Living a Normal Life (3)
‘My family has multiple members…? And… they’re all alive…?’
After learning the shocking truth that Baek Sowol’s entire family was still alive, I froze up for a moment.
It made no sense. No normal parent would go three whole weeks without contacting their perfectly healthy daughter.
Even if their daughter had gotten married, any parent would start wondering if something was wrong after three weeks of silence.
Twenty years old? What kind of excuse was that?
‘For now… at least I know their names…’
I scrolled through the phone, searching for anything related. There were no numbers saved for her parents. No contact named Baek Hangyeol either.
But there was one person. Baek Soae.
That name was saved in a corner of the contacts list.
[Soae]
…Considering Baek Sowol’s pathetic social circle, this person was almost certainly her sister.
Looking at the state of things, I felt my mind go blank. It seemed the condition of this body was far worse than I’d imagined. Just what the hell had she done to ruin relationships with a face like this?
If a daughter this beautiful acted cute, most parents would give in to almost anything. Tsk.
‘Rushing in blindly is a bad idea.’
I had no idea what kind of life Baek Sowol had lived, but it was clearly beyond imagination. Something my wizard-like brain would struggle to even picture.
At the very least, while her parents might have half-abandoned her, they hadn’t completely cut her off.
After all, there was no way Baek Sowol could have bought a house at eighteen on her own. So it probably hadn’t gone that far.
‘Hm. There’s no point agonizing over it. It’s better to stay quiet until they approach me first.’
In the end, I was back at square one. At least now I wouldn’t fail to recognize them as family. It was best to just let it slide for now.
It was time to get back to what I needed to do.
“It has been officially approved.”
“Thank you.”
A month had passed since I became an Awakener. During that time, I had cleared several gates.
As expected, the {Illusion} magic I had learned beforehand proved incredibly useful. It let me handle things quietly.
And today, the results finally showed! I had been promoted to D-rank!
Until B-rank, promotion was possible with nothing more than proof that you had cleared the appropriate gates.
In other words, up to C-rank you could advance without any separate test.
That meant I was now officially a D-rank hunter!
‘Of course, it’s too early to celebrate…’
Obviously D-rank wasn’t anything special. In percentile terms, the 60s were D-rank.
Still, starting from D-rank meant I had officially graduated from being a complete beginner hunter.
‘Should I message the kids…?’
Lately I had grown quite close to the Binghwa Guild trainees.
Even though Han Yeseo was on disciplinary probation, she was still S-rank, so she had a fairly busy schedule.
But Jihu, Laein, and Seoyeon were still students. Once school ended, they had plenty of free time.
The guild was raising them? That was reserved for active hunters first, so they only got training when there was spare time. That left them with a lot of free hours.
No matter how insignificant becoming D-rank was, it was still a good excuse to meet up. Normally there wouldn’t be any reason to gather, so I figured I’d treat them to food (Baek Sowol surprisingly had quite a bit of money).
Unfortunately, it looked like Laein wouldn’t be able to make it.
Of course, from their perspective, it was only natural for an adult to treat them. There weren’t many other chances for that anyway.
With the plans set, I left in a cheerful mood.
Until a strange sensation hit my lower abdomen.
‘What the hell is this…?’
For the past few days, I had occasionally felt this weird, stinging sensation.
I was eating healthy and sleeping exactly eight hours every night… so what could possibly be causing it?
‘I’ll just push through today. I’ll go to the hospital next time.’
It probably wasn’t anything serious. If it were, rushing to the hospital now would already be too late.
Since I had already decided, I headed to the meeting place.
It would be fine. Probably.
=======
“Yeseo unnie! Sowol unnie got promoted to D-rank!”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. With her skills, it was only a matter of time.”
“She’s treating us at a café to celebrate. Want to come with us?”
“Huh? Me? I’m S-rank. Wouldn’t it look weird if I went and let her treat me?”
Inside the Binghwa Guild building. As usual, Lee Jihu, Kim Seoyeon, Lee Laein, and Han Yeseo were gathered when they heard the news about Baek Sowol.
Han Yeseo looked at the kids who had grown especially close to Sowol lately and spoke up.
“Keep getting along with Sowol. She might join the guild later.”
Baek Sowol was a mage. She could join Binghwa anytime she wanted simply by revealing that fact.
Unless the conditions were completely absurd, Binghwa would accept her immediately.
But the other kids didn’t know that. While she could reveal the truth if she wanted, that would be disrespectful to Sowol, who had saved their lives.
So Han Yeseo decided on a slightly different approach.
“Huh? Yeseo noona. But isn’t Sowol noona’s skills still lacking?”
“As a hunter maybe, but guilds recruit for all sorts of reasons. Guilds are businesses at the end of the day. If they think someone can make money, they’ll recruit them no matter how low their rank is.”
