Kang Han-Kyul (3)

If you become Awakened, it's standard to go to the Hunter Association and register as an Awakened as well as a Hunter. And it was essential for every Awakened to have 60 hours of educational training over 6 weeks, along with 2 in-field experiences.

Hunters that don't register as Awakened with the Hunter Association are restricted from access to various Hunter infrastructure, from the basics to various others like guild membership and access to dungeons.

After checking the amount of information I now had at my disposal when I entered my ID QR code and joined the 'Korea Hunter Association', I was able to conclude that it was much more beneficial to sign up than not to.

It was more common to be Awakened around your early 20s, but, although it was rare, there were cases of people becoming Awakened in their 30s or their teenage years. Proportionally, this meant the majority of the Awakened were in their 20s.

"It looks like there's 1 more field experience I have to do in the remaining 10 hours."

Thankfully, there wasn't that much more time I needed to spend in class.

* * *

At the podium, a man in a suit was giving a lecture in front of a presentation screen. 

"Dungeon break, also called 'cracks', will usually occur when the dungeon fails to be cleared. Generally, A-grade dungeons have a limit of four to five tries, and most cracks occur from D-grade dungeons. That is to say, in reality, there's almost no chance that cracks will occur in S-grade dungeons. Which means there's no need to worry too much."

The lecturer announced a short break and put his microphone down before leaving the lecture hall. I leaned on my elbows on the table and looked down at my notebook that was filled with notes.

It was a class that I was only attending as a formality, but maybe because I hadn't been in a class for a long time, I was enjoying myself.

'I think I can also understand why that guy said that it wasn't an important class.'

Because the Association's website was generally well-organized, I could find any of this out just by searching the internet.

As I was sipping the last of my coffee, someone tapped my side.

Thankfully, I didn't spill any of it because there wasn't that much left, but they had tapped me with a force that could only mean they'd intended to hit me on purpose, so I lifted my head up to face them.

"Wow, who's this talentless loser glaring at?"

"Hey, do you really think you can do the remaining dungeon practices? It'd be better if you just quit trying to be a hunter."

"You still don't have an affiliation even though it's been over half a year since you've Awakened, so doesn't that mean there's something wrong with you? Are you sure you're even Awakened in the first place? Seriously, the Association isn't in their right mind if they've accepted people like you as Awakened."

"Who the hell are you guys?"

I drained the rest of the coffee and crushed the cup in one hand.

There were three guys in total that had come towards me, one of them looked a little older but I got the sense that they were my peers.

"You trying to pretend you don't know us?"

"What?"

"You damn talentless bastard, we got hit with a useless warning because of you. I can't believe that this guy who's been a loser the whole time we've been students is an Awakened like the rest of us. Did you pull some strings or something? Huh?"

I got up from my seat with my cup clenched in my hand.

With what the fat one had just said, my general assessment of the situation was now complete.

'I was wondering why I woke up in a hospital bed.'

And now that I thought about it, Choi Soo-hyun had also mentioned something about a fight. These three bastards who didn't like Kang Han-kyul had used training as an excuse to be violent towards him.

Really. It sounded like something I'd read about at least once in some novel.

If I'd had his memories of those events, I'd at least be thinking about revenge, but since I didn't have those memories, these guys and I were actually strangers. 

And I didn't really have any reason to hate them.

"Get back here!"

* * *

The fat guy reached out to grab my shoulder when I started walking towards the trash can to throw my coffee cup away. I roughly brushed away his hand.

"How dare you touch me with that hand? Thing looks like a fucking pig's foot."

"Wh-What?"

"Am I wrong? Be relieved that I don't remember anything about that day."

I bumped his shoulder as I brushed past him and threw away my empty cup before returning and sitting down at my seat.

"Just you wait and see!"

I didn't know if they'd listened to what Choi Soo-hyun had said to them, but thankfully, the three backed off after that.

The break ended, and right before the end of class, the topic of the upcoming dungeon practice came up.

"You all have probably heard about this, but there is a dungeon practice scheduled for next week. The group formation is as follows, and the expected dungeon is below."

The large presentation screen was filled with around 30 people divided into 6 groups.

Among them, I was in Group 4.

'D-grade dungeon, the Goblin Village, huh.'

I'd searched up a bunch of things about dungeons so I had a general idea about them, but of course, I had no conception of what first-hand experience would be like. My one stroke of good luck was that the monsters that appeared in these dungeons seemed to have some overlap with the ones that I hunted in Arbelicia.

Goblins and orcs were pretty basic monsters, but I can't even begin to tell you how much I suffered when I was first summoned to Arbelicia because of the goblin village that was nearby.

But thanks to that, I could confidently say that there was no one who was as experienced at dealing with goblins than me.

"The open area comes up to here, and you can each gather at your own meeting spots."

The lecturer bowed his head and declared the end of the class. At the same time, the cell phone that I'd placed on top of the desk vibrated.

「HN(Notification) Kang Han-kyul, you have been invited to 'Ujangsan Dungeon Group Chat'. Accept/Decline」

HN was an abbreviation for the Hunter Network, a community as well as a system that supported group chats and announcement notifications. 

I pressed the [Accept] button.

「Ujangsan Dungeon (5)」

'Kang Han-kyul' has entered the chatroom.

