Carried away by my rising spirits, I spoke with bold confidence.
The moment I took an excited step forward—
The world began to spin.
A terrible pain that started near my heart, in my mana circuit, began to flow backward through the blood vessels of my entire body.
An unfamiliar, all too vivid sensation.
So vivid it felt as though my mana circuit was screaming.
‘…Ah, I’m fucked.’
The strength left my legs, and I rolled through the mud.
In my excitement, I had forgotten that I was F-rank and gone wild to my heart’s content.
As a result, my body could no longer endure it and had reached its limit.
My vision kept flickering.
Just as my consciousness began to blur—
I heard the hurried sound of footsteps running from beyond the debris.
“Survivor confirmed here! Target… confir….”
“Rapid… sup… team in…! Secure the perimeter… thoroughly….”
Their voices came in fragments.
I saw Association agents in black tactical gear rushing in and taking control of the scene.
That was my last memory of that rain-soaked place.
**
My eyes were heavy. My eyelids were heavy, with that feeling people often describe as being as heavy as lead.
With great difficulty, truly great difficulty, I lifted my eyelids and opened my eyes.
An unfamiliar white-toned ceiling came into view.
First of all, this definitely wasn’t my studio apartment. The wallpaper wasn’t cheap.
Along with the clean, pure-white tiles, there was a faint smell stinging the tip of my nose… That smell told me where I was.
A hospital.
“You’re awake.”
A calm voice sounded.
I turned my head to check the owner of the voice.
I saw a woman sitting in the guardian’s seat with her legs crossed.
A woman in a neat black suit, with sharp eyes.
On her chest was a golden badge symbolizing the Hunter Association.
…An Association employee?
“Where….”
“This is a private room at the central hospital designated by the Association. I am Agent Lee Chaeyeon of the Hunter Association’s Special Suppression Team.”
Introducing herself as Lee Chaeyeon, she rose to her feet.
Then, with disciplined movement, she gave a light bow.
Wait, a private room?
…I don’t have any money. How am I supposed to handle the hospital bill?
‘Well, the Association will pay for it, right?’
Thinking that, I did my best to hide my expression.
“Why am I here?”
“…We found you collapsed at the scene and brought you here.”
“Ah.”
“The scene has been cleared, but we had a few things we wanted to ask you, so we were waiting for you to wake up.”
An interrogation? No. Rather than an interrogation…
“The testimonies of the survivors at the scene all matched. They said blue lightning moved like a human and dealt with the orcs. And afterward, it returned to human form and collapsed.”
Lee Chaeyeon stared straight at me.
As if she knew everything. As if she had already heard it all, so I shouldn’t even think about saying anything foolish.
“No matter how much we searched the Association’s database, there was no information on an Awakened who had awakened with lightning-type abilities.”
“…”
“First, I apologize. While you were unconscious, we collected your fingerprints and ran an identity check. Under normal circumstances, collecting them without consent could be considered illegal, but I hope you understand that we judged it to be an emergency situation and acted on our own discretion.”
In other words, while I was asleep, they took my fingerprints, ran an identity check, and now wanted me to understand.
I glared at her with an incredulous look.
“Excuse me, but are you truly Baek Ubin?”
“…Is there a problem?”
“…No. It’s just that, according to the database records, Mr. Baek Ubin is registered as F-rank. According to the testimonies we secured, the abilities Mr. Baek Ubin displayed appear to be that of an elemental-type ability user, but F-rank is…”
Of course. You must be wondering how an F-rank could have an elemental ability.
“May I ask which guild you belong to?”
“I don’t.”
“Pardon? But…”
“It’s true that I’m F-rank. And I don’t belong to any guild.”
Lee Chaeyeon’s face stiffened.
Then bewilderment and confusion began to mix in. I saw it clearly.
“You’re really F-rank?”
“Yes. Didn’t you already run an identity check?”
“…Then you’re saying you really awakened three years ago and have remained F-rank until now? Truly?”
As if she couldn’t accept the situation, she muttered repeatedly.
After a moment, she turned her gaze back to me.
“Have you perhaps recently undergone a reawakening?”
…Is that it?
Reawakening. A miracle in which an already Awakened person undergoes awakening again through special circumstances.
Or a phenomenon equivalent to it.
From Lee Chaeyeon’s perspective, that would be the most reasonable inference.
If I were to tell the truth, it was all so absurd that I couldn’t explain it.
Would she obediently believe me if I said that, on New Year’s Day, I wished for a girlfriend, only to be struck by lightning through a god’s cursed prank, and now I could see a gallery inhabited by ghosts from the destroyed first-round world?
Well, even I don’t think I’d believe that.
…Let’s just gloss over it. It’s not that different anyway.
“Maybe. I nearly died, and when I opened my eyes, I had an ability.”
I answered nonchalantly and gave a light shrug.
Lee Chaeyeon stroked her chin, lost in thought. Her eyes looked calculating.
A moment later, she spoke in a grave voice.
“Mr. Baek Ubin.”
“Yes.”
“The Hunter Association would like to make you an offer.”
“An offer?”
“I’ll ask just in case, but do you know about Aegis?”
As if I wouldn’t.
It was a place every Awakened in South Korea wanted to enter.