“I get that, but why Sowol noona?”
“She’s pretty. Remember how many ad and CF contracts I had before my suspension? Think of it like that.”
“Ah, that makes sense! Even for guild promotion, having Sowol unnie around would be great! That’s why they use celebrities in ads! Sowol unnie is prettier than most idols or actresses!”
It was more effective to have an actual hunter from the guild do the promotion than a celebrity.
Obviously. A celebrity was just an outsider, but a hunter belonged to the guild.
This was one of the ways Han Yeseo planned to bring Baek Sowol into Binghwa.
‘Sowol probably thinks no one would be interested in her if she weren’t a mage. But her face alone is enough reason for a guild to want her as a “hunter.”’
There were even high-ranking hunters who switched guilds because of romantic feelings.
So even without knowing she was a mage, there would definitely be attempts to recruit a D-rank hunter as beautiful as Baek Sowol among the four major guilds.
It didn’t happen often. But exceptions always existed.
A beauty on Baek Sowol’s level could completely ignore all previous precedents.
And…
‘If we use her as a promotional ambassador, the unfair contract situation she’s worried about won’t happen either. The moment an ambassador leaves, it creates even more controversy.’
The unfair contracts (which weren’t actually unfair) that mages complained about were simply dissatisfaction caused by the special nature of mages.
In reality, the terms were close to industry average.
Of course, that didn’t mean Sowol was wrong. It was only natural to move in search of better benefits.
Telling her to just endure it would be no different from passion pay.
That said, guilds weren’t without justification. There had been multiple cases of fraud where people pretended to be mages.
Hermes? Hermes only guaranteed a fixed amount of money in their contracts.
They didn’t cover the cost of skill books, facility usage fees, or instructor hiring costs needed to raise a mage.
But appearance didn’t need to be proven. That was why Baek Sowol had value just by existing.
If a contract was signed, the chance of it being a scam was low. Even if she were a spy, her face would still appear normally in promotional materials.
And if the fact that she was a mage was revealed later, it would be easier for her to adapt to Binghwa. That was Han Yeseo’s thinking.
‘Of course, the choice is up to Sowol.’
At the very least, Han Yeseo herself would say nothing to the guild’s HR department.
She would leave the decision entirely in Baek Sowol’s hands.
Of course, if Sowol asked for advice, she would recommend Binghwa.
“But Seoyeon unnie. Yeseo unnie. Lately Sowol unnie’s expression looks bad sometimes. Is something wrong?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“We met the day before yesterday. She kept frowning and clutching her stomach.”
“Did she? Now that you mention it… Seoyeon, do you know anything?”
“I haven’t seen her for a few days. You two were the only ones who met her the day before yesterday.”
And so another topic began. The story that Baek Sowol’s complexion had looked poor.
Even Han Yeseo herself had no clue what it could be.
Sowol rarely talked about herself, after all.
‘Is something big going on?’
Han Yeseo was worried, but there was nothing she could do.
All she could do was hope Sowol overcame it well.
=======
Before long, I met up with the kids at the café.
However, my condition was not good at all.
“Ugh…”
“Noona… is something wrong?”
“No, I’m fine.”
I was not fine.
‘Why is this happening…?’
My condition had been bad for days now. The reason? I had no idea.
The human body was full of variables. Usually rest would fix it, but…
‘Did I catch some kind of illness? But all I feel is a bit of heaviness in my body…?’
I wondered if it was a cold, but there were too many strange points for that.
If it were a cold, the condition should have improved quickly after resting.
Instead, over the past several days my body had been growing progressively heavier. This wasn’t a normal illness.
But I couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Noona, maybe you should go to the hospital…”
“Hey. Hey. Stop.”
The moment Jihu suggested the hospital, Seoyeon elbowed him hard in the side.
Then she glared at him as if to say he had no tact.
Seoyeon seemed to know something…?
Something Seoyeon knew that I didn’t? What on earth could it…
‘Ah…?’
And then I felt it. The sensation. The strangeness.
Anyone else might have panicked in the moment, but I instinctively understood.
Something beyond imagination had just happened.
It wasn’t wizard-like at all. I should have expected it the moment I realized Baek Sowol was an ordinary woman in her twenties.
‘Fuck, this is goddamn awful.’
It was clearly my body, but it didn’t feel like mine. The rational and calm body I once had now had emotions moving on their own as if controlled by something else.
I usually tried to avoid swearing, but curses kept mixing into my thoughts.
I knew exactly what this phenomenon was. It was just that it had been a distant story until it suddenly became my problem.
‘I don’t even know how to put on a sanitary pad, so I’m completely screwed…’
The name of this phenomenon was menstruation. It was the act of an egg created in a woman’s uterus being expelled because it hadn’t met sperm.
Because my period had started outside, I couldn’t even rush out to buy pads.
