Awakening

What is success, really?

Getting into a prestigious university? Passing the civil service exam?

Or maybe landing a professional career — lawyer, doctor, something like that?

All of it was wrong.

More precisely, it had been more or less true — until the Gates opened.

The word success, as we once understood it, had its meaning almost entirely corrupted once the twenty-first century rolled in.

The world was now split into two kinds of people.

Those who succeeded at Awakening, and those who did not.

According to Baek Hajun, a domestic S-class hunter, every non-awakened person was a loser.

Doctors had been rendered obsolete en masse by the appearance of Awakened with healing-type traits, and people now cheered louder for the AFL than for any traditional combat sport or athletic competition.

It was, in every sense of the word, a Cataclysm.

Of course, the ones who already had money still ate well and lived well.

I was not one of them.

In a world composed of three percent Awakened and ninety-seven percent non-awakened, I was a loser — and a thoroughly unremarkable one at that.

…At least, until today.

I looked down at my body, glowing, wrapped in a blue light.

It was an unmistakable anomaly, but instead of panicking, I smiled.

It was the sign of an Awakening.

"…It's happening!"

"Oppa…? What on earth…"

Startled by my outburst, my girlfriend stepped closer and faced me as I stood enveloped in that blue radiance.

The same thing a chosen few had experienced on the day of the Cataclysm.

The scene famous Awakened always reminisced about on television programs.

"Don't tell me… an Awakening?"

Shock. And a flicker of hope.

In that moment, the two of us shared the exact same feeling.

"Min-seo, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Oppa's going to buy you something delicious for once."

The life of Choi Unho the loser ended here.

I would say goodbye to all those miserable days and step into a new chapter as Choi Unho the Awakened.

…Or so I thought.

Until I checked my Status Window.

What the fuck is this.

Awakening.

The process of casting off human limitations and being reborn as a superhuman capable of wielding special supernatural powers.

Usually, when an Awakened appeared in a household, the day turned into a celebration.

Awakened were precious human resources, after all — the ones best suited for hunter work, which paid far better than anything ordinary people could manage.

So why did our house feel like a funeral?

"…Oppa. Are you okay?"

"…"

My one and only precious girlfriend, Kim Min-seo.

She looked at me with worried eyes.

And she had every reason to.

I had been sitting there like a madman for over an hour, staring blankly into empty air.

Okay? How the hell was I supposed to be okay?

"Haa…"

I let out a long sigh.

Denying reality changed nothing.

"Oppa… you did Awaken, right? So why are you like this… from earlier…"

Just as Min-seo said, my face was an absolute wreck.

"D-don't tell me. Is it because you think your trait is garbage? Oppa, you can't know that until you take the aptitude test. Back when I…"

My girlfriend was an Awakened herself.

Nothing particularly famous or impressive — just an ordinary D-class hunter.

When Min-seo first Awakened, she had gotten her hopes up looking at her decent trait, only to find out her base stats were so lacking that she wasn't especially suited for hunter work after all.

So what she was trying to say was that whether my trait was good or bad was something we wouldn't know until later — that I should hold on to hope until the end.

"…So what is your trait, Oppa?"

She looked at me with curious eyes.

"…So."

"Huh… what did you say?"

Netomaso.

No.

I couldn't say it. Absolutely not.

Trait — Netomaso.

…How was I supposed to tell anyone that the trait I'd Awakened was Netomaso?

And to my girlfriend, of all people!

It was enough to make a man lose his mind and start bouncing off the walls.

"Hm? Oppa…"

Netorare.

The act of having one's lover stolen by another man.

…A girl this sweet.

Suddenly, the image forced its way into my head.

Min-seo, pinned down by some filthy man who wasn't me, defiled, soiled…

"Hhk."

What kind of horrific thought was I having?

…You piece of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shit.

I berated myself a moment too late, but the fact that I had imagined something so vile involving Min-seo refused to disappear.

And then.

Damn it… why the hell am I hard? Disgusting.

My cock was standing at full attention.

Harder than it had ever been.

More aroused, more feverish, at the fantasy of her being taken by someone else than at any moment I had ever made love to her myself.

You become aroused when you watch your lover being taken by other men.

Because of this goddamn trait.

No. I'm not that kind of freak…

"Oppa!"

It was Min-seo's sharp voice that snapped me out of my spiral.

