The Young Lady's Gratitude (1)
↳ Anon: This guy's the one who pulled aggro yesterday claiming he became a hunter.
↳ Anon: A guy who just became a hunter yesterday taking down an orc?
↳ Anon: (brain empty)
"What are you doing?"
"Eek!"
I reflexively turned off my smartphone screen and shoved it into my pocket lightning-fast. My heart plummeted.
I'd almost gotten caught gallery-posting. Getting outed as a Hunter Gallery user in public? Right up there with getting caught naked in terms of humiliation.
'Nah, being naked might actually be better.'"Oh, n-nothing! Just... not used to places like this."
I cleared my throat awkwardly and lifted the teacup in front of me. Slurp. The hot chocolate, steam curling up invitingly, slid down my throat. Sweet, rich cocoa flavor.
'Whoa, this is seriously good.'Rich folks even get fancy stuff like this? Feels way better than the chocolate milk at the mart.
'Makes sense.'And why not? The place I was sitting in was a massive mansion smack in the golden heart of Seoul.
Lofty ceilings with glittering chandeliers dangling from them. The sofa under my butt was plush and silky smooth.
'How the hell did I end up here?'Just an hour ago, like some bald hero from a manga, I'd launched an orc's head skyward with a Cheonma Punch. As I helped up the girl who'd collapsed, legs giving out, a crowd suddenly swarmed in.
Musclebound hulks in crisp black suits, faces pale as they shouted at her.
'Miss! Are you alright?!'
'We're sorry! We were too late!!'
Dozens of tough-looking bodyguards rushing in made me worry I'd be misunderstood, but...
'Huh? Miss, wh-who's that kid up front?'
Not a single one of those beefcakes suspected me. Guess looking like a little girl really throws 'em off.
That's when she spoke.
'She's my lifesaver.'
Her voice trembled faintly as she said to me,
'My lifesaver... I want to repay you. If it's okay, would you come to our house?'
I waved it off.
'Nah, no need for that. I'm good.'
But in my head? Hell yeah, let's go. A girl with dozens of bodyguards fawning over her? Obvious rich kid. Gotta be some crumbs falling my way.
So I put on a show of refusing once, then hopped right into the luxury sedan's back seat, keeping a bashful face on the outside.
'Spot on.'My guess was dead right. The opulent chairman's mansion unfolding before me.
"What're you thinking so hard about?"
"Oh, nothing. Just reminiscing a bit about the past."
I scratched my head and looked up.
The girl who'd been covered in dirt moments ago was spotless now, dressed in a clean, elegant white dress. Fresh out of the shower maybe? Her hair carried a faint, pleasant shampoo scent.
Up close, her skin was porcelain pale, exuding class from every pore. This must be the real aura of a golden spoon.
"Does the drink suit your taste?"
The girl sat cautiously on the plush sofa opposite me, smiling brightly. Seemed fully relaxed now.
"Ah, yeah. Super tasty."
No flattery there.
"Glad to hear it. I find sweet stuff helps when I'm shocked too."
She took a sip from what looked like the same drink, fiddling with her cup before asking cautiously,
"By the way, we haven't even introduced ourselves properly. What's your name? I'm Chae Yu-ra."
"Oh, uh, I..."
I started to say my name, but my words jammed up.
'Wait a sec. Come to think of it...'Before becoming a girl, my real name screamed "upstanding Korean guy." But the name wasn't even the issue.
'Don't I have, like, no ID right now?'The harsh reality finally hit me like a truck. My resident registration card showed a 20-something adult male. Now I was a black-haired, red-eyed pre-teen kid. The biological mismatch was insane.
'This is nuts.'Go to a government office yelling "This is me!"? No way they'd buy it. Different gender alone would get me labeled a psycho at best.
Wait—my bank account under my name? Phone registration? Studio lease? It wasn't just the manly name. My entire identity had evaporated from society.
"Um, you okay? Your face looks pale."
Chae Yu-ra asked worriedly, but I couldn't respond. Awkward silence stretched.
Ah, what do I even say? After agonizing a bit, I opened my mouth.
"W-well, turns out I don't have any ID right now..."
"Pardon? No ID? What about your parents...?"
"I live alone."
Screw it. I ripped my hair in frustration and just spilled the truth.
Her eyes went wide like a rabbit's. Total shock. Yeah, who'd stay calm hearing "no ID" out of nowhere?
'She doesn't seem the type to snitch on me.'Dragging her lifesaver home to repay the favor? She had some sense of honor. No way she'd call the cops over a stateless kid.
'But seriously, how do I live from here?'Future was the real problem. No ID meant day labor at best. But this body? No labor office would take me. Heard even manual jobs need ID these days.
Dong office claiming stateless? Apply for refugee status? Refugee. Would Korea even accept me? Still any warmth left in this country? They wouldn't deport me to Somalia, right?
My head filled with ridiculous thoughts.
Chae Yu-ra stared at the girl before her.
The girl mumbled to herself, lips moving with a grave expression. Her head spun.
'No ID?'What did that mean? Illegal immigrant? Smuggled in from abroad?
No, too young for that. And her Korean was flawlessly native. Not a foreigner.
Only one possibility left.
'Maybe abandoned as a baby?'Chae Yu-ra's mind raced. Living alone at such a young age, no parents, no ID at all. It all fit.
The girl had been abandoned by parents who never even registered her birth.
"Um... no, it's nothing."
She almost asked if her parents were gone, but held back. Too touchy, way too awkward.
'Blunt like that, might come off rude.'Chae Yu-ra clamped her mouth shut.
'But if abandoned young, does no ID really happen?'Was Korea that messed up? She tilted her head inwardly. Orphans from homes had IDs, right?
But as the sheltered youngest daughter of a massive corp, she'd never worried about money once. Born with a silver spoon—no, diamond.
Never imagined welfare blind spots or slum life. Too distant a world to guess at.
"Hng."
Guess that's just how it is. World's full of dark lives I don't know. Chae Yu-ra vaguely accepted it.
'Come to think, she seemed a bit mentally off earlier too.'Right after smashing the orc's head, she'd muttered to thin air. Even at home, occasional mumbles, like talking to someone invisible.
'Fights like a pro, but mentally still a fragile kid.'Strong body doesn't mean strong mind. Crushing loneliness, brutal street life—the weight could birth sad, pitiful defense mechanisms in a child.
Plus that tiny body taking down a vicious orc. Maybe desperation for survival forged that power naturally.
Chae Yu-ra's eyes trembled faintly. Pity swirled with a strange sense of responsibility in her chest.
'She saved my life. Gotta repay her somehow.'The little girl before her fidgeted anxiously on the sofa, eyes darting, unsure what to say. Chae Yu-ra leaned forward with resolve.
She grasped the girl's small, soft hands firmly in both of hers.
"Huh? Wh-what suddenly...?"
The girl flinched in surprise. But Chae Yu-ra didn't let go.
"I'll get you an ID somehow."