Prologue
Lim Ji-seo’s goal was simple.
A stable life that flowed quietly and steadily. Yet, contrary to that wish, Lim Ji-seo’s life had been anything but stable.
“Lim Ji-seo, I’m a busy person. So let’s get this done quickly with just a brief guidance. There’s no time to eat and have coffee afterward.”
“Ji-seo noona, do you have plans tonight? I really want us to have that meal we promised earlier today.”
“Kwon Yul, Esper, how many times do I have to tell you that I’ve never had a meal appointment with you?”
Ah, am I cursed?
An untimely argument had broken out in the sacred company cafeteria. As a Korean office worker who lived on the strength of meals, this was unacceptable. Apparently having never heard the saying that even dogs shouldn’t be disturbed during meals, and caring nothing for dining etiquette, Lim Ji-seo finally gave up on eating. She put down her tray and raised her left arm.
“…I’m not Baek Do-hyuk’s Esper, I’m busy today, so please just leave me alone.”
On Ji-seo’s left wrist, a device displayed a stable figure of 34%, matching the height of the two arguing parties. There was no need for guidance, no reason to endure daily meal appointments extended out of courtesy. Yet, between Kwon Yul’s smiling face and Baek Do-hyuk glaring at him with annoyance, the tense power struggle showed no signs of ending.
“Hey, are you two having a contest over who gets to sit with Lim Ji-seo?”
It was then that Chae Yu-ri, an Esper, appeared at the cafeteria entrance. Like a savior, her arrival instantly brightened Ji-seo’s expression. But it was too early to relax.
“Then don’t leave Kim Jin-won out either. I was bored on my way to Seoul, so I looked up some stuff and found this.”
The presence of training instructor Kim Jin-won with her was troubling, but what truly stunned Ji-seo was the headline on the smartphone in Chae Yu-ri’s hand.
[S-Rank Guide Baek Do-hyuk, Vice President of LS Innotech – even reveals his favorite delicacy is Elsa, so who is Lim Ji-seo?]
It was getting worse. Such an absurd headline was something that should never exist in the stable, predictable life Lim Ji-seo had planned. And even more absurd was the content itself.
In the five-minute video, the part Chae Yu-ri focused on showed Lim Ji-seo as a college student before awakening as an Esper, being interviewed about the popularity of professional baseball.
“Life’s joy? These days, I live for watching Kim Jin-won hit home runs! Go Sabers!”
College student Lim Ji-seo, wearing a Sabers uniform and smiling broadly while waving a sketchbook that read, “If Kim Jin-won hits his 58th home run, we’ll get married!”, would undoubtedly damage her current reputation as a trainee when reunited with him as a trainee and instructor.
“Where did you even get this video! Why are you exposing someone’s past like this?”
Snatching the phone from Chae Yu-ri and closing the video, Ji-seo pouted and flushed with embarrassment. At that moment, Kim Jin-won, who had been quietly standing by, spoke with a hint of subtle hurt on his face:
“Lim Ji-seo, was liking me a dark chapter in your life?”
Unbelievable.
Excessive attention was interfering with work.
Professional field worker Lim Ji-seo, committed to her job, found the situation thoroughly displeasing. She never imagined she’d want to give up a secure government position over something like this. Surrounded by S-Ranks averaging 190 cm, Ji-seo genuinely felt an intense urge to resign. Why had this happened to her, a mere C-Rank Esper?
“Noona, that’s in the past, right? You don’t like Jin-won hyung anymore. After training, you probably just want to hit him whenever you get the chance, huh?”
“Yeah, tell me, Lim Ji-seo. Do you still want to marry Kim Jin-won, the Esper?”
…Indeed, am I cursed?
Episode 1
Lim Ji-seo, 27, the second daughter of Bongchon-dong Hope Chicken and a member of the Capital Region Headquarters’ Blue 2 Team for managing awakened individuals, wasn’t born with a cynical personality.
“Not exactly cynical, just realistic,” she defined herself.
