It's Real
EP 1 It's Real. It's hard to believe, but there's a fable about the blind men and the elephant. Long ago, a king with a rotten personality gathered a group of blind men and posed them a problem. He said he would let them touch an elephant and asked them to guess what shape it was. It was an absurd story. But when the king commands, you have no choice but to obey. Everyone did their best. Yet for people born without sight, figuring out the shape of something they couldn't even see was impossible from the start. In the end, none of the blind men could correctly guess the elephant's true form.
This fable teaches us that it's impossible to grasp the entirety of something through a single person's limited experience or narrow perspective. If that's true even for an elephant, then there's no need to mention attempts to judge the world based on trivial personal experiences. Of course it's impossible. Everyone knows this fact. But knowing a fact and mastering it are two different things.
People usually infer the world based on their own experiences. Humans are foolish... No. Honestly, I still can't believe it. Really.
"Weren't men treated like sandbags that exist for women?!"
"Doing something like that would result in the death penalty."
"Then there's no open disgust or anything like that?!"
"Doing something like that would get you classified as a subject for ideological correction and locked up in a facility for life."
"Uh. Um. Men have to obey women's orders absolutely... something like that...."
The female civil servant in front of me rested her hand on her forehead, genuinely disgusted after listening to my account.
"In this era of absolute male supremacy, ordering someone around? On the contrary, the competition rate for the Virtuous Wife and Good Mother Specialized High School exceeds 100-to-1 every year."
After saying that, she clicked her tongue briefly. "To think she'd go that far. Crazy bitch."
I crossed my arms and looked up at the ceiling. '...Is this real?'
Yes. Foolish mortal. The term "blind man with open eyes" truly referred to me. I only realized that after twenty years.
It had been a long time. Truly... a long time.
EP 1 It's Real. It's hard to believe, but this was a six-and-a-half-pyeong company dormitory.
"Chirnix's stamina recovery potion continues to sell out daily. As a result, the stock price experienced a devastating 40% rise as of yesterday. Some scholars have criticized the company's moral hazard for failing to disclose the side effects of awakening."
On the television screen were a female scholar and a female reporter. Woman and woman. The anchor who appeared next was also woman and woman. After the news ended, a female idol appeared in the commercial. It wasn't just the broadcast. The newspapers plastered on the walls instead of wallpaper were similarly crowded with images of women.
[This year's international league champion is Han Yu-na! Selected as Forbes Woman of the Year!]
[Pro gamer Lee Yoo-jin advances to the finals, "I will repay everyone's support"]
[In this by-election, candidates Yoo Sun-ah and Han Mi-ryeo are in a close race. Will the final battle target women in their 40s?]
[The country's fifth S-rank skill awakener is a 20-year-old office worker?]
My gaze scanning the newspaper on the wall stopped. Twenty years old—she was the same age as me. The only difference was probably gender. Sure enough, the article that followed described a woman's life. A smooth life without a single hitch.
In this world, because the gender ratio was strangely skewed, the overwhelming majority—women—ruled the world. And in the shadow of the word "rule" always lay the ruled class. While women's lives were smooth, men's treatment was the exact opposite—worst of all.
The abuse I received as a child from family and the women around me was no joke. Even now, thinking about those days sent chills down my spine. The harassment, which could be called the very embodiment of the world's storms, left deep scratches on the heart of the then-soft boy, Yoo Ji-tae. The torn wounds were ripped open even further before they could heal. The bullying never stopped. There was nowhere to run. Everyone despised me.
But the abuse stopped recently. The reason was very simple. I had been abandoned. Discarded like trash—extremely simple. There was no warning at all. One morning, I was dragged by my older sister's hand and left in a city I'd never seen before. Without a single penny.
Six months had passed since then. Currently, I was barely surviving after finally finding a job in a distant land. Of course, the jobs available to a twenty-year-old male high school graduate, a second-class citizen, were obvious. Salary? 1.8 million won. Working hours? Six days a week, twelve hours a day. If I said that much, you'd ask, "Puhaha, what kind of job is that?" But the job title itself sounded impressive. Research assistant at the Chirnix Workshop. Well, in name only. If you heard "research assistant," you might think it was an intelligent profession, but the actual work was just operating machines according to a manual and mixing raw materials to produce mass-produced goods. In other words, it was seriously grueling physical labor.
