Chapter 8
“Eep!”
The city was bustling.
People flaunted their distinctive styles.
On a strange street where buildings from the past mingled with technology from the future, Nine kept her head bowed.
‘…There are too many people.’
She couldn’t look straight ahead.
Even trying to raise her head a little made her heart pound and her cheeks burn.
She was forced to stare only at the ground.
Still, it was far better than being outside in reality, so Nine tried to work up her courage and kept walking.
Her destination was the government-affiliated appraisal office.
It was a place where individuals like Nine could sell items themselves.
How many scratches on the ground had she counted while needlessly fussing with her hood?
She walked for several minutes, lowering her gaze whenever someone passed and doing her best to avoid even brushing against them.
Nine felt her spirit growing weary.
‘…I want to go home.’
She wanted to throw herself into her cozy bedcovers.
She wanted to draw the blackout curtains and browse the forums in the comfortable, warm darkness.
How many times had she repeated those pleasant fantasies?
Tap.
Before she knew it, Nine had arrived in front of the appraisal office.
Whirr—.
The automatic doors opened by themselves, and Nine swallowed hard before nervously entering the building.
‘There’s no need to be nervous. I just have to hand over the items, and they’ll appraise them and deposit the money….’
It had been a long time since she’d come here.
She hadn’t had any reason to visit in the past year, since she hadn’t been able to make any decent talismans.
Even then, she’d only visited the appraisal office in reality; she’d hardly ever come to the branch in the Other-Side Cultivation World.
Nine quietly shifted her eyes and looked around.
The building was quiet.
Well, there was hardly any reason to visit the appraisal office in the Other-Side Cultivation World.
For most people, it was more convenient and faster to submit items in reality.
Rattle, rattle.
Nine sat down and bounced her legs, as if tapping her toes.
A ticket was clutched in her hand.
She must have been squeezing it very tightly; the ticket was already crumpled and had absorbed the warmth of her hand.
'What should I do, what should I do, what should I do…….'
Nine swallowed dryly.
She’d been so excited when she decided to sell her talismans.
But now that the reality of having to face a stranger was sinking in, she suddenly felt scared and anxious.
Nine’s number was 1304.
— Ding-dong!
Along with the chime, the same number flashed on the waiting screen.
Nine’s shoulders jumped.
Trembling like a small animal, Nine hesitantly made her way to the counter.
"Hello. How can I help you today?"
Nine timidly sat down in the chair in front of the counter.
She was supposed to say she’d come to sell the talismans she’d brought.
'W-what should I do…. I can’t get the words out…!'
Now that a stranger was right in front of her, her mouth clamped shut like a clam against her will.
The clerk looked at Nine, who had her head bowed and said nothing, with a puzzled expression.
An awkward silence.
On top of that, the clerk’s burdensome gaze.
All of it was driving Nine crazy.
‘I have to do something…. Anything…!’
In the end, instead of speaking, Nine fidgeted as she slipped a hand into the pocket of her hoodie.
But as she felt around inside, Nine suddenly widened her eyes.
Something completely unexpected had landed in her hand.
‘Why is this here?’
***
A cultivator in the late seventh star of Qi Refining.
An elite who graduated from a top university at twenty-nine and went straight to work for a government agency.
If she continued cultivating steadily like this, she might even be able to attempt Foundation Establishment before sixty. Quite the successful life… and yet.
Ryu Yeonhwa, the protagonist of that life, was bored.
Getting a job at a government agency had certainly been a good thing.
She received cultivation subsidies like clockwork every month, and half of each month was guaranteed as dedicated cultivation time.
Compared to sect cultivators sent on dangerous missions—or rogue cultivators who didn’t even have that option—it was practically heaven.
'It’s all good, but there’s no excitement.'
A routine repeated every day like a hamster wheel.
Half her time was spent working at the counter, and the other half cultivating; it was a long succession of monotonous days.
Ryu Yeonhwa secretly let out a deep sigh.
If there was one bright spot in this tedious life, it was becoming the dedicated account manager for a high-value client and managing their spirit stones.
Landing a decent client was good for her performance reviews, too.
And if she appraised items entrusted by a rogue cultivator with extraordinary abilities, she could sharpen her own eye.
On top of that, watching huge sums of spirit stones change hands gave her a strange sense of vicarious satisfaction.
"But lately… there hasn’t been anyone who really stands out."
Phew.
Ryu Yeonhwa let out another long sigh, then lightly willed the counter’s call button to activate.
After waiting a little while,
Ryu Yeonhwa looked down at the tiny kid sitting timidly in the chair at the counter.
'What’s with this kid?'
The huge hood was pulled low, and the head was bowed too, so she couldn’t make out any facial features.
