It's a Fruit I Picked from Weeds

If a Legendary drop sat at 1%, that meant the original rate had been 0.01%. Hero-grade would've been sitting in the single digits too. So with a gacha stacked at 99% Hero ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and 1% Legendary, pulling a Hero should've been something to celebrate. This was a loot table that originally had overwhelmingly high odds of spitting out Normal, Advanced, or Rare.

But after seeing those 100x rates, I couldn't help feeling a little let down.

"A dud. Total dud."

If that 1% jackpot didn't hit, I was guaranteed a Hero-grade anyway. Call it a champagne problem, but on the 100x server, that was just common sense.

Of course, I still had a smile on my face.

"Hell yeah."

A Hero-grade weapon. How much would hunters pay for this?

Matching the 100x server's grades to the hunter system's ranks wasn't an exact science, but even a Hunter Gallery lurker like me could tell the options looked damn good. And that Mana Amplification effect? List this thing for sale and hunters would be drooling all over themselves to get their hands on it.

The Coin Repair effect was clearly an option meant for me, so I didn't actually want to sell it. I tucked it safely into my Server Inventory and headed for the Server Connection Device.

"Log out!!"

I cleanly ignored the part about it taking time to recharge. If it came down to it, I could just spend coins. What I wanted right now had nothing to do with any of that. Three days without a proper wash. A hollow stomach I'd been filling with nothing but raw fruit. I wanted a hot home-cooked meal from Mom, and I wanted it now.

This time I didn't close my eyes. Even so, everything went dark, and about five seconds later—

"I'm back."

The familiar scenery of my room rose up to meet me. A thin strip of sunlight leaking through the blackout curtains. The same comfortable clothes I'd been wearing, as if I'd just woken from a dream and nothing at all had happened.

"Inventory."

What if I had dreamed it? What if I'd been seeing things? A flicker of panic sent me calling up the Server Inventory at once.

"Phew."

The inventory unfolded in front of me, and I let out a breath of relief. Not a dream, then.

The server list was showing up just fine too.

"Status window!!"

The last little worry — that maybe all of this only worked inside the 100x server — got put to rest too. Level 10, the stats, the traits, all of it displayed just fine. The only things deactivated were effects like the 100x experience. That was enough.

"Hah."

The tension drained out of me, and I let myself fall back onto the bed. The Wild Dog bite, already nearly healed, made it real in a way nothing else could. I'd actually awakened. The method might've been a little different from other hunters, but still.

"I've got a level. I've got skills. That makes me a hunter."

I squared my shoulders, opened the door, and walked out like I owned the place.

"Mom!!"

A quiet house. The first thing I saw was Kim Yerin, parked on the sofa watching TV.

"What? You were home?"

"Mom!!"

I ignored her completely and opened the master bedroom door, but Mom wasn't there. Neither was Dad.

"Ugh. The first person I see after coming back is Kim Yerin."

"Did you pull an all-nighter at the PC bang? Go wash up."

Sprawled out in that cocky pose, she was the last person I wanted to talk to — but my mood was soaring. I needed to show someone this change, thirty years in the making. Even if that someone was Kim Yerin.

"Hey. I awakened."

I said it proudly. Squarely. Like it was a fact of the universe.

"So what."

The reaction I'd expected.

"Not 'so what.' I awakened a B-class skill called Double Attack. Pretty decent, right?"

"…"

I caught her expression twitch.

"What was your skill again? Exploration? C-class? If that's enough to get you into a guild, I'll be walking into a major one no problem, yeah?"

"What the…!"

Kim Yerin, who'd been occupying the entire sofa with her legs stretched out, sat bolt upright. Not that I'd been hoping for a compliment.

"Chongchong? The Hunters? Might as well shoot for the top ten while I'm at it. I want whoever's paying the highest salary."

"Did you fall on your head? This is bullshit first thing in the morning!! Don't lie to me. You, a B-class…? And what, you think awakening a B-class skill means every major guild's gonna roll out the red carpet? Level matters more than the skill, and talent matters more than level! It's about how well you can actually use it! You, with combat abilities? You've spent your whole life rolling around in your room…!"

"Whatever. Worst case, I'll just join your guild. I only need to earn enough to sit around and eat."

"…Hey!!!!"

I ducked the flying cushion, held the laugh all the way in, and retreated to my room. I locked the door, and three seconds later a pounding came rattling through it.

"It's a lie, right? You didn't actually awaken, did you? Get out here! Why are you pulling this crap first thing in the morning?!"

