Cha Eui-jae trudged towards the entrance of the temporary center, his hands deeply buried in his pockets.
'What is this?'
Cha Eui-jae pulled out something hard from his pocket to check. Then, making eye contact with the serene Buddha once again, he reflected on why he had stuffed it into his pocket instead of the glovebox. Sighing softly, Cha Eui-jae put the fan back into his pocket.
As he reached the entrance, an employee standing in front of the container greeted him kindly.
"Hello. What brings you here?"
"I'm here to register as an Awakener."
"Please take a number here and wait for a moment."
Surprisingly, Seo Min-gi's claim that there were no people seemed to be true. In the temporary center, there were only Cha Eui-jae and the affiliated public officials.
Cha Eui-jae took a number from the machine, sat on a plastic chair, and checked the digital clock on the wall. 3:02 PM. The examination itself wouldn't take long, so if he moved quickly, it wouldn't interfere with the evening business.
He'd certainly be taken back to the hangover soup restaurant… Closing his eyes and waiting for a while, Cha Eui-jae's number was called.
"Number 93."
Cha Eui-jae walked to the counter and handed over his number ticket. The staff placed the ticket into a plastic basket and asked,
"What brings you here?"
"I'm here to register as an Awakener."
"Congratulations on your awakening. How long has it been since you awakened?"
It had been 11 years. But knowing that if he spoke honestly, he would be detained, Cha Eui-jae had no choice but to lie.
"It's been 3 days."
"Please give me your ID card and your phone number."
Cha Eui-jae handed over his ID card and recited his phone number. As the staff entered the number, several sheets of paper were printed from the nearby printer. After verifying his identity, the staff handed him the documents and his ID card, explaining in a businesslike manner,
"Please fill out only the highlighted parts here. Write your name, social security number, phone number, and address. For the skill name and description section, please refer to your system information and fill it out. You don't need to list all your skills, but make sure to properly write down at least one skill that you will demonstrate during the ability assessment."
"Alright."
"There are pens over there. Once you've filled everything out, please bring it back to me."
Standing up from the counter, Cha Eui-jae found a spot in the corner and gripped a pen, deep in thought. He could write the hangover soup restaurant as his address… Personal information could be filled out without much difficulty. Thoroughly managing the personal information of Awakeners was not something that existed during J's active period, making this part relatively easy.
The problem was the next part. He summoned the information window that he had deliberately avoided for a while.
[Viewing Cha Eui-jae's information.]
[There is a lot of information. Summary function is supported.]
[Would you like to view the summarized content?]
[Summary will display up to 3 traits and skills with the highest proficiency.]
[Using the summary function.]
[Error!]
[Due to ■■, certain items are inaccessible.]
Cha Eui-jae slightly frowned but quickly relaxed as several overlapping system messages popped up. It wasn't that 8 years didn't exist just because he hadn't experienced them, so it was akin to collecting 11 years' worth of data.
After waiting a bit longer, a summarized white window appeared.
[Cha Eui-jae]
Hunter Name: J
Age: 2■
Gender: Male
Grade: A (Currently under a weakening curse.)
Traits: Basilisk's Venom (S+), Enhanced Strength (S+), Poker Face (B)
Unique Traits: Hands of a Master (S+), Omniscient (S+), ■■■ ■■■(?)
Title: ■■■ ■■■
Skills: Tracker's Eye (S+), Heart Piercer (S), Soundless Steps (S)
Cha Eui-jae quickly skimmed through the information, then stared into the void, feeling overwhelmed. So, what should he write…
Skills were a lifeline for Hunters; even a good skill at a low rank could allow one to be an active Hunter.
As society stabilized and Hunters' positions rose, the Hunters' association argued that disclosing all owned skills violated personal information protection laws. The Awakened Management Bureau vehemently opposed, but after a long battle, the Bureau eventually conceded. As a result, the requirement to register all skills during Awakened registration was changed.
Thanks to this, the skill section in the Awakened registration documents was reduced to a single field for the representative skill that would be demonstrated.
The one skill written would become the Hunter's signature. Though it wasn't particularly important for Eui-jae, who intended to hide his strength and identity. However, considering he had to demonstrate it, he couldn't just make up something that didn't exist. His eyes meticulously scanned the list.
