A small shop

Taerun stopped walking in the middle of the street to stare at his status bar. It was really odd because he was always an E rank. He was never able to level up for years and his mana level was low too. He was a low-class warrior-type gate collector.

But why is my status bar showing this now? Am I that stronger now? My mana is class B. Not only that, it's level 3. So that means I'm a mage class now? Not a warrior-class hunter?

Suddenly, a boy put his hand on Taerun's shoulder and said, "Yo, what's up?"

   My memories were still in haze, but his smile, his behaviour reminded me of a close friend of mine.

"Sato?" Taerun asked.

"What, did you just see a ghost or something?"

"No..no. I'm just a little surprised."

"Surprised? Did you hit your head or something? Or did you eat something poisonous on your way here?"  

    Sato died during the monster outbreak that happened in the year 2054. His family also went missing under the pile of destroyed buildings and their bodies were never found. The government did nothing to find them out. Instead, they rolled the ground into solid flat surfaces and built hunter associations on it. It became a graveyard of hundreds of people. Sato and his family were one of them too.

 But I can't believe that I'm seeing him walking beside me along the street and smiling like that.

"Why are you staring at my face like that you punk!"

"No, I'm just seeing that idiotic face of yours." 

But he didn't expect to see something really interesting. There was a notification bar above Sato's head. It had a question mark on it.

   Wait, not only above his head. There are more on the street who have question marks above them.

He looked around and saw a girl sitting outside having a cup of coffee with a question mark above her head. The man who's driving a taxi has one too. About 1 out of 20 to 25 people have a question mark above their head.

"Taerun, are you okay? Your body feels warm. Did you catch a cold or something?", Sato touched his forehead and his hand felt the intense heat.

"Bro, you are burning up. Are you sure you can even walk all the way to the school?"

"No, I'm fine. Let's go."

   I'm really not okay because the tattoo on my hand hurts a lot and my head too after leaving the house. I really need to sleep. But I have a damn examination to attain today. For education's sake, I have to sacrifice my sleep today!!!

 Those question marks on his head, do they indicate something?

Ting!

[Question mark on an individual's head indicates the possibility of one's awakening.

The brighter the question mark is, the greater the chances of becoming an A-class hunter.

The person next to the current host has an 80% possibility of becoming A class hunter]

   Wow! I never thought my friend would have the chance of becoming a great hunter. But it was a waste of his talent when he died.

"Sato, what will you do if you become a hunter?"

Sato looked at him and said, "That was out of nowhere… But, I will try to become stronger to support my family and clear all the gates to stop the monster wave." 

   I see. He was always like this. Thinking about his family ahead of everything. He'll become a great hunter if he awakens.

"Anyway man, let's take you to the nurse's office first. You're talking nonsense for this high fever of yours."

A few hours later in the exam hall.

 I'm sure I was a noob and the questions were so hard. I dropped out of high school after my awakened phase. But why are these questions so easy? It's like crystal clear water flowing in the river.

Taerun looked around and saw Sato was giving him a thumbs-up from the backseat.

"Tsk!" 

I forgot, he was also annoying and I used to ignore him to chase a girl in my class named Miyaki. Those dark pasts are finally coming back to me. Oh, man! That school bully too. Ughhh!!!

"Oi!!! Taerun!! Concentrate on your answer papers!!"

The class teacher scolded him because he wasn't writing at all. 

    Tsk! And this fatty teacher in my class was annoying too!! Why is everyone around me annoying as hell!!

Come to think of it, my awakening was related to my bullying incident after the exam. The senior students billed me because I didn't bring any money that day and they beat the crap out of me. Then I almost got isekaied by a truck kun and suddenly awakened at my death's door. The truck was destroyed and the truck driver nearly got isekaied instead of me. When my family was informed about my awakening, my stepfather ran away because he thought I might beat his ass. And we ended up broke on the street.

But I should stay quiet and take mom away from this town before it disappears.

Taerun finished writing quickly and left the school building to find out about those people who made his life miserable.

   Hm. From my calculation, I own about 200k yen from them. And an extra 50k yen for the medical fees. Man, just how much money did I spend on them?

Suddenly, a senior student jumped in front of him and said, "Oyaaa?? Taerun kun is early here today! Did you bring the money as I told you to?"

Slappp!!!

  The boy in front of him flew to the left just from one slap of his hand. But his body was like a cockroach. After taking that slap, he still stood up and pointed his finger at him.

"Oi!! Oi!! Oi!! Who do you think you are haa? Did you lose a screw or something!! How dare you slap my face!!"

    He withstand that? Is he a cockroach or something?

"I did what had to be done. Now give me back my money!"

"Money? You think you owe money from me? Looks like I better teach you who's the real boss here."

A few moments later…

"Who's the real boss here?" Taerun asked.

"You." 

"Who am I?" Taerun asked. 

"Boss."

"Who's boss?" Taerun asked.

"Taerun is my boss. I am sorry for all the problems I've caused. I promise I will pay you back." The senior student was tucked on the floor as a chair to carry Taerun on his back. The other senior students were standing around him with their lunch to treat him like a real boss after getting a happy lesson from him.

    The situation is rather odd.

 I just wanted my money back from this punk. Not to become the ranking boss of the school. Now every student will be scared to death of me.

And I also got half of my money back in just a day. Well, I will look for a way to get inside the gates now. To save my family, levelling up is the only option.

Taerun was lost deep into his thoughts and suddenly the senior student under him fainted from exhaustion. He realised that he was using him as a chair for an hour. 

Uh-_-. I see. He must be exhausted after treating me like a boss. I'm thankful for that but I will never sit on your sweaty back again-_-.

The school dismissed and Taerun looked for the nearest weapon shop on his phone to buy something. He remembered something being so expensive in 2060. But it was treated as trash before the discovery of its real use.

"Oi, what are you looking at on your phone like that?" 

Sato came out of nowhere and looked at his phone. "Are you looking at the hunter's shop? Man, they are hella expensive. I wonder how much money a top-class hunter makes. Just look at those products. They are worth millions of yen."

Taerun put his phone back in his pocket and said, "Let's go. We're going to visit one today." 

"What!! Really!!!" Sato became so excited because Taerun never asks him to tag along. So he followed him and went inside a huge building.

Wow! This place is the same as before. Nothing changed. 

"Oi Taerun, how can you walk so casually here? Do you know only hunters are allowed inside a shopping mall like this?"

Sato held onto his backpack while riding on an escalator surrounded by heavily armed hunters with sharp blades.

"No, it's also open for the ordinary people. They just don't come here because there's no need for them to buy dungeon weaponry." Taerun replied.

"Then can we walk around here?" Sato asked.

   I need to pump his mind now-_-. Or else he'll sit down and stop moving.

"Do you know? There's something from the dungeon that you can buy with 100 yen only?"

"What!! Really!! What is that thing you're talking about?"

"I will show you. Let's go. We're almost there."

Taerun went inside a store full of rusty weapons and the shop owner came out. It was a dwarf who crossed a gate about 60 years ago. 

Sato's eyes nearly popped out of his skull after seeing a real-life dwarf. The dwarf looked at him and quickly grabbed his hand to see the tattoo. 

Wait, how does he know that I have something on my hand?

The dwarf looked at him with a surprised expression and said, "Boy! Where are you from?"

Taerun was confused to hear the dwarf's question.