The Awakener Meetup and the High-Stakes Bet
“Wait, you’re an Awakener?” “No way, does that mean our department has four of them now?” “Can I ask what your skill is?”
In the blink of an eye, every gaze in the room locked onto me. Right now, the management department at our university has exactly four awakeners: me, my junior Seol Yu-ra, my classmate Kim Jin-ho, and one senior who still hasn’t managed to graduate. Even for a large department, four was an unusually high number when you looked at the overall ratio of awakeners. And with the added bombshell that Seol Yu-ra had just achieved her second awakening, the whispers spread like wildfire. People who reached second awakening were an extreme minority even among those who had awakened during the original incident, so the murmurs were inevitable.
“Um, could you show us your skill just once? I’m really curious…”
A girl sitting across from me—someone whose name I didn’t even know—looked up with sparkling eyes and made the request. I’d never seen her before, and she didn’t seem to be in our department, but anyway. Not only the juniors but even Seol Yu-ra beside me were watching with expectant expressions, so I shook my head.
“Ah, my skill’s a bit dangerous to use in a place like this…”
When I said that, everyone looked disappointed but nodded in understanding. After all, plenty of awakeners kept their skills hidden for privacy reasons. But the current atmosphere suggested they’d interpreted my words differently—that I possessed some high-firepower ability too destructive to demonstrate inside a bar.
Well, it’s not exactly a lie.
What could be more dangerous than summoning a psychotic rocket-launcher-wielding lunatic in a crowded bar? In any case, the revelation that I had achieved a second awakening shifted the looks in their eyes from curiosity to outright envy. The rumor must have spread quickly, because even people at distant tables kept glancing my way and murmuring.
I turned to Yu-ra, who was sitting beside me. “What skill did you awaken?”
“Oh, I got a healing skill!” she answered with a bright smile. Her words drew impressed gasps not just from me but from everyone else at the table, even though they must have heard it before. It made sense, though. Most awakened skills these days were combat-oriented. The most common were physical enhancement or weapon mastery types. After that came fire, magic, curses—long-range attack skills. Support skills that buffed allies were fairly rare, and at the very top of the hierarchy sat healing abilities.
Of course, if you exclude my own skill.
That was why everyone reacted so strongly. In the relatively safe modern world where people rarely faced life-threatening danger, even those entering the comparatively secure Tower or gates preferred to party up. And if there was any chance of risk, they would always try to bring a healer. More importantly, healing skills could be used outside the Tower and gates as well. Politicians and chaebols were desperate to recruit awakeners with healing abilities, and the government was even discussing whether healers should automatically receive medical licenses.
“Oh, hello. I’m Jeong Si-woo, an awakener from the political science department.” “I’m Shin Seo-jin, second-year Korean literature major and an awakener! You’re Do-hyun, right? I heard you achieved your second awakening recently…”
The news must have spread even to names. With both a healer like Seol Yu-ra and a second-awakened awakener like me sitting at one table, awakeners from other tables began drifting over. They were all curious about my skill, but I deflected their questions with vague answers each time. A few started giving me suspicious looks, but I couldn’t help it. There was nothing more foolish than bragging about my ability in a place like this and explaining it in exhaustive detail.
After a while of drinking and chatting with the group, Seol Yu-ra spoke up. “It’s a shame I can’t enter the Tower alone… but I’m not confident fighting monsters, so maybe it’s for the best…”
Her innocent remark came across as unintentional boasting. A few awakeners gave her less-than-friendly looks, though their expressions quickly softened into smiles once they remembered she was a royal healer. During a lull in the conversation, she leaned toward me and asked quietly, “By the way, Senior. Have you been inside the Tower yet?”
“Me? Not yet.”
“Not yet? But you’re planning to go in, right?”
