VHN 7

Following Ryu Tae-yeong up to the second-floor examination room, Seo Je-hyun saw a weary-looking public official.

“Seo Je-hyun-nim? This way, please.”

“Yes.”

“Could you please fill out your personal information here first?”

Personal information, huh. After writing down his name, date of birth, and phone number, he saw a troublesome blank space below.

“Do I have to write my address too?”

“Yes, please fill it in.”

‘My house is gone, but does that still count as my address?’

Well, he hadn’t changed his registered address. He wrote down the address of the demolished and ruined officetel, submitted the form, and then followed the official to begin the actual examination. He went in and out of a huge machine designed to examine the magic power flowing within his body several times, and after undergoing procedures that seemed similar to a health checkup, the examination was over.

“The examination is complete. Please wait for a moment, and the results will be out soon.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The results are coming out right away. As expected, post-Gate Korea is running fast.

He sat down in a chair to wait, and Ryu Tae-yeong plopped down right next to him.

“Seo Je-hyun-ssi.”

“Yes?”

“What do you want to do after your Awakening?”

What do I want to do? I can’t mess with the plot, so I have to go kill Kwon Tae-han.

However, if he said that directly, Ryu Tae-yeong would obviously throw him straight into jail, so he just nodded his head as if he didn’t know.

“Usually, people join a Guild or the Hunter Association. If you wish, you can receive guidance.”

Hmm. Joining a Guild or the Association… Ryu Tae-yeong is recommending this because he thinks I’m at least a B-rank like him, but the problem is that I’m currently an F-rank. Of course, since my Skill is good, I might be able to weasel my way into a Guild if I play my cards right.

‘But why would I?’

There was no need to do that. The reason to join a Guild? Ideals and ethics are for guys like Ryu Tae-yeong; the first goal for people who actually do Hunter work is money. No matter how low the danger level of a Dungeon, there’s no guarantee that you won’t die, so it’s not easy to get them to move if it’s not for money.

But I’m not short on money, and I don’t want to do the mediocre things that an F-rank can barely do. That’s not to say I won’t enter Dungeons at all.

‘I have to squeeze out any useful information from the Status Window.’

And besides the Status Window, I have a few more pieces of useful information. The contents of the original work, and one more thing… which will probably be solved with money.

“I don’t really have any thoughts on that right now.”

“…Is that so.”

At that moment, the official who had helped with my examination earlier called out to me and Ryu Tae-yeong at the same time. As I sat down in the consultation window chair, documents that were clearly mine were handed over.

“Congratulations. It’s confirmed that you have Awakened, and your rank has been confirmed as F-rank for now.”

‘Figures.’

I received the results with a nonchalant attitude, but Ryu Tae-yeong’s expression next to me wasn’t very good.

“Was there an error in the results?”

“Hmm… If we conduct a re-examination, we can obtain more accurate results, but if you look here, the graph drops like this, right? The range from here to here is the F-rank range. You’re right at the standard.”

“F-rank…”

“You can see that the energy flow became rapid and then slowly became gradual again, right? It seems like it hasn’t been long since you Awakened?”

Next to me, Ryu Tae-yeong looked at my examination results several times as if he couldn’t believe it. I left Ryu Tae-yeong, who was writing his own novel, alone and listened to the official’s explanation about issuing a Hunter license.

“Then, should we have it delivered to your home? However, only the recipient can receive it, and if a proxy is to receive it, a different procedure is required.”

“Will it still be delivered even if my home is gone?”

There was another problem before that.

In the end, I finished all the procedures, telling the official that I would come to pick up my Hunter license.

As we left the center, Ryu Tae-yeong suddenly apologized to me.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“You must have been disoriented… I think I misunderstood Seo Je-hyun-ssi and brought you to the center somewhat forcefully.”

Is this something you’re born with? To have the personality to apologize later for suspecting someone on your own. Well, there has to be someone this kind in the world to balance things out.

After saying that, Ryu Tae-yeong also gave me information about the compensation procedure and handed me his business card.

“If you have any difficulties, please contact me here.”

“I will.”

“I’ll escort you to your home, ah.”

He was about to offer a kind service of escorting me home, but my house had been blown away.

“A map to a temporary residence…”

“No, it’s okay. I have a place to stay.”

After a brief refusal, I took Ryu Tae-yeong’s business card and grabbed a taxi. When I searched nearby for a hotel that could be booked on the same day, the prices went up endlessly. Even so, it was difficult to stay long-term in a place that cost 4 million won per night. Who knows what might happen.

This is a place where hundreds of millions of won can be spent on a single item, so I couldn’t be relieved by my current balance. I booked a week’s stay and found my next destination with a few simple searches.

By the way, I wonder if Do Ye-hyun’s examination is over by now? A Healer… It would be advantageous to secure him first. With this shabby body, I need to have healing abilities to increase my chances of survival.

Should I bring him along? Or should I kill him?

By the time my worries were over, the taxi had already arrived at the hotel.

* * *

The next day, a dark night. An alley in Seoul with few people.

Do Ye-hyun was desperately trying to suppress his ragged breath as he ran.

