novelburst-info
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Jua-Young's incredible results.
Ha Eun-eung initially thought it was just that Jua-Young had a natural talent for games, but the examiner came with a clear analysis.
“Candidate 820's awakening ability has been determined. The ability name is <Abyssal Slaughter>.”
The examiner's words were quite interesting.
[Increased attack speed and attack power]
[Condition: In combat with hostile lifeforms]
[Increased toughness and penetration]
[Condition: In combat with merfolk]
[Activation of the Aura of Slaughter]
[Condition: Encountering multiple merfolk]
Having slaughtered a large number of Lizardmen in a short period,
she far exceeded the experience points of level 1,
and her traits, profession, and stat cap increase effects
significantly enhanced her awakening traits.
“The limitations are numerous, so it’s not very versatile, but it is an ability that can demonstrate tremendous efficiency under specific conditions, especially in the martial arts and nemesis categories.”
The examiner gave examples of other awakeners with similar abilities.
“Do you know about Goblin Slayers or Dragon Slayers? These are the codenames of awakeners from Japan and Eastern Europe, and they are nemeses of goblins and dragons.”
“Hmph. I’m jealous. Can’t I be a Dragon Slayer too? I don’t want to be a Merfolk Slayer though.”
“The evolution of your ability may increase its strength or reduce the conditions. From here on, it depends on how the candidate cultivates the ability.”
Jua-Young readily accepted it.
After all, even on the association’s website,
there was a story about an F-rank awakener who, despite a weak start,
had grown into a legendary figure with a simple Wood Punch skill that became the Iron World Tree.
‘If Abyssal Slaughter is developed well, it could become an even more incredible ability than it is now, right?’
Jua-Young’s heart swelled with dreams,
and the examiner raised her rank.
“Although the ability falls under the martial arts and nemesis categories, it also touches upon enhancement and killing, so the rank of candidate 820 has been raised to C rank.”
“Wow! C-rank is a star-level rank that's hard to achieve even for promising guild members, right?!”
“That’s right.”
“Wow! Big sister, you did it! They say I’m a star now!”
[Congratulations.]
Of course, there was no time for just congratulating.
Ha Eun-eung adjusted her internal energy to avoid detection by the scanner,
and her rank soon rose to C as well.
“Please rest in the waiting room for a moment, and we will guide you to the next stage shortly.”
In the VIP waiting room, with high-end sweets and black tea,
Examiner Lee Mi-Jeong put the two candidates there.
She quickly called her senior.
“Senior, I’ve confirmed again, but it’s definitely a temporary error with the scanner. Candidate 821 also came out as C rank after checking 10 times.”
- Are you joking?
“It’s no joke.” - Even guild hopefuls, who can barely make it past D rank, start at C rank? Hold them. Make up an excuse for additional checks and keep them in the waiting room! If this gets pushed up to higher-ups, there’s definitely an incentive coming. We need to stall until we can bring them to the association. Got it?
“I’ve already placed them in the waiting room. I’ll make sure to set up two guards as well.”
Now, once the senior comes back and signs the contract to hand the candidates over to the association,
Examiner Lee Mi-Jeong and her senior’s achievements would soar to the sky.
She felt herself floating with excitement.
‘I can finally escape this annoying testing site.’
She no longer had to suffer from regular civilians who thought they could become awakeners simply by undergoing the exam,
or the idiots who blamed examiners for their low ranks and caused trouble,
or those who negotiated with the guilds, not giving her the proper cards to use, only expecting results.
‘I might not be able to help those kids, but I’m not in a position to sympathize with them either.’
Entering a guild meant a massive salary
and a successful awakening life, but joining the association
meant risking life to face guild crimes and guild members who’d abandoned them.
It was much harder, with low wages, and no one acknowledged the efforts,
the epitome of injustice.
Becoming an awakener in the association was like that.
But if she sold those two kids to the association,
Lee Mi-Jeong’s future would open up.
‘If my senior rises to the headquarters, my rank will go up, and I could get bribed by famous guilds.’
