Chapter 01
[Free Board]
Title: Who abandoned a puppy in front of the dungeon?
Who the hell left a puppy in such a dangerous place when it’s this cold outㅡㅡ
Last week someone dumped a cat, and now it’s a puppy too? These people are insane;
It still looks like a baby, and it seemed hungry, so I brought it some pet food, but it wouldn’t eat. ㅠ Even sausage wouldn’t workㅠㅠㅠ
It keeps whimpering like it’s waiting for its owner. It’s so pitiful.
I had to go into the dungeon, so I had no choice but to leave it there, but I can’t stop thinking about it.
You piece of trash worse than dog poop; in your next life, become poop yourself.
I signed up here just to write this.
[Comments]
└Anonymous1: I can hear Whitey’s heart shattering from here.
└Anonymous2: Hey, that’s not a stray ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.
└└Author: ??? What do you mean?? It has an owner? But… why would they leave it in such a dangerous placeㅠㅠ??
└└└Anonymous2: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Are you a newbie?
└└└└Author: ?? Yeah, I’ve been awakened for two weeks and hunter activity for one week.
└Anonymous3: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└└Author: ㅠㅠ… Why are you laughing? Can newbies not post too?
└└└ Anonymous2: No no no, we’re laughing because you’re cuteㅋㅋㅋ That dog has an owner, don’t worry.
└Anonymous4: The owner is right here ㅎ
└└Anonymous5: Please stop.
└Anonymous6: You gave it pet food and sausage???? That kind of stuff???? Seriously.
└└Author: Why… Was I not supposed to?? Who’s the owner?
└└└Anonymous6: ㅡㅡ Of course not. Listen carefully. From now on, if you ever see an animal in front of a dungeon—
└└└└ Author: If I see one, what?
└└└└Author: What is it?
└└└└Author: What ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└└└└└Anonymous3: They got dragged ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└└└└└└Author: ???
└Author: Why are you all laughing?
└Anonymous7: The puppy’s and cat’s owner took them… (not Anonymous4)… They were absolutely not abandoned! Thank you for worrying. [Edit/Delete]
It was a good thing I was idly browsing the forums as usual.
When I saw the words “puppy abandoned,” I clicked just in case.
And, as expected, it was about me.
“Ha……”
How embarrassing.
My face burned up, and right after posting a reply, I threw my phone aside.
I had even texted Ha-yeon, who had been leaving weird comments.
I had only been waiting in front of the dungeon to test the long-range buff effect, but who would have thought a post would go up and I’d get publicly immortalized like this?
And the cat they mentioned being abandoned last week had also been me, which made it even worse.
It wasn’t even enough to say, “everyone who knows, knows…”
I was famous enough that I hadn’t paid it much mind.
People who aren’t interested obviously wouldn’t know.
It was better than getting too much attention, so I could live with it.
The problem was that every time something like this happened, posts talking about me got bumped back to the top.
And seeing people rush to respond made me feel intensely ashamed.
“Haah……”
I was clutching my head and absentmindedly shaking my leg when—
The phone I had tossed aside started vibrating repeatedly.
I reached for it and saw text after text coming in.
Hee-ho
Ha-yan~ Join a guild and let life get easier. ㅎㅅㅎ
Ye-seung
Hyung keeps saying nonsense again. Haha. I’ll protect you, so join our guild.
Cho-hee Unni
That ellipsis feels so tragic, my baby… even my heart shattered. It might heal if you join my guild, though. ^^
Seo-un
Pls. Turn into a birdbrain and attack for me so we can party! Need to kill the Harpy Queen ㅠ Also highly recom★mend joining a guild!!
Ha-yeon
Unni, I’m sorry ㅠㅠ But HOW DARE THEY!! Saying they fed my unni sausage and pet food “that kind of stuff” made me so pissed!!!
Kang Red
ㅋ
“……”
Aren’t these people supposed to be busy clearing dungeons?
Why do they all see forum posts so fast?
And reply even faster?
I started to text everyone back one by one but somehow lost the energy and switched my phone to silent.
I kept sighing.
Blankly staring at the ceiling, I summoned my status window.
“Status……”
[Name] Moon Ha-yan
[Class] Pet (SSS)
[Charm] 423
[Skill] Lucky Lucky Change★ (B)
Compared to other awakened people’s status windows, this was so simple it almost looked empty.
And the thing that stood out the most—
It was obviously the class.
An SSS-rank hidden class.
But honestly, if I could undo it, I would.
No matter how hidden it is, why did it have to be Pet of all things… Pet…
And to make things worse, the ability was absurdly good, which only caused chaos everywhere.
If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would’ve worked harder to hide that the pet was me.
Back when I was still an ordinary awakened person, not a hunter, becoming a hidden class had happened more than half a year ago.
* * *
SYSTEM: Congratulations! Having stolen the hearts (♥) of countless people, you have gained the opportunity to advance into a hidden class. Proceed?
Time Remaining: 00:09:59
It was late at night.
I had been sick with a fever since morning, skipped my part-time job, and spent the whole day lying in bed before finally coming to my senses.
And then I saw the system window appear for the first time in ages.
“What is this…?”
A dream? A hallucination?
Didn’t seem like it.
“Hidden class……”
Even though I was awakened, not a hunter, I knew what it was.
A very special opportunity granted when an awakened person met certain conditions.
Awakened individuals normally gained experience in dungeons, then advanced into a class of their choosing.
But hidden classes were different.
You couldn’t choose them.
You could only obtain them if the system appeared like this.
The problem was—
Until the final selection, it wouldn’t tell you what kind of class you’d become.
And once you became a hidden class, any previous unique skills you had were replaced.
Other than common skills everyone could use, only the hidden class’s exclusive skills remained.
Even so, everyone wanted one.
Because no matter what it turned into, you were guaranteed to receive valuable skills.
I had only met one hidden-class user myself.
Hunter Rank 4, Yeon Hee-ho.
His class was Tamer.
As the name implied, he had taming skills that let him domesticate monsters.
Hee-ho was also a regular customer at the lunchbox shop where I worked.
We were the same age, and because he was sociable, we became close quickly.
And whenever he had the chance, he’d tell me to become a hunter with him.
He said he’d carry me through dungeons.
But I was so cowardly that I always reacted like the sky was falling whenever he said that.
If I asked Hee-ho, he might know something.
But it was too late at night to contact him.
“Hmm……”
As I fanned my sweat-soaked shirt, only five minutes remained.
Honestly, there wasn’t much reason to be this cautious.
I was an awakened person with such mediocre abilities that—
There was basically no downside to taking the hidden class.
But…
“What does ‘stolen hearts’ even mean?”
That message made no sense, and that was why I hesitated.
Though if the skill I got ended up being weird, I could just not use it.
The timer dropped to two minutes.
With half curiosity and half nervousness, I pressed Proceed.
Please let it be a good class.
Then maybe entering dungeons wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable.
And maybe when people invited me along, I wouldn’t always have to refuse.
At that moment—
The dull gray window turned gold.
With a dramatic “Doo-dung!” sound effect.
And then—
SYSTEM: You have awakened as the Hidden Class Pet (SSS)!
You have acquired the exclusive skill Lucky Lucky Change★!
A system window appeared before my eyes.
And right after—
(Global) SYSTEM: Someone has awakened as the Hidden Class Pet (SSS)!!!
A global announcement.
Something I had never seen in my life.
“Huh?”
Excuse me, wait.
Pet?
What is this…?
