Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: 62. Alumni Gathering (1)
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Sometime after the school reorganized into an Awakener system, I heard about its structure.
The speaker was Gong Kyung-min, a classmate of mine.
He wasn't a high-level Awakener like Kang Han-min, Na Hye-in, or Woo Min-hee.
He was one of those low-level Awakeners they called "trash Awakeners"—the ones who couldn't emit waves.
But since he'd awakened incredibly early, he'd gotten more opportunities than others who hadn't.
One of those was a teaching position at the new school.
He said the new school's enrollment was around 300 students—about a third of what it was back in our day—but every single one possessed Awakener aptitude.
Naturally, their rankings weren't determined by smarts or fighting skills, but strictly by their Awakener abilities and levels. The rough distribution was as follows:
Levels 2-3: 39%
Level 4: 45%
Levels 5-10: 15%
Level 11+: 1%
These were averages, with variations by year, and post-war data wasn't included.
Notably, every category except Level 4 grouped multiple levels together, yet Level 4 stood alone with the biggest share.
It was intentional.
According to Gong Kyung-min, Level 4s were the most crucial training targets.
Whether these kids could emit waves would determine the average power output of the school's graduates.
Levels 5-10 seemed spread out, but from an Awakener perspective, their potential was nearly identical—they were realms achievable through detailed training and effort.
Level 11 and up was another league entirely.
Transcendent powerhouses, basically.
They were destined for elite status from the moment they enrolled.
But those Level 2-3s at the bottom? They were "slaves" from day one.
These kids weren't admitted to achieve greatness through training. They were there from the start to lay the groundwork at the bottom, serving as human filler to boost the confidence and superiority of the Level 4s that the new school focused on nurturing.
It was a brutally ruthless concept, but after adding this filler, dropout rates dropped, and the proportion of Level 5+ graduates saw a significant rise.
The filler's fate apparently wasn't bright.
"Always be grateful to your parents for having you early."
As Gong Kyung-min's words implied, from the National Crisis Committee's perspective, low-level Awakeners like him weren't much different from us Old School folks.
Only those who'd awakened early like him, or who had talent and brains, earned the honor of heading to Jeju Island.
The rest were thoroughly expended in China.
The government knew their abilities were useless on major monster fronts but tricky and capable of stirring social issues against humans.
After relations with China turned hostile, no one knew what happened to the filler.
Some said they went to Jeju too. Others whispered they'd been stripped of status and scattered into society.
Some even darkly muttered they'd been deliberately executed.
But reality always defies imagination.
Someone chose a path outside all those assumptions.
He was my junior.
*
Foxgames announced a new game.
Curious, I checked it out. It was just a string of text.
That was it. All of it.
Puzzled, I left a comment.
But others had commented right around the same time as me.
Veteran users like Anonymous848 seemed to know exactly what this game was.
They said it was a primitive form of online game from before the war—text-based, minus the fancy graphics.
Foxgames's explanation lit up the board.
...
...
But to me, it looked kinda lame.
Maybe because I don't like games, but could you even call that string of text a game?
And fun? IMJ's classic games that Defender's hoarding would be hundreds of times better.
"......"
Online, I'm an active outspoken type.
Tap tap
Say what needs saying.
But the backlash was fierce.
...
...
And that wasn't all.
"?"
This Park Gyu ended up blacklisted before the game even launched.
I hurriedly reached for the keyboard to explain myself.
That's when the K-Walkie-Talkie suddenly spat out a transmission tone.
"Hey~. Around here? You there? Say something if you are."
A familiar voice.
Male.
Who could it be?
Not someone super close, since it didn't click right away.
I checked the frequency on the radio.
Public channel.
Then the radio crackled again with someone's voice.
"Hey! Park-sunbae! It's me. Youngjae! Don't you remember?"
That jogged my memory of one guy.
A weird dude with a cynical face like he'd seen it all, but like a screw was loose somewhere.
Cheon Young-jae from the 18th class floated into my mind.
Come to think of it, last time we met, he'd said he'd come find me.
I'd brushed it off, but he'd actually come?
The board was nagging at me, but this Park Gyu strictly separates reality from the internet.
Grabbing my gun, I quietly scanned around with binoculars, slipped out through the emergency passage, entered Dummy Bunker 2, and peered through its observation window at the wasteland below the northern ridge.
No vehicles in sight.
"Ah! Found you! Park-sunbae! Respond if you're there!"
What'd he find?
I almost snapped back into the radio, then spotted a man slowly making his way toward me across the wasteland.
No doubt about it.
That seemingly menacing guy with the wide stride, light backpack, and rifle slung over his shoulder—my junior, Cheon Young-jae.
But he was heading straight here.
Even waving at me.
"What the hell is this?"
I scanned the surroundings.
No group or gang.
Alone.
But he had a gun.
Was he here to kill me and steal my bunker?
But his steps were light for that, and he wore a grin that was almost a smirk.
"......"
Back to the main bunker, I checked through the periscope.
Cheon Young-jae was gone.
