Short on Money (1)
Looking for 1 person. It's just moving stuff around. No elementals, please. Anyone with telekinesis from the material school or magic that can move objects is fine. Spatial mages welcome!!
Even beginners who only know basic magic are welcome!
Pay is 20,000 won per hour.
Spatial mages were living their golden age in this modern era of dimensional Gates.
The humans here were desperate to unravel the secrets of the Gates, repackaging them into their own terminology and concepts.
To do that, they needed mages from other worlds who upheld the established magic systems—like the mages of Yggdrasil.
But among them, those skilled in spatial magic were extremely rare.
Every now and then, someone would pop up claiming to know spatial magic, but they were all frauds or half-baked amateurs who'd picked up scraps.
True spatial mages were very, very rare, and even they hadn't specialized in it. They'd just glanced at it as a side study or liberal arts elective while mastering their own school's magic.
The reason was simple: spatial magic was inherently niche.
Elves dominated the magic world, insisting that only the four elemental schools—fire, wind, water, earth—were supreme, treating everything else like heresy.
And now, after tasting the perks of modern civilization, they were scrambling to dig up whatever scraps they could find.
"Hah. Tsk."
I rolled around on the bed like a fidgety puppy, restless and pathetic, unable to contain my anxiety.
And yet, I kept staring holes into the daily gig app on my phone.
The reason I was like this? Simple. I'd been cut off from my computer.
My keyboard had broken. A firmware update turned my 200,000-won beauty into a brick. Not a single key worked. I tried requesting A/S from the damn HQ, but they spat back incomprehensible Chinese, so I gave up ages ago.
My pension came to about 2.2 million won after taxes. Not peanuts, but not a fortune either. And I hadn't saved a dime. Right now, I had only 300,000 won to my name.
"Hah, shit. How long till the next pension payout?"
Checked: about two weeks. Spend 200k on a keyboard, left with 100k. 100k? Could I survive two weeks on that?
The answer to my own question: No. Sure, I could lick dew like back in the Misty Forest, but my tongue was already tamed by this world's delivery food.
"Wait, if I sell my rice now..."
I logged into my RPG and checked my remaining resources. But I already knew. I'd blown it all on spec-ups during the recent event.
"Hah, tsk. Sell some gear? Nah, can't—party boss needs it."
Plus, rice prices (game currency to cash ratio) had tanked lately. Not even enough for rice money. And with the keyboard busted, I couldn't even farm more. Damn it. Caught in a total deadlock.
"What can I do... what can I do..."
That's why I was scrolling through this crap. One silver lining: I could still handle community stuff on my phone.
Ahh, another blessing of modern civ. So grateful.
Swipe—swipe—
I kept flipping through gig postings, hunting for something I could do. Plenty qualified, of course. I am a spatial mage, after all.
Mostly one-day lecture requests. But I passed on those.
Picture this: a girl who looks about ten declaring, "I'm the mage handling today's spatial magic lecture."
Even I'd say, "Kiddo, go get your parents." Being an elf helps, but still a problem.
"Ugh, uuu..."
Yeah. Blunt truth: my body looks undeniably "female" to anyone glancing. And females are niche in the magic world.
Sure, deep in my heart burned the fiery qualities of a man and a mage's thirst for knowledge, but no one could see that.
"R-right. Let's... list out what I want."
Hey, I used to be a scholar. Time to organize the gig types I needed. Blind panic-scrolling wasn't getting me anywhere.
Tap-tap—
Phone typing's slow. Tiny hands make it hard to hit the screen. Midway through listing, I realized my conditions were ridiculous.
— No face reveal.
— No offline meetings.
— Something a normal human girl could do.
— ...
Just three items, and it fit nothing in this world.
"Wh-what... what do I do?"
On the verge of tears. Fingers trembling, head pounding. Classic internet withdrawal.
Then, my monitor caught my eye—a stream playing. Baek Seol-yeon's words followed.
A wave of massive self-loathing hit as I flashed back to what I'd done to streamers, but I shoved it down and plopped in front of the computer anyway.
With a dead keyboard, what could I even stream?
Games? No way. Chat streams? Sure, "cute loli elf" had demand back then, but now every tom, dick, and elf does it—no views.
Plus, the streaming scene was flooded with female elves, like Seol-yeon said. Hard to stand out with vanilla stuff.
From my community troll experience... market research is key.
Ding-ding-ding!
Ah, time to post. Gotta do this consistently to climb the gallery rankings.
Tap-tap.
Dumped the pre-saved drafts from my phone across boards. No checking reactions. Good thing I'd prepped this morning before the keyboard died.
Anyway, pulled up all the platforms' streams, sorted by popularity.
"What's hot these days?"
Truth is, the world's obsessed with Gates. Gates, hunters diving in, loot like Mana Stones—that's everything now.
Top streams are the same. Hunters slaying monsters inside Gates dominate. My game streams and cam stuff? Buried at the bottom.
"Tsk... can't do that..."
Can't go outside. Solo clears are illegal anyway. Streams make it look doable solo, but... screw up and lose my pension? No thanks.
"Ughhh..."
Propped my chin, gnawing my nails. I wasn't this anxious testing dimensional transfer magic back then. Being cut off from my PC was that serious.
"F-first, new keyboard."
It's Wednesday. Delay more, and withdrawal drags another two days. Ordered one like my old spec.
Alarm hit: precious cash drained. Ignored it, eyes locked on stream list.
"Gate raids..."
Checked top Gate raid streams first. Looked like interference zones from dimensional magic—byproducts spewing massive energy, warping both worlds weirdly.
"N-next. Can't do that now."
Academic itch flared, but I turned away. Not doable right now. Next up: magic streams grabbed me.
This might...>
Earth's in a magic-dominated age. Mages unleash insane firepower in Gates, essential for magitech industry.
Slap "magic" on a stream, and viewers are guaranteed. Demo real spells? Aggro spikes. Add "unique"? Viewers explode.
Like a big-boobed guest, say.
Female streamers still rule. Main audience is guys—can't fight it.
"This could work if done right... but..."
Here, I realized my unique hook.
Loli elf girl mage. "Female" + "mage" clash hard, making it super unique. But to sell it...
I'd have to accept being a girl, at least somewhat.>
So damn hard to swallow. Elf mages might snipe, but whatever—they're too busy for some girl flashing spells on stream.
"Ugh, uuu... what now?"
Inner war: dopamine-craving internet addict me vs. dignity-guarding elf archmage me.
I grabbed my phone—posting time. Flipped it on, and the war ended.
Bank balance stared back.
"...Just this once."
Plenty of mages do flash-in-the-pan streams, rake cash, vanish. I could be one.
For a one-off, maximize the haul. Title matters.
Me, Kenis. All-Knowing Kenis. Great elf archmage. Includes aggro mastery.
Grabbed water element—most popular—and hammered the keyboard.
Eyes shut. Didn't wanna see this insane title.
"Hoo. Okay. Just once. Eyes closed, just once."
Calmed myself, set up Seol-yeon's cam for survival check. Hit "live stream" for real.
Alerts pinged alt accounts: sub, sub-sub, sub-sub-sub, sub-sub-sub-sub.
CheonJia-nim has started "Busty Elf (Magic) Water Show Stream"
I'd done it. Pulled the trigger.