A Short Break Translator: Xzy ***
Han Yu-jin, of course, did not immediately try to use his ability again.
He was curious if he could open a door to an even earlier time period of that 'Earth After the Apocalypse' world, in short, a door like 'Earth Just Before the Apocalypse', but he wasn't at a point where he would jump right back in after having such an experience.
To be honest, it was incredibly scary when he was split apart and killed by the wave of hair at the end.
Fortunately, it wasn't painful because he had died in an instant…
'I thought I was going to piss myself.'
He might have actually pissed himself. It's just that he might not have been able to tell at all because he had been split into pieces.
In any case, no matter how much of a cultivator he was, he was still only in the Entry Stage, and the opponent ghosts were too powerful.
When he recalled their presence, he still felt goosebumps and a chill.
So, naturally, he needed a mental break.
As he was contemplating what to do to pass the time, he was suddenly reminded of his university friend, Park Hee-won, who had introduced him to the Xianxia genre.
- Wanna grab lunch?
So he immediately contacted him through the messenger. The response that came back was similar to last time.
After setting a specific appointment and browsing various places on the internet with his computer, time passed quickly.
This time, they met in front of a kimchi-jjim restaurant that was good for lunch, but when Han Yu-jin saw his friend walking from a distance and acknowledged him, his friend's slightly bewildered reaction made Han Yu-jin bewildered as well.
"Uh…? What the hell, you?"
Park Hee-won, who only properly recognized Han Yu-jin after getting closer, had a slightly flustered tone.
"What?"
"I said, what the hell are you."
"So what the hell do you mean by what, you bastard."
"Did you put on makeup or something? Your complexion is quite different?"
"Ah, I see."
Han Yu-jin didn't hold back the laugh that came out on its own.
"I awakened. When I awakened, my looks got a buff too."
"Cut the crap."
"No, for real."
"…Really? You? That doesn't make sense."
"It's on me."
Han Yu-jin chuckled and entered the kimchi-jjim restaurant.
"Hey, you bastard, you said you awakened and you're treating me to kimchi-jjim? It's all a lie, right?"
Naturally, Park Hee-won followed behind, grumbling.
While they were sitting at a roughly suitable table, ordering, and the side dishes were coming out.
Park Hee-won, who had asked again and again if he had really awakened, offered his congratulations, full of envy.
"Congratulations, really. Wow… I didn't know an awakener would come out from my circle. And at this age, too."
"I did awaken a bit late."
"How did it happen? How did you do it?"
"How did I awaken…"
Han Yu-jin let out a hollow laugh at the thought that suddenly came to mind.
"It was a while ago when I was lying in bed to sleep, I opened the messenger because I was bored and saw that a middle school classmate of mine had become a Hunter and was doing well."
"Uh-huh."
"But on top of that, that bastard was dating my middle school crush."
Originally, he had seen his crush's messenger profile first, so it was an explanation with a minor detail changed, but overall, it was a true story.
"So I was envious of that, and when I went to sleep and woke up, I had awakened."
"…Pettiness is the awakening trigger?"
Han Yu-jin just found the pitiful look in Park Hee-won's eyes, who was sitting opposite him, funny.
Han Yu-jin was not particularly ashamed of his own pettiness.
This was because he thought that everyone had such an aspect. Like the shadows that are inevitably included in a portrait.
What was important was how much of a part that pettiness took up, and whether one could control it well depending on the time and place.
"You should learn from me. Who knows? If you're pettier than me, you might awaken as an S-rank Hunter."
But at those words, Park Hee-won suddenly started to laugh hollowly, and instead of subsiding, his laughter grew louder and louder.
For some reason, Han Yu-jin also started laughing along.
"Why are you laughing, you bastard, was what I said that funny?"
"No, the recent webnovel trend is the corner-of-the-room loser, and it reminded me of that. If that really happens, will I awaken too? I'm a bit confident in that."
"What do you mean, the corner-of-the-room loser is a trend."
It was truly amazing.
As they were chatting more about related topics for a while, the kimchi-jjim they had ordered soon came out, and they started eating.
