Chapter 4
“What is this..?”
Community nickname Dosyungjwak. My real name, Han Dohee, was a little confusing.
Nickname Insaengmanghetseum. I was talking to a user I'd known by sight, someone I'd always seen on the Dawn Gallery.
He was always posting strange things in the Hunter community—one day saying he had awakened, another day claiming to be an S-rank Hunter, and another day saying he wanted to awaken and die—so bizarre you could almost think he had schizophrenia.
That was basically average for Awakener Gallery users, but this one was especially bad. In more ways than one, they'd become quietly infamous.
Today he had posted that he'd awakened again, so, as usual, I sent a message to tease him.
ㅡGo, golem! Dance! Dance!
ㅡKikik, kikik....
A video he sent as proof of his awakening.
At first, the thumbnail just looked like some crude Gundam-like thing made of silver metal standing there. I thought it wasn't even built with proper joints, just a hunk of metal roughly molded into a vaguely human shape.
ㅡGood job, good job! Daengdaeng! End recording!
A very distinctive voice came out. It was a cute little girl's voice, so pretty it didn't seem like it could belong to anyone older than a high school student.
“Huh.. this user was a girl..?”
Han Dohee herself was also a very rare female user, but she hadn't expected Insaengmanghetseum to be a girl. A very young one, too.
More than anything, the silhouette reflected in the shadow was obviously naked. The long hair kept it from feeling too indecent, but when she bounced around so happily, the shadow showed no moving parts other than her hair.
She might have been wearing underwear, but somehow that didn't feel likely either.
I was pretty flustered, but the other person was too young. For now, I kept the conversation going casually so she wouldn't sense my unease.
-도슝좍 : Hey lol
-도슝좍 : What's with the voice? Is it a girl?
-도슝좍 : Why's the shadow naked too lol
* * * * *
“A-ah, what do I do..?! What should I do..?”
I was too excited and worked up, and in my rush to brag about how amazing and great I was, I sent it without even checking the video properly. When I played it back, thankfully my real skin didn't show up for even a single frame.
ㅡGood job, good job! End recording!
My voice, all excited, and the silhouette wearing nothing at all were neatly captured in the video.
Phone cameras these days have great image quality. It's to the point where you couldn't even suspect it was fake.
The T-shirt I'd put on because I was cold....
For reasons I can't say, its lower hem is soaked with a slightly yellow liquid, so it's lying on the bathroom floor right now.
The hoodie I wore outside smelled faintly of beer, so I took it off. In other words, I really was naked.
“U,uwaa..!! What do I do?! Daengdaeng!! My identity's been found out!!! And the other side is a famous braggart in the Awakener Gallery..!!”
An active B-rank Hunter who mercilessly tramples the hopefuls in the Awakener Gallery. A user who never gets blocked because they verify their own bank account while handing out 100 Cybugs at a time.
“No way..! That guy would upload my video without hesitation just to get it into the hot posts..!!”
Just as I was wondering what the hell I was supposed to do about it, a single photo popped up in the chat window.
“Eh..?”
-도슝좍 : lol check the chat
-도슝좍 : I won't say anything, so don't worry
-도슝좍 : If you don't answer, I'll upload the video and get it to the hot posts~
The chat that followed.
“Dosyungjwak.. was a girl..?”!
How in the world was something like this possible.
From the nickname to the way they talked, even the emojis they used. No, the mint twin-tail emoji does have a slightly feminine feel to it... but that's just a community thing, isn't it...?
-인셍망헷음 : Is this for realㅠ?
-인셍망헷음 : Identity theft is badㅠ
-도슝좍 : You're dead lol. Can't you see the paper?
Sure enough, the photo Dosyungjwak sent showed a sheet of paper in hand. On that paper... as if verifying the identity, the words 'Dosyungjwak' were written there.
But still, you never know. Hunters have money, don't they..? Maybe they wrote the name on paper, took the photo, and stole some ordinary person's picture to prove it to some mysterious big-money sponsor....
“I, I can't believe it....”
-인셍망헷음 : You won't go to the hot posts with this, rightㅠㅠ
-도슝좍 : I sent the photo lol. Believe me already, or I'll really get you.
To be honest, I still wasn't convinced. What if there really was some mysterious big-money sponsor and they were actually someone else...?”
“D-Daengdaeng... could you do calls too..?”
ㅡBeep!
The word 'Available' appeared on Mecha-Daengdaeng's tiny screen.
“O-okay... then....”
-인셍망헷음 : Could you send me your number.. I really can't believe this
-도슝좍 : You're so damn picky; 010-xxxx-xxxx
“No way, you really gave it..?”
Looks like Dosyungjwak really was a girl after all.
“Hehe.. but you fell for it..!”
-인셍망헷음 : Thanks for the phone number hehe. We're doing mutual assured destruction on each other hehe
-도슝좍 : Are you insane; hurry up and call already
As expected, that didn't work. With the video left behind, it was obvious I'd be the one taking the bigger backlash. And it was even a naked silhouette....
“Daengdaeng, could you call this number for me?”
ㅡBeep!
When I lifted Daengdaeng and put it on the desk, it looked at the phone number on the screen and started dialing.
Riiing- riiing-
Before long, the call connected.
