Park Saewoo looked down at the Jungle Juice in her hand, humming in thought.
Now, Saewoo wasn't originally a natural citizen of the Republic of Korea.
She was a transmigrator.
And… she was originally male.
"...Fuck."
--<>--
Looking back into her past, Saewoo, transmigrated into a South Korean High Schooler, initially assumed a decent amount of stuff.
After all, why wouldn't she, when South Korea was the starting point of most Webtoons or Manhwa.
Maybe there'd be an exposition of Gates and Hunters.
Or maybe a Tower formed in the middle of Seoul.
Possibly even a sudden Dungeon.
Who knew?
That possibility and some memories of her new body were what made Saewoo not complain much about her new body.
She wasn't that confident that she could be a significant character with Reverse Eyes like those weirdos in Lookism who were breaking the laws of physics as high schoolers.
However, just the feasibility was what made her somewhat excited.
Yet…
Even as her Senior Year in High School arrived…
There was nothing.
No Workers, no Park Daniel, no nothing.
There weren't any bike races that seemingly affected the future of South Korea either.
There didn't seem to be any hint of popular or handsome CEOs, Four Heavenly Kings, or anything that could even somewhat clue her into what she transmigrated into.
So, in the end, Park Saewoo had to give up.
It seemed she just transmigrated into a random girl in South Korea.
She obviously didn't want to be the main character of a romance drama or webtoon, because personally, she still liked women.
Not that she would ever have the courage to talk to girls.
Look at her contacts.
It was just her dumbass goons and the orphanage director.
After putting down her dreams of becoming a somewhat strong side character in Lookism, she naturally thought about her own future.
With CSATs coming up, she put herself into seclusion, and told her goons to try and get into good colleges. They couldn't just be fake thugs going around pojangmachas and faking their IDs to drink Soju and Beer.
Was she studying?
Uh… don't ask her about studying.
While she didn't tell her goons, with no options such as beating people up for a living, she had a different route.
As a reader of TS Streaming South Korean webnovels, she knew there was obviously a completely different route.
Yes.
VTubing.
Now, her appearance was one that would be admired and fawned over(as long as she didn't open her mouth) even if she didn't become a VTuber, but Saewoo personally liked VTubers way better.
However, it wasn't even the Golden Age of VTubers yet.
So she had to become one of the first ones before the ocean turned too red and she couldn't make a living off of her High School Diploma.
She had full confidence in her own voice and personality.
Every time she sang the Yakuza songs in the Karaoke Room, she never got a score below 90. And while her gaming ability was nothing to brag about, there was a charm in being bad at games too.
So with her cash from 'lucky' stocks and crypto, she commissioned a half decent avatar based on her favorite animal and her name sake, the Peacock Mantis Shrimp.
After all, who would dislike an animal who packed a mean ass punch?
Now what was left was the rigging.
So Saewoo stayed in her one room apartment, studying…to become a good VTuber.
She might have gotten some withdrawal symptoms of not being able to push around her goons, but she wasn't so attached that she'd rob their futures from them.
She was a good Noonim.
However, scrolling around her Carrot Market app for cheap mics with good quality, a somewhat familiar product appeared listed.
Jungle Juice.
Saewoo scoffed at the product.
"Heh, is this just a fake product based on the manhwa?" She mumbled, before tapping on it out of curiosity.
While her memories of Jungle Juice were basically all faded, the familiar term gave her some recollection of the manhwa.
However, contrary to her initial expectations, the product was real.
Now, faced with something that she somewhat remembered could give people animal powers, what was Saewoo's first instinct?
"I'm buying your entire fucking stock!"
Now, what animal should she choose?
Was there even a fucking debate?
Her favorite animal of course.
After her order for five containers of Jungle Juice was verified, she opened up her contacts, and pressed the number on one of the more pushover goons that followed her around willingly.
After the first beep, the call connected.
"Hey, lil bro, how's your studying going along?"
"Um…Noonim, why are you calling?"
Saewoo raised an eyebrow, "Hah? I can't just call if I want to? Where is this disrespect coming from?"
"No Noonim!" An immediate answer came from the other end of the call.
"Good. Now lil bro, I'm going to need you to buy me some Peacock Mantis Shrimp."
"...Eh?"
"You heard me!" Saewoo barked out. "Get me five Peacock Mantis Shrimp to my house!"