Even if I did buy them, there was no solution. I didn’t know how to wear one, so how was I supposed to handle it?
‘For now, an emergency measure…’
Whoooong—
I simply blocked it with magic for the time being. This should be fine.
‘Emergency measure complete.’
The temporary fix was done. There was no immediate problem.
But it would become an issue again someday. I just had to solve it before then.
“Let’s finish this as quickly as possible. I’m not feeling well.”
I’d just buy the kids some food and end it quickly.
That was what I thought as we headed to the café, but the moment we entered the alleyway—
“Hey!”
Boom—
A narrow alley. The moment we stepped inside, someone suddenly blocked our path.
A group holding phones attached to dozens of selfie sticks looked at us with sleazy grins.
“Hey there, pretty ladies… and one weird guy. Do you know who we are?”
“I don’t. Please move. We’re busy.”
“No no? We have no intention of moving for you, ladies.”
I tried to walk past but they blocked the way. How annoying. They were nobodies.
Usually, if you told these types you were an Awakener, they would tuck their tails and run.
The moment physical enhancement through mana became possible, the difference in sex lost most of its meaning. Could five men beat a single female bear? Of course not.
These trash mobs needed to be dealt with quickly…
“We’re Awakeners, you know. You’re gonna have to give us some of your time.”
What?
Awakeners?
I quickly looked up and saw blue mana glowing above all their hands.
They really were all Awakeners.
Oh, damn it…
I had a feeling I knew who they were.
“They’re from Live Tribe…!”
Live Tribe. People who used the fact that they were Awakeners to broadcast all kinds of provocative content.
Because a 130cm female Awakener could beat a 2.3m heavyweight MMA fighter, they confidently continued making sensational broadcasts.
And now we had become their target.
No, seriously… couldn’t they just leave people alone?
These kids were minors. If they carelessly picked a fight, their parents would be contacted and the guild would give them an earful.
They couldn’t act recklessly.
Me? If the fact that I was a mage was revealed, a little crime like this would become trivial.
Logically, it was right for me to step forward.
“Hey.”
“I’m an Awakener too, you know? Don’t think you can gain the upper hand just because you’re Awakeners.”
I immediately revealed that I was an Awakener. It was more advantageous that way.
High-ranking Awakeners usually did proper hunter work. The ones who fell into this kind of trash behavior were almost certainly low-ranked.
In that case, they would naturally hesitate to fight another Awakener. No matter how many there were, the gap between ranks was far larger than weight classes in martial arts.
“Ugh…!”
It seemed my bluff had worked. I could see them all faltering.
A good sign. As long as I could hide the fact that I was only D-rank.
Yes, if I could just hide that I was D-rank…
“Ah! That’s right! I’ve seen that person before! She’s the one who was clearing that E-rank gate back then!”
But what I had overlooked was that even though they were Live Tribe, they still cleared gates.
And if they cleared gates, there was a chance they had run into someone of similar rank to me.
Finally, because of my white hair and eyes, I was extremely memorable even at a glance.
“…What?”
“She’s E-rank?”
“Then we can take her, right?”
These guys were fundamentally strong-against-weak, weak-against-strong. The moment they learned I wasn’t a strong opponent, they completely changed their attitude.
“The punishment for crimes against Awakeners is light anyway, right?”
“Since they might actually be villains, they don’t punish that hard!”
“Brothers, we will now begin the true education of this female Awakener. Please make sure to subscribe, like, and turn on notifications, okay~?”
The situation was rapidly turning for the worst.
“Kids, stay back! If you get involved it’ll get complicated!”
I first calmed the children. If they stepped in, things would become really annoying.
Since their ranks were higher, they could win easily, but it was better for me—who had no responsibility—to handle it first.
The thugs started charging at me. Knowing I was an Awakener, they infused their fists with mana and attacked.
I quickly took a defensive stance and strengthened my body with mana.
The attacks weren’t even properly aimed. I should have been able to deflect them easily.
Yes, if I had been my usual ‘self.’
Stab—
“Ugh—?”
If my body had been normal.
My body was not normal. The sudden pain in my lower abdomen made my body stiffen.
And no matter how low-ranked they were, an Awakener was still an Awakener. They didn’t miss that brief opening and slammed a fist straight into my stomach.
Thud—
“Kyaaaak!!!”
The attack finally landed.
I collapsed onto my backside.
“Noona? Hey! You sons of bitches!!!!”
Jihu saw me fall and immediately charged forward. I hadn’t been hit that hard, but because of the abdominal pain I already had, the agony felt overwhelming.
‘Ugh, seriously.’
A woman’s body really didn’t seem to have any advantages.
‘Should I just kill them all?’
And now I seriously had to consider revealing that I was a mage and wiping them all out. This was going to require some real thought.