Chapter 1
[Emergency Alert]
[A Grade-D Gate has appeared in the ○○-dong area. Residents nearby are advised to evacuate.]
I covered the buzzing smartphone.
I might die if I didn't evacuate now, but.
‘Then let me die, for all I care.’
I staggered over and flopped onto the bed.
I saw liquor bottles rolling around on the floor.
‘I drank a lot today.’
I'd meant to have just one bottle, but I guess my emotions got the better of me.
Parents who abandoned me.
Manager Park, who made a habit of bullying me at work.
A friend who betrayed me, scammers.
I was sick of it all.
Why were there so many awful people?
I couldn't understand it.
‘People…. I hate them so much….’
I didn't know anymore. I should just sleep.
I might not be alive tomorrow, anyway.
And so, I drifted off to sleep, and.
.
.
.
“W-Who the hell is this?”
The next day.
I'd suddenly become a little girl.
***
“What the…!”
I stared at the bathroom mirror for a long time.
Big, round eyes.
My hair swayed in a strange color.
My skin was soft and squishy.
I looked like I was, at most, an elementary school student.
“Did I really die?”
Is this heaven?
No, I mean, I really didn't want to die!
I pinched my cheek.
It stretched out with a soft, chewy pull.
“Ow….”
It hurts.
Tears welled in my eyes.
It hurts…. I'm not dead…. This isn't a dream either…
I couldn't make sense of what was happening at all.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Could I have Awakened?!’
Awakened people sometimes underwent physical changes.
Like suddenly growing a lot of muscle.
Or having their hair lose its color.
‘But I've never heard of anyone turning into a little girl!’
And I'd been a man, too!
My age and gender had both changed.
I'd checked the Hunter Gallery whenever I had the chance, but I'd never seen a case like this.
Well, if I thought about it, there was no guarantee it had never happened.
But was I really one of those rare cases?
‘Good heavens!’
I had to check…. I needed to check right away.
There was a surefire way.
“Status Window!”
Flash-!
[Name: Kim Ji-min]
[Class: Archmage]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 4]
[Magic Power: 9]
[Unique Trait: Anthropophobia]
[More]
A status window appeared in the corner of my vision!
I really had Awakened?!
“Gasp…!”
I clapped a hand over my mouth in shock.
The name, Kim Ji-min. That was the same.
My class was Archmage.
‘…Archmage?’
Really?
No, why?
Didn't you normally start out as an apprentice mage or something?
How had I become an Archmage right off the bat?
I didn't even know how to use magic yet.
‘No, wait. Maybe…’
I closed my eyes and tried to focus for no reason.
“Hmm?”
There was a strange sensation around my solar plexus.
Was this magic power?
It felt ticklish, like a feather was rolling around inside me.
“Ugh….”
But that was it.
I didn't feel like I could control it.
‘Just as I thought.’
How could I be an Archmage when my magic power was only 9?
A 9 was about the level of a Hunter who'd just Awakened.
4 or 5 was the average for an ordinary person.
‘Must be an error.’
My shoulders drooped on their own.
Figures. That's just how my life was.
To think even a status window would humblebrag on me.
I felt pathetic.
What could I do with ordinary physical abilities and magic power I didn't know how to use?
Forget entering a Gate; I wouldn't even be able to climb the Tower.
I'd get slaughtered by a goblin on the first floor.
Forget the Tower. I probably couldn't even find a job outside.
My unique trait was Anthropophobia, after all!
Every Awakened person received a unique trait, something that set them apart.
Traits that enhanced physical abilities were considered good.
But Anthropophobia?
Obviously, it'd be insanely useless.
What kind of trait was Anthropophobia, anyway?
What kind of trait even was that?
I fiddled with the status window to check the detailed description.
Flash-!
[Trait: Anthropophobia]
[Aversion toward the human species is increased by 100%.]
[Affinity toward the human species is greatly reduced.]
[Magic effects against non-human species are increased by 200%.]
[Affinity toward non-human species is greatly increased.]
That was hard to understand.
What did it even mean for aversion to be increased by 100%─
Thud thud thud thud─!
That was when it happened.
