Chapter 2
A fireball floated above my hand.
It looked as though a flaming soccer ball were hovering over my palm.
The man's face, which had been coming toward me as if he were about to hit me any second, turned to utter shock.
"A... a mage?"
The burly man stumbled backward, then bowed to me at a perfect 90-degree angle.
"I didn't realize you had such a prestigious class and was rude to you. I apologize!"
Prestigious class?
I had heard that mages were a rare class.
They were the sole royal class among damage dealers, or so they said.
Was that why the man's attitude had changed 180 degrees?
He hurriedly pulled out a business card and handed it to me with both hands, like some kind of salesperson.
"If you contact us, we promise to give you the best treatment we can offer."
The man fled backward without ever turning his back to me.
'Why is he acting like that?'
Unable to understand what was happening, I looked back and forth between the fireball floating over my hand and the business card.
"And you still say I'm not a hunter?"
They'd clearly said it was an imaginary awakening, hadn't they?
I could feel the heat, couldn't I?
It looked like that big hunter had run away, didn't it?
Then it couldn't be an imaginary awakening, could it?
Should I go back in and get tested again?
'No! They said retesting costs money!'
I hurried back to my tiny room.
As soon as I got home, I turned on my PC and searched the internet.
'Imaginary awakening, fireball in right hand, status window glitch'
I tried combining all the words that came to mind and searching, but I wasn't finding much.
[Anyone ever experienced an imaginary awakening? I can really see a status window right in front of me ㅠㅠ]
[Imaginary awakenings are mental illnesses caused by overwork]
[Same mechanism as an imaginary pregnancy. What is an imaginary awakening?]
[Treatment drug for imaginary awakening released]
No matter how much I searched the internet, all I found were useless posts.
Most were the same old advice: even if it seemed real, it would all go away after a few days of proper rest.
"But mine's real."
Just in case, I focused my mind on my right hand, the way I had earlier when I felt that sensation.
"^$#@!#!"
ㅡ Fwoooosh!!
Then a fireball appeared again.
When I thought that I wanted it to disappear, it vanished in an instant.
When I thought I wanted to make it again, a fireball appeared,
And when I wondered if it was really fire and held a piece of paper near it, it burned up in an instant, without even leaving ashes.
'This definitely doesn't seem like an imaginary awakening?'
In the end, I didn't think I could find an answer by searching.
"Then all that's left is this status window."
I tried bringing up the status window again.
"Status window!"
[Status Window]
Level: @#%#^&
Class: #%^%^&
Trait: &(#%^@&%
Skills: !@#@%^!&
It was still strange that all the text was garbled and impossible to make out.
Still, I thought there might be some kind of hint, so I scrutinized every corner.
"There might be something hidden."
"There really might be."
"There has to be something."
Then I suddenly noticed something.
"Found it!"
In the corner of the status window was a strange button that looked like a tiny dot.
It was so small that I could never have seen it without consciously looking for it.
I cautiously pressed the button.
Then some strange site filled my field of vision… What was this?
It looked incredibly complicated.
Even at a glance, I could see menus like a streaming service, a gallery, and a secondhand marketplace.
But something seemed odd.
Despite all those services, there were only two channels streaming live?
"Does it have so few users?"
I entered one of the broadcasts.
In one, a man dressed in old-fashioned clothes was boiling something in a cauldron.
In the other, a woman wearing celestial maiden robes was dancing with a languid sway.
But more than that, there was the viewer count, or whatever you called it.
The man had one viewer, and the woman had three.
Was this a dead platform?
There were far too few viewers.
In the end, I figured I wouldn't be able to find information here, so I went to the place that seemed most likely to have some.
[Great Dao Gallery]
I clicked the community tab, and the name at the very top caught my eye.
It looked a lot like the Hunter Aspirants Gallery.
What did Great Dao mean?
Did it mean a big road?
More than that, the titles seemed suspicious from the start.
This gallery was a den of people who took their roleplay way too seriously.
[Title: When will our little disciple who put on a show come back?]
[Title: Little one. Come in quickly.]
[Title: Little one, make sure you read this post from yesterday.]
"Have they been swallowed up by their own act?"
Even when I looked at other posts, they were going on about cultivators, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and other things I couldn't understand.
I couldn't make head or tail of it, so I checked the popular posts.
Then I clicked the one at the very top.
[Title: When will our little disciple who put on a show come back?]
Author: Taehyun Zhenren
Content:
Heh heh heh. Are you all well, fellow Daoists?
I miss that little immortal maiden who cried and put on a show yesterday.
I gave her a cultivation technique. I wonder if she learned it properly.
Comments
ㄴTaebaek Sword Lord: Wouldn't that adorable child remind you of the great-granddaughter who passed away before you? I spent quite a few spirit stones donating.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: Perhaps the child has poor manners because she grew up without parents.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: She's cute enough, more or less. Jade-Cold Ice Empress, you nitpick everything.
Great-granddaughter? No father or mother? That's totally me.
But why are those verified users' names so weird?
In the end, the only way to find out was to ask directly.
I cautiously clicked on Write Post.
[Title: I can see this gallery right now. What is going on?]
Author: Kkeuaaah-eorinu
Content:
I opened my eyes this morning and this was here.
Is this a martial arts roleplay?
As soon as I posted, comments came in at a terrifying speed.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Oh! You've finally arrived! You little girl!
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Heh heh, the little one is here. Have you been practicing the cultivation technique this old man gave you yesterday? But I'm disappointed you don't remember.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Tsk, old geezer, you toss out some cheap technique for the Qi Refining stage and act like you did something.