I nodded. Seol Yu-ra clapped her hands together. “Then, Senior, next time you could go with—”
Just as she was about to finish, a group of students approached our table. The one in front had a familiar face—my classmate, Kim Jin-ho. He was an awakener who could use ice abilities. The people behind him were new faces, so he must have been chatting with awakeners from other schools. When I first heard about this gathering from Seol Yu-ra, I thought it would just be a few people from our department plus some other awakeners. In reality, it had turned into a massive meetup that included awakeners from our university and all the nearby colleges.
“Lee Do-hyun, you’re here too?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I guess you are an awakener. F-rank, right?”
He started picking a fight the moment he arrived. I wondered what his problem was until I looked around and understood the situation. Kim Jin-ho had always been the type who loved being in the spotlight. Today he had gathered all the awakeners to act like a senior to the second-awakened ones, show off his Tower clears, and probably create a group chat for awakeners from nearby universities so he could play leader. But then the rumor that I had achieved a second awakening spread, and with a healer like Seol Yu-ra at my table, everyone had flocked here instead. That clearly pissed him off, so he made sure to loudly announce my F-rank in front of everyone.
His plan worked. I could feel the warmth leave the eyes of several people who had been eagerly asking me questions just moments ago. As the air around us grew chilly from his provocation, Seol Yu-ra tried to lighten the mood with an awkward smile.
“Oh right, Senior Jin-ho, you probably didn’t hear. Senior Do-hyun achieved his second awakening this time!”
“Oh, really?”
Despite her cheerful words, Kim Jin-ho’s expression somehow grew even uglier. He must have already heard the rumor about my second awakening, so I didn’t understand why he was acting like this.
“Then did you visit the Management Bureau again? It must be pretty embarrassing to have F-rank stamped on your registration, right?”
“Not yet. My skill is a bit too dangerous to show off casually outside.”
At my answer, Kim Jin-ho’s face flushed slightly. He had just been proudly demonstrating his own skill to everyone.
“Ah, is that so?”
He paused for a moment, searching for a comeback. The atmosphere was turning increasingly hostile, and people around us looked ready to intervene, but Kim Jin-ho spoke first.
“We’re planning to take all the new awakeners into the Tutorial Floor together later. Why don’t you come with us?”
He made the suggestion out of nowhere. “If your skill is as amazing as you say, it doesn’t make sense that you still haven’t cleared the Tutorial Floor, does it?”
As he spoke, he raised his arm. When he channeled mana into it, the mark appeared.
Floor 4 - B Rank
It was proof that he was a Tower climber. Clearing a floor let you display your record and rank like this. He was showing off that he had cleared the fourth floor with a B-rank. It was an impressive achievement, and quiet gasps of admiration rose from the people around us.
From what Kim Jin-ho said, there were still several awakeners at the gathering who hadn’t entered the Tower yet. Even though the Tutorial was supposed to be easy, some hesitated because of the risk of injury or simple reluctance to kill living things. Kim Jin-ho had offered them “senior tips” (the kind anyone could find online) and suggested they all go in together. People were more willing to do things in a group that they would never attempt alone. Plus, no one wanted to be left out when everyone else was going. Even the awakeners who had stayed sober in preparation for entering the Tower were excited about this rare event.
His suggestion was an invitation for me to join them. Everyone’s eyes turned to me, wondering whether I would accept.
“Sure, why not,” I answered calmly.
Kim Jin-ho looked slightly flustered.
“Oh, and about that. I heard you talking earlier about making a group chat for all the awakeners.”
I couldn’t have missed it—he had been shouting about it at the next table.
“Huh? Yeah. We’re thinking of making a small club for awakeners from the nearby universities. Why, you want me to add you?”
He had called it a “small club,” but I could see right through him. The fact that he had volunteered to be president despite the hassle told me everything. Overseas, these kinds of awakener groups had already evolved into full guilds. He was probably planning to start here and eventually become guild master. For him, it was actually a pretty clever scheme.
I opened my mouth. “A club sounds good. But since it’s an awakener club, how about this? The person who clears the Tutorial Floor with the highest rank becomes president. Doesn’t that sound fun?”