“We cannot wait any longer, either.”
-Guild Internal Evaluation Report
-Trainee: Kang Yu-jun
-Evaluation Score: 10 / 100
-Remarks: Excellent potential, but failed to awaken. Further training is no longer worthwhile.
A thorough grasp of theory.
Exceptional understanding.
Yu-jun, a promising young member of the Promise Guild, had stood out from the beginning.
His potential had been recognized when he was young, and he had grown up in the Promise Guild's youth program.
At twelve, his talent had been rated at least S-grade in his first evaluation.
He was compared to Do Min-jun, one of South Korea's leading S-grade Awakened, a renowned telekinetic regarded as an archmage. Expectations ran high: if Yu-jun developed properly, he would be at least Do Min-jun's equal and could become the strongest Awakened in the world.
Rumor had it that if he awakened properly, he was certain to reach S-grade.
His nickname was the Golden Youth.
No one among the other promising young trainees of his generation had received an evaluation as glowing as his.
But there was a problem.
Awakening.
“If you cannot awaken, none of it matters.”
Even though he was over twenty, he had failed to awaken.
The conditions for awakening were, quite literally, random.
Some awakened over the slightest thing; others awakened after repeating a particular action.
“Some kids awaken just by reaching a certain age. This is a problem. I never thought you, of all people, might fail to awaken.”
The Promise Guild's director frowned.
“You understand, do you not? We cannot wait any longer.”
Yu-jun grew anxious.
So he trained fiercely, day after day.
He studied everything he had learned and pushed his body beyond its limits.
It was the only way to keep his anxiety at bay.
But some people resented him for it.
-The bastard cannot even awaken.
-He was so full of confidence when he was little.
-How can he fail at something as easy as awakening?
Some began picking fights with him openly. Unable to take it anymore, Yu-jun swung his fists at them.
Of course, without awakening, all Yu-jun could do was take a one-sided beating.
“…….”
Even so, Yu-jun could not bring himself to answer.
Whatever excuse he made, it would all come back to the same thing: this had happened because he had failed to awaken.
“A decision will probably come soon. Prepare yourself.”
“Thank you for looking out for me.”
The director looked at Yu-jun with an expression equal parts irritation and pity.
CRASH—!
The door closed, and Yu-jun rubbed a hand down his face.
All those enormous expectations had turned into disappointment.
If his talent had been nothing special, he would not have felt this way.
“Phew.”
From childhood until now, Yu-jun had poured everything he had into this guild.
If the guild cast him out, he would have nothing left.
The Promise Guild was his whole world.
“What am I going to do?”
***
“No, but this is going too far, isn't it?”
“What can I do? I don't have the talent. I can't awaken, so what am I supposed to do?”
Yu-jun answered his friend with a weary complaint.
The man across from him was an old friend who had spent a good deal of time alongside him in the Promise Guild's youth program.
Kim Min-seok was now a B-grade Awakened.
When they first met, Min-seok's potential had been rated below Yu-jun's, but by now he had attained a higher grade.
They had been so close in their youth that, even after Min-seok transferred to another guild, he remained Yu-jun's only close friend.
Yu-jun had devoted his life to succeeding, leaving him with very few personal connections.
“I'll pay today.”
Min-seok shook his head at Yu-jun's offer.
“You're unemployed now. Do you even have any money? Forget it. I'll pay.”
Kim Min-seok was doing quite well as an Awakened and had plenty of money.
Compared with when their potential was first evaluated, their positions were worlds apart.
But neither Yu-jun nor Kim Min-seok cared about that. They kept drinking soju, with old stories as their accompaniment.
“Come on, your grasp of theory really is S-grade. Remember Trainer Park? The one who turned out several S-grade Awakened? Trainer Park praised you like mad. Said your understanding of theory was even better than theirs. Said you'd definitely become S-grade. We were all so jealous.”
As the drinks went down, one rambling story led to another.
“That's because…….”
Yu-jun gave a small laugh as he remembered those days.
Back then, he had been absorbed in a game called Infinite Tower. Players assembled parties of Awakened with different abilities and climbed to the top of the tower.
The player became a trainer in Infinite Tower, training Awakened and forming parties suited to their abilities for the climb.
Yu-jun had been the game's undisputed number-one player.
“I studied with that game.”
Infinite Tower had done many collaborations, and characters modeled on famous real-life Awakened had appeared in the game itself.
‘And the abilities were incredibly varied.’
Its training system was remarkably detailed and realistic, too.
‘It was perfect for me.’
For Yu-jun, who excelled at theory, it really had been the ideal game.
Min-seok knew all this, and he smiled as he reminisced.
“While we were figuring out one thing, you'd already mastered a hundred. You were on another level.”
That was why everyone had felt awe rather than jealousy.
