It was a cold day in Seoul when a figure with a heavenly glow casually walked up the Hunter's Association, hand in his pockets.
It was a slow afternoon for the staff. Not many people were there as the weather was starting to get colder, and news about the ants on Jeju Island evolving made it even emptier.
People were starting to get nervous.
Those who wanted to know if they awakened or had reawakened were no where to be found. Most of them didn't want to find out that they were a high-rank and have to participate in some part of the raid.
It was too dangerous.
Walking through the double doors, Kenjaku beelined straight to the re-evaluation desk.
"Hm? Who is that?"
A young woman and a slightly older man sat at the desk, both of them seemingly on the verge of falling asleep. When the man laid his eyes on Kenjaku, he was surprised by his strange appearance. Especially his hair.
It gave off a type of ethereal glow.
"Hello, sir! Can I get your hunters license please?"
The young woman collected Kenjaku's license and squinted her eyes as she looked at his picture in the system.
'Hm...I guess the shape of his face is the same. And those stitches on his forehead are there. But the tattoos he had are gone. I guess I should ask about it.'
Turning her attention to Kenjaku, she smiled and said, "Um...sir. Your picture looks a bit different. Could you tell us w-"
"It's because of my reawakening. I told Woo Jinchul I would be here a while ago, but I was busy. If you want to verify who I am, you can call him."
Hearing Kenjaku calling Woo Jinchul's name so casually, the two workers flinched and the man hurriedly whispered something to the woman before leaving the desk.
Kenjaku knew he was about to call Woo Jinchul, but it didn't matter. It's not like he was telling a lie anyways.
"Right this way, sir. We'll evaluate you right now."
Just like before, the young woman walked Kenjaku to a back room and left him in the waiting area for a short while.
On the way there, Kenjaku noticed that various small guilds had representatives present, looking for hunters who had reawakened to a higher rank.
Some of them tried to talk to him because of his appearance, but as usual, he ignored them.
"Sir, you can come in now!"
A different woman peeked her head out of the double doors, calling him inside of the evaluation room.
'This process is still the same.'
The woman walked behind the desk as Kenjaku stood by a large black orb that was used for evaluation.
"What's your name?"
"Kenjaku."
The woman was a bit surprised that a D-rank came for re-evaluation, but she didn't ask questions.
"Alright sir. All you have to do is place your hand on the black orb and wait."
About ten seconds passed and nothing happened.
The woman gasped and a bead of sweat ran down her face when she saw the results, but she kept her composure.
"Wait, sir. Let me try one more time."
Again, she got nothing but an error message.
If this had been a few weeks ago, she wouldn't have known what this meant. But since she had dealt with a case like this not even two weeks ago with Koreas 10th S-rank hunter, she knew what was going on.
"There's no way...uh, sir! Can you wait here for a moment?"
The girl scurried off for several seconds and returned with an older man, who also had sweat running down his face.
"See, look at the message! I'm sure that he's...another one."
The man adjusted his glasses and laughed nervously as he looked at the error message.
Walking up to Kenjaku, the man clasped his hands sheepishly in front of himself and chuckled, "Well, Mr, Kenjaku, there's a problem. Simply put, your mana levels are unmeasurable. Hehe...unfortunately we need permission to use the advanced-"
"There's no need. The chairman wants to meet with you himself, Hunter Kenjaku."
Woo Jinchul suddenly entered the room, taking off his shades as he looked Kenjaku up and down.
"You sure changed over the past couple weeks huh?"
Kenjaku chuckled as he tapped Woo Jinchul on the shoulder.
"Told you I had reawakened. This was just part of the deal."
Ignoring the astonished gazes of the staff, Woo Jinchul and Kenjaku walked off, the two heading to the chairman's location.
The young woman sighed as they left, raising her head in relief.
"Am I just an S-rank attraction or something? This is the second one in two weeks. It's still hard to believe. Korea's 11th S-rank hunter huh..."
---------
Woo Jinchul and Kenjaku walked into an elevator, the former hitting the button that said 'basement' on it.
