Chapter 30 : Yoo Iseul’s Exclusive Attachment Doll

The current time is 2 PM.

There was still some time before the broadcast started.

So, I decided to go to the Awakeners’ Association.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I had a choice in the matter.

The moment she said what she wanted and hung up the phone, my choice was gone.

Of course, it’s not like Yoo Iseul and I are particularly close or anything.

If I found it annoying, I could just call back and say I wasn’t going.

But thinking about the aftermath, it seemed better to just go.

I don’t know why, but…

Yoo Iseul definitely had some level of interest in me.

Even the chairman of the Awakeners’ Association, Yeo Jeonghwan, had been visibly startled by how she treated me.

In the future, I would inevitably have to enter zones where abnormal phenomena occurred, whether I liked it or not.

No matter how durable my body was, handling such incidents alone was too much to be confident about.

I absolutely needed the help of other Awakeners.

And Yoo Iseul was the strongest Awakener.

If she decided to keep helping me move forward…

There was no harm in earning her favor in advance.

Besides, I had been debating what to eat anyway.

I just needed to make sure I was back home before 7 PM.

No matter what, that was non-negotiable.

My priorities in life had changed.

Before, my number one priority was abnormal phenomena and items.

Now, my top priority was the broadcast.

The Awakeners’ Association wasn’t too far from my house.

It should take around 30 minutes to get there.

I wanted to just throw on a pair of jeans and a coat and head out.

But the problem was…

That damn golden piggy bank had stabbed me, turning my clothes into rags.

Could this even be called ripped jeans…?

Probably not.

There’s no such thing as ripped jeans that expose your entire firm backside.

Ever since my encounter with the ‘black smoke,’

I had been ‘set’ as a woman.

The only proof that I had once been a man was my own memory.

There wasn’t a single piece of evidence left.

Even my ID had changed.

The furniture in my house had taken on a more feminine design.

Naturally, my clothes and underwear had changed too.

I was never someone who owned a lot of clothes to begin with.

Two sets of summer clothes.

One set for autumn.

One set for spring and winter combined.

I had gotten by with just four outfits for the entire year.

Since I never had many clothes, I didn’t even have anything comfortable to wear outside at the moment.

If I had known this would happen, I would’ve gone shopping in advance.

There was at least one outfit that looked somewhat comfortable, but…

This…

This outfit is exactly the same as my avatar’s.

If I go outside wearing this, it’s practically an advertisement begging people to recognize me.

Absolutely not.

The broadcast has now been promoted to the number one priority in my life.

In the end, the outfit I chose was…

“…Hello.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

When I arrived at the underground training hall of the Awakeners’ Association,

I spotted Yoo Iseul, sweating profusely as she swung her sword.

After wiping her sweat with a towel, she scanned me from head to toe.

Then she spoke.

“Are you going on a date after meeting me?”

“As if.”

“Then why are you so dressed up? You could’ve just thrown on a hoodie or something.”

“…”

I wanted to.

But no matter how much I searched, there wasn’t a hoodie.

Yeah…

I was wearing a skirt.

Not even joking.

I literally had nothing else to wear but a skirt.

The breeze slipping between my legs felt… weird, to say the least.

And it was cold.

Now I finally understood why women wore stockings.

Walking around with bare legs in this weather?

Absolutely freezing.

“Whatever, let’s go eat.”

“Okay.”

“I’m gonna take a quick shower. Wait here for a bit.”

“Take your time.”

Women usually take forever in the bath anyway.

Might as well check out the wiki on her sword, Iron Sword No. 3, again.

On the way here, I had been thinking about why she called me.

It was obvious.

It had to be because of the sword.

Iron Sword No. 3.

It was censored, so I couldn’t know for sure… but I was certain this sword had some kind of hidden ability.

Yoo Iseul was probably training to unlock its hidden effects.

I checked the wiki again, but the result was the same.

The wiki updates in real time.

Since nothing had changed since I last checked,

her training must not have yielded any results.

At that moment—

Yoo Iseul walked out of the shower, shaking the water from her damp hair, and spoke.

“Let’s go.”

It hadn’t even been five minutes.

Did she seriously finish showering already?

She’s not even a guy…

Did she just splash water on herself, rub on some soap, rinse, and call it a day?

At the very least, she could’ve dried her hair properly.

“Why? Not hungry?”

“No, I’m starving.”

Since eating chicken last night, I had done nothing but sleep.

I felt like my stomach was about to fuse with the floor.

Yoo Iseul took Lee Jia to a steakhouse she frequented.

You might wonder, steak for lunch?

