Please Don't Do This to Me

Living without an identity in a capitalist country was no small ordeal.

I stared up at the blank, featureless ceiling in a daze, still reeling from reality. My body was exhausted, yet sleep refused to come, leaving my mind foggy and unmoored.

…I let out a quiet murmur. A crude word that clashed violently with the pure, innocent tone of my voice.

"Fuck…"

I couldn't make money. I couldn't sell a single thing I had to offer.

I had Magic Stones — so why couldn't I sell them? I'd awakened — so why couldn't I earn a living?

At this rate, these Magic Stones were worth about as much as pebbles rolling around on the sidewalk. Same league as some unidentifiable egg sitting in the corner of my apartment.

"What do I do."

Honestly, I couldn't see a way forward.

I'd drawn up any number of plans to prove my identity, but every last one of them was short on realism.

Pretend to be my own little sister and run errands in place of my older brother. Flash an ID and claim I'd undergone gender reassignment surgery.

Finding any scrap of practicality in schemes like those would be about as easy as collecting broken glass shards off a sandy beach.

"…"

And yet those two brain-dead options were the only ones circling through my head.

Was there really no better method? Had my thinking somehow stalled out at a middle-school level?

Even with a new body, apparently my brain was still just as small.

"In the first place."

The fact that I'd become a woman at all was already a disaster.

Just having Magical Girl as my class was more than I could handle.

And as if that weren't enough, I'd woken up one morning as a girl.

My identity had vanished. Every means of proving I was myself in this country had simply ceased to exist.

Thanks to that, even selling the Magic Stones and items I'd risked my life for had become impossible. My humble little dream of awakening and getting rich was on the verge of collapse.

"Nothing ever works out for me…"

I was starting to wonder what I was even supposed to do at this point. Starting to wonder if the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entire universe had conspired just to make me suffer.

With my thoughts in a tangle, I killed time clinging to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Hunter Gallery.

There had to be some kind of method. If it was a place where only hunters gathered, I was certain there'd be information I didn't know about.

I mashed the refresh button for dozens of minutes. Still nothing useful. Eventually, my cursor drifted toward the create-post button.

After all, the well gets dug by the one who's thirsty.

Though spamming question posts from the same account was starting to look a little suspicious.

…Should I use a VPN? No — then I wouldn't be able to access the Hunter Gallery at all.

"…"

A thoughtless comment had handed me the lead I'd been hunting for. Information that actually looked promising had landed in my lap.

A district where money was the only thing that made sense. A seedy stretch of nightlife dens glittering with neon signs against the dark — a street reeking of moral decay.

In an underworld like that, even someone who'd lost their identity — even me — might get a chance to sell Magic Stones.

I still had a proper bank account, at least. As long as I could make the sale, I wouldn't leave much of a trail just yet.

Only one problem.

"Doesn't seem doable right this second…"

In my heart of hearts, I wanted to go sell the Magic Stones right now. But thinking about it coldly, I was nowhere near ready to set foot on that kind of street.

My appearance was a disaster. I couldn't even properly cover my own body.

"Hmm…"

Walk into the underworld dressed like this and I wouldn't look like a hunter — I'd look like a woman trying to sell herself.

Clothes that left skin bare might make even walking those streets dangerous.

"…Hmm."

Selling the Magic Stones wasn't that urgent anyway.

I'd only awakened a day ago. I still had about two weeks before rent was due.

"I'd be better off climbing the Tower more…"

A mere two hundred grams. The amount you could get just from finishing the tutorial.

Honestly, I'd already been worried whether that was even enough to cover rent. It was a pitifully small amount.

Risking a stroll through the underworld just to offload this little Magic Stone felt like way too much exposure for the payoff.

If money was the goal, wouldn't it be smarter to stockpile a bit more before going?

Climb the Tower as far as I could, gather Magic Stones, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and sell a large batch all at once — that seemed easier in every way.

And…

I'd need to pick up at least one outfit that could hide my face while I was at it.

No matter how strong I was, I had a curse — a skill — that locked me out of using mana unless I transformed.

First get clothes and Magic Stones… then figure out the selling part.

"…"

But was a magical girl even allowed to go somewhere like that?

Was it even safe for a girl to walk those streets alone in the first place? …Something about it made me recoil.

"Ugh."

I had no idea anymore. Clothes first, I guess…

A hoodie and long pants. A hat and a black mask too…

And also.

"Ah."

…Don't forget to buy underwear.

"…For real."

How much was all of this going to cost? Making money was hard, but spending it was way too easy…

I must have dozed off a little, because the sun was already sinking by the time I opened my eyes.

Without washing up or fixing myself in any way, I sat down in front of the computer.

I wasn't looking for part-time work like usual. I wasn't about to play some boring game either.

"Anything good…"

My hands went straight to the Hunter Gallery.

I felt a twinge of guilt that the Gallery was the first thing I reached for after waking up — and yet the hope that there might be some entertaining posts was what kept me moving.

I was bored. There was nothing to do before climbing the Tower. And I still didn't want to go outside.

…Just skim the hot posts, then go wash up.

The perfect way to kill time. Even if every hunter in this tiny country gathered in one place, the vibe wasn't all that different from any other gallery.

Aside from the fixed nicks and the rampant clique-forming, that is.

One by one, the read markers ticked across a lineup of difficult titles. I scrolled through the hot posts with a blank expression, wasting time, fully intending to keep going meaninglessly — until.

"Huh?"

For a second I thought I'd misread it. Nestled among the usual bait titles was the phrase magical girl.

No. They'd completely missed the mark.

I was only twenty-four. Way too young to be called an ajumma.

I was just a perfectly ordinary awakened hunter whose class happened to be Magical Girl…

Uh…

Maybe I should delete the post first.

I needed to erase the evidence while there was still time. The little kid inside me was screaming it.

"What kind of random drama is this all of a sudden."

Was updating the tutorial ranking really enough to kick up this much of a fuss?

It was just the tutorial. A stage everyone went through. And me? I'd suffered every humiliating thing imaginable in that tutorial.

I'd done things a person my age absolutely should never do.

Impressive, my ass. It wasn't even like anyone was teasing me on purpose.

I hadn't even chosen the name myself. I came to my senses and that ridiculous name was already carved into the rankings — what was I supposed to do about it?

"Ah, shit…"

What even was this. Why was I the drama.

"I deleted it, but…"

Surely no one had caught on. Surely nobody had screenshot and saved the post I'd written on the Awakening Gallery.

My fixed nick was a little eye-catching, sure — but there was no way someone was going around archiving posts from a gallery full of psychos who spent all day convinced they'd awakened. That just wasn't a thing that should exist.

"…"

That had to be right.

So why this uneasy feeling kept welling up, I couldn't say.