The goon on the other side of the call paused. "Uh… from the Noryangjin Fish—"
Saewoo's expression darked. "If you finish that sentence, I'm going to head over and personally beat your ass."
"So from the pet store then?"
"Where else?!"
"...Is that all, Noonim?" The goon asked nervously.
"Hmm… And get me some of this bug spray called Jungle Juice."
"...Why?"
"Why so many questions, lil bro? Just listen to what your Noonim says and all is good!"
"...Are you a thug?" The goon mumbled, but fortunately for him, it was too quiet for Saewoo to hear.
"Chop Chop lil bro!"
"I'll get it done in a day!"
Saewoo smiled with satisfaction. "That's what I like to hear! I'll pay for the stuff as always, and you might even get a little extra!"
All of a sudden the mood of the person on the other side skyrocketed. "Of course, Noonim! I'll get everything ready as fast as possible!"
Saewoo chuckled. "Heh, lil bro, do you want your ass beat? Doing this just because I'm paying you?"
"N-No, Noonim, of course not! Loyalty forever!"
The call ended.
--<>--
Money being the best motivator, her youngest goon, along with assistance, was able to get not just five Peacock Mantis Shrimp, but seven.
And in addition to Saewoo's arriving five cans of Jungle Juice, they were able to get an additional three.
So seven Mantis Shrimp and eight cans of Jungle Juice.
Such lucky numbers.
After paying the group extra and sending them away, Saewoo was now in the middle of her apartment in thought.
"...How did Jungle Juice work again?"
Now, Park Saewoo absorbed a lot of media before transmigrating, which worked against her.
With her memorization abilities of Korean names already in the negatives before transmigration, it was no surprise that she got so much solely to experiment.
"My babies, I'm sorry." Park Saewoo put her hand on the glass of the fish tank.
"But don't worry, you'll be the ingredients for my badass future. I'll even buy a Peacock Mantis Shrimp and take care of one in honor of you guys."
Now, while she bought a lot of Jungle Juice and Mantis Shrimp to experiment, she wasn't much for that either.
So, without any plans, she took out a small gas burner and opened the window.
"Might as well just make some Jungle Juice Peacock Mantis Shrimp Jjigae."
She inspected the Jungle Juice can.
"Well, at least it doesn't have a tag saying that I can't ingest it."
Note: Park Saewoo was insane.
If there was an opportunity for some sick ass powers, who wouldn't take it?
Well… maybe it was fine to do the minimum amount of experimenting.
She wasn't suicidal after all.
After draining one fish tank, she held out a Peacock Mantis Shrimp with tongs and put it above a bowl. She opened a can of Jungle Juice and sprayed the shrimp.
She watched with curiosity as the carapace steamed and sizzled, but other than that, nothing happened.
Not one for patience for either, after a minute of shaking it and spraying it again, she just set down the steaming Mantis Shrimp down in disappointment into a big pot, and moved the somewhat large puddle of Jungle Juice on the stainless steel bowl into the pot as well.
After putting the steaming shrimp in the pot and spraying the remaining Jungle Juice into the pot as well, she hummed in thought.
Welp.
Her only possible experiment didn't go the way she was expecting it to.
"Well, I guess the only thing we can do is boil it with Jungle Juice."
And so, for the next thirty minutes, Saewoo was dual wielding Jungle Juice, emptying seven cans into the pot.
"It took seven cans of Jungle Juice to finally get a decent pot?"
Saewoo complained.
She knew the value of Jungle Juice would skyrocket at least.
So, like someone buying DDR5 RAM in 2026, she resolved to buy more before there was a shortage after she became a superhuman.
She put in the remaining six Peacock Mantis Shrimp into the radioactive green pot of Jungle Juice, and turned her gas burner to the maximum heat.
Saewoo looked at the heating mass of radioactive looking Jungle Juice, and awkwardly put on a lid.
"...So how long do I wait now?"
After scrolling on her phone for around five minutes and turning off the heat and waiting for another twenty, she put on a cooking mitten and opened up the pot.
However, instead of the expected perfectly cooked but cooled Radioactive Peacock Mantis Shrimp she could munch on, what remained was clear Jungle Juice and a somewhat large pile of iridescent green dust.
"...Did I just make green cocaine?"
--<>--
After a longer than wanted process of putting the leftover Jungle Juice into some nearby plastic bottles she had laying around just in case she could sell it eventually, she looked at the somewhat moist tentatively named Shrimp Cocaine.
