Ten years had passed since the opening of the Second World.
“Mun Lokhee, get up and eat breakfast.”
As the blackout curtains were drawn back, brilliant morning sunlight poured over Lokhee’s face.
“Good heavens.”
Lokhee’s mother, Kim Junghye, let out a sigh at the sight of the room trashed with all sorts of junk and garbage.
“Did you stay up all night playing games again?”
At Kim Junghye’s nagging, Lokhee pulled the blanket up over her head and let out a groan.
She was still wandering the boundary between dream and reality.
“What in the world is the state of this room? Huh? You should at least live like a human being.”
Unable to stand it any longer, Kim Junghye clicked her tongue and opened the window.
Lokhee curled up at the cold winter wind, and Kim Junghye picked up the trash rolling around on the floor.
“What kind of drink do you consume so much of? You should eat your meals properly.”
At the clinking sound of glass bottles, Lokhee threw off the blanket and shot up.
“Ah, Mom. It’s a pot... just leave it! I’ll clean it up!”
Lokhee tumbled down from the bed and snatched the glass bottle from Kim Junghye’s hand.
“Oh, sure you’ll clean up well. When exactly are you going to do it? No bugs yet?”
“It might look a bit like a dump... but it has its own order... Ah, you nag all the time!”
Lokhee set the bottle down on the desk with a loud thud, her face looking wronged.
The desk was already packed with all kinds of odds and ends and delivery boxes.
She annoyedly pushed back her disheveled bleached hair and pushed Kim Junghye’s back toward the door.
“I’ll take care of it myself, so please get out.”
“You know you won’t get your paycheck if it’s not cleaned by this week. If you’re up, come out and eat.”
With that terrifying warning, Kim Junghye gave Lokhee’s back a sharp slap.
In her hands as she left the room were a garbage bag and cups she had no idea when they were last washed.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ shares the pain of Kim Junghye’s perfect back slap.】
Fully awakened by the stinging hit, Lokhee stretched and muttered.
“I only slept four hours.”
Her eyes, swollen like hamburgers, clearly showed her exhaustion.
Lokhee closed the window against the biting winter wind and left the room with zombie-like steps.
“What time did you sleep last night?”
Kim Junghye asked as Lokhee sat in the chair across the table.
“Um... midnight?”
“As if you slept at midnight. The light was still on in your room when I got up at 3.”
Kim Junghye sharply pointed out Lokhee’s lie.
“Hm, was it?”
Lokhee avoided her gaze as best she could and drank water.
At that, Kim Junghye let out a resigned sigh.
“You properly applied to return to school this time, right?”
“Yeah, yeah...”
“You probably didn’t get the dorm. Did you find a place to rent?”
“...I’m going to commute. A college student should commute at least once.”
A heavy atmosphere immediately descended over the table.
“Mun Lokhee.”
Lokhee gulped.
“Do you think I don’t know you? You think I don’t know you’re putting it off because you’re too lazy to look? A kid who stays home all day commuting? You’d really do that. Find one quickly while I’m asking nicely. If you whine after the semester starts, you’re getting nothing.”
“Yes ma’am...”
“Put on some weight before you go back, cut down on the games. Go outside and get some sun. Look at this pale skin. When are you going to become a proper person?”
Lokhee nodded silently without a word of complaint.
Lokhee knew very well how much Kim Junghye had put up with her over the past two years.
She couldn’t even dare imagine how upsetting it must have been to have a daughter who one day abruptly announced she was taking a leave of absence and then holed up in her room without coming out.
Lokhee buried her face in her bowl and scooped up a huge mouthful of bulgogi rice bowl.
“Don’t be late for your part-time job.”
Kim Junghye stood up, clearing her finished bowl.
Even though she had eaten less than half of Lokhee’s amount, Lokhee was still in the middle of eating.
“Do the dishes.”
Lokhee nodded lackadaisically and picked up some kimchi.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ cheers you on to finish today’s breakfast, your favorite bulgogi, without leaving any behind.】
Kim Junghye brushed her teeth, grabbed her outerwear, and left the house.
