Living a Normal Life (1)
It’s hell. There’s no way around it.
I genuinely thought becoming a wizard would make me happy, so why am I facing yet another ordeal like this?
After already putting me through the worst possible experience of not having a mage constitution, why is the universe forcing me to endure this fresh nightmare?
‘Someone save me…’
I’ve been forcibly dragged here by Han Yeseo and am currently suffering through clothes shopping.
That part I can understand.
Clothing is one of the three basic human needs, after all. It serves critical roles in insulation, protection, and more. From a wizard’s perspective, acquiring proper attire is a perfectly logical action.
Moreover, since I have no memories from my time as Baek Sowol, experiencing a woman’s daily life through this could genuinely be beneficial.
Yes, it definitely should have been.
If we hadn’t already been shopping for clothes for a full hour.
Just how many nearly identical outfits does one need to try before deciding? Why does picking out six similar-looking sets take an entire hour?!
“Let’s head over there now.”
The truly absurd part is that we aren’t even buying everything from the same store. That’s what makes no sense to me.
What kind of nonsense is this?
Do different stores have some kind of unique signature style? Switching shops just makes returns a nightmare later!
You have to contact each individual store, juggle multiple receipts, and the risk of losing one skyrockets. There are countless problems with this approach.
I genuinely cannot comprehend why she insists on such profoundly un-wizard-like behavior.
It’s incomprehensible, and it should stay that way.
But the other party is an S-rank hunter. She outranks me by a full five stages. Even if I had a hundred copies of myself, I still wouldn’t be able to beat Han Yeseo.
Faced with that overwhelming difference in social power, I ultimately had no choice but to submit.
“Sowol… you’re not okay, are you?”
“Huh? No, I’m fine.”
“It’s written all over your face. Anyone looking at you right now would think you’re dying of boredom.”
“Ah… yes…”
“You’re not even going to deny it?”
“Because it’s true? And honestly, I still don’t understand why we’re doing this. When it comes to clothes, thermal protection and defensive performance should be the top priorities, right? I still don’t get why we’re spending so much time on this.”
“That’s because you were born beautiful. You’ve probably gotten away with throwing on whatever until now since no one would dare criticize you. But that ends today. Hurry up and follow me. Don’t just coast through life relying on your face, Sowol.”
“I’ve never coasted through anything.”
“If that wasn’t coasting, then we have an even bigger problem. Come on, let’s go.”
I had thought my current outfit was decent enough.
But these weren’t clothes I had bought myself. They were from Baek Sowol’s closet. They even looked a bit worn from frequent use.
So I figured it was fine. I genuinely don’t understand why I’m getting scolded like this. Isn’t this level of outfit acceptable?
Of course, I kept those thoughts to myself and simply followed her into the next store.
“Oh my! What a beautiful customer~”
“Right? But as you can see, her current clothes are… Could you recommend some suitable options for her?”
“How about this one? Would you like to try it on?”
Yeseo unnie was now in full swing, enthusiastically making me try on outfit after outfit. I still couldn’t understand it.
Wouldn’t it be enough to just hold the clothes up against me? Why did I have to keep changing into them?
“Ugh…”
“You can suffer all you want. Just accept it.”
“I’m an adult, Yeseo unnie.”
“You’re an adult who can’t act like one. That’s the problem. This is honestly too much.”
“It doesn’t seem that bad to me…”
“Let me explain it simply. Even if you dress like that, guys will still call you pretty. People might swarm around you and say it’s fine.
But if you had a boyfriend, there’s a very high chance he would have told you to stop dressing like that. I’m serious. You look that weird.”
I tried to put up a little resistance.
But my rebellion was effortlessly crushed by Han Yeseo.
“Wait, if you ignore the color scheme, isn’t it decent?”
“The color scheme is the problem! The color scheme! And while that’s the biggest issue, everything else is bad too! Who shows up to hang out wearing a hoodie and sweatpants?!
This looks good. Go change back into what you were wearing earlier. I’ll buy everything for you.”
Ah. This really does feel like having an older sister.
Before my reincarnation, I never had parents, so I’d never experienced this feeling.
Of course, I didn’t feel any particular downside from not having parents. There was nothing to compare it to.
Most importantly, I never had to go to the military.
Only the advantages stood out.
‘Well. It seems like Baek Sowol doesn’t have any family either, so I probably won’t get to experience this again in the future.’
That was what I realized after Han Yeseo started treating me like a little sister.
It had been nearly three weeks since my reincarnation as Baek Sowol, and I had received almost no contact from her family.
Baek Sowol is nineteen years old. She became an adult this year. Having her own place is fine up to that point.
But at twenty, whether you’re looking at a lease, monthly rent, or buying a home outright, you usually need parental support. Unless Baek Sowol was some kind of stock market genius.
When I checked the property records, it wasn’t even a lease. It was fully owned. And she’d had it for two years.
That meant there had to be parents or some kind of family involved. Yet there had been zero contact for three whole weeks? That was clearly abnormal.
The most likely scenario was that her parents had passed away early and she inherited the house.
That would also neatly explain her lack of social connections. I’ve never experienced losing family myself, but from what I’ve seen, it causes massive psychological trauma.
Even if she used to have good relationships, she might have withdrawn from everyone afterward.
‘That’s why she’s been living like this, completely in the dark about everything.’
