Chapter 1: The House Over There Collapsed

Readers of the gender-reversal genre are, for the most part, a kind bunch.

Maybe it’s because there’s a shortage of what we often call “feed” material to consume or maybe it’s because most stories end up getting dropped before they’re even halfway done. 

Some people even joke that a series being dropped basically means it’s “completed.”

I proudly count myself among them.

Whenever a new gender-reversal story pops up, I’m there licking through the early chapters, always leaving cheerful comments begging the author not to die on us.

Of course, most of those stories never made it past chapter 100.

But even I had a limit to my patience.

One thing I simply couldn’t forgive—

[Gender-Reversal Academy]

The title was as generic as the premise.

Still, it’s rare for something branded as “gender-reversal” to actually earn my rage. 

It’s not easy.

But this story managed it!

The medieval fantasy academy setting? 

Sure, whatever.

But the problem was—

#FemaleProtagonist

It was a female-lead story!

I mean, come on. 

How is that even fair?

This wasn’t some massive general-interest platform with a mixed demographic.

It was a platform where the main readership was clearly niche, mostly teen and 20-something guys.

Sure, a female MC wasn’t unheard of.

TS (gender-bender) stories often had female leads too, technically speaking.

But why, seriously why—

Why slap that together with gender-reversal?

Reading the synopsis and prologue made it clear: this was a world run by women, and the story followed a woman living in it.

Gender-reversal and female lead?

That’s like multiplying two negatives and expecting a positive— 

It just ends up being a regular male-fantasy academy story with the genders swapped.

It was enough to smash the rage button of any hardened gender-reversal junkie, and I launched into a furious 5,700-character rant before settling in for a full read-through.

For someone like me, who scours the community forums daily, this was rare behavior.

Chapter 10.

That’s how far I got when this crazy author dropped ten chapters in a single day.

That’s how it climbed to the top ranks, under the now-infamous tag: “female lead in a gender-reversed world.”

And the mallard kept up the pace— ten chapters a day.

For more than ten days straight.

Ten days might sound short, but in that time the author released 100 chapters.

It was exhausting just trying to keep up but in this bizarre love-hate relationship, I climbed the wall anyway.

Sure, there were plenty of parts that made me cough blood, but I had to admit— the author could write.

Call it talent. 

Call it narrative pull.

It didn’t feel like the protagonist was moving forward— it felt like I was watching someone’s entire life flash before my eyes in fast-forward.

I came away traumatized.

The story was emotionally draining.

More specifically, the protagonist got completely wrecked.

But there was an even bigger reason—

[Serialization Hiatus Notice]

You bastard!

Of course I let out another 5,700-character screed, this time pure profanity.

Honestly, I felt a bit bad about it.

It looked like the author did read comments, but never once replied or blocked anyone.

And then—

“…You damn author…”

A voice, as clear and sweet as a nightingale.

The kind of voice you’d hear in anime, or maybe a collectible RPG game— something a voice actor would use for a young boy.

It was live.

Any veteran reader of this genre would instantly recognize it.

I’d been isekai’d into the novel.

The view out the window showed a typical medieval fantasy world.

And most telling of all—

When I looked at the holographic UI floating in front of me, it was obvious this wasn’t reality.

[Chapter Info]

[Comments]

[Abilities]

Three simple icons, clean and familiar.

Was this a reincarnation bonus? 

Some kind of transmigration perk?

I tapped on “Chapter Info” first.

The interface was painfully familiar.

It looked exactly like the webnovel platform I used back in my previous life.

And what popped up was the last story I’d read before dying.

But there was one key difference—

[The Hero Heads to the Academy]

The cover hadn’t changed.

Black hair. 

Black eyes.

The same female protagonist I’d seen in the original.

And yet—

Even though it looked like the same story, the more I stared, the more I saw the differences.

“It’s… gone?”

There wasn’t any.

All the other tags were still there, but the gender-reversal tag had vanished.

Even the description had changed a little.

It started with the typical setup of an ordinary Korean high school girl being transported to another world, going through regressions, and living multiple lives.

…Was this really the same novel I knew?

