Chapter 12
Chapter 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Two Accounts Blocked Side by Side
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Can I really be of any help...?’
Sprout Guild’s ice mage, Chae-eun, fidgeted anxiously with her fingertips.
Right now, she was the healer drawing all the public’s attention. She was on her way to Yi Chrog’s place.
Leaving behind her sisters who bravely hurled massive fireballs and charged at monsters.
She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why she’d been brought along.
‘She said I just need to use my skills a few times... but all I can do is shoot ice chunks...’
Would it really be okay...?
Would she just end up being a burden again this time?
A vague sense of pressure settled deep in her chest.
‘Yeah. This won’t work.’
She had to say she wouldn’t be any help...!
The moment Chae-eun, overwhelmed by the pressure, opened her mouth to speak—
“This is our house! It’s my first time inviting someone over, so I’m a little nervous... Hehe.”
Yi Chrog’s door swung open.
Peeking inside, Chae-eun froze solid.
A small gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it.
“Wow...”
Yi Chrog’s semi-basement studio was like a tiny, living forest that breathed.
Vines climbing the walls, pots filling the floor.
Even green leaves draping overhead.
Plants filled every direction.
It didn’t feel like stepping into someone’s home.
It was like wandering into a small, cozy woodland.
And right in the center, someone was waving her in with a smile.
“Come on in!”
If a fairy lived in the woods, she’d probably look just like that.
The thought crossed her mind. Yi Chrog blended so perfectly with the surrounding plants.
Drawn in like she was enchanted, Chae-eun spotted one plant.
Amid the vibrant blooms, one flower hung its head all alone.
It somehow reminded her of herself among her sisters, drawing her gaze.
“What’s that one’s name, by any chance?”
“Hm? Fuchsia?”
Chae-eun’s interest in the flower lit up Yi Chrog’s eyes.
She immediately launched into an explanation, as if she’d been waiting.
“Her name’s Fuchsia. See how the flower’s facing down right now? But eventually, she blooms into something super vibrant and beautiful. This is my favorite one here. Want her as a gift?”
Even though she was technically a sister, the way her eyes sparkled as she chattered was so cute... Chae-eun couldn’t help but smile a little.
“No, that’s okay. So, what can I help you with?”
Snapping back to reality, she asked why she’d been brought here.
Yi Chrog answered casually, like it was no big deal.
“Just use your skill on it.”
Then she suddenly returned from the freezer with a single small seed.
...What was she planning?
Did people normally store seeds in the freezer?
What did her skill have to do with a seed?
Countless question marks popped up in Chae-eun’s head, but she kept her expression neutral and watched Yi Chrog quietly.
Yi Chrog planted the seed in a clear glass pot and flashed a big smile at Chae-eun.
“Use your skill here!”
“On the pot with the seed planted in it... an ice skill?”
“Yep!”
Was that really okay?
Wouldn’t the seed just die like that?
More question marks flooded Chae-eun’s mind, but Yi Chrog surely had a reason.
Chae-eun placed her hands over the pot and prepared to unleash a chunk of ice—
“Wait, hold on!”
Yi Chrog suddenly stopped her, closed her eyes, and muttered something.
At the same time, light, warmth, and vitality surged into Chae-eun’s body.
Her vision brightened, and every breath filled her with life force.
It was that unfamiliar sensation she’d felt just once, very briefly, during the boss fight with Yi Chrog before.
“Now, try the ice skill here?”
Still dazed by the feeling.
She gathered herself again and placed her hands over the pot.
She carefully poured out the ice chunk, and Yi Chrog’s eyes sparkled—
“Oh! It worked!”
A miraculous sight unfolded before her eyes.
A pale blue sprout pierced through the ice.
The sprouting was so fast, it was hard to believe even watching it happen right there.
“A sprout from the seed... already...?”
Chae-eun mumbled unconsciously, and Yi Chrog, watching enraptured, gently pressed a finger to her lips in a ‘shh’ gesture.
“Amazing, right? Today’s our little secret.”
