Was this what one could expect from an A-Rank Hunter?
The moment I activated ‘Black Dragon,’ Jeong Chanu immediately reacted and drew his sword.
With his sword in hand, he drew mana throughout his entire body.
Deep navy mana glittered around him like the night sky.
As though displaying the power of an A-Rank Hunter, Jeong Chanu gathered all that overflowing mana and condensed it into his sword at once.
At that moment, the blade began to shine with brilliant golden light.
[Celestial Body - Seven Stars]
SLASH—
A hollow cutting sound rang out.
Jeong Chanu had sliced through empty air with his sword.
There was nothing visibly flying toward me.
He had simply cut through the air.
However, I instinctively raised my right arm.
The faint pain I felt beyond the scales told me that I had made the correct decision.
‘As expected of an A-Rank Hunter.’
Had I failed to react, that attack would already have ended the fight.
That was genuinely terrifying.
The moment I blocked the attack, Jeong Chanu raised his sword again.
However—
“Block this.”
“...!”
I had already pulled my raised arm back with all my strength.
[Haze - Martial Shadow]
Black mist began rising from my arm.
The vicious mana dormant within it made every hair on Jeong Chanu’s body stand on end.
His instincts screamed at him.
He had to block it.
Jeong Chanu immediately pulled back the sword he had been about to swing and turned the blade sideways to defend against the approaching fist.
“Hup!”
RUMBLE!
A storm of ink-black mist erupted from my fist.
The violently swirling mist surged toward Jeong Chanu with tremendous force.
That alone began tearing apart the floor.
It was the floor of a training room said to break only when S-Rank Hunters trained there.
Jeong Chanu judged that he could not block the attack directly and immediately angled his sword.
“Urgh...!”
SCRAAAAAPE!
Both legs remained firmly planted against the ground, yet he was pushed far backward.
His arms tingled as though they were about to tear apart, and they trembled violently.
Gritting his teeth, Jeong Chanu glanced behind himself.
The black mist he had barely deflected continued forward, destroying the floor in its path.
I was not an opponent he could face lightly.
Jeong Chanu poured even more mana into his sword.
‘It is bright.’
The light flowing from his sword was growing increasingly intense.
I felt that I could not allow it to become any brighter.
Clenching my teeth, I struck the ground with my fist as hard as I could.
“Urgh!?”
The ground shook violently at close range, causing Jeong Chanu to stagger.
The moment he lost his balance, the steadily intensifying light wavered, if only briefly.
I did not miss the opening.
Stepping forward, I thrust out my fist.
[Haze - Martial Shadow]
Black mist once again shot toward Jeong Chanu.
He would be pushed backward again.
Then I could use that opening to attack.
With that thought, I charged forward alongside the surging mist.
However—
“This time—”
The advancing black mist—
“—will be different.”
—was split cleanly in half by Jeong Chanu’s radiant sword.
‘Haze’ scattered the moment it was torn apart.
The protective veil surrounding me evaporated in an instant.
Once the black mist obscuring even my own vision vanished, I found Jeong Chanu waiting with his sword raised above his head.
“This time, I will be the one to say it.”
Block this.
[Celestial Body - New Moon]
Jeong Chanu brought his sword straight down.
At that moment, all the light gathered around the blade was released in the shape of a new moon and flew toward me.
It was fast.
It was powerful.
The moment I faced that slash, every hair on my body stood on end.
I was certain that even if I blocked it with my right arm, my body would be severely damaged.
I extended my right hand and spread ‘Haze’ widely in every direction.
The black mist formed a hemisphere around me.
A moment later, Jeong Chanu’s slash collided with it.
“Urgh....”
The mist constantly threatened to scatter.
The brilliant celestial light tried to pierce through the black haze.
My eyes widened as I forcibly stabilized the mist that repeatedly threatened to collapse.
[Synchronization Rate 1.6%]
The New Moon slash began losing its light once it failed to penetrate the barrier of black mist.
When its radiance had been reduced by half, I tightly clenched my right fist and detonated the wall of mist.
A muted explosion rang out as the black mist scattered in every direction.
It swallowed the New Moon slash before evaporating along with it.
Immediately after detonating the mist, I lowered my right hand and charged forward.
Jeong Chanu also lowered his sword while gathering light around the blade again.
A sword and a fist.
Whoever struck first would win.
I clenched my teeth and thrust out my fist.
Jeong Chanu swung his partially illuminated sword horizontally.
‘I will reach him first!’
Just as I braced myself for the pain that would follow—
“My goodness. Why are you two fighting as though you are trying to kill each other?”
A voice came from above us.
At the same moment—
“Ghk?”
“Gah!”
An enormous pressure descended upon Jeong Chanu and me.
Our bodies were slammed into the floor while we were still in the middle of charging.
With my face pressed against the ground, I struggled to raise my head and look ahead.
Jeong Chanu had been driven into the floor in exactly the same position as me.
‘What is this?’
It felt as though gravity had increased only within the space surrounding the two of us.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not raise my body.
At that moment, a white shoe landed gracefully beside me.
Its owner walked toward me with light steps before crouching down.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Black Dragon. Or should I call you Han Mir?”
“...W-Who are you?”
“You do not know me? It is me, Seong Yumi, one of Korea’s eleven S-Rank Hunters. Would you recognize me if I called myself the Mage King?”
A beautiful white-haired woman smiled at me.
Her red eyes gleamed as she looked down at my immobilized body.
“Why do we not go somewhere else and have a brief conversation?”
***
Cheon Yuna stared ahead with a bewildered expression.