As the door closed, Lokhee stood up with her bowl that still had food in it.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ facepalms, saying it should have known this would happen when you were eating so well for once.】
Washing dishes for just two people didn’t take long.
“Old man, you’re getting ‘that thing,’ right?”
Lokhee, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, asked the empty air.
Bloodless pale skin, bony prominent shoulders, sharp eyes, and dark circles.
Today, the black roots at the ends of her bleached hair stood out glaringly.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ warns that once you use ‘that,’ you can never turn back.】
Lokhee yawned, squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush, and replied indifferently.
“Old man, stop nagging and just get it.”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ jumps up and down, asking if this green youngster thinks she can order this old man around, and where the respect for elders went with that impudent mouth of yours.】
“Oh please. You used to hate being called old man... And all you do is watch without lifting a finger, what kind of treatment do you expect?”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ clears its throat.】
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ claims that even if it looks like it’s playing, it’s working hard.】
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ asks if you know nothing of swans, comparing itself to a swan that looks graceful but paddles furiously below the surface--...】
“Enough. If you don’t put ‘that’ in my inventory by this week, I’ll shut down the entire system and go on strike, got it?”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ opens your inventory.】
A list of inventory contents like an RPG game appeared before Lokhee’s eyes.
“What the hell.”
The item she had been waiting for was right there.
【⌜Fruit of the Unconscious⌟
- Rank: L-Rank (Legendary)
- Description: A rare fruit that bears only once every thousand years across the entire universe. Amplifies the consumer’s innate ability ‘without limit’ by 1,000 times.
※ However, the duration is 12 months, from the moment the seed takes root in the consumer’s body until it blooms and withers ※
※※ Absorbs the consumer’s vitality, so caution is required ※※】
The corner of Lokhee’s mouth rose in satisfaction.
“You got it a while ago, so why are you only giving it now?”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ conveys that it was because it was worried about you, youngster.】
“My deepest gratitude.”
Lokhee set down her toothbrush, reached into the inventory window, and grasped the ⌜Fruit of the Unconscious⌟ in her hand.
Smaller than her palm, the fruit looked like a fig but gave off a sweet fragrance like an apple.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ urgently stops you, asking how you could eat it immediately.】
“Then when should I eat it?”
Lokhee brought the reddish-brown fruit to her mouth.
She took a small bite, and a sweet fragrance spread from the soft flesh.
Two bites, three bites, and inside was a small red seed like a pill.
Lokhee swallowed it without chewing.
“Ugh, sweet.”
Lokhee finished the rest of the flesh and rinsed her sticky, juice-covered hands under the running water.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ sighs that you’re truly hopeless and asks if a temper like that is acceptable.】
“Didn’t you say it takes about a week for it to take root?”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ worries, asking if you can be so careless with your own life.】
“It should roughly match the system update schedule.”
Lokhee took that as a sign to end the conversation and put her toothbrush in her mouth.
The fruit fragrance, which had initially just been sweet, somehow tasted bitter, making her want to brush it away quickly.
Brushing her teeth, Lokhee took her phone from her pocket and opened a shopping app.
She intended to order bleaching dye arriving tomorrow to cover her roots soon.
She put it in her cart and tried to pay, but red text popped up.
[This card cannot be used for payment.]
“Huh?”
A flustered Lokhee logged into the banking app connected to her debit card.
[Main account balance for Mun Lokhee: 1,441 won]
“Where did my money go...!”
It was as if her account had a hole in it; the paycheck she received a few days ago seemed to have vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Damn it.”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ drops the facts, saying it’s because you keep buying trivial things online every chance you get.】
“I work day and night and I’m still a beggar, ptooey.”
Pushing the tear-inducing “empty account” out of her mind, Lokhee rinsed her mouth.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ cajoles you, asking how long you’ll keep scraping by on a part-time wage, saying profitable things will happen if you go to dungeons.】
Lokhee snorted at the constellation singing the same dungeon tune again today.
“Old man. How many times do I have to tell you that it’s better to use that time to finish the update and get one step closer to regression?”