Or maybe, she could even rise to the headquarters with her senior,
and instead of being looked down upon, she could be the one dishing out criticism.
Lee Mi-Jeong began gathering the contract with excitement,
but while she was away,
she failed to notice that a blind man, Samgwi, entered the VIP waiting room, a restricted area.
“This area is off-limits.”
“Please identify yourself.”
The guards blocking the waiting room asked as Samgwi, showing an irritated expression, took out his business card.
“This is an urgent mission from the association. The guild members are starting to gather, so we need to transfer them to the headquarters immediately.”
“Can you show us the mission details?”
The guards, properly trained, were following protocol and asking rigorously.
Samgwi, who had spent so much time finding this location, realized
that he’d never escape if the examiner came back, and so made up his mind.
Slap—!
He slapped one of the guards across the face and raised his voice.
“Are you stupid? Do you think the guild will ignore the official mission records if I leave them?”
“…I’m sorry…”
“If you’re sorry, don’t do things that make you need to apologize. Got it?”
Samgwi roughly pushed the guard aside,
slapped the guard’s forehead with his hand, and shoved him.
“If you block me again, I’ll treat you as a guild spy, so be prepared.”
The guards looked very displeased.
Being beaten and humiliated, this was an extreme insult,
but the association’s guards were usually incompetent,
thinking that once they awakened, their lives would be easy and would jump into the industry recklessly.
Once pushed out of the association, finding a new job or succeeding as an awakener was nearly impossible.
“I’m from the association. These two need to be transferred to the headquarters for more specialized testing because their ranks are high. Let’s go.”
“Huh? Oh, okay…”
Noticing the serious situation from Samgwi’s strange attitude,
Jua-Young quietly twisted her hand behind her back and hesitated,
but then they followed him out through the back door.
“Ah…”
Samgwi hastily moved against the wall,
and Jua-Young and Ha Eun-eung carefully followed and hid behind it.
“They’re prime targets. It’s a race to catch unseasoned civilians first. Let’s go quickly. We need to catch them before the contract is signed. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“I’ve found the spot. The VIP waiting room is on the 3rd floor.”
“What are you waiting for? Run!”
“You guys go up this stairway. We’ll mark the elevator and the other stairs.”
In the Iwha Guild’s territory, right next to Myeongho-dong,
there’s nothing the guild doesn’t know.
As Samgwi took the two out,
guild members from Iwha Guild barged into the testing site.
Even the back door entrance was tightly guarded by a woman in semi-formal attire, presumably a higher-up.
“I’ll need to use force here. It might look ugly, so please bear with me.”
Samgwi walked boldly toward the higher-up.
The higher-up frowned as he approached.
“Take another route. This passage is off-limits.”
“Really? Well, I guess I’ll have to do it here.”
Samgwi took out a cigarette and lighter without hesitation,
and the higher-up’s face tightened further.
“Mister! Don’t you know it’s a no-smoking area?”
“You’ve blocked the smoking room and now you’re complaining? Don’t block my path.”
“Try lighting it and see. I’ll have you fined.”
“You three are blocking the official passage. You’re occupying public property without permission. What will you do if I charge you with obstruction of duties?”
“Are you insane? Ugh… I’ll avoid the mess. Just move along.”
The higher-up and his subordinates stepped aside with grumbling expressions,
but as Samgwi brushed past them, his shoulder accidentally bumped one of the guards,
causing his lighter to fall to the ground.
Crack!
Samgwi quickly stepped on the lighter, and with a loud shout,
he raised his voice.
“Are you really trying to do this? Bumping into me?”
“You should have avoided it. Do you expect us to cater to your smoking habits?”
“Not really? But thanks to you, things got easier.”
Samgwi’s tone was completely calm, as if it had shifted 180 degrees.
The higher-up, sensing the awkwardness, turned to look,
only to have his subordinates collapse from a paralytic poison.
