NOVEL WEB Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Ah, Not Anymore
When you work at a convenience store, you get to meet all kinds of people.
From those who just buy cigarettes to those who leave with both hands full of goods.
Polite little kids, annoying middle-aged women, and elderly men who like to lecture.
Countless people come and go from the convenience store.
And today, a convenience store worker with five years of experience encountered a new type of customer.
‘Is she a celebrity?’
Ding~ The door opened, and a woman with sky-blue hair and blue eyes walked in.
Her exotic beauty made her look like a foreigner, but there was also a subtle Eastern touch to her features.
How should I put it? It was as if someone had combined the best traits of both.
You know that meme where God accidentally pours too many ingredients while making a human?
Some get good looks, some get wealth, and some get a great personality.
Usually, they mix things up to create a balanced human, but this woman in front of me—
It was clear that God had poured all the beauty ingredients into her.
Her appearance was that unreal.
“Checkout.”
“Ah! Yes, yes!”
The worker quickly averted his eyes from the chest that slightly protruded under her black short-sleeved shirt.
She had to be some kind of celebrity or model.
If he stared too much and caused trouble, it would be a headache.
‘...? Instant noodles, microwave rice, and kimchi?’
She looked like someone who only ate gourmet steak at high-end restaurants, yet she was buying instant food like crazy.
And not just a meal’s worth—she was stocking up.
‘Maybe she actually likes this stuff?’
For a moment, a strange sense of kinship arose, but when their eyes met, he quickly looked away.
No way.
Maybe she was just trying it out.
She had eaten only fine dining her whole life, so now she wanted to experience commoner food.
Or maybe her family or management company strictly controlled her diet, so she was sneaking in a cheat meal.
Her clothes were plain, but she could’ve dressed like this on purpose.
The worker was certain—this woman was anything but ordinary.
As he continued scanning items, he suddenly paused.
Alcohol.
“Ah, may I see your ID?”
“Sure.”
Without hesitation, the woman handed over her ID.
Lily… Elbrit.
So, she was a foreigner after all.
It would’ve been weirder if she weren’t, with looks like that.
Born in 2002.
Twenty-one years old.
A little younger than expected.
She had a mature aura, so he thought she was at least three or four years older.
But now that he looked at her again, she did suit being twenty-one.
The photo on the ID was definitely her.
“...Could you give that back now?”
“Ah! Sorry!”
He had stared for too long.
The worker quickly returned the ID, and after hastily finishing her checkout, she turned away.
‘Ugh… I should’ve said something to her.’
How many times in his life would he meet someone like that?
As he sighed and checked the register, he noticed the woman had stopped in front of a display shelf near the entrance, staring intently at something.
…That’s where the game top-up cards are.
She picked up one of the cards from a popular game and hurried back to the counter.
“This!”
“Huh?!”
“What is this?”
The card she grabbed—a 50,000-won recharge card.
In the center of the card, an angel and a demon were illustrated.
■
“Hmm…”
I returned from the convenience store.
In the small kitchen, a pot of ramen was boiling.
Next to it, the microwave hummed as it heated up the instant rice.
On the table where my monitor sat, a bowl of kimchi from the convenience store was already placed.
The bubbling sounds and the savory smell stimulated my ears and nose.
This is life.
This is what I really wanted to eat.
Everywhere I had been possessed only had bland food, with barely anything spicy.
The ramen finished cooking, and I neatly transferred the noodles into a bowl with tongs.
A final pour of the broth, and it was perfect.
Hehehe~ I couldn’t help but smile.
I was happier now than when I first succeeded in using holy magic long ago.
Back then, all I could eat was greasy food.
“Done!”
Rice, ramen, and kimchi.
The holy trinity of Korean food was all set on the table.
At this level, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a feast.
I cracked open a can of beer.
Pshh! With a soft hiss, the beer flowed down my throat.
“Ah… This is great…”
The alcohol over there was terrible.
Lukewarm and tasteless.
This was exactly why I risked my life to clear the main quest.
As someone spoiled by modern comforts, I could never survive in a medieval, primitive world.
Ah! Of course, things like eternal youth and convenient magic were nice, but—
“Wait, I can’t use magic now… Does that mean I’ll start aging?”
But my race’s traits should prevent that, right?
