No Way I Can Awaken! Hehe!

There's no way I can awaken! No chance at all!

I displayed every item I'd picked up from the pop-up store today, one by one, across my room. The flower crown, the shopping bag, everything. Seeing the whole collection together felt even more satisfying.

The signed photo card went into my completely empty wallet for safekeeping. That made sixteen photo cards tucked away in there now, all from different hunters.

The reason I kept collecting hunter merch and attending offline events despite being broke was actually pretty simple.

“Because they're cool!”

Hunters are all righteous. They protect people by smashing the monsters that pour out of gates.

Whether their awakened power or speed is high or low, every hunter is righteous. They're the kind of absolute good you'd only see in comics or novels, without a single doubt.

Clean, pure-white icons with almost no scandals. That's what hunters and awakened people were. People worth spending my money on!

“Cleanup's done… No part-time shift tomorrow, so I should just rest.”

I threw myself onto the bed and logged into the Hunter Gallery. Not the one where actual hunters hang out, but the public forum where ordinary people talk about them. The hunters have their own private communities. As public figures, they barely ever post in open places like this.

When I checked the recommended posts, my review was sitting right at the top. Five hundred thousand won worth of recommendation power, and the comments were flooding in.

I scrolled through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the comments. Most were either amazed or worried about how much I was spending. The gallery was full of hunter fans, but someone who burned a third of their monthly income on merch was still pretty rare.

It had been a while since I'd gotten this much attention. I kept scrolling until one comment made my finger stop cold.

An interview? It was the first time I'd ever gotten an offer like that in this gallery. I tilted my head a little, typed back “Sure,” and opened my gallog. There were the usual “mumu” guestbook entries and one direct chat link from Noa-ang.

The account had a lot of activity and was a regular high-level nickname I saw often, so I clicked the link without suspicion. It let me enter with an open profile, so I switched my display name to my gallery nickname and went in.

“Hmm…”

Was this what an interview looked like? I thought for a second and replied.

When I pressed them, there was about twenty seconds of silence. Tsk, wandering around the hunter gallery without even knowing basic stuff like this.

Like waking up and already being an awakened person. That kind of premise, right? I had thought about it before.

I suddenly got worked up and typed a wall of text. I basically dumped a whole rice bowl on them. Still, that should have been enough of an answer.

The “1” next to the read receipt disappeared, but Noa-ang didn't reply for dozens of seconds. Did I say something too dark?

No way. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't picture myself awakening. I was just an ordinary citizen.

Cheapskate. Well, Noa-ang had come to me for an interview, so firing questions back was probably rude. Come to think of it, where were they even planning to use this interview?

They even looked up my old posts…? I said I would refuse if I awakened, but was that really worth this much effort?

Hmm… maybe? Had I built up enough virtue? No, even setting aside the question ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of how good or not good I was, there were other problems.

I found myself nodding. That noble image of protecting civilians was exactly why I liked hunters in the first place.

…Experience? There was some kind of magic in Noa-ang's words that made them strangely persuasive. I wanted to argue, but I understood what they were trying to say. If a situation came where I had no choice but to act, maybe I could.

If I didn't think about it too deeply, they were basically praising me for having a character as good and righteous as the awakened people, so it felt nice. Hehe.

I remembered seeing a recommended post in the gallery that said, “A D-grade hunter risking their life to save one person and an A-grade hunter risking their life to save a hundred people only differ in scale. Both risked their lives and did their best, so there shouldn't be any hierarchy between them.” Was it something like that?

Talking with them made me smile. Was I weak to compliments? How long had it been since someone called me a good person? I think I'd heard I was good at my part-time job, but hearing it when I hadn't done anything felt different. It really resonated.

I was just browsing the gallery while I waited when a gift suddenly arrived. I tapped it. Inside was…

“A pizza gift certificate…!”

I almost shed tears of emotion. They complimented me this much and even gave me food? I couldn't ask where they lived, right? I kind of wanted to bow in their direction… Or maybe take a picture and send it? They said they had work, so later I'd have to repay them somehow or at least give a huge bow of gratitude.

Talking with Noa-ang somehow cleared my head. Like all the random thoughts had disappeared. Only the conversation with Noa-ang kept spinning clearly inside my mind.

I didn't know what Noa-ang had seen in me to pour out all those compliments and tell me to hold my head high… but it felt good. It felt like getting pat-patted. For some reason, I thought I should start living differently from tomorrow! That kind of feeling.

Starting tomorrow, I'd straighten my shoulders and my back and become a new person. As a new person, even if I couldn't reach the same scale as the hunters, I'd do way more good deeds. I didn't know how long this mindset would last, but it had been a while since I fell asleep with my legs stretched out, feeling this good.

The next morning.

“Huh…?”

In the mirror was me, who had truly become a new person while I slept.