Chapter 2
“Ugh—”
How long had it been?
My head throbbed, and my whole body ached.
There wasn't a single place that didn't hurt. Had I slept wrong?
“Ugh, my back…”
I got up, still groggy from just waking, and headed to the bathroom.
I figured I'd wash my face to clear my head.
Creak—
I reached the rickety bathroom and, for some reason, grabbed the doorknob that seemed a little higher than usual and opened the door.
“What…?”
Maybe my mind was still hazy.
I had a strange sense of déjà vu.
“…It's probably just my imagination.”
I brushed it off as my imagination and stood in front of the sink.
I was sure I’d only imagined it because I was tired.
Splash—
“Ah, I guess I didn't pay the gas bill.”
I turned on the water and lightly washed my face.
The water was cold, probably because I hadn't paid the gas bill.
But it definitely cleared my head, and I gradually began to see my surroundings.
“What the hell? Why is it actually so high?”
The doorknob and sink really did seem higher in the bathroom. It wasn't just my imagination.
And then.
“What is this?!”
The reflection in the sink, when I turned to look, was…
Not a hale, handsome young man with one arm missing.
It was a cute little girl.
*****
“This… is me…?”
I still couldn't believe it.
Hair that was a mixture of white and black.
Long eyelashes, and little puffy undereye bags that made me look even cuter.
And above all, a white left eye that gave me an air of mystery.
I couldn't even begin to guess what had happened to me.
“No, what the hell? I changed this much just from eating that pasta?”
The only thing I could suspect was the pasta I'd eaten yesterday.
I figured that thing I'd blindly made and eaten after seeing a post saying it would awaken me had turned me into this.
Tug—
I still couldn't believe what was happening, so I pinched my cheek to see if maybe I was dreaming.
“It… hurts…?”
Instead, I had no choice but to accept that this was really happening.
And more importantly.
“My left arm?”
The thing I hadn't noticed while inspecting my changed face for so long.
My left arm, which had been gone, came into view.
“D-did I really awaken?”
I'd seen it in the news and on online forums.
There had been cases of physical defects being restored at the moment of awakening.
I wasn't sure about changing sex, though.
“…I guess that's a little disappointing.”
Still, hadn't I awakened?
I checked every inch of my body and tried moving around.
“My left arm's still a little hard to move.”
The other parts moved without any problem,
but my left arm—the one I'd lost—still felt a little stiff when I moved it.
Maybe because it had been missing, even if only for a short time, the sensation had dulled.
“Well, it'll come back gradually.”
Anyway, I should be grateful it came back at all.
It wasn't like I couldn't move it; if it was only a little stiff, I could handle it.
More or less satisfied, I checked out the rest of myself.
“Sss—my height…”
My shorter stature came into view as I scanned myself from head to toe.
A woman? Sure, I could deal with that. I wasn't some busty beauty, but I was pretty.
But this was different.
M-my height!
My only real point of pride, my towering 180 centimeters, had disappeared…
I looked about 30 centimeters shorter than before.
“Fuck, the price was fucking steep.”
But my body had already changed.
I'd gotten my arm back and even awakened on top of that, so what could I do?
I decided to just accept it as the price.
More than that, I was itching to brag to someone right away.
I wondered if I should tell a friend or family member, but…
“What was a… friend again?”
There was no way I had friends after spending my whole life alone.
And my parents… well, no need to talk about them.
Besides, it was hard to contact the manager right now because of a Gate-related matter.
And even if I did have someone to tell, I doubted any of them would believe me after I'd changed like this.
“Sigh…”
Since I couldn't do anything with the dopamine rush I'd finally gotten, a sigh escaped me.
That's when it happened.
“The gallery…?”
I noticed the computer still on in the corner of the room.
The gallery.
The very thing that could satisfy my need to brag, shitpost, and get a dopamine hit was right in front of me.
How had I not realized that until now? I must still have a long way to go.
I ran straight to the computer, sat down, and started typing on the keyboard.
[Title: Live Update: This Hunterboarder Just Awakened]
Fuck! The Hunterboarder is right here!
Mom's awakened, so she's gonna live a good life!
Heeheehee
(A frog character grinning nastily)
ㄴ LMAO, awakening isn't your dog's name. Go wash your feet and go to sleep.
ㄴ Show us your Awakening Certificate. You have three seconds.
ㄴ No, seriously;; how'd you do it?
ㄴ Fuck, even a convenience-store worker awakens, so why can't I?
ㄴ (OP) Well, you see, that's because, lmao
ㄴ Fuck you
As expected, just the word awakening was enough to bring a flood of reactions.
Half believed me, and half treated it like bullshit.
“Tsk, tsk. What a bunch of primitives.”
So what if they didn't believe me?
I'd already awakened.
Had I been browsing the gallery for a while?
Something appeared in my field of vision as I stared at the computer screen.
Ding—!
“What is this, a sy…stem?”
What suddenly appeared was a little rectangular hologram with [system] written on it.
It suddenly materialized before my eyes and caught my attention.
“This isn't a game, so why is there a system?”
As I stared at the hologram, wondering what was going on,
the word system suddenly began to change.
[Congratulations on your awakening.]
[This system is bound to the user, and only the user can view it.]
“Oh… Sir, you're going way too fast.”
The blue window that appeared before my eyes changed in an instant.
It was a phenomenon I'd never seen before in my life.
But it wasn't all that bad.
I'd heard awakened people simply gained new powers,
and that they manifested through instinct.
This was probably one of those.
“So what is it? Go on.”
The system paused for a moment, as if gauging my reaction,
then seemed to respond to my prompting. Its letters blurred before displaying a new message.
[The system assists the user's growth.]
[Functions such as Status Window, Quests, and Shop are available.]
