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“Ah… isn’t there any fun gallery around?”

I’m a total bum. Every day I just roam the internet like this.

Another day, wandering around in search of new dopamine.

“Huh? Hunter Gallery? Haven’t seen that before.”

That’s when I noticed a gallery I’d never seen rise into the real-time hot list.

‘Hunter Gallery.’
Judging from the name, it seemed like a place where actual Hunters chatted.

“Hunters, huh… would be nice if I suddenly awakened too. Make tons of money. Live easy….”

This is a world where Towers and Monsters exist.

In a society where the nation shakes and normal jobs have dwindled, Hunters—who are guaranteed wealth and fame—are the most sought-after profession.

Of course, you can’t just become one because you want to.
Hunter Awakening is purely luck.

From what I know, there are about 10,000 Hunters in Korea.

Curiosity hit me. What kind of things do those lucky few talk about?

I clicked on the gallery as if bewitched.

To get a feel for the atmosphere, I searched through the top posts first.

[Hunter Gallery]
Introduction: A gathering place for active Hunters of Korea.

[Featured Posts]

Click.

[Title: How to increase Awakening probability (not a lie)]
(Weird frog meme holding back laughter)
—As if that exists. Live a decent life.
—Another fake post. This gallery is doomed.
—Where are the mods?
—The Law of Magic 12 is open to all. If you cleanse your body and face yourself, the door will open. First step: eat dirt for 30 days… (Read more)

Click.

[Title: Warning) Don’t ever go to that Hunter academy they advertise lately. Total scam.]
I went today, and they’re complete frauds. They call random gym trainers “specialized instructors.” Zero Hunter experience, yet they claim they can help you awaken. It’s the ㅁㅁㅅ Academy near Hongdae.

—Honestly, you could tell it’s a scam from the ad if you had half a brain.
—Not really the victim’s fault tho.
—But for real, these Hunter academies are popping up everywhere these days.
—They’re all scams. Awakening is pure RNG.
—The Law of Magic 13 is open to all. If you cleanse your body and face yourself, the door will open. First step: eat dirt for 30 days… (Read more)

Click.

[Title: Top-tier Hunter incomes are insane ㄷㄷ]
Some A-rank certified their 1 billion won monthly income. For real? Crazy. Ah, I wanna awaken and live easy too.

—Not really easy, lol. Hunters face death multiple times.
—Nah, that’s C- and D-rank Hunters. Think an A-rank risks death?
—Exactly lol. Plus that guy’s a mage. He just waves his wand and money prints itself.
—The Law of Magic 14 is open to all. If you cleanse your body and face yourself, the door will open. First step: eat dirt for 30 days… (Read more)

I immediately got the vibe.

There weren’t any real Hunters here.
The gallery’s “active Hunters only” description was meaningless.

Not that I cared. I wasn’t a real Hunter either.

Like them, I just needed some peanuts for killing time.

So I brainlessly shitposted:

[Title: Honestly, aren’t unawakened plebs better off hitting reset early?]

—Lmao, true.
—And you? Are you a Hunter?
—(OP) Me? Yeah, B-rank.
—Then name the cafeteria at the Hunter Training Center. Ten seconds.

“Tch. Got caught right away.”

But whatever. Delete and move on.

Just as I was about to post something new, a notification popped.

Like the attention addict I was, I hurriedly clicked.

—The Law of Magic 17 is open to all. If you cleanse your body and face yourself, the door will open. First step: eat dirt for 30 days… (Read more)

“What the hell. Just bait….”

I deleted my post, disappointed.

But the comment lingered in my mind.

If I’d seen it somewhere else, I would’ve dismissed it as the rambling of a lunatic.

But with 10 years of gallery lurking experience, I knew this wasn’t ordinary trolling.

I checked other posts—and sure enough, the same kind of magic-law comment was under all of them.

The key detail: the posting times.

Each appeared 2–3 minutes, sometimes 10 minutes after the original post.

Which meant one thing—
They weren’t macros. Someone was writing them by hand.

“Two possibilities: either broke enough not to buy macros… or a top-tier lunatic.”

Either way, not your average guy.

Curiosity ate at me, so I posted again:

[Title: Who’s that dude posting about magic in every comment?]

But this time—no reply.

I refreshed, waiting.

“Huh? Where’s my post?”

Turns out, it was deleted.

Unforgivable.

I immediately posted an angry protest.

[Title: Why delete my post? I just asked about that magic spammer.]

But the moment I pressed enter—

[Your IP has been banned. Reason: ㅁㅂ. Ban duration: 30 days.]

“What the hell!?”

Head boiling.

Post deletion? Fine.

But a 30-day ban?

That’s war.

I turned on my VPN and posted again.

[Title: What’s this ㅁㅂ shit? Mods gone crazy?]
[Deleted post.]
[Your IP has been banned. Reason: ㅁㅂ. Ban duration: 30 days.]

“Hooh.”

Expected.

So I went nuclear—VPN, macros, spam flood.

Soon the gallery was plastered with my posts.

But then—

[Title: ㅁㅂ is Magic Villain. Read the pinned post.]

[Posting is temporarily restricted in this gallery.]

“Eh?”

The mods surrendered. They froze the gallery itself.

Which meant my victory.

Cracking open a Coke, I basked in the thrill.

“But Magic Villain, huh….”

I checked the gallery notice for the first time.

Sure enough, the rules stated:

[New Rule) Mentioning ㅁㅂ, Magic Villain, or any variation (마법, 마.법, 마,법, 마1법, etc.) results in ban.]

“Whoa… this guy’s the real deal.”

He’d forced the mods to ban the word magic itself.
That level of infamy? A true villain.

I reread one of his infamous comments:

—Magic is open to all. If you cleanse your body and face yourself, the door will open. First step: eat dirt for 30 days… (Read more)

“Hmm… should I try it?”

A sudden impulse took over me.

At least one thing was certain—
If I did it, my post would hit the top. Maybe even Monthly Best.

Couldn’t resist.

I copied and printed the comment.

It was surprisingly detailed.

“Five elemental magic awakenings exist. For beginners, the safest method is Earth Magic…”

To awaken Earth Magic, all I had to do was eat a handful of dirt at every meal for 30 days.

“Fire requires burns, lightning requires electrocution… damn, impossible. But dirt? Doable.”

I was a man addicted to attention.
And dirt-eating was perfect for photos.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

From that day, I began eating dirt daily.

It wasn’t easy—even for me.

At first, I mixed sand with grain powder in water, or baked mud cookies to chew.

At that point, I thought little of it.

Other than some constipation.

I kept spamming galleries, same as always.

[…If the training exceeds 15 days, the body begins to change as the divine presence descends.]

But around Day 15—Week 3—something changed.

The tips of my fingers began to crumble… like sand.