"If you."
And Han Yu-jin, since he had met his friend anyway, brought up something he had been mulling over.
"If your ability is in the form of knowledge and you can share it with others, would you do it?"
"I guess your awakened ability is something like that?"
"Yeah. It's a bit long to explain in detail… Let's just assume I learned a Xianxia cultivation method."
"Huh?"
Park Hee-won, who was just about to pick up his spoon, looked at him with a strange expression.
"For real?"
"Let's just say it's something like that. That it's knowledge with that much of an impact."
"…"
His friend, who picked up his spoon with a very strange expression, was silent for a while and seemed to be thinking quite seriously.
"That's a damn important story."
That was the word that came out after a while.
"With your family… Ah, sorry."
"It's fine."
"Hmm…"
Park Hee-won, who knew Han Yu-jin's family situation, started thinking again after a quick apology.
"Is there a reason to share it? You won't get anything but money. And you'll be able to earn as much money as you want once you start working as a Hunter anyway."
"What if I can become stronger, faster, and more by sharing it?"
"Then… there is a reason to share it, I guess."
Han Yu-jin nodded his head at the perhaps obvious conclusion. But he asked again.
"Even if it's something like a Xianxia cultivation method? I'm telling you, the impact is no joke."
"If you're worried, you can control it yourself. It's the unwritten rule to control things like that so that no one stronger than you emerges."
"Hmm, I guess so."
"But, even if you do that, if it's a real Xianxia cultivation method, I'd be worried. Couldn't it overturn society if you're not careful?"
"That's a bit of a concern too."
"No…"
Park Hee-won completely put down his spoon.
"Is it really knowledge of that level?"
"I took an ability test right after I awakened, and I got an A-rank."
"…"
This time, his friend looked truly surprised.
As someone who was well-versed in knowledge related to Hunters, it seemed he knew the weight of an A-rank well.
"You're not lying, are you?"
"I'm not."
"Crazy… First, tell me that knowledge. I'll review it well and make a judgment."
The atmosphere that had become heavy for a moment was lightened by that joke.
While Han Yu-jin was letting out a hollow laugh, Park Hee-won, who had a serious expression in contrast, soon spoke.
"Just, releasing it little by little and seeing the reaction seems to be the best way."
"If I want to play it safe, that would be better, but…"
The world of Earth After the Apocalypse came to Han Yu-jin's mind as he trailed off.
"What if the world ends in ten years?"
"This is a lie, right? You're just throwing it out there, right?"
"Of course, you punk. Do you think I'm some kind of Nostradamus?"
"It would be better if he were that bastard. He was wrong in the end."
Thinking that any more heavy discussion was inappropriate, Han Yu-jin just laughed and mumbled something vague.
It felt like it had been quite helpful just to have checked his thoughts while talking with his friend.
"If it's really that Xianxia thing, let me know too. Let me live a long life too."
"What are you going to do if you don't have a Spiritual Root?"
"Then I'll have to reroll at the Han River right away. In the Xianxia world, a mortal just has no reason to live."
"You crazy bastard."
Reroll was an abbreviation of 'reset marathon' used among gamers. In short, it was a joke that he would reincarnate repeatedly until he got a Spiritual Root.
"When your hyung can afford it later, I'll get you one, a Spiritual Root."
"For real? Then I'll really serve you as my hyung-nim. But…"
"But?"
"If you're going to get me one anyway, don't get me a crappy one, get me something awesome like a Yin-Yang Five Elements Heaven Spiritual Root."
"That sounds awesome just from the name."
After that, the idle chatter continued.
In the middle, Han Yu-jin also threw in the question of whether he believed in the existence of ghosts, but only a principled answer came back, saying that since there were rifts and abilities, wouldn't something similar exist somewhere in the world?
'Everyone probably thinks similarly.'
No one thought seriously about ghosts. Even though they had accepted the existence of rifts and abilities, it seemed that ghosts felt like a different story.
Perhaps because they were such terrifying beings, they wanted to leave them as just a superstition, as they had not yet been proven.
"Hey."
