I Alone Level-Up

"Wait, what"s going on…?"

Just what was happening? Jung Gisoo ended the call with Baek Yoonho and tilted his head. It was amusing enough that an E-rank Hunter was here for a retest, and now, Baekho"s Guildmaster was coming here to learn that Hunter"s results.

"Is he the real deal?"

If the Baek Yoonho was being this serious, perhaps there was something really going on? But the deputy quickly shook his head.

"Eh, no way."

The Awakening after Awakening was not a phenomenon you saw every day.

Was it few months ago? The entire a.s.sociation was thrown into chaos when a potential Reawakening candidate appeared, but nothing came out of it. The confirmed cases of the phenomenon were incredibly few, but there were a lot of mistaken cases.

"Plenty of deluded people came here for a retest and wasted our resources..."

Baekho must"ve been thoroughly mistaken about something. Still, thinking about maintaining a good relations.h.i.+p with Baekho, Jung Gisso could not refuse Baek Yoonho"s request.

"I"m heading out. I"ll be right back."

"Huh? Where are you headed, deputy?"

"I just remembered I have something to do in Building B."

Building B was the occupational language used in the a.s.sociation for the building with the magic power measuring equipment. It was where the evaluation of the Hunters" rankings occurred in.

"Alright, understood."

"Call me if anything happens."

"Yes, sir."

Even as he kept thinking "Reawakening my a.s.s…" in his head, Jung Gisoo imagined Baek Yoonho"s face and headed toward Building B.

-

Jinwoo sat down on a chair at the end of the waiting room. There were three others waiting for their testing. Their faces were filled with nervousness; Jinwoo fully understood their feelings.

"After all, the results of the test will determine the course of their lives."

Jinwoo was the same the first time he waited in this place. He recalled how he had hoped to become a high-ranker back then. The young man four years ago dreamt about B-rank, rank and even deluded himself as far as becoming an S-ranker. Receiving his E-rank shocked him and destroyed his dreams. Remembering that day four years ago, Jinwoo smiled in nostalgia.

"Why is he smiling?"

"How could you smile at a time like this?"

The others waiting stared at Jinwoo strangely, but the man remained carefree.

"Was he born with a strong heart?"

"He doesn"t look nervous at all."

The spirits of the others were lowered by Jinwoo"s confident att.i.tude. They turned their heads and looked at each other.

"Looks like nothing changed."

Jinwoo also remembered this. Waiting here filled you with nervousness, and people would look at each other, interested in the other"s results. Still smiling, Jinwoo looked around the building. Just like the people, the building itself had not changed. Since the Hunter a.s.sociation was only ten years old, the building looked relatively new. The interiors were as he remembered. However, one thing was different,

"Those people over there."

As Jinwoo stared at the group of well dressed men and women across the room, the man next to him struck up a conversation,

"They"re all from various Guilds."

"Guilds?"

"Yeah. Hunters don"t exactly go looking for small Guilds to join. So instead, they send representatives here to try and recruit the fresh rankers."

It did look like the people in the group were giving off a cold vibe to each other.

"And the way that they"re looking at us with antic.i.p.ation."

It now made sense.

"Just in case you don"t know, you shouldn"t join those Guilds."

"Why"s that?"

"From what I"ve heard, small Guilds engage in dangerous Raids and lose a lot of Hunters."

Jinwoo nodded. That made sense. The small Guilds were probably not in a good position. Raiding low-level Dungeons like private parties wouldn"t result in a good income, and at the same time, they did not have enough power to properly raid high-level Dungeons. Because of that, small Guilds" affairs often resulted in incidents.

"So refres.h.i.+ng their member count is very important to them."

And that resulted in these small Guilds coming to the a.s.sociation"s building for recruitment.

"Ah."

The man who struck up a conversation wiped away the sweat gathering at his brows with a handkerchief. The man carefully held out a hand to Jinwoo,

"Since we met in a place like this, shall we introduce ourselves? My name is Yoon Junghoon."

"I"m Sung Jinwoo."

With a short greeting, the two men returned to waiting in silence.

"Next person."

The measuring room was wide open, so people were able see the expressions of the employees and the tested person. The person who just got tested did not look good.

"Must be E or D."

As if reaching the same conclusion as Jinwoo, the people from the Guilds did not show any interest. It was a rather honest reaction. Jinwoo wondered if they had a way of knowing the exact results somehow.

"Next person."

