Magic Stones Are Ridiculously Expensive
Another grueling day was drawing to a close. Ten F-Rankmagic stones, five million won's worth in all.
Just this last job and I'm done.
The delivery driver checked the special instructions as he hauled the box along. Leave it at the door, and ring the bell. He made his way to a somewhat rundown villa complex and tracked down the address on the label.
...This should be it.
Ding-dong.
He pressed the bell and was just about to set the package down when a fit of coughing drifted through the door, followed by a frail, thinning voice.
"...Yes, coming..."
A moment later came a soft click, and the front door eased open. The instant the figure in the gap came into view, the delivery driver's breath caught hard in his throat.
Silver hair spilled all the way to her waist—a color so rare it was almost never seen. And beneath it was a face of such overwhelming beauty that calling it merely human felt like an insult. Her features were unreal, otherworldly, as if a master artisan had spent a lifetime carving the most exquisite doll in existence. Against skin so pale it was nearly translucent, the flush in her cheeks stood out all the more.
In this line of work, you ran into all kinds of people. But this was a first. He had never been stunned the moment he saw someone's face. Was this what it felt like to meet an actor or an idol in person? No—this was something else entirely, a whole dimension beyond. "Overwhelming" didn't even begin to cover it. Her beauty was, quite simply, violent.
And so he stood there, frozen with the package still in his hands, drinking in the sight of her—
She doubled over, coughing hard, her slender hands flying up to cover her mouth. Bright red blood seeped between her fingers and dripped onto the floor, drop by drop.
"A-are you all right?!"
The startled driver flung the package aside and reached out to support her, but—
"M-magic... stone..."
She leaned her weight against the doorframe, forcing the words out with visible effort.
"E-excuse me? A magic stone?!"
"The magic stone first... p-please... I-I'm going to die..."
"...!!"
The look on her face said she might stop breathing any second. He wasn't supposed to open a package under any circumstances, but this was clearly an emergency. The moment he saw the tears welling in her eyes, whatever reason he had left went out the window. He tore the box open without a second's hesitation, snatched out an F-Rank magic stone about the size of a ping-pong ball, and pressed it into her hand.
"H-here! Take it!"
The instant the magic stone touched her palm, her eyes flashed. A slender hand snatched it up in a blur, and without a moment's hesitation she popped it straight into her mouth.
"...Excuse me?"
The delivery driver stared at her, utterly blank. It was a stone imbued with mana, sure—but she had just put an unrefined raw ore in her mouth.
And that wasn't even the end of it.
Crunch. Crunch!
Not content with simply putting it in, she was chewing it. And swallowing it.
The driver watched in horror as the bizarre scene unfolded. Then, having neatly swallowed the magic stone, she let out a long, shuddering breath. A hint of color returned to her deathly pale face.
Internal mana has been partially restored.
Current Mana Remaining: 1.2%
After confirming the message floating before her eyes, she offered a small smile to the driver, who was staring at her with a face drained of all color.
"...Thank you."
And as she said it, she gave the blood on her fingers a casual little lick, just for good measure.
"You saved my life."
"..."
Listening to her thanks, the delivery driver came to a single, firm conclusion.
...This has to be a dream.
After the delivery driver left, looking half out of his mind, she had to drag the remaining box across the floor just to get herself back inside.
Thud.
She dropped down with her back against the front door and stayed there for a long while, the box clutched in her arms.
"Hah... hah... I'm alive."
A short breath of relief slipped out of her. But it didn't last. As her gaze fell on the nine magic stones still sitting in the box, her eyes grew steadily darker.
...
The one she'd just eaten had only raised her by 0.2%. If she finished off the remaining nine, her mana would sit at 3%.
Three percent, she said. She had already felt, viscerally, just how precarious a number that was. If she didn't manage her condition, she could die in her sleep.
She let her back sag weakly against the wall.
How many am I going to have to eat a day just to stay afloat?
She still didn't know the exact drain rate. All she could do was guesstimate from her experience in the game.
It drains even when I sit still. Move around, and it drains even faster.
Everything else about this situation she could live with. That part, though, was the worst of it. Even breathing cost money.
Back when she'd been quietly active around town, it had ticked down by 1% a day. If that same rule still applied now...
