"Why are you eating that, you idiot! Who's gonna pay your hospital bills if you get a stomachache?!"
That was the kind of person my manager was.
Even if I snuck a single piece of discarded food, he'd launch straight into a full lecture.
The textbook definition of what people call an old-fashioned nag.
"If you get sick, if you can't come in because you're sick — you're not the only one who suffers, Ji-woo. I have to find someone to cover for you, and if I can't, me and my wife have to take turns and…"
It was just one piece of throwaway food.
It wasn't like eating a discarded item was going to give me some fatal disease.
And yet I had to stand there and listen to my manager — who'd turned into an angry Chihuahua — lecture me for a good long while.
The discarded lunchbox had gone cold by then, so he tossed it and handed me a bland bean sprout bibimbap instead.
Something about bean sprouts being good for your health.
And then he made a whole show of it, acting like he was doing me some huge favor by giving me his own food.
But that wasn't all.
"Don't tell me you were only five minutes late — what are you going to do when you have to function in the real world?"
One particularly unlucky day when every single crosswalk light turned red the moment I arrived.
I'd bowed my head and apologized over and over, genuinely sorry, and my manager had still chewed me out for it.
"When you get a real job someday, are you going to make the same excuses? You'll get blacklisted in no time, you little punk."
And so I worked there for a full five years.
Always braced for a scolding over even the tiniest mistake.
I'd been ready to report him to the labor board the second he shorted me even a single won — but he'd seen right through that plan and dismantled it before I could act on it.
Because the number printed on my bank statement was always just a little higher than what we'd originally agreed on.
So naturally, my manager hadn't exactly left me with warm, fuzzy memories.
But I guess even a grudging attachment is still an attachment.
— *Jingle* ♪
"Oh, welcome~!"
Hearing that voice — the one he'd always reserved exclusively for customers — somehow made the words stick in my throat.
*Take care of yourself.*
That was all I'd meant to say. One line, and then I'd walk right back out of the convenience store.
"Uh… is there something you need?"
His beard had grown a little scraggly, like he hadn't been keeping up with it.
His hair was disheveled in a way that made it obvious he'd barely bothered to wash it.
Stupid as it was, I couldn't stop staring.
It was strange.
The one he'd been kind to wasn't me — it was the female Ji-woo.
The one he'd treated like a daughter was the female Ji-woo.
So why was I the one who couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Hello, sir. I'm Kim A-rin from the Haetae Guild."
In the end, when I stayed silent for too long, Kim A-rin stepped in and spoke for me.
She quietly explained things to him.
"Um… is this… is this really Ji-woo?"
It didn't take long for confusion to wash over my manager's face.
And then, as if that weren't enough, he scrambled out from behind the counter and crouched down in front of me.
"Wait, how did — Miss Kim A-rin, she's not sick or anything, right?"
"No. There are no health issues whatsoever."
"Oh, Ji-woo, you must have been so scared…"
Well.
Honestly, *you're* the one scaring me right now.
"…Manager."
"Oh — yeah, yeah. Go ahead, Ji-woo."
"This is why I said I was quitting. I can't work like this."
I rattled off everything I had to say in one rapid-fire burst.
That from now on I wasn't going to be a convenience store part-timer but a precious S-rank Hunter with the Haetae Guild.
That I was going to be making a lot more money than him.
That unless we happened to run into each other by pure chance, we'd probably never see each other again for the rest of our lives.
"So, so that's…"
"…Have you tried the braised beef? I made it really well this time. Oh — was it maybe a little too salty?"
"…I haven't tried it yet."
The habit of cutting me off mid-sentence — that, at least, hadn't changed.
What did braised beef have to do with anything right now.
"Anyway. Ji-woo."
"…I'm busy. I only stopped by for a moment."
"You can go when you go, but at least let me take one photo. You're going to be famous someday."
A silly joke followed about how he'd stick my photo up as a promotional poster.
Before I could say anything, Kim A-rin was already standing in front of me with her phone raised.
— *Click.*
"Oh, that came out so cute~. I'll have to show my wife."
"…There are customers waiting. I'm going."
I'd gotten my photo taken, so there was no reason to stay in the convenience store any longer. I turned and walked out.
We were strangers now, after all.
— *Grab.*
But my manager reached out and caught me one more time.
"Watch out for colds."
He pressed a thousand-won throat lozenge into my hand.
Five years of work, and my severance pay turned out to be exactly one thousand won.
Good thing I quit when I did.
What more could you expect from a penny-pinching manager who begrudged you a single piece of discarded food.
I walked out without a second thought and got back into Kim A-rin's car.
***
"Sis."
— *Sniff, sniff.*
— *Sniff, sniff.*
"…What…"
On the way to Ji-woo's rooftop room.
The steady sniffling coming from the passenger seat prompted Kim A-rin to quietly pass over a tissue.
The story Ji-woo had just shared was about the manager she'd gone to see.
"About the convenience store you used to work at."
"What about it…"
"Apparently business is really good now. Hunters are there all day, so they keep stopping in."