“A s-secret...! I’ll keep it, promise...!”
Anyone else might call it nothing special.
But Chae-eun was so moved, tears welled up.
The always self-conscious girl who huddled in corners, and the healer the whole world admired.
Two people who shouldn’t mix were sharing a secret known only to them, right now.
‘Our secret...!’
The thought alone was so overwhelming, her heart pounded.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “What took you so long!? Hurry! Sit down and spill!”
“I was so curious I skipped eating just to wait for you! What’d Yi Chrog unnie say? What does she need help with?”
The moment she got back to the guild, her sisters’ fussing made Chae-eun’s head spin instantly.
“...Chae-eun, did you help her out okay?”
Guild Master Choi Han-ul greeted her casually, but.
His stiff face and faintly trembling lips betrayed his tension.
‘Unnie said it’s our secret.’
Recalling that, Chae-eun carefully recounted the day’s events.
“Yi Chrog unnie had something bothering her, so I helped her solve it together...”
As the story unfolded, relief slowly spread across Choi Han-ul’s tense face.
“And we agreed I’d visit periodically to help from now on...”
“Good... you did great, Chae-eun.”
Once the tale wrapped up, Choi Han-ul finally relaxed, collapsing onto the sofa.
And then her sisters erupted again.
“Ugh, so jealous, Chae-eun— I could help Yi Chrog unnie too!”
“But why won’t you say what you helped with? Is it a secret!?”
Listening to their boisterous voices melted away her lingering tension.
Whew—
Chae-eun let out a long breath and gently placed the potted gift from Yi Chrog on the table.
“What’s this?”
“From Yi Chrog unnie?”
“The flower looks so unique.”
“What’s its name?”
Their attention instantly shifted from Chae-eun to the pot.
“...Fuchsia, I think that’s what it was. Yi Chrog unnie gave it to me.”
One sister pulled out her phone and searched eagerly upon hearing the name.
Then burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! This flower’s meaning is ‘gift.’ You got a gift as a gift?”
Chae-eun’s cheeks flushed pink.
For some reason, it felt embarrassing.
The flower she’d felt resembled her so much carried the meaning of ‘gift.’
A ticklish warmth brushed one corner of her heart, like a soft brushstroke.
‘Someday, could I become a gift to someone too, like this flower.’
Just like this flower that eventually blooms brilliantly.
Someday... could I bloom brightly too.
Chae-eun stroked the gifted flower, harboring a small hope.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A week after getting banned from the community.
The only way to get my dopamine fix was healing the spirit’s seed.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [‘Ice Spirit, Pristine’ longs to meet you soon.] ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [‘Ice Spirit, Pristine’ acts cute in a adorable voice.] ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [‘Ice Spirit, Pristine’ sniffles, saying your heals are too delicious.] I couldn’t wait to meet the cute ice spirit again.
I was seriously worried about the impending heatwave.
With this little one, at least I wouldn’t have to stress about air conditioning costs anymore.
Anyway.
The messages popping up every time I healed it gave me at least a trickle of dopamine.
But compared to the community high, it wasn’t enough. Never enough.
Time passed slowly...
And finally, today!
The day my community ban lifted!
‘Do they still remember me?’
They haven’t forgotten, right...?
Trembling, I picked up my phone—
“Delivery!”
The voice from outside filled my head with stress.
Ha...
Again.
More packages...!
Cracking the door, I saw stacks of boxes as tall as me, topped with a huge Bloom Guild banner.
“What the hell do they keep sending?”
Staring at the boxes in dismay, I dragged them inside one by one.
Refusing them felt like declaring war on Bloom Guild.
But opening them would just lead to ‘You accepted our gift, so join the guild.’
Because of that, unopened boxes had started piling up in every corner over the past few days.
“Ha... this cramped room’s bad enough already.”
I might need to move sooner than planned.
I shoved the boxes aside and grabbed my phone to open the app.
The ban was finally lifted!
Browsing the community boards with excitement.
