｢Next up in the news.
Due to a recent oversupply of low-grade Dungeon byproducts, magic stone prices have been falling day after day.
As concerns over declining Hunter profitability continue to grow, the government is considering raising the minimum purchase price for magic stones……｣
"Skip."
｢It's fifteen thousand won, but it's the matcha grey pig sausage you'll want to eat again and again. The owner, a former Hunter, personally prepares the ingredients……｣
"Skip."
｢Hello, I'm Bucheon Man. Someone in the comments asked whether Gate incidents happen often in Bucheon too. So, how many unconfirmed Gates do we have in our Bucheon right now?｣
"Haah…. The Shorts algorithm is completely broken."
They say the algorithm is supposed to be so smart these days.
So why does it keep recommending videos that only awakened Hunters would care about?
I'm still an unawakened person who hasn't awakened yet….
But even that "yet" is just wishful thinking on my part.
The odds were far higher that I'd go from "not yet awakened" to "never awakened in my entire life."
Wait, the second one is worse, so should I call that devolution instead of evolution?
｢This Hunter has completely lost his mind. A truck carrying magic stones from a B-rank Dungeon slipped on the road, and all the stones in the cargo bed……｣
"Sheesh."
Anyway, I turned off my phone — the one that kept serving me Shorts that had nothing to do with me.
It was already 2 PM.
Time to head to my convenience store shift soon, so I made my way to the bathroom to wash up.
—Shhhhhhhh──.
Same speed-run shower as always.
It didn't take long to get through the whole process.
Just barely missed setting a new record.
"If I leave now…. I won't be late."
I was mentally calculating the estimated travel time from home to the convenience store.
First things first — I grabbed the hair dryer off the shelf to dry my hair.
—Slip!
"Wh— whoa."
My wet palms must have been the culprit, because I nearly dropped the hair dryer — but just barely caught it.
One wrong move and I would've taken a full-body bath in the tub along with the hair dryer.
The cord wasn't plugged in yet, so electrocution wasn't the issue, but if water got inside the dryer it would obviously break.
I had no strange hobby of dunking a perfectly good hair dryer into the bathtub.
"Almost ruined it…. Phew."
Relieved that the hair dryer was still in one piece, I stepped outside and dried my hair with a whirring buzz.
This thing was surprisingly expensive too — if it broke, I'd be in real trouble.
I didn't have the financial wiggle room right now to go out and buy a new one.
"Ugh, it's cold."
I changed into my outdoor clothes and stepped outside, and the still-chilly wind hit me like a freight train.
I briefly considered turning back inside, but there was nothing I could do.
Sure, it's a world where awakening as a Hunter and joining a good guild means you can easily rake in hundreds of millions of won.
But the only awakening I'd ever done was in video games.
An unawakened person like me, who couldn't even enter a Dungeon, just had to diligently keep working their convenience store part-time job.
"Me, living hard day by day — good job~. …Haah."
Still, it's not like I had absolutely nothing going for me.
I'd been diligently investing the money I'd saved up from working part-time jobs all this time.
If I kept the money rolling, even at a snail's pace, wouldn't it snowball into something huge someday?
I'm a rational, clear-headed person who doesn't pin her hopes on unrealistic odds like the lottery.
The same logic was why I didn't expect to suddenly awaken after living my whole life as an unawakened person.
An extreme, ruthless realist.
That's me.
—Ding.
— [Stock Alert] ■■ Electronics stock has dropped -7%.
— [Stock Alert] ▲▲ Bio stock has dropped -6%.
— [Stock Alert] ●● Energy stock has dropped -11%…
"AAAARGH!!"
An involuntary scream tore out of me at the unspeakably horrifying messages.
Who was it that said stocks aren't gambling but a rational investment for your future self?
…No, wait.
Whoever said that probably made a fat profit off stocks, let out a satisfied belch, and already cashed out long ago.
By now they're probably looking at people like me and snickering, can you believe someone actually fell for that.
"…My life is over…."
With both my willpower and my sanity Thanos-snapped out of existence, I trudged onward.
Looks like I won't even be able to afford a triangle kimbap for dinner tonight.
My only hope was that there'd be some discarded food at the store.
If not, I'd seriously have to chew on gravel….
…Which would just mean bigger hospital bills.
"Me, starting a diet — good job…."
Sinking deeper into a creeping gloom, I finally opened my phone and headed home.
I wanted to soothe my wounded heart at my spiritual home on the internet.
I was an orphan with no parents, so I had no idea where my real hometown was — but that didn't mean I had nowhere to call home in my heart.
[Pressing this button will crash the NASDAQ]
[Any Hunter Wannabe who suddenly hates the world, upvote lol ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[A bull market? Ah, so you mean this───.]
[Can I get a refund from floor 55 of Electronics?]
[Is this the Stock Gallery or the Hunter Wannabe Gallery]
"Oh no…."
Emergency.
My spiritual home was already in chaos.
[❗GO❗GET❗'EM❗BOYS❗❗❗]
[Friday floor 27 all-in update]
[Hunter Wannabes ⟨⟨⟨⟨⟨ kinda like a slightly unhinged girl, isn't that kinda hot?]
