Graduation (2)
Standing in the center of the auditorium, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.
‘Did they hear what I said to you?’
I tried to talk as quietly as possible. Strangely, when speaking with a traveler, you always spoke louder than usual.
“They keep looking at me because of you.”
[How is it my fault that you get too excited and speak louder than usual?]
“It’s because you keep making strange noises.”
[That’s you…]
I gave up and turned my focus back to the crowd.
Shh.
I could hear Lee Jin-woo and Yoo Ji-yeon cheer for me. It felt good to see them here. Since she was destined to become a member of the Jeong Si-woo division, I would see a lot more of her in the future.
“Let’s not beat each other up too much, huh?”
My opponent, who asked me to hold back, was a very skilled fighter. If it hadn’t been for me, he would have gotten a lot of attention.
“Fight!”
On the instructor’s command, he launched himself towards me. I knew that his main weapon was Mana control.
It was an ability that was excellent for all distances. Since it could be used at any distance, it was hard for me to gauge how he would engage me.
I felt it best to get a bit of distance between us.
‘I’d rather fight him with a bit of distance between us than in close combat.’
Even if I didn’t win the fight, it would be a great opportunity to show off my skills. Because of that, I didn’t have any intention of ending the fight quickly. I was also well aware of how hard the cadets in my year had been training.
Shh.
My opponent floated daggers in the air. At first glance, it looked like telekinesis, but I could see the mana strings that held them in the air. This was a very advanced technique.
Even touching the strings that held the daggers in place, you could hurt yourself very badly. This was very well executed.
He let out a mighty roar and came at me with great vigor; eager to show off all he had learned. I avoided his attacks with ease.
His attacks were a bit obvious, but then again, he was much weaker than me.
‘I pity the fool.‘
I was much more powerful compared to the other cadets.
Tuk. Tuk.
He swung his daggers, touching only the weakest parts of the mana threads.
“Huh?”
The daggers fell to the ground when I cut the wire in the middle.
“It was a good idea, but you should have made them more robust.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t create more strings, but rather focus on making one good one. Instead of firing 100 rubber bullets, you should try shooting one live bullet.”
“Uh… Ah, I see.”
The cadet seemed a bit embarrassed when I told him how to improve his technique. We had already fought for quite a while, so I activated my tattoo to overwhelm him and end this fight. We were holding up everyone who was coming after us.
“Wow…”
Multi-colored flashes of light struck him in vital spots, and he fell to the ground.
“And the winner is…Jeong Si-woo!”
‘… Did I hit him too hard?’
Because I was used to dealing with strong monsters, I had a hard time gaging my power.
The lights quietly returned to the back of my hand, and I stepped out of the ring.
“… He has shown tremendous growth.”
Except for Instructor Park Hyun-seok, no one seemed to have seen exactly what had happened.
“What a cadet.”
“That was…sneaky.”
“Wow, that was really bright!”
“Gassiu!”
“King Si-woo!”
A weird mix of reactions.
* * *
“Jeong Si-woo, just a quick word…”
“Don’t talk with the Guild, come join the government!”
The scene outside the hall resembled a horde of reporters crowding the star player after a football game. Everyone was so eager to talk to me. I tried to get through the crowd with an annoyed expression on my face.
“Get out of the way. Ah….”
“Sorry, I’m sorry.”
Fortunately, Han Yeon-soo was at my side. After lots of bumping shoulders and annoying each other, the guild officials finally gave up.
I was thankful to make it through the crowd safely, and joined the other cadets of my class, who seemed a bit irritated because of all the attention I was getting.
“Mister, you were faster than we had expected.”
Outside, Sung Hyun-woo was sitting in a chair, eating ice cream.
“Why weren’t you inside?”
“I didn’t want to sit there, it’s too crowded. I don’t need to, anyways, I can just read your memories.”
Well, okay then.
Sung Hyun-woo got up and walked alongside us, still enjoying his ice cream.
“What are we going to do now, Si-woo? Do you want to watch a movie?”
“I have something to take care of before we do that.”
“Sure”
“Yeah…”
I couldn’t take a break just yet.
“Didn’t you say that you didn’t have enough money the other day?”
We had to steal the Red, Blue, and Black Beads because we couldn’t afford them. That wouldn’t happen again.
“Let’s go and make a bit of money.”
When you knew the future, what could be easier than earning money?
I took my phone out of my pocket and sent a text:
“This is Jeong Si-woo. Didn’t you say you wanted to purchase my analysis? Where can we meet?”
* * *
“Hello? Thank you so much for contacting me. I really wanted to see you.”
“… Thank you. I wanted to see you more.”
The man in the suit laughed. He was wearing golden half-frame glasses, and his skinny body looked like he didn’t exercise much. He didn’t look like you would expect someone in our line of work to look like.