“You'd hear a theory lesson and put it to use right away. We couldn't even understand it.”
Every trainer Yu-jun had studied under had praised his ability to absorb theory.
“Besides, theory wasn't all you knew. You had an incredible eye, too. You used to help train me and the other youth trainees. Remember?”
“Of course I do. That's how we became friends.”
Yu-jun took a drink.
As Min-seok said, Yu-jun was gifted not only at understanding theory but also at judging an Awakened's abilities.
That was why he had often given the other young trainees advice.
“I changed just one part of my stance like you told me, and the thing I'd been stuck on suddenly clicked.”
Yu-jun deserved some of the credit for the position Kim Min-seok had reached.
GULP—.
They were only sharing old memories over drinks, but those memories made Yu-jun suffer more.
So he drank again and again.
“But it ends with me getting kicked out. It's all over now.”
No one had told him outright that he would be expelled, but it was practically decided.
He still had not awakened at his age. The guild had no reason to keep making allowances for him.
Yu-jun sighed.
What was he going to do now?
“What good is knowing all that theory when I'm not even Awakened myself?”
If only he could have applied even a tenth of the theory in his head to himself.
If only his physical abilities had been as sharp as his eye for others' abilities.
Yu-jun drank until dawn, then returned home with Min-seok. Min-seok, who had worried about Yu-jun's troubles as though they were his own, was thoroughly drunk.
“Pay for your stay before you leave.”
Yu-jun laid Min-seok on the floor and lay down on the bed himself.
Min-seok was so drunk that he would sleep soundly wherever he lay.
Yu-jun sighed and closed his eyes, but sleep would not come.
“Damn it.”
The things he and Min-seok had talked about kept circling through his mind.
The fellow trainees who had gone from success to success after taking his advice.
Though they had done well thanks to him, most had eventually pretended not to know him or looked down on him.
Only a tiny handful, like Kim Min-seok, had continued to express their gratitude.
That was why something someone had once said to him kept pricking at his heart.
“They told me to look after myself before spending time teaching other people. Said I was all slick talk.”
He was furious.
And desperate.
“I knew that already.”
GRIND—.
Yu-jun opened his eyes and gritted his teeth.
Just then, a sound came from somewhere.
DING—!
He had never heard it before. But it was the sound he had waited so long to hear.
“Huh?”
-Conditions met.
-You have awakened!
“What!?”
He doubted his ears again and again.
It had definitely said that he had awakened.
The alcohol seemed to leave his system all at once.
He had been quite drunk, but he sobered up in an instant.
-[Awakened Training System ON]
-You have awakened the Trainer's Eye! You can now train Awakened!
-Use your abilities to train Awakened!
-View currently unlocked abilities.
[Lv.1]
-1. Awakened Scan
-2. ??
-3. ??
-Lv.2 system locked!
HISSSSS—!
Yu-jun winced as his eyes began to feel hot.
Through the pain, everything he could see began to distort.
Blue light.
And cracks.
The two filled his vision with confusion.
“What is this……?”
SNORE—!
Yu-jun saw Min-seok sprawled comfortably on the floor, fast asleep.
“Huh?”
Yu-jun could only stare, his eyes wide.
He could see something strange on Min-seok.
There was a crack at his knee, as if something were out of alignment.
As though in a trance, Yu-jun used the skill.
“Awakened Scan.”
-[Kim Min-seok] Overall Grade: D
-Awakened Ability: Ignition
-Stats: [Strength 8/15] [Stamina 5/15] [Agility 9/15]
“Good God.”
Yu-jun's hand trembled.
“This…….”
The trainers in Infinite Tower had a special power.
They could see the Awakened's status windows.
That let players clearly identify each Awakened's problems and potential, then train them well.
It was like having the answers laid out before them.
‘But that was a game system.’
Awakened received special abilities when they awakened, but they could not see status windows the way people could in the game.
Yet Yu-jun could see one now.
He clenched his fist and muttered,
“So I'm the only one who can see this now?”
***
“Yu-jun, the meeting is over. This cannot continue. Even considering our history and your potential, we cannot make any more allowances for you. You are being expelled.”
The Promise Guild's director had finally informed him of his expulsion.
“To be frank, this is a case where we could seek compensation for damages. But would we go that far? I was told to end things on good terms.”
The director looked at Yu-jun and clicked his tongue briefly.
All things considered, this was an amicable ending.
It was a shame about all the money they had invested.
How much had they spent on Yu-jun?
“Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue.
But his reaction barely affected Kang Yu-jun.
Yu-jun thought of all the times he had been humiliated because he had failed to awaken.
“Thank you for everything!”
Yu-jun bowed, relief on his face.
They did not know.
Yu-jun had awakened.