"Can I get one too?"
The woman asked.
Everyone remaining in the parking lot turned to look at her at once.
More precisely, they looked at what was hanging around her neck.
Hunter IDs were color-coded. F-rank was gray, E-rank was green, D-rank was blue, C-rank was red, and B-rank was silver.
Above those ranks came gold.
There were only eleven gold-ranked Hunters in the entire country.
In my previous life, I'd memorized that number from the research institute's records. The A-rank roster was updated every year, and the institute used it to determine priority for enhancement procedures.
They claimed that the higher someone ranked on the list, the better the data they could obtain.
Park Seung-woo stood frozen, still holding his canned coffee.
"Um…… That person."
"I know."
"That's Cha Yu-gyeong from the Black Wolf Guild. She's the one involved in that Incheon Gate incident last year."
"I know."
Cha Yu-gyeong took two steps forward.
With those two steps, the line parted.
Nobody told anyone to move aside. The six or seven people still waiting instinctively stepped back.
It was the kind of retreat that happened before anyone even thought about it.
Living for ten years in a society where rank served as a badge of authority did that to people.
I watched them.
Seven years ago, I'd been standing in that line too.
I'd been one of the people stepping aside.
＊
"The fifty-thousand-won service."
Cha Yu-gyeong pointed at the A4 notice on the wall again.
"Are you still offering that today?"
"Yes."
"Then I'd like one."
"Please go to the back of the line."
The parking lot fell silent.
Cha Yu-gyeong narrowed her eyes slightly. She didn't look angry. It was the expression someone made upon hearing something they'd never heard before.
"The back?"
"There are four people ahead of you. I'll see everyone in order."
A man's voice interrupted from the side.
"Excuse me."
It was a man standing behind Cha Yu-gyeong. He wore something close to a business suit and held a tablet. He had no Hunter ID.
He was a member of the Guild's management staff.
"Hunter Cha Yu-gyeong only has fifteen minutes available. She's taken time out of her personal schedule to come here."
"Understood."
"So—"
"So if fifteen minutes isn't enough, she can come back tomorrow."
The man's mouth fell halfway open.
"Do you understand what you're saying? She's an A-rank Hunter."
"I know."
"Do you have any idea how many lives an A-rank Hunter saves by containing a single Gate?"
"That's what I was taught as well."
I looked at the four people still waiting.
Three E-rank Hunters and one D-rank Hunter. All four had been standing there since early that morning.
One of them was someone whose problem I hadn't been able to identify during the earlier consultation.
"But I don't determine the order here by rank."
As I spoke, I tapped the A4 notice with my finger.
"I explained this morning that I'd prioritize people according to how much danger they were in. Those four heard that and waited eight hours. If I change the order now, their eight hours of waiting will have been for nothing."
"……Ha."
The man tucked his tablet under his arm.
"You're awfully bold for an F-rank."
"It's precisely because I'm F-rank."
I answered.
"Without the people here, I wouldn't have any customers."
Cha Yu-gyeong smiled.
She made no sound. Only one corner of her mouth curved upward.
"Team Leader Kim."
"Yes?"
"Wait in the car."
"Hunter Cha, you have an appointment at seven—"
"Wait in the car."
The man left.
Cha Yu-gyeong walked to the end of the line and took her place.
She was fifth.
Then she took a cigarette from her pocket, glanced around, and put it away again.
The four people ahead of her exchanged uncertain glances. One of them spoke hesitantly.
"We…… wouldn't mind moving to the back."
"No."
I spoke before anyone else could answer.
"Stay where you are."
The four exchanged looks.
Nobody thanked me.
Instead, they each straightened their posture a little. Their shoulders rose, and hands that had been buried in pockets came out.
I knew what that meant.
Rank wasn't just a number used inside Gates.
It mattered far more often outside them.
Which line you stood in, whom you approached first, whether you were even allowed to insist on your turn—all those things were determined by that number.
After living like that for ten years, people learned to step aside before anyone asked.
I'd been the same seven years ago.
The day I left the assessment center with a score of 0.00, I made way for every person I encountered in the corridor.
Nobody asked me to move.
I moved anyway.
The reason those four people hadn't stepped aside today wasn't that I'd done anything extraordinary.
It was because I'd kept the promise I made that morning, even after evening came.
That was enough.
Three of the remaining cases were resolved through consultations.
The first was an E-rank Hunter who used [Hardening]. It was a skill that hardened the skin, but he said his jaw hurt after activating it.
His habit of clenching his teeth was interfering with the Circuit Unit.
I instructed him to shift the point where he applied force from his jaw to his abdomen.
The second used [Sprint]. He'd awakened four years ago and complained of pain in his right knee.
That wasn't a skill malfunction. It was a problem with his posture.
I didn't charge him fifty thousand won.
"You're not taking the money?"
"I didn't identify the problem using my ability. Go see an orthopedic specialist."
The third case was also resolved through consultation.
That left the fourth.
He was a D-rank Hunter in his late thirties. His skill was called [Delay], a support-type ability that briefly slowed a target's movements.
"Where do you feel discomfort after using your skill?"
"Nowhere."
"None at all?"
