Ch.72Chapter 3. Riders Aren’t the Only Ones Who Transform! (9)

Ymir is the protagonist.

Ymir is a gender-swapped protagonist.

I had thought about it.

No, I just considered it briefly without seriously believing it could be true.

It made sense not to believe it, since the original protagonist was a notorious playboy who expanded his harem into double digits.

He was someone who turned foreign women into his harem members to inject maximum Korean nationalism, ruling like a king on Sejong Island.

If the original had been an adult novel, the protagonist would have impregnated every heroine he met.

It wasn’t quite all-ages, more like a 15+ novel with some restraint, but the protagonist was the embodiment of the term “golden sun”—a carnivorous harem male lead.

And now that person suddenly appears as a woman?

‘Are you crazy?’

I thought there was no reason for it.

While talking with Ymir, I occasionally thought, “The protagonist had similar characteristics,” but I deliberately avoided thinking that Ymir could be the protagonist.

The protagonist was…

My assassination target.

I had been living as Neo Goblin for half a year just to kill him.

But if I didn’t need to kill Ymir.

If the original protagonist had vanished without a trace and female Ymir was in the protagonist position.

‘This is too good to be true.’

It would be incredibly convenient for me.

‘If Ymir is a woman, all I need to do is take care of her and provide emotional support.’

If I properly care for female Ymir’s mental state, I can prevent the meteor ending where everyone in this world perishes.

Though not explicitly mentioned in the original work, the protagonist launched the meteor after experiencing something like NTR when the women in his harem were taken by the final boss Goblin.

But what if the protagonist isn’t a man but a woman?

‘If she’s a woman, I can just take care of her and keep her close, and she won’t go berserk.’

She might get irritable once a month, but to prevent world destruction, I just need to comfort her and provide proper care.

‘I just need to give her proper guidance and point her in the right direction.’

As Do Ji-hwan, I can set her direction for the future.

As Goblin, I can eliminate anything that gets in her way.

If we move forward like that, Ymir won’t go berserk and drop a meteor.

‘Suddenly the difficulty level seems to have dropped dramatically.’

I thought I was facing a Soulslike level of difficulty, but it turns out to be more like a dating sim.

The only concern is what form Ymir’s gender swap took.

One: The male protagonist never existed.

Ymir was born female from the beginning.

Two: Ymir was originally male but contracted some gender-swap disease before entering school.

Inside, there’s actually a dark male personality, and like typical gender-swapped female protagonists, she acts like a man…?

‘Nah.’

That can’t be it.

If it’s the latter, I will kill Ymir.

Having a man inside while pretending to be a woman, coming to my house and acting feminine toward Do Ji-hwan.

‘I cannot forgive someone trying to seduce me like that.’

If she looks like a woman but is a man inside, isn’t that gay?

‘With so many women in the world, why would I care for and get intimate with someone who gender-swapped from male to female?’

If I were to overcome that and shout, “I don’t care if you were a man in your past life! You are Ymir! Our relationship won’t change!” that would mean I really like Ymir.

Unfortunately, someone else already occupies my heart.

In the Goblin’s heart.

Conclusion.

Assuming Ymir is the protagonist.

If Ymir is genuinely female, I’ll maintain a good relationship, seduce her, and bring her to the Syndicate.

With enough power to destroy the world with a meteor, bringing such a powerful being to the Syndicate would please the boss.

But what if she’s gender-swapped and hiding something down there?

What if such a being flirted with me, acted feminine, came to my house, and made pasta for me?

‘Ymir might be okay, but Gay-mir gets killed.’

Once confirmed, I’ll seriously discuss “handling” the matter with the boss.

If I knew she was gender-swapped before we had any relationship, I might have accepted it, but Ymir has already approached me as a woman and formed a relationship.

A woman I texted and called for two hours every day is actually a man?

Ugh.

Such a horrible thing.

BOOM!!

While I was lost in thought, chaos had erupted outside.

