I Grabbed the Chicken with a Lump in My Throat

The silver-haired S-class hunter stormed into the cramped studio apartment, furious. “Hey, you jobless bastard!! Where are you?!”

She flung open the closet, peered under the bed, and even checked inside the washing machine. Korea’s strongest hunter was conducting a deadly serious search of a five-square-meter room.

…Hey, you’re kicking up dust over there.

I wanted to stop her, but my voice wouldn’t come out. It was five in the morning.

“Kid…”

After failing to find anything, Kim Suhyun turned back toward me. “Are you okay? What did that bastard do to you? Tell me. Please?”

She looked at me with heartbreaking, teary eyes.

“…I… am… Byeol…”

“Don’t talk! If it’s too hard, you don’t have to say anything…!”

Kim Suhyun looked like she was about to burst into tears. I’d only been trying to say I was Byeolbak, but the mosquito-sized whisper made her rush over in a panic, fussing over me.

Up close, she really was stunning. The woman herself seemed to glow. It was the same face I’d only ever seen in gallery meme threads.

“You’ve been through so much, haven’t you…?”

She gently pulled me into a hug. The feeling of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠being held by someone else. No. A lone beast is weak to touch. It felt warm—wait, no, no. I needed to explain this… but the chat history was useless. Even if I’d typed it myself, the current situation made it impossible to believe.

Then I had to bring up something only Byeolbak would know.

Gathering the last of my strength, I dragged my trembling hand over to my phone. My fingers shook like I was a drug addict. The side effects of my ability were no joke. I opened the messenger and typed one letter at a time. Sweat dripped onto the screen.

I shoved the phone in front of Kim Suhyun’s face.

“…What the, another weird…”

Her expression literally froze.

“…..That, that’s… I never typed that in chat… It was only over a call…”

Exactly. A dark history that left no text trail—something only spoken. There was no way to know it just by snooping through messages. Only one person knew this.

The person on the other end of the phone that dawn, who had listened to an hour of her whining.

Kim Suhyun’s pupils shook like an earthquake.

“…Byeolbak? Is it really you, Byeolbak? Wait, but how is this half-dead wreck…”

I could practically hear the gears turning in her head. After a long moment of opening and closing her mouth, she suddenly looked me up and down.

“Weren’t you definitely a guy?”

That’s right. I’m a man. Or maybe a woman who just thinks of herself as a man? I looked it up on the internet once. Am I a man or a woman?

“Did you use a voice changer or something? Why go that far?”

It was convenient that she came up with her own explanation. Yeah, let’s go with voice changer. That seemed to settle the issue, and her rampage had stopped.

The real problem came after that.

“..Hey.”

The anger drained from Kim Suhyun’s eyes, replaced by something else.

“My friend was living all alone, looking like he was about to drop dead any second?”

This feels ominous.

“What about food? Medicine? Who’s been taking care of you? You’re living by yourself!”

I didn’t even have the energy to answer, so I just blinked. Kim Suhyun stood up abruptly like she’d made up her mind and dialed a number.

“Hello? Yes, the unit right next door… Yes, the empty one. I want to sign the contract right now. How much is the deposit? Okay, I’ll transfer it immediately.”

…What?

“Hehe. Byeolbak.”

After hanging up, Kim Suhyun smiled brightly enough to light up the whole world. It was like an entirely different world existed around her.

“Starting today, I’m your next-door neighbor. Take good care of me.”

…Please, someone save me. (I’m serious.)

Kim Suhyun left after saying, “I’ll unpack and buy chicken again!” As for me? I passed out cold. There’s suffering, and then there’s this level of suffering…

She took so long unpacking that the sun had already set by the time I woke up. Like a switch flipping off, the crushing fatigue that had weighed me down vanished in an instant. Sensation returned to my fingertips, and my blocked airways finally opened.

Gurgle—

Ah. I’m hungry.

“…Haa.”

I pushed myself up in bed. Finally felt like a person again. During the day my body refused to move, but the moment the sun went down I was fine. It was a shitty body, but at least nights were comfortable.

Let’s organize the problems.

One. Kim Suhyun is moving in next door.

Two. The Manwol that the old man warned me about. It’s probably going to seriously interfere with my future activities.

But what should I do? Kim Suhyun moving in is set in stone, and I don’t even know what Manwol actually is.

For now, maybe I should just make a lot of money. But I’d rather die than go back to hunter work. I don’t want to get stabbed inside a gate. Besides, the neighbor lady would probably stop me before I even tried.

Then there’s only one answer.

