ATP 06

Chapter 6

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I must have dozed off in the laboratory, because I woke up in the middle of the night to find myself on the attic bed.

Next to me, the Alchemist was awkwardly keeping watch over my head, and I was clutching their hand like I had just won the lottery.

Looking at myself, I must have looked ridiculously spoiled—a child throwing a tantrum. Embarrassing beyond words.

I decided to wake the Alchemist so they could go back to bed, then burrowed into the blankets myself.

Ugh… I was too embarrassed to sleep.

After kicking the blankets around for a while, I finally calmed down.

I couldn’t just waste time lying there. Since sleep wasn’t coming, I resolved to finally finish reading The Three Kingdoms Circle.

By dawn, I had read it to the very end, and my thoughts were…

“The ending is insane, even on a second read.”

Hey, author. Does a single character’s life really need to be this tragic? Seriously.

I wanted to confront the author directly—but unfortunately, there was no way to do that.

Anyway, having finished the original, it was time to decide my new profession.

“A healer, of course.”

As I mentioned before, in this world, healers awakened to divine power were rare.

It was so rare that the main character often lamented how nice it would be to have a competent healer around.

I wasn’t about to suffer through the same frustration as the protagonist.

If you’re thirsty, you have to open the soda bottle yourself!

I set my future goal as becoming a “capable healer.”

I used the “Job Change Package (Combat)” I had bought the day before.

[<System> Selecting ‘Soul of the Legendary Saint’ triggers a quest to awaken your divine power.]

A quest? Of course, it wouldn’t be handed over for free.

[<Quest> ‘A Thousand Dawn Prayers’
Pray sincerely and devotedly at a church, cathedral, or temple daily between 5:00–7:00 AM. (0/1,000)
Note: Limited to once per day. Missing three consecutive days resets the count to zero.]

Gasp!

Even if I prayed every day without fail, it would take almost three years.

Because it was a count-based quest, any rapid-growth bonuses wouldn’t help. I just had to slog through it.

There were two small comforts: missing prayers for up to two consecutive days wouldn’t fail the quest, and the Baek Mansion had a chapel inside.

It was currently 6 a.m., so I could rush to the chapel, complete today’s prayer, then head to the kitchen for work.

I followed the map to the chapel, tucked in a corner of the main building’s first floor.

It had been rebuilt by the previous Countess, a devout woman, but after a generational shift, it was left unused.

“Ugh, dust.”

It seemed like no one had bothered to clean it. Since I’d be using it regularly, I decided to tidy it up for the sake of my precious lungs.

I quickly opened the windows and grabbed cleaning supplies from the adjacent room.

Being in a child’s body and with such a large chapel, I’d have to spread the cleaning over several days.

After a quick sweep, I clasped my hands for prayer.

“…Hmm.”

What exactly should I pray for?

The quest said to pray sincerely and devotedly.

I was an atheist.

I didn’t believe in gods in my previous life, so suddenly believing in the gods of this novel world seemed impossible.

I first needed to establish faith in a god before worrying about sincerity.

Wait… I’ve already experienced the afterlife. I do know gods, don’t I?

And there were many of them. I called upon them immediately.

“Gods of the Spirit Possession Bureau! Please grant me divine power!”

Ding!

[<System> ‘Dawn Prayer’ in progress. Current progress: 5%.]

It was working! I decided to pour my heart into it.

“Gods of the Spirit Possession Bureau… Ah, that’s a mouthful, I’ll just call you the Spirit Gods. You’re listening, right? You forced an ordinary citizen—me—into spirit possession against my will. Well… I wasn’t exactly living an ordinary life either.”

Memories from my previous life began to resurface.

“Thinking of how the money my family owed me and the accident settlements for my dad and brother all got taken by the big house still makes me angry. And after finally moving out, the big house kept nagging me. They spent all that money, then called me every week asking if I had any left, and when I didn’t pick up, they’d come to my old basement apartment.”

