The National Little Sister's Peaceful Weekend
"Bro, lift your head a bit. Ah, come on, just look at the lens for real?"
The smartphone camera lens flashed right in front of my eyes. Continuous shutter sounds echoed through the living room. I squinted.
But I didn't bother turning my head away.
I didn't even have the energy to resist. I was tired. Chin propped on the plush sofa cushions rising up to my chest, I stared blankly into space. My younger sister Kang Hae-eun dramatically brushed back my silver hair while making a huge fuss.
"Oh my god, this is insane. Unnie's look is straight fire. Nailed the thumbnail perfectly this time."
She's twenty-eight this year. A perfectly normal office worker at a big corporation—and at home, my number one mental tormentor.
"Hae-eun. I'm your oppa, and I'm thirty-two this year."
"So what? Where in the world is a thirty-two-year-old the size of an elementary school kid? Just hold still."
She wasn't wrong. Sinking deep into the sofa, my toes didn't even touch the floor. My short legs dangled in the air.
Three years since the Gate Shock. All the other Awakeners lived on just fine in their original bodies, but not me. That damn System remodeled me into the perfect woman's body for "mana efficiency." The optimal form for supreme mana control. And the end result? An ageless, ultra-premium beauty.
The frilly pink pajama sleeves draped way past my knees. I didn't have the strength or will to take them off. Aftereffects from two years on the blood-soaked front lines, catching catnaps for two hours a day amid rolling with monsters. All that was left to me was chronic fatigue and a dry, enlightened state of mind toward everything. Right now, I was just a half-unemployed slacker recuperating in the living room, bingeing comics.
"Do a quick V for my YouTube upload? Pleeease?"
"No. Too annoying."
"Ah, just once! If you do this, I'll go undercover on the secondhand markets and handle that limited-edition merch you failed to snag last time—even the offline trades."
I quietly raised two fingers. It wasn't surrender to her childish blackmail. I just couldn't pass up the offer to handle those annoying, humiliating offline deals for me.
Click.
"Nice! Title's gonna be The National Little Sister's Peaceful Weekend."
The front door lock chimed cheerfully as it opened.
"My baby girl! Mom's home!"
It was my mother, Lee Yeon-sook, both hands loaded with shopping bags emblazoned with department store logos. A bad premonition flashed through me.
"Mom. I'm your son."
"Oh my, my little puppy's still in pajamas? Mom got you the cutest new dress this time. Even matched it with hairpins."
Mom pulled a sky-blue lace dress from the bag and fluttered it open. Eye-searing frills everywhere. My second deep sigh leaked out.
"Ah, Mom, seriously. I'm not stepping foot outside today."
"No backtalk—try it on. You haven't even washed up, all grubby. Hae-eun, help your oppa change."
"Roger that. Arms up, bro."
Resisting would just earn me a smack on the back. I obediently raised both arms. Hae-eun yanked off the pajamas and threw the dress over me.
The fit was ridiculously perfect. Tailor-made tailoring hit me with a wave of reality.
And right then—as the giant ribbon pin clipped into my hair—the living room air grew heavy in an instant. Goosebumps prickled across my skin. Every mana circuit in my body screamed warnings like mad.
My drowsy expression hardened cold.
"Bro? What's wrong? Why the sudden face?"
Hae-eun flinched back, brush in hand. Instead of answering, I glared out the window. Right in the heart of Gangnam. A massive mana wave distorted the air like a heat haze.
An ominous mutation ignoring safety grace periods, spewing monsters. The signature pulse of a Wave-type Gate.
"Fucking hell."
I spat the dry curse. No time to lounge until the Association or guilds showed up. Those incompetents would arrive too late—innocent civilians strolling the streets would be shredded first. No thanks to witnessing that shitshow in central Gangnam again.
I roughly flung open the balcony window. Cold wind rushed into the living room.
"Oh my, Tae-ho! Where are you going all of a sudden?!"
"Gotta handle some work. Be back."
Ignoring Mom's panicked voice, I drew mana to my toes. No time to grab shoes. A light kick off the living room floor launched me into the air. The powerful recoil hurled my body out the window.
Harsh steel winds whipped between the skyscrapers. The sky-blue lace dress flapped wildly. The worst possible battle outfit.
Gangnam Station intersection. Perfect pandemonium.