Someone was knocking on the front door.
“Young man! Are you home? If you're home, come out for a second!”
It was my landlady.
I needed to answer and tell her I was here.
“Huff…. Haa….”
I couldn't get a word out.
My breath caught in my throat. I couldn't breathe properly, and my heart was pounding like crazy. Cold sweat trickled down my skin, and my stomach began to ache. I was scared. Anxious and scared. Now my head hurt, too.
“It's nothing serious! Your packages keep coming to the owner's place, so please make sure you write the right address when you order things!”
Tap tap tap-
Her footsteps faded away.
Thankfully, I hadn't done anything too wrong.
The farther away she got, the more my tension eased.
Then I heard the upstairs door open and close.
“Phew….”
I finally let out the breath I'd been holding.
“Ugh.”
My legs were shaking violently.
I staggered back to my bed.
Thump-
I dove right onto it.
Rustle rustle.
I gathered up a heap of blankets and hugged them to my chest.
Their soft texture calmed me down a little.
“Haaah….”
I'd always been prone to bouts of social anxiety, but never this bad.
It was definitely because of my unique trait.
So that's what a 100% increase in aversion meant.
‘Did I get a double dose of mental illness or what?’
My eyes grew moist as my life's difficulty kept climbing in real time.
If it had been a pointless Awakening, I could've just forgotten about it and gone on living.
This was worse than not Awaking at all.
It was so unfair.
‘Is this really all there is to it?’
I brushed away the droplets clouding my vision and.
Looked over the status window again.
[More]
“Can I click it…?”
Was I better off not looking?
I was trembling.
What kind of prank had it pulled this time?
More, click.
[Notice]
[You may climb the Black Tower once per day.]
[Your Black Tower entry ticket is renewed at midnight each day.]
[You may repeat the same floor multiple times, but you cannot skip a floor you haven't cleared.]
The first part was a standard notice.
It was the same as what I'd seen on the forums.
And then, after that.
[Awakening Bonus]
[You have gained access to the Archmage Gallery.]
There was an Awakening bonus? Even I hadn't known about that.
And on top of that, an Archmage Gallery.
Was there really such a place?
Among Hunters, the Hunter Gallery was the most active hub for communication.
There were smaller galleries for each class, too.
And there was a Mage Gallery for people Awakened in the magic category, but.
‘I don't remember there being an Archmage Gallery.’
Even if there was, the name sounded like the sort of thing other Hunters would mock into oblivion.
There wasn't a single Hunter in the whole world who could be called an Archmage, after all.
I turned on my smartphone and searched for the Archmage Gallery.
Sure enough, there was no such place.
The only result was the existing Mage Gallery.
The posts were just what you'd expect.
Meaningless bait and inflammatory posts.
‘This gallery's dead.’
There wasn't a shred of useful information to be found.
I closed the window right away.
I felt so nauseous I couldn't take it.
‘It's not that…. the posts are disgusting!’
It was more like my body was rejecting the gallery.
Even browsing the forums had become something I avoided.
This was awful.
‘Does that mean my Awakening bonus is gone, too?’
No way! It couldn't be.
I checked the status window again.
Thankfully, there was an additional line underneath.
[Would you like to enter the Archmage Gallery?]
I had to enter through the status window…?!
I clicked it right away.
Flash-!
A new window appeared over the status window.
A familiar community interface.
Posts were flying in.
[Recruiting a multi-school research team to optimize Meteor. Team leader is a cute girl.]
[Why do a joint study when one Illusion spell lets you click-cast Meteor?]
[Why is 8th-tier Storm of Lightning worse than the 7th-tier Spear of Lightning?]
It was definitely a discussion about magic.
But 8th tier? 7th tier?
What kind of level were we talking about?
There were so many words I didn't know.
I found a suitable post and opened it.
[My magical life changed after reaching the 9th tier.]
[Author: AngryArtist]
(Video)
This is when I was at the 8th tier.
(Video)
And this is 9th tier.
Same spell, but can you see the difference in firepower?
Fuck, you guys had all this good stuff to yourselves.
What was this?
If I'd been looking at it on my smartphone,
I would've dropped my phone in shock.