Since I didn’t know what had happened, I couldn’t make any moves first. If I accidentally triggered something and people assumed I had amnesia, her family would naturally try to protect me.
They’re family. If their daughter suddenly had amnesia and started doing dangerous things to survive?
No matter how bad their relationship had been, they would still try to take care of her for a while.
For now, I should at least confirm whether she has family or not. All I need to do is pull some official documents.
After changing into the new clothes and coming out, Han Yeseo screamed again.
“Don’t even think about wearing those old clothes again. Put on the ones we just bought! Burn or throw away the old ones!”
“But… um… unnie.”
She had told me to wear what I had on earlier, so I had simply put on the clothes I arrived in.
Apparently that wasn’t the correct answer.
I quickly ducked back into the fitting room to change again.
***
After we finally finished all the shopping, Han Yeseo looked incredibly refreshed.
I looked down at my new outfit. A light, flowing blouse paired with white pants.
It was the kind of thing I saw many women wearing when walking down the street.
“So, Sowol, where do you want to go next?”
“I’ve never done this kind of thing often, so I’ll leave it up to you.”
After the clothes shopping ended, we had some free time.
This meeting had originally been meant for hanging out. It had just gotten a little sidetracked.
Since I had no idea how girls usually spent their free time, I left everything entirely to Han Yeseo.
“Then let’s head back to the café. I originally planned to go there first, but your clothes were so bad that we ended up shopping first.”
“It’s already been two hours, though?”
“That’s normal. You might not know if you only use the internet.”
Following Yeseo unnie’s lead, we headed back to the café.
And then—
“Huh? Yeseo unnie?”
“Yeseo unnie?”
“Yes?”
Someone called out to Han Yeseo.
I turned my head to look at them as well.
At a glance, they looked like three high school students standing in a row.
One boy and two girls.
Since they were students, I assumed they had simply recognized Han Yeseo.
“Jihu? Seoyeon? And Laein? Wow, running into all of you here?”
Judging from Han Yeseo’s reaction, it seemed they were already acquainted.
“Who’s that next to you, unnie?”
“Hm? Just someone I got to know. An acquaintance of mine. Ah, let me introduce you, Sowol. These are trainee guild members from our Binghwa Guild.”
What? Binghwa Guild members?
“…? You’re still minors. How are you allowed to do hunter activities? And you’re already part of one of the four major guilds?”
In South Korea, minors need legal guardian consent for employment. Even with that, the hunter industry strictly prohibits hiring adolescents.
It’s a job where lives are on the line. Who would allow that? Mobilizing minors could spark international controversy over child soldiers. It’s illegal under domestic law too.
“That’s a bit of a long explanation. Awakening times are random, right? So sometimes people awaken when they’re very young. In those cases, they can’t do official hunter activities, but they can still train.
So the guilds check their Unique Abilities and, if they show potential, take them in as trainees and help them grow. For the young students, it guarantees their future. For the guild, it lets them secure talented prospects early.”
“In other words, they don’t get paid but get to use the facilities. In exchange, they’ll officially join the guild later?”
“Yes. Other people usually get stable, respectable jobs right after becoming adults, so they say they’re jealous.”
Hmm. I think I get the general idea.
“Let me introduce them properly. This is Sowol. Baek Sowol. She’s two years younger than me, so she’d be your unnie or noona. Say hello.”
“Hello.”
“This is Lee Jihu. He’s a first-year high school student. This is Kim Seoyeon. She’s also a first-year and goes to the same school as Jihu.
Last is Laein. Lee Laein. She’s in her third year of middle school. Everyone say hello.”
“““Hello.”””
The male high schooler’s name was Lee Jihu. The female high schooler was Kim Seoyeon.
And the female middle schooler was Lee Laein.
Good. I’ve memorized them.
“Perfect timing. Do you kids have time right now?”
“We always have time. Even if we didn’t, most of our schedules come from the guild anyway. If it’s with you, unnie, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
As expected, they were still kids. When they ran into an older sister figure they knew, they immediately rushed over to chat.
“Since this is fate, let’s go to a café and get something to eat… Ah!”
It seemed Han Yeseo wanted to treat them.
But she had forgotten one thing.
She had made plans with me first.
Even if she was close to them and close to me, if you removed Han Yeseo from the equation, we were complete strangers. It could be awkward.
‘Though I personally don’t really mind that kind of thing.’
If they were trainees, they would become fairly high-ranking hunters within a few years.
Building connections with them early wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“Shouldn’t we ask the kids first? I’m fine either way.”
“Are we going to hang out?”
“Are you buying?”
“Unnie? Really?”
Hmm. Yeah. Thinking about it, there was no way they would refuse. If the guild doesn’t pay them, they probably live off allowance money.
There was no reason to turn down free food.
“Then… shall we go?”
“Yes!”
And just like that, our group of two suddenly became five. We decided to head to the café together.
A very, very ordinary daily life. Even a wizard has to live their everyday life. This wasn’t so bad.
‘Wait. This is actually the perfect opportunity, isn’t it?’
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
There was something I needed to test.
Do you know what’s most important when conducting a public opinion poll?
It’s setting a wide and diverse sample group.
Han Yeseo alone felt a little unstable. So I decided to run one more test.
“Kids, I have something to ask. Do these clothes look weird to you?”
“Sowol…?”
“Hey? Hey!”
Han Yeseo screamed when she saw what I was wearing, but I ignored her.
I mean, they really did look fine to me.