[You have awakened a skill.]
A blue window appeared before my eyes.
No matter how many times I rubbed them, it wouldn't disappear, as if to prove it wasn't a hallucination.
'What the hell is this?'
I closed my eyes again and gathered my thoughts.
Everything has a reason, so there must be one for this absurd hallucination too.
'What happened today?'
Just like always, I entered the gate, recovered the mana stones, and turned them in.
For some reason, I felt off and headed home early, but I was too drained to even wash up, so I just collapsed into bed.
And now, the moment I woke up, this ridiculous blue window...
'Ah, could it be?'
A hazy memory sharpened into focus.
Among the mana stones I'd recovered, there was one that was dark red.
I asked the others I was working with if it might be some special mana stone, but they all said it was just ordinary and worried that I was just tired.
'Still, just in case, I pocketed it to check it out before turning it in.'
When I tried to pull out the dark red mana stone again, it was already gone.
Yeah, right from that moment, my body suddenly felt exhausted, and I barely made it home before collapsing...
'Is it connected to that?'
I'd heard that unprocessed mana stones are highly toxic.
Could this situation be because, for some reason, the mana stone penetrated my body, and its toxicity messed up my head?
First, to check if my memories were jumbled, I recalled what I knew about myself.
'Yoo Jun-hyuk. 22 years old. Occupation: Gate Cleaner.'
My parents died in a gate break when I was thirteen.
Inspired by the hunters who saved me, I wanted to become one, but like other men, I didn't awaken, so as soon as I turned adult, I started working as a gate cleaner to at least help the hunters somehow.
I tried recalling other memories, but they were all intact.
'Hold on. I need to check if that memory's intact too.'
A secret only I knew.
It was this...
'Reincarnator.'
My name in my past life was Kim Jeong-won.
I was an ordinary college student, but after suddenly collapsing from chest pain, I woke up reincarnated as Yoo Jun-hyuk.
I thought it was like those web novels I read for fun in my past life, reincarnating into another world, but after investigating later, I learned this was the same world I'd originally lived in.
'A hundred years had passed. And the gates had changed so much.'
On the day my past self died, gates appeared all over the world.
The gates sent monsters from another dimension to Earth while also releasing a strange substance called mana.
'What emerged because of mana were the Awakeners.'
At first, the scales were overwhelmingly against humanity.
Our weapons didn't work on them, and humanity's extinction loomed.
But humans who absorbed mana awakened as superhumans able to stand against the monsters, and the mana in their bodies and attacks easily vanquished the beasts, saving humanity from destruction.
'But mana wasn't friendly to everyone.'
Those who awakened thanks to mana were mostly women.
I don't know why, but women had high mana affinity, while men had extremely low affinity.
Not just low—most men who tried it had their bodies break down or died from heart attacks.
'My past life's death was probably a heart attack from mana too.'
After that, the world changed.
Even women who didn't awaken had their bodies enhanced by mana, easily handling jobs men used to do due to lack of stamina or strength.
Conversely, nearly 70% of men died, and the survivors had weakened bodies, taking on jobs women used to do.
And so, a hundred years passed.
The once normal world became a 'gender-reversed' one where positions of men and women were flipped.
"Hoo..."
My memories were fine.
But what about my appearance?
I went into the bathroom, splashed water on my face to clear my head, then looked in the mirror.
"I'm fine."
My height was just 160cm.
Black hair, big eyes, and a slender build without a hint of muscle—lithe and smooth.
Even as an adult, I looked boyish.
In my past life, I'd have been called girly, but in this era, this was the epitome of handsome.
"Still the same."
Mana hadn't just reversed gender roles.
It changed appearances too.
Most women had their bodies activated by mana, becoming nearly beauty-queen level.
Bodies that didn't gain fat easily, or perfectly proportioned figures.
The higher the rank of Awakener, the more pronounced it was—they were basically goddesses.
'While men...'
In this era, if women's average height was 170cm, men's was just 160cm.