"I don't know if you heard, but the Jeju Island raid operation starts in four days. We need all the help we can get. Will you fight with us, Hunter Kenjaku?"
Kenjaku chuckled.
"Of course. I won't back down from a fight. But, I need you to-"
Suddenly, Kenjaku sensed some mana waves coming from the room below.
'S-ranks? Feels like they're fighting. Wait...this mana. Heh, even Jinwoo is here huh?'
Noticing this, Woo Jinchul said, "So you sensed it. Most Japanese and Korean S-rank hunters will be participating in this raid. Right now, they're just warming up in the gym. That's where the chairman is."
In no time, the two arrived.
The moment Kenjaku stepped off the elevator, two people turned their eyes towards him.
The dancer and one of the best sword users in the world, S-rank hunter Cha Hae-in.
The other was Kei, a Japanese hunter.
What they had in common was the ability to smell mana.
So most times, they would have to cover their noses in fear of throwing up from the horrid stench of it.
Usually, this wasn't much an issue to them.
But the moment their noses caught a whiff of Kenjaku's mana, they both couldn't take their eyes off of him.
'I've never smelled mana that had such a terrible stench.'
This was the thought that went through both of their heads at the same time.
Woo Jinchul took Kenjaku to the chairman, who was standing on a platform side by side with Sung Jinwoo, and the Ultimate Hunter, Choi Jung-In.
Jinwoo squinted his eyes as he saw Kenjaku, while the latter just shook his head at him.
"Ah, you must be Hunter Kenjaku. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Go Gunhee, the chairman of the KHA, approached the duo and extended his hands at Kenjaku with a warm smile on his face.
Kenjaku returned the gesture with a smile also, giving the old man his respect. He could sense that this man was also an S-rank. And a strong one at that.
"Likewise. Woo Jinchul mentioned that you wanted to see me."
Choi Jung-In did the same, kindly introducing himself.
Of course, the only one who said nothing was Jinwoo.
Go Gunhee noticed this, but he said nothing. He turned towards the other S-rank hunters training below and said, "Those fellows over there, are our Japanese counterparts. We were just conducting a joint warm up session."
Pointing at a man standing in front of the Japanese hunters, the old man continued, "That's Goto Ryuji, the strongest Japanese hunter, and guild master of the Draw Sword guild. He's on another level even when compared to other S-rank hunters."
While Go Gunhee was right, Kenjaku was unimpressed. To him, every hunter in this room might as well be an A-rank. In simpler terms, they were nothing special.
"I see. He's alright. Chairman..."
As Kenjaku watched the fight between Baek Yonho and Ma Dongwok, he was bored. Their incredible power destroyed the surroundings.
They were faster than the eye could see.
Massively stronger than magic beasts that could throw buildings.
But, this didn't move Kenjaku.
"...the fact that these guys call this a warm-up is embarrassing. They might as well just be playing with each other."
Go Gunhee was speechless. These were some of the strongest hunters in the world. How could it be embarrassing?
Walking closer to the edge of the platform and grabbing the rails, Kenjaku continued, "Chairman. I'm going to go down there and make this a bit more...entertaining."
"Hunter Kenjaku! Wait!"
WHOOSH!
Kenjaku jumped over the rails and landed on the floor below, attracting the attention of a few hunters. In truth, although seeing half-assed training like this annoyed him, the true reason he was acting so rashly was because he wanted to test his new abilities.
Seeing Baek Yonho and Ma Dongwok about to engage in their final clash, Kenjaku clicked his tongue as he moved in a blur, immediately landing in between them.
"Stop embarrassing yourselves."
Catching their fists with one hand each, Kenjaku spun around and threw them back into the walls, knocking them down.
The room went quiet when this scene occurred. Everyone was wondering what was going on here.
Taking a glance at every hunter present, Kenjaku released his mana and shouted, his voice echoing, "I am Kenjaku, guild master of Tyrant. All of you, I don't care if you're Japanese or Korean, A-rank or S-rank, come at me. If not, I will come at you. Today, I will show you all how to truly train."