Another result came out. It seemed like this one was also a dud. The man walked out with heavy footsteps. Well, it made sense.

"If high-rankers came out that often, they wouldn"t be so revered."

For the average person, even receiving a C-rank was a great thing. They could earn a lot through a private party, and if they were lucky, they could even enter a large Guild. Even Baekho"s new recruits had four C-rank members. If you succeeded in entering a large Guild, you"ll earn an income comparable to a doctor or a lawyer. The man next to Jinwoo struck up a conversation again,

"I heard that the signing bonus for large Guilds are incredible."

The man"s hand holding the handkerchief was lightly trembling.

"To be honest, I actually in a bit of debt. Have to live away from my daughter, you see. All this is making me more anxious."

The man realized he was speaking a little too freely. He quickly lowered his head to Jinwoo,

"Sorry, what am I saying to a stranger... how embarra.s.sing. I get a little talkative when I"m nervous."

"It"s alright."

Jinwoo smiled and also bowed his head. Another Awakened Being left the testing room.

"Next person, please."

It was the man"s turn. However, the sweating man suddenly held and shook Jinwoo"s sleeves. Was he sick?

"Are you feeling alright?"

Jinwoo asked out of concern. The man shook his head.

"No, nothing like that… Er… Do you mind going first? I"m feeling too nervous right now."

The man"s eyes were pleading. Well, if he was going to give up his spot, Jinwoo had no reasons to refuse. Jinwoo happily agreed. He understood the man"s feelings; after all, the few minutes in that room would determine the fate of your life. Anyone would be shaking.

Jinwoo got up instead of the man and headed to the employee. The employee asked with a business tone,

"Name?"

"Sung Jinwoo."

"Sung Jinwoo-ssi… Alright, place your hand on that black surface and wait."

As instructed, Jinwoo walked up to the measuring device and placed a hand on the black surface.

"Huh? He was already tested as an E-ranker?"

The employee looked at Jinwoo"s file and was amused. Almost every single Hunter that came here for a retest were these pathetic E-rankers. The employee looked derisively at Jinwoo then turned on the measuring device.

beep

woooong-

The machine made a noise for a moment, then completed its measurement. The results were displayed on the monitor.

"Huh? What the h.e.l.l?"

Jinwoo removed the hand, and the employee spoke to him in confusion,

"Hold on."

"Hmm?"

"We"ll have to do it again."

"Oh, okay."

Jinwoo put his palm on the machine again.

beep

"Huh?"

This had never happened before. The employee"s expression darkened. Of all the days the measuring device could be acting up… The employee apologetically spoke to Jinwoo again,

"Sorry. Just one more time."

"..."

At the repeated instruction, Jinwoo just placed a hand on the machine and kept it there.

beep beeeeeep

"Why is it like this?"

The employee began to sweat. The people gathered outside realized something was wrong.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

"How many times is that man going to run the measuring device?"

"Looks like something went wrong."

Feeling the attention on him, the employee began to sweat profusely.

beep

"Dammit, what am I supposed to do?"

While the employee stood still in panic,

"What the? Where did Changs.h.i.+k go? Why are you here alone?"

The employee turned around. The Deputy of the Reception Office, Jung Gisoo was standing behind him.

"Deputy Jung!"

At the appearance of an unexpected ally, the employee"s face relaxed a bit.

"Sunbae went on a bathroom break."

"Does that b.a.s.t.a.r.d know what the time is? To think that he would leave his spot like that…"

Jung Gisoo could not continue.

"...Well, I also left my post."

Anyways, it was a good thing that he had come here. With the senior employee missing, this unlucky newbie was sweating profusely. This was the time for a veteran to step-up.

"So what is it? What"s wrong?"

Jung Gisoo showed interest at whatever was happening.

"There"s something wrong with the machine."

"The measuring device?"

"Here, look. The results keep showing an error."

The employee stepped aside and showed Jung Gisoo the monitor showing the measurement results. The deputy"s face froze.

"...How long have you been working here?"

"About six months. Did I do something wrong?"

"No. Call Changs.h.i.+k and tell him to come right away."

"Sir?"

"Now"s not the time for bathroom breaks, call him!"

Jung Gisoo raised his voice. The employee flinched and asked,

"W-what"s going on, deputy?"

"This is not an error! It"s saying "measurement impossible"! Don"t you know what that means?!"

"Eh? It"s not just an error message?"

Why were all the new hires so useless? Jung Gisoo moved his gaze from the employee to the person being measured.