At that moment—
 
[Subscription Alert!]

The bell icon lit up.

I clicked it, and the familiar interface I’d seen countless times in my past life came into view.

A subscription alert.

A system that notifies readers when a novel they’ve subscribed to updates.

The important thing was—

The very novel I’d been reincarnated into had just uploaded a new chapter.

–The Hero Heads to the Academy

[Prologue: A new episode has been uploaded!]

Just a simple alert.

And yet, where the episode list had been completely empty, something new had finally appeared.

Views: obviously 1.

Though my mind was a whirlwind of confusion, I also knew exactly what I had to do.

Look around?

Run out of here and scream for help?

Maybe shout “Log out!” or “Exit game!”?

No.

I had to read the novel.

I didn’t know why this system was tormenting me in this way,

But if a new episode had been uploaded, there had to be a reason.

Just as I was about to click into the chapter—

I saw something strange.

“…?”

It was absurd.

Beneath the episode title, there were the usual stats: word count, current viewers, number of comments, number of likes.

The word count, listed as 400, was changing in real time.

At first, I didn’t think much of it.

Prologues didn’t always have to meet the platform’s minimum word count anyway.

But it was changing… live?

What the hell did that mean?

After witnessing something so unbelievable, I couldn’t hold back anymore.

I had to find out why the word count was changing in real time.

[Three regressions— They wore the soul down.]

Phew.

Relief flooded through me.

Thank god.

It wasn’t a novel I’d reread to death, but it was the most recent one I’d read, so the memories were still fresh.

As soon as I read the familiar prose, I was sure—

this was the novel I knew.

The prologue itself was simple.

More like a generic fantasy academy story than a male-inverted one.

If there was one unusual element,

It was that it briefly summarized the protagonist’s worn-out, tragic life.

“…Huh?”

I hadn’t pressed back, but I could tell.

Even after scrolling down, the episode clearly exceeded the 1600 characters I’d last checked.

The word count was growing.

It was being written in real time.

It was bizarre, to say the least but then again, the fact that I’d been reincarnated into a novel was already an error, so I let it slide.

About two-thirds of the way through—

Just when I was hitting that familiar 3000-word mark—

I felt something was off.

Stories, no matter how long, usually had a natural place to end each chapter.

But what I saw next… was just blank space.

Literal white void.

And not just that—

“…?”

My gaze moved on its own.

What was that up ahead?

Beyond the semi-transparent holographic screen displaying the novel,

A yellow orb was staring back at me.

It was almost frightening.

A sun-like, glowing yellow orb,

With a strange, unnatural eye opening inside it—

And it was watching me.

Then—

The letters within the empty white space began to shift.

[The incoming students at Elin Academy bustled with activity.]

[Freshmen preparing for the entrance exams each composed themselves in their own way.]

[Except for one boy, who simply stared blankly into space, still half-asleep.]

Was that… me?

The boy being described in the story— 

It was clearly referring to myself.

[A boy from the Eastern Continent, raised by the Church. His name was Tailo.]

[With black hair and blue eyes, his appearance marked him as a mixed-blood.]

[A single tuft of hair stuck out from his crown, swaying freely like an antenna.]

[Still dazed, his expression showed no sign of grasping the reality of the upcoming entrance exam.]

I had never seen myself before.

But… the boy named Tailor was a character who hadn’t existed in the original novel.

Also, that was the nickname I used.

Just as various speculations began to align—

The prologue ended after introducing some important characters.

It didn’t feel real.

And just like in the narration of the novel, that was exactly how I felt.

Right when I was struggling to believe this reality—

[New comment notification!]

[New comment notification!]

[New comment notification!]

Wait, the view count is going up this fast?

Even though I was just a reader, I at least understood the ecosystem of web novel platforms.

In fact, I was part of the Exploration Department, so I knew exactly how hard it was to gain readers in the beginning.

I tapped the back button and returned to the main screen.

The bland UI greeted me, and I quickly clicked on the comments.

It felt like I’d become an author.

This must be how authors feel when they check their comments after getting notified.

“Huh…?”

They were just ordinary comments.

But… something felt off.