Hello. I'm the Youngest Goddess. (2)

"Hweh?!"

A sensation I couldn't name jolted through me, and I snapped my eyes open in a panic. What greeted me was nothing more than the same damp morning light that always leaked into my semi-basement. I could have sworn I'd already been awake. When had I fallen back asleep?

"……"

That alone was creepy enough. And yet, for reasons I couldn't explain, I felt incredibly refreshed today — as if I'd been born all over again. The shoulder stiffness that had made every morning a misery had vanished like it had never existed, and the hated heaviness that used to cling to my eyelids had evaporated without a trace. On top of all that, the room itself had been scrubbed spotless, as clean as a brand-new apartment.

"Ah."

I sat there blankly for a moment, my mind emptied by the sheer number of sudden changes, until something I'd forgotten finally clicked. I hurriedly switched on my smartphone camera ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and checked my face.

Still that unfamiliar face. White hair cascading all the way down to my waist. A body as small as an elementary schooler's. And last of all, a mysterious angel's halo floating serenely above my head.

……So it really wasn't a dream.

"……"

Awakening was everything I'd ever hoped for, and I'd gotten that far, at least. But why did my body have to change like this, of all things? And what on earth was this angel ring doing above my head?

No matter how long I turned it over, I couldn't find an answer. Then, in the middle of all that fruitless pondering, the existence of a status window suddenly occurred to me.

I quietly called up the status window in my mind. As if it had been waiting for this exact moment, an opaque system screen materialized in front of my eyes in less than a second.

"Hmm."

Being shocked once or twice was fine. I was getting tired of jumping every time I confirmed something new. Rather than keep being surprised, maybe it was time I calmly figured out what was going on.

I tossed the smartphone I'd been holding onto the blanket, then carefully picked up the wallet that had been lying on the floor like a piece of trash.

"……"

Someone's unfamiliar ID sat inside, looking completely out of place in an adult's wallet. The card itself resembled a toy that kids might play with, and stamped on it as the ID photo was the same face I'd just seen on my camera.

"What is this……"

Where had my original ID gone, and why was this toy-like thing sitting in here like it belonged? Everything else was exactly the same. For some reason, only the ID had changed in a way you couldn't miss.

Just in case, I sat down at my computer and, out of habit, opened the Semi-Basement Gallery. Fortunately, this place was no different from usual.

No, how could it be this identical? I wouldn't have minded if this place, at least, had changed a little. The Semi-Basement Gallery was still overflowing with the same stupid nonsense.

I felt strangely as if I alone had been stranded on a deserted island, with nobody else around. It was a pretty peculiar feeling in more ways than one. But still — I had awakened. Once I thought of it that way, even that peculiar feeling started to seem not so bad.

"……Heheh."

Awakening ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meant I could escape this damp semi-basement before long. The Gangnam penthouse I'd only ever dreamed of might actually become real. As for the little matter of my gender changing — well. If I thought of it as an equivalent exchange for a brilliant future, I'd gotten a bargain, hadn't I?

At any rate, I'd more or less gotten a handle on the situation, and my tangled thoughts had cleaned themselves up somewhere along the way. Worrying about it any more seriously than this would just be a pointless waste of time. I wasn't in any immediate discomfort, so for now I should head to the Hunter Guild and file my awakening report. Whatever problems were left, I could think them through slowly after that. It wouldn't be too late.

Having roughly sorted out my thoughts, I stood up, about to get ready to leave — and that was when it happened.

"……?"

In my list of recently visited galleries, I happened to spot one I'd never seen before. The gallery's name was none other than the Goddess Gallery. I swore to the heavens I had never set foot in this gallery even once. So why was it sitting in my recent visits out of nowhere?

Curious, I clicked in. Galleries were mostly the same wherever you went, but you never knew. It might have something to do with this bizarre phenomenon I was going through. There was no other reason it would just appear in my recent visits.

The moment I entered the Goddess Gallery, a familiar-looking introduction caught my eye. A gallery created for the harmony of goddesses. Don't tell me this was a hangout for people who roleplayed as goddesses?

The thought had barely formed when a post with a bizarre title happened to catch my eye at the very top of the newest listings.

I'd assumed it was a gathering of people doing goddess roleplay. Apparently not. I was an idiot for getting my hopes up even for a second. Looking for anything special in a gallery was about as foolish as it got.

The next new post was no different from any other gallery — a thoroughly pointless, nutritionally empty shitpost. It was such an ordinary gallery that browsing any further felt like a waste of time. And yet, I managed to find exactly one thing that stood out.

Every single person posting was using a registered username. I could have scrubbed my eyes raw and I still wouldn't have found a single throwaway account. All registered nicks. And every last one of them had a fairly unusual username, like they'd all been coordinated in advance.

"……"

The fact that an outsider like me could wander in meant this clearly wasn't a private gallery. I just couldn't figure out what purpose it had been made for. On top of that, there was no post button.

What was this unplaceable sense of wrongness? Ordinary people writing ordinary posts and leaving ordinary comments. And yet a chill kept creeping down my spine for reasons I couldn't name.

There was a blue badge sitting next to her username. Looks like GoddessOfPeace was this gallery's moderator.

Having gotten a rough feel for the gallery's atmosphere, I closed the browser window and sank back against the chair. I'd gone in hoping there might be some hint related to my current situation. All I got was a vaguely unsettled feeling.

"The world really does have every kind of gallery, huh……"

Come to think of it, hadn't my status window listed my class as Goddess? And right after that, the Goddess Gallery had appeared in my recent visits. So maybe it wasn't completely unrelated to my current situation……

"Nah. No way."

I shook my head hard, forcing the ridiculous idea out of my mind. No matter how insane the world had gotten with hunters and awakenings, there was no way actual goddesses — whose existence I couldn't even confirm — would be posting garbage on an internet forum.

Anyway, the gallery wasn't what mattered right now. Whatever else was going on, the fact that I had awakened was the most important thing at present.

"Wallet, check. Phone, check……"

I was potentially about to move into a Gangnam penthouse. I couldn't afford to waste time on things that didn't really matter.

"Ready to go."

I grabbed the essentials, finished getting ready in a hurry, and stood at the front door, loosely sliding my feet into a pair of oversized three-stripe slippers that didn't fit at all. That was when it happened.

An evacuation broadcast suddenly blared from outside.

Why did a Gate have to spawn the exact moment I was trying to leave? Talk about rotten timing.

"Ugh."

I let out a small sigh and stared at the full-length mirror standing next to the front door. Clothes far too baggy for this body, and enormous three-stripe slippers. On top of that, long white hair swaying gently, and an angel's halo floating in midair.

Honestly, I'd been a little hesitant to go outside looking this bizarre. But thanks to the Gate that had spawned at such a convenient moment, I could tidy myself up a bit before heading out.

I naturally pulled my gaze away from the mirror, about to step back inside — and that was the exact moment.

A skill, reacting on its own without so much as asking.

A strange sense of unease washed over me, and I hurriedly opened the front door to check outside.

And then —

The entire building I lived in was steeped in a dazzling golden light, as if it alone had received a goddess's blessing.

"Hah……?"

A space like an absolute sanctuary, one no monster would dare set foot in. Witnessing a miracle for the first time in my life, I could only stand there, lost, staring blankly at that sacred sight.