Her temperament and environment had perfectly combined to form this personality.
The maternal Hyun family tended to be far from dreamers or overly imaginative, and the global economic crisis, triggered by the bankruptcy of multinational investment firms hit by the decline in U.S. real estate prices, also affected Ji-seo’s environment.
When Ji-seo was 11, her father, Lim Tae-cheol, a branch manager at a bank, was included in voluntary retirement lists at just 43 years and 4 months old.
Afterward, her parents followed the typical path of retirees and opened a chicken restaurant.
“The franchise types just take money for advertising or renovation without doing anything themselves.”
Under Mrs. Hyun Song-hyun’s guidance, they researched the market and opened Hope Chicken in Bongcheon-dong, selling cheap but plenty of chicken.
Of course, her two adolescent daughters were not happy about seeing their father come home late smelling of chicken and oil instead of in a neatly tied tie and driving a sedan, or their mother making elaborate snacks after finishing the day’s work.
Fortunately, her older sister Yeon-seo was excellent at studying. Ji-seo wasn’t as academically gifted but was no fool. At 11, she was clever in wit and adaptability, quickly grasping self-awareness and reality.
While her peers listed ambitious careers such as doctors, scientists, lawyers, judges, or celebrities on their annual future aspiration surveys, Ji-seo steadfastly wrote just three words:
Public servant
Her aptitude and her parents’ hard work indicated that private business or self-employment wasn’t for her.
Her goal was to pass the Seoul Grade 7 civil service exam during her first semester and be appointed immediately upon graduation.
She had developed this goal because she had little interest in the world, observing it with a cloudy, detached gaze. She lacked ambition but had a strong sense of purpose, and no desire but a firm direction.
Civil servant!
A stable, lifelong job!
It is said fortune favors the prepared. The heavens helped those who helped themselves, and Ji-seo finally achieved her long-desired stability upon graduation.
Though not by passing the civil service exam.
“Dad, did you freeze the seaweed soup?”
It was the morning of Ji-seo’s 23rd birthday. Her devoted father had personally prepared a special seaweed soup with beef for his youngest daughter. Just as Ji-seo scooped a large spoonful into her mouth—
Clang.
At first, she thought she had bitten down on a large pebble or shell in the seaweed. The sharp, resonant impact made her spit it out. A mysterious solid chunk rolled across the table. It was clearly not seaweed or beef. The color suggested it was seaweed soup, though.
“What are you talking about! I just made this soup with beef I bought at the dawn market! Ji-seo, what did you just do? Your water cup… it’s frozen…!”
Her father’s scream drew her older sister, Yeon-seo, who was immersed in her studies, into the chaos. Seeing the frozen beef in Ji-seo’s mouth, she snapped:
“Hey! Do you know how much extra work kids like you cause me? The professor said it was way less before all this awakening or gate stuff existed!”
“You awakened, Ji-seo?”
Amid the struggle at the table between Ji-seo spitting out mysterious chunks and Yeon-seo’s moral outrage, their mother Hyun Song-hyun, in the living room doing Zumba while watching an influencer video, exclaimed in alarm.
Through the frozen spoon in her hand, Ji-seo experienced a remarkable revelation:
“Ah, so this is how you awaken and become a civil servant.”
Meanwhile, her father continued trying to feed her the birthday seaweed soup, concerned she couldn’t eat on her special day. But it was futile—everything froze the moment it touched her body. Luckily, her quick-thinking father managed to toss the spoon before his hands froze, avoiding it turning into a decorative object.
Without tasting a single spoonful, Ji-seo decided to register as an awakened individual at the Capital Region Headquarters less than an hour after awakening. Her father’s fussing about needing the state’s help since she couldn’t even eat seaweed soup on her birthday pushed her to act quickly.
[C-Rank Esper. Ability: Cryokinesis.]
[You must enter the training center next Monday.]
[Once you get paid, let’s go eat beef.]
Her family, including Yeon-seo, cheered at the words “enter the center” and “beef” upon receiving Ji-seo’s message.