Still, from the snow-white hair poking through the gaps and the slender, delicate build, she could tell they were unmistakably a child.
‘Maybe not, now that I look again….’
But then she caught sight of the overwhelming curves showing beneath the hood.
Ryu Yeonhwa immediately abandoned the thought that the visitor was a child.
A presence far more imposing than her own seemed to emanate from there—the presence of a grown woman.
Anyway, swallowing her bewilderment, Ryu Yeonhwa put on a business smile.
She uttered the same greeting she always did.
"Hello. How can I help you today?"
A quiet silence passed.
The voices from the counter next door carried all the way over.
She waited several seconds for an answer.
Ryu Yeonhwa looked down at Nine in puzzlement.
‘Is something wrong? Why aren’t they saying anything?’
Nine was fidgeting and putting a hand in her pocket, but Ryu Yeonhwa had no idea what she was trying to do.
She was just about to furrow her brow at the frustrating behavior.
Then Ryu Yeonhwa suddenly remembered something a senior colleague had once told her.
‘You smart kids probably won’t do this, but I’ll say it just in case.’
‘Yes, Senior.’
‘Never, ever judge someone by their appearance. You’re smart enough to know what I mean, right?’
The brief flashback ended.
Ryu Yeonhwa smiled naturally and looked at the item Nine was holding.
‘A scroll?’
It was no ordinary object.
A white scroll suffused with a faint, auspicious glow.
Shrrrack!
With a brisk rustle, the scroll rose into the air and unfurled, stretching out at length.
Soon, distinct characters began appearing on the once-empty surface of the scroll, as if ink were seeping into it.
[I… came to sell talismans.]
Ryu Yeonhwa grew tense.
A person with an unusual appearance and a magical artifact.
What sort of talismans would someone like that offer?
‘Mid-grade? High-grade? Or could they even be top-grade talismans?’
All high-level cultivators are special.
They give off an extraordinary temperament and aura.
By that standard, this person fit the definition of special perfectly.
"Yes, you’d like to submit an item for sale."
Ryu Yeonhwa softened the smile at her lips even further and spoke.
"Then, to proceed, I’ll first need to verify your identity. Could you show me your ID? And if you could take out the talismans you brought and show me what they are, I’ll begin appraising them myself."
Nine tapped the terminal on her wrist, and her identification details appeared on the desk’s screen.
Ryu Yeonhwa skillfully scanned through the information, then paused at a particular field.
'……Male? And this photo is clearly of an adult man, too?'
The person before her and the information on the terminal were plainly different.
Impersonating another person was a crime.
Especially in the Other-Side Cultivation World.
Ryu Yeonhwa was just about to open her mouth, suspicion in her eyes.
Just then, a strange ripple undulated from the scroll floating in the corner of her vision.
"Ma’am, this identi—"
She couldn’t resist for even an instant.
It was as if someone had forcibly kneaded her brain; her mind went blank, and she couldn’t string a single thought together.
Bzzt…….
Eun Nine’s electronic data on the desk screen warped in real time.
The ID information, gender and physical records, and the entire course of Eun Nine’s life were all completely rewritten.
As if Nine had been a woman from the start, the information recorded in the government database was perfectly altered.
Focus slowly returned to Ryu Yeonhwa’s dazed eyes.
She didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.
"Yes, Ms. Eun Nine. Your identity has been verified successfully."
[Ah, yes….]
"Then please submit the item you wish to sell. The time required may vary depending on the item's quality."
Saying that, Ryu Yeonhwa smiled.
Nine trembled as she handed over a bundle of talismans.
Ryu Yeonhwa carefully accepted them and raised her eyes slightly.
Twenty low-grade talismans, each wreathed in a lively green glow.
‘Considering she’s twenty, that’s quite impressive….’
But that was only a little above average for her age.
It didn’t meet Ryu Yeonhwa’s standards for someone special.
‘Was I getting ahead of myself? But that scroll…’
Ryu Yeonhwa wondered inwardly.
She had always believed her instincts were good.
Was this the first time her certainty had been shaken?
“Ah, yes. I’ve confirmed them. Twenty low-grade Power Talismans. Is that right?”
[Yes….]
"According to the government’s purchase price, low-grade Power Talismans sell for 3,100 credits per ten."
‘A dud, after all. I got my hopes up for nothing.’
Ryu Yeonhwa coolly abandoned her expectations.
For once, thinking her intuition had been wrong, Ryu Yeonhwa entered the value of the talismans into Nine’s account, which was linked to her identity.
A total of 6,200 credits.
‘Well, I suppose I can be wrong sometimes. Besides, this is the Other-Side Cultivation World, where the senses are dulled….’
She tilted her head.
Just before she settled on that conclusion,
Ryu Yeonhwa suddenly looked down at the talismans in her hand.