The Awakening Examination
How do people know they've awakened and become superpowered?
It isn't as if a status window pops up like in a game the moment they awaken, is it?
The answer is simple. They just know. Most Awakened are like that. One day, out of the blue, they realize they have awakened.
They also come to know what kind of ability they can use.
No one teaches them—they simply begin using it naturally.
If anything, it feels more bewildering that they had been unable to do something so obvious until now.
Once they awaken, they head to the nearest branch of the Hunter Association.
After a series of awakening examinations, their rank is confirmed and their registration as an Awakened is complete.
But not Jeong-Hoon. He had not come forward of his own accord claiming to be Awakened in order to take the test. He was there under suspicion of concealing his awakening.
"Is it true that you awakened long ago but have been avoiding registration?"
"It is true that rumors have been circulating that I am an Awakened. That is why I have come here today, with the cooperation of the Hunter Association, to prove that I am a Non-Awakened."
The reporters Jeong-Hoon had deliberately gathered bombarded him with every kind of question, but he answered briefly and stepped into the Hunter Association building.
The Hunter Association building was extraordinarily lavish.
Not a fifteen-story office tower, but a white structure that called to mind a glass palace.
A broad open space in front served as a parking lot.
It had not been built so extravagantly simply because they had money to burn.
The Hunter Association had originally been an organization founded by the family. That was why they had used one of the buildings from the family's business operations.
It had once operated as a wedding hall, which was why the structure remained so opulent after being converted into Hunter Association headquarters.
The moment he stepped inside the building, the president of the Hunter Association approached with his arms spread wide.
"Thank you for coming all this way, Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon."
"I appreciate your consideration for my honor, which might be damaged by mere rumors."
Jeong-Hoon offered a gentle greeting to the association president, who wore a sly expression.
Though polite, the words clearly expressed his dissatisfaction at being forced to come all the way here over nothing more than rumors.
The association president, however, did not take it that way and burst into laughter instead.
"For someone of your stature, Chairman Lee, honor is important! Hahahaha!!!"
In an atmosphere that was thoroughly branding him as an Awakened, Jeong-Hoon smiled and looked around at the people surrounding the president.
They were representative Awakened affiliated with the Hunter Association.
The association did not particularly maintain an armed force of its own, but it did operate a team dedicated to detecting unregistered Awakened who had failed to register.
These were the leaders of that team.
"This is perfect timing. In your eyes, am I an Awakened?"
When Jeong-Hoon posed the question to them, they made awkward expressions and shook their heads from side to side.
Awakened could recognize other Awakened. More precisely, they could sense that the other person was Awakened.
They could not determine the exact rank, but they could tell that someone was Awakened.
This was the first gate of the awakening examination.
It was also the method used to catch unregistered Awakened.
"...What? No, hahaha. I also believed that Chairman Lee was a Non-Awakened, but I'm surprised."
When the association's own Awakened—who could be considered on his side—denied it, the association president became flustered.
Seeing that, Jeong-Hoon was certain the association president had summoned him here to mess with him.
Among the gathered reporters were some the association president himself had called.
The goal had been to corner Jeong-Hoon if he were revealed as an Awakened.
But with the Hunter Association's own Awakened coming out like this, that plan had gone awry from the very start.
"Well, their testimony alone is sufficient, but rumors aren't the sort of thing that vanish with just one proof like this. So shall we properly take the examination?"
Speaking toward the reporters, Jeong-Hoon turned his head and shot a sneer at the association president.
Thinking to cut off any possibility of a rumor that he had bribed the association's Awakened to claim he was Non-Awakened, Jeong-Hoon intended to go all the way for certainty.
There were people who insisted they had awakened and showed up at the Hunter Association.
The most reliable way to filter out such troublemakers was machines.
Awakened superpowered individuals were said to emit a different wavelength from ordinary people.
They detected that wavelength and recognized one another as Awakened.
In other words, reading that wavelength could definitively determine whether someone was Awakened or Non-Awakened.
It was not merely for filtering troublemakers; the machine could even catch the faint awakening wavelengths that even Awakened themselves could not sense.
Jeong-Hoon entered the machine to thoroughly eliminate the possibility that he was such a case.
As a result—
Non-Awakened
After Jeong-Hoon entered the machine and some time had passed, the surroundings stirred at the result displayed on the monitor.
Because there was concern of interference from other Awakened wavelengths, the machine had been built as a sealed unit; from inside, seeing the stir, Jeong-Hoon let out a long sigh and stepped out.
"I was hoping maybe I had awakened after all, but as expected, no."
