Prologue.
The world, in which countless people live, is always changing rapidly.
But most people do not notice that change easily.
Just as fish in the ocean cannot feel the waves when fierce tides crash over them.
Those who have grown accustomed to their lives and daily routines faithfully live out the lives given to them, and only when they suddenly look back on the time that has passed—
do they recognize the changes they had failed to see, hidden behind the thin veil of familiarity,
and finally say, “So much has changed.”
That very reaction was proof that the world was at peace.
But—that was nothing more than a story of the past.
Due to the Gates that appeared without warning one day, the world we knew vanished.
On the streets, elves with pointed ears and beastmen walking about with their tails swaying are a common sight.
Internet news is filled with tales of losing one’s precious people and homes to monsters bursting from dungeons.
It is a strange world where articles are posted about a feline beastman Returnee who defeated a Sandworm in the American West in a single blow.
A world where the common sense and order built by humanity over thousands of years is no longer something to be taken for granted.
And sudden change always gives rise to backlash.
In the forms of worry. Anxiety. Discrimination. Violence.
Even though considerable time had passed since the Gates first appeared, and since the existence of Returnees and supernatural abilities became public knowledge.
Many people still could not easily adapt to the changed world.
[Oh, right, I have something to tell you all. Yesterday, on my way home from work, I thought I should buy some side dishes, so I got off the bus a little early, you know? But after getting off, while walking through an alley, there was a huge octopus walking around on two legs. You think I’m lying? Come on, I’m telling the truth!]
—*Slurp.*
From that perspective, I was truly an ordinary person.
I didn’t know what others might think, but that’s how I felt.
Yeon Ari. Twenty-three years old.
I couldn’t exactly say I had perfectly adapted to the changed world.
At the very least, I didn’t live trapped in the past, denying the changes.
I had lost my family and all my friends to Gates and monsters.
Yet ironically, I made my living through a job created because of Gates.
Just another ordinary citizen in today’s world.
“The dungeon raid is complete! Transport team, please stand by!”
A world where magic that allows one to cross between Korea and America in an instant, or to summon giant boulders and drop them, exists.
A world where abilities that can obliterate everything in sight merely by looking at them exist.
Yet all I had was a sturdy body, just as always.
“Let’s give it our all today—”
I threw the cup ramen I had been eating into the trash can at an unmanned convenience store.
I rolled up the earphones I had put in to watch a broadcast while waiting and pocketed them.
I hung the Grade 9 identification badge that marked me as guild-affiliated around my neck.
There was no one to return the badge to, but the feeling of belonging somewhere. Isn’t that nice?
“Great work!”
“Yes, take care.”
When Hunters came walking out of the cleared dungeon one by one.
The monsters they had caught and the items they had found were dragged out along with them.
‘Ugh…’
The smell of blood wafted from all directions due to the corpses that had been hauled out.
The once-clean road became filthy in an instant with objects of unknown purpose.
Even the sounds of people retching from the unexpected scent of blood had become routine.
Since the Hunters who found expensive tools and jewels kept them for themselves.
The spoils piled up like this were only materials considered to be in poor condition or not useful enough to carry themselves, but.
Even so, since they were all materials obtainable only from dungeons.
They were precious assets that countries and guilds had to collect, even if it meant hiring porters like me.
‘Let’s finish up quickly and go home to watch a broadcast.’
*Squeak— Squeak—*
Sounds of retching. Scuffles between people trying to secretly pocket items and safety officers stopping them, and so on.
Amid the familiar clamor, I skillfully handled the corpses.
I dismantled the dead monsters, skinned them, and set aside the expensive parts.
If something among the objects rolling on the floor looked decent, I picked it up.
Then repeatedly stacked them neatly into the box with my name written on it in the distance.
“Whew…”
From repeatedly crouching down to dismantle corpses and move heavy objects, my legs and waist throbbed with pain.
My nose, exposed to the terrible stench of blood for so long, had gone numb and felt nothing.
It took a toll on my body, left my clothes soaked in blood, and regardless of how necessary it was, society looked down on this profession, but.
I could see the Hunters that so many people admired and found fascinating from up close.
And since the pay was quite substantial given the various risk factors, I was more or less satisfied.
“Hup.”
Almost full.
Once the large box was completely full, the quota was done.
Having done this for over five years now, I had more or less learned to tell expensive things from cheap ones.
Since I had filled it mainly with potentially valuable items, the pay should be generous too.
As I was mulling over what to do with the money.
I soon thought, since there was nothing I particularly wanted, I should just spam Thousand Won Punches at my favorite VTubers.
At that moment, while having such a trivial thought, I grabbed a bead rolling on the floor.
—*Flash!*
“Huh?”
A brilliant light suddenly burst from the bead in my hand and enveloped my body as if devouring me whole.
What? What’s going on?
The surroundings grew chaotic at the sudden anomaly. The site supervisor blew a whistle and told me to drop the bead, but.
For some reason, I couldn’t exert any strength into the hand holding the bead. I couldn’t let go, let alone throw it away. Feeling was fading from my fingertips.
The workers around me evacuated the site, leaving me all alone.
Amid the surging lethargy and fading consciousness, the thought that surfaced in my mind was.
‘…Ah. They said they were doing a singing stream tonight.’
That was all there was to it.