Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Two-Room Apartment Raid (2)
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“Whoa……”
Joo-on covered her mouth with her hand as she peered into the closet, letting out an inexplicable sigh of admiration. My mood grew even more unsettled in response.
“No, uh……you adapted faster than I thought……”
“……”
“By the way, why do you have so many clothes? Did you blow all your earnings on this stuff?”
Joo-on was putting on an understanding front, but she couldn't hide the way the corners of her mouth crept upward just in front of her turned head.
If she'd just openly teased me, that would've been one thing, but this half-hearted consideration only doubled my embarrassment.
“What, so?”
“Nothing, just……kinda surprising……pfft.”
“Don't hold back—just laugh already.”
I should clarify: I didn't have some hobby of collecting cute, pretty outfits or trying them on for fun.
It felt lame explaining myself, but I hated the misunderstanding dragging on, so I pulled out my smartphone and showed her my Clam account with its gold border and 500k followers.
“What's this?”
“My account. You think I'd wear that stuff because I want to? It's all about the money. People love it.”
“Whoa……”
Hearing that, Joo-on reacted with pure shock—and a hint of exasperation.
Her eyes screamed that no matter how good the money was, my mindset had to be seriously twisted.
After shooting me those subtle looks for a while, Joo-on searched for my account on her own phone and started scrolling through my posts.
“Wow.”
“……”
“Whoa.”
“……”
“But seriously, bro, you do this just for the cash?”
“……Yeah?”
Truth be told……if I was being totally honest, yeah, I'd started enjoying it a bit midway through.
But like I said before, it was just like showing off and bragging about a well-farmed character's avatar. Nothing deeper than that.
End of the day, it stayed within acceptable bounds.
“They really are cute, though…… Do you get any sponsorships or ads?”
“Can't, because of my identity. But check this out.”
I fiddled with the screen a few times to show her the new subscription plan I'd just rolled out. Joo-on let out a hollow laugh that was almost a scoff.
“You've been like this since the orphanage days…… Never mind, dropping it……”
“The world's tough without money. You'll have to grind your ass off from now on too.”
I wasn't worried, though. Unlike me, who'd ditched the straight-and-narrow for the gold-farming route ages ago, Joo-on was the type who'd secured scholarships to top capital-region universities. She'd always been solid at taking care of herself.
'But……'
Now the tables had fully turned.
I'd awakened as a super-genius Weathermancer and become Bucheon's true master, with wealth and power to boot. Joo-on? At best, she had a decent education—as a non-Awakener commoner.
Frankly, wasn't this my overwhelming victory now?
Poke.
“What's with that smug look all of a sudden?”
“Ack! Are you nuts?”
I flailed my hands to fend her off as she suddenly grabbed and kneaded my cheeks.
“Ooh.”
“What now?”
“Is it the Awakening? It doesn't feel like normal human squish……”
Addicted to the texture, Joo-on reached out again, but I wasn't about to let her touch my face twice.
“No way. Pay up if you wanna touch.”
“What's wrong with a quick cheek squeeze?”
“You don't know Quokka? My rates are higher than hers.”
At my shameless demand, Joo-on pulled back her hands with a look of disbelief and regret.
No matter how pitifully she stared, no meant no.
“You've checked it out, so we're good. Now head home.”
“I was worried about your living situation after turning into a girl……but this seems fine.”
Of course. I'd already ironed out all the trial-and-error with bras and hair-drying routines.
After pondering for a bit and nodding in acceptance, Joo-on started firing off her other curiosities one by one.
“How's Awakening feel?”
“Nothing special.”
“What's your class?”
“Weathermancer.”
“……What's that?”
What a noob.
Still, since I'd struggled to look it up myself at first, I decided to send her my translated stash of foreign docs.
“Ahh……like that? Total rare class, huh? That's why you're doing all this?”
“Pretty much.”
I'd told her I had no plans to reveal my class or update my ID anytime soon, so with her grasp of my personality, Joo-on seemed to piece together the gist.
