Ch.1BANG!

“FUCK! What if you actually shot him, you idiot!”

“It was an accident! Static electricity made my right hand tense up!”

I couldn’t comprehend what was happening in this sudden situation. Did I get shot?

The intense pain in my right chest was so severe I couldn’t even scream.

“Damn, he only has 4 dollars and 75 cents! And what’s with this old, outdated smartphone?”

“You shot him, so now we can’t even threaten him for his card PIN if he doesn’t want to die!”

“…This box, it’s the championship prize, right? Should we take this instead?”

“Are you crazy? It’s one of a kind and has a registered gun serial number! We can’t even sell something like—”

Not long after the two robbers started arguing, police sirens began to sound.

“SHIT! It’s the cops, let’s get out of here!”

“This is what happens when an Asian tries to act big!”

What did I do? Something about being Asian… is this what they call a hate crime?

The $3,000 prize money I just won is a shame to lose, but I hadn’t even unwrapped the limited edition single-action revolver I received as a prize…

‘I’ll curse you. If I get the chance, I’ll haunt you as a ghost and make you waste away until you die…’

With that thought, I could no longer hear anything.

My name is Kim Jeong-hyun, a 36-year-old single man.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, I’m a native Korean, but I moved to America 10 years ago after joining a foreign IT company.

My hobbies are watching movies and gaming. I’ve been particularly obsessed with Westerns since middle school, consuming everything from traditional to experimental films, novels, comics, and games. I’m such a hardcore Western enthusiast that I even practice quick-drawing with revolver model guns.

My English name “William,” created for my life abroad, comes from the real name of the famous outlaw Billy the Kid. The most exciting thing about living in America was being able to shoot real revolvers at firing ranges.

A week ago, a colleague who knew about my serious Western obsession told me about the “Gunslinger Championship,” a quick-draw competition in San Francisco. I took time off, flew from New York to San Francisco, and just hours ago, after a nail-biting competition, I won the championship, claiming the $3,000 prize money and a limited edition single-action revolver.

I was supposed to arrive at my hotel, pack my things, get a good night’s sleep, and return to New York tomorrow. Instead, I was shot by robbers in an alley near the hotel and now faced death. Judging by their knowledge of the prize box contents and their comment about Asians, these robbers were likely racists who resented an Asian winning the Gunslinger Championship, an American festival.

Wait a minute. Come to think of it, the guy who shot me and then said something about Asians…

“…You’re Black too, you mother fucker!”

The native-sounding curse I blurted out as I sat up never reached that Black robber’s ears.

Instead of the back alley of San Francisco’s hotel district, I found myself surrounded by lush trees and flowers in an unfamiliar natural landscape.

“…Where am I?”

OK, let’s sort out the situation.

I lived in New York, took a vacation to participate in the Gunslinger Championship near San Francisco, and won.

While walking to my hotel with the prize money and award, I was shot by two robbers who were likely participants in the competition.

I thought I died, but when I opened my eyes, I was lying in some forest… how did this happen?

The most plausible explanation would be that the two robbers thought I was dead after shooting me, but I had barely survived, and they dumped me in some forest to destroy evidence. They wouldn’t want to drive for days with a corpse in their car, but the scenery around me wasn’t just street trees or a neighborhood park—it was a dense forest.

If we’re talking about a proper forest near San Francisco, the first place that comes to mind is Yosemite National Park…

“Huh?”

Suddenly realizing I felt no pain, I looked down at my right chest where I’d been shot, but there was no blood stain, not even a tear in my clothes.

Does this mean that getting shot by robbers—no, even winning the Gunslinger Championship—was all a dream? But as I shifted my gaze lower, I noticed the holster at my waist and the gun—the limited edition single-action revolver that was the Gunslinger Championship prize.

If this is here, at least winning the competition and receiving the prize wasn’t a dream. But there’s no sign of being shot, and searching my pockets revealed no wallet or phone, not even a single coin.

I won the competition. The missing wallet and phone suggest I did encounter robbers.

So maybe the part about being shot was a dream, and they actually knocked me out with a stun gun before dumping me in some forest? But why would they bother to open the box, strap the holster to my waist, and leave the limited edition gun with me?

*Rustle*

Just as I was about to clutch my head in confusion, a sound from behind startled me. I turned to see a small deer? emerging from behind a tree. With no antlers, it appeared to be a doe, standing only about waist-high.

But the more I examined it, the less it resembled a deer. It had thick fur and a bushy tail like a Golden Retriever, a mouth that split more toward the side of its face like a dog or wolf. Though it had no antlers, short hair grew from the top of its head to the back of its neck like a horse’s mane… I’d never seen a deer like this, not in zoos or on TV. And what cemented my unease was the moment its tightly closed mouth opened, revealing its teeth.

“Holy Shit…”

I was certain. That’s not a deer. Even a water deer looks gentler than that. I don’t know what it is, but those sharp teeth with prominently protruding canines definitely don’t belong to a herbivore. Plus, the creature was making a “keeee” sound while staring at me, lowering its posture.

I quickly draw the gun from my waist. I don’t know if it’s a natural monument or an endangered species, but I need to survive first. Unfortunately, the cylinder of the gleaming single-action revolver contained no bullets, and my quick-draw motion seemed to provoke the deer-like carnivore, which charged straight at me.

“Aaaaargh!!”

I threw myself sideways to avoid the charge and ran frantically.

But humans are naturally inferior to most wild animals in physical abilities except for endurance. The carnivorous deer quickly overtook me, then gathered its hind hooves and delivered a powerful kick to my ribcage.

“Guhk!?”

After the unexpectedly heavy impact from those slender legs knocked me off balance, the deer-like creature’s wolf-like jaws with sharp teeth approached my neck. I reflexively raised my left arm and swung it, but all that did was change the bite location from my neck to my arm, which didn’t improve the situation much.

“Aagh! Help! HELP!”

Too panicked to focus on the pain in my arm, I struggled desperately, but the carnivorous deer wouldn’t release my arm.

Is this really how I die? Eaten alive by some deer-like monster I’ve never seen or heard of? I would have preferred being shot by those robbers—it would have been less painful! That’s when it happened.

“Stone Bullet!”

Just as I heard a young woman’s voice, there was a thud, and the carnivorous deer that had been mauling my arm was sent flying sideways off my body. The deer, now about 2 meters away, had a fist-sized hole in its side with blood gushing out. The creature that had been tearing at my arm moments ago now lay motionless, apparently killed instantly.

“Hey, are you alright!? Are you alive?”

As I struggled to make sense of what had happened, I heard the same female voice from before. Turning toward the sound, I saw a beautiful woman of indeterminate age rushing toward me from about 10 meters away in the forest.

Fair skin, slightly wavy red hair that reached her waist, a corset dress that accentuated her chest and waist in an attractive yet elegant way, and shapely legs boldly revealed by a dress that was short in front and long in back—she looked like an ideal beauty assembled from all my favorite elements, as if someone had thoroughly searched my mind.

I forgot even the pain of my bleeding left arm, unable to respond, just staring in a daze at her approaching figure as if in slow motion.