[Tracker's Eye (S+)]
The ability to track and find others wasn't a common skill. Revealing that he possessed this would make things twice as troublesome. Excluded.
[Heart Piercer (S)]
Upon use, it would definitely pierce the heart. It was also J's representative skill. If he used this now, after J's return, he'd be immediately captured by the Awakened Management Bureau. Excluded.
[Soundless Steps (S)]
Perfectly conceals presence upon use. It was unlikely a low-grade Hunter would possess such a skill. Excluded.
The lower-ranked skills were also too ambiguous to use. At this point, the only option was to use his imagination to craft a suitable lie. The problem was that his imagination was terrible.
'…What's something inconspicuous and easy to fake?'
Cha Eui-jae was good at hitting and enduring. But claiming his representative skill involved beating people up wasn't an option… After pondering for a long time, Cha Eui-jae finally wrote down a skill.
Sturdy (D)
Strengthens the body to make it tough.
'Just get hit, then claim the toughness is due to the skill.'
With nothing but a sturdy body and resilience, he decided to switch to a tank role.
***
Choi Seok-yoon, a C-grade Hunter affiliated with the Awakened Management Bureau, was assigned to the temporary Awakened registration center in Gwangjin-gu due to his newbie status.
It was nice that there wasn't much work since it was a temporary center and they would soon move to the main building, but there was so little work that it was boring. Recently, he had binge-watched an entire season of a drama during work hours. If nothing special happened today, he might finish another season.
Ding-dong.
Choi Seok-yoon, who was yawning so wide his mouth might tear, quickly checked the monitor at the sound of the alarm. Someone was finally coming for an ability assessment. He cleared his throat and raised his voice.
"Come in."
The person who entered was a tall young man in a gray hoodie. The young man approached Seok-yoon without hesitation and handed over his documents. Choi Seok-yoon was slightly taken aback by the confident movement. He quickly checked the documents.
'Name: Cha Eui-jae. Age: 28. Skill is… Sturdy? What kind of skill name is that?'
Choi Seok-yoon couldn't help but chuckle. After all, there were quite a few people with quirky skill names on HunterNet. Scratching his temple with a pen, he asked,
"Judging by the description, it seems like a defensive tank skill. Is that correct?"
"Seems like it, but I'm not really sure."
The young man's voice trailed off, in stark contrast to his previously bold movements. Choi Seok-yoon glanced at him and then reviewed the documents again.
'Awakening date… 3 days ago? That makes sense.'
A self-enhancement buff would be hard to perceive on one's own, especially if it wasn't an attack skill. Choi Seok-yoon nodded and stood up.
"One moment."
He retrieved a dummy from the corner and turned it on. The wooden dummy creaked before standing upright. Choi Seok-yoon handed the dummy a wooden sword and gestured for Cha Eui-jae to approach.
"You'll be struck while in the skill's active state. The attack will be with the average strength of a D-grade Awakener. Is that alright?"
"Yes."
"If it hurts too much, make sure to let us know. We'll give you a recovery potion."
"Okay."
The young man's voice was still somewhat timid, but considering he was about to get hit, it was remarkably composed. Choi Seok-yoon was impressed.
'He has great composure… Tanks are rare, so a mid-sized guild might take him right away.'
Meanwhile, Cha Eui-jae was…
'Pretend the hit wasn't too bad, but act like it hurts because of the pain.'
He was preparing for a Hollywood-level performance.
"Have you activated your skill?"
"Yes."
"Alright, here we go."
When Choi Seok-yoon pressed the button, the dummy raised the wooden sword and turned towards Cha Eui-jae. To Cha Eui-jae's eyes, it moved excruciatingly slow, but he couldn't dodge. He tracked the sword's descending trajectory with his eyes. It was aiming for his shoulder. As expected, the wooden sword struck his left shoulder.
'Wait a second.'
Snap!!
Hearing the ominous sound, Cha Eui-jae instantly realized something had gone terribly wrong. He had expected a somewhat heavy strike, not this light one. His anxious eyes shifted to the void.
Sure enough, the wooden sword that should have stopped upon hitting his shoulder…
'Fuck.'
…had snapped in two and was flying through the air.