Needling Kim Yerin was a skill I'd been researching long before I ever awakened, and I'd developed any number of methods. Even without awakening, talking down her skill or her guild was enough to set her off — she took a lot of pride in both. Now that I'd actually awakened, and meant every word, she must've had a hell of a time not taking the bait.

Of course she'd want to believe it was a lie. If I really had a B-class skill — a combat skill, no less — then as a hunter, I'd be the one with the superior ability. Which is exactly why I didn't prove it. Let her wonder.

"Man. I need to sleep."

And just like that, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fatigue from fighting those Wild Dogs came crashing in. I'd spent the entire day pulling weeds, then timed a fight right at the end of it. The dopamine had just been keeping the drowsiness at bay.

"Missed you, bed."

My old mattress. Shaped to my body, wrapping me up in a warm hug. A small room. A warm blanket.

"Hey! Hey! Open the damn door!!"

Even a little noisy white noise to complete the picture.

"…"

I let the exhaustion take me, then cracked the inventory open one more time.

"Mm. The sleeping bag was pretty nice, actually."

When I'd slept in the cabin, I'd missed my bed. But lying on this old mattress now, I realized it wasn't the bed I'd missed. It was home.

Sleep rolled in, slow and steady, and I closed my eyes.

Kim Yerin pounded on the locked door for a while before leaving for a meetup with her friends, and came back around evening. Dessert and girl talk had improved her mood, but the sight of that still-closed door soured it all over again.

"Ugh, this is so annoying."

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Mom asked from the kitchen, where she was cooking. Yerin complained the way she always did.

"Woojin came out of his room again and started messing with me. Mom. He talked down my guild, lied about awakening, and made fun of my skill!!"

She knew it was a lie. She always knew. And it still made her blood boil every single time. Was this just what having an older brother was like?

A shut-in who leeched off their parents and did nothing all day, and he had the nerve to call her Search skill "Exploration" like it was some joke. A C-class Search skill was actually highly valued even by major guilds — it was a good skill — but he dismissed it every time because it wasn't a combat skill. If a hunter-illiterate nobody started running his mouth about top-ten guilds this and top-ten guilds that, actual hunters would've just laughed in his face. Hearing it from Kim Woojin, a civilian, made her see red.

"He sits in that room eating and sleeping all day!! Just kick him out already, Mom. This is what happens when you and Dad spoil him all the time!!"

It got under her skin that he lived a more immature life than his little sister, who was eight years younger. Of course, she'd adored him when they were little. Followed him around everywhere.

"Yerin, don't be so hard on your brother."

"Mom!!"

Even Mom taking his side made her feel wronged and upset. But today's Mom wasn't just blindly covering for him.

"Your brother finally got his act together and started working."

"Huh?"

"Woojin just left for the Hunter Association to register ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as a hunter. He said he spent the last three days out in the countryside farming."

"For real? He actually awakened?"

"Mm-hmm. Look on the table. He said he picked those."

A fruit basket sat on the dining table. Inside it, fist-sized fruits glowing with a red light.

"What is this?"

"Your brother picked them. He said you should take some too. Fruits that grew on weeds, apparently. If you eat them, they do something with… HP? Anyway, he said they're good to eat in a dungeon. They're delicious even on their own. I tried one myself — so sweet."

The color was pretty, she had to admit. She bit in without thinking, and sweet juice flooded her mouth so fast her eyes flew open.

"This looks like dungeon fruit."

No matter how she looked at it, these did not smell like something you'd pick in the countryside. She could actually feel energy welling up inside her. She finished the rest and grabbed another.

"I should bring one for Team Leader."

She was heading into a dungeon this evening anyway. She'd take it with her and offer it to Team Leader.

Yerin finished getting ready and entered the dungeon on schedule. Before starting the search, she held out the fruit she'd brought from home.

"Team Leader, you should try this. My brother got it from somewhere, and it seems like dungeon fruit. I had some — it's really good."

"Thanks."

Her Team Leader accepted it and brought the red fruit to her lips — then froze.

"…Yerin. Where did you say you got this?"

"Sorry? From home…"

"This is a Life Fruit."

"A Life Fruit?"

"It's the fruit they use to make HP potions!! Something this size would go for twenty million won."

"What?"

Yerin clapped a hand over her mouth. The fruit she'd bitten into at home because it was sweet. The several more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sitting in the basket.

"Just where did he go…?"