But surprisingly, the lunch special steak was actually a well-balanced meal.

Meat for stamina.

Garnish for health.

Awakeners needed to eat a lot of meat—it was just how things worked.

Most Awakeners trained daily.

Even a simple training session could drain all their energy, so eating meat to recover wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity.

But grilling pork belly for lunch was too much of a hassle.

That’s why steak, which came already cooked, was the go-to option.

As she glanced at Lee Jia, who was sitting across from her awkwardly,

Yoo Iseul muttered,

“No matter how I look at it, this doesn’t seem natural.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Just order your food.”

The subject was missing, so it wasn’t clear whether she was referring to Lee Jia’s pink hair or her rather large chest.

Lee Jia must have been really hungry,

because the moment the steak arrived, she tore into it like a starving beggar.

There was nothing feminine about the way she ate.

No pretense.

No attempt at modesty.

Yoo Iseul found Lee Jia’s almost manly personality rather amusing.

It felt like…

she had just found a perfect little toy to play with.

I had to admit—

This place really was a good restaurant.

I wanted to ask why the hell steak for lunch,

but I knew I’d just get some snappy response, so I held my tongue.

And that turned out to be a fantastic decision.

Perfectly cooked, medium rare.

Yoo Iseul was the type of woman who focused solely on her food when eating.

I was the same way.

The more I saw of her, the more I found her oddly likable.

Sure, her way of speaking was a bit harsh, but she took care of everything that needed taking care of.

It wasn’t until after we finished eating that the real conversation began.

Yoo Iseul was the first to speak.

“I spent two nights researching this thing. And I still can’t figure it out.”

“You’re talking about Iron Sword No. 3, right?”

“…Yeah, Iron Sword No. 3. Ugh, I really hate that name.”

“Right. While you were in the shower earlier, I checked the wiki again, but there were no updates at all.”

“So, you’ve just been kicking air for two days straight.”

“Pretty much. Anyway, the reason you called me is…”

“I think I’ll need your ability after all.”

Even if she says that…

It’s not like I have any special tricks up my sleeve.

“I already told you last time. The information is censored, so even if I wanted to read it, I couldn’t.”

“…Hey. First, tell me more about yourself.”

So, I told her.

The black smoke.

The Shining Stars.

The Omnia Archive.

And the duties of an official archivist.

Since I had already explained all of this to Kim Joonghwan, it wasn’t exactly a secret.

Maybe because she was used to dealing with abnormal phenomena, Yoo Iseul didn’t look particularly surprised.

“I think this is the first time I’ve heard of something like this, but the main point is simple. If you develop your ability, you should be able to read the censored parts, right?”

“Wait, abilities can be developed?”

“Of course.”

“…But I might not even be an Awakener.”

“Then what are you?”

“A devoted follower of the Shining Stars. In other words, my durability and information-reading skills aren’t abilities—they’re just racial traits.”

“…You’re really something else.”

No, seriously!

When I looked at her with the most unfairly wronged expression possible, Yoo Iseul sighed and spoke again.

“Even if everything you’re saying is true, it doesn’t change the fact that you can develop your racial traits.”

“Well, yeah, but I have no idea how to do that.”

“It’s obvious.”

Yoo Iseul shrugged her shoulders and said it like it was nothing.

“Just work hard.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Do more than just your duties. Who knows, maybe your ability will develop that way.”

“Do I really need to go that far…?”

“Think about it. If you were the CEO of a company, would you prefer an employee who only does what they’re told, or one who takes initiative and does extra work on their own?”

She had a point.

By duty alone, my actions as a streamer weren’t problematic.

I was following the rule:

I must stream at least once a day.

But even so…

I had been punished for being insolent.

Clearly, the Shining Stars also preferred an archivist who took initiative over one who only followed orders.

In the end, it came back to the same conclusion I had earlier.

Work harder on streaming.

That’s all there was to it.

“…Do you have any other questions?”

“Nope.”

“Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

“I wasn’t expecting anything in the first place. I just wanted to see your face.”

Was that a compliment or an insult?

“Oh, right. I watched your stream yesterday.”

“Oh, f—”

“You were seriously goddamn terrible. I thought I was gonna die of frustration.”

“I—I know I suck at games, okay?!”

“It’s not just bad, it’s a goddamn disaster.”

“…”

“Also, your camera setup seemed a little weird. You got a lot of donations, though. Get a better camera.”

“It’s not a camera, it’s a screen panel.”

“What the hell is a screen panel?”

“…It’s just a thing.”

“Are you messing with me? What the hell is a screen panel?”

And so, I had to spend a long time explaining what a VTuber was.