Hello. I'm the Youngest Goddess.

People die eventually.

I had always carried those words like a lesson. After all, this was a world where dying anytime, anywhere, in any way at all wouldn't have been the least bit strange.

Click. Click.

One day, without warning, the Gates tore their way into the world. And in a single instant, everything changed beyond anyone's control. With the emergence of a new breed of humanity called the Awakened, the gap between people stretched to proportions that defied all reason.

Even the gallery's own introduction reeked of that peculiar sour-musty stink unique to semi-basements. Moisture and mold and every flavor of resignation, all stirred together into one unpleasant smell. A space that was, in name and in fact, the worst place you could live — where despair rose up long before any hope of a life.

I could say with certainty that every last person in here was a nobody. Awaken, and anyone became a Hunter. Become a Hunter, and you raked in thousands a month like it was nothing. It couldn't have been more absurd.

"Tsk…."

But from the moment the Gates revealed themselves to the world, the word fairness had become an ancient relic that existed only in dictionaries. Someone would wake up to find sparks leaping from their fingertips. Someone else, a split second before being hit by a truck, would suddenly display superhuman strength and crumple the vehicle like paper. And so the Awakened, treated as saviors of humanity under dazzling lights, packed up and moved into Gangnam penthouses.

Meanwhile, ordinary people like us — the ones who hadn't been chosen — still had to stare at the mold blooming across damp wallpaper and worry about whether tomorrow's convenience-store rice ball had expired. Looking at it that way, it couldn't have been a bleaker, more depressing life.

But even the most soaring, gifted Awakened were equal before death. Whether you shot flames from your hands or crushed cars with your bare strength, in the end you were still burning through the one life you'd been given.

The window rattled open, and a meager handful of sunlight poured in — along with a generous cloud of dust. No awakening today, either.

"……Guess I should wash up."

Every morning I opened my eyes hoping to awaken, even knowing it was a futile hope. But what unfolded before me was never a system window. It was only the mold map on the ceiling, its territory a little wider than it had been yesterday.

I turned the faucet with a creak and let the water run, in case rust came through with it. The water I'd sent down until it ran clear struck the floor and made a noise, and even that sound, warped by the peculiar acoustics of a semi-basement, came out somehow damp.

Dark circles sat heavy under my eyes, the fatigue of browsing the gallery late into the night. I scrubbed my face roughly with cold water and wondered — if I ever did awaken, what kind of ability would I even get? It didn't have to be flames. It didn't have to be superhuman strength. I wouldn't even mind failing. I just wished it would show me some evidence, at least, that I had tried.

"Hah……."

I buried my wet face in the towel and let out a long breath. The towel smelled of laundry that hadn't quite dried. I hung it back up without thinking, and the moment I turned to leave the bathroom—

My foot slipped.

Maybe it was the soapy water pooled across the floor. Maybe the old slippers had simply reached the end of their life. My ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body lost its center and flailed through empty air, and in the split second my mind went white, my head dropped toward the bathroom threshold at full speed, completely unprotected.

Ah. Am I really dying like this……

I had thought, out of habit, that people die eventually. I had never once dreamed I would end my life this meaninglessly — not falling in glorious battle against some monster, but slipping on soapy water in a semi-basement bathroom that reeked of a half-dry towel, cracking my skull, and dying.

A sickening crunch.

Before I could even feel the injustice of it, my vision flashed white and a brutal impact tore through me. A dull sound, and then the world dyed itself red. Consciousness receded. Strength drained from my body in a long, emptying slide. It was a perfect concentration of death — so complete there wasn't even time to feel the pain.

How much time passed after that, I couldn't have said.

The bathroom light, flickering with a sickly yellow glow, formed precariously on my retinas. My vision crackled like a bad signal and slowly, unsteadily, pulled into focus. The sensation of my skull splitting had been vivid — and yet, strangely, I felt no pain at all. If anything, my body was so light I could even feel a cool, clean chill against my skin.

"……?"

The longer I lay there, the sharper the feeling became that I was, somehow, still alive. Why was I perfectly fine? The situation was so unbelievable I blinked in bewilderment, over and over, and slowly pushed myself up from the floor.

"The back of my head… is fine……?"

I had heard it — the crunch of bone shattering. I could still feel the heat of blood pooling on the floor, the crack of my own skull. And yet there was no pain in my body now. No trace of any wound at all.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I looked down.

The threshold was clean. Not a single bloodstain. The floor that had been slickly coated in soapy water was dry and spotless, as if none of it had ever happened.

"Was it a dream……?"

A strange hollowness settled over me. I let out a weak, empty laugh and turned, without thinking, to face the bathroom mirror — and the moment my eyes met the ones that should have been waiting there—

"……?"

I barely held back a scream. My heart nearly leapt out of my mouth. The face that should have been looking back at me from that mirror wasn't there at all. No — more precisely, the bathroom mirror itself wasn't even in my field of vision.

"Wh-what is this?!"

My viewpoint had dropped. I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠standing with both legs fully extended, and yet my gaze hovered barely a handspan above the floor.

Then came a sensation from my chest — something firm, and yet yielding. I groped at myself in a panic, and the moment I actually registered the state of my own body, I froze on the spot.

"Eek……!"

White hair hung down longer than my waist. My body had shrunk to the size of a child's — and that wasn't even the worst of it. My gender had changed. As if that weren't shocking enough, something like an angel's halo was floating in the air above my head.

"Wh-wh-what on earth is this……?"

Even the voice that came out of me wasn't my usual low one. It was clear and bright — a little girl's voice, so pure it seemed like it could scrub the damp out of a semi-basement in a single breath.

I stood there for a long time, staring into nothing, my mind completely blank. And then—

"……?"

A hazy system window shoved itself into the air in front of my eyes. This was it — the proof that I had awakened an ability. The very thing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those gallery bastards had wanted so badly. But this was… a little too weird.

Even as I read through that absurd wall of text, something began reacting on its own, with no input from me at all.

The foul sewer stench that had been stabbing at my nose until a moment ago was gone. In its place, the crisp green freshness of a forest at dawn filled the bathroom.

"Huh…."

This was not a dream. For a dream, the current of mana sweeping through my whole body was far too vivid.

In the blink of an eye, the apartment looked as clean as a new build. The damp flooring went fluffy-dry in an instant, and a faint floral scent drifted from the clothes that had been reeking of must.

"Th-this is amazing……."

What kind of ability had I even awakened?