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ mutters that wouldn’t you be able to return faster if you worked as a Hunter, and that it’s a waste of your ability.】
“What is a full-grown old man muttering about. It’s creepy.”
Lokhee roughly wiped the water off her hands on her pants and returned to her room.
“I have it all planned out. Once I finish the update, I won’t have to worry about money until the regression.”
Lokhee rummaged through her desk irritably and found two 1,000-won bills and one 10,000-won bill scattered between papers.
It was cash she had secretly stashed away after running an errand for Kim Junghye a while ago.
Lokhee decided to take the opportunity to step out and get some fresh air.
“Is this my first outing in almost a week?”
Other than working her part-time job at Kim Junghye’s cafe on the first floor, Lokhee hadn’t been outside at all.
Wearing pajama bottoms with a hoodie and a long padded coat, Lokhee shoved her feet into her sneakers and left the house.
【The Contracted Constellation ‘The Wings That Command Authority’ shouts throughout the neighborhood that its contractor has finally come outside.】
“I really need to shut that noisy old man’s mouth... Driving me crazy.”
Dragging the heels of her sneakers as she walked, she soon came upon the bus stop.
The Olive Young that sold bleaching dye was two stops away by village bus.
Lokhee sat on the cold wooden bench at the stop.
Just as her bottom was getting numb.
A voice she didn’t recognize approached while talking on the phone.
“It was my vacation. I was thinking of Grandma, so I came down for a bit.”
Lokhee flipped up the hood attached to her long padded coat.
‘Is the village bus interval really 30 minutes for real?’
Looking at the timetable posted at the stop, the bus wouldn’t come for at least another ten minutes.
“I got it, I said I got it. I’ll head up soon. I’ll stop by before then, so don’t worry.”
A man in a long coat sat down in the next seat.
Lokhee sat at the very end of the bench, keeping as much distance as possible.
He was a young man rarely seen in this neighborhood at this early hour.
A high-quality black wool coat, jeans with a luxury brand logo, and Jordan sneakers that looked ridiculously expensive at a glance.
It was a fashion sense in stark contrast to Lokhee’s dirty, creased Vans and pajama pants featuring some character she didn’t know.
“Excuse me...”
‘Isn’t that outfit kind of rude for this old bus stop? You’re making the locals feel inferior.’
Lokhee hunched her shoulders like a cat on high alert.
With a cap and mask on, he looked somewhat suspicious.
‘Is he a celebrity?’
“I’m looking for a cafe, do you happen to know it?”
Lokhee’s village didn’t have a large population, but thanks to the nearby lake, out-of-towners visited frequently.
That was why there were several Instagrammable aesthetic cafes in this small village.
The man was likely looking for one of them.
Lokhee looked at the phone screen he held out.
There was a photo uploaded by some blogger.
“The cafe’s name is 〈Narcissus〉. Even when I searched online, there were only reviews but no directions.”
Surprisingly, what he was looking for was the oldest and most worn-down cafe in the village, one that only locals and regulars ever sought out, run by Lokhee’s mother, Kim Junghye.
“I visited a few times when I was young. The village has changed a lot since then.”
The man spoke in a smiling voice, as if recalling old memories.
Feeling somehow bitter, Lokhee didn’t meet his eyes and only stretched out her hand to point the way.
“Ahem, go straight that way and look for the yellow iron gate in the red stone wall at the third alley on the right.”
“Ah! I’ve been looking in the wrong places. Thank you.”
Just then, the village bus was arriving.
“Have a nice day.”
As Lokhee walked toward the bus, the man greeted her from behind.
He sounded so happy to have found the cafe of his memories that it almost lifted one’s own mood.
“...”
Praying that the man wouldn’t be there during her work shift, Lokhee boarded the bus.
The pleasant energy from a stranger.
It was something slightly unfamiliar for Lokhee, who lived building walls between herself and others.
***
[[Web Sent] Y University Department of Environmental Gate Energy will be conducting academic counseling with the advisor professor for returning students in the first half of 20xx. Please check the schedule and submit an application via the portal before visiting.]
[[Web Sent] Student Mun Lokhee will be expelled if she takes another semester of leave, so please make sure to respond.]