Unlike the past, muscles didn't come easily, and even adults often retained youthful looks.
In fact, if a man looked too much like an adult male from before, he'd be called ugly. The world used "manly" completely differently now.
"Tch."
I came out and sat on the sofa, turning on the TV.
The house my parents left me was still like new, thanks to regular cleaning and maintenance.
'Is this evolution too?'
I'd read a paper saying that since women no longer needed men's strength to choose mates, they selected for maternal instinct over power.
Conversely, men evolved boyish defaults to trigger that maternal instinct.
Evolution doesn't happen in just a hundred years, but with mana, who knows.
'No, but what's with this skill awakening crap?'
Was it just a delusion?
Men already have it hard to awaken, and it usually happens between 10 and 15.
Me, an adult, awakening? With a semi-transparent system window like in web novels?
'You check awakening status with the machine at the community center.'
Absurd.
Unconsciously, like a web novel protagonist from my past life, I reflexively said it.
"Status Window."
[Hypnosis]
[Puts the target under hypnosis. The hypnotized subject cannot resist your words and obeys you completely.]
No, what the fuck?
It actually worked?
'What the...?'
[Tutorial commencing.]
[As the Tutorial Manager, I welcome you.]
A system window that seemed self-aware popped up before my eyes.
It explained my awakened skill without me even asking.
[Hypnosis will make you a god.]
[No matter how strong a Hunter or Hero, they cannot resist your skill.]
No matter how strong?
High-rank Awakeners are almost immune to mental skills, though?
[Hypnosis transcends all such power.]
[Here's a simple list of what Hypnosis can do.]
[Mind Control]
[Sensitivity Adjustment]
[Common Sense Alteration]
[Forced Sleep]
[Enslavement]
[Personality Deletion]
...
...
A long list continued below.
No, but these are all straight out of the hentai I jerked off to in my past life?
[Answering as the Tutorial Manager.]
[The world you live in is one where men are crushed under women.]
[This is an abnormal structure, so we've set your goal as the easiest way for a man to reclaim his rightful position: subjugating women.]
No, this world's like this because of mana, unavoidable...
[It's unnatural. Reclaim men's power.]
...Is that so?
Yeah. The world wasn't always like this.
Hunters who destroy gates.
Heroes who fight criminal Awakeners.
99% women, right?
If I could subjugate them all...
[Even if not, don't you want to conquer beautiful women as a man?]
'Yeah. High-rank Awakeners are all gorgeous.'
I had past life memories, but this body's modern, so low sex drive—I just admired them like art.
[Ka-pow! You're progressing splendidly through the tutorial!]
[As the Tutorial Manager, I gift you a perk!]
[Perk Skill: Man's Pride]
[Strengthens your virility.]
"Grk!?"
Suddenly, my lower body throbbed. Looking down, my dick was rock-hard, straining against my pants.
It hadn't been this big or gotten fully erect with such intense lust before.
[Now, use Hypnosis to achieve your dreams!]
Now it wasn't a system window but an illusion unfolding.
Countless high-rank Awakeners knelt naked before me.
Some wore collars and crawled like dogs.
Others stood emotionless like mannequins, dolls without souls.
Some crawled to me, licking with their tongues to arouse me.
'Yeah, why else would I get a skill like this?'
And why would I alone keep my past life memories?
Everything has a reason, like I thought earlier.
This is all so I can turn women into slaves...
-Hic...
A familiar voice rang in my ear.
My head cleared a bit, and instead of the illusion, the TV screen came into view.
-Sorry.
The TV I'd left on without thinking.
Inside, a woman was giving an interview.
The surroundings were a mess like a bomb had gone off, and the top right caption read [Busan Gate Break: Millennium Guild Resolves It Swiftly!]
-If only we'd arrived a little sooner...
The woman was covered in dust, looking haggard and exhausted.
I knew her—long red hair down to her waist.
'S-Rank Hunter, Choi Yu-ra.'