You might ask why I didn't look for other work, but there were two major problems. First was the gender issue. If you searched job sites, you'd always see this phrase at the top: Preferred gender: Female. Even if you flipped through a hundred pages of job listings, the only gender requirement you'd see was female. As I said earlier, because this world was ruled by women, all jobs were for women. The rare postings marked "gender irrelevant" were the only places I could apply. But even those postings that were as hard to find as a needle in a desert had a second problem lurking within.
Preferred qualifications: Ability holder. Abilities—supernatural powers divided into magic, martial arts, psychic powers, skills, and so on—were game changers that had overturned the industrial structure of modern society multiple times. I didn't have an ability. I was ability-less. The class that made up the majority of society and was the most despised was precisely me.
"...I want an ability."
Even now, while working every day, I imagined awakening an ability—especially a skill. If I had to pick one, cooking would be nice. Because I could live alone in the mountains, cooking my own meals without ever getting involved with women. I could live my whole life in a place without women. But it was an impossible dream. Skill awakening was the exclusive property of ability holders. It was a treasure that ability-less people couldn't even hope for.
Of course, it was possible for ordinary people to become ability holders. They said you could become one by taking tremendous medicine, undergoing modification surgery, or accumulating grueling training. But I had neither the time nor the money for that. Living and dying while working like this for the rest of my life—that was the conclusion of my life.
"...How miserable."
Wearing my shabby work clothes, I hurried toward the workshop. Cough. A cough came out. Black blood was mixed in—it was truly devastating. A trashy workplace without purification equipment or facilities. I had known my health would deteriorate. In a place like that, I mixed chemicals alone. Black blood flowed from my nose in a stream.
***
After finishing work and entering the dormitory to shower, I found large black spots on my body. To be precise, they weren't spots but mold. The awakened mold in the room was eating my body. Even mold could awaken, so why couldn't I? It was driving me crazy. The mold had started from my stomach and spread across my entire body. I might die. If I was going to die, I wanted to end everything while sleeping. What would happen if I died? First, women would come to see my corpse. Just thinking about that made my body tremble with goosebumps. Lying in bed, I bit my nails. I was anxious. The compulsion that I didn't want to die ran down my spine. The thought that I wanted to live came to me. I threw off the blanket, stood up, and looked at the newspaper on the wall.
[The fifth S-rank skill appears! The owner is a 20-year-old office worker?]
I was envious. She was the same age as me. I envied her gender. I envied her skill. I envied her very life. As if God found my whining too difficult to listen to, He suddenly sent down pain. My breath caught, and phlegm bubbled at my lips. The smell of blood stung my nose.
"Uwek."
Something that had been blocking inside seemed to come out, and before I knew it, a huge pool of blood had formed. No. This came from my body? After that, as if something blocking had fallen away, the coughing and vomiting blood didn't stop. My whole body hurt as if it were being torn apart. I was dying. Today, I was dying. The only thought that came to me was that I wanted to live.
"Aah... aah..."
As I rolled around the room, my gaze suddenly turned toward the wall. I saw a photo of the S-rank skill holder smiling brightly. She really looked happy.
[When I first awakened, I was surprised, but my friends and family congratulated me, so I was really happy.]
I see. My life had been nothing but miserable pain. It was just a difference in where and how we were born, wasn't it? That was probably the only difference between her and me. So why was only I suffering like this?
[Ever since I was young, I've often been praised for having strong determination. I think it was probably thanks to that. Hmm. The fact that it's a combat-type skill is probably because the strong wish I made at the moment of awakening influenced the skill.]
Determination, huh. Ever since I was young, I'd often been told I annoyed others. Even when my mother grabbed my hair and screamed, I held back my tears because I wanted to be loved. So I was criticized for being a stubborn mule. Even with the same determination, for her it was a blessed talent, but for me it was presumptuous rebellion. Just by being born, everything was decided. I was born abandoned. With such a life decided, I was only permitted to suffer...! That was all my life had ever been!
