Drawn by the Smell

"...Skill Generation?"

I pulled up my status window, and there it was—a brand-new skill sitting in the list. The name attached to it was Butchering.

"Butchering...?"

So the field dressing I'd just finished had crystallized into a skill. It worked the same way the others did—a quiet correction applied to a particular action, a nudge in the right direction.

"Guess I'm better at butchering now..."

There was something ironic about Butchering being the first skill I'd earned. Helpful, though. No question about that.

I caught another Horn Rabbit to put it to the test. The moment I invoked the skill, guidelines bloomed across my vision, showing me exactly where to cut and how.

"So that's how it works."

Skill confirmed. Time to go gather materials ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again. My targets were Hwalmyeongcho, Mayeongcho, and Horn Rabbits. Coal, from the look of things, would mean heading into the mines. I figured I'd finish everything I could in the forest first, then go underground.

The Hwalmyeongcho and Mayeongcho were easy enough to find. Thanks to my Cooking skill, edible plants all but announced themselves, and even if I couldn't put a name to every leaf, I had Appraisal for that. Before long I'd filled the gathering quota for the herb request without breaking a sweat.

"So that just leaves the Horn Rabbits and the coal."

While I was hunting them down, another ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠skill took shape.

The effect was simple: mark whatever I'd found, and as long as it didn't stray more than a hundred meters from me, I could follow it whenever I liked.

"That's the last one."

I dressed the final Horn Rabbit and tallied the horns. Ten in all—exactly what the request asked for.

"Hmm..."

Would the meat be any good just salt-grilled? All that running around had left me starving, and chasing Horn Rabbits had burned through more stamina than I cared to admit. They were tiny enough to vanish into the undergrowth, and so quick that the faintest rustle sent them bolting.

I snapped a few decent sticks from the trees nearby and trimmed them down with my dagger. Skewers. That was the plan. I pulled the meat from my inventory, sliced it into bite-sized pieces, threaded each one onto a stick, and dusted the lot with a pinch of salt.

"Ah. How am I supposed to start a fire...?"

I'd packed cooking tools and seasonings with almost neurotic care, and somehow forgotten the most ordinary thing in the world: a lighter. Not that it mattered much. I still had a skill selection from a quest reward.

"Good."

I gathered dry kindling from the surrounding brush and stacked it with care. That ought to be enough. Spreading both hands toward the pile, I spoke the word.

"Fire."

A tiny spark leapt into being and caught on the wood with a hungry crackle.

"Convenient..."

A lighter would have been fine. This wasn't bad either.

I planted the skewers around the newborn campfire. Twenty of them in all. It felt like too many, but it didn't matter—time didn't seem to pass for anything stored in the inventory.

The pop of burning wood and the hiss of fat hitting flame braided together into something almost musical. I turned the skewers so they wouldn't scorch, and when the last of them came off the fire, a window unfurled in front of me.

"Oh."

A two-star dish. Considering my instant noodles had been a one-star, this counted as real progress. And then there was the attached stat boost.

Even just eating one before a fight would help.

Not only before a fight, either. Popping one before a long walk would do the same job.

"I'll keep that in mind."

I was just about to take a bite when something rustled in the brush.

"Who's there?"

The words were barely out of my mouth before I had an arrow nocked and the string drawn taut.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to sneak up on you—the smell was just so good..."

The figure that stepped out of the grass was a woman with striking brown hair. She approached with both hands raised above her head, as if to say she had no intention of fighting.

"Who are you?"

I didn't lower the bow. Her clothes were modern, which meant she was a Player from outside, same as me.

"I really was just passing by. The smell pulled me in..."

Even as she spoke, her eyes never left the salt grill. So she wasn't lying, at least.

"Hah..."

I eased the string forward and let the bow drop.

"If that's all it is, I can spare you a little."

I'd made twenty of the things. Eating them all myself would have been a project; sharing a few wouldn't hurt. I sat down by the fire and patted the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ground beside me.

"Oh—may I sit?"

"Yes. Though if you so much as look like you're reaching for a weapon, I'll cut you with this."

