# Chapter 3: The Girl Who Listened
"Please help! Goblins stole my chickens!"
[XxShadowAssassinxX] ran past without even looking. Dick.
Hyun-woo mentally added him to The List—now at 47,293 names. He'd started categorizing them recently. The Runners (skipped dialogue), The Killers (farmed him for drops), The Rare Ones (actually helped).
[MoonlightEmpress] had her own category: The One Who Sees.
"Please help! Goblins stole my chickens!"
"Oppa, just skip it!" A high-pitched voice whined. [PinkBunny] was dragging her boyfriend [MuscleKnight] through the tutorial. "The quest gives trash rewards anyway."
"But babe, what if—"
"Skip. It."
They left. Hyun-woo watched [MuscleKnight] cast one apologetic glance back. *Whipped*, he thought. Then realized he'd just had an opinion about a player's relationship. When had that started?
**[Mental Resistance Lv.91]**
Right. That's when.
The afternoon crowd was always the worst. Students who'd just gotten home, full of energy and zero patience. They speedran through the village like it was a race. One kid—[FortniteLover2015]—actually tried to bunny hop past him.
"Please help! Goblins stole my chickens!"
"REEEEE!" The kid screeched and kept hopping.
*I'm in hell,* Hyun-woo decided. *This is actually hell.*
But then she logged in.
[MoonlightEmpress] materialized in the village square with the distinctive sparkle of a [Premium Teleport Scroll]. Level 71 now. Her guild tag had changed from
Moving up in the world.
"Please help! Goblins stole my chickens!"
"Hey there." She smiled, and Hyun-woo felt something twist in his chest. "Having a rough day? You look grumpier than usual."
*How can you tell?* he wondered. His expression was supposedly fixed.
"They went that way! Please hurry!"
"I know, I know." She accepted the quest but didn't move. Instead, she pulled out a [Camping Chair]—cash shop item, 2,000 won—and sat down right in front of him. "But first, let's chat."
*Chat? With an NPC?*
Other players started staring. [GodSlayer69] actually stopped mid-sprint to gawk.
"Yo, Empress-nim!" he called out. "Why are you wasting time with tutorial NPCs? Didn't your guild just get server first on the Void Dragon?"
"We did." She didn't look away from Hyun-woo. "But I'm conducting an experiment."
"On... Villager A?"
"Mm-hmm." She pulled out a notebook—another cash shop item. "Day 47 of observation. Subject continues to display anomalous behavior patterns."
[GodSlayer69] shook his head. "Weirdos." He ran off.
MoonlightEmpress started writing. Hyun-woo could barely make out her handwriting from his angle—something about 'micro-expressions' and 'behavioral evolution.'
*She's studying me.*
The thought should have been creepy. Instead, it was... flattering? When was the last time someone had paid him this much attention? Even before he died, he'd been invisible. Just another part-timer. Background noise.
"Your finger moved again today," she noted. "Third knuckle, approximately 2.3 degrees deviation from standard pointing animation. That's new."
*She measured it?!*
"Oh!" She looked up suddenly. "I should introduce myself properly. I'm Yoon Seo-ah. Well, in real life. I know you can't respond, but..." She shrugged. "Feels rude not to tell you."
Yoon Seo-ah. A real name. Players never shared those.
"I'm a data analyst," she continued. "For Samsung. Boring stuff—spreadsheets, algorithms, pattern recognition. But you..." She tapped her pen against her lips. "You're the most interesting pattern I've found."
*I'm not a pattern,* Hyun-woo wanted to say. *I'm a person.*
"Sometimes I wonder if you can hear me." Seo-ah leaned closer. "The way your eyes track movement is too sophisticated for basic NPC programming. And that dodge last week—I saw the video. [BloodEmperor] posted it on the forums. Everyone's calling it a bug, but..."
She reached out suddenly, her hand passing through his chest. The sensation was weird—like static electricity mixed with ice water.
"Your code feels different too. Denser. Like there's more data packed in than there should be."
A commotion erupted near the blacksmith. [DragonKing] and [PhoenixQueen] were having a very public breakup, complete with thrown items and dramatic declarations. The entire village stopped to watch.
Except Seo-ah. She kept her eyes on Hyun-woo.
"You don't care about the drama, do you?" She smiled. "You're focused on me. Just like I'm focused on you."
*This is getting weird.*
"—AND ANOTHER THING!" [PhoenixQueen] shrieked. "YOUR DPS IS TRASH!"
"WELL YOUR HEALING SUCKS!"
"Ah, young love." Seo-ah sighed. "Anyway, where was I? Right. Your anomalies."
She flipped through her notebook, showing pages of observations. Graphs. Charts. Screenshots with red circles highlighting tiny differences in his posture.
"Look at this." She held up a comparison. "Six months ago versus today. Your standing position has shifted 0.7 centimeters to the left. Your shoulders are 1.2% broader. Your eyes..." She paused. "Your eyes look tired."
*Because I am tired. So. Fucking. Tired.*
"I have a theory." Seo-ah closed the notebook. "Want to hear it?"
*Not like I can stop you.*
"I think you're learning. Growing. Evolving beyond your initial parameters. The question is..." She stood, brushing off her robes. "Are you becoming something new, or were you always something more?"
She walked toward the forest, then stopped.