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: You lowly demonic cultivator! Watch your mouth! That opportunity is perfectly suited to a mixed spiritual root from the lower realm! Even that is more than you deserve!
What on earth are they talking about? Cultivation technique? Mixed spiritual root? Qi Refining?
They kept babbling about things I couldn't understand at all.
While I was reading the comments, Taehyun Zhenren and Blood River Patriarch had already started a flame war.
'Is there no mod here?'
I had no choice but to make another post.
[Title: You all seem to know me. How do you know me?]
Author: Kkeuaaah-eorinu
Content:
I really don't remember anything.
Does anyone know what happened?
Then a comment appeared right away.
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: How can you lose your memory in a single day? Click this post to find out.
When I clicked the link he sent, it took me to the streaming site I'd seen earlier.
And there was a replay page featured on the main screen.
The moment I saw the thumbnail, I knew something had gone horribly wrong.
My face, covered in tears and snot, had been immortalized in the thumbnail.
The profile picture was the same.
And what was with 'Kkeuaaah-eorinu' as my nickname?
With trembling hands, I clicked the video.
The contents were shocking.
It started with me in the video talking about all the things I'd been through, starting with getting fired from my part-time job yesterday.
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: You've been through a lot. Use this to help with your living expenses.
=Thank you, Taehyun Zhenren, for 10,000 low-grade spirit stones.=
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: There are tons of kids like that.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: No wonder the child was ill-mannered. There was a reason for it.
ㄴTaebaek Sword Lord: How pitiful. She reminds me of my great-granddaughter. She was so adorable when she begged for a snack.
=Thank you, Taebaek Sword Lord, for 1 high-grade spirit stone.=
=Thank you, Five Azure Demon King, for 1 high-grade spirit stone.=
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: That child seems like a mortal. How did she get in here?
"Waaah! I want to be a hunter! Let me become a hunter!"
This time, another me on the screen rolled around on the floor, bawling.
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Hunta? What is a hunta?
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Looks like it's some remote cultivation world, way out in the sticks.
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: It seems to be a different plane as well.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: From the way she talks, she doesn't seem any different from a cultivator.
My face suddenly felt so hot it was about to burst.
Was it a doppelganger? I hadn't done anything like that!
I'd heard that doppelgangers came out of towers, though?
The sight of me writhing on the floor like a little kid throwing a tantrum because they didn't get a toy...
And the video was still there, leaving me permanently exposed.
My embarrassing past had been stored in a place where anyone could access it.
"N-nooo!"
I rolled around on the floor in the exact same pose as the person in the video.
No, was that not all?
This time, the me in the broadcast suddenly got up and started dancing and singing, wiggling around as if putting on a show.
'I've seen this as a meme… The dog meme where it dances when its owner claps…'
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: The song is scattered and noisy, but somehow catchy.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: I like this kind of thing. Has a demonic sect taken over that cultivation world?
=Thank you, Blood River Patriarch, for 10,000 low-grade spirit stones.=
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: (glowing baton waving emoticon)x10
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: Even if she's young, I never expected her to be so frivolous! If she were beside me, I'd have taken out a switch!
The mood of the viewers watching the broadcast changed after they noticed something in the room.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: The stone behind her is a Heaven-Mending Stone! Isn't that a Heaven-Mending Stone?
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Hm, it does look like a Heaven-Mending Stone.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: It's definitely a Heaven-Mending Stone.
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: So that's how a mortal child got in here. It was thanks to the Heaven-Mending Stone.
After the frenzied dance ended, the mood in the chat had changed.
While I was bewildered by the sudden quiet, Taehyun Zhenren spoke to me.
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Little one. I'll teach you a cultivation technique.
"What's a cultivation technique?"
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: It's what will turn you into that hunta of yours.
"I'll learn! Aww, teach me! Please!"
On the screen, I was looking at him with sparkling eyes and acting cute.
'This is so embarrassing.'
This was enough to haunt me for a year.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Just what is a hunta that she's making such a fuss over?
Then the me on the screen started chattering excitedly again.
Killing monsters, using skills, finding items.
I spilled all the information I'd picked up here and there.
Everyone listened calmly, and they all seemed to understand.
ㄴTaebaek Sword Lord: Monsters, skills, mana. I roughly understand what those are.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Hearing her talk, she's a cultivator, isn't she? What's a monster? They use such strange names in the sticks.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: Taking the inner cores of spirit beasts, consuming pills, and refining magical artifacts all sound similar.
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: What an interesting place.
In the meantime, as Taehyun Zhenren instructed through the chat, the me in the video sat cross-legged on the floor.
Then I placed the pretty stone I'd picked up from the street yesterday on my stomach.
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Now, practice breathing as this old man taught you.
After that, I just followed Taehyun Zhenren's instructions.
There wasn't anything special to it.
I was just following the way Taehyun Zhenren breathed.
After I kept at it for a long while, the Heaven-Mending Stone began to glow faintly.
Then it seemed to seep into my belly and disappear.
After that, I learned things like a cultivation method and the Fireball Technique.
Then, as the video was nearing its end, I yawned and waved.
"Yaaawn. I'm sleepy. See you tomorrow."
I went straight under the covers and fell asleep, and the broadcast ended.
"Sigh. How did it broadcast when I don't even have a webcam?"
I stared blankly at the monitor for a while.
I understood what had happened.
'The Heaven-Mending Stone…'
The stone I picked up was a stone that could turn a mortal into a cultivator.