I Became an Association Intern
So, then. How was I supposed to call up a servant?
Come out?
Obviously, nothing happened. Maybe that might have worked if everything were still normal, but in my current, thoroughly knotted-up state, it didn’t seem likely at all.
I tried all sorts of things, but nothing worked. There must have been some condition beyond simply calling it forth.
I worried over it all night, groaning to myself, but nothing else came to mind. To begin with, the servant setting had never been explained in much detail; it had only been mentioned in a brief summary, so there wasn’t much there to use as a clue.
Still, I searched through the character settings again, carefully, just in case. That’s when I found a Japanese site with information about the Succubus’s servants.
Apparently, when this character was first being developed, she had been set up as a vampire rather than a succubus. The bat wings attached to her body in her normal state, and the fact that she had servants at all, were apparently tied to that idea.
But once the concept shifted into a sexy female character, the setting changed from vampire to succubus.
So that’s how it is.
If all else failed, I had been considering trying a sexy pose or something, but thankfully it didn’t seem to be that simple.
If it was a vampire, then blood should matter. Once that thought struck me, I immediately took a needle out of the sewing kit.
“Just in case, I should disinfect it first.”
I probably didn’t need to go this far—Awakened plus TS plus a game character’s immune system probably meant nothing much would happen—but I scrubbed the needle clean with alcohol-soaked cotton anyway.
“Haa...”
After a small breath, I pricked the skin just above my nail the way you do when your stomach’s upset and someone tells you to lance your finger.
...
But it didn’t even flinch. This ridiculous body refused to allow something as delicate as a needle to intrude. Honestly, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Come to think of it, this was a body that could take a direct charge from a one-horned rabbit and come away with nothing more than a little pain and no scratch at all. There was no way a needle like this would do the trick.
The careful, trembling way I’d tried to prick myself suddenly felt idiotic.
I stabbed with all the strength I had, but the needle simply bent into a round curve, as if that were the most natural thing in the world, and was demoted into a fishing hook.
My hands and feet were all twisted up, and somehow this body was absurdly tough in the one area that mattered.
Looks like I’d have to try again with something taken from a dungeon item or something. I’d be able to use the Basement Training Center once work ended tomorrow, after all.
With the day’s tasks boldly shoved into tomorrow’s pile, I stood in front of the wardrobe instead.
When I opened it, women’s clothes spilled into view and threw my vision into chaos. Clothes I couldn’t even imagine wearing glared back at me.
I was going to an office job, and not just any office job—I was going there as an intern. I couldn’t exactly keep wandering around in a tracksuit like I had during Awakened training. Maybe I could get permission later, but at least on the first day I needed the bare minimum of formality.
I absolutely could not bring myself to wear a skirt, so I started by choosing pants.
After rummaging through this and that, I found a pair that at least didn’t emphasize my figure too much. The waistline couldn’t be helped, but from the thighs down they fell straight, like wide slacks.
With the pants settled, I moved on to the top. That was the real headache. After some hesitation, I chose an open-collar blouse. If I left one or two buttons undone at the top, it probably wouldn’t squeeze my chest too badly and would still give off a decently full look.
Pleased with my selection, I soon collapsed flat onto the floor and despaired.
What am I doing, choosing women’s clothes so matter-of-factly?
Maybe once I had a little more room to breathe, I should buy myself a women’s suit that had a more unisex feel.
I ironed the clothes I’d laid out, hung them up neatly, and went to sleep. I must have been mentally exhausted from one thing and another, because I closed my eyes, opened them again, and before I knew it morning had arrived.
I washed up, ate breakfast, put on the clothes I’d prepared the day before, and headed outside.
The moment I left the house, eyes came pouring my way. I was still wearing a cap and a mask, but the femininity radiating off me seemed to be on a completely different level from my usual tracksuits, because even before I’d taken a few steps, the attention gathering around me was intense.
Trying my best not to care, I got on the bus.
If I’d only managed to get into the Draft, I would’ve received an upfront signing bonus and bought a car. Once things started to go wrong, everything turned into this sort of mess.
While I grumbled and tried to keep my balance in the swaying bus, I suddenly heard the voices of a few high school girls seated behind me, whispering to one another.
“Hey, holy crap... hey, hey, look at that person over there.”
“Why—who—whoa, seriously? Is that a model?”
“That’s what I’m saying! No, for real, isn’t that the mystery of human anatomy? That ratio walks around in Air Force Ones? There’s literally zero heel and the legs still look that long?”
“This is insane... the proportions are completely insane. Look at the size of her head. No joke, it’s like my fist.”
“And look at the pant legs—wide as they are, you can still see the hip line. Maybe she’s got Western genes or something? She’s wearing a suit and the presence is just ridiculous.”
“No, seriously, how can a person’s body look like that? If a retouch filter made you look that way, people would roast you.”
“Shh. Hey, keep it down. She might hear you.”
Yeah. I heard everything.
And I wasn’t the only one. It felt like everyone else on the bus had heard them too.
With my attention already drawing stares, the fact that a bunch of high school girls were sitting in the back row openly appraising me made it feel like everyone on the bus was glancing my way.
