cungratulashun

On the way to the association, her mom speaks up,

"So, are you planning to become a hunter?"

Jinah shakes her head,

"No. At least not yet. I have no clue what my abilities are. It'd be stupid of me to think I could fight."

Jinah may be young, but she isn't stupid. She knows how much her brother trained just to be able to fight a goblin without dying. Without that training, she's likely to die in an F-rank dungeon.

Her mom nods her head,

"Indeed. Being a hunter is about more than just strength. It's about skill as well. Add in a little luck, and you've got yourself a successful hunter."

Jinah sighs in agreement. To even become a hunter you have to be lucky.

Eventually, the two arrive at the association. In places like the United States and China, you would have to wait in a line in order to even get in the building. Thanks to Korea's lower population, though, they can have a waiting room. As Jinah sits, several others around her are nervous. She knows why, if you don't get a high enough level, you could be stuck at the bottom. Basically becoming cannon fodder. A few people enter the testing room and most leave with tears, while some leave while celebrating. The luck of the draw.

Eventually, it's Jinah's turn. As she walks into the room, she sees a giant orb in the center hooked up to various tubes. One of the proctors speaks up,

"Alright, you just need to put your hand on the ball and channel your mana into it. If you don't know how, imagine a thin line of some color leaving your hand and entering the ball."

Jinah nods her head and closes her eyes. It takes her a second, but she feels something. Something is moving inside her body besides blood. It feels almost like another set of veins. She sees inside it and notices that it's a black wispy substance that's pushed through her body. She forced it to go to her right arm and then to leave her palm. The orb begins to glow with a black light, indicative of her type of mana.

It takes a few seconds, but eventually the machine gives her an estimate and the proctor speaks up again,

"Oh wow, Ms. Sung, congratulations! You've awakened at B-rank! And you've got the dark element as well if I'm seeing that correctly!"

The proctor walks up to her with a paper that says her rank and then continues,

"Your card will be printed out soon. In the meantime, would you mind going to the waiting area?"

She nods her head and goes back. The hunters around her look at her with pity, thinking she got a bad rank. She ignores them and thinks to herself,

'That must be why my hair is black now.'

Eventually, a receptionist calls her name. Jinah walks over to the counter where the receptionist says aloud,

"Congratulations on awakening to B-rank! It's not everyday we get such a high rank showing up!"

Voice of surprise pop up around her as several guild recruiters scramble to attempt recruiting her.

"Miss! Our guild, the Silver Night will off-"

"Our guild, Setting Sun will trai-"

"Miss, may I offer you my-"

Jinah suddenly finds herself surrounded by overly eager people nearly fighting one another to get a chance to speak to her. She tries getting away from them, but more people keep moving in front of her.

'Ugh! I wish I could just disappear!'

The voices suddenly stop and are replaced with,

"What the fuck? Where'd she go?"

"An assassin type!? We have to get her!"

Jinah opens her eyes and finds that, while people are still around her, they're more like shadows than humans. She can just barely make out their faces due to the darkness surrounding them. Their actual shadows have darkened as well, becoming much more noticeable than before. Jinah is pushed by someone behind her and steps onto someone's shadow.

She's shocked when she touches the shadow, as her body is sucked inside of it. She can feel every shadow around her and knows instinctively that she can move through them with ease. She moves forward through the shadows of the group before popping up on the other side of the crowd, still invisible.

'Well, this is a convenient skill!'

—---------------------------------------

After the fiasco at the association, Jinah gets into her mothers car and the two head home. Jinah's mother decides to ask,

"So, what rank did you get?"

Jinah smiles smugly and holds out her badge,

"Your girl is a certified B-rank hunter!"

Kyung-Hye gets a sad smile on her face as she says,

"Congratulations, I'm happy for you."

Jinah gets an "oh really?" look on her face and looks at her mothers face,

"Oh? If that's so, why do you have such a sad look? Hmm?"

She sighs and looks at her daughter for a second before looking back at the road,

"Haaaaah… I'm torn. On one hand, I'm glad that you're not an F-rank, but I'm also sad that you'll be putting yourself in danger."

Jinah shakes her head,

"Nope, I won't! I hate being hurt! I'm not planning on going into any dungeons! At least not yet! I've still got school after all! That degree isn't going to get itself. Besides, brother Jinwoo is already a hunter. S-rank at that! Your daughter shall be a good girl and go to school!"

Jinah gets a playful smile on her face as she looks at her mom. Kyung-Hye looks at her again and chuckles,

"I'm glad. It's already stressful enough knowing your brother is putting his life on the line."

Jinah inwardly cringes, knowing that she does indeed plan on going into a dungeon eventually, once she explores her ability more. She feels guilty lying to her mother like this, especially when she knows how much it would worry her if she found out.

She was already planning on going into an F-rank dungeon soon. That is, if she can find a way to attack using her ability. The rest of the car ride is rather quiet, with the pair only chatting every now and then about random things like school life and how it feels having magic powers.

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AN: since everyone seems confused about the whole love interest thing, let me be more clear.

this story has never been, nor will it ever be a romance story. the love interest won't play a major part in the story and will only be there for some "feel good" slice of life chapters. the actual story will progress like normal.

basically, nothing will change except the slice of life chapters.

also, gimme yo stones. or ill swipe em.

heads up, i still upload at least once a day on pat.reon! if you wanna get access to chapters early, as well as vote on stuff, the link is https://www.pat.reon.com/sorrestwriting (delete the .)