Kang Han-kyul: Hello. It's nice to meet you.

Kim Tae-woon(Admin): Yes, nice to meet you too.

Nam Woon-ik: Welcome.

Choi Min-hyuk: damn it we're fucked

Kim Tae-woon(Admin): ???

Choi Min-hyuk: that bastard's an unaffiliated

Nam Woon-ik: I heard that there was an unaffiliated Awakened in this class, is that him?

Choi Min-hyuk: he's a fucking troll

Lee Ye-eun: Excuse me, can you stop talking like that?

Kim Tae-woon(Admin): First of all, let's just settle down.

I packed up my bag and went out into the hallway, just reading the text messages that were popping up without responding. I was sure that this Choi Min-hyuk bastard was one of the three that had approached me during the break.

Kim Tae-woon neatly organized the rest of the messages that came up.

It was mostly topics that didn't mean much.

「Ujangsan Dungeon (5)」

Kim Tae-woon(Admin): Then let's meet this Friday afternoon at 2. Is everyone alright with that time?

Nam Woon-ik: Yes

Choi Min-hyuk: ok

Lee Ye-eun: Got it.

Kang Han-kyul: That's alright.

After seeing everyone else reply, I also sent my response last.

But there was a different notification that had popped up on my phone that I was scared to respond to.

「Choi Soo-hyun: Kim's Seolleongtang. By 1 PM.」

I searched up the place, and it was a restaurant in the building right across the street from the Association.

Maybe it was because it was lunchtime, but the place was packed.

Choi Soo-hyun slightly raised his hand in greeting.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Seolleongtang, please."

"Can we get two seolleongtangs here?"

After ordering quickly, Choi Soo-hyun took a small sip from his water cup and leaned back in his chair.

"You're more shameless than I thought you'd be."

"It's disappointing to hear you talk like that, considering it's been a week since I last saw you."

"It's not a week 'since', it's 'been only' a week since you last saw me. You think I like you so much that it's been a week 'since' I've seen your naive student face?"

I smiled awkwardly at Choi Soo-hyun's sarcastic jabs.

After receiving his business card, I spent a couple of days pondering about how best to contact him. I was definitely reacting like I didn't really think that Choi Soo-hyun would actually respond.

"I told you I'd meet up with you in person and tell you what you wanted to know, but now that we're here, what did you want to say to me?"

Choi Soo-hyun probed me while slurping up the noodles in the seolleongtang.

"I'll get right to the point. I would like it if you could be my sponsor."

"Urk! Cough."

My words must have really shocked him, because he choked and started coughing.

In the world of Hunters, not having an affiliation wasn't just a straightforward problem like not having a class in a game.

For most Awakened, when they decide what 'god' they want to follow, their guild is also almost certainly decided for them. It was no different from forming a religious group from people who worship the same god. Hunters usually joined guilds that were also aligned with following their god.

The Hunter Association could also provide support, but it wasn't the best situation because at the end of the day it was a public company, and all Hunters had to receive benefits.

In other words, being an unaffiliated Hunter who hadn't been chosen by any god meant that there was nowhere to receive valuable support from.

Choi Soo-hyun wiped the corners of his mouth with a wet tissue and resumed eating his seolleongtang. He didn't talk until he'd finished eating his lunch.

"You shameless bastard."

"Isn't that why you gave me your business card?"

"Do you really think so? You're a student, and I'm an education manager. Sure, maybe I didn't train you personally, but I'm going to pretend I didn't hear what you just said."

"What I'm hearing is that if I wasn't a student, then there would be a chance."

Choi Soo-hyun put down his spoon and chopsticks and stared at me.

Even if it was just from information that was circulating around the internet, the more I searched about Choi Soo-hyun, the more I felt that it would be a good idea to catch that guy.

It wasn't just that he'd left his faction. Even though he'd become unaffiliated, he'd received love calls from guilds that were the cream of the crop at home and abroad, besides the original Cheongwol guild that he used to be in.

Choi Soo-hyun had rejected all the offers and steadfastly remained a civil servant. 

It's not that being a civil servant Hunter was a bad thing, but it gave nowhere near the levels of money and fame that the front-line Hunters enjoyed.

'It's very likely that this guy is hiding the real story.'

He must have realized something among the gods whose identities we couldn't figure out. And I was convinced that Choi Soo-hyun's secret was related to the reason why he gave me his business card.

The Cheongwol guild, to which S-rank hunters and even Choi Soo-hyun had once belonged, was one of the top three major guilds in Korea.

This world was the same as the world that I'd lived in before. Strength was just a symbol of your wealth and honor. If he had previously managed to climb up to the level of the Cheongwol guild, then there was no doubt that he would've also made a lot of money.

From where Choi Soo-hyun was standing, there was a high probability that he would have enough financial freedom to support someone like me, who was just starting out.

It didn't matter if you'd call it selfish.

There's nothing more foolish than looking at something you could use that was right in front of your eyes and turning away.

Choi Soo-hyun got up from his seat first.

"Prove your worth first. Then I'll think about it."

He said that he had work to do and left the restaurant waving his receipt.

I waited until Choi Soo-hyun disappeared from my view, then I also got up to leave.

"Um, sir. You still have to pay for your meal."

"Ah."

If you're paying first, then why not pay for all of it…

So cheap.