But it looked pretty much the same as a week ago, before the ban.
Steady praise posts for me,
Posts wishing I’d show up in the news again,
Posts wondering what I was up to lately, etc...
Except for one thing.
“Oh...?”
A small change in the community.
— Plant Fanatic2 Spouting bullshit at length. A mysterious user impersonating my nickname had appeared, leaving comments everywhere!
A ‘fake user’—the mark of true named status!
A thrilling shiver ran up my spine.
I’d already acquired two basic traits of a community named...
— Plant Fanatic2 Are you retarded? Lololol — Plant Fanatic2 Keep yapping lol ‘Plant Fanatic2’ was commenting only on posts praising ‘me,’ just like the original Plant Fanatic had.
It might seem bad since unlike me cursing myself, this was getting cursed by others.
‘Brings back memories...’
But I wasn’t upset at all.
Pity and sympathy welled up instead.
And rightly so—their diligent attempts at comments were thoroughly ignored and overlooked, just like my old self.
I was certain. They weren’t commenting like that because they wanted to.
The world had made them that way.
So in the end, I...
‘Guess I have no choice but to teach them a thing or two.’
I resolved to become that pitiful soul’s master.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Today, too, Sae-byeol ended her stream buried in hate comments.
“Why the hell are they doing this to me!”
They kept saying she wasn’t human—shouldn’t they be done by now?
What had she even done wrong? Huh?
Finally, the last thread of her rationality snapped.
“Fine. If I’m gonna get hate unfairly, might as well earn it fair and square.”
Sae-byeol immediately made a new community account.
She changed the nickname to ‘Plant Fanatic2.’
From then on, every time a post about that disgusting healer popped up, she unleashed a barrage of curses in the comments.
Lawsuit? Go ahead.
I’m a healer. Got money.
No money? Just run a few gates.
After so much unfair hate, lawsuit costs didn’t feel wasteful anymore.
She even wanted to get sued just to prove her innocence.
Sae-byeol had blackened completely.
“...But why aren’t these idiots reacting to my comments at all?”
Something was off.
She’d left high-heat hate comments on praise posts for ‘that healer,’ just like the original Plant Fanatic.
Yet her comments got zero reactions, weirdly enough.
“Hmph. Whatever.”
But Sae-byeol’s real goal was creating reasons for her own hate, not pulling community attention.
So she didn’t mind much.
Ding—
Then, her first reply notification rang.
The alert on her phone showed a familiar nickname.
— Plant Fanatic Lol dude, that’s not how you pull aggro. Blasting curses out the gate is noob shit — Plant Fanatic Wanna learn a trick or two? ‘What?’
She thought it was some rando. It was a comrade?
‘......’
That ‘Plant Fanatic’ was the root of why she’d been hated for no reason.
But she didn’t hate them for it.
Misunderstandings came from idiots being too dumb.
And Plant Fanatic’s comments always scratched her itch perfectly.
To Sae-byeol, Plant Fanatic was closer to likable.
— Plant Fanatic2 Ok teach me. After that, Sae-byeol chatted 1:1 with the ‘original Plant Fanatic.’
But something felt weird.
The more they talked.
The deeper the conversation went.
The more Sae-byeol felt strangely drawn to this ‘Plant Fanatic.’
Timing for comments.
How to phrase them for maximum impact—etc.
Expert-level aggro knowledge that was suspiciously pro.
An unnatural obsession with public attention.
“...”
For Sae-byeol, who cared only about money, Plant Fanatic’s values, thoughts, speech—everything was refreshingly new.
Plus.
“Jeez... this aggro troll’s why so sweet...”
They left razor-sharp comments for everyone else,
But with her, they were gentle and warm.
That gap tore at her heart fiercely.
“Hmph...”
In the end, Sae-byeol couldn’t help falling completely for the mysterious figure who ruled the community with single comments.
‘Plant Fanatic.’
And so, in the Awakener community.
[Banned for one week] [Banned for one week] Two banned accounts appeared, side by side.