She started folding her fingers, running the numbers. Five hundred thousand won apiece. She'd need to eat at least five just to hold on to this much of a condition.
"Two and a half million won..."
Her voice trembled. What was left in her account came to about fifteen million won, and she'd already eaten today's share. Hitting rock bottom was only a matter of time.
"That's barely four days?"
When that ran out, there would be no escaping destitution. And if she couldn't buy magic stones, the ending was obvious.
"Hhk... hhk..."
The world in front of her went dark. The joy of having kept herself alive had lasted all of a moment before a far greater despair rolled in on top of it.
Should I try to find a job?
A regular job was out of the question. No ordinary salary would last her even a single day.
And it's not like tagging along into a Tower would get me anything better than porter work...
A crease formed between her delicate brows.
"Nnngh..."
She was still turning it over when something flashed through her mind.
"Ah?"
"I'm not the old me anymore, am I?"
This was the body of a character she had poured over five thousand hours into raising. And that character had, of all things, clawed its way to first place on the racial rankings.
If those stats still held now?
With a trembling hand, she reached out into empty air—the same gesture she'd always used in the game to open her status window.
A familiar chime rang out.
A translucent window bloomed in front of her eyes, identical to the one from the game. Even the character's name was the same.
The stats not matching up was a real shame, but it was all right. The skill that mattered most was still there.
Han Yena. And The Forerunner.
How could she not know this skill? So long as she witnessed the moment a skill was used with her own eyes, she could reproduce it to a near-perfect degree in a short span of time. It wasn't something she could afford to spam, which meant being selective about what she copied was important. Even so, she had used it when she first raised the character to level far faster than anyone else. Of course, it burned through a corresponding amount of mana.
Han Yena. I am Han Yena.
And even if the person she used to be was another story entirely, this body, at least, had every right to be called a genius.
In that case.
This... might actually be worth a shot.
The corner of Yena's mouth curled, just a little.
To climb a Tower, you needed an item called a Tower Access Device. Without one, you couldn't enter the interior of any Tower under the Association's control.
And to get a Tower Access Device, you have to be registered with the Hunter Association, which, hmm...
That was where the problem started. She was a completely different person now.
Ah, yes, that's me. I woke up and I'd turned into a girl. As if anyone would believe that. Besides, it was a fact she'd rather keep hidden.
Yena propped her chin in her hand and started turning it over.
I'll have to register as a new hunter, won't I?
The one real stroke of luck was that as long as you had fingerprints and a retina, they didn't bother with a separate ID check. If they had, she'd have been in genuine trouble.
All right. Time to move.
The decision was made. Yena pushed herself up and stood in front of the mirror. A still-unfamiliar face looked back at her. She gave her cheeks a couple of light pats.
"This is a fresh start. I have to survive first."
And then a message appeared.
Mana consumption has increased due to vigorous movement.
Current Mana Remaining: 1.1%
"...No!"
Yena wailed at the message hovering in front of her.
Hunter registration required an in-person visit to the Association. Yena crunched her way through the remaining nine magic stones, then headed out with a considerably healthier complexion.
The real problem, as expected, was clothes. Her frame had shrunk so much that everything she used to wear looked comically oversized.
This isn't going to work.
She tottered her way downtown and ducked into a clothing store. She was already short on money for magic stones, but she figured she ought to at least have something she could actually wear on a regular basis.
The moment she stepped inside she froze up stiff as a board, but a sharp-eyed clerk noticed and came over to start recommending outfits on her behalf. What she ended up in was a pair of gray jogger pants and an oversized gray hoodie in a matching shade.
She could feel gazes on her from every direction, all of them wearing fond, delighted smiles. Too cute, too pretty, and so on. It got embarrassing enough that she paid in a hurry and fled the store like she was running from something.
About an hour later, Yena arrived safely in front of the Hunter Association's massive building.
There was only one goal. Finish registering as a new hunter, and get her hands on a Tower Access Device so she could farm magic stones.
Yena shuffled up to the counter with a distinctly hesitant little gait, and forced the words out between coughs of blood.
"Cough. Hello. I-I've come to register as a hunter... cough, cough."