[<System> ‘Dawn Prayer’ progress: 20%.]

Even as I started venting, the progress bar moved steadily.

I pressed on.

“Later, do you know what happened? My uncle called from an unknown number. When I answered and said, ‘Uncle?’ he snapped, ‘Don’t call me uncle, call me dad.’ Can you believe that? Then he told me my sister needed me to move in with her while she prepared for a transfer exam. Something about being the older sister and taking care of her.”

Spirit Gods, get ready for some frustration.

“That wasn’t all. He also told me to make sure she had breakfast before going to work, worried she might starve while studying. And he said, ‘Make her soup hearty with beef, you know she can’t eat without it.’ I was so mad I went out and bought 1kg of Australian sirloin and ate it all by myself. Delicious.”

[<System> ‘Dawn Prayer’ progress: 65%.]

I licked my lips, remembering the beef.

By now, I was slouched, resting my chin on the chapel pew armrest.

“If she had barged into my apartment, it would have been terrible. Lucky I didn’t see that happen.”

Trying to finish on a positive note, I focused on the good.

“I honestly don’t have much attachment to my past life. Maybe that’s why my spirit possession aptitude was high. Anyway… the support system here seems well-built. With it, I could live comfortably on life insurance money in this world.”

Blushing slightly, I added,

“…Most of all, I’m happy to have a family here. The Alchemist and Prinz seem a bit like my dad and brother from my previous life.”

Even though no one else could hear me, I felt embarrassed, fidgeting my feet atop the high pew.

Checking the prayer progress, it was at 80%. More effort was needed.

“But there’s a problem!”

I opened my eyes wide.

“My old apartment’s deposit would go to my uncle since I died! Ugh, frustrating!”

All I had done was benefit that family even in death. Why does one person’s life always become another’s exploitation? The world is so unfair.

Then…

[‘The Wordsmith Who Builds Worlds’ says the apartment deposit has been used as a life insurance payout for the spirit possession. Rest assured.]

“Ah?”

I was startled by the unexpected reply.

[<System> ‘Dawn Prayer’ complete.]
[<Quest> ‘A Thousand Dawn Prayers’ (1/1,000). Available again in 22 hours 15 minutes.]
[<System> Special reward ‘Divine Response’ triggered by using the ‘Soul of the Legendary Saint’ package and heartfelt prayer.]
[<System> Some of the gods you selected from the Spirit Possession Bureau respond.]

[‘The Wordsmith Who Builds Worlds’ shows great interest in you, possessing their S-rank world, and answers your prayer.]
[‘The Skyscraper Architect of Trials’ noticed your prayer but is busy designing a 100-floor tower for a hunter story, so ignores it for now.]
[‘The Balancing Critic’ watched your prayer but is too busy criticizing the difficulty balance of each floor.]

Wait… does my prayer get sent like a message?

Then this is…

“…a celestial ranking story!”

Being a veteran web novel reader, I immediately grasped the situation.

The god who showed great interest informed me about the big house.

[‘The Wordsmith Who Builds Worlds’ says your cousin sister ended up living on her own, but since she drinks and parties every day, the transfer is a lost cause.]

“Oh… she’s still a mess even after failing four times.”

[‘The Wordsmith Who Builds Worlds’ says your uncle invested all his money in a hair loss medicine company stock on a friend’s recommendation, but it was a pump-and-dump, and he collapsed from anger.]

“Hah… knew someone so greedy would get burned eventually.”

[‘The Wordsmith Who Builds Worlds’ says your aunt recommended that stock to others and pocketed a large sum, only to be sued for fraud.]

“Of course she probably spent all the money. She never changed her habits—like eating out and shopping with the accident settlement. …Thanks for letting me know.”

Hearing that my apartment deposit hadn’t gone to them, and that they were falling apart, brought peace to my mind.

I was left only with minor regrets from my past life, like unfinished web novels and webtoons.

Just then, another strange message appeared.