"Fellas, I'm back..."
In a small room, a pale and haggard young man opened his webcam.
"Yoho! Why are you online so early today?"
"Something's off, bros. Look at his face—something's wrong... With my vast experience, I'd say he overexerted himself last night."
"That fast?! Damn, being handsome really lets you do whatever you want. First day meeting IRL and straight to the hotel suite, huh??"
"Can someone explain me in human language pls?"
"Cough cough...overexerted in that way..."
Seeing familiar usernames flood the stream chat, a tired light returned to Ather's weary eyes.
"Say no more... Bros, I got scammed for both money and love!" he said with a look of grief.
Ather was a Pokémon gaming streamer. Last night was Valentine's Day, and he had ended his stream early to finally meet his online girlfriend of three years in person. Naturally, his long-time viewers were eager for updates.
But no one expected this.
"Whoa! We've got drama, people—spread the word!"
"Hold on, I'm waking up everyone in the dorm! No—better idea, I'm broadcasting this to the whole campus!"
"Be human, man—it's only 8 a.m..."
Ather: "??? Aren't any of you gonna comfort me?!"
"Comfort? Bro, forget the money part—just the 'cheated for sex' bit alone... I go out on the street begging for someone to scam me like that, and nobody even looks at me."
"Cough So... could you walk us through the 'cheated for sex' part in detail? So we can, you know, learn from it and avoid similar traps?"
"Stop pretending. You're not trying to avoid traps—you want to get trapped. But streamer, you should still share... you know, for a friend."
"Sounds like a seasoned scammer. Who knows how many others she's conned. Better get yourself checked at a hospital and a prosecutor's office before something worse happens."
That last message made Ather freeze. "Wait... don't tell me..."
"My bro went through the same thing... It was tragic. Now he's not long for this world... It's all tears from here."
"WTF?! The info in that message is too much!"
"Oh god, male victim detected. Everyone else back off!"
Ather fell silent.
Because he had zero dating experience, he was still a pure-hearted boy. For three years, he'd answered every call, cared for every detail... They had never even met in person, but he had already thought of baby names.
Yesterday, when they met, she poured drink after drink into him. He blacked out, and when he woke up, he was sore all over, with faint plum blossom marks on the sheets.
She had left him a single message: "Let's never meet again." Then blocked him on everything.
Left with nothing but pain, he now recalled it all with unspeakable bitterness.
Still, just to be safe, he dragged his exhausted body to a small clinic.
As soon as he entered the consultation room, Ather got straight to the point:
"Doctor, I'd like a fertility checkup."
The doctor didn't even lift his eyelids. "Go downstairs and get a scan first."
"Oh... How much does that cost?"
"800$."
Seeing that the doctor had no intention of examining him yet, Ather stepped out of the room.
That's just how things worked these days—sick or not, you get scanned first.
Half an hour later, Ather returned with the scan in hand, nervously asking,
"Doctor, do you see anything wrong?"
The doctor glanced at him. "You... a virgin... Why are you even getting this checked?"
"Eh??" Ather was stunned. Wasn't last night supposed to be...??
Suddenly, a realization hit him—those "plum blossoms" on the bed... kind of smelled like tomato...
"Whew..." Ather exhaled slowly. "So... is there anything else wrong?"
The doctor paused for a moment, then nodded.
"You've got a rare condition."
"Huh? What condition? How much will it cost?"
A bitter smile appeared on Ather's face. He had spent nearly all his savings for the date last night. Now only a few hundred bucks remained. He thought the checkup wouldn't cost much—but now it seemed like something really was wrong.
"You've got... poverty syndrome!" the doctor said, pointing to the chest area on the scan.
"See this? Classic case of conscience hypertrophy. I recommend surgical removal."
"Huh?" Ather blinked. "Wait, you said this was rare—so...?"
The doctor sighed, full of regret. "This severe of a case... I've only seen once in a lifetime!"
Ather: "....."
"If I don't remove it, will it cause issues?"
"Not major ones. You'll just keep helping old ladies and getting scammed, lose money in every business, and keep falling for gold diggers."
"...Tss!" Ather's eye twitched. The words cheated for money and love stung like a hot knife.
"Will removing it... actually help?"
"Absolutely! Last time, an old man came in for the same surgery. Afterwards, he scammed us—said we took out too much. Ended up not paying a dime and profited a few hundred grand."
Ather: "??????"
Was the effect really that immediate?
Seeing that Ather was still hesitant, the doctor upped the persuasion. Soon, a few other doctors came in, half-pushing, half-carrying him onto the operating table.
As the main surgeon pulled out a gleaming scalpel, Ather nervously asked,
"Uh... Doctor, what's the success rate of this surgery?"
"Super high! Look at us—we're all living proof~"
"Oh... That's good to hear."
Just as Ather exhaled in relief, something clicked in his head. His eyes widened.
"Wait—you're saying... all you doctors... had your consciences removed too?!"
Doctor removes conscience → Becomes heartless quack?
"WTF!!"
Ather suddenly felt a chill down his spine. The cold edge of the scalpel had already touched his back!
This wasn't conscience removal—it was a damn kidney theft!
Without a moment's hesitation, Ather flipped off the table like a carp, kicked two doctors away, and leapt out the open window!
His movements were fluid and graceful. As he flew through the air, he even waved goodbye:
"Bye-bye now!"
The lead surgeon froze, then shouted:
"Hey, we're on the 18th floor!!"
Ather looked down.
Dozens of meters below.
His head spun.
"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER?!!"
But his voice was already fading into the wind. With a WHAM, his consciousness slipped into darkness...
"Hey! Lazybones! Wake up already!"
A sweet voice rang in his ears.
Ather groggily opened his eyes, then suddenly shouted reflexively:
"YOU'RE the one with conscience hypertrophy! Your whole family has it!"
The pink-haired, pink-eyed girl in front of him frowned.
"Ather, what are you even talking about? Conscience hypertrophy? Me?"
She looked down at her, uh, abundant talent and began to worry—could Ather be calling her fat?
"Milk Tank, hit him for me!"
"Moo~!"
The giant pink-and-black cow beside her lifted a hoof and smashed it into Ather's face.
"Ugh?!"
Only now did Ather realize this wasn't the hospital room he'd been in. But before he could think further, the hoof connected squarely with his handsome face.
"OWOWOW—!"
"Hmph! That's what you get for talking nonsense. Get up and get to work already, or the Milk Tank herd's gonna riot!"
The girl crossed her arms, bossy and commanding.
Ather froze for a moment.
Then he realized... he'd been dreaming again.
Six years ago, on the day he jumped out that window, he had transmigrated into this world—
This dreamlike world of Pokémon.
And the pink-haired girl in front of him, with her milky-soft skin, was none other than...
Whitney, Gym Leader of Goldenrod City in the Johto Region!