, laughing.

“Why are you so cute, Jia? That’s not fair!”

Playfully, she poked my cheeks and stroked my hair, seemingly satisfied.

“That’s all for today.”

Today…? Does that mean she’ll do it again? I’ll have to avoid Yejin in the morning. I’m not used to this.

Then, a cold voice came from behind.

“Hey, back off.”

I turned to see Jihyun, her long blonde hair down, hands in her hoodie pockets, staring icily. Her incredibly short skirt…

It was Jihyun.