[Breaking — Elon Chris rocket explodes in atmosphere]
"Right, you're all just like me."
The Hunter Wannabe Gallery.
Known as the Gallery for short.
True to its name, it was normally a place where posts about Hunters went up.
But whenever something like this blew up, all manner of frog memes would flood in, and the world would end and be rebuilt several times over.
The mods are slow, huh.
Nukes are already raining down on my cozy sanctuary, little by little….
Does a mod who doesn't show up even when the gallery descends into dystopia deserve to be a mod?
I seriously considered whether to hold a mod burning-at-the-stake ceremony in the middle of this cyber nuclear war.
[Sick of stock bait starting at 30 minutes]
: ㅇㅇ
ㄴ who are you to say that
ㄴ (mint-hair guy laughing mockingly emoji)
ㄴ who even are you
ㄴ ah came back from Torki and the mod's here
ㄴ ♿♿♿♿♿♿
Still, thankfully the mod wasn't too late.
Any later and I would've spread the mod's crossdressing photos all over the gallery — lucky for them.
Watching my hometown slowly return to normal, I started walking toward the convenience store again.
Just one crosswalk ahead and I'd be there.
—Whoooooosh───.
—Whoooooosh───.
"Ugh, it's so cold…."
When the green light finally came on, I crossed the crosswalk with the icy wind howling around me.
The timing was pretty tight — if I didn't cross quickly, I might be late for my shift.
Which would obviously summon the spirit of an angry Chihuahua to possess the store manager.
I'd really rather not deal with that.
But then, about halfway across the crosswalk.
—Slip.
"Huh…?"
For some reason, I couldn't feel my feet.
I shifted my gaze downward and saw a sinkhole.
"AAAAAAHHHH──!"
A sinkhole had suddenly opened up beneath my feet, and I was helplessly sucked in.
『…I missed you.』
A single message floated up before me — one whose meaning I couldn't quite grasp — and then.
—Whooooooooooo──────
I fell for a long, long time.
Unable to bear the fear and tension slowly welling up inside me, I briefly lost consciousness.
[ Confirmed return of Entity: Null. ]
[ Overwriting information stored in Entity: Null's biometric data…… ]
[ Setting return coordinates to Entity: Null's last recorded location — Hidden Area. ]
【 [ ! ] WARNING: Current location is not the 'Beginner Tutorial' zone. 】
【 [ ! ] WARNING: Current location is not the 'Beginner Tutorial' zone. 】
【 [ ! ] Please exit immediately……… 】
—Flash!
"……Ngh!"
How much time had passed?
I had lost consciousness from the shock of the sinkhole suddenly opening beneath my feet, but I finally came back to my senses.
Of course, that didn't mean my fall suddenly stopped.
"Wh— what! What is this!!"
A literal free fall.
As I plummeted for what felt like forever, unfamiliar messages appeared before me.
[ Automatically adjusting Entity: Null's body…… ]
[ Time until adjustment complete: ■■ : ■■ ]
"Ugh, ngh."
Is that what they call a Status Window or whatever?
No, none of the Status Windows posted on the Gallery ever looked like that.
Still, I flailed my arms through the air, trying to grab onto those message windows at least.
Because at this rate, I was going to get seriously hurt from the fall.
Or maybe even die.
But the message windows wouldn't be caught, and more of them cascaded open one after another.
[ You cannot attack during dialogue. ]
[ You cannot attack during dialogue. ]
[ You cannot attack during dialogue. ]
"No, what is——!"
—Thud!
"Oof."
I'd been falling and falling, and then suddenly a soft sensation cushioned my landing and the fall stopped.
Despite falling for so long, it didn't really hurt.
I'd expected at least a broken leg, but my legs were completely fine.
"…Did I just die on impact?"
My body was so unscathed that I briefly suspected I might have died instantly.
It was more than a little strange that nothing hurt after falling for that long.
Okay, let me check.
"D-did I get 'em…?"
I muttered the most effective revival incantation I knew and pinched my cheek.
Ow. It hurt.
Apparently the revival was a success.
As proof, the cheek I'd just pinched was soft and squishy, like it had just been born.
"Hm? Wait??"
That's when I realized something was off.
My voice had gone thin and high-pitched, and my eye level felt noticeably lower.
Like I'd suddenly become a tiny little shrimp.
Now that I looked, my arms and legs were much shorter too.
With no other option, I took out my phone and used the camera to get a look at myself.
At least the phone hadn't been damaged anywhere — small mercies.
"Hmm…."
I stared intently at the camera screen, which was showing a girl I'd never seen before instead of me.
And then.
"Bleeeh."
I stuck my tongue out, and the girl on the screen stuck her tongue out right back.
After repeating all sorts of weird things like that for a while, I finally had to accept it.
That's right.
I was that girl, and that girl was me.
"Hmm…."
Long white hair and slightly haughty-looking eyes.
A pretty cute, attractive face.
A small body that looked no older than about eleven, at most.
"Why did this happen?"
The girl staring back with a thoroughly serious expression — that was what I looked like right now.
I didn't know why, but I had turned into a little girl.
