A Faint Lucid Dream

The first thing I realized after stepping outside was this.

"…Oh, right. My shoes."

My feet felt loose inside them.

The sneakers I'd always worn were suddenly way too big. No matter how tightly I laced them up, there was room for another whole foot in there.

I stood in front of the entrance deliberating for a moment, then looked down at my shoes.

"Shrink."

Swish.

The sneakers shrank down.

To fit my feet perfectly.

"Oh, so this works."

I rolled my feet around a few times inside them.

Earlier, when I'd tried to enlarge my room, it told me my proficiency was too low.

But shoes were fine.

Hiding my horns and wings worked too, and I'd even gained a resident registration card that hadn't existed yesterday. My age had gotten younger, but still.

"What are the criteria, exactly?"

The status window didn't answer.

Well, I'd figure it out as I went.

The real problem was this.

"I'm hungry."

I'd eaten one of the leftover triangle kimbap before coming out, just in case, and it changed nothing.

My stomach was full. And yet something deep inside my chest stayed hollow.

So this was a succubus's hunger.

I headed down the stairs.

I was almost to the first floor when a door opened.

"Oh my?"

A woman who looked to be around fifty stepped out.

The landlady who lived on the first floor of the building.

Our eyes met.

"……Who are you?"

Ah.

Of course.

Until yesterday, apartment 302 in this building had been home to a twenty-six-year-old man. It would be strange if an elementary-school-aged girl suddenly came walking out of it today.

I thought for a moment.

Apartment 302 had always been home to me — the girl I was now.

The landlady knew that too.

That's how I wanted it to be.

The woman's expression softened.

"Oh, it's you."

"Yes."

"No school today?"

"It's Saturday."

"Oh my, so it is. My head's all over the place."

Smiling, the landlady headed out of the building.

I stood on the stairs and watched her go.

She walked through the front door as if nothing at all were out of the ordinary.

'It's you.'

She hadn't asked my name. She hadn't asked why I lived alone, or where my parents were.

In her mind, I had apparently always been a child living in this place.

"……It really does change like a dream."

In dreams, you don't question the strange things.

If there's an ocean inside your house, if a dead person is sitting at the table eating, if a sibling you never had yesterday appears today — while you're dreaming, you just roll with it.

This world was the same.

When I changed something, people came up with reasons. When contradictions arose, the world quietly papered over them.

I felt a little better.

It was convenient.

Truly.

I made a loop around the neighborhood.

Long story short: getting praised was harder than I'd expected.

"What am I supposed to do?"

I sat on a bench and watched people.

A couple pushing a stroller, an office worker walking with a coffee in hand, a man walking his dog, students laughing at their phones.

Everyone was busy with their own lives.

Nobody asked me for help.

I spotted an elderly grandmother carrying a grocery bag.

Would I get praised if I carried that for her?

I started toward her, then stopped.

It didn't look particularly heavy. Getting involved for no reason might just annoy her.

The most important thing was sincerity.

Someone who genuinely needed my help.

Someone who would be truly grateful when I helped.

"This is trickier than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I thought."

Randomly showering people with kindness while playing the nice guy wasn't the right approach.

It wasn't as if I wanted to do volunteer work, anyway.

What I wanted was a reward.

Specifically, genuine emotion.

I help someone, and they like me for it.

We each get what we want.

That's a win-win.

That was when I heard a scream.

"Kyaaah!"

I turned my head.

Across the main road, a crowd of people was suddenly scattering.

BANG!

A parked car went sliding sideways.

From behind it, a black beast burst out.

It looked like a dog — except its mouth was far too big for a dog, and it had six legs. Red crystals jutted from its body all over.

"A magic beast!"

"A rift! Somebody call it in!"

A minor rift.

An accident that occasionally happened even inside cities.

Usually one or two low-grade magic beasts popped out and that was the end of it. If even an F-rank or E-rank awakened human were nearby, it'd be handled in no time.

But there didn't appear to be anyone like that around here right now.

People fled.

I stood up too.

And then I walked in the opposite direction from the beast.

Why aren't you fighting? you ask?

Why would I fight it?

Maybe I could catch that thing and get praised for it. But if I failed, it would bite my head off, literally. I didn't want to get hurt.

Most of all, I had no idea where the limits of my power lay.

There was no reason to take unnecessary risks.

BANG!

