-Beep, beep, beep, beep.
-Ding-dong♪
"…Welcome back, sis."
"Uuugh……."
The moment Kim A-rin opened the front door, Ji-woo trudged inside and collapsed right in the middle of the living room.
Too much happened today.
Seriously exhausted.
Was getting a Hunter ID photo always this grueling?
It wasn't like this when she got her regular ID.
-Swish.
"Look, sis… look. It came out cute."
"Kraaaagh."
Ji-woo's whole body trembled at the sight of the photo Kim A-rin proudly held up — a photo of herself.
She'd thought the white tee and jeans were at least passable, but then out of nowhere, a bear-ear fuzzy hat.
Faced with that adorably precious fuzzy hat, the manly Ji-woo finally gave up the ghost and passed on to the next life.
All that remained was a tiny, cute little Ji-woo who had surrendered to the promise of a new computer.
"Look, sis. There's one with your eyes closed too."
"D-delete it. Delete it right now!"
"Yep, that's right. It's a Ji-woo photo." (TN: 지우 sounds like 지워, "erase/delete")
"…Don't play word games with someone else's name─!"
Well, anyway — a Hunter ID, they said.
Isn't a Hunter ID basically like a regular ID?
Is it even okay to wear a hat in an ID photo?
Wouldn't that violate some kind of regulation…?
Ji-woo blurted out the questions that kept bubbling up, and got back a pretty casual answer.
"There's no rule saying you can't wear a hat. …Probably."
"Is there a rule saying you have to wear a bear hat?"
Kim A-rin exercised her right to remain silent in the face of that pointed question.
The nerve of her was truly sky-high.
When Ji-woo fixed her with a steady glare, A-rin slowly started backing away.
And then, she deployed the skill she always used when she had nothing to say.
Namely: the Subject Change.
"Are you… hungry? Let's eat, sis."
She followed that up by saying she'd cook dinner herself tonight.
But Ji-woo tilted her head.
"Uh…. Is there even anything here?"
Sure, this was an enormous penthouse, but Ji-woo had only just moved in today.
The fridge — several of them, looking absurdly expensive — had come as standard fixtures, but she hadn't gone grocery shopping yet.
The side dishes the store manager had sent were all still back at the rooftop room. How exactly was A-rin planning to cook anything?
-Click.
"Everything we need is already here."
"Huh. What."
Kim A-rin swung the fridge door wide open, and inside it was packed full of ingredients.
Green onions, onions, all kinds of fruit.
And beyond that — pork belly, pork shoulder, beef chuck…
Anyway, there was a lot of stuff. Like, genuinely a lot. What even.
"Before you got here, I asked them to stock it in advance."
"Uh…. The fridge?"
"Yep."
Was a fridge normally the kind of thing that got stocked just because you asked?
Apparently the fridge in a fancy penthouse like this was a different beast from the one Ji-woo knew.
"If you ask, they'll stock other things too."
"Huh? Like what?"
"You call and ask, and a building staff member goes and buys it for you. Snacks and stuff too."
"What."
Kim A-rin went on to explain the penthouse services in more detail — things like laundry and cleaning were handled regularly by staff on your behalf.
It was a whole new world.
"Hunters are busy, so think of it as the guild hiring a housekeeper for you."
"…You said Hunter royalty. You really meant it."
"Hunter… royalty? What's that?"
"It's a thing."
Anyway, the point was that you could call and have anything bought for you. And a staff member on duty twenty-four hours a day, no less.
In that case, might as well test it out.
As it happened, there was one thing she needed.
"I just talk into the intercom?"
"Yep. When the staff picks up, just tell them what you need."
"Hmm…."
Ji-woo tapped the intercom buttons the way A-rin showed her, and it rang through.
It actually connected to what seemed like a management office.
-Click.
[ Hello, Ms. Lee Ji-woo. ]
"Oh, hello."
[ What can I help you with today? ]
"Ah, well…. …Could you possibly get me The Lord of the Rings? Volumes one through three."
[ Oh…. Would that be the novel? ]
"Yes. The novels."
There was a brief sound of keyboard typing, and then the staff member's voice returned.
[ It will be delivered tomorrow at 2 PM. ]
"Oh. Tomorrow already?"
[ Yes, that's correct — tomorrow at 2 PM. Shall we leave it at your door? ]
"That… would be great. Thank you."
They really will get you anything.
The Haetae Guild's benefits were apparently far better than Ji-woo had imagined.
"…Did sis like books?"
"I promised I'd bring them to Hwaran."
"…Oh…."
At that, Kim A-rin nodded like it all made sense now.
She'd been there when Ji-woo promised to come back to Hwaran, after all.
But why did Ji-woo feel vaguely irritated.