“H-hello..?”
“Hey, how's the life of an Awakened person?”
“A-are you really Dosyungjwak..? If you're some kidnapped hostage, I don't think I can rescue you... though....”
“Let's try going for the hot posts~?”
“I-I’m sorry!! I'll believe you're really Dosyungjwak!!”
Definitely a woman's voice. Slightly husky, but... anyway, a woman for sure.
“Yeah, for now.... Congratulations on awakening. Though it looks like you've only got some dumb skill or other.”
She was definitely mocking me.
“N-no, it's not?! I... I have an EX-grade skill, you know..?”
“Are you still doing that bit? Or what, is it really EX-grade?”
“It's real! I can't even prove it..!”
Admittedly, it was hard to believe, but the fact that my skill rank was EX didn't change.
“Why can't you prove it? Just do it.”
“Huh..? How?”
“You know that Awakeners-only community app? Unless your phone is total trash, it should have mana-detection features.”
“Oh...?”
Come to think of it, I think I remember seeing an article about that. Phones made over the last few years supposedly come with mana-detection features.
Most people don't have mana, but it's there to detect nearby mana and warn the user of danger. When a Gate forms, mana starts pouring out in huge amounts.
And several Hunter-only convenience features were also created from that function.
“W-wait... what's the app called..?”
“Try typing 'Huntwit'.”
“Daengdaeng, did you hear that..? Could you search for it once? In the... store, I mean.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“Ah... there's a golem that was born after devouring my phone....”
“What..? You turned your phone into a golem?”
“Ehehe....”
“W-well, that's up to you. What are you using for the call?”
“Daengdaeng even connects the call for me..?”
“It's pretty amazing....”
I'm amazed too. To other people, it'd sound ridiculous.
“By any chance, is this the blue icon?”
“Yeah, that's it. Install that.”
As Dosyungjwak said, I asked Daengdaeng to install the app called Huntwit. Then a permission pop-up appeared on the screen.
[Would you like to allow mana-detection permission?
Allow only while using the app
Allow only this time
Don't allow]
“Hmm... allow just this once?”
“Set it to 'Allow only while using the app.' You'll use it often anyway.”
“Ah, then I'll set it to 'Allow only while using the app'....”
ㅡBeep!
As Daengdaeng nodded as if it understood, 'Allow only while using the app' was clicked.
“Try the simple measurement function. If you use that and keep your hand on the phone, it'll install.”
“Got it..!”
Sure enough, just as Dosyungjwak said, I didn't have a phone, but when I rested my hand on Daengdaeng's back, the installation started.
An app only Awakened people can use... this really feels exciting....
“The installation's done.”
“Good. If you go into the app and then into settings, there should be privacy and... whatever-it-was, right?”
And before long, on the tiny screen that came into view, I could see Hunters from many countries gathered together, chatting in a cluster.
For now, I followed Dosyungjwak's tutorial and clicked Privacy and Security in settings.
“Ah, yes. And then?”
“Under the profile there's 'Mana Measurement Result Input.' Tap that and put your hand on it again like before.”
“Aha.... You heard that, Daengdaeng?”
ㅡBeep!
Daengdaeng followed Dosyungjwak's tutorial exactly, then turned its back to me.
ㅡPat-pat
“I think it's done.. Ah! There it is! Look at this!”
“Look at what. You'd know if you sent me the profile link. Set it to friends-only and send me the profile link. Then I'll send you a friend request.”
“Understood! Daengdaeng, execute!”
ㅡBeep!
Sure enough, the profile contained the same information as my status window. Since it's set to friends-only, other people probably won't be able to see it. Only people added as friends can view it....
ㅡDing
“Han Dohee..?”
“It's me, Dosyungjwak.”
So your name is Han Dohee, huh. Anyway, that doesn't matter. For now, I've accepted the friend request, but...
“Now then... Princess of the Fallen Nation? It's real? What is this?”
“I-I told you it's real....”
“One EX-grade skill and everything else F-grade.... But having four starting skills is impressive too. So it was real, huh?”
“Y-yes... it's real....”
“And you're 10 years old? Our little one, your name is Eve? Weren't you Korean?”
“A-ah! That was...!”
I was completely exposed. Honestly, I don't really know what the name 'Eve' means, but anyway....
“Mutually assured destruction, got it?”
“I'm the one at a disadvantage, though....”
“Ha~ I wanna hit the hot posts~”
“P-please.. I'm begging you....”
* * * * *
After the dizzying pre-dawn chaos passed and morning came, I fell asleep the moment my call with Dosyungjwak ended, since this body was completely different from my original one, whose day and night had flipped around.
Maybe because I was too cold and tired, I slept until 1 p.m. like a log. I'd really been through too much. Electrical shorts, flipping trash bags upside down, blah blah—I'm at my limit now.
“Ugh.. my head....”
This body seems to be the kind that sleeps at night and wakes up in the morning like a good kid. I went to bed a little late and now my head's completely spinning.
“Daengdaeng.. Daengdaeng..? Where did you go, kid..? Daengdaeng, what are you doingㅡ !”
Hearing me, Daengdaeng toddled out from somewhere. With something up on its screen, it rushed into my arms.
[Account balance : 472,958 won]
“..Huh?”