The Little Prince (3)
After Seong Hyun-woo went inside the testing room, Han Yeon-soo also left.
A support request came in because of a crack that appeared nearby.
She does not show off when she is with me, but she is a hardworking first-class hunter.
How many hours do I have to kill?
I sat on the Association lobby, watching people pass by.
Surely, there are a lot of awakeners here. Because it’s the Association, there are some pretty famous people passing by.
The strong ones had distinctly different auras.
[There are no talents in this world. How can’t anyone around you look stronger than you are?]
Huh? But they are all-stars…
The Traveler looked surprised and clicked his tongue in disbelief.
I passed the time talking to him.
I didn’t notice how much time has passed.
Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder and sat next to me.
“You talk to yourself a lot… I thought you were on the phone,” the stranger remarked.
He was wearing a gray uniform with a pattern embroidered on it. An Association employee.
“Ah, because I like talking to myself, ha ha ha.”
“I guess you have the ability to see souls and spirits around. I know someone with that kind of awakening, and it was annoying. Even when we were talking alone, he would suddenly make a strange noise…”
“Ha ha ha ha ha.”
I did not want to comment about my abilities and instead tried to cover it up with laughter.
“Your clothes…” he noticed. “Are you a cadet? You haven’t taken the hunter test yet. Why are you here?”
“Oh, I had something to do around here.”
“I guess someone you know came in today for measurement, right?”
He was asking more questions. It seemed that he had no intention of letting go.
It was a mysterious voice. He was almost whispering, but his voice echoes loudly in my ears.
Is he an awakener? But I can’t feel mana on him…
‘Excellent Insight’ was activated.
A more detailed view of his appearance came into my eyes.
The Association’s gray uniform is hiding a moderately muscular body.
It was not as much as most hunters would have, but something that an average person can achieve through fitness training.
But his proportion was a little off. The lengths of his arms are slightly mismatched, and the movements of his muscles as he breathed were awkward.
Although it was subtle, the tips of his fingertips constantly tremble, and the edges of his mouth had unnatural movements when he speaks.
It was as if he was wearing a mask… No, a costume that covers his body.
His upper face was fully covered by a hat.
These are small oddities that ordinary people would have missed.
However, he looked bizarre to me.
I frowned. I have never been wrong.
He could only be one of the two.
A person in disguise… or something not entirely human.
“Excuse me?” he caught my attention. “Your expression doesn’t look good. Do talking about these things bother you?”
“Oh, no. I just thought of something.”
The man nodded.
If I could see his eyes, I would know it for sure. The only thing that wasn’t covered by his hat was the lower part of his face.
Who the hell wears a hat that way?
[You must have noticed something strange, too?]
The Traveler remarked next to me.
[He looks bizarre… but it’s hard to decide. I can’t tell whether it’s a mask or a different species.]
“…”
What I was expecting was a monster called Doppelganger. A clever creature that could change its appearance to a human figure.
However, a Doppelganger could not have gotten inside a building filled with awakeners.
[Have you ever heard of phantom metamorphosis? People in Moorim use that regularly. A miraculous feat of changing not only their appearance but even the structure of their skeletons and muscles.]
I heard about something like that, in martial arts and fantasy novels.
[Most of the people who had suffered through phantom metamorphosis turn their bodies to something that was dramatically stronger than before.]
“…”
[Those who have much experience in metamorphosis, however, can deliberately degenerate their own bodies. Deliberately lowering their skills and physical abilities – it is something that masters use to disguise themselves.]
I focused on the Traveler’s words. It was interesting. I’m not certain that the stranger beside me really used that.
“Do you smoke?”
“No, I’m a minor…”
“Right. I took it up too early when I was younger, hahaha.”
The man laughed. Even the act of laughing seemed a little suspicious in my eyes.
[I’ll teach you how to find out. Pull his ear. Someone hiding himself won’t take that well. That may cause them to lose their focus and let their disguise go.]
“Will you be waiting for your friend much longer? I’ll have to burn a cigarette.”
“Ah… I want to get some air, too.”
“Okay, you can come with me.”
Originally, I would have just let it go. But he was just too suspicious. I could not afford to let an unknown villain go.
If I find out that he is a villain, I will dismantle his body to pieces as soon as he reveals himself.
“Oh, wait a minute…” I caught his attention.
I raised my arm and held it towards his head, towards the bottom of his ear.
[Good, touch it, and let the force flow in…]
Pagak-!
I felt a sudden pain in my wrist climbing up through my shoulder.
Meanwhile, the man’s ear twisted at a bizarre angle.
Despite having Excellent Insight active, I was not able to capture what happened in detail.
It was too fast.
At the same time,
[Uh, hahahahaha!]
The loud laughter of the Traveler rang in my ears.
[Finally! Someone interesting in this poor dimension!]
The man’s face melted down.
[It seems that someone at my level is in this world.]
I saw the stranger’s eyes.
“…!”
Those were the eyes of someone I know. There was no need to see his other features.
Of all the people I’ve seen in my life, there was only one person who had eyes like that.
It was a mistake to reveal him.
* * *
“Oh, above average. This much… let’s try it for Level 3, shall we?”
“Level 3… okay?”
“Ah, Level 5 is an ordinary person, Level 4 are people who are a little special, and Level 3 is a category of superhumans.”
“…”
“So, surely you wouldn’t be as much as an Academy cadet? At the age of 12, this is probably your first test, right?”
