Climber Association (2) - If I Catch That Bitch, I'll Rip Out All Her Hair and Make Her Bald
After that, no matter how long I waited, the silver flash never replied. Looked like she'd run away. The comments piling up underneath were just other people leaving their gasps of admiration.
I typed the reply and quietly lifted the corners of my mouth.
"...I win."
In a keyboard battle, the first person to blow their top loses. A shiver ran through me at the taste of victory after so long.
Why would I post something like this in the gallery when it was obvious the people chasing me would see it? The reason was ridiculously simple.
Because it's fun.
Anyway, all the photos I uploaded to the gallery only showed my hand. Trying to identify someone from that? Impossible. No matter what they say, I can just deny everything.
While uploading more photos I'd taken in advance of different locations, I made it look like I was currently hiding in each one and kept posting.
"This way they'll waste all their time searching the wrong places."
The chance that someone would actually come to catch me was pretty low anyway.
After confirming that my aggro had been successfully pulled, I looked around at the people in the waiting room. Dozens of people waiting to register as climbers. A mother and daughter chatting affectionately, noisy boys who'd come with their friends, men and women of various ages from their twenties to forties who'd come alone. And the particularly eye-catching girl with fox ears, plus an old man wearing a bowler hat, leaning on a cane and walking with obvious difficulty.
The fox-eared girl was whatever. It wasn't uncommon for bodies to change according to awakening abilities. But the old man... how on earth had he gotten here? He looked like he could barely walk...
From the looks of it, all the seats in the waiting room were taken, so he was standing.
"Aigoo..."
Was it because of my massively increased stats, or the influence of the Heavenly Martial Body? My body felt literally as light as a feather right now. Standing or sitting didn't make much difference. It seemed better in many ways to give my seat to the grandfather rather than some young woman like myself.
A beautiful girl must have a beautiful heart to match.
"Grandfather, please sit here."
"Hm...?"
His gray eyes glanced at me. Unusually, a rather large scar was etched around his eye.
...Kind of cool, actually?
The cool-looking grandfather smiled warmly and shook his head.
"Thank you for the thought, young lady."
"Please, don't be like that."
"Hehe, I'm really fine."
"Come on, even so..."
How many times did we go back and forth like that, yielding to each other? In the end, I won.
"Hehe, I really can't win against you, young lady."
"It's because I'm a beautiful girl."
A beautiful girl never loses. Thinking that, I proudly straightened my shoulders and smiled.
Then he suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hahahahahaha!"
"Why are you laughing?"
"You remind me of my granddaughter at home."
"Your granddaughter? Is she pretty?"
"Of course. Extremely pretty. She's about your age. Thanks to that child, I look forward to getting off work every single day."
"I see..."
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence continued for a while. That was only natural. Someone who'd spent all their time at home on the internet wasn't going to suddenly become a smooth talker just because they awakened and changed gender. No way that would happen.
"...Could you show me a photo of your granddaughter?"
"Hm? Sure, that's not hard."
He took out his phone and showed me a photo from his gallery. It was a black-haired woman with a somewhat cold impression and sharp eyes. She looked a bit familiar, but it was probably just my imagination.
"Her age...?"
"She's twenty-three this year. Right in her prime."
"I see."
"Lately she's been suddenly screaming and getting angry a lot while staying in her room... but she won't tell me what's going on."
"Does she use the Climber Gallery by any chance?"
"Hm? Hahaha, I don't really know what that is."
He's lying. My senses, which had become a bit sharper since my awakening, were telling me so.
"Could you pass my contact information to your granddaughter?"
The reason for this request was simple. It was common sense that a beautiful girl's friend should also be a beautiful girl. Someone this pretty had more than enough qualifications to be my friend. Plus, getting angry often was definitely one of the many symptoms gallery users showed. She would surely make a great friend.
"Well then..."
Please enter, waiting number 10.
"...Ah."
Our eyes met.
"Is it your turn now, young lady?"
"Looks like it."
I took out a small note from my pocket and handed it to him.
"This is...?"
"My contact information."
"Do young people these days carry around notes with their contact info...?"
"It's precious, so you mustn't give it to just anyone."
"..."
As expected, a person must always be thoroughly prepared.
"Please make sure to deliver it later. Promise me."
"...Alright. I promise."
The old man cautiously asked the back of the departing woman.
"By the way, what is your name?"
"Pardon?"
At the question, I paused for a moment. My name. My name, huh.
"Hmm..."
The name that got me teased for sounding like a girl's during my school days as a guy. The name I'd tried my best not to reveal to others. The curse my now-departed parents had left me, which I'd once thought of that way. But now I could say it with a smile.
"It's Baek Seohyun!"
"Baek Seohyun... What a pretty name. I'll remember it."
As he watched the back of Baek Seohyun leaving the waiting room, a playful smile hung on the old man's lips. From her gait and gestures alone, he had perfectly analyzed the talent of her Heavenly Martial Body.
"...I can't remember the last time I felt this way."
Muttering those words, he began walking somewhere. With every step, an enormous aura pressed down on the entire space, but ordinary people couldn't even perceive it. The place his steps led to was the rank evaluation testing ground for climber registration.
****
If you stay active in the Climber Gallery, you can gain as much knowledge as most active climbers. In that space where perfect anonymity is guaranteed, even information that should be kept secret tends to get around. Of course, there are apparently ways to dig up personal information through special awakening abilities. Anyway, because of that...
Among the posts there, there were naturally ones about the rank evaluation as well.
They explained that the evaluation considered a person's potential, and that the test involved fighting yourself.
You have entered the instance dungeon, Mirror Gallery.
Your clone is being generated.
Beyond the darkness filling the space, the 'me' standing across from me spoke.
More precisely, it was the past me. In other words... me before my appearance changed through awakening.
A man with an unpleasant face waved at me.
"...Hey there, 'me?'"
"What are you saying, you ugly bastard."
Seeing a face I wanted to forget made emotions boil up without me realizing it.
Heavenly Martial Body activating at maximum output due to emotional surge.
Heavenly Shattering Star Sword activated.
The stars are gazing at you.
In the darkness, stars began revealing themselves one by one. At that sight, my opponent activated the exact same ability. Starlight from the night sky transformed into a rainbow-colored sword and settled in his grip.
"Ugly? That's still how you used to look."
But the next moment.
The stars refuse to lend their power to the mirror clone.
The sword in his hand scattered and disappeared. I also reached my hand toward the sky. Starlight wrapped around my fingertips, and countless notifications floated up before my eyes.
The constellations remember the appearance you showed in the past.
The constellations gladly rise from their seats to shine upon you.
A light of completely different brightness from the sword that had been in his grip or the one I'd first summoned. A brilliantly burning rainbow-colored light stayed in my hand.
A hollow laugh leaked from the mirror clone's mouth.
"...Isn't this gender discrimination?"
"If you're mad about it, you should have been born a girl."
Heavenly Martial Body LV1 activated.
The sensation of the boundary between sword and hand disappearing. An overwhelming sense of exaltation like reaching a new horizon covered my entire body as—
Schwaaaaack—!
The mirror clone before my eyes and the darkness covering this space were simultaneously sliced apart and scattered away.