The higher-up’s eyes turned a deep red as the air around them heated up,
but before he could act, Samgwi made the first move, striking the higher-up’s abdomen,
knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground, head-first.
The higher-up moaned in pain, his consciousness fading quickly.
“Wow!”
“We’ll admire later. Let’s get out of here quickly.”
Fortunately, there were no guild members in the parking lot,
and the three of them managed to escape the testing site safely.
Once they felt it was safe,
Jua-Young chattered about what had just happened.
“I felt like I was watching a movie! That man is so strong!”
“It was just luck. They let their guard down and allowed an easy opening. His ability isn’t instant or always activated, so it was hard for them to retaliate.”
“Still, that was so cool!”
Ha Eun-eung looked at Samgwi with new eyes.
What she had thought of as just another coworker turned into admiration for him as an awakener.
“But what about our licenses? If we keep going like this, I don’t think we’ll get one.”
Jua-Young pouted, but Samgwi pulled out a folder from his coat.
“I anticipated this. I already got the exam data. Just submit this, and you can get your license at any branch of the association right away.”
The lack of awakening licenses had been a weakness that the Myeongho Guild could exploit.
Now, Ha Eun-eung and Jua-Young’s weakness was solved.
“So, what are you planning to do in the future with your awakening? Usually, civilians become freelancers at the association, but most join a guild.”
Jua-Young groaned.
“I’ve been struggling with that. I’ve never liked Myeongho Guild, and now with this gate opening, I’m sure I’d die if I joined them.”
[Do we really have to be part of some organization to operate?]
“Ah, Eun-eung might not know this since she’s from the underground side, but you have to contribute a certain amount to maintain your awakeners’ license.”
He said that there were many ways to contribute—social work, criminal arrests, monster hunting, etc.
“If you join a guild, they’ll take care of managing your contributions. You just need to work hard and you’ll make money and live comfortably.”
[Why didn’t you join a guild? Why are you working as a freelancer?]
Samgwi hesitated for a moment, his face darkening.
“It’s embarrassing to admit, but I was once in a guild. But the work there... it was far dirtier than I expected.”
He seemed to grow darker as he spoke.
“If you join a guild just for the money, you’ll regret it one day.”
[Don’t worry. I have a fair bit of money too.]
“Ha ha, well, that’s a relief.”
Samgwi seemed unconvinced as he watched Ha Eun-eung start pulling up her bank details
to show her bank account had grown substantially from VTube sponsorships—something she might not have seen before during her broadcasting career.
“Big sister, we’re in trouble!”
Jua-Young looked pale.
“The police sent a summons.”
The Myeongho Guild had made a scene near the crime scene,
and while investigating a nearby convenience store, the police had found something that could implicate Jua-Young.
“Did they find expired food?”
At Samgwi’s light question,
Jua-Young’s face didn’t relax.
“They found illegal substances at our convenience store.”
“What kind of substance?”
“Magical waste.”
Samgwi realized the gravity of the situation and clicked his tongue.
[What’s magical waste?]
“It’s the substance that attracts monsters. The guild members had used glowing paint to summon monsters, right?”
“That’s right. I saw it with the famous streamer, Lee Chan.”
“It looks like they’ve created a story to cover it up. It wasn’t glowing paint, but magical waste that caused the monsters to gather in one area.”
[Is magical waste something you normally wouldn’t find at a convenience store?]
“It looks like the guild was playing a prank. Magical waste is a byproduct from making artifacts, so it’s not something you’d find in a convenience store.”
Samgwi declared firmly.
“If we don’t handle this properly, this could be a serious matter that will bring trouble to Jua-Young since she worked at that convenience store.”
Ha Eun-eung had planned to end her grudges with the Myeongho Guild by punishing Ho-Phil,
but since they weren’t backing down and kept pushing,
the conflict between her and the Myeongho Guild had escalated significantly.
‘You started it first. Now that you’ve touched my sister, I won’t let this end easily.’
The confrontation between Ha Eun-eung and the Myeongho Guild was about to get much more intense.