I know I have to die someday, but I don’t want to live for thousands of years like the Celestials.
Plop.
Feeling needlessly gloomy, I set down the beer and took a bite of the ramen.
Slurp. The spicy noodles and broth settled comfortably in my stomach.
“Eh, who cares? What matters is that I made it back.”
The past is the past.
Now, I just have to enjoy the present.
It’s not like I’ll ever go back there again.
“...Hmm.”
Tap. Tap-tap.
With a spoon still in my mouth, I turned on my computer and started typing.
It had been 30 years since I last used a keyboard, but my body still remembered how to type, so it didn’t feel too awkward.
A small prepaid card lay carelessly on top of the keyboard.
A plastic card with an angel and a demon glaring at each other as if locked in a standoff.
On it, the blue number 50000 was printed.
I found the search results.
No, saying I "found" it felt ridiculous.
The moment I typed it in, it was as if the internet was desperate to show it to me immediately.
A game.
To be precise, a virtual reality game, Devil of Angel.
Isn’t it obvious just by the name?
“Not going.”
I turned off the screen.
I’d have to be insane to go back there again.
Of course, this wasn’t the same game I first clicked on in that advertisement.
The name was different, and the gameplay wasn’t VR but a computer-based format. Skimming through, even the story was different.
But as a former Celestial-leaning human, I could instinctively feel it.
That game and the world I had been possessed in—
The two were deeply connected.
So, I absolutely wasn’t going.
What if I got possessed again?
“But where did my body go?”
The male body I once had was nowhere to be found, and only Lily Elbrit, the young saintess of a small village, was here in this room.
Did my body just disappear?
Or did Lily’s original soul take over my previous body?
Or maybe her soul was still inside me.
“...Too much effort.”
In the past, I would’ve sorted out my thoughts quickly to survive.
But now that I was back in the modern world, laziness had taken over, and my brain refused to function properly.
Maybe it was just the alcohol.
“Hehehe.”
I felt happy.
I didn’t know why, but I felt happy.
Was it because I had returned? Or was it because I was finally eating delicious food and drinking again?
I wasn’t sure.
The empty ramen bowl rattled on the table.
Feeling a bit better, I dumped the bowl in the sink and tossed the trash into the blue garbage bag I had bought earlier before flopping onto my bed.
Even if I didn’t shower for a day, Celestial-leaning humans were always clean.
“Ah, not anymore.”
I stepped into the bathroom.
■
Every morning, the village chief would wait for me outside my house.
He said it was only natural since I was a saintess blessed by the Celestials.
I found it burdensome and asked him to stop, but after about five years, I got used to it.
And when another five years passed, and I announced I was leaving the village, he cried his heart out.
Not just the village chief, but the villagers as well. Even Lily’s parents—not my real parents, but hers—
Everyone was in tears.
But that didn’t change my decision.
■
Beep! Beep!
“......”
Beep! Beep! Beep!!
“Shut up, please…”
My skull throbbed.
Just seven cans, and my head felt like it was going to explode.
When I was a Celestial-leaning human, I could drink as much as I wanted without any issues…
“Ugh… I feel like I’m dying…”
With my flawless, snow-white hand, I blindly reached for the alarm clock on my bedside shelf.
It was still blaring obnoxiously, demanding attention.
I gave it a light smash.
I tried to break it.
“…It didn’t break.”
Aside from the button being pushed deep inside, the alarm clock was perfectly fine.
Clearly, the magic I had here was completely ineffective.
I had regained all the conveniences of modern life, yet I had lost all the conveniences of magic.
The most annoying loss was definitely Clean Magic.
Clean Magic didn’t just keep the body’s exterior spotless—it also eliminated bodily waste and minor illnesses.
Because of it, for nearly 30 years, unless I was injured in battle, I had never once fallen sick.
Now, if I got sick, I’d have to go to the hospital.
Running a hand through my messy hair, I sat up in bed.
Sunlight streamed in through the window.
Squinting slightly at the brightness, I sluggishly got up, rinsed the pot from last night, and poured fresh water into it before grabbing a pack of ramen from the cupboard and tearing it open.
For a hangover cure.
I had a feeling I’d need this, so I had stopped by the store and bought some bean sprouts.
If I tossed them in, it should be fine.
After all, with my base stats, I should recover in no time.