Making money from inside my room. Quietly. Without revealing my ability.

…Stocks, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠huh.

A chuckle slipped out. The image of a jobless bum lying in bed and raking in a fortune. Not bad. Actually, it was perfect.

The only problem was that I had zero talent for predicting whether stocks would rise or fall.

As I thought about it, I unconsciously summoned a single point of light at my fingertip.

I usually used my power by designating a star dozens of light-years away and drawing its power to me.

…Suddenly I got curious. What if it wasn’t a star? What about other things? Planets, asteroids, stuff like that?

No harm in trying. I closed my eyes and began to feel the air around me. Inside my room. This building. Our neighborhood. Korea. Asia. My awareness expanded past Earth itself.

…Huh? What’s that?

Something strange was floating in space. An object that was neither asteroid nor anything else. The moment my awareness brushed against it—

My heart skipped a beat.

It felt like the thing had looked back at me. Like it had noticed me.

What the hell is that? I had no idea. I set it aside for now and drew coordinates in my mind.

The fourth planet from the sun. The red one. Located 78 million kilometers from Earth.

I found Mars.

The sensation at my fingertips connected with something impossibly far away. It wasn’t summoning. Not pulling it toward me—more like I could give it the tiniest little push.

Almost in a trance, I twisted my fingers ever so slightly.

“…Huh?”

My head spun and my vision flashed white. I spread my legs slightly, crossed my arms, and stood firm like I was posing for a portrait.

One second. Two. Three.

I barely held on. My sight slowly returned. Just a tiny nudge caused this much backlash? The mechanics seemed completely different from summoning. If it hadn’t been nighttime, I probably would’ve passed out.

But more than the cost—

I had just pushed a planet.

Mars, tens of millions of kilometers away, using pure physical force.

…This was insane.

I stared blankly at my palm when my phone buzzed on the pillow beside me. It was a gallery notification.

Mars.

The words on the screen and the sensation I had just felt at my fingertips slowly overlapped.

They said the project’s success depended on controlling variables?

What if I could control those variables?

“…Oh. This… could actually make money.”

The most reliable investment in the world had just landed in my hands.

The corner of my mouth slowly curved upward.

Ring—

The sound of the door lock clicking came from next door already.

…Looked like stocks would have to wait.

“Byeolbak! Chicken’s here!”

The door lock clicked open and my neighbor walked in.

Thinking about it again, how on earth did she know the door lock password…

Guess we really were neighbors now.

“Oh, you’re back, sis?”

The moment I spoke, Kim Suhyun froze on the spot.

“Uh… you’re back?”

“Wait… did you just talk?”

“…Yeah, I did.”

“Your voice works? Then what about earlier? You looked like you were dying, so I gave you medicine and rushed to pack everything…”

“I get better at night. That’s just how it is. It’s a condition thing.”

Of course I didn’t mention that I basically turn into a corpse the moment sunlight touches me.

“Only at night? You’re a total vampire.”

She let out a cute little “Kkik—” laugh.

“Seriously though. People need to see sunlight, you know?”

She sat down on the floor like it was the most natural thing in the world, opened the chicken box, and poured cola with practiced ease. Like she’d always lived here.

It had been a long time since I sat across from another person to eat.

For some reason, my throat felt tight.

Pretending I couldn’t stand the lump in my throat, I picked up a piece of chicken breast.

“…Thanks for the food.”

“Eat a lot! Earlier I really thought you were going to die. I was so worried while I was packing…”

She watched contentedly as I took a bite, then suddenly spoke again.

“But it’s really amazing. You really are Byeolbak, right? The same one who always whined about being broke and jobless?”

“Yep.”

“But you’re a beautiful girl… Wow, on Discord I totally thought you were a middle-aged man. You always said your life was fucked.”

“It’s still fucked even now.”

“Puhahaha!”

She burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Then she suddenly turned serious, still holding a chicken drumstick, and muttered.

“…Still, I’m glad. I really thought something bad had happened to you. Honestly, I don’t have any friends. Talking with you on Discord was kind of my only comfort…”

Those weren’t words you’d expect from an S-class hunter. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of the Kim Suhyun who had cried her heart out that dawn—not the glamorous one from the screen.

“…Yeah.”

I just sipped my cola. The atmosphere felt awkward.

Right then, Kim Suhyun chewed on her chicken and changed the subject.

“Oh right. Did you see what I posted on the gallery lately? The culprit behind the Kangseo-gu gate. I’m dead set ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on catching them.”

“……Cough, hack, hack!”

The cola almost shot out my nose.