ATCP 05

Chapter 05

[Trait: Dark Past]

Allows you to draw upon and utilize another side of yourself.

Having successfully suppressed the “First Prairie Dog Incident,” I took a deep breath and glared at the system window.

Oblivious to my inner turmoil, [Trait: Dark Past] flickered steadily. It was a clear invitation to tap it. The moment I looked at the prompt, a flood of deeply embarrassing memories rushed through my mind.

Fear warned me that opening this would trigger a tidal wave of humiliation, but curiosity simultaneously nudged my hand forward. Just what kind of dark past could have possibly manifested as an Awakening Skill?

In the end, my fingers pressed against the glowing letters.

[Trait: Dark Past]

— Fairy —

A fairy born from the breath of a flower bed.

— Dark Fairy —

Currently locked.

— Demon King —

Currently locked.

— Gumiho —

Currently locked.

— ■■ —

Synchronization Rate: 0%

And thus, the “Second Prairie Dog Incident” erupted.

“Aaargh!!”

I swung my fist wildly at the notification window, but my hand passed uselessly through the holographic interface.

“This! Why is this here?! What even is this?!”

The moment I read the trait’s details, memories of my dark past—spanning from elementary school all the way through my second year of middle school—came crashing down on me. It was the memory of a notebook I had meticulously filled to the brim with intricate character settings.

Worse yet, it hadn’t stopped at just one character. From flawlessly beautiful concepts to ones absolutely drenched in tragic backstories, it was practically a bustling marketplace where no trope was left behind.

Fortunately, that notebook had been discarded when I graduated from high school. I had completely forgotten about it until I stumbled across it while throwing away old study guides. Though my mental sanity and eyes had suffered severe damage that day, completely destroying that cursed ledger was a fair trade.

In short, those pages should have rotted into a handful of dirt or burned to ash by now. Yet here was this system window, shoving my cringeworthy past right back into my face in place of those incinerated papers.

“Cancel Awakening! Cancel!”

Even though I knew it was futile, I shouted the words with everything I had. Unsurprisingly, the window didn’t budge. Instead, the agonizingly embarrassing word ‘Fairy’ flashed repeatedly, practically begging to be pressed.

I searched for a back or close button as an alternative to canceling, but this system was thoroughly unhelpful. It was as if it were telling me, No take-backs.

Defeated, I raised my hand and tapped the word. The moment I pressed ‘Fairy’, the window expanded to reveal a detailed description.

[Description]

A fairy born from the breath of a flower bed.

Good-natured and pure.

A friend to the flowers.

[Current Synchronization Rate]

0%

[Stats]

• Strength: 75

• Mana: 203

• Agility: 215

• Stamina: 134

• Resistance: 187

[Skill Composition]

— Call of the Flowers —

Receive aid from plant life. Activated by speaking the trigger word along with a command. The effect increases the more bright and energetic your tone is.

Trigger Word: “Dear Flowers.”

— Honey Wine —

Available when Synchronization Rate is 40% or higher.

Increases allies’ Attack and Defense by 50%. Restores 10 Health every 20 seconds for 10 minutes.

— Bloom —

Consumes 90% of the Synchronization Rate to fully restore the Health of all allies, including status ailments.

I immediately downed the rest of the beer remaining in my can. This was so horrifyingly catastrophic that I couldn’t face it sober. Why, how, and for what earthly reason had my old roleplay settings been transcribed with such painstaking detail? The system had to hold a personal grudge against me to do something like this.

After shaking out every last drop of beer, I forced myself to look back at the screen. Unfortunately, the alcohol only served to sharpen my memories alongside a wave of tipsiness. Yes, I vividly recalled the era back in elementary school when I was completely immersed in the ‘Fairy’ concept.

‘She is a fairy born in the spring when flowers are in full bloom. Because she is the fairy most beloved by flowers, she is kind and pure to everyone. She was born with a unique healing power that other fairies do not possess. Even villains covet her abilities, so everyone strives to protect her.’

“You lunatic…” I muttered to myself.

I couldn’t bear the memory of my younger self stepping so boldly down the path of a reverse-harem protagonist. If I had known back then, I never would have written such things.

As I clutched my head, desperately suppressing a scream, the system generated a new prompt.

Please command ‘Synchronization’.

A deep frown etched into my forehead at the sudden demand. It wouldn’t let me cancel the Awakening, yet it sure asked for a lot.

A swell of annoyance rose within me, but at the same time, the word ‘Synchronization’ caught my attention. It had appeared in the description as a ‘Synchronization Rate,’ but I had no inkling of what it actually did.

I murmured the word flashing on the interface. “Synchronization?”

As if responding to my murmur, a sudden cascade of flower petals rained down over my head. The petals, falling as though dumped from a bucket, brushed past me and vanished right before hitting the floor.

“Whoa, startled me.”

If they had actually piled up on the floor, a curse would have slipped out, but not a single speck of pollen remained. The only visible change was a rectangular graph indicating the synchronization progress tucked away in the corner of my vision. The bar remained locked firmly at 0%.

Aside from that, nothing else seemed to have changed. I looked around to check for any modifications to my surroundings, and that was when a strand of silver hair flowing past my shoulder caught my eye.

…Yes, silver. Not gray, but a shimmering silver.

