"Ugh... my head..."
Yu-Han sat up with a groan, muttering a strangely familiar line.
He found himself dressed in the plain cotton clothes worn by commoners of the Joseon Dynasty.
"Damn it! What is this now?"
He tried to conjure himself a new set of clothes, but nothing happened.
The realm that had swallowed them seemed completely sealed off from the outside world.
Yu Seo-Yeon, who had been dragged in with him, lay unconscious nearby.
Her hanbok, however, consisted of a short underboob top and a long skirt slit high along one side.
'Why did she have to end up dressed like that!?'
In patriarchal Joseon, such short jeogori supposedly signaled that a woman had borne children while also making breastfeeding easier.
Unfortunately, Yu Seo-Yeon was not a Joseon woman.
And if she woke up, saw what she was wearing, and then found Yu-Han beside her...
Yu-Han pictured the inevitable misunderstanding and promptly lay back down, pretending to be unconscious.
"Ugh... my head... Where am I...?"
Yu Seo-Yeon had awakened at precisely the wrong moment.
An unnatural silence followed.
"!!?"
'She must have seen what she's wearing...'
He heard frantic rustling, followed by a deep sigh.
Deciding the moment was right, Yu-Han sat up and pretended to know nothing.
"Argh... My head~!"
"At last... You're awake."
Yu Seo-Yeon greeted him with the cool, composed expression of a professional.
Her eyes, however, promised bloody murder.
"...Why are you dressed like that?"
"The enemy's realm must have forced us into these magical avatars. Still, something this trivial will not shake me. I am a combatant before I am a woman."
"The fact that you felt the need to say that makes you sound pretty shaken..."
Yu Seo-Yeon glared at him like a hawk preparing to strike.
She was clearly unhappy with the situation.
At times like this, the K-social skill called 'Act Serious' could make the angry party look like the unreasonable one.
Yu-Han activated it at once, putting on his most solemn expression.
"First... we need to assess the situation. The lunatic Kim Je-Hyeon sent trapped us inside this realm."
"Kim Je-Hyeon? Why would that man be after you?"
"He's the bastard who put the bounty on our heads."
Yu-Han explained how Kim Je-Hyeon had come to target them.
Yu Seo-Yeon listened with a serious expression, nodding along.
Unfortunately, her breasts swayed with every nod, driving Yu-Han to the brink of madness.
He desperately changed the subject.
"A-Anyway! We'll have to work together if we want to escape!"
"I suppose it can't be helped. The fastest and most reliable solution is to kill the caster. Let's move."
The filthy alleys of District B-4 had been transformed into a bustling marketplace straight out of the Joseon capital.
At the far end stood a huge building with an elaborate tiled roof.
Anyone could tell the lunatic was waiting inside.
Just as Yu-Han and Yu Seo-Yeon were about to leave in search of their missing companions, Yu-Han casually spoke up.
"By the way, did you know? They say a realm can reveal your subconscious by projecting it onto your avatar."
Yu Seo-Yeon's clenched fist began to tremble at her side.
Then she slowly turned toward him.
"Why would you tell me that now...? Do you have a death wish?"
Without another word, they set off side by side toward the distant building.
---
Meanwhile, Alice and Kim Ga-Eun had also awakened in hanbok.
"Alice C. Did you notice? The people here... They look like residents of District B-4."
"You're right. That man over there... He's the manager of the convenience store next door!"
The manager was now dressed in hanbok and selling goods as a Joseon merchant.
Kim Ga-Eun's eyes sparkled.
"This is fun! Look over there! That's the owner of the barbecue restaurant!"
"Ha, not bad. Then that one's the owner of the cosmetics shop! That makes two points for me, right?"
As the two launched into a bizarre competition, Yi Rang shouted indignantly from behind them.
For some reason, she alone was stuck inside a tiger mascot suit.
"This ain't the time for that!! And why am I the only one stuck playin' an animal!?"
"Calm down, Yi Rang C. Getting angry won't change anything!"
Even in this incomprehensible situation, Kim Ga-Eun smiled calmly and reassured everyone.
Watching her, Alice had to admit that, young or not, a veteran was still a veteran.
"Then, Ga-Eun. What should we do first?"
"Step one is to identify the enemy!"
"And after that...?"
"Then we kill every last one of them!"
Alice immediately took back what she had thought about Kim Ga-Eun being a veteran.
At that moment, a group of Joseon constables burst out and surrounded them.
"We found them!! The two women and the tiger our lord ordered us to find! Capture them alive!!"
Alice was not particularly alarmed.
The enemies seemed committed to their Joseon theme, which meant blades, spears, bows, and matchlocks—none of which posed much threat to her android body.
"That one's a robot! Fire the EMP!"
"What?"
A flash of light struck her.
Alice staggered as a warning appeared inside her mind.
'ELECTROMAGNETIC ATTACK DETECTED.'
"How can people from Joseon use an EMP?!"
"How ignorant... You know nothing of true history. Joseon once ruled the entire world with technology dozens of centuries ahead of its time! But the evil Deep State joined forces with Finland, destroyed Joseon, and falsified history. Without our lord, we would never have learned the truth!"
"Th-That's ridiculous..."
Kim Ga-Eun and Yi Rang stepped in front of Alice, whose body was no longer responding properly.