Was someone talking trash about her on the Hunter Wannabe Gallery right now.
"By the way, sis."
"?"
"Are you really… going back to the Haeinsa Gate?"
"Of course. I made a promise."
That was the whole reason she'd asked them to order The Lord of the Rings in the first place — to bring it to Hwaran.
Ji-woo planned to visit Hwaran as soon as she had a free moment.
She absolutely had to get a photo of Hwaran sitting with the full set of The Lord of the Rings, reading happily.
She'd go alone if she could, but walking all the way to the Haeinsa Dungeon Gate was a bit much.
To bring Hwaran the complete set, she'd have no choice but to hitch a ride with Kim A-rin.
"Or could you buy me a bus ticket?"
"…Just come with me. You can't go alone."
"Dang."
It was a little awkward having A-rin watching when she wanted to take photos. But what could she do.
Still, A-rin's car beat the bus any day.
She decided to look on the bright side.
"Anyway. So what do you want to eat?"
"Spam fried rice. Don't hold back — dump in a ton."
"………."
"Put in a whole can. That's an order."
"…Okay."
When the spam fried rice (one full can, deployed without mercy) was finished in no time, Ji-woo felt the full weight of capitalism bearing down on her.
There was no greater luxury in the world.
***
-Waddle waddle.
-Waddle waddle.
"Kim A-rin, you're actually a better cook than I thought…."
"…Was it good?"
"Yeah. Michelin three-star level."
Maybe it was because she'd eaten two whole bowls of Kim A-rin's spam fried rice, but even walking was a struggle now.
Ever since she'd become this little kid, her stomach seemed to have shrunk too — she got full embarrassingly fast.
If she could just roll around on the couch scrolling her phone and drift off to sleep, that would be peak happiness.
Unfortunately, she still had things to do.
She needed to ask about her skills.
"A-rin. About my skills."
"…Yeah."
"There's something weird about one of them."
"Weird…? Which one?"
Ji-woo slowly explained it to Kim A-rin.
It seemed like her passive skill, Let's Be Friends, was affecting people too.
"People too?"
"Yeah…. Earlier, a notification popped up saying the guild master's affinity had increased."
Recalling the moment with Yoo Do-a, Ji-woo pulled up her skill window again.
-Ding.
【(P) Let's Be Friends : S】
【The probability of encountering entities of sufficient standing increases dramatically.
Gains the favor of entities of sufficient standing.】
Reading the skill description, it said 'entities of sufficient standing.'
The category of 'entity' apparently included people, not just monsters.
If it only applied to monsters, wouldn't it have said 'monsters' specifically?
And honestly, that wasn't the only thing she was curious about — there were plenty more questions.
Either way, she was still only three days into her awakening.
There was far more she didn't know than what she did.
"My passive skill — turns out I can turn it off too. Can you do that with yours?"
"Mine… can't be turned off. I guess yours is the kind of passive that can be toggled."
Passive skills came in all kinds, Kim A-rin explained.
Some, like Ji-woo's, could be switched on and off. Others were permanently active with no way to disable them.
"There are Hunters whose transformation skill is a passive, so they can never go back to looking human."
"So they have to live transformed forever?"
"Probably…."
"…That's kind of sad."
Well, at least that wasn't her situation.
She decided to count herself lucky.
Still, there was a more pressing question left.
"So what do I do now?"
Right now, she was registered as a transformation-type Hunter.
But the fact that she was transforming into a Hidden Boss — that she hadn't told anyone.
The fact that she could use Hidden Boss skills was something only Kim A-rin knew.
In other words, she had to hide her Avatar Manifestation skills from everyone except A-rin.
If the truth about her Avatar Manifestation skills got out, she'd either be hunted down by Hunters or end up in a solitary cell with no internet access.
Just imagining it was horrifying…
"For now, the wolf… the Hidden Boss?"
"Fenrion."
"In front of others, only use Fenrion's skills. For now, that's the safest move."
"Hmm."
Fenrion's Avatar Manifestation skills were plenty powerful, so it probably wouldn't cause any real problems.
But she wanted to use Hwaran's Avatar Manifestation skills too.
Or meet other Hidden Bosses and pick up new Avatar Manifestation skills.
Every new Avatar Manifestation skill she gained made her stronger — wasn't there some way to work toward that?
"……It's too dangerous, sis. Even if the first two times were lucky."
"Is Kim A-rin afraid of Ji-woo's growth?"
"Yeah. Scared. That you'll get hurt."
"Come on, don't go serious on me here."
She'd meant it as a joke, but A-rin took it straight.
Ji-woo felt oddly embarrassed and just scratched the back of her neck.
"No matter how strong you get… I don't want you getting hurt."
"Okay, okay. I get it. Enough with the serious face."