Another crash sounded behind me.

I kept walking.

"Somebody help me!"

Someone shouted.

I didn't stop.

There are plenty of people around here.

No way they're talking to me.

I'm a little kid.

"Please!"

This one was a bit closer.

I turned my head.

At the mouth of an alley across the main road, a man had fallen.

A man in his thirties, wearing a suit. His leg seemed injured — he couldn't get up.

The magic beast was approaching him slowly.

The man looked around frantically.

Then he spotted me.

His expression flickered with something strange.

Understandable.

He'd been looking for someone to help him, and instead found some random kid standing there.

Still, he shouted.

"Help! Call someone, anyone! Please!"

Looking directly at me.

Ding.

I stopped.

"It's real."

The status window told me when sincerity was present.

That was pretty handy.

I crossed the road and walked toward the man.

His expression shifted to alarm.

"Kid, wait! Don't come over here!"

I kept walking.

"Just call for help! What are you going to do?!"

Ah.

So that's what he meant.

Just then, the beast lowered its body.

"Arf!"

It lunged at the man.

"Gyaaargh!"

The man threw his arms up to shield his face.

I pointed a finger at the beast.

"Stop."

The beast stopped.

In midair.

Frozen mid-leap, exactly as it was.

"……?"

The man's mouth fell open.

Honestly, I was surprised too.

But looking closer, it wasn't just the beast that had stopped.

The dust around it, the shards of broken glass, a plastic bag mid-flight, even the drool flying from the beast's jaws — everything in the immediate vicinity was locked in place like a photograph.

I approached slowly.

"This is faint?"

No answer came.

I poked the beast lightly.

It was hard.

"Okay, but what do I do with this thing?"

Now that safety was confirmed, I had room to relax.

I crossed my arms and thought it over.

Did I actually need to kill this beast?

It hadn't tried to kill me, after all. It had just been trying to eat that man.

But then again.

What did that have to do with me?

The man had begged me to save him.

In that case, all I had to do was save the man.

"Hmm. You — go over there."

The beast vanished.

"……?"

The man stared blankly at the empty air.

I looked around too.

It was gone.

Not dead.

I'd told it to go over there, but — where exactly had it gone?

As if in answer to my question, the status window appeared.

"Oh."

Good job.

No reason to kill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it, after all.

I looked at the man.

"You're safe now."

For a long moment, the man couldn't speak.

Then suddenly he laughed. Or maybe he was crying. It was a strange face either way.

"I'm alive……. I'm actually alive."

He gulped down air.

Then he looked at me.

His gaze had changed.

Until moments ago, he'd been looking at a little kid.

Now he was looking at something that had saved his life.

"That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

Ding.

Warmth spread through the hollow place inside my chest.

Ah.

This was it.

Nothing like that triangle kimbap.

Something was flowing into the emptiness inside my chest.

A pleasant fullness.

"Hehe."

I couldn't help smiling.

The man kept talking.

"Really, thank you. If it weren't for you, I'd definitely be dead."

"That was incredible. How did you do that?"

It felt good.

Really good.

I crouched down in front of the man.

"Keep going."

"Huh?"

"Praise me."

The man stared at me blankly.

"Okay…… sure. You're pretty, and kind, and amazing, and…."

Nothing came in.

My expression hardened.

"……You're lying."

"What?"

"That wasn't sincere."

"No, look, you surprised me by suddenly asking me to praise you out of nowhere…."

I understood.

The moment you demand it, sincerity dies.

I stood back up.

"Then never mind."

"Wait."

The man reached for my wrist.

I slipped a step backward.

"What?"

"You're an awakened one, aren't you?"

The light in his eyes had changed.

A moment ago it had been gratitude.

Now it was calculation.

"What organization are you with?"

"None."

"You roam around on your own?"

"Yes."

For the briefest instant, the man's eyes glittered.

I didn't need the status window to tell me.

That was not a good expression.

"As it happens, I work with the Association."

A lie.

I couldn't explain how, but I knew it instantly.

The moment the words left his mouth, I could feel that the inside of them was hollow.

"A kid like you wandering around alone is dangerous. Let me look after you."

I looked at the man.

This was the same person who'd been begging me for his life just minutes ago. He'd thanked me sincerely, too.

And now he was thinking about how to use me.

Strangely, I wasn't angry.

The gratitude from before had been real.