The magic shown by that gallery user was truly incredible.
A pillar of fire as tall as a skyscraper shot into the sky, swallowing everything around it.
There were Hunters this powerful?
I'd never seen a mage put out firepower like that.
Probably not even among all the Hunters in the world.
What was even more surprising was.
└Nyeomnyong: Kid, you've finally climbed one step higher.
└SuitonSuiton: This bastard took his whole life to break through the 8th tier lol
└Ice Bat: What's all the fuss over the 9th tier? The 10th tier's different. That's a whole new world.
└AngryArtist: Sigh…. When am I ever gonna hit the 10th tier?
The comments acted like it wasn't even that impressive.
Judging by the author's response, it didn't seem like they were just bragging.
Where had a Hunter like that been hiding all this time?
Then I suddenly realized something.
Right now, I.
Didn't feel like throwing up or have a throbbing headache.
If anything, I felt at ease.
Like I was curled up under a blanket with the AC on.
Even looking at the Mage Gallery for a little while had been hard.
‘Why is that?’
Comforted by the sense of ease, I looked through some other posts.
[Things to watch out for after breaking through a tier, and a guide to managing magic power]
[Author: Nyeomnyong]
It was a notice posted by the gallery moderator.
So this Nyeomnyong person was the head mod.
I read it carefully, one character at a time.
As your tier rises, the amount of magic power in your body and the flow of that power increase sharply. Because of this, using magic as you normally would could leave you seriously injured.
In particular, just because your magic power has increased, you shouldn't let it flow all the way to your tail─
Tail?
Why would they have a tail?
I found other strange details scattered across the posts, too.
Some had two arms and four legs. Some had horns, or pointy ears. Some could easily live for thousands of years.
“Are these guys not human?”
I didn't dislike that. If anything, I felt glad and strangely familiar with them.
For some reason, the corners of my mouth twitched upward.
I immediately came up with a nickname and made a post.
[Hey, I'm a newbie. Got a question]
[Author: Hikki]
Hey, are you guys not human?
I got a reply in no time.
└Elfprpr: How dare you compare us to those damn humans
└Water Spirit: There shouldn't be any humans here. Are you human?
└└Hikki: Yeah, I'm human….
└Nyeomnyong: It has been quite some time since a human set foot here. A thousand years, perhaps?
Was I really the only human here?
But maybe it was a mistake to reveal that information about myself.
The comments started piling up.
└DisqualifiedElf: It's pretty funny seeing a damn human show up in the Archmage Gallery.
└Elfprpr: For real lol their circuits are a mess to begin with.
└Elfprpr: Even goblins and trolls produce a decent mage or shaman every 300 years or so.
└Elfprpr: It's hilarious that humans are worse at magic than goblins lol
└BearDoorBearDoorBear: What tier are you, newbie?
Humans were worse at magic than goblins?
Hunter mages were pretty pathetic, sure. But it was that bad….
Anyway, someone had asked what tier I was.
I should be honest, right?
If I lied, they'd see through it soon enough.
└Hikki: I actually don't know how to use magic….
└Hikki: I Awakened out of nowhere today, and it let me in here
└Iron Beard: ???
└HorsesAreForRiding: ????
└OuchCold: ??????
└Hikki: No, but I can feel something like magic power! I swear!
A flood of question marks.
└That'sActuallyTrue: Oh, you can't use magic?
└GoodAtHousework: Gasp, then what should we do?
└Iron Beard: Haha! Looks like you came to the wrong place!
└Elfprpr: Damn human lol
└Woofwoof: Nyeomnyong, I think we should send this person back
└DisqualifiedElf: Just kick him out. What kind of guy who can't even use magic worms his way in here?
Gasp!
They were even talking about kicking me out.
I got terribly anxious.
My legs started trembling on their own.
What would happen to me if they kicked me out?
Would I have to endure the nausea and beg for information in the Mage Gallery?
‘No way….’
I didn't even want to imagine that future.
I couldn't get kicked out.
I had to brace myself and hold on.
I had to hang in there, no matter what!
└Hikki: I'll kowtow! Please teach me some magic!!!