Jeong Chanu had clearly called Examinee 738, and Han Mir had entered the training area.
Then his right hand had transformed into that of a black beast, just as she had seen before.
She had thought she would finally be able to watch him fight properly.
However, the walls of the training room had suddenly turned dark, as though the power had gone out.
Every wall of the training room had become completely black.
Because of that, no matter how much they wanted to see inside, it had become impossible.
“What is this?”
“Did it break?”
“Damn it! My turn is still a long way off!”
Several minutes had already passed.
The blackened walls of the training room had yet to return to normal.
That was not all.
Even when people tried to enter, the tightly sealed door showed no sign of opening.
Just as everyone’s frustration was reaching its peak, the walls of the training room became transparent again, as though the power had been restored.
Jeong Chanu, looking somewhat disheveled, was breathing quietly while bowing his head in apology.
“I apologize. There was a problem with the equipment, so I had to address it briefly.”
An apology from an A-Rank Hunter.
Moreover, it was an apology from one of the country’s most promising Hunters.
No matter how angry they were, no one present was foolish enough to complain to the man supervising their examination.
No one except for a single person.
“E-Excuse me... Where did Examinee 738 go...?”
Cheon Yuna raised her trembling hand.
Jeong Chanu looked at her briefly, then turned his gaze away and spoke.
“Examinee 739, come inside.”
***
I lowered the towel I had used to wipe my face and quietly looked around.
Where was this place now?
I closed my eyes and recalled what had happened moments earlier.
‘Teleportation... It felt similar to being moved between floors inside the tower.’
In that situation, the only answer I could give was that I agreed.
The moment I answered, Seong Yumi smiled and said I had made the correct choice.
Then, with a casual snap of her fingers, she activated a ‘Teleportation’ skill.
A floating sensation similar to the one I experienced when moving to the next floor of the tower enveloped me.
My vision flashed once, and before I knew it, I was inside this room.
Seong Yumi handed me a towel and apologized for treating me roughly before immediately disappearing again.
I had been sitting here waiting ever since....
“When is she coming back?”
She was taking quite a while.
What was she doing that required so much time?
The moment I had that thought, brilliant light suddenly began gathering in one corner of the room.
“Whew... You two really wrecked the place.”
Seong Yumi appeared while tapping one shoulder, seemingly exhausted.
She walked toward me and dropped heavily into the seat across from mine.
“Hmm... Where should I begin?”
Tap, tap.
With her arms crossed, she tapped a finger against her chin before speaking.
“First, Mr. Black Dragon. I am sorry, but may I ask you a few questions?”
“Go ahead.”
“When did you leave the Tutorial Tower?”
“I think it was last Thursday.”
“...I thought so.”
She released a quiet sigh, as though the answer had been exactly what she expected.
“You registered as an Awakened last Friday. The witness account posted online also appeared last Friday. Since that Gate was close to Gangnam, you must have gone there immediately after registering.”
“That is right.”
I had not expected even Seong Yumi, an S-Rank Hunter, to know about it.
I could now roughly understand why Cheon Yuna had apologized so desperately.
“Your recorded time in the Tutorial Tower was also 4,444.4 hours.... It matches the period you were missing exactly. What is with that number? Did you plan it?”
“....”
I had not planned it.
Some insane Black Dragon from parts unknown had.
I quietly kept my mouth shut and avoided answering.
Seong Yumi stared at me as though I were insane before belatedly collecting herself.
She cleared her throat and continued.
“It may be a little late to say this after mentioning your disappearance and your Tutorial Tower record, but I conducted a brief investigation into you. You expected that much, did you not?”
Snap.
With a light snap of her fingers, she summoned a stack of documents and several canned drinks.
Cans of juice rolled across the table.
Documents were scattered everywhere beneath them.
I did not need to read them to know that they contained information about me.
“You are not a Villain, Mr. Black Dragon. You truly are nothing more than a Rookie who only recently cleared the Tutorial Tower.”
I stared silently at Seong Yumi.
She chuckled softly at my reaction and uncrossed her arms.
“That brings me to the main point. Mr. Black Dragon, you do not belong anywhere yet, do you?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Since you are unaffiliated, how would you feel about becoming an Association Hunter—”
“No.”
“...What?”
The answer escaped my mouth without even a moment of hesitation.
Apparently, she had not expected me to reject her so quickly, because Seong Yumi let out a dumbfounded sound.
“W-Wait. This is a good offer. If you become an Association Hunter, you will receive a reliable monthly salary and tax benefits.”
“Then let me ask you something. If I become an Association Hunter, can I disappear for days at a time?”
“That... would not be possible.”
“That is why I cannot accept.”
An Association Hunter?
I knew perfectly well that they earned a great deal of money.
Association Hunters were public servants, although they were classified as a somewhat unusual category.
Perhaps because of that, they received generous salaries while still being allowed to sell the materials they obtained from Gates, just like ordinary Hunters.
They received two separate sources of income.
Naturally, it was widely known as a highly lucrative profession.
For someone whose goal was to buy an apartment overlooking the Han River, it was undoubtedly an excellent offer.
However—
‘The problem is that I have to return to the tower.’
There was the Black Dragon’s proposal that I had already accepted, not to mention the new Unique Skills I could obtain by conquering the tower.
Either reason alone would have been enough, yet I had two.
How could I possibly accept her offer?
It was not that I did not want to accept it.
I simply could not.
I looked away from Seong Yumi, who was still wearing a dumbfounded expression, and picked up one of the rolling juice cans.
PSSHT—