“…”

Fear eclipsed any sense of wonder. Swallowing hard, I stood up quietly, walked over to the bathroom, and opened the door.

The mirror greeted me. Alongside it, a woman with silver hair and pink eyes stared right back.

Her pristine, pale face looked somewhat like mine, yet at the same time, it belonged to an entirely unfamiliar beauty. But the most absurd part of all was the pair of wings fluttering against my back.

“Wings?”

As if answering my question, a pair of dragonfly-like wings shimmered with a faint, iridescent glow. I hesitantly reached back to touch them.

Flutter—

The moment my fingers brushed against them, a thin, papery texture sent a ticklish sensation through my spine. The wings gave a sudden, reflexive flutter to shake off the touch.

A dark history I had concocted over a decade ago had literally become my reality.

The face in the mirror offered a faint, serene smile. Then, with utter composure, I reached under the sink, pulled out a bottle of bleach, and poured it into my rinsing cup.

“…”

With that, my bathroom became a level cleaner, and my Awakening was swiftly sealed away.

Then again, promises are made to be broken, and seals are meant to be undone. I had never once in my life seen a seal that actually held up permanently.

Naturally, this was no exception.

[Da-Soo Store — Lettuce Growing Kit]

“Ahem.”

A profound sense of existential dread washed over me the entire time I was patting down the soil and watering the kit, but curiosity continuously kicked doubt out of the way. I had Awakened, after all; shouldn’t I at least test out my abilities?

“Dear Flowers. Would you please grow?”

I activated the only skill currently available to me.

Even after my whisper, there was no immediate change. A sudden wave of embarrassment and shame flooded over me, making my face flush hot.

“Is this not how I’m supposed to use it…? Dear Flowers, grow? Grow up, dear flowers?”

I spun the lettuce kit this way and that while muttering to myself, but the seeds showed absolutely no reaction. Thank goodness I was at home; if I had done this outside, I would have had to look for a hole to crawl into.

Crack— Snap, snap.

“Huh?”

A sound that definitely shouldn’t be occurring inside a house echoed out. It was coming from the far corner of the living room.

Turning my head to investigate, I spotted something green sprouting in the corner.

“Uh… what?”

That definitely wasn’t supposed to be visible there. The green mass was rapidly expanding, asserting its presence. To be exact, it was taking root and literally breaking through the drywall.

“Heck, no!”

This place was a monthly rental. I sprinted toward the unidentified plant tearing through the wall.

“No! Stop growing! Stop growing! Dear Flowers, don’t grow! This is a rental!”

The moment I frantically cried out and grabbed the plant, it abruptly turned yellow and withered away. It slid right out of the wall under my touch, but the damage had already been done.

“A hole… there’s a hole in the wall.”

A dark cavity large enough for a mouse to slip through seemed to mock me.

“What is this…”

Did this happen because I had literally just looked for a hole to crawl into? I knew it was an absurd thought, but there was no other explanation. I couldn’t even muster a hollow laugh as I stared at the punctured wall. I really hadn’t wanted to learn the lesson that skills shouldn’t be activated without precise directions this way.

With a limp hand, I tossed the withered weed into the trash bin and returned to the lettuce kit. Avoiding the vague activation from earlier, I focused on a clear command and invoked the skill once more.

“Dear Flowers, grow enough for me to harvest and eat.”

This time, the soil shifted slightly. Soon after, vibrant green lettuce leaves pushed through the dirt and revealed themselves.

“Oh, it works. It actually works.”

I carefully plucked the lettuce leaves one by one and set them aside in a bowl. Mentally deciding on a lettuce wrap dinner for tonight, I went ahead and checked the other skills.

[Honey Wine]

[Bloom]

The remaining two skills were entirely composed of buffs and heals. However, both carried specific prerequisites.

Available when Synchronization Rate is 40% or higher.

Consumes 90% of the Synchronization Rate to fully restore the Health of all allies.

I shifted my gaze upward to check the synchronization percentage hovering at the edge of my vision. The number remained stubbornly fixed at 0%, and I had no clue how to raise it.

Am I supposed to adopt a kind mindset? Or perhaps a pure one?

Should I try at least one of them? I unlocked my phone and accessed a donation portal featured on the main page of a search engine.

Please gift a warm lunchbox to children who are solving their meals with cup ramen again today.

Thinking a single donation might be too insignificant, I raised the amount to cover the cost of about five lunchboxes and processed the payment. A message expressing gratitude popped up upon completion, but I bypassed it to check the synchronization status first.

[Current Synchronization Rate]

0%

“What gives.”

No change whatsoever. Was it because it wasn’t a purely altruistic act, but rather one carried out with an ulterior motive?

“How on earth do you raise this? Do I have to enter a dungeon to increase it or something? No such condition is written here, though.”

Even after scanning the window meticulously and searching through the help sections, there was no mention of how to increase the rate. The most plausible hypothesis remained entering a dungeon.

“Hmm…”

Curiosity versus embarrassment. That was the question.

I stealthily opened my phone again and typed my most burning question into the search bar. Within moments, I gained a massive realization. In this world, neither curiosity nor embarrassment truly mattered.

Q: Roughly how much is the annual salary for a C-Rank Healer?

└ A: It varies depending on the specific skills, but I understand the minimum is at least 100 million KRW. It’s safe to assume there’s almost no one making less than that.

The most important thing was an unbreakable salary!