The middle-aged woman handling the measurement looked at him with a nice smile.
Seong Hyun-woo nodded with a blank expression.
Uncle said if I don’t go over Level 2, I won’t get much attention.
Fortunately, the control mechanism in his hand seems to be working well so far.
There’s nothing boiling inside… I think it will be okay.
Sometimes, when he was tired or angry, an explosion comes from his body. It was so powerful and violent that Seong Hyun-woo was terrified of himself. He was afraid that he would be realized as a disaster.
I need to learn how to control myself. If I can’t do it here, what could happen in the future?
His little hand clenched and unclenched.
Uncle lost everyone and endured, without anyone comforting and helping him. I couldn’t fail this time. Not with people like Uncle helping me.
“Then, are you ready? It may hurt a little,” the middle-aged woman laughed.
Seong Hyun-woo nodded with determination as he tightened the bracelet on his wrist.
Let’s do it.
* * *
“As I’ve heard, you certainly have great eyes.”
He put his hat down on the floor and fully revealed his figure.
Wolf-like eyes, average body build but with more defined muscles, and an overwhelming aura that seemed to electrocute me whenever I get close.
Damn, I should have left him alone.
I picked up a bomb I should never have touched.
“I apologize for approaching you in disguise. There are a lot of troublesome things whenever I show my face… Oh, I will greet you formally,” he said calmly.
People around us are already starting to murmur. Even if they were not interested in the field, they would have known his face.
“I’m Kim Min-jae, president of the Association of Awakeners.”
An unpleasant smile twisted in his face. It was the same as in my memories.
Countless memories brought by his voice passed through my head.
-Analyst, aren’t you too strict? Hahahahaha.
-Ah, attacking the cracks of Seoul would be too damaging. First of all, why don’t you just organize the Busan side and discuss it with them again?
-This is also a business. After the appearance of the cracks, is there anyone still using mined resources? Mana engineering and by-products of monsters are to our advantage.
-The destruction of the environment was rather reduced. Does the word fine dust appear these days? Does anyone still use the words’ global warming’? Hahahahaha… Do you really want to abandon mana engineering and go back to those days?
A shameless face, a voice that was more confident than anyone else.
-A crack is a blessing from God. It was given to enrich us. With the system in place, monsters and cracks are simply resources that could advance humanity even further.
A monster who was blinded by profits. However, his ability to lead was so excellent that he grew the Association into the world’s best-armed group…
“Cadet Jeong Si-woo, right?”
His unpleasant gaze seemed to burn right through me. There was no time to listen to the Traveler’s remarks right now. For now, the priority was to get away from this man.
“Yes. But I have to go somewhere now…” I told him.
“Ah, but you were waiting in the Association, so I guess your Academy schedule is already done, right? Where would you be going…”
He skillfully took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. Smoke poured out of his mouth as he spoke.
“I tried to contact you, but I heard that you were here, so I decided to check you out myself.”
I felt cold sweat running down my back.
[Enable ‘View information.’]
.
.
.
[The difference in rating is so great.]
[Detailed information cannot be viewed.]
Even the Akashic Records also couldn’t penetrate him.
You’re someone I didn’t like in the past, and I don’t like now.
Kim Min-jae was infamous for being unusual. The aura he emanated was not something that ordinary humans could produce.
However, he had never been on the front lines. He had never shown his strength.
Because of this, some say that he could just be an ordinary person who had the charisma to lead such a strong group.
But, if he was indeed an ordinary person, there is no reason that ‘View Information’ would not be able to read him.
It was clear that he is powerful and was hiding it all this time.
“Originally, I just wanted to see your face… I changed my mind when I saw that you saw through my disguise. Come inside with me. We need to talk.”
“Well…”
“Let’s go. You may find people watching us uncomfortable,” he urged.
I am more uncomfortable being with you than with the people watching, you bastard.
How can I escape him?
“Hurry up. I don’t like waiting,” he said with a smile.
I looked at him, suppressing my displeasure as much as possible as I thought of an excuse.
“Oh, I…”
Suddenly, the screams rang out.
“Ahhhh! Help!”
“Ahhhh!”
Screams erupted from everywhere.
I quickly turned to the direction of the screams.
A familiar sight came into my eyes.
“Ahhhh!”
The center of the downtown area where people gather.
An ugly shape was forming in the sky.
A crack.
What? Has there been a crack like this near the Association in the past?
The unexpected situation confused me. I thought I remembered every crack that happened in Korea.
But a crack is a disaster. Natural disasters could not always be predicted. It’s impossible for me to predict and prepare for everything.
The screams are getting louder. I cleared my head. It was the moment to do what I had to do.
Ta-da-!
I ran toward the crack.
People were screaming around me, getting trampled and pushed around.
Some fell, some were crying and begging for their lives.
It seemed that it was the end of the world.
“Cadet Jeong Si-woo, where are you going?!”
I heard Kim Min-jae’s words from afar.
In the mess where everyone was running for their lives, I ran against the tide.
The Nightmare on the back of my hand began to change its shape.
In this life, what I had to do was not to analyze, or speak with the President of the Association, or negotiate with guilds.
“Link!”
Only
I am a hunter. A hunter only needs to hunt well.
Heroes have to fight for humanity.
[‘Link’ has been activated]
.
.
.
[You have succeeded in ‘Link.’]
An overflowing power flowed through my body as I ran without hesitation.
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