Chapter 10
At that very moment, as I sat in my room unknowingly wearing a wicked smile.
Click, click. Knock, knock, knock.
“Suyeon, I cut up some apples for a snack, so come have some. But why did you lock your door again when you’re home? Don’t tell me you’re going to hole up in your room again?”
At Mom’s scolding from the other side of the door, I jumped and hurriedly wiped the smile off my face.
“Oh, I’m coming out!”
I called back casually and got up from the bed. It was good to plan for the future, but I couldn’t neglect the present, either.
I picked up the smartphone lying on my bed for a moment, then left it behind and went out to the living room. My parents didn’t like it when I looked at my phone while eating.
Honestly, it wasn’t much different from watching TV. Why did they hate it so much?
I was spearing the apple Mom had cut with a fork, nibbling at it and enjoying its sweet-and-tart juice, when…
Tap, tap.
Something lightly tapped my shoulder.
And who was it? Well, my parents and I were in the living room, so there was only one person it could be.
When I turned to look in my brother’s direction…
My brother stood there with a stiff expression, pointing at my room with his thumb.
What? Did he want to talk about something? Why not just talk here?
Since he was pointing at my room, it seemed he didn’t want our parents to hear whatever it was… but why did he look so tense?
“What?”
“Just come.”
Hmm. That forceful attitude. This guy’s no different whether I’m a man or a woman.
It’s a crime to be his younger sibling. A crime.
I sighed and went back to my room. Then…
My brother held out the smartphone in his hand and said,
“Hey. What’s this text message?”
What? That’s my smartphone. Why are you holding someone else’s phone? You’re not a thief.
“Why do you have my phone?! You’re not a thief!”
“Don’t change the subject. What’s this message? Answer me.”
Ugh… Somehow, he seemed even more forceful than when I was a man.
On top of that, he’d figured out the pattern to someone else’s phone and unlocked it, leaving a message up on the screen.
“That’s…”
“You said you didn’t go to the terminal in Busan. You said it was just a coincidence that you had the same puffer coat and umbrella.”
Instead of waiting for an answer, my brother tapped the screen and thrust it right in front of my eyes.
Displayed prominently on the screen was a text message I’d received earlier from a government agent. It was from someone who called herself Team Leader Seo Ji-yoon.
Below it was the reply I’d sent, suggesting we meet at a café.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! Why did you go into my room and look through my phone without permission? And how did you figure out the pattern?!”
“Your phone pattern? It was so simple I memorized it after seeing it a few times. And that’s not the point right now!”
Ugh… somehow, his forceful attitude seemed even worse than when I was a man.
I shrieked in protest, but my brother’s voice rose like a thunderclap.
“An important witness? A Temporary Headquarters for Emergency Gate Response? You got caught up in something this insanely dangerous and hid it from us all this time?!”
“No, that’s…!”
“You. Don’t think you can just get away with this! I could let the whole retaking-the-entrance-exam thing slide, but this is crossing the line!”
My brother rushed out to the living room with my smartphone and, without hesitation, showed the messages to our parents.
And that was how I ended up being dragged into a family meeting.
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The family meeting—or rather, the hearing—in the living room had an atmosphere as heavy as the air in the Demon Realm. No, that comparison probably doesn’t mean much to you. Just understand that things felt incredibly tense.
Our parents’ faces had gone pale after my brother told them about the messages on my smartphone.
Their daughter had been caught up in the horrifying Gates that were killing people every day, and was even drawing the government’s attention. It was far too big a bombshell to drop on an ordinary family.
“Suyeon… About you retaking the entrance exam. Did you use it as an excuse not to go to college because you were planning to get involved in something this dangerous? Is that why you said you weren’t going to college?”
Mom asked in a trembling voice, and I frantically waved my hands.
“N-no! That’s really not it! I just got caught up in the Gate by an incredibly unlucky coincidence, and I only met the agent so I could turn them down firmly! I refused right away, so it’s over! I really am retaking the exam because tuition would be a waste of money!”
“You expect us to believe that? The text makes it sound like they already consider you an Awakened!”
My brother pressed me sharply from the side. Since I really had hidden something, and the evidence was right there, there was no way my protests could convince them.
Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I’d probably react the same way.
The news kept reporting casualties caused by Gates, and access was being restricted in places where Gates appeared frequently. Unlike the younger generation, who’d been excitedly declaring that hunter fiction had become reality, middle-aged and older people had no reaction other than worry.