"Ah…"

"Oppa, what is going on with you? What kind of trait is it that…"

"Min…seo."

I was terrified.

Of how completely I had changed in an instant.

My sexual preferences had always been perfectly normal.

I never even looked at provocative genres like netorare.

All of this was because of that damned Awakening — that cursed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Awakening.

If only it had been a dream.

Someone tightly took hold of the hand of the man sitting there like a lunatic, his mind gone.

"Oppa."

Min-seo's clear, intelligent eyes met mine.

"You know I'm always on your side, right?"

"…Min-seo."

Yeah. That was the kind of girl Min-seo had always been.

The days when she comforted me when things were hard, and laughed with me when things were good, rose up fresh in my memory.

Maybe that was why.

"Netomaso."

"Huh?"

"It's Netomaso. My trait."

I laid bare every last detail of my shameful trait — the one that would have come out eventually anyway — to my girlfriend without holding anything back.

"Wh… what!? Oppa, have you lost your mind?"

At first, of course, she didn't believe me.

And how could she? My trait was in a completely different league from the ones people normally gained upon Awakening.

Traits suited for hunting the magical beasts beyond the Gates.

But mine, as you can see, was a far cry from any simple combat-oriented ability.

Even though I wasn't the type to joke around, it was the kind of thing that would sound like a prank.

Hell, if I were in her shoes and my partner claimed they got stronger by having me sleep with other people, I'd write it off as complete bullshit too.

But what choice did I have?

The Status Window was a mysterious thing visible only to me — something I couldn't show to anyone else.

Not even to the lover I lived with.

In the end, it took a long, exhaustive explanation before Min-seo finally believed what I was saying.

"So… for Oppa to get stronger, you have to do this… netorase thing. Have me taken by other men."

"…Yeah."

Setting aside the trait's performance, there was an enormous amount of malice packed into it.

Assuming, of course, that this system had been designed by someone.

"…Oppa."

"Yeah?"

A shadow of dread crossed Min-seo's face.

"Y-you're not actually… right?"

My lovely girl asked me.

Whether I was seriously planning to go through with that insane act.

"W-we… even if we don't have much money… I mean…"

Watching her tremble like that, I felt my heart settle in spite of myself.

She was endlessly pure.

She would never betray me. She would stay by my side forever.

And that was exactly why my conviction only grew stronger.

Even if Min-seo's body were defiled, her heart never would be.

"Listen. Your mother…"

Min-seo's mother was currently hospitalized in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ICU.

Because of Mana Stone Disease — an incurable illness no one could heal.

"Oppa, that subject—!"

Min-seo started to say something, then stopped short and looked me full in the face.

"You're… not in your right mind right now, Oppa."

With those words, Min-seo shut the door and left the house.

"…Right mind, huh."

Even I wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do.

Just moments ago I had been drowning in self-reproach and self-loathing, and then I had gone and proposed netorase to my girlfriend.

All because of the delusion that Min-seo would remain mine and mine alone.

If I had truly cared about her, I should have hidden the nature of my trait until the bitter end.

I really was a selfish bastard.

I was worried about Min-seo running out like that, but I didn't bother contacting her.

Netorase, it seemed, was something that would end as nothing more than a fantasy inside my own head.

Even if I gave permission, Min-seo would never tolerate mixing her body with any man who wasn't me.

…That belief collapsed in less than two hours.

"Unfortunately, the patient's condition… is critical. No form of healing magic is improving the situation…"

Mana Stone Disease.

An illness contracted when someone with low resistance to mana is exposed to it.

Named for the way mana stones — rocks composed of pure mana — grow inside the body.

An incurable disease that no healing-type ability user could cure.

Humanity, having conquered cancer, now faced a new challenge.

All that could be done was to prolong the patient's life through treatment from the Awakened.

Enormous medical bills. Financial ruin.

We had been forced to move from our old place into a semi-basement.

Min-seo ran Gates day and night, and I looked into every part-time job I could possibly take.

Even then, the treatment costs were crushing.

Goddamn it all.

And now, to make things worse, her condition had deteriorated and they needed even more money for treatment.

We needed money, and as Awakened, the only work available to us was hunting. There was nothing else.

"…Oppa. I'll do it. That thing."

She was smiling, but tears streamed steadily down her face.

We had made a choice we could never take back.