"…I don't care."
Ji-woo answered from the passenger seat, doing her best to sound indifferent — and then sniffled again a moment later.
Kim A-rin chose not to mention that Ji-woo's puffy, swollen eyes were perfectly visible in the reflection of the passenger window.
But just as Ji-woo's rooftop room came into view in the distance, Ji-woo asked quietly.
"…Kim A-rin."
"Yeah."
"Am I… cute?"
"Yeah. You're cute. Really cute."
Kim A-rin answered without a moment's hesitation, and Ji-woo fell into quiet thought.
On her beat-up old phone, the photo she'd just taken with the manager was still on the screen.
The one where the manager had burst out laughing and said Ji-woo had come out adorably.
"…Then."
"Yeah."
"If I, hypothetically. Started something like Instagram."
"You'd be really popular. Hugely. You'd get famous enough that your manager would know your account."
"Th-that's not what I care about, okay?"
"I know."
Ji-woo's lips pushed out into a pout as Kim A-rin saw straight through to her real feelings.
And seeing that, Kim A-rin decided to share a piece of news she knew her sister would like.
"We're going this afternoon."
"…Where?"
"The Hunter Association. We're doing your rank assessment today."
She added that they'd just quickly sort through Ji-woo's things at the rooftop room before heading out.
The movers would handle actually transporting everything, she said.
"R-really?"
"Yeah."
"!"
That was why the exclamation point practically lit up in Ji-woo's puffy eyes.
Because no matter what else was going on, the rank assessment was the moment Ji-woo had been looking forward to most.
One second she'd been sniffling, and now she was grinning as she typed something up on her phone and posted it.
[Title: Hunter Wannabe Awakens as S-rank Super Hottie, Currently En Route to Rank Assessment]
────────
Posted by: WannaBeDriedRadish
────────
: (that's me, mint-hair emoji)
America's about to be shook, China's about to be stunned, Japan's about to bow down ㅇㅇ..
everyone brace yourselves
the balance of the world is about to shift..!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ: sir it's time for your medication
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: (what are you on about, mint-hair emoji)
ㄴ BaekYeonhwaMamang: (pfft lmaooo sneering mint-hair emoji)
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: (oh hey noona lol, mint-hair emoji)
ㄴ MammaMiaYo: WannaBeDriedRadish what dream are you having this time..
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: dreams aren't for having, they're for achieving lol
ㄴ MammaMiaYo: my dream is to see my late grandmother again
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: ;;;;;;;
"H-how dare she use that against me……!"
Ji-woo, who'd been beaming just moments ago, now wore an expression of deep indignation.
…She was a beloved sister, but that was a little dumb.
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: it's fine I don't have parents either
ㄴ MammaMiaYo: (wait is that for real; emoji)
"Heheh."
"…We're here, sis."
"Oh."
*Hop.* Ji-woo pushed open the passenger door and climbed out.
The back of her as she went clattering up the rooftop stairs looked, to anyone watching, like someone who was very, very excited.
***
"Okay, just sort it into keep and don't keep. That's all."
"Hmm…"
The familiar ceiling.
The familiar yellowed wallpaper, the flickering fluorescent light.
A beat-up old fridge standing alone in the kitchen, looking lonely, with a box of side dishes the manager had sent sitting beside it.
Glancing toward the back, a worn mattress that almost certainly had mold on it, and on top of it, an electric blanket with no temperature control.
Across from the mattress, a wardrobe with its door half-open, and a box of children's clothes Kim A-rin had bought yesterday.
Right next to the wardrobe, an ancient computer and a row of empty water bottles.
Recycling day was yesterday. Hm.
"…Sis?"
"Uh, first… the computer hard drive."
"Your new computer should have arrived by now. You can throw the old one out."
"…I still need the hard drive."
An S-rank Hunter who couldn't work a computer.
What was going to become of this country. Honestly.
"So, besides the computer?"
"…There are side dishes in the fridge."
"But, sis — should I pack your old clothes too…?"
"Pack them. I can wear them once I grow back."
"…You're packing them to wear?"
Well, what else would you pack clothes for.
I tilted my head, and Kim A-rin replied with a slightly awkward expression.
"I'll buy you new clothes later."
"But there are perfectly good clothes right there."
"…Just wear new ones."
"That's such a waste…"
It might be a long way off before I could fit into the female Ji-woo's clothes again, but throwing them out felt wrong.
I'd checked last time — nothing was torn or anything.
Why she was telling me to throw out perfectly good clothes, I really didn't understand.
"Sis. The clothes I bought you last time…"
"I'm taking those. Those are actually new."
"…Okay."
Kim A-rin looked visibly relieved at my answer, for some reason.
Anyway — there turned out to be surprisingly little to pack.
Just the clothes, the computer, and the side dishes. That was it.
Was moving always this simple?
"…Everything else is at the dorm. If it's not something you absolutely need, you can leave it."
"Oh, I definitely need the fan. Without that thing, summer is literally like being grilled alive."
"Sis. The dorm has air conditioning."
"B-but the electricity bill—!"