"How could this be…"

Sung Jinwoo. The man whose results interested Baekho"s Guildmaster.

Jung Gisoo kept his eyes on Sung Jinwoo and spoke to the employee,

"You moron, it means that our devices are incapable of measuring that man"s magic power."

"Sir? Does-does that mean?"

He said he worked here for six months? Forget six months, this had not happened in the past two years. Of course the new hire wouldn"t know. Jung Gisoo replied with a shaking voice,

"Yes… He"s an S-ranker."

S-rank. Because of its widespread use to denote certain people"s rankings, it"s often mistaken as an official power level. In reality, the S-rank was given to people whose powers could not be measured by the limits of humanity"s measuring technology.

"So hurry up and call over Changs.h.i.+k."

"I"ll call him right away."

Soon, Kim Changs.h.i.+k ran over while pulling up his pants.

"pant, pant. Let me see."

Confirming the information on the monitor, Kim Changs.h.i.+k"s face turned white. His eyes were shaking as they moved over to Jinwoo.

"This man is Korea"s tenth…" [1]

Kim Changs.h.i.+k approached Jinwoo. The Hunter finally took his hand off of the measuring device.

"Er… With our current machine, Sung Jinwoo-ssi,"

Kim Changs.h.i.+k realized who this man would become and quickly changed his tone,

"No, Hunter Sung Jinwoo-nim, it is impossible to measure your magic power. In order to use our more accurate measuring device, we"ll have to obtain the upper management"s permission. Do you mind coming back to the a.s.sociation in three days?"

Kim Changs.h.i.+k had spoken as mandated by his training. It had been such a long time since he had to read that script memorized in his head. He barely remembered the correct phrases.

As a man with knowledge about Hunters, Jinwoo understood what that meant.

"Alright."

A deferred measurement evaluation. In other words, if this more accurate measurement device was also unable to measure him, it would mean that he would become an S-ranker.

"Thank G.o.d."

If he received an rank just now, he would have to return to the a.s.sociation after becoming stronger. But what would they think if he "Awakened" once more after Reawakening? The Reawakening itself was an incredibly rare occurrence, but a third Awakening would raise a ton of suspicion. Jinwoo was glad he did not need to be bothered by such attention.

"Phew-"

With the satisfying result, Jinwoo sighed in relief. As he turned to leave,

"Huh?"

Every single pair of eyes in the building was focused on him.

-

"Oh my, you"re a busy man. You didn"t have to come here yourself like this."

"Nonsense, I"m here to meet the Hunter a.s.sociation"s Director Park. How could I just give you a call? I had to come see you face to face."

As Choi Jongin smiled with his eyes and spoke with friendliness, the elderly Director Park chuckled in response.

Who was this man in front of him? He was the man who led South Korea"s top Guild, "Hunters".

The Strongest Soldier, Choi Jongin. The man"s words could move the country"s most powerful raiding party. And that man was showing consideration for the elderly director, how could he not feel happy?

Choi Jongin placed a cigarette in his mouth,

"Is it okay if I smoke?"

"Of course."

"What about you, director?"

"Oh, no, I"m good."

With a lit cigarette, Choi Jongin was the fitting image of a carefree young man who had everything in life.

"Is this what they call charisma?"

While the director stared at him, Choi Jongin asked,

"You know, Building B"s rather loud today."

"Building B?"

The director looked in the direction of the building. In reality, the director could not have heard what was happening. However, Choi Jongin was an S-rank Hunter. The man"s five senses were incomparable to an ordinary person. If that man was saying it was loud, something must be happening over there. A valuable guest was here, how embarra.s.sing. The director furrowed his brows and spoke,

"I"ll go check it out."

"No, it"s alright."

Choi Jongin dropped the cigarette and put it out with a foot.

"I"m also curious on what"s going on over there."

Raising his head, Choi Jongin"s eyes were filled with light, and a smile appeared on his face,

"Let"s go together."

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: I have to correct a mistake I made earlier. In chapter 59, I translated that Baek Yoonho only knew 10 S-rankers born in Korea. Looking back on the original pa.s.sage, the man"s thoughts are more closely translated as "I only know of 10-ish S-rankers currently IN Korea", not born. This could"ve meant that there were non-Korean S-rankers currently at the time in Korea for whatever reason (never confirmed). Still, I was wrong, our MC Sung Jinwoo is the 10th S-ranker born in Korea.