A red rift torn in the sky gaped grotesquely. People screamed, fleeing every which way. Cars tangled in escape jammed horns irritably; asphalt shattered and sprayed.
I landed lightly on the mangled traffic light in front of the crimson rift. Silver hair whipped roughly behind me. Red eyes scanned below.
A suited man who'd ditched his briefcase mid-flight looked up. His hurried steps halted abruptly.
"Huh?"
He shouted in a tearing voice.
"It's Tae-ho hyung!!"
One cry froze the street like magic. Screams cut off. Panicked citizens whipped their heads toward the traffic light.
"No way, it's really the boss!"
"Boss! That dress form is insane today!"
"National Little Sister has descended! We're saved! Phones out, quick!"
Terror crushing the streets flipped instantly to frenzy and relief. People halted their flight, pulling out smartphones. Camera flashes popped everywhere. The disaster movie set turned idol fan meet in seconds.
The whole nation knew. That tiny girl hovering in a sky-blue dress was the thirty-two-year-old hero who'd bled and shat for two years defending the country. Of course, I wasn't in the mood to V-sign for the flash flood.
The Gate pulsed ominously. A massive forepaw burst from within.
Two stories tall. A ferocious beast-type monster over five meters stomped the asphalt. Thick hide that'd shrug bullets, blood-red glaring eyes. Its roar shook the street, shattering nearby building windows.
Wind fluttered the dress hem again. Annoying. So damn annoying.
I lightly raised my right hand. Imagined it. That anime I'd just binged at home. The scene where the Curse King sliced the world with invisible slashes.
Mana cloaked my imagination, instantly taking form. Borrowing comic techniques was the most familiar, efficient way for me. Of course, I didn't chant the name aloud. Uttering trademarks would bring lawsuits.
Thumb to middle finger. Deadpan face, light flick.
Snap.
The crisp friction rang through the air. That instant.
The five-meter behemoth froze mid-air. An invisible lattice slash-net swept a 1km radius in a breath.
Shlrk.
The colossal body neatly diced into perfect cubes. Hundreds of meat chunks collapsed before blood even hit the ground. Overwhelming, clean slaughter.
Cheers erupted from the street.
But I kept my hand up. This was a Wave-type. No way it ended with one beast.
Slicing them one by one as they crawled out? Inefficient. I stepped on air. Without hesitation, strode into the crimson Gate rift.
Vision darkened. Thick blood reek and cloying humidity assaulted me. Inside the Gate—hundreds of monsters charging the exit with bloodshot eyes.
My lips curled cold. Anime cosplay ends here. Time for real combat: butchering beasts.
My original killing art, forged grinding bones on hellish front lines for two years. Pure mana hyper-compressed into blades around hands and toes. No fancy magic circles or chants. Just brutal, overwhelming strikes severing throats in one go.
I kicked off, diving into the monster horde's heart. Before claws reached, my handblade pierced a massive neck first. Blood burst unspilled as I twisted. Spinning kick caved the second monster's skull like a watermelon.
Outside the Gate, grotesque bone cracks and monsters' death shrieks echoed endlessly.
Exactly five minutes later. I stepped out of the crimson rift. Not a breath out of place.
No blood speckled the sky-blue dress. Situation cleared.
Sirens wailed loudly. Black vans screeched to halts on the asphalt. Heavily armed Hunters jumped out, shields up.
Giant guild emblems gleamed on shields and weapons. A burly A-rank team leader type rushed me, sweating bullets.
"K-Kang Tae-ho Hunter-nim! Great work!"
He halted, bowing 90 degrees. I looked down with blank eyes.
"Wave-type."
"Yes, sir! Precursors confirmed!"
"Roughly diced the insides."
I vaguely pointed at the crumbling Gate fragments.
"Clean up debris and mana stones. Report to the old man."
The team leader barked crisply.
"Understood!"
His gaze lingered on my giant ribbon pin and fluttering sky-blue dress. His stern face muscles twitched faintly. Holding back laughter or baffled by the mismatch—who cares.
"I'm out."
I drew mana again. Annoying interlopers cleared—time to head back to the penthouse. Still had episode 3 of that anime waiting in the living room.
I soared into the air. Below, burly guild Hunters saluted in unison, the bizarre sight shrinking away.