And this thought was real too.

That's how it is.

People's hearts change.

It didn't strike me as wrong, exactly.

Still.

"No, thank you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're trying to use me right now."

The man's expression froze.

"What are you talking about."

"You lied, too."

"Hey."

His voice dropped lower.

"What would a kid understand."

I blinked.

This got a little interesting.

A minute ago he was begging me to save him, and now I was too young to know anything.

"Mister."

"What."

"I saved your life, didn't I?"

"……Yeah."

"And you're grateful, right?"

"I said thank you, didn't I?"

"That part was real."

The man's mouth snapped shut.

I smiled.

"That's why it felt good."

What I'd received back then was delicious.

Because it was real.

But this was different.

"So don't try to get anything else out of me."

"……."

"Or I won't do anything for you, either."

I turned away.

The man spoke behind me.

"Hold on."

I ignored him.

"Hey, wait up!"

Footsteps sounded behind me. The uneven shuffle of someone limping after me.

I stopped walking.

Relieved, the man said,

"Let's talk about this nicely—"

"What a pain."

The words slipped out of me before I knew it.

In an instant, the footsteps were gone.

I turned around.

Nobody was there.

"……?"

The spot where the man had been was empty.

No blood, no clothes, no trace of anything.

I blinked.

"……Huh?"

The status window appeared.

I stared at that sentence for a long time.

"No. Wait."

I never asked you to remove him.

I'd just thought he was annoying.

And then he was gone.

Beneath the status window, a small line of text appeared.

I looked slowly around.

People were still watching from a distance. Someone was on the phone with the emergency line.

And yet something was off.

Nobody was looking for the man who had just vanished.

As if no one remembered he'd been standing here moments ago.

I pulled out my phone.

A video was already up on social media.

I hit play.

A dog-like magic beast appears, and people start running. There I am, walking toward it. Then the beast disappears.

That was it.

Nowhere in the video was there any sign of the man.

As if he had never existed in the first place.

"……"

I fell silent for a moment.

It was so clean that even I felt confused — but I had my memories.

The face he'd made as he begged me to save him. The voice that had thanked me. The first genuine gratitude I'd ever tasted.

Vitality: 5 / 10

The status window even showed my vitality intact.

The corner of my mouth curled up.

"Well. No harm done, I guess."

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

I helped him.

He said thank you.

I fed on sincerity.

That was the whole of our transaction.

I started walking again.

Grrrowl.

"Mm. Still kind of hungry."

Out of habit, I rubbed my stomach.

Technically the hollow thing wasn't my stomach but the inside of my chest, but the gnawing felt much the same either way.

One person had filled me up by five whole points.

So wouldn't it work if I just found another someone on death's door, or in genuinely desperate straits, like before?

Before had already felt that good — how much better would it feel at a full 10?

Ten minutes later.

"Seriously, nothing."

Granted, a magic beast had just burst out and caused all that chaos. Nobody was about to pop up asking a little kid for help.

"I'm starving for vitality."

If I'd never tasted it, maybe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I could have held out. But once you've had a bite, you just want more.

I sat down on a roadside bench.

"Haah…. Isn't there one person out there in real trouble?"

I waited a bit.

Nothing happened.

"Haah… isn't there one per. SON in real trouble…."

Swish.

A black status window opened.

"Ahem."

Was that too abrupt? But look, I'm really hungry right now.

I wish it would bring me one person in trouble — like it made my ID card earlier.

"Someone pretty desperate, ideally. Oh, dying would be fine too, actually. The sincerity would be that much stronger."

I glanced sideways.

No change whatsoever.

What, are you even listening?

I pushed my luck a little further.

"Anyway, someone truly desperate. I'll praise them really well if they get saved. And while I'm praising them, maybe give them a little headpat too. Oh, and something tasty would be nice…. I like sweet things, by the way."

Did I ask for too much?

"Fine, you can skip the tasty stuff. But could you at least make it happen in ten minutes? I want to eat soon."

Swish.

The black window closed.

"And it just leaves."

Five minutes passed.

Nothing changed.

"Haah…. So a dream can't actually do everything, huh."

Well, if it could, I'd have turned my room into a thirty-pyeong apartment ages ago.

And changed my age back, too.

That was when it happened.

BANG!

The wall of the building right in front of me exploded.

"……"

A person came flying through it.

SPLAT.