A Completely Screwed-Up Life

Twenty years ago, gates opened across the world and the Awakened appeared.

With them came the profession of hunter, and by the present day it had become the ultimate symbol of wealth and power.

My parents had been hunters too.

Zero-generation hunters. Awakened in the earliest days after the gates first appeared, they were supposedly insanely famous back then.

They died ten years ago, though…

Still, the inheritance they earned as hunters let me live comfortably in a building with a rooftop room attached. Lately, however, money had started running short.

Of course it had. When you never work and just rot in your room scrolling the gallery all day, the cash is bound to dry up.

Figuring it was about time I got a job, I even went for a convenience-store interview. No call back, so I must have flunked it.

I was sitting there wondering what kind of work I should look for next when it happened.

“Huh?”

The next morning I woke up Awakened.

And as a little girl, no less.

I stared at the face reflected in the bathroom mirror.

Soft, plump cheeks. Half-lidded eyes that looked faintly bored. Silvery hair with a subtle green sheen. Eyes tinted the faintest shade of light green.

It was a beauty overflowing with some indescribable ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mystery.

“Whoa. Insane.”

The moment my usual casual tone left my mouth, that mystical aura shattered on the spot.

So… could I start raking in serious cash as a hunter now?

A chance for a total life turnaround?

“Hmm…”

But as much money as hunters could make, the job was dangerous. My parents had died doing that exact work.

Still, now that I’d become a hunter, shouldn’t I at least try entering a gate?

I couldn’t keep living as a total freeloader forever. The money was almost gone, and the convenience-store job had rejected me.

“All right.”

First things first—time to check my abilities.

I looked over each of the skills I had Awakened, one by one.

Looking again didn’t make it any less real.

Four skills? I never expected to Awaken that many…

People called hunters like this Quad Hunters, right?

But the class is Fairy King?

Did that mean the fairies from fantasy stories? Had I actually become a fairy?

I wasn’t palm-sized and I didn’t have wings, so probably not.

And those skill ranks were anything but ordinary.

…EX-rank?

I’d never seen that grade before. I thought S-rank was the highest anyone could get…

I opened the skill details.

“……?”

That was the entire description for both EX-rank skills.

It felt like reading the over-the-top packaging on some scam product.

Then maybe the S-rank and A-rank ones were the same…?

Even the S-rank was like this?!

“I-is this for real?”

Honestly I had no idea if this was normal. I’d never Awakened before, so how would I know?

I checked the last one, the A-rank skill.

“…….”

This one actually came with a detailed explanation.

What the hell?

Did status windows get vaguer the higher the rank went?

At least I could tell this one was a mental-defense skill.

But “dignity settles upon every action I take”?

“……Me?”

One of the posts I had written on the gallery floated into my mind.

“Eugh…”

No matter how I looked at it, I was about as far from “dignity” as a person could get.

“So what even is my class?”

It clearly wasn’t Warrior, Mage, or Healer.

What the hell am I, really?

What even was a Fairy King supposed to be?

In novels the fairies flew around casting magic… maybe I could do that too?

“Hmm…”

Trying the skills out would probably give me a better feel for it. Even Awakened, I couldn’t do much while stuck like this.

I currently lived in a rooftop room.

Using skills inside the house felt like a bad idea, so I stepped straight outside onto the roof.

Okay then.

The first skill I decided to test was the EX-rank Rune Language. Something about it felt like it might be an offensive skill.

Skill activation was supposed to work by the user’s will, right?

The instant I willed myself to use Rune Language, a word I had never seen before rose in my mind.

Not Korean, not English, not Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese—a language that existed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nowhere in this world.

I spoke it aloud.

“Valt.”

The moment the word left my lips, it resonated like a vibration, echoing outward the way a voice bounces through a cave, repeating and spreading—

“……?”

Nothing happened.

“Hmm…”

Maybe it didn’t activate because there was no target?

If that was the case, I could practice up here all day and still never figure out what Rune Language actually did.

And I obviously couldn’t just test it on a person.

So in the end I have no choice but to go to a gate?

Using it on a monster would probably show me what the ability really did.

Later, then.

Next up was the other EX-rank skill: World Tree.

The description said I could plant the World Tree, so…

I glanced around, then walked over to the little vegetable plot in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one corner of the roof—a tiny empty patch with nothing growing in it.

I stretched a hand toward the soil and activated the skill.

“World Tree.”

In that instant—

Pop.

“……?”

Something burst up from the center of the plot.

A tiny golden sapling.

…Was that it?

“……Huh?”

Then it happened.

On one of the branches a single fruit began to swell, glowing gold, ballooning like a balloon until it reached its limit and dropped with a soft plop.

Crack—

The fruit split cleanly in half from the impact of hitting the soil.

I blinked without meaning to at the scene unfolding in front of me—

“……What?”

Inside the split fruit lay a tiny girl, the kind you’d only ever see in fantasy, fast asleep.

She was genuinely palm-sized, with dragonfly-like wings on her back and golden hair—a real, living little fairy.

“Whoa… it’s a fairy.”

An actual fairy.

Never in my life did I think I’d see one with my own eyes.

“Is she sleeping?”

I poked her cheek gently with a finger. Poke. Poke.

The fairy trembled all over. Then she slowly sat up and began to stretch.

“……?”

She lifted her head and looked at me. For a moment she just tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

“Ppi?!”

Startled, she scrambled to her feet, delicately lifted the hem of her little skirt, and bowed her head in a proper greeting.

“Ppi, ppi. Ppi-ppi ppi ppi-ppi.”

All I could hear were ppi-ppi sounds, but at least I could tell she was saying hello.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you too. So what’s your name?”

“Ppi?”

She tilted her head again at my question, as if to say, Why are you asking me that?

Maybe she didn’t have a name?

“Hmm…”

As her master, it was only right that I give her one.

Fairy, golden hair, tiny, goes ppi-ppi…

“Then how about just Piprongi?”

She flinched hard. Piprongi’s face drained of color in an instant.

Right away she dropped to one knee, pressed a hand over her heart, and launched into a passionate speech.

“Ppi-ppi! Ppi ppi ppi-ppi-ppi!”

“Whoa.”

I could roughly guess what she was saying.

“You’re thanking me for bestowing a name upon you?”

“Ppi?!”

“You don’t have to be that formal about it. Looking forward to working with you.”

“Ppi…”

I brought Piprongi back inside with me.

“Ppi.”

She began quietly looking around the room. Freshly born, so of course everything must have seemed amazing to her.

I set her gently on the bed and said,

“Piprongi, stay here and be good. Daddy’s gonna go take care of something for a bit.”

“……Ppi?”

She tilted her head at that.

Come to think of it, I was a girl now. Was “Daddy” even the right word?

Eh… I’d figure that out later. Losing my precious little one would be way sadder.

I sat down at the computer desk and logged into the Awakened Gallery.