[The moment of awakening? At that time, it was really something I didn't even want to imagine. I suddenly got a fever and my whole body boiled for several days, so I thought I was going to die, but I barely survived. Everyone envies me for awakening a skill, but honestly, since they haven't experienced it, they're just saying whatever's convenient. At that time, my mother and friends were really worried about me.]
The blood and foam rising from my lips didn't stop. I felt lonely and desolate. That woman's life and mine were like mirror images—everything was reversed. I was envious. Born receiving all the blessings of the universe, loved, then gaining the world after experiencing one insignificant crisis. Envious. So envious it drove me crazy. Jealousy welled up so intensely it felt like my organs were being torn apart. My body struggled to survive. It hurt. The nerves throughout my body went mad.
"Kek... kehek... huk.... uheuk..."
My vision spun as I scanned the text on the wallpaper. The sentences fragmented, and only a few words registered in my eyes.
[Strong determination]
With a life like this, I wanted to receive a proper reward at least once. I didn't want an end like dying of illness in some corner like this. Even someone like me had the right to be happy. It was only natural that even someone like me had lived wanting to be happy....
[Strongly wished desire]
When I was young, I once folded a carnation as a gift for my mother. That carnation that was torn apart right in front of my eyes—if it had been a more complete, more beautiful work, if I had been able to create something more excellent, would my mother have smiled at me even once? Even just once... even just once...! If only she had smiled!
[Moment of awakening]
Heat boiled throughout my entire body. Blood flowed from my lips, and my vision gradually darkened. I was sad. Death. The end of life. I hadn't wanted an ending like this... I was sad. Everything. I just couldn't bear how sad all of time was. The dark, murky marks on my body gradually spread. Twenty years old. Living my whole life hated, then dying in a narrow room with no one around, mold growing on my body as I vomited blood. Was this... my end? Why? Why...?
With resentment toward the world, I opened my mouth for the last time.
"...What did I do wrong."
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Ah. Of course, the most important thing is surviving the moment of awakening. I heard they inject medicine that's almost like poison into your body. Look, the bruise from back then is still a little left on my arm. Aaah. They say having scars like this on your body is ugly and counts as a disqualification. For women, it's ability over appearance!]
.
.
.
.
.
.
At the threshold of death, the 6:30 AM wake-up alarm rang. When I opened my eyes, I saw the six-and-a-half-pyeong workshop dormitory. I touched my cheek. There was warm, soft skin.
"...Aah. Aah."
I was alive. I had barely survived. Even if it was painful, even if it was terminal, I realized how much of a blessing it was to simply be alive. When I lifted my head while shedding tears, I understood everything. The blue window that stood between me and the wall explained the entire situation.
Congratulations on becoming a mage!
"...Awakening."
Mage. Among ability holders, it was the profession that boasted the best treatment. Moreover, this interface-style notification was a characteristic that appeared in skill owners... I opened and closed my mouth before barely managing to say the word.
"Status window...."
"It appeared!!!"
I immediately shouted in joy. With this, I could get a proper job too. No, was a job even the issue? I could live without being looked down on just because I was a man. For the first time, I could live a proper life. Even women wouldn't be able to ignore me!
I wiped my tears and took a deep breath.
"First, I need to figure out what kind of skill it is."
Depending on the type, skills had vastly different applications and treatment. If it was a rare healing type, the price was whatever you named. If it was combat type, the treatment was quite harsh. ...Of course, if it was SS-rank, which signified mythical rarity, none of that mattered. When it came to skills, rank was king.
Feeling like I was opening a gift, I checked the skill information.
Hephaestus (SS)
You can craft results according to recipes. The results are strictly determined by the consumed raw materials and process. You cannot create results that deny all causality. However, if you use points obtained by making women happy, it can cause a significant synergistic effect.
"Oh!!! Uh... huh?"
Making women happy... to collect points...? When I thought of women, the memories of abuse came to mind. Even just thinking about it now gave me goosebumps. I was someone who trembled and broke into a cold sweat just from facing a woman. And now it was telling me to get close to women and make them happy?
"......Is that even possible!!??"
I shouted loudly. It was the first cry of anger I had ever uttered in my twenty years of life.