"Alice C! We'll protect you! You're ready, aren't you, Yi Rang C?"
"Yeah! Leave it to me!"
They transformed into a monster and a tiger, then charged into the advancing constables.
However, the constables proved surprisingly difficult to defeat.
"Furthermore, Joseon wielded the world's most advanced magic! Though it was all lost through the schemes of the Japanese Empire!"
"I've never heard of any history like that!"
"Then learn! A nation that forgets its history has no future!"
Fire and lightning ripped through the chaotic marketplace.
Amid the fighting, two masked assassins in black appeared beside the fallen Alice.
They grabbed her by both arms and vanished.
'...So much for protecting me!'
Alice could only lament as her two companions remained completely absorbed in the battle.
---
Meanwhile, Alice was taken in restraints to a royal bedchamber deep within the palace.
Yi Gwang-Cheol lay on his side, leisurely propping up his head.
"Well, well... You've finally arrived."
"...What do you intend to do with me?"
"This king remains unwed. You shall become my queen and bear heirs to restore the dynasty!"
"Seriously? This again?"
Alice recoiled in disgust.
Yi Gwang-Cheol, however, looked at her with genuine pity.
"What a wretched soul. But once you free yourself from the brainwashing of this corrupt world, your heart will change!"
He stared into Alice's eyes and began chanting an incantation.
At once, Alice sensed foul mana pouring from him.
"The Korean people are flawless, and Joseon is the greatest nation. Together, we shall restore the lost dynasty!"
Alice twisted against his magical restraints, resisting the words echoing through her mind.
"Flawless...? Then why is the country such a mess?!"
"That is all because of Imperial Japan's invasion! Its corrupt customs tainted the Korean people...!"
"If they were truly flawless, shouldn't they have stopped the invasion?"
"!!!"
Yi Gwang-Cheol reeled as though her rebuttal had struck him.
Alice seized the opening and attacked the contradictions in his logic, hoping to break the mind-control spell.
"More importantly, are you really a descendant of the Joseon royal family?"
"Of course! The kings of Joseon bore the surname Yi! This king is also a Yi!"
"40 percent of the population has that surname! One of our employees is a Yi too! Does that make her royalty?!"
At that moment, Alice's visual sensors detected something implanted in his neck.
It was an ultrathin biochip, nearly invisible except under infrared.
"You... Don't tell me you were a N.O.B.I....?"
"You insolent wench!! I went easy on you because you were cute, yet you continue to overstep your bounds!"
Yi Gwang-Cheol drew a traditional Joseon sword—a hwando—and cut off Alice's head.
Her head struck the floor and rolled away.
But decapitating her was a mistake.
Alice was still alive.
More importantly, she had already begun chanting a spell...!
"Eeeek! How are you still alive?!"
Just as Yi Gwang-Cheol raised his sword to smash Alice's robotic head, brilliant light flooded the chamber.
Then a bird wreathed in sacred flames appeared.
[My contractor... I have come in answer to your summons.]
The Phoenix engulfed Yi Gwang-Cheol in sacred fire.
Meanwhile, Alice tried to dispel the magic still binding her body.
Being a robot, she had survived the decapitation.
Better yet, her severed head was now free of the restraints, allowing her to cast magic again.
"According to {Basics of Sealing Magic}, this should be... Damn it! This spell isn't in my database..."
[Allow me.]
With a single flap of its wings, the Phoenix shattered the binding spell.
A mysterious force tinged with electromagnetic energy pulled Alice's head back to her body and reattached it.
Then Yi Gwang-Cheol's voice erupted from within the flames.
"You wretch...! You weren't human at all! You were a robot! How dare you deceive this king!!"
"I didn't deceive you. You made that assumption all on your own."
"Robot or otherwise, it matters not! All beautiful things beneath the heavens belong to Joseon!"
Yi Gwang-Cheol formed several hand signs and summoned something of his own.
A massive vessel materialized overhead and smashed through the palace roof.
It was Joseon's legendary warship—the Turtle Ship.
"Turtle Ship! Crush the invaders! Show them the power of Joseon's 500-year history!!"
The dragon-shaped prow opened its jaws and fired a railgun round at Alice and the Phoenix.
[500 years? How adorable... Then perhaps I shall answer with a modest 10,000 years of history.]
Sacred fire burst from the Phoenix's wings, stopping the round cold and melting it in midair.
Then massive pillars of flame erupted across the palace grounds.
"W-Wait... My head... It feels like it's going to split!"
Alice clutched her head.
The Phoenix gazed at her with benevolent eyes.
[It seems even this meager fraction of my power is too much for you... You are merely mortal, so I expected little. Very well. I shall reduce the burden to suit your limits.]
The Phoenix shrank until it could perch on Alice's shoulder, and the towering pillars of fire shrank with it.
"...Are you sure that size is enough? Can we actually win?"
[It seems... I will have to make do with roughly 300 years of history.]
"He says he has 500."
[The outcome rests upon your ability as my summoner. Do try your best.]
Then Yi Gwang-Cheol stepped out of the smoke without so much as a burn.
"Behold! This is the protective power of the royal robe—the gonryongpo! So long as this king stands, Joseon is invincible!!"
"This is hopeless."
For one brief moment, Alice wished she could listen to Yu-Han's nonsense instead.
A few seconds later, however, she decided that listening to Yu-Han would be even worse.