Awakened at ten, S-Rank by fifteen, became a Hunter, and still active at twenty-five now.
How could I not know her?
'Why is she crying?'
But she was different from her usual self that I knew.
Always gentle and smiling brightly.
She'd seemed the strongest of all.
[You like that type?]
Not liking that my attention wandered, the Tutorial Manager showed another illusion.
In it, S-Rank Hunter Choi Yu-ra was a bitch in heat.
Wearing puppy ear headband.
Even a dog tail adult toy plugged in her ass.
Rubbing her cheek against me, acting cute...
-Then...
-Sis! It's not your fault! Don't cry!
-But... I couldn't save him... He was just a child... Too young to die...
Ah.
My head cleared fully.
My lust still raged, the desire to abuse women with Hypnosis per the Tutorial Manager writhing inside me, but I could grasp the situation now.
'This bastard keeps trying to drag me to the dark side?'
It wasn't my mental strength being special to escape its spell.
Just...
I was so pissed it lit a fire in my heart.
'I'm not some dog in heat.'
She worked tirelessly to save the world.
Even young, always kind to people.
Crying because she couldn't protect a child.
She was human too.
Stronger faster than anyone, but suffered from childhood.
Always threatened by monsters' lives.
Sometimes carrying the deep grief of losing comrades. A hero.
'Turn a hero like that into a bitch?'
Hunters.
Heroes.
They're heroes and soldiers.
Soldiers protecting the world from gate monsters and villains.
Yet turn them into slaves and bitches just to vent lust?
'What makes me different from the trash who insulted soldiers in my past life?'
Following the Tutorial Manager.
Worse than trash calling soldiers house dogs.
Demonizing them as killing machines, bitching that military's not hard.
As a past life vet, its proposal was enough to enrage me.
[Hypocrisy! Crocodile tears! Don't believe it!]
'Fuck off.'
In this era's slang it'd be 'shut the fuck up,' but no time for that.
Lust made my lower body ache.
Head dizzy, but I forced my legs to the bathroom.
"Haa..."
The boy in the mirror was flushed red, face about to burst.
Seeing it, I let out a hollow laugh.
'Everything has a reason.'
I'd thought it several times today.
No way an adult like me suddenly awakens.
'And the one trying to turn me into a lust monster isn't good news either.'
Wanted to think deeper, but head wouldn't work.
But instinctively, I foresaw the impact on the world.
'Maybe...'
Me having past life memories.
Was it all for this moment?
"You know what I hated most in web novels?"
"Cease abnormal behavior. This is a warning."
Male voice, as expected.
No longer system window—now speaking aloud.
"Leaving obvious early villains or black幕 untouched because 'no justification' or 'killing it would cause sacrifices,' grinding teeth for future plot."
Sure, sometimes they handle it properly later with justification or no big losses.
But more often, not nipping it early led to bigger sacrifices later.
I don't want to gamble hoping for the former.
"If I were the protagonist, I'd root it out, even if it cost me everything."
"Warning. What are you planning?"
"Getting casual now, huh."
What was I planning?
Dealing with the early black幕 that becomes the final boss later.
"Hypnosis."
I used the skill on my mirror reflection.
First time, but it felt natural, already mine.
"Found you."
The Tutorial Manager really had its own ego.
In my eyes reflected in the mirror.
Besides my own ego, another presence.
No idea how, but probably a skill feature to target only one in crowds.
"From now on, the moment I snap my fingers..."
From the Hypnosis list I'd seen earlier.
As past life's fap master, I knew their effects.
The most horrific one.
What characters who treat people like objects used.
But right now, what I needed most.
"Your personality will be deleted."
Personality Deletion.
Maybe even hit me too, deleting mine—a risky path.
But better than living as horny dog bastard and nuclear waste trash.
Better to die human.
"Delusions are prettiest as delusions. You fucker."
"No!"
Ignoring its scream, I snapped my fingers.
My vision went black.