Well, it wasn't like the world was on the brink of destruction right this second.
There was no urgent reason to power up in a hurry.
But.
"I do want to try going into a Dungeon."
She had no intention of staying where she was.
She needed to raise her Assimilation skill proficiency.
That was the only way to evolve it into an Avatar Manifestation skill.
The Avatar Manifestation skills she had right now were Avatar Manifestation in name only — in practice, they were ten-minute trial versions.
To use the full, non-trial version of Avatar Manifestation, she'd need to evolve the Assimilation skill itself into an Avatar Manifestation skill.
"…Even if I try to stop you, you'll go anyway. Behind my back."
"Ahem."
She couldn't bring herself to deny it.
She did have a conscience, after all.
Still, with an S-rank invincibility passive, it wasn't like she'd die or get seriously hurt anywhere.
"Like you said — I've already run into two Hidden Bosses and I'm still alive, right?"
"…That's just results-based thinking."
"But I survived."
Anyway, her conclusion was the same.
She was going to get stronger.
She had more than enough motivation to make a name for herself as an S-rank Hunter like Kim A-rin.
She wanted to make her skills stronger too.
And that meant more money.
"…I'll look into it for now. A stabilized Gate shouldn't cause any problems."
"!"
"But no unstabilized Gates. Not yet."
Gates came in two types.
The unstabilized Gates A-rin had just ruled out were ones like the Gangseo-gu Dungeon Gate — newly formed Gates that had only just appeared.
Before the Dungeon Stone was retrieved, the monsters inside were apparently far stronger and more aggressive.
Most of the Dungeon Gate news stories you saw on TV were about unstabilized Gates.
On the other hand, places like the Haeinsa Gate, where the Dungeon Stone had already been retrieved, were fully stabilized Gates.
In those cases, even rookie Hunters like Ji-woo could enter without much danger.
Active Hunters already ran regular raids there, and the monsters were relatively docile.
"But you can't go alone, sis."
"Why?"
"You're a minor right now. No Dungeon access without a guardian."
"…Is there any magic that makes you age faster?"
"No, absolutely not!"
Kim A-rin's voice came out oddly flustered.
It wasn't that big a deal, was it.
-Fidget fidget.
-Fidget fidget.
"Sis is……."
"What about me."
"…Cute the way you are right now."
"…That's not the point here."
You absolute child-obsessed menace.
Sure, A-rin had always had a thing for cute stuff since they were kids, but still.
"A-anyway, no. I've never even heard of magic like that…."
"…You could've just led with that."
Well, she'd have to live as a kid for now.
She hadn't been expecting much, so she wasn't all that disappointed.
Being younger wasn't all bad, when she thought about it.
Her skin felt brand new. She had energy to spare.
Public transit discounts too.
Kids had their own perks.
Or so she'd been thinking positively for exactly ten minutes, when:
"Ji-woo, Ji-woo. I bought a bunch of different pajamas, come pick one."
"…Can't I just sleep without any?"
Late in the evening, Yoo Do-a had shown up out of nowhere, and Ji-woo was hit with the full reality of being a child.
Faced with every variety of children's pajamas being shoved in her face, she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Put these on and you'll sleep like a baby."
"Liar."
"For real though? Just try it, what's the worst that could happen."
"N-no! I don't want to! Stop it!"
"…You're not going to die from wearing pajamas, sis. Put them on."
"K-Kim A-rin, you too…! Traitor!"
Not a single ally in this world.
Life is meaningless.
***
"See? Sleeping like a baby."
"…Shh. You'll wake her up."
***
-Blink blink.
-Blink blink.
"…Mmph…."
She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.
A very high one, at that.
"Where am I, who am I…."
Rubbing her eyes, she climbed out of bed and was greeted by an unfamiliar view.
No matter how many times she saw it, it still surprised her — she'd momentarily forgotten this was her home now.
"A-rin, A-rin…? …Did she go out?"
She was alone in this enormous place.
She tried stepping out to ring the doorbell at A-rin's unit next door, but her arms couldn't reach — she was too short.
A-rin wasn't picking up her phone either, so she'd clearly gone somewhere.
"Today was supposed to be moving day, so, hmm…."
Wandering around the spacious apartment, she spotted some unfamiliar items on the table.
A Hunter ID card printed with an adorable ID photo.
And a short note from Kim A-rin saying something had come up and she'd stepped out for a bit.
A postscript told her to watch TV at home in the meantime.
…Who does she think she's talking to.
-Blink blink.
-Blink blink.
"…Okay, fair, I'm obviously a little kid."
The reflection in the TV screen was just a little girl.
She knew that, but she still hadn't gotten used to it.
Still, she wasn't going to watch children's cartoons.