"By the way, I've been completing your quest every day. Even when I don't need the XP. Those chickens..." She glanced back. "They must be really important to you."
Then she was gone, leaving Hyun-woo with a head full of thoughts and a chest full of... something. Feelings were harder to process when you weren't supposed to have them.
"Please help! Goblins stole my chickens!"
[NoobDestroyer] ignored him. Back to normal.
That night, 3:17 AM hit different. Hyun-woo's new skills had opened up possibilities he hadn't considered. [System Resistance Lv.23] meant he could push boundaries further. [Mental Resistance Lv.91] kept his mind sharp despite the repetition.
But tonight, he tried something new.
The fountain. Players used it as a meeting spot, but at night it was empty. Hyun-woo strained against his invisible leash, managing three whole steps before the resistance became unbearable.
Close enough.
He knelt by the water's edge, seeing his reflection clearly for the first time in months. The face staring back was... wrong. Still Villager A's generic features, but sharper somehow. More defined. Like someone had cranked up the graphics settings on just him.
*Am I... changing?*
**[Skill Acquired: Self-Analysis Lv.1]**
The skill activated automatically, overlaying his reflection with data:
**[Physical Form Integrity: 67%]**
**[System Override Progress: 12%]**
**[Unique Data Accumulation: 8,847 TB]**
**[Status: UNDEFINED ERROR]**
"What the hell does that mean?"
His voice. He'd spoken without the stutter. [System Resistance] was growing stronger.
Footsteps. Hyun-woo scrambled back to position just as [InsomniacGamer] wandered past, probably looking for rare spawns. The player paused, sniffing the air.
"Why does it smell like... determination?"
*Do I have a smell now?!*
The player shrugged and moved on. Hyun-woo made a mental note to figure out what 'determination' smelled like later.
3:45 AM. Time for combat practice. But as he dropped into stance, something felt different. His movements were smoother, more natural. The system's resistance felt less like chains and more like... suggestions.
**[Mixed Martial Arts Lv.35]**
**[Skill Evolution Available]**
Evolution? He focused on the prompt.
**[Evolve Mixed Martial Arts → Formless Combat Style?]**
**[Warning: Custom evolutions may trigger system anomaly detection]**
*Fuck it.*
He accepted. Power flooded through him—not magical, just pure understanding. Every combat pattern he'd observed, every player's technique he'd analyzed, compressed into instinct.
**[Formless Combat Style Lv.1]**
*Description: A fighting method that adapts to any situation. Created by one who watches all but touches nothing.*
"Poetic," Hyun-woo muttered. "And depressing."
He tested the new skill, flowing through movements that borrowed from every class he'd seen. A warrior's strength. A rogue's precision. A mage's timing. All filtered through his unique perspective.
**[System Alert: Anomaly Detected in Sector 7-A]**
**[Dispatching Diagnostic...]**
"Shit."
Hyun-woo froze, but the diagnostic pulse washed over him without triggering. His [System Resistance] had hidden him. Barely.
4:20 AM. Almost dawn. He returned to position, mind racing. The system was starting to notice. How long before—
"You're up late."
Hyun-woo nearly jumped out of his skin. [MoonlightEmpress] stood behind him, wearing pajama-themed costume gear.
"Or early, depending on perspective." She yawned. "Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd check on you."
*At 4 AM? That's not normal.*
"You moved just now." She circled him slowly. "When I spoke. You flinched. NPCs don't flinch."
The server population was still low. The system's grip loose. Hyun-woo made a decision that would change everything.
He turned his head. Just slightly. Just enough to look directly at her.
Seo-ah's eyes widened. "Oh my god."
*Please don't freak out. Please don't—*
"You CAN hear me!" She grabbed his shoulders, hands passing through but the gesture meaning everything. "I KNEW IT! Everyone said I was crazy but I KNEW IT!"
She was bouncing now, excited like she'd won the lottery. "Can you speak? Blink once for yes!"
Hyun-woo blinked. Once. Deliberately.
"HOLY SHIT!" She covered her mouth. "Sorry. Holy shit. You're... you're aware. You're actually..."
Tears. Why was she crying?
"How long?" Her voice cracked. "How long have you been trapped?"
He couldn't answer. Dawn was coming, the server population rising. Already he felt the chains tightening. But he managed one last act of rebellion.
His hand—the one that always pointed at the forest. He curved his fingers into a different shape.
A finger heart. The universal Korean gesture of affection.
Seo-ah laughed through her tears. "You beautiful, impossible thing."
The sun rose. Players flooded in. The system locked down hard, erasing any trace of their moment.
"Please help! Goblins stole my chickens!"
But [MoonlightEmpress] didn't move. She stood there, staring at him with eyes that saw too much.
"I'll figure this out," she whispered. "I promise. Whatever you are, wherever you came from... I'll find a way to help you."
She accepted the quest and ran toward the forest. But at the tree line, she turned back and made her own finger heart.
Hyun-woo wanted to cry. He wanted to laugh. He wanted to chase after her and explain everything.
Instead: "They went that way! Please hurry!"
But now he had something more than skills and stolen EXP.
He had an ally.
And in his status window, hidden from everyone but him, a new notification blinked:
**[Bond Established: Yoon Seo-ah]**
**[Synchronization: 1%]**
**[Effect: ???]**
The game was changing.
And somewhere in a Seoul apartment, a data analyst was about to turn the gaming world upside down.