“Oh? You dodged?”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think? Eliminating witnesses.”

“Are you trying to kill me now?”

“An E-rank nobody talks too much!”

Ermina had attacked Ymir, and Ymir was narrowly evading Ermina’s attacks while assessing the situation.

Ymir hadn’t noticed me yet.

Though I wasn’t in spirit form, I had suppressed my magical energy so thoroughly that she couldn’t sense a Goblin nearby.

I knew Ymir was strong as Solar Platina, but…

‘Now that I think of her as the protagonist, I’m not worried at all.’

Recognizing her as the world’s strongest hero hiding her power, I realized Ermina was the one to be pitied.

‘If Ymir had come as a man, Ermina wouldn’t be trying to kill her like this.’

Ah.

Perhaps Ymir had been transformed into a man from the beginning of the original story when she came to Sejong Island.

Maybe the author was planning a GL yuri twist with “Ymir was actually a female character!” but the work failed, resulting in a meteor ending, leaving this plot point unresolved.

In other words.

All these problems exist because the original author was an idiot who didn’t properly resolve this world’s secrets before leaving!

‘Nah.’

It can’t be that bad.

‘How could anyone do something so terrible?’

Even so, suddenly turning a male harem story into a lesbian girls’ love harem drift would be like the author digging their own grave and asking readers to beat them up.

BOOM!!

Another explosion.

While I was contemplating the correlation between author’s GL/BL drifts and readers’ murderous intent, waves of killing intent were surging outside.

“Are you really trying to kill me? Can you handle the consequences if word gets out that the Sternfeld daughter killed someone?”

“I can handle it precisely because I’m from Sternfeld!”

What a mess.

As if my internal turmoil was nothing, Ermina was desperately trying to chase down and kill Ymir near the treasure chest.

Rustle.

I slipped outside using spirit form, then materialized at a suitable distance from the cave.

Ymir seemed to glance in my direction briefly, but my identity wasn’t revealed.

If it had been, she would have ignored Ermina and been surprised by the Goblin’s appearance.

Or she might have shown something different after noticing me.

She might wonder why a Goblin was here.

But she could also think something else.

For instance.

“This isn’t working. I was going to play along, but I’m tired of it.”

“What?”

“I don’t care if you’re on strange drugs or lost in your own world, but trying to kill me is different. You picked the wrong person to mess with.”

Ymir took a stance.

She spread her legs, crossed her arms in an X in front of her chest, and tilted her head back slightly.

“Come at me!”

With a powerful shout, Ymir stretched her arms to the sides.

Simultaneously, rainbow-colored orbs emerged from her body and began swirling around her, then bombarded Ermina.

BOOM.

“Gah?!”

Ermina was hit by the orbs without a chance to resist and crashed into the treasure chest.

‘She does have good sense.’

She’s using a gimmick for safety before transforming.

Good thinking.

“I’ll show you who’s truly strong.”

As Ymir said this, the rainbow orbs rapidly rotated around her, enveloping her entire body.

“Transform!”

Just like I had seen in my room before, Ymir’s entire body began to shine.

That appearance was the magical girl in hanbok that I had seen before—

[…?]

No, it was a completely different transformed hero.

Hanbok was still the main theme.

The upper garment was a jeogori, with sobok underneath, and a skirt that covered just past the knees.

But under the skirt were black stockings, and the shoes were combat boots similar to hiking shoes.

The most distinctive feature was the jangot on her head.

Like women in historical dramas who wrap skirts around their heads when going out, Ymir had a fluttering skirt-like “hood.”

The problem was…

It had a “yellow dragon” pattern on it.

And she wore a tactical mask with a futuristic SF design on her face.

[Ermina Sternfeld.]

Ymir raised one hand high, tilting her head slightly with the visor on her tactical mask gleaming.

[Criminal, receive your judgment.]

She…

Ymir as “Solar Platina”…

Was a magical girl Geumbudosa.