If he was coming straight, he was in my blind spot.
To spot him, I'd have to climb the hill and look down the steep slope.
What to do?
"Come on, why no response when someone's here? I told you I'd come find you."
The radio buzzed again.
Right, he'd said he'd come.
But I'd never told him my location.
All sorts of possibilities raced through my mind.
One chilling one sent a chill down my spine.
What if he was with Kim Daram's crew?
What if Kim Daram sent him to kill me?
I could kill him, but he could kill me too.
Better to watch for now.
I had dummy bunkers next to my main one.
If he tried anything shady there, just blow the bombs.
"Ah, what’s with this steep shit. Dying here. Look at these goblin claws stuck to my clothes. Damn."
I ignored Cheon Young-jae's chatter.
What mattered wasn't his words, but where he was and where his gun pointed.
The sensor blinked.
North.
As expected, he'd climbed straight up the near-cliff hill.
I knew he wasn't right in the head, but skipping the easy path for a beeline? His reckless personality shone through.
The sensors I'd placed everywhere confirmed he was heading straight from north to my bunker.
But my main bunker's entrance wasn't visible.
All he'd see was the fake bunker—my death trap.
But.
"Sunbae. You're here, right?"
He stopped right above my head.
The fake bunker hadn't fazed him.
By the sensor path, he hadn't even found it.
Meaning he'd come in a dead-straight line to my exact location from start to finish.
"......"
One thought hit me.
This guy.
Was he an Awakener?
Come to think of it, when fighting that armored monkey or chimp Mutation, Cheon Young-jae had pinpointed its position beyond buildings out of sight.
It'd seemed like sensory prowess from speed and spatial awareness, but apparently detection ability.
Never imagined it.
An Awakener aptitude holder from Old School choosing the dropout path.
"Heard you were picky, but damn, you're picky. Alright, gun's down. Magazine out too."
Sounds of him unloading and dropping the rifle came from right above.
But I couldn't see it.
Closed-circuit screens only showed inside: main entrance, garage, fuel storage, generator, freezer, etc.
"How to get a response. Oh, this? Vent? Gonna piss in here?"
"You little shit?"
I grabbed my gun and bolted out to the emergency bunker.
Right above my main bunker, Cheon Young-jae stood with his fly down, looking at me.
As he said, fully disarmed.
He grinned and called out.
"Park-sunbae!"
"......What are you?"
To my question, Cheon Young-jae zipped up with a grin.
"An Awakener. Me."
Right after saying "Awakener," he gave a self-deprecating smile and sighed.
"......Trash Awakener, though."
*
"Whoa. This Park-sunbae's bunker? Insane. For real. Shit. Professor-level. A personal bunker? You built a freaking castle underground."
I'd never imagined letting this guy inside.
"Baby bunker. Baby bunker."
"What baby bunker when you're doing well?"
"Ah, baby palace. But why's the toilet way over there?"
He plopped on the sofa.
I told him to move, pointed to the bathroom stool opposite.
Once he sat there, I took the sofa and asked.
"How'd you find me?"
Casual toss, but crucial question.
In a way, it touched the essence.
Our lives, specifically.
Cheon Young-jae eyed my gun and smiled faintly.
"Saw you had a U.S. military rifle. Good condition. Figured you got it from a U.S. base. Next, location—southwest of Seoul, right? Matches a base spot."
Sounded like no hasty excuse.
I sipped barley tea slowly, listening.
"Assumed around the base, pulled up pre-war maps. Narrowed to spots viable for personal land: easy water, good concealment. Down to three. Only this one has high ground."
Cheon Young-jae grinned.
"Where else? Got a reaction close up too."
"......Smart cookie?"
"Valedictorian. Studied a bit......"
"Why come?"
"Told you I would."
"For what?"
"Well......"
"Saying this upfront: if you're here to mooch off my bunker, no chance."
"Yeah. Can't?"
He asked back, face paling like he felt bad for me.
"Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
"I don't take in young pretty girls. Why you?"
"......Whoa. This much space."
"Saying it's wasteful?"
He blinked and nodded.
"Sorry, I'm sensitive. Delicate. If you've heard about me, you know what kind of guy I am."
"Oh. Right."
Cheon Young-jae turned away with a sly smile.
"......What're you thinking?"
"Nah, Park-sunbae. Just recalled some rumors."
"Name one."
"Drove a teammate you didn't like into danger and let 'em die."
"Slander."
"Used Chinese civilians as bait and bailed."
"Unavoidable tactical call. That zone blurred enemies and civilians anyway."
Cheon Young-jae shifted posture.
His giggling face turned serious. The real talk was coming.
One question first.
"You're an Awakener, right?"
"Yeah."
"Why not report to school? 18th class means right above the new school's first intake—19th class. Should've been treated well."
Cheon Young-jae laughed.
"I have good instincts. Not Awakener powers— just see how the world ticks."
"So, from your lofty view, what'd you see?"
To my question, Cheon Young-jae flashed a chillingly cold sneer.
"Food waste."