"…You don't need to worry about the electricity bill."
Kim A-rin gave me a pitying look at my continued flustered protests.
I hadn't said anything wrong, so why was she looking at me like that.
"Actually, hold on, sis."
"What?"
"About what you're wearing right now."
"What about it?"
Right now I had on my usual hoodie and shorts.
This was my most comfortable outfit.
Warm on top, nicely cool on the bottom.
Perfect for going out.
"We're going to the Association later, right."
"So?"
"Let's change your clothes. …You've got dirt on you too."
She mentioned that reporters might take photos of me after the Hunter rank assessment.
And added, as a bonus, that I looked a little scruffy right now.
"Before that, go wash up. I'll pick out your outfit."
"…I already washed up this morning."
"I know you went out this morning, sis. You've got dirt all over you, did you think I wouldn't notice…"
"I — I just went for a walk, okay."
"Anyway, go wash up. You should look clean when we go."
Kim A-rin wasn't wrong.
If reporters at the Hunter Association were going to be taking photos, it was better to look as presentable as possible.
The only problem was that washing up was a bit of a challenge for me right now.
Taking everything off and stepping into the bathroom meant seeing things that were, legally speaking, not mine to see.
It was technically my own body, but I'd barely managed to wash this morning with my eyes squeezed shut.
— *Knock knock.*
— *Knock knock.*
"Sis, want me to help you wash? It must be hard to do it alone——"
"I'M GOING!!!"
…But it was still better than having someone else wash me!
I'd figured the day would come when Kim A-rin would try to bathe me, but that day was not today……!
— *Shhhhhhhh*———
"…Haah."
After speed-showering at record pace, I cracked the bathroom door open and grabbed the clothes Kim A-rin had left out.
And that was when I realized.
I should have brought the clothes I was going to wear into the bathroom with me before I went in.
"S-something else! Give me something else!"
"……The movers said they'd be here soon. Just put it on."
Unless I was going to walk out of the bathroom naked, I had no choice but to put on whatever Kim A-rin had picked out.
The clothes that would make the man named Lee Ji-woo — already long dead — scream from somewhere high above.
There was no alternative.
— *Fidget, fidget.*
— *Fidget, fidget.*
"…I will remember this…"
"It looks great on you, sis. Really cute."
Anyway, let's go outside.
Kim A-rin, who had somehow finished sorting all the boxes already, said as much and led me back out of the rooftop room.
The reason being that dust would fly around inside while the boxes were being carried out.
***
"Sorry for the wait, ladies! We'll get this loaded up in no time~."
"Did you wait long, little miss? We'll have your stuff moved before you know it~."
The movers who'd just arrived bowed their heads to me with cheerful smiles.
But I had to say something.
They were under a slight misapprehension.
"I-I'm not a little miss."
"A princess, then? Ha ha ha ha~!"
In that moment, I knew instinctively.
That arguing with these jolly uncles would only make things worse for me.
And why was Kim A-rin just standing there watching.
"Sis, sis."
"What."
"Can I take a photo? For Instagram."
"………Right now?"
"Right now is perfect."
Before I could say anything, *click.*
As if the matter were already settled, Kim A-rin took my photo again.
That girl definitely would have become a photographer if she hadn't awakened as a Hunter.
"Anyway, sis. Let's get going."
"……Fine."
The cheerful uncles would handle getting my things to my new place.
All I had to do was go to the Association with Kim A-rin, get my rank assessed, and then head over to do an interview as the newest S-rank Hunter on the prime-time nine o'clock news.
That was the plan.
— *Buzz*———
— *Buzzzzzzzz*———!
— *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*——————!
"Huh… what's this?"
Just as I was about to get into Kim A-rin's car.
My beat-up old phone started blaring.
I tilted my head and unlocked it to find an emergency alert.
[ !! WARNING: B-RANK GATE SHOCK DETECTED WITHIN 1KM RADIUS !! ]
[ Residents of ○○-dong, Gangseo-gu, please proceed immediately to the nearest shelter……… ]
The neighborhood erupted into chaos in an instant.
The sound of people rushing off in the distance filled the air.
The movers' cheerful expressions vanished completely.
But I realized something.
If we all evacuated like this, those boxes sitting outside — and the side dishes inside them — were going to go bad.
The old fridge had already been dragged out of the rooftop room to be thrown away, so I couldn't put anything back in it.
No. Not my side dishes.
I haven't even tried the braised beef yet……!
"Let's go, Kim A-rin."
"Hold on, sis."
"We need to finish this in an hour. Otherwise the greens are going to turn."
I urged Kim A-rin along, fully intending to wrap this up fast and get back.
Strange cries were already echoing from somewhere in the distance, but there were two S-rank Hunters in this neighborhood right now.
A B-rank Gate shock — that'd be over in no time.
"…Assimilation."
【Rank: F → S (Assimilation with: Fenrion, in progress)】
【Currently assimilating with: Fenrion (37%)】
— *Thud thud thud thud*—————!
"I'm going ahead——!"
"H-sis!!"