I lifted my dagger. The blood on the blade hadn't even been wiped off yet. Her expression froze for a beat.

"...That's a little scary."

"Isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then sit quietly."

"...Okay."

She settled down beside me.

"What's your name?"

I held out a finished skewer as I asked.

"Ah, my name is—hot! Ow."

"...You can tell me after you eat."

She demolished the skewer in what felt like a single breath, then finally introduced herself. Her name was Gu Ahyeon. Like me, she'd been trying to play LSO and had ended up a Player instead.

"If you don't mind my asking... your original gender...?"

"Oh, me? I was a woman to begin with. Were you a man, Ruind?"

"Ah. Yes."

I answered, and then found myself watching her face for a reaction I wasn't sure I wanted. Would she look at me with contempt? Indifference? What was she going to do with that information?

"What's it like, having a woman's body?"

"I—excuse me?"

"I mean, you've lived as a man until now, haven't you?"

"W-well, yes?"

The question was so far from anything I'd braced for that I actually stammered.

"Did I ask something rude?"

I'd gone quiet long enough that she started putting on a little one-woman show of apology, and I couldn't help laughing.

"No, it wasn't rude. Just... not the reaction I expected, I guess?"

"Not the reaction you expected...?"

I told her what I'd been thinking.

"Ahaha! What is that? Isn't it weirder to make a fuss over something like that?"

"......"

"Ah, sorry. I wasn't trying to tease you."

She got her laughter under control and went on. She hadn't customized her appearance, so her body hadn't changed at all. She'd become a Player in the body she'd always had, and aside from being able to use skills, nothing was different.

"That's why I was curious."

"About what?"

"What it feels like when your body changes."

She paused to catch her breath, then added, almost gently,

"Especially when even your gender changes."

"......"

It wasn't as if I couldn't talk about it. If anything, some part of me had been hoping someone would listen.

"Hah..."

I let out a small breath before I started.

"Where should I even begin?"

The campfire's warmth soaked into my skin. For a while, at least, I wouldn't have to be cold.

I think back to the first moment my body changed.

It hadn't been a pleasant experience, looking back. I'd gotten shorter. My hair had grown long. Every time I faced a mirror, it felt like someone else was standing there. I hadn't had time to dwell on it, though. A quest had appeared before I'd even begun to adjust.

"If I'd known, I would have made my character like yours, Ahyeon—just left my original body alone."

I sighed, and Ahyeon edged a little closer.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why..."

"You look pretty like this, though."

"...Are you making fun of me?"

I gave her a suspicious look. She huffed a quiet laugh.

"I mean it."

"......"

I hadn't expected anyone to say a thing like that as if it were nothing.

"Anyway, even during the quest I just shot from a distance and ran."

I wasn't trying to brag. I only wanted to sound like someone ordinary—the kind of person you could find anywhere.

"Come to think of it, what brought you into the forest, Ahyeon?"

Was she out here on a request, same as me?

"Well..."

She hesitated, then opened her mouth.

"I took a quest from the guild too. I was trying to clear it."

"What kind of quest?"

"I couldn't hunt on my own..."

She gave a wry little smile.

"So I only took gathering requests."

"And?"

"I didn't even know what the herbs were supposed to look like..."

She sighed.

"I just kept wandering the woods..."

"......"

"And then."

Her gaze drifted to the salt grill still ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠roasting over the fire.

"The smell was so good I followed it."

"...So you were lured in by salt-grilled meat."

"Yes."

Ahyeon ducked her head, embarrassed.

"I didn't mean to follow it this far..."

"For someone who didn't mean to, you found me pretty well."

"......"

I snorted. In the end I couldn't hold the laugh in.

"Well, I can at least show you what the herbs look like."

I happened to have a pile of them already, gathered through Cooking—Hwalmyeongcho, Mayeongcho, and a handful of other odds and ends. I picked them up one by one and walked her through each, and Ahyeon copied every word into a notebook she'd produced from somewhere I couldn't guess.

It was a strange feeling. Being able to talk this easily with someone I'd only just met. I watched her scribbling away, earnest and absorbed, and wondered why it sat with me the way it did.

It didn't feel bad at all.