Gaining Favor, Reading Hearts

Gaining favor. Reading the voice of the heart.

Gnaw-gnaw-gnaw…

…I have no choice but to hit upvote.

Kang Yul quietly upvoted the supernatural gore-terror post and left the gallery.

Normally he would have cursed up a storm and slammed the downvote button, but right now he understood exactly what the post was trying to say — so it barely fazed him.

And for good reason.

Gnaw-gnaw-gnaw…

Kang Yul looked down at the bug — no, the worm — gnawing away at the amber, then shifted his gaze to the info post he'd left open at the edge of his vision.

…I'm going insane.

Kang Yul was not someone who cursed much under ordinary circumstances, but right now the swears came unbidden. A supernatural lifeform whose hazard rank started at a minimum of B — he was in such a desperate situation that he ought to be grateful simply for still breathing.

Hazard Rank B means instant death the moment you run into one…

Everything connected to supernatural phenomena carried a hazard rank. It started at F — safe even for civilians, sometimes even helpful — and climbed higher based on casualties, survival rates, and difficulty of containment.

And among those, Hazard Rank B was effectively instant death on contact: a rank so vanishingly low in survival odds that merely coming back alive was said to exhaust a lifetime's worth of luck.

But even among B-Class threats, worms were a little special.

That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.

An irregular whose true danger level couldn't be precisely measured, so the minimum estimate of Hazard Rank B had been assigned. That was the identity of the supernatural lifeform known as the Worm.

And that was also why Kang Yul was currently being careful even about breathing.

Gnaw-gnaw-gnaw…!

Ahh… that expensive amber…

Kang Yul desperately wanted to peel the worm off the amber of incalculable value, but his survival instinct — the urge to keep living a little longer — outweighed his greed for money, so he didn't dare.

At first he'd thought, It's only finger-sized, maybe I can handle it somehow? But that notion lasted only a moment. He recalled the record of a palm-sized Supernatural Lifeform — Fairy that had erased an entire nation before vanishing without a trace, and decided to just sit quietly.

Gnaw-gnaw-gnaw……

And so Kang Yul, unable to do anything one way or the other, had no choice but to watch the worm's amber mukbang. The worm spent roughly thirty minutes gnawing the amber down to the last tiny fragment before finally stopping, looking satisfied.

And in that moment—

Wriggle-wriggle—!

Whether it was because its belly was full or because there was nothing left to eat, the worm began undulating its body as if to explore its surroundings.

Then it froze—!

Before long it stopped as though it had found something, reared up, and started moving its toothed head as if looking in a particular direction.

And that something was, of course—

"…"

—Kang Yul.

At this point Kang Yul figured what was coming had finally arrived. He moved as carefully as possible, doing everything he could not to provoke the worm.

Wriggle…?

But the worm merely swayed its body left and right, forming a question mark, as if it simply found him fascinating.

For a brief while the two life-forms regarded each other as unknown creatures — one with curiosity, the other with curiosity ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠(and fear).

Wriggle!

The moment the worm stretched its body out like an exclamation mark, a new notification window appeared in front of Kang Yul.

"…"

He had earned the favor of a supernatural lifeform. And thanks to that favor, it was now following him… whether he should be happy about this or not was a bit of an open question.

There was no guarantee that a supernatural lifeform's goodwill would translate into goodwill for a human like Kang Yul.

This applied just as much to ordinary pets. Suppose the cat you kept at home brought you a mouse or an insect as a thank-you gift — what then?

"Aw, thank you, Navi~!"

You'd go through the motions of accepting it while thinking What am I supposed to do with this? and eventually throw it out.

But what if that mouse or bug were still alive and moving?

"Aw, thank you, Na—"

"Ah, pleasure to meet you. I'm a cockroach. I plan to roam around this house from now on."

"…D-dieeee—! Die, you roach—!!!"

"Haha, you're slow. That was just my afterimage, you know?"

Cue the screaming and the start of a full-blown raid.

And the same held true for supernatural lifeforms. There was no law saying a gift offered in goodwill by a supernatural being would necessarily benefit a human.

So ideally you'd avoid receiving gifts from supernatural lifeforms altogether — or better yet, avoid earning their favor in the first place. But…

…If it's already taken a liking to me, there's no other way.

This was a Hazard Rank B supernatural lifeform. Refusing its goodwill could lead to something far worse than accepting a gift, so rejection simply wasn't an option.

Do I need to prepare separate meals for it…?

From now on, Kang Yul would have to treat this tiny worm with the utmost care. He fretted briefly over whether he'd have to feed it minerals at every meal — and then, a moment later:

A new skill?

Out of nowhere, a notification announced that he'd met the conditions and acquired a new class skill. Had the conditions been making a Gate creature follow him — and deciding to raise it?

If so, this skill might actually help in his current situation. Kang Yul immediately checked the skill info.

An exploration-type skill?

Skills of this kind were said to truly shine when exploring Gates with zero available information. Like the Gate Gallery skill before it, this one would drive the Association and the corporations wild if they ever found out about it.

No — that's not what matters right now.

Kang Yul pinched his thigh to snap himself back to focus and returned his attention to the skill window. The part about viewing Gate information was useless in his current state, so he skipped it. The part about providing more info as exploration progressed, he skipped as well. His eyes stopped on the line at the very bottom about 〔Traits〕.

The ability to check Traits… he remembered that.

Additionally, upon Gate Summon, the quantity of obtainable resources and the Traits of that Gate can be confirmed.

It was one of the base abilities of the Gate Summoner class — a kind of passive skill that let Kang Yul examine the Traits of Gates he summoned. But now he could use it on lifeforms he encountered inside Gates as well?

He had no idea by what principle or mechanism it worked, but if it was possible, it was exactly the skill he needed most right now.

Do I just look at it?

Eager to test the skill's effect, Kang Yul stared hard at the worm wriggling on the floor.

And in that moment—

Wriggle— wriggle—

"!"

Kang Yul could see the voice of the worm's heart.