<Oracle, David.>
He didn’t look like the leader of the best Guild in the world.
“Cadet Jeong Si-woo, no, excuse me, Hunter Jeong Si-woo; your analysis was very impressive. You were already excellent in your first year at the Academy, but in your second, you really started to shine.”
“…”
“How you didn’t analyze the monster itself, but rather it’s habits and characteristics to identify its weaknesses, and how they changed depending on the environment, was very impressive.”
He took out my analysis and put it on the table. I had written so much. It more resembled a thesis than a simple analysis.
“Our analysts liked it a lot. Me too.”
“…!”
“It was me who created a system to analyze monsters.”
David took out a pencil from his bag.
“Since I was a kid, I have been interested in games and fantasy novels. That’s how I got into the habit of analyzing the monsters I met. The methods you criticize in this paper were actually mine.”
“Ah…”
David, head of the Oracle, was the best Analyst alive. He had risen to the top through his continuous dedication.
He was of a gold Spoon family, but there were many similarities between us. We both shared the same dedication to our craft.
“Your papers made me realize something. These monsters are living organisms, and as such, they adapt to their environments. We’ve always neglected that aspect. In the past, we’ve looked at a monster in an environment and assumed it would behave the same anywhere.”
David let out a faint laugh and took out more papers from his suitcase.
“Would you mind looking at my own research? I will pay you whatever you want.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to pay me for it.”
I took the papers from him with a smile. The fact that he had changed his mind based on a single paper I wrote, made me respect him even more.
He had admitted that he was wrong, and now, even asked me to look over his papers.
Originally, his analysis, the gaming method, and mine had been quite similar.
His was now much more elaborate than before.
“It’s a very good analysis, but there are a few things…”
“Yes?”
I laid the papers out on the desk next to mine and pointed out his errors to him.
<Introduction to Psychology>
<Monster Encyclopedia>
.
.
.
“…!”
“Oh my gosh…”
Seeing his mistakes, David’s expression changed.
“I was expecting you to be helpful, but…Wow. I would have never realized that with a few changes to my theory…”
“Of course, anyone who knows its value… It’s probably only me in Oracle.”
He audibly swallowed. He looked like a child in a candy shop.
Then, after a moment’s hesitation, he held up five fingers.
“Would that be a sufficient sum?”
Five? I didn’t realize how much he was offering me, at first.
‘500 million… Is he really offering me 500 million?’
I nodded in agreement. David knocked twice on the table, and several men entered the room, carrying large bags.
Why were there so many bags?
“50 billion KRW, as agreed.”
“… Yes?”
“Is that not enough?”
“Ah. no. I just thought…”
50 billion.
Even for the richest guild in the world, this was a hefty sum.
How could they afford to spend 50 billion just like that?
David showed no signs of regret. There was still a sparkle in his eyes.
“…Can you take a look at other papers?”
* * *
“Well, did they pay you enough?”
“Uhm…you could say that.”
Han Yeon-soo looked at me inquisitively.
‘I better not tell her exactly how much they paid me; she’d find a way to spend it all at once.’
Since leaving the Academy, I had moved into Han Yeon-soo’s mansion. Sung Hyun-woo was also staying here.
“Oh, right. Si-woo, someone called you earlier while you were away.”
Han Yeon-soo handed me my cell phone.
There was an unknown number on the display.
“It’s the Association. If you don’t update your hunter license, they can suspend you when you attack a Rift. I already called them and asked for a renewal.”
“After what I’ve done for them at the Second Wave, they still give me…”
“The president is an idiot.”
She was right about that. I noticed I had received a few text messages as well:
“3rd class hunter Jeong Si-woo, if you fail to comply with protocol, your license will be suspended…”
In short, it meant that I was not to attack high-level Rifts by myself, but to stick to the predetermined attack order, according to rank. They had created this rule because so many people were trying to get experience more quickly this way and rise through the ranks, usually with help from large guilds. They still did it anyways…
‘Everyone does that, why are they giving me such a hard time?’
Hm.
It was usually Freelance hunters who were treated like this. To avoid this sort of treatment, Hunters usually joined a Guild.
“What are you doing? Isn’t that the Strategy Heaven app?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why are you doing that? Guilds would fall over themselves to give you anything you want. You’re a star now.”
“I have no intention of joining a guild right away. I don’t like them and their dirty tricks, I’d prefer to freelance for a while.”
Grumbling, I created a profile in the Strategy Heaven app, in the hopes that I could get together a squad.
‘Right now, only very few people use the app, but it’ll get popular soon.’
After posting my profile, I threw the phone on the table and went to my room to go to bed.
Bing
Bing
Only
Bing
BingBingBingBing
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