“So it's no different from a game's status window?”
The more detailed-than-expected explanation got me interested.
It wasn't something other people had, right?
In that case, I might as well enjoy it.
“Anyway, this is a little embarrassing, but…”
“S-status window!”
I suppressed the cringe welling up from inside me
and said the words,
and the effect was incredible.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Status Window
Name: Lee Jiha
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Class: Chef (料理師)
Stats
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Mana: 0.2
Stamina: 1
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Skills
1. Hellish True-Taste Blade
I swore I wouldn't roll this one again…
Effect: Slices ingredients perfectly.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
“Oh.”
“…Is this good?”
I'd tried it because it said there was a Status Window function,
but I didn't know whether it was good or bad.
“Sss, but judging by the numbers, no matter how I look at it…”
Maybe it was because the numbers were so low,
but I definitely didn't seem strong.
“How can none of my stats even break 4…?”
I hadn't expected some incredible superpower, but it was a little disappointing.
“What's that Hellish whatever? A skill?”
The only skill that stood out among my pathetic stats.
Judging by the name, it seemed like a skill used in games,
but I had no idea how to use it or how it would work.
“And my class is… Chef?”
I'd gone to all the trouble of awakening, so I thought I'd get some cool combat class like swordsman, mage, or archer.
A chef…
I couldn't help feeling deflated.
“Sigh, well, should I just be satisfied that my arm came back?”
I looked back and forth between the Status Window and my left arm,
then lightly clenched my fist as if I'd made up my mind and headed for the kitchen.
“Yeah… I should at least check it out.”
I arrived in front of the kitchen
and looked at the kitchen knife that hadn't even been put away yet.
Then I picked it up and examined it from every angle.
“…Does it feel heavy?”
The kitchen knife in my hand was almost as long as my forearm.
It hadn't seemed that big before,
and yet I could feel its weight, despite it being a cheap kitchen knife.
I was gradually getting a sense of the stats I'd seen in the Status Window.
“Are my abilities roughly at a middle-school girl's level?”
They seemed to fit my changed body pretty well.
“Right, it was my fault for getting my hopes up.”
I shook my head lightly and picked up whatever nearby thing looked suitable for slicing.
The pasta I'd left over while making that Pasta from Hell yesterday.
I placed it on the cutting board and gripped the kitchen knife in my right hand again.
“Why am I so nervous about this?”
It was to test that skill, whether it was Hellish True-Taste Blade or whatever,
but my hand trembled slightly with tension and worry.
I was afraid my hope that the skill would be any good might be completely betrayed.
“Whew.”
I took a deep breath in and out,
holding onto a tiny bit of hope that maybe it would work,
and sliced through the pasta as if gently pressing down with the knife.
Slice—
A sound that would make Italians scream rang out.
“Oh…”
Even though my returned left arm wasn't used to moving yet and I couldn't hold the pasta properly,
the hard clump of pasta sliced smoothly and cleanly, like tofu.
“Not bad.”
It was a very strange sensation, as if it defied the laws of physics.
The world had been crazy ever since towers and Gates appeared,
but as someone who'd lived as an ordinary person, it hadn't really hit home.
I hadn't even awakened before, so if this didn't feel strange, I wouldn't be human—I'd be a cyborg.
“I think I could get addicted to this.”
I got caught up in the strange sensation and kept slicing the noodles for a while.
As if to tell me to take it easy,
a system window appeared before my eyes.
Ba-bam-bam—!
[Congratulations! You have used a skill for the first time.]
[From now on, the ‘Detailed Description’ of your skills will be displayed.]
“What does that mean? Then what have I been seeing up until now?”
Accompanied by a strange, old-fashioned fanfare
with not a shred of grandeur,
the system's message appeared.
I immediately opened the Status Window and checked the skill window.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Skills
1. (Passive) Hellish True-Taste Blade Lv. 1
I swore I wouldn't roll this one again…
Effect: Slices ingredients perfectly.
ㄴCan perfectly slice anything the user recognizes as an ‘ingredient.’
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
“No wonder the explanation was so vague.”
“…Anything I recognize as an ingredient…”
I glanced down at my arm for a moment.
“…No way.”
I shook my head.
“Nah, that can't be it.”
…Why'd I come up with something weird like that?
Still.
“It's not like I got nothing out of it.”
If the skill had been total garbage on top of my pathetic stats,
I would've been pretty crushed.
But looking at the skill, even though the added explanation was abstract, I could tell it was no ordinary ability.
I guess the world isn't just out to kill me after all.
I let out a sigh of relief and patted my chest, glad that I'd at least gotten something out of this.
Just then.
[Condition met.]
-User has checked Status Window O
[Quest generated.]
The system began displaying a new message.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Quest
1. Defeat 2 goblins inside a Gate. (Incomplete.)
- ??? unlocked.
2. Craft 2 ??? (Incomplete) 0/2
- 5 points awarded.
Deadline: Midnight today.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
“What is it this time?”
A quest.
It seemed to be the thing the system had mentioned when it first appeared.
“Goblins, huh.”
I slowly read through what was displayed in the quest window.
Basically, it was telling me to beat up some goblins.
But my eyes were drawn to the words ‘unlocked’ and ‘points’ between them.
I can get stronger…!
Points and unlocks.
Just hearing those words made my heart race.
I started to get excited at the thought that I could grow stronger.
“How could I pass this up~”
The quest deadline was about 12 hours away.
I didn't have time to sit around like this.
I roughly pulled out the hoodie I'd shoved in a corner because it was too small for me.
Fortunately, it was a little loose, but it fit without slipping off.
“Oh, the knife!”
I grabbed only my cheap knife and phone, and headed outside, thinking I'd figure things out somehow.