“Show me your power.”
“Nope.”
“Can't you make it rain in the bathroom or something?”
“Didn't you read the docs? Can't do jack without a group.”
I didn't mind demoing other stuff, but I wasn't spilling that I was leagues above your average Weathermancer.
Some things in life, it's better not to know.
Creeeak.
“Alright, I'm out. Don't just game—hit me up sometimes.”
“If I'm in the mood? Ack……”
True to form, Joo-on ambushed my cheeks one last time before leaving. A while later, she sent a message of parting advice.
Ding!
- Joo-on Ha: (photo)
- Joo-on Ha: The videos are cute lol
- Joo-on Ha: Seriously adorable ㅋㅎㅎ
“……”
No wonder the goodbye dragged—this whole time, she'd subscribed to my 10k-plan and checked out the exclusive pics and hug video.
Fine. I'm a pro influencer—no way cheap shots like that shake me.
Still, imagining her—and others—reacting the same way to future posts……my head was spinning for some reason.
Ding!
- Joo-on Ha: Oh, and
- Joo-on Ha: No matter how good the money is, don't post creepy pics like that?
- Joo-on Ha: Weird sites forbidden too
- Ji-an Choi: What;
What the hell did she think I was?
Sure, during a menhera phase, I'd entertained similar thoughts, but I'd never actually gone there.
I lived just fine without that crap—why would I?
“Sigh.”
Felt like a typhoon had blown through.
I'd always thought this, but for someone like me who enjoyed solo living, she was a bit energy-draining.
'……'
Anyway, uninvited guest gone—time to get back to work.
I flopped onto the bed, fired up the Archive right away, and dove into the backlog of posts. What I read left me tilting my head in confusion.
You crazy bitch, why the hell did you hit that lololol
Epic fail fr
Mod ruined my life... family crumbling...
What happens if this gets us sanctioned for real?
What else? Mod shoves his naked ass in as apology then finds us a new place to crash
"God-tier fuckup"
Affirmative
First time seeing this asshole get roasted lol
Where else you gonna find a mod curious enough to hit the self-destruct button
Forgive never the mod who euthanized the chan overnight
Save me... don't wanna die.....
I didn't hit it out of curiosity.....
Cat did it for real ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
You know I've been managing the chan quietly without drama.....
Believe me plz
Believe that half-assed lie?
How the fuck does a cat use Archive you dumbass
That button needs mana injection to activate
King Nyan Bread: Called a Hunter buddy who knows, wait a sec gonna prove it fr
But what changes if you prove it?
King Nyan Bread: Clears my grievance so I can rationally handle the aftermath at full capacity
Uh... ok for now
(video)
(video)
Called a mage buddy for memory read and data conversion, paid the fee for the footage
She's kinda famous so no room for doubt
Anyway my bad, doing my best to handle it
This legit?
Nah
Um
Was wondering why his tongue was so long with the excuses—fair enough, kinda wronged tsch
This is total bullshit lol
That guy's expensive and busy af, mod must be a Hunter with pull to drag her out
A massive incident had erupted inside the channel out of nowhere.
And what was it? None other than the mod accidentally triggering the senior admin summon button for channel reclassification.
'……Oh shit?'
You might wonder what's the big deal, but Archive senior admins were on a whole other level from channel peons or mods.
They handled all the disputes and issues popping up in Archives daily, getting paid salaries from the top brass for it.
Sometimes called J. J. Russell's personal enforcers—summon them carelessly, and you risk getting labeled a troll, with the whole channel slapped with heavy sanctions.
Make your excuses lol
The channel users figured the mod was panicking over his screw-up with some bullshit excuse, but he wasn't lying.
Precisely: while the mod managed the channel, his nearby cat knocked over a coffee cup. In his desperate flail to catch it mid-air, he perfectly triggered the emergency button.
'Not easy.'
The mod wasn't at fault—but he was.
And at last, amid the icy silence, the Archive senior admin made their appearance.