My Fairy Had a Name

"·····."

I'd even leveled up.

What on earth was going on?

No, wait — ranking registration?

What people casually called the "Hunter Ranking" was a system that activated the first time an awakened person cleared a gate. It ranked hunters by combining their personal strength with the number of gates they'd cleared; from what I'd heard, the list reset every month and paid out rewards based on where you stood.

But I'd never cleared a gate.

"What is this, seriously?"

"Pi!"

"Oh — morning, Piron."

"Pi! Pipi!"

"Hm? You want me to follow you?"

"Pi!"

Piron caught my finger and tugged me along, pointing toward the little rooftop garden outside the rooftop house. Apparently she had something to show me. I let her lead the way out into the garden.

And then—

"Huh?"

·····What in the world was that?

Something that did not belong in a garden was sitting there. Three blue, glittering stones, each about the size of my head.

Wait. Those were—

"·····Magic crystals?"

And not ordinary ones, either. Stones that size weren't just magic crystals — they were the kind that kept a gate running. Dungeon Cores.

"Huh?"

The messages floated up while I was still staring blankly at the crystals in the garden. At the same time—

Rrrrumble—!

A low vibration rolled through the air, and the World Tree sapling began to grow before my eyes, visibly and unmistakably.

"Pi!"

Shaaa—!!

A brilliant light burst ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from Piron's tiny body. Wait. Was she—?

Was our little Piron about to evolve like some kind of Digimon?

I watched her with a flicker of genuine anticipation.

Pop—

The light scattered in every direction, and Piron reappeared.

"Piiiiii—!!"

As if celebrating a successful evolution, she clenched both fists, thrust them high overhead, and let out a triumphant roar.

"·····."

Aside from that, she didn't look any different.

What? Had the evolution failed?

"Piron."

"Pi?"

"Did anything change?"

"Pipi!"

"Hm? You grew a little taller?"

"Pi!"

According to her, she'd put on a bit of height. ·····So she'd just grown, exactly the way the system message said?

"Pipi!"

"·····."

And she was a little stronger, too. Well. Fine. As long as my Piron was healthy.

"So where did these magic crystals come from?"

"Pi! Pipi!"

Piron planted both hands on her hips with an emphatic little ahem.

"Ah — wait, don't tell me."

"Pi!"

"The magic crystal I planted yesterday grew?"

It made a kind of sense. My ability was the World Tree, and a World Tree was no ordinary plant — maybe it could make things around it grow. It had made Piron grow, after all.

"Piiik! Pik!"

"Hm? That's not it?"

"Pi!"

"Wait — you brought them?"

"Pipi!"

These three heavy boulders? Piron had carried them?

Oh. No way.

"Did you clear a gate?"

"Pi!"

She thumped her little chest like a battle-hardened hero confirming my guess. I stared with my mouth open, then scolded her in a stern voice.

"Hey!"

"Pipik?!"

"What were you thinking, going into a gate alone? What if you'd gotten hurt?"

"Pi·····."

Even if it was only a D-rank or F-rank gate, the thought of this tiny child walking in by herself made my blood run cold. She must have used her small size and the ability to fly to her advantage — darting in, snatching the Dungeon Core, and bolting. Thank god she hadn't been hurt. That could have gone so, so badly.

I stroked her head gently.

"Don't do that again, okay? Promise me."

"Pi·····."

She was a smart kid. One warning should be enough.

"All right. Time to get ready to head out. I've got somewhere to be today."

"Pi."

She nodded and fell into step behind me again. Then I stopped dead in my tracks.

Wait a second.

Come to think of it·····.

"Piron."

"Pi?"

"You already had a name?"

That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠system message earlier — hadn't it said Seraphin is growing? Which meant Piron's real name was Seraphin?

"Pi·····."

"Ah — sorry·····."

I'd nicknamed her Piron because her little pi-pi chirps were so cute, and all along she'd had a name this pretty····.

"I'll call you Seraphin from now on."

"Pi! Pipi!"

"Actually, Seraphin sounds a little too chuuni. I'll just call you Pin."

"Pi·····."

You never know. Someday I might have to call my summon's name in front of other people, and if they thought I'd named her Seraphin····· yeah, that would be mortifying.

A D-rank gate under Origin Guild management near Gaepo-dong in Gangnam. On-site, Guild Leader Seo Eunha could only harden her expression at the carnage inside.

Every single monster in the D-rank gate had been slaughtered. Some lay with their necks wrenched clean backward; others had been split clean in half by something razor-sharp.

The boss monster had died instantly with its skull burst open. Given the complete absence of any signs of a prolonged fight, it looked like a one-sided massacre.

"Guild Leader."

One of the staff members surveying the scene approached to report.

"It appears the Dungeon Core was stolen as well."

"·····That was the goal from the start, I'm sure."

Wipe out every monster in the gate, then walk out with only the Dungeon Core.

"We have a spare core, yes?"

"Yes. It's already been installed."

"Ha····· who would even do something like this····· Is there anything on the CCTV?"

"Well····· you'll want to see it for yourself."

At that, Seo Eunha headed for the gate's control room. She checked the CCTV feed—

"·····Huh?"

Something was only visible when the footage was played back at a crawl. A flying life-form that went whoosh into the gate, then shot back out again in under a few minutes. It was too blurry to make out any clear shape.

"·····What is that?"

"We're····· still looking into it."

"Zoom in."

The staffer scrolled the mouse wheel, enlarging the figure caught on camera. The outline grew faintly clearer. Something humanoid, no bigger than a palm — and on its back, translucent wings—

"Wh— what the hell?!"

"G-Guild Leader? What's wrong?"

There was no mistake. Unless her eyes were lying to her, that was a fairy.

A fairy came out of a gate?

Seo Eunha's pupils trembled. If her guess was right·····—

She moved fast. Once she was in the car, she spoke to the driver.

"Take me to the Hunter Association. Now."

There was a reason famous hunters had epithets.

The notification popped up while I was on my way to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meeting place at Jongno Gate 2. Looks like my ranking evaluation was finished.

This was where I got to choose the name registered on the rankings. Custom meant I made one up myself; System Epithet Assignment meant the system analyzed an awakened person's abilities and traits and assigned the most fitting epithet.

Most people went with the latter, they were curious what the system thought of them. Honestly, so was I. I picked the second option.

"·····."

Well. That was a very straightforward name. Did it just copy-paste my class?

The ranking numbers followed, and they didn't move me much. So that was roughly where I stood. Rankings weren't based on raw strength alone, how many gates you'd cleared and how many monsters you'd hunted counted too.

It was late February; active hunters had been clearing gates and farming monsters all month, so of course a brand-new entry like mine would sit way down the list.

Still, I'm looking forward to the rewards.

The timing was good, if nothing else. Three days from now it'd be March. Rankings reset every month, and rewards dropped based on where you'd finished. They probably wouldn't be amazing, but free rewards were free rewards — and selling them would put some real money in my pocket.

—Next stop, Jongno Gate 2. Jongno Gate 2.

Ah. While I'd been reading the messages, we'd arrived at the meeting place. I hurried off the bus and headed for the gate.

Uh····· yeah·····.

Lately it felt like I was drawing stares every time I went outside. Practically everyone I passed on the street seemed to look at me at least once. It was getting more than a little uncomfortable.