I wondered if I should get off, but I forced myself to keep going, pretending not to notice anything while my face burned all the way to the ears.
At last, when I got off at the Awakened Center, I felt like I could breathe again.
The first thing I’m buying once I recover my abilities and save up some money is a car. Absolutely. No question.
Honestly, it was just clothes. Just changing what I was wearing. And yet this was what it turned into.
The stares only intensified once I went inside the Center. Well, there was nothing to be done. If I kept walking around like this for a few more days, people would probably get used to it. That was the only thing I could hope for right now.
I took out the temporary access pass I’d received in advance, got through security, and headed to the Support Team on the third floor.
“Excuse me...”
When I opened the door cautiously and stepped in, someone lifted their head over a partition and quickly stood up.
“Lee Seha?”
“Yes.”
“This way, please.”
The employee, who looked to be in his thirties, led me into a meeting room.
“I received a call from Chief Instructor Jang Cheolsik. I’m Kim Jaehyun. I’ll be acting as your senior for the time being.”
“Thank you. I’ll be in your care.”
Jang Cheolsik was the bald instructor’s name. From the first time I saw him, his head had been so unforgettable that, to be honest, it was easier to remember that than his actual name.
“I’ve heard the basics of your situation. You’re having trouble because of your Dual Class, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not common, but it does happen now and then. Your talent is just too exceptional, so it’s probably causing side effects like this. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine soon enough.”
“Thank you.”
Kim Jaehyun explained what I would be doing for the time being.
The Association’s Support Team handled a number of things, but my main task would be organizing the activity records of Awakened individuals.
I would compile the Gate exploration reports that poured in by the dozens every day into a database and, based on that, extract each Awakened individual’s stats.
Most of this work was handled by AI, but someone still had to check whether the data collected in this way had any problems.
My role was to review, first-hand, the content the AI generated from field data. Of course, what I checked wouldn’t be applied as-is; there were several more layers above me, and a final person responsible for it all.
Once I sat down in front of the monitor, videos and data began streaming down the screen. At first I had no idea what I was looking at, but when Kim Jaehyun came over and gave me a brief guideline, I gradually started to understand what the individual stats the instructor had shown me before actually meant.
So that’s what those stats meant. So that’s why they needed to exist.
Actually moving around on the front lines was important, of course, but seeing the whole picture from a place removed from the field made it feel like my perspective was shifting a little.
I learned a lot.
Watching example after example of good and bad cases through the footage and data made me understand, at least somewhat, what kinds of responses worked best out in the field.
It felt, in some small way, like an opportunity to reflect on myself.
It seemed like that was probably why the instructor had introduced me to this line of work.
After the workday ended, I headed down to the Basement Training Center and had no trouble finding the instructor, who was on one side working out his body.
“Hello, Instructor.”
“Ah, you’re here. How was it? Was the work manageable?”
“Yes. It was very helpful.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Right now... I believe Private Room 3 should be free. You can use that one.”
“Thank you.”
After going into the private room, I locked the door, changed into training clothes in the changing area, and came back out.
“Haa...”
Then I reached for one of the training weapons hanging from the rack and picked up a dagger.
But there was a problem again.
It had clearly been made from dungeon materials, but because it was meant for indoor practice, the edge hadn’t been sharpened at all.
“I’m screwed.”
In the end, I had no choice but to leave the private room and go back to find the instructor.
“A needle?”
“Yes. One made from dungeon materials.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Sure enough, before long the instructor came back with individually packaged thread and needles. Strangely enough, they were bent slightly, like fishing hooks.
“These are used for first aid in the field.”
“Ah... thank you.”
Apparently they were the sort of thing Awakened people used to quickly stitch up flesh when someone suffered a serious wound on-site. The idea of sewing up human flesh was a little eerie, but if I thought about it, it was also exactly what I needed.
I went back into the private room, settled in, tore open the package, took the needle in hand, and pricked the skin just above my nail.
The skin was so tough that a light prick wouldn’t even let this needle in. So I added a little more force, and only then did a single red drop of blood well up.
I set the needle down on the packaging for the moment and focused my attention on the bead of blood on my nail.
Of course, nothing happened at once. I kept pricking, drawing blood, and concentrating until the blood dried—how long had I been at it?
By the time a crust of blood had formed on every fingernail of both hands and I’d gone back around to the first finger I’d drawn blood from, I’d finally caught hold of a tiny thread.
With my eyes closed and my mind fixed, I suddenly felt a small, faintly glowing strand in the darkness of my vision.
I snatched at it, and at last something that had been severed all this time was connected again.
I opened my eyes.
Then I saw it: a small black butterfly, as if it had appeared from nowhere, fluttering weakly in front of me.
When I slowly reached out, the butterfly climbed onto the back of my hand. Then I felt the connection amplify once more, and in an instant butterflies of many different colors manifested all around me at once.
“Waaah...”
For a moment I was just marveling at the swarm of butterflies encircling me, but then I noticed something strange.
If these were the servants for a new character, weren’t they supposed to be demon-type or something? Why were butterflies suddenly showing up?
I was baffled, but so what? I’d succeeded at something, and that alone was a relief.