Around the time the meal was finishing.
"Like a proper A-rank Hunter, post a lot of pictures of you eating well and living well on your profile. That's how I'll get envious and awaken too."
Park Hee-won said so.
It was his own way of congratulating and encouraging Han Yu-jin, knowing that once he started his full-fledged Hunter activities, they wouldn't be able to meet as comfortably and often as they did now.
"Sure."
Han Yu-jin also answered without long words and finished his meal.
<><><>
Han Yu-jin, who had returned home, did not get sidetracked with other things on the internet and searched for ghosts.
Perhaps naturally, there wasn't much of a harvest. Most of it was about movies, and almost all of what was said to be real experiences felt like fabrications.
'They've probably never even seen a real ghost, ignorance breeds courage.'
If they had just once witnessed the sight of a person being chopped up like cube steak by a wave of hair, they would never be able to fabricate something like this again.
After contemplating something for a moment, he opened a map linked to a famous portal site.
And he just searched for high schools and began to check all the school photos that appeared in the Seoul area one by one. It wasn't for any other reason, but because the sense of being overwhelmed he had received from the ghost named Won-hee was that great.
Since she was an existence that could never be called a mere ghost, there had to be something special about that school or Won-hee herself. And the only thing he could easily search for now was the school.
'It would have been nice if I had checked the school's name.'
Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury to check such a thing as he was being chased, crushed by the terrifying pressure of the suit ghost.
Han Yu-jin, who was checking them one by one, wondering how many high schools there were in Seoul, felt a slight fatigue despite having the body and mind of a cultivator. It was more out of boredom than real tiredness.
'It might be better to just read a Dharma spell book…'
But since not even a day had passed since that terrible experience, he didn't want to stop this boring search activity now. It felt like he would only be satisfied if he could confirm that high school somehow.
How much time had passed like that?
The sun had set outside the window and the room was getting dark, and although there was no worry about his eyes getting worse after becoming a cultivator, he turned on the indoor light according to habit and resumed his search for a short while.
"Uh…"
Han Yu-jin momentarily sat up straight and brought his face close to the monitor.
'Found it.'
The concern that he might not be able to recognize it was completely useless.
The moment he saw it, he knew right away that this was it.
'Yeongwon High School.'
He followed the link to the official homepage and looked at it in detail, and he could see that Yeongwon really meant eternity. It felt a bit strange for a high school name.
However, apart from that point, it looked very normal on the homepage. Everything from the principal's greeting, educational goals, introduction of the faculty, to the notices such as the announcement board.
It felt like a very normal, ordinary high school.
'That Won-hee… she wouldn't even be ten years old now.'
Thinking this, Han Yu-jin left the homepage and started to look for information about Yeongwon High School.
Then he found a piece of quite interesting information. It was a post written on a small community site, and it was a story that the foundation behind Yeongwon High School was a pseudo-religion.
Religion and ghosts, he couldn't help but get a feeling right away.
He was quite excited, as if he had learned a small piece of the ghost apocalypse puzzle. If he had his way, he wanted to visit this high school right away tomorrow and search thoroughly for anything strange.
'Some characteristic of the pseudo-religion, combined with some characteristic that forms and grows ghosts, resulted in a ghost of Won-hee's level…'
Just as he was having such a thought.
The smartphone he had placed next to the keyboard suddenly lit up and the ringtone sounded, startling Han Yu-jin.
It was fortunate that he was alone; it was quite embarrassing that he, a cultivator, was surprised by such a small thing.
"Hello?"
He answered, thinking it was probably an advertisement from an unknown number, but the person on the other end was a woman who sounded very young.
- Is this Han Yu-jin-ssi?
"Yes, it is. Who is this?"
- Hello, this is Officer Kang Min-ah from the Ability Management Bureau. I was trying to contact you a little sooner… Is it a good time to talk?
"Ah, yes, hello. It's a good time to talk now."
It was the dedicated officer that the administrative officer had said he would assign.
Han Yu-jin suddenly wondered if he could request information related to Yeongwon High School from this dedicated officer.
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