"Argh!"
When I came to my senses, I wasn't lying on asphalt anymore. Instead, I was sprawled out on dirt.
Wait… dirt?
What the hell is this?
I was definitely being chased by Balrog, and I dove headfirst into the warp gate that appeared in front of me.
So why am I lying on a dirt floor now?
That's when—
"Baek Kang-hyun, you dumbass. You're not gonna get up?"
Someone called my name from in front of me.
I slowly lifted my head, and what entered my sight was a face I felt like I'd seen before… something oddly familiar.
Hmm, I think I know this guy…
Those narrow, torn-looking eyes, that hair dyed brown… That's definitely the punk from middle school…
"…Kang Woo-hyuk?"
"You're really pissing me off. Are you crazy? Seriously, are you out of your mind?"
Kang Woo-hyuk sneered, then lightly kicked at my upper body.
Losing my balance, I flopped backward with a thud.
Not understanding the situation, I looked around while lying there.
…Wait, is this… school?
That huge zelkova tree, the flowerpots lined up in a row.
And my eyes landed on a sign that read Mokdong Middle School.
Now that I noticed, both Woo-hyuk and I were wearing school uniforms.
Middle school uniforms? All of a sudden?
I threw away my old uniform when I entered high school.
Something's definitely off. I remember entering the warp gate.
But the place I lived wasn't Mokdong—it was Apgujeong.
So there's no reason I should be at Mokdong Middle School right now.
And then—
"Ugh!"
A sudden pain shot through my stomach.
I looked up with a grimace to see Woo-hyuk brushing back his hair with a cocky grin.
"Ha, an abilityless loser dares to ignore me?"
"You… son of a—"
He just said the words I hated most.
I was about to snap and get up when suddenly, a message appeared in front of me:
[Conditions met!]
[Congratulations on awakening your talent!]
[Inventory created!]
[Talent awakening, 'Fateful Encounter', has been activated!]
"…Huh."
Wait, what? Talent awakening?
I froze.
I blinked again, but the words didn't vanish.
This was the moment I'd been waiting for my entire life.
Was this real? Was it really happening right now?
"No way. No freaking way!"
I couldn't even form words.
The thing I'd only dreamed about was unfolding right in front of me.
"Hey, are you ignoring me again, you little—?"
"Just shut up for a second!"
I don't have time to deal with you!
Those words—talent awakening—are right here in front of me!
"You bastard—!"
Woo-hyuk lifted his foot again.
Seriously? He's been kicking me nonstop this whole time.
But sitting there and taking it isn't my style. Honestly, letting him hit me twice was already being generous, right?
Wham!
I grabbed Woo-hyuk's foot with both hands and yanked.
Losing his balance, he went down flat on his face. Perfect.
Smack!
At the end of the day, he's just a middle schooler.
Meanwhile, I've spent years preparing for this moment—studying, training, even learning some self-defense.
And I've got experience on my side. Dropping a middle school punk with a hand chop should be easy enough…
"You little…!"
Or not.
Woo-hyuk lifted his head way too easily.
Right, I almost forgot—he was an awakener too.
Back then, he bragged all over school that he'd awakened a talent. That's exactly how I remember Kang Woo-hyuk.
Ugh, so irritating…
Even trash like him awakened back in middle school, and yet I…
And then, another window popped up in front of me:
Name: Kang Woo-hyuk
Level: 1
Hunter Rank: Pending (Estimated: D)
Skills:
1. Strong Against the Weak, Weak Against the Strong! (D)
2. Thick Skin (D)
Stats:
Stamina (D), Strength (D), Agility (F), Magic (F), Willpower (F)
As expected, his stats were garbage.
Still, that's just the perfect cliché delinquent package right there. His future screamed manual laborer.
Not that I care about his life.
But hold on—why can I see his stats?
Normally, you can't see someone's talent unless they willingly show their results from an official awakening center.
That's private information.
Woo-hyuk clenched his teeth, glaring at me.
"Baek Kang-hyun, you—you…!"
"Seriously, why are you so obsessed with me?"
Looking closer, my body looked like it had gone back to my middle school self too.
That meant I couldn't rely on physical superiority to take him down.
So I shoved my hand into my pocket.
If this really was my school days again, then in my pocket should be…
Got it!
My hand gripped a small black taser.
