Ten Years Later | A twenty-year-old boy stood quietly in front of a mirror.
He had always possessed striking silver hair and a tall, broad appearance, but something had completely changed within him that morning.
His eyes had turned into a distinct golden shade with a sharp sanpaku look, with scale like making on both side of his eyes, remarkably similar to the distinct look of the dragon race from Mushoku Tensei.
Combined with his sharp hairstyle and build, he now looked exactly like Orsted from that very same anime.
“Damn, those eyes actually suit me,” the boy muttered to himself as he turned his face from side to side, continuing to admire the transformation in front of the mirror.
He was suddenly pulled right out of his narcissistic musings when he heard the familiar voice of a cheerful girl calling out for him from the front door.
“Si-woo oppa!” Jin-ah called out loudly as she entered his house without any hesitation, prompting him to chuckle softly as he finally exited his room.
He emerged into his living room only to find a familiar purple ponytail peaking out from right above the back of his couch.
“Make me some fried chicken, and where is grandpa?
I didn’t see him anywhere when I entered,” Jin-ah asked immediately, not even bothering to look up from her phone screen.
Si-woo’s lips twitched slightly at her attitude.
He walked up directly behind her before reaching out his hands and starting to pull her soft cheeks in different directions.
“Since when did you start ordering me around like this?” he asked her, a tone of playful displeasure clear in his voice.
“Would it help at all if I say please?” she asked in a muffled tone because of her stretched cheeks.
Si-woo let go of her face after a brief moment and clicked his tongue as he pointed toward the fridge.
“There is some fried chicken in the fridge, grandpa made some yesterday evening,” he said dismissively before taking a seat on the couch right beside her.
Jin-ah instantly jumped up and ran over to the fridge with a wide grin.
“And as for grandpa, he is currently out doing some grocery shopping,” he added in a murmur, answering her previous question.
“Nope, you are absolutely not doing that,” he said firmly as he snatched the bowl of fried chicken right out of her hands just as she was about to eat a piece completely cold, straight from the fridge.
He placed his palm flat on top of her head to hold her back as she flailed around wildly, trying desperately to grab the bowl back, while he easily placed the food inside the microwave to heat the fried chicken up properly.
“I can’t wait that lo—whoa.
You look like an anime character,” Jin-ah started protesting, but she completely changed her tune halfway through her sentence when she finally noticed the striking changes in his eyes.
“Like the final boss villain of some dark regression manhwa,” she added, placing a thoughtful hand on her chin.
“Well, I awakened today, so I guess some minor physical changes are to be expected,” Si-woo said casually, completely ignoring her dramatic comparison.
“That reminds me,” he said, pointing a finger directly at her.
“I will be heading out to the Hunter’s Association today for my official rank evaluation.” “Really?
Bring me along with you then!” Jin-ah asked with wide eyes and an incredibly excited grin.
“Well, finish your fried chicken fast then,” Si-woo shrugged.
He sat back down on his couch and took out his phone before quickly dialing the number of Han Do-yoon.
It took but a single moment for the old man to pick up the call.
“Hello, grandpa.
It seems I awakened today,” he said casually.
Even Jin-ah could clearly hear Do-yoon shouting something frantic and loud over the speakerphone.
“No, no.
I am leaving for the Hunter’s Association right now with Jin-ah.
Take your time, I will tell you everything that happened in the evening,” Si-woo said calmly.
A brief moment of silence passed through the phone before the old man said something else, to which Si-woo simply hummed in response and disconnected his phone.
Three years ago, Do-yoon had awakened into a martial-type hunter.
However, the loyal old man had never bothered to go and check his official rank, simply because he did not wish to enter dangerous dungeons at all and just wanted to protect and help Si-woo in his daily life.
“I am all done!” Jin-ah exclaimed suddenly while Si-woo was still thinking about that.
“Already?
Damn,” the silver-haired boy muttered in genuine surprise.
He stood up and draped a clean white jacket over the black t-shirt, jeans, and shoes he was currently wearing.
“What do you mean, damn?” Jin-ah asked him with narrowed eyes and a heavy pout.
“That is not how I said it,” Si-woo defended himself, although that was exactly how he had said it.
They took Si-woo’s car and drove toward the Hunter’s Association, bickering back and forth the entire way over what exact kind of ‘damn’ he had used.
It took them barely fifteen minutes to reach the sleek, modern style building of the Hunter’s Association.
They entered the building together and were immediately met with a pleasant, clean smell.
A large reception desk stood right in front of them with a cute girl working behind it.
“Welcome, Hunter-nim.
How can we help you today?” she asked politely, her gaze instantly fixing toward Si-woo’s unique eyes, which made her assume he was already an active hunter.
“About that,” Si-woo started, scratching his cheek lightly.
“I would like to go through my official rank evaluation tests, as I have just awakened very recently.” The guild receptionist chuckled in slight embarrassment at her assumption before she handed him a testing slip and pointed him directly toward a closed room to their side.
“Wait right here, civilian.
Only the awakened are permitted to enter that room,” Si-woo teased Jin-ah as she sat down on a soft couch in the main waiting area.
That caused the girl’s pout to become even larger.
She gave him a fierce mock glare and got to before kicking him hard right in the shins and immediately sat back on the couch, holding her own leg in pain.
Si-woo sighed softly and looked around the lobby for a brief moment before hovering his hand near her injured leg.
His hand glowed in a soft, soothing light as he instantly healed the ache.
“Stop kicking people, Jin-ah,” he teased her again, giving her a quick forehead flick before moving swiftly toward the rank evaluation room.
He saw a guard standing at the entrance and handed him the testing slip he had just gotten from the receptionist.
The guard opened the door with a polite smile and gestured for him to enter.
Si-woo was met with an intricate, massive black machine featuring a wide platform in front of it and a separate reception-like desk area stationed beside it.
A man and a woman stood right behind the counter and greeted him the moment he entered.
“Please channel your mana through the mechanism you see right here,” the man instructed him, gesturing to a small black ball extending from the side of the machine.
Si-woo nodded and placed his hand on the ball as the man went back behind the reception counter.
A brief moment of silence passed as they checked to ensure everything was in proper order before the man gave Si-woo a thumbs up.
The boy nodded in understanding before he sent out a gentle, steady stream of his mana through the machine for about thirty seconds.
“You can stop now,” the man instructed, and Si-woo took his hand back with a calm nod.
Just as the results of the test appeared on the screen in front of them, the man and the woman looked at each other in absolute shock before looking right back at Si-woo.
“Sir, could you please do that again at my signal?” the woman asked Si-woo with immense politeness.
She took a second to completely reset the machine after the boy gave her a nod of consent.
She gave him a thumbs up as a signal, and Si-woo placed his hand on the black ball again, channeling his mana through it once more.
The results seemed to be exactly the same as before, judging by the stunned looks on the man and woman’s faces.
Korea now had a brand new S-rank hunter.