Tossing out a joke and looking around, Jeong-Hoon called out toward the reporters focused on him.
"As you can all see, I am a Non-Awakened. I am well aware of the anxiety caused by personal information leaks regarding the recent unsavory incidents at the Hunter Association."
At Jeong-Hoon's words, the association president's face drained of color. He was blatantly calling out the association's corruption, after all.
"But Awakened registration is a system created for this country's public safety—no, beyond public safety, for mutual trust between neighbors. Therefore, if there is anyone who has forgotten to register as an Awakened, please hurry and register."
No one found it strange that Jeong-Hoon was saying what the association president ought to have been saying.
Rather, it only appeared as if Jeong-Hoon were cleaning up the series of incidents at the association president's request.
"If registering as an Awakened causes any inconvenience in your daily life, please contact Lumen. We will provide a modest compensation."
Finishing his words, when Jeong-Hoon waved to the reporters, they exchanged glances and murmured among themselves.
They were pondering how to interpret Jeong-Hoon's statement.
It could be seen as the conflict between Lumen and the Hunter Association having been resolved.
Yet it was also ambiguous as to which side had declared surrender.
Since Jeong-Hoon, the chairman of Lumen, had stepped forward to clean things up, it could be taken as Lumen having surrendered.
But it could equally be seen as the Hunter Association having surrendered and fully fallen under Lumen's influence.
Or it could be read as Lumen declaring they would continue the conflict with the Hunter Association.
"Chairman Lee, does your statement just now mean that there will no longer be any conflict between Lumen and the Hunter Association?"
Eventually one of the reporters could not hold back their curiosity and asked; Jeong-Hoon shrugged his shoulders and made a denying gesture.
"Lumen has never been in conflict with the Hunter Association. Rather, we merely helped with the internal cleaning of the Hunter Association. Isn't that right, Mr. President?"
At Jeong-Hoon's words, the Hunter Association president wore the expression of a man who had been thoroughly had.
If he said no here, it would fully expose the conflict that had been hushed up.
Then the government that had installed him as Hunter Association president would dismiss him.
His life as a politician would be completely over.
Though it was called an association, as a temporary agency under the government, he was a politician.
"That's right. Lumen is merely providing a great deal of cooperation. The conflict is groundless baseless rumor."
Therefore, having no choice but to take the hand Jeong-Hoon extended, the association president forced a smile and shook hands with him.
"I will make sure not to forget this matter."
In an atmosphere that outwardly concluded amicably, when Jeong-Hoon quietly whispered into the association president's ear, the man's face drained completely white.
Summoned to the Blue House and only just returned to the association, the Hunter Association president collapsed into his office chair.
He had been tormented for hours by severe reprimands that he had needlessly made things difficult with Lumen over an uncertain awakening status.
Even though it was well past quitting time, the reason he had come to the association was because he needed to show that he was making efforts to prepare some kind of countermeasure no matter what.
"Should I have quietly cooperated from the beginning when the corruption was exposed?"
The association president, fretting over where to begin cleaning up, chewed on his nails.
When the incident broke, he had only tried to cover it up to hide his own mismanagement.
Had that angered Lumen? The thought crossed his mind, but he had had no choice.
It went beyond his personal mismanagement and was a problem directly connected to the government's credibility, so he had no choice but to cover it up.
If Lumen had requested cooperation from the start, he would never have tried to cover it up.
And Jeong-Hoon had attended the party. Regardless of his personal intentions, if only there had not been the terrorism, the matter would have resolved well.
In other words, he had not thought it was such a big problem.
"Then the terrorism? No, that isn't my fault. Or the awakening examination? That's strictly law enforcement..."
Shaking his head while thinking he had done nothing wrong, he clutched his head.
"Fuck this! What the hell am I supposed to do! The biggest problem is that the government snatched the association away from that brat!"
Ultimately shifting the blame to the government, he merely thought that he himself had been sacrificed in the power struggle between Lumen and the government, and spat out curses.
"Damn it, at this age, having to grovel before a twenty-year-old kid..."
"It's problematic if you insult our chairman any further."
The association president, about to thrash about under the stress, froze at the sudden cold voice that reached his ears.
The cold metallic sensation at his neck forcibly silenced him.
"W-Who are you?"
"...Should I boldly announce my identity? Someone who came at a time like this?"
Trying to turn to look at the person who replied with a scoff, but as the blade dug into his neck, he only rolled his eyes.
Then he realized. This office had already been occupied.
People in black suits were looking down at him coldly.
And the suits they wore looked exactly like the ones Jeong-Hoon had worn during the hotel terