Prologue – A Dangerous Meeting

Ever since I was young, I knew I was not like any other ordinary person.

“Noona, you were dumped right?”

“Uh, uh, uh, how did you know? I haven’t told anyone!!”

“It’s written on your face~~”

That was obviously a lie. To be exact, it wasn’t written on her face but ‘above her head.’

“Wow, that uniform looks nice. Which school is that?”

“North-one High School.”

“Huh? Where is it?”

“I have no idea.”

“But you recognized their school uniform.”

“I saw it once during a school field trip.”

Of course, this was yet another lie. That was the first time I had seen that uniform. On top of that, I had never heard of that school either, and the more so I wouldn’t know of its location. However, the moment I laid my eyes on the student, I knew their ‘Affiliation.’ The story of my first meeting with that student was irrelevant.

“Leaf ranked first on the charts again this time.”

“Of course! Ah, Leaf is so pretty. Her singing is superb, and she has such a svelte figure!”

“By the way, I heard that all personal details of Leaf are sworn to secrecy. Is that true?”

It seemed like they were aiming for the mysterious concept. After all, her family had nothing to hide.

“Yeah, no one has any inkling of her origins or her family. Even the manager claimed that he doesn’t know Leaf’s real name.”

“Now I’m curious what Leaf’s real name might be.”

“Well… Since it’s Leaf, I’m sure she must have a pretty name…”

“Choi Bae-dal.”

“Huh?”

Looking at those inquisitive eyes filled with confusion, I spoke once again, “Choi Bae-dal.”

“Yeah, what about that person?”

“Nothing. I just suddenly recalled a movie I watched before.”

Meaningless mumbling.

It was none of my business whether the real name of that girl, was it Leaf or Leaflet, was Choi Bae-dal or Choi Hong-man[1]. The important thing was, whether it was on TV or anywhere else, I was able to see the real names of the opposite parties as soon as I saw their faces…

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Yes. I wasn’t like every other normal person. I had an ability which others didn’t. Of course, it wasn’t as if I was a capable man of great ability but one thing I knew for sure was that it was definitely an unique ability. When did I first find out that I had this ability? Was it when I was in second grade in middle school?

“Stop blocking the road and get out of the way!”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

Without giving much response to that sharp voice, I moved out of the way. I didn’t retort with statements such as “Why are you picking a fight when the road is wide?”

The girl was on her period. Ah. Of course, I didn’t mean it as a metaphor. She was really having her period. The question was, how did I know? It was written above her head.

Yeongwol High School. Grade 2 - Class 3.

On her period, Jo Mi-young.

Really. That was what was written. But of course, it was special text that could only be seen by me and no one else.

“So when exactly did I start seeing such text? I think I recalled seeing it when I was much younger.”

Have you ever played RPG games? No, I don’t have to use RPG games as an example.

In most online games, characters had their ID (Identification number: An identifier assigned to a user by the computer in a network shared by numerous users.) [2] written above their head. It was a game-specific mechanism that distinguished similar looking avatars to represent an unique user.

Yes, this superpower I had (It’s quite ambiguous if it should be called a superpower, but anyway) allowed me to see their names above their heads. No, well, to be precise, it allowed me to see not just their names. Their ‘Affiliation’ and the ‘Condition’ they are in were also written above their heads.

The man who just walked past me, the words above his head read ‘Stayed up all night playing games, Lee Chun-kyung’. The woman behind him, the words above her head read ‘In love, Moon Young-Ju’. And, the words on the head of the man who just ran past them read ‘Will still be late no matter how fast he runs, Jeon Dae-il’.

“It’s really interesting no matter how many times I have seen it.”

Those words which were written before their names, I refer to them as ‘Title’. Titles were numerous and would change with every passing moment. It was usually affected by the person’s current situation or state of mind. Because of this, many had often told me that I was quick-witted. They also said that I was good at memorizing names. Even though I was just reading what their titles said from time to time.

“What a joke of an ability.”

Yeah, wasn’t this ability really ridiculous? Calling it a superpower or a spiritual ability would be borderlining it. If the ability allowed me to create fireworks or see spirits just by thinking about it, I would have been able to guess what I could do with it; but otherwise, it was hard to guess what exactly was the purpose of my ability, much less how it worked.

Not that it didn’t help me in my daily life, and I don’t have any complaints about my ability either, but still…

“Excuse me.”

A sudden tiny whisper brought my running thoughts back in. The owner had called out apprehensively, perhaps fearful that I would be startled.

I turned without much thought, “Are you calling me?”

“Yes.”

To be honest, I was slightly surprised by the appearance of the girl who replied to me modestly. She was a girl in her late teens. Her blue hair looked as though they were made from strands of seawater. Her eyes were the same matching blue color. The pretty girl stood there. She was so pretty that if she were to stand still on the streets of Myeong-dong, she would likely receive more than 100 talent-casting offers in an hour.

“What’s the matter?” I almost stuttered but I managed to grab a hold of myself.

Woah, being pretty was an incredible weapon in itself. She was able to get me so flustered without making any out of the norm facial expressions or doing anything unusual. But it was something else that really got me flustered, no, shocked me.

“…Huh?”

Honestly, this wasn’t the first time I had seen a peculiar title. Yes, it had been ten years since I started seeing Korean characters on people’s heads. I had seen many people and I had seen all sorts of titles.

Human Slayer.

It meant “murderer”. No matter how I looked at it, I could only interpret it that way.

And bewilderingly enough, that title belonged to the most beautiful girl in the class next door, Lee Kyung-eun. She was an extraordinary beauty, her grades were among the top 10% of the entire school and she even had a pleasant personality. On top of that, she was the sole child of a rich household and was hence well loved by many. And that was her title.

Because of that, I tried as hard as I could to not bump into her or even be in her vicinity. Undeniably, she was a beautiful girl, but I don’t exactly enjoy adventures or thrill.

Boss of Prestige.

I had also seen such a title. If I were to interpret it, it would be something like a prestigious boss? Something along that line. The problem was that I had heard of an organization that went by the name, Prestige.

Wasn’t it said that there were dark forces in the country that even our national government wouldn’t dare to casually mess with? But ridiculously, the person with that title was a classmate of mine. I thought he was a model student with a quiet personality but he was the boss of a huge dark force.

I had seen plenty of ‘Titles’ so far. Innumerable titles with no consistency, and each title sounded bizarre. But even so… I had never seen a title that was wrong.

If someone had the title ‘Very unlucky today’, that person would definitely be pitifully unlucky even if one was to look at their situation objectively.

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I’m saying this once again, but I detest adventures or thrills. I really, really love peace.

I was the type of person who felt that living the same mundane life every day was precious and at the same time, was grateful for that. Hence, I didn’t have the least bit of interest in dangerous things or people. And now, I stared at the really startling cute little girl standing before me.

She was pretty but not the type that I would want to get close to. But of course, being a man myself, how could I bring myself to hate beauties? But if you were to ask of my beauty standards, there would be plenty of room for dispute. For someone like me who loves peace, meeting an ambitious woman, who also created trouble everywhere she went, would definitely be a turn off.

However, her beauty was secondary. In fact, there was something about her that was a larger and more serious push factor.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing. But if you don’t mind, may I know why you called me? I’m a little busy.”

Obviously, I was not busy.

In any case, she was indeed a beauty and I wanted to be nice to her. But I came to my senses the moment I saw the title floating above her head. Because her title was more ridiculous and dangerous than anything I had seen so far.

This was what was written above her head.

Detro Galaxy Union, Fourth Corps, First Advance Squad

Extraterrestrial Being, Celestia

———————

I’m saying this again, just in case, but I’ve never seen a wrong title before.

“Oh, I’m sorry for taking up your time. I just wanted to ask you a question.”

“Ask me?”

“Yes. Ah, pardon me.”

As she said that, she approached me and extended her two slim arms and placed them around my neck, pulling me in. It wasn’t for any strange purpose, but to whisper in my ear. But even so, it was enough for me to fall head over heels. Men around us started to send piercing gazes. I could smell a faint sweet mint fragrance.

“I’m very sorry to ask you this during our first meeting…”

She asked softly, “Are you an Earthling?”

“…What?”

An evening that made me come to my senses completely. That was my first meeting with her.

1. A Korean MMA fighter, also known as “Korean Monster” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choi_Hong-man

2. read: IGN (In game name)