At this rate, they might forbid me from going out—and my parents might even call Agent Seo to complain, which would be a disaster. No, I really did turn everything down!
To protect my peaceful life, I needed a trump card right now—something that could completely turn this unfavorable situation around.
At times like this, instead of letting myself get pushed around, a bold and reckless move might be the solution!
I let out a deep sigh and rubbed my face.
“Haa… All right. I’ll tell you everything.”
My family’s eyes all turned toward me. I squeezed my eyes shut and blurted out the perfect excuse I’d come up with in my room.
“I think I’ve awakened.”
Silence. My parents and brother wore expressions that said they had no idea what I meant.
“W-well, the message did say you were an Awakened… Does that mean our daughter has some kind of superpower?”
“It’s not the kind of awakening where I can breathe fire or use telekinesis.”
I put on the most serious expression I could manage and recited the story I’d carefully concocted. At the same time, a faint glow began to shine from my raised right hand.
It was a simple spell that created light, but it would do for a demonstration.
“My ability is… to forcibly burn a target’s calories and use that energy to promote an awakening.”
“What? Burn calories?”
My brother asked in disbelief.
“Yeah. To put it simply, I burn the energy stored in the body and turn it into the power needed for awakening, then implant that power in the other person’s body. The process also makes them lose some weight.”
“Hey. Have you started making up stories because the news keeps going on about Awakened this and Awakened that? You’re saying you can make people lose weight and give them superpowers? What kind of ridiculous ability is that? The light coming from your hand is amazing, but do you really think it makes sense for you to awaken some weird power like that?”
As expected, my brother didn’t believe a word I said. While my parents were still on the fence, he openly snorted at me, and I secretly cheered.
He took the bait.
“Don’t believe me? Then try it for yourself.”
I stared at my brother and provoked him.
“I’ll use my ability on you. Then you’ll believe me, won’t you?”
“Ha! Fine, go ahead. If my belly shrinks by even one gram, I’ll do whatever you say.”
My brother leaned back confidently into the sofa and stuck out his stomach. I stood up with a wicked smile to myself. I’d make him pay dearly for snooping through someone else’s smartphone and threatening my peaceful life.
I brought over the scale from the corner of the living room, set it down in front of my brother, and said,
“All right. We’ll weigh you before the demonstration. You’ll really see the difference when we compare the before and after.”
My brother stepped onto the scale, and it displayed a weight higher than the last time he’d checked.
“Good. But if your weight doesn’t go down… you’ll be grounded for about half a year.”
What? I’m not a child, so why am I being grounded?! And for half a year, at that!! Are they just going to lock me in a rice chest and make me study? That’s so unfair!!!
So this pain was all something my brother had brought upon himself.
“It’s going to hurt a lot, though. I’m forcibly burning the fat in your body to squeeze out energy, so it’ll be incredibly painful. Don’t start whining halfway through.”
“Yeah, right. Your big brother here served out his full term as a sergeant in the Republic of Korea Army. How painful could some weight-loss massage possibly be—”
Before my brother could finish, I placed my hand on his abdomen and immediately forced the ‘Vitality Conversion Method’ into effect.
It was a cruel, merciless, miraculous technique that used the excess calories and substantial layer of subcutaneous fat stored in my brother’s body as fuel, ruthlessly setting them ablaze and converting them into mana.
In an instant, all the color drained from my brother’s face, and his mouth fell open.
“Ggggyaaaaaaaaaaah—!!”
A scream that sounded like something you’d hear from an animal being slaughtered rang through the living room, coming from the former sergeant who’d been so confident just moments ago.
My brother curled up like a shrimp on the sofa and started trembling, but I didn’t stop.
“O-oh my! Suyeon! Your brother’s going to die! Stop it!”
Mom cried out in alarm and tried to stop me, but I calmly held the mana circuit in place and continued the demonstration. I could feel the faint mana created as fat burned away inside my brother’s body being planted near his dantian like a tiny seed.
“Keh, hahh… Save me, save me… My stomach, my stomach feels like it’s burning…!”
Only when I heard him gasping for breath did I withdraw my hand.
A wreck lay sprawled on the sofa, drenched in sweat and panting. And, astonishingly, my brother’s belly fat—previously thick enough to grab—had visibly shrunk.
Looking down at my trembling brother, I declared in a bright, breezy voice,
“Well? Do you understand what my ability is now?”
A fitting punishment for a thief who’d gone snooping through someone else’s smartphone, if I do say so myself.