"H-hold on a sec—"
"Too late for that."
Woo-hyuk panicked, but I wasn't about to wait.
He started it with violence, and I was only defending myself. This was clearly self-defense.
Bzzzt!
The taser crackled, and Woo-hyuk's body went limp.
I dragged him aside and dusted myself off, slipping the taser back into my pocket.
He wasn't what mattered right now anyway.
Could this 'Fateful Encounter' really be an S-rank talent?
I'd memorized every publicly known Hunter talent, studied them all so I could use any of them efficiently if they ever awakened in me.
But I'd never even heard of one called 'Fateful Encounter.'
Alright, let's check the details.
My hands were trembling—whether from excitement or nerves, I wasn't sure.
Still, like always, when you don't know something, you check.
The thrill of opening a mystery box—I loved that feeling.
I focused on the word. Fateful Encounter…
And then—
Fateful Encounter [Rank under adjustment]
A chance to test your affinity with humanity!
Humans are social creatures. They cannot live alone. So then—what is a "fateful encounter"?
You are the one destined to discover the answer!
Target: None.
"…What the hell is this?"
I knew skill descriptions were notorious for being vague.
But reading it firsthand made me realize why Hunters always said, "It makes no damn sense."
This was beyond unhelpful.
A chance to test human affinity?
Why did it sound like it was forcing me into meetings?
And what's with rank under adjustment?
Every known talent was graded up to S-rank. I'd never heard of anything like this before.
Then—
"…Baek Kang-hyun?"
Someone called me from behind.
A voice I'd heard countless times in my youth.
I froze, then slowly turned my head.
There he was—the friend I both wanted to see and never wanted to face again.
He stood there in a neat uniform, sharp eyes under cleanly kept black hair.
His high nose and jet-black pupils drew attention instantly.
If people spoke of sculpted beauty, they meant him.
He was flawless.
"…Yong Sang-jae? What are you doing here?"
"…Heading home."
Of course. I remembered now.
Sang-jae always stayed late because of the Talent Enhancement program. That explained it.
Woo-hyuk must've gotten out early since his talent was only D-rank, while Sang-jae stayed behind for extra lessons.
I glanced at Woo-hyuk lying unconscious on the ground.
So he was just lashing out from his inferiority complex, huh.
That strangely made me feel a sense of kinship.
Because whenever Sang-jae was around, I felt nothing but inferiority.
He awakened S-rank back in elementary school, instantly becoming the center of attention—envy and admiration followed him everywhere.
And I wasn't immune to that.
"Baek Kang-hyun. What is this?"
Sang-jae approached, glancing at Woo-hyuk sprawled beside me. His voice still carried that stiff, formal tone.
Right. I remembered—his private tutor had been German, so he spoke Korean weirdly.
Back then I thought it was cool. Now it just sounded like cringey chuunibyou…
Well, later it would suit him perfectly, once he grew into the face of Korea's greatest Hunter.
But right now…
Damn, I really didn't want to run into him.
Because Sang-jae's future was clear—he would become the pinnacle Hunter of Korea.
The last time I'd seen him in person was seven years ago. After that, I avoided him.
Not because he pushed me away—but because I couldn't bear the weight of being left behind.
"…Baek Kang-hyun?"
"Oh—yeah. Sorry. Just lost in thought."
When Sang-jae first awakened, I was proud of him.
My childhood friend, an S-rank! That was amazing.
But it didn't last.
Because while he awakened the next day… I never did.
My progress froze, chained by his existence.
The friend who once stood beside me was racing ahead, while I stood still.
"…Did you do this?"
"…Yeah. That was me."
The taser in my pocket—it was actually a gift from Sang-jae.
Back then, I never used it once.
I threw it away later, thinking: I'll awaken soon, I won't need cowardly tricks like this.
Of course, I never awakened.
If Sang-jae hadn't been around, school might've been unbearable.
But his kindness only made it worse. The better he treated me, the more pathetic I felt.
That's why I cut ties.
He kept trying to reach out, but I dodged him at every turn.
Because I wanted to face him only once I'd succeeded myself.
And now—
"…Are you hurt anywhere, Kanghyun?"
He stepped closer, still the same sincere friend I once knew.
And in that moment—
['Fateful Encounter' has been activated!]
A new connection had begun.
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