"No. But the skill doesn't take effect."
"What do you mean?"
"If I use it ten times, it only works two or three times. It's been like that for three years."
That wasn't a symptom covered by my consultation questions.
I'd examined [Delay] twice at the research institute. Both times, the blueprints had been identical, and neither had exhibited any problems with its success rate.
The absence of physical symptoms meant the Circuit Unit wasn't leaking Mana.
And if the circuit wasn't leaking but the skill still failed to take effect, only one possible problem remained.
The Activation Unit.
That wasn't something I could diagnose through guesswork.
"I'll perform a Structure Inspection."
I spoke.
Park Seung-woo made a startled sound beside me.
"Mr. Yoon Jae-ha, you only have one use left today."
"I know."
A gold-ranked Hunter was standing at the end of the line.
Without looking in her direction, I had the D-rank man sit in the chair.
[Structure Inspection].
The colors drained away.
A network of lines appeared above the man's right hand.
Three layers.
A switch on top, a pathway in the middle, and a plate underneath.
There were two switches.
Three seconds.
I'd never seen anything like this before.
The Activation Unit had two switches attached to it. One was in its proper position, while the other was attached to the side of the Circuit Unit.
Whenever the man raised his hand, one of the two switches closed first.
Which one closed first varied each time.
If the switch on the side closed first, the Mana escaped in the wrong direction.
That explained why his skill only worked two or three times out of ten.
I opened my eyes.
Four seconds.
Pressure built behind my temples.
This was my second inspection today.
I had to stop here.
"You have two switches."
"……What?"
"It looks like an extra switch formed when you awakened. One of them isn't connected to anything. Whenever that one activates first, your skill fails."
The man stared at his hand.
"Then, for the past three years, I've been……"
"Flipping a coin."
"……Can you fix it?"
"I can't remove the extra switch. I can only move things."
I thought for a moment.
"But I can make one of the two switches close first. If I pull the functioning switch toward the inside of your wrist, it'll have a shorter distance to travel, so it should always activate first."
"Then will it work all ten times?"
"About eight times out of ten. And activation will be slightly slower than it is now. Moving it will make the pathway longer."
The man asked another question.
"Why will it be slower?"
"Because anything I readjust is always inferior to the original design."
This was the third time I'd said those words.
"Whoever designed the skill must have had a reason for placing each component where it was. I'm making changes without understanding all those reasons. So something is inevitably sacrificed."
The man closed his eyes.
It took four minutes to move the switch.
He activated [Delay] to test it.
He kicked an empty can lying in a corner of the parking lot.
The can flew through the air, then hesitated for a brief instant as though time had skipped a beat.
The second attempt worked too.
So did the third.
The fourth failed.
"……If it only fails once in four tries……"
The man began to laugh.
There was something strange about the sound.
"My Guild contract is up for renewal next week."
"I see."
"I've been dropped every time my contract came up for renewal over the past three years. Because my skill wouldn't work. I didn't know why it kept failing either, so I just thought I was incompetent."
"You weren't incompetent."
"Do you know what my party members used to say? 'Is today one of his good days, or one of his bad days?'"
The man rubbed the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.
"I've been hearing that for three years."
He opened his wallet, counted out three hundred thousand won, and held it toward me.
His hands were trembling as he counted.
He lost count twice in three attempts.
＊
After the line had finally cleared, Cha Yu-gyeong approached me.
The sun had almost set.
Only one streetlight in the parking lot had switched on, leaving half the space illuminated and the other half in darkness.
"You're finished for today, right?"
"Yes. My brain isn't working well enough to handle even the fifty-thousand-won consultations anymore."
"Can I come tomorrow?"
"Of course. However……"
I chose my words carefully.
"The order will be the same tomorrow."
This time, Cha Yu-gyeong laughed aloud.
"Team Leader Kim told me something earlier. He said you're operating without a license and aren't registered with the Association. Apparently, one report would be enough to shut you down within a day."
"He's right."
I took the A4 notice off the wall.
"To register this as a consulting business, I need authorization from the Association. But there's only one place that can issue authorization for work involving the skills of Awakened Individuals."
"Where?"
"The Skill Research Institute affiliated with the Association."
I folded the paper and slipped it into my pocket.
"To get authorization from them, I'd have to show them everything I do. I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because once I show them, they won't need me anymore."
Cha Yu-gyeong studied me for a long moment.
Her gaze was different from when she'd first approached me.
Back then, she'd looked at me as though I were some curious object.
Now she was assessing my value.
"Mr. Yoon Jae-ha."
"Yes?"
"I became an A-rank Hunter at twenty-nine. I'm thirty-three now."
She took out her cigarette again.
This time, she placed it between her lips without lighting it.
"But lately, there's been something wrong with my skill. Its power hasn't changed, but every time I use it…… how should I put this? It feels like I'm borrowing someone else's hand."
"……."
"I've been to the hospital, but they say there's nothing wrong with me. The Association's examinations came back normal too."
"When did it start?"
"Last autumn."
"What did you do before that?"
Cha Yu-gyeong removed the cigarette from her mouth.
"Enhancement procedures."
The streetlight flickered once.
"I underwent three of them."