To describe the life of twenty-year-old Do Ye-hyun, there was nothing that wasn’t a mess from beginning to end. Leaving out the process, the conclusion was that Do Ye-hyun was currently running for his life.

Do Ye-hyun had been paying off the debt left by his uncle since he was a minor. However, he couldn’t even pay off half of the interest that was charged every month, let alone the principal. Moreover, those guys wouldn’t wait patiently for Do Ye-hyun to pay off the money forever.

The one holding Do Ye-hyun’s debt was the illegally operating Infinite Guild. He knew that illegal debt collection was wrong, and that the Infinite Guild itself was illegal. But that didn’t mean that Do Ye-hyun, who hadn’t even finished high school properly, could escape from the Infinite Guild.

On the day Do Ye-hyun turned twenty, the Guild Master of the Infinite Guild came to Do Ye-hyun, talked about the debt, and sold Do Ye-hyun to their ‘shop’. He already knew what kind of place the shop was and what it did on the first day, but there was no way to escape.

That is, until now.

Recently, there was an Awakened person among the customers who came to the shop. When Do Ye-hyun happened to face the customer one-on-one, he suddenly felt a strange energy from the customer. At that moment, Do Ye-hyun sensed it. This was the magic power he had only heard about.

It was impossible for a non-Awakened person to feel the magic power of an Awakened person, so this might mean that Do Ye-hyun could Awaken. Even if it was E-rank, or even F-rank, it would be fine. Even a very minor Skill that could clear Dungeons would be fine. But the result was different from what he had hoped for.

‘Congratulations. You are a D-rank Awakened.’

‘I’m… D-rank? But I’ve never been inside a Gate, so how did I Awaken…?’

‘Ah, you’re saying you’ve never been inside a Gate? There are people like that. If you’ve recently been in contact with an Awakened person or been near a Gate, the magic power in your body may have resonated and raised your Awakening level. Then you haven’t tried using Skills yet, have you?’

‘No. Nothing at all…’.

‘Hmm. Then I can connect you with the Awakened Management Department, and they can tell you the details. Should I get you the related documents?’

‘…Yes, please give them to me.’

D-rank Awakened. Not a non-Awakened, not an F-rank, not an E-rank, but a ‘D-rank’. However, Do Ye-hyun had no choice but to be disappointed again by the explanation that followed.

‘Congratulations! You’re a healing-type Awakened! We need a lot of Awakened people in the ward right now, so if you want, we can register your Awakened information today and quickly…’.

‘…What? Healing-type… Then I can’t enter Gates?’

‘We don’t usually recommend it. Besides, Ye-hyun-ssi, your Skill proficiency is still low… There are many places we can connect you with, would you like to take a look?’

The expectation that he could make money by clearing Dungeons was shattered nicely. The salary he would receive working in the ward would definitely be much higher than average, but it wasn’t enough to pay off the already inflated debt.

Do Ye-hyun suppressed his desire to cry and moved to return to the ‘shop’. He worked as usual, and secretly tried to use his Skills when he had some time. However, he could only feel a very weak magic power in his hands, and even a lightly cut wound wouldn’t heal completely.

‘What kind of D-rank is this…’

He knew that he could use Skills through training even if he didn’t enter Dungeons. But as of now, he couldn’t train or work in the ward. He would have to live the same tedious life as before. His stomach churned.

And a few days later, Do Ye-hyun ran away from the ‘shop’. It wasn’t for a dramatic reason. It was just that what he had been enduring all along had exploded. The shop, where it was hard to find someone who was sane, the Guild members who would bump into him and pass by, and even himself in this place were all terrible.

Moreover, the Guild Master found out that Do Ye-hyun had run away from the shop without permission and had received an Awakened examination. The Guild Master, who found the documents hidden between his clothes, smiled fiercely and pressed Do Ye-hyun closely.

The Guild Master was a C-rank Hunter, and even if Do Ye-hyun was a Hunter who could attack, he was someone he couldn’t beat. Moreover, as far as Do Ye-hyun knew, the Guild Master’s Skill was… tracking.

No matter how much he hid, it was only a matter of time before he was discovered. Was it just here? It was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to escape no matter where he went.

At that time, a voice filled with anger was heard nearby.

“Ye-hyun-ah. I think we have something to talk about, huh?”

Do Ye-hyun knew that voice well. A voice that suppressed anger. If the Guild Master found out his location, Do Ye-hyun would definitely be beaten to near death again. His body was completely frozen with fear, and he couldn’t even think of running away.

At that moment, someone embraced Do Ye-hyun from behind. Just before he screamed in surprise, the person completely pulled Do Ye-hyun into his arms and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Shh.”

Do Ye-hyun slowly raised his head and checked the face of the person who was hugging him.

‘How?’

It was the man he had encountered at the Awakened Management Center just yesterday. No, was it right to say encountered? It would be closer to the truth to say that the man had unilaterally scanned him. Do Ye-hyun remembered the man’s particularly cold impression. No, it was an impression that was hard to forget in the first place.

However, unlike at the center, the man looked into Do Ye-hyun’s eyes and whispered softly with a gentle smile.

“Shall we run away?”