"Hmm. Now here is the real question."
She mumbled, looking at the dust.
"Do I just eat this or snort it?"
After a not so long inner debate, she just decided.
"I'll just do both!"
She put half of the Shrimp Cocaine into a half full plastic bottle of Jungle Juice, before shaking it.
Since snorting powder hurt more than just drinking it, she'd drink it first and then quickly snort it after.
Now, don't misunderstand, in her previous life and her current one, she stayed away from drugs. Now, faking her ID to get some alcohol and cigarettes were fair game.
They were both illegal, yes.
However…
Drugs were leaning to the more evil sounding way of breaking the law.
At least that was Saewoo's opinion.
And to her respect, she hadn't even smoked a single cigarette since transmigrating, for the sole purpose to preserve her voice for when she started her streaming career.
She was a dumb kid who snorted smarties back then, so she had some experience.
Saewoo pulled out a green King Sejong, and rolled it into the form of a straw.
The strip of her Shrimp Cocaine was already prepped.
"Hesitation is Defeat!"
Saewoo told herself, as she popped open her Shrimp Cocaine bottle and chugged down the entire bottle.
Before she could feel any effects, she put her face to her table and the straw to her nose, and snorted halfway before coughing in pain.
"This shit hurts like a bitch!" She cursed, but quickly finished the remainder of the Shrimp Cocaine, halfway in pain, before rubbing her nose as she finished, trying to rub the stinging sensation away.
However, before she could register anything, a searing pain went through her entire body.
"SHIBAL, FUCK!"
She fell to her knees.
Saewoo thought there would be nothing worse than period cramps.
She was sorely mistaken.
After a few more seconds of this pain, her consciousness ebbed, and she finally succumbed to the pain.
--<>--
"Eugh… shibal…" Saewoo groaned, as she felt her aching back from sleeping on the floor.
She slowly got up, looking around her surroundings, before blinking.
"...Am I seeing in 4k? What is this?" While Saewoo's favorite animal was the Peacock Mantis Shrimp, she really only knew their punching ability…not whatever this Dojutsu was.
"Have I obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan after snorting Shrimp Cocaine…?"
Saewoo groggily made her way to her bathroom, and looked at the mirror for a long while.
"...Damn I'm so pretty. I mean I was already majestic before, but..."
Her original waist length straight black hair had changed into longer iridescent green hair, with the design of her hair being similar to the Peacock Mantis Shrimp's abdomen and telson.
However, on the underside, were bright red highlights reminiscent of rubies, shining depending on the angle of light.
Her beautiful cold older sister-like face hadn't changed, but her eyes were pearl colored, but as she got closer to the mirror, she could see three small pupils close together.
"So I actually got a Dojutsu…" She marveled, before admiring her appearance again.
A few minutes in, she could feel an unusual feeling on her forearm.
She could see and feel a dark red carapace forming on her forearm and hands, half forming something similar to a small gauntlet.
While it did look somewhat half-baked, Saewoo couldn't help but admire the blood red color that perfectly matched her taste.
As she inspected it, an unfamiliar but somehow comforting sound entered her brain.
Click.
A smile formed on her face.
Well, she was a Mantis Shrimp after all, what would they be without their punches?
She made her way to the center of her one room apartment, and pointed at an empty wall.
"It shouldn't matter cause I'm just punching air…right?"
After some thought, she just decided, "Fuck it we ball."
An expression of seriousness that fit her look was formed on her face.
"Nine Ropes."
"Polarized Light—I don't fucking remember the rest—SKADOOSH!!!"
BOOOOOOM!
Even when she held back a little, a sound that could only be compared to a bomb going off point blank could be heard from her arm.
While it didn't break anything, her consideration in punching in the direction of an empty wall meant nothing, as the preceding second boom hit.
BOOM!
Heavy wind whooshed around the room, knocking over her entire setup, and blowing all of her blankets on her bed around the room.
The only saving grace was that there was no food or drinks out.
Saewoo looked around the now trashed room, blinking.
A smile crawled up her face, before she broke out into a laugh.
"HAHA!"
"Hell yeah."
--<>--
A/N: I needed to warm up my hands so I just decided to write a jungle juice fanfic and totally not because someone in my discord was writing one, inspiring me to do the same...
Idk the schedule for this one either, so probably just random till i hit 15k words.