Her tastes, at least, hadn't become a child's.
"Anyway, the point is she's not here right now…."
While mulling over what to do until A-rin got back, something suddenly occurred to her.
Her current location was the Haetae Guild's residential building.
The Haetae Guild headquarters was just a couple of buildings over.
This whole area was essentially Haetae Guild territory.
And among those buildings was—
"There's definitely a training Gate here, she said."
A stabilized Gate that the Haetae Guild had purchased a long time ago.
Yoo Do-a had mentioned yesterday that it was mainly used for training by Haetae Guild Hunters.
It took less than ten minutes to make up her mind.
Nothing else to do — might as well check it out.
She had things she wanted to test with her skills anyway.
"Um…. Can I help you?"
"I'm here to enter the Gate. Here's my Hunter ID."
Ji-woo finally arrived at the Gate and held out her Hunter ID to the staff member managing entry.
She hadn't had her rank assessed yet, but she was registered as a Haetae Guild Hunter.
Therefore, she naturally assumed she'd be allowed into the Haetae Guild's training Gate.
"I'm, uh, sorry, but you're a minor…?"
"Oh."
She was turned away.
Right, minors needed a guardian present to enter a Gate.
"I-I'm an adult, though? I have my ID."
"I'm sorry, but please head back, Hunter Lee Ji-woo."
The staff member's voice was firm.
But Ji-woo wasn't the type to back down that easily.
There was one thing she could only do right now, while A-rin was away.
"…Assimilation."
【Rank: F → S (Currently Assimilating: Hwaran)】
【Currently Assimilating: Hwaran (27%)】
She slipped behind a tree near the Gate and activated Assimilation, transforming into Hwaran.
Then she called up her memories of when she'd first met Hwaran.
The memory of using Avatar Manifestation skills against those smuggler Hunters, with Hwaran's help.
The memory of the skills she'd instinctively grasped during that Avatar Manifestation.
[ Assimilation rate with entity: Hwaran has reached a sufficient level. ]
[ A portion of entity: Hwaran's stats are being granted to entity: Lee Ji-woo. ]
[ Some of entity: Hwaran's skills are now available for use. ]
"……Feel the flow, child. I know you can do it."
Just as Hwaran had said back then, Ji-woo had definitely been able to use Hwaran's skills in that moment.
The sensation was still preserved clearly in her memory.
Of course, to use the skills more perfectly she'd need to activate Avatar Manifestation — but that would exhaust her almost immediately.
If it worked, great. If not, nothing to be done.
Still worth trying.
"…Come forth, clone."
She extended her hand, and felt mana seeping faintly out of her.
The mana gathered slowly in the air.
Hwaran had conjured a clone instantly, but Ji-woo couldn't manage that right away.
Even so—
-Step.
-Blink blink.
-Blink blink.
"It… it worked!"
After about twenty minutes of waiting, her clone finally materialized.
The problem was that the clone looked exactly like her current self — meaning it was also just a little kid.
If she sent this thing to the Gate staff, they'd obviously turn it away for being too young.
This little-kid clone wasn't going to fool anyone.
"Hmm…. Can I make it look older?"
Ji-woo slowly channeled her mana into the clone, which was staring blankly back at her.
She pictured the tiny figure in front of her becoming someone who was unmistakably an adult.
"Grow, grow, grow…!"
Concentrating hard while holding onto the sensation from when she'd been with Hwaran—
The result was that her clone aged from a little kid into something slightly older.
"…Why is it doing a peace sign."
Maybe it was happy about aging up.
Hard to say, but regardless — this was no longer something you could call a child.
If current Ji-woo was eleven, the clone looked roughly like a second-year high schooler.
"Alright then, Ji-woo No. 2."
-Blink blink.
-Blink blink.
"Move out."
-Step step.
-Step step.
She sent Ji-woo No. 2 toward the Gate, then slowly followed behind.
Because this thing was basically just a walking puppet right now.
Unlike the clone Hwaran had made, this one couldn't speak or act on its own.
Ji-woo had to give it commands one by one.
"Um…. Can I help you?"
The Gate management staff tilted their head at the sight of Ji-woo No. 2.
Seizing that moment, Ji-woo activated one of Hwaran's skills once more.
【❮(A) Hypnosis❯: Activated!】
[ Entity: Lee Ji-woo deceives the world of entity: Min So-a……… ]
"Uh………um……."
The staff member's eyes glazed over by the second.
Ji-woo had Ji-woo No. 2 lean in and whisper quietly to the dazed staff member.
-Whisper whisper.
"You really need to use the bathroom right now…. You really need to use the bathroom right now…."
"Ah……I can't……."
"Just for a moment, it'll be fine…. You're going to walk to the bathroom…. Come on, go ahead…."