The only autonomous Hunters under the South Korean government.
The only thing demanded of Aegis was clearing the Tower.
Aside from that, nothing was interfered with. That was what it meant to be a Hunter called Aegis.
“Yes, I know.”
“There was someone scheduled to receive Aegis this year.”
…Scheduled to receive it?
Aegis referred to those selected from among the most outstanding Hunters.
It signified special authority, and Hunters were divided into those who had received Aegis, those scheduled to receive it, and ordinary Hunters who did not qualify.
A person scheduled to receive Aegis was, in other words, a candidate, and that alone meant their abilities had been recognized.
I’d heard that just being mentioned was enough for guilds to acknowledge their ability and shower them with all kinds of offers to recruit them.
In other words, simply being mentioned was no different from a guarantee of success.
The qualifications were so strict that, for an F-rank like me, even hoping for it was a luxury.
“Aegis? What does that have to do with me…”
“Unfortunately, that appointee… failed to clear the Seoul Station Tower just yesterday and passed away.”
…Ah, so that’s why.
Whether he had overreached or lacked the ability, he failed to clear it and died.
That tragedy of another person’s death.
But because of that bloody tragedy, a vacancy happened to open up.
“So our Association is considering recommending Mr. Baek Ubin for that vacant position.”
And Lee Chaeyeon—the Association—was offering that to me.
“You have not undergone reassessment yet, but we judge Mr. Baek Ubin’s abilities to be A-rank or higher. We believe that you are more than qualified to receive the infrastructure and systematic support of an Aegis candidate.”
“…”
“To be frank, from the Association’s standpoint, we believe talent like Mr. Baek Ubin should be nurtured even further.”
She had wrapped it up in such refined and plausible wording.
But in the end, what Lee Chaeyeon was offering was protection, support, and observation.
They intended to place me in an institution they could oversee, assess my value, and, if possible, raise me to be friendly toward them.
That was her ulterior motive.
Honestly, from my perspective, I didn’t have any particular reason to refuse, but I put on a somewhat bewildered expression and said,
“It’s such a sudden offer that, honestly, I’m not sure. The fact that the position came from someone’s death also makes me feel a bit uneasy.”
I showed hesitation, as if I were troubled, and let the silence stretch.
Now that they knew I was an elemental-type Awakened, the ones who had something to lose weren’t me, but them.
As if she had expected it, Lee Chaeyeon took a business card from her pocket and placed it on the table.
“I understand completely. Please rest assured that we have no intention of forcing you. I’ll give you a few days to think it over, so when you’ve made your decision, contact me at this number anytime.”
She bowed politely once and left the hospital room.
**
Sitting propped up against the bed, I muttered toward the empty air.
“Hey, you heard that, right?”
I expected a translucent window to appear and the chat to scroll up.
But forget the chat—there was no reaction at all.
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen it since I opened my eyes.
…Don’t tell me, if I faint or fall asleep, the connection gets cut off or temporarily turns off?
Like a phone screen turning off after some time passes?
“Should I check?”
It wasn’t like it would have disappeared, so I tried checking one by one.
I softly said, “Gallery,” but there was no response. Even when I said “chat,” “hologram,” and “live chat,” there was no reaction.
What is it?
Frustrated, just as I was about to get annoyed while thinking that I wished the gallery would show up—
Ding—
Along with a notification sound, a translucent blue window appeared.
…So I just had to think that I wanted to see it?
When I dragged the screen, I saw that countless posts had gone up while I was asleep.
But what mattered right now wasn’t those posts.
To ask them for advice, I pressed the button to write a post.
But my gallery activities did not go according to plan and had to come to a stop.
“…How do I write on this?”
A problem had come up.
It was all well and good that I had pressed the write button, but I had no idea how to actually write.
If a keyboard had appeared, that would be one thing. The problem was that I couldn’t see any device for writing.
“No way.”
Just as the gallery had appeared when I thought of it, I thought of letters and wished for the words to be written.
Then letters began to be entered.
I think I’m starting to understand this now.
Thinking that, I wrote a post.
Title: The Association suddenly says they’ll put me in Aegis, what do I do?
Author: Baek Ubin
[ Title says it all. ]
ㄴ You crazy bastard, tell them you’ll do it right now!!
ㄴ What a truly foolish fellow! What are you doing instead of contacting them at once!
ㄴ Of course you should do it! I’ll be an appointee too!
Every single comment had the same reaction: “Why aren’t you accepting already, you idiot?”
In an instant, the comments were exceeding fifty.
As if they had been waiting for me to post this question.
But I tilted my head crookedly and said,
“But what’s so good about being Aegis?”
Ah, right. I need to write a comment.
ㄴ But what’s good about becoming Aegis?
ㄴ Just do it first, Gallery Master
ㄴ First of all, Korean Aegis has Kim Soyeon and the Archmage. That’s enough.
Aha.
In the end, if I wanted to meet Kim Soyeon and the Archmage, I had to do it one way or another.
Just being able to make a connection with those two, who would rise to the ranks of the strongest, was more than enough value.
“…Yeah, I’ll say I’ll do it.”
I picked up Lee Chaeyeon’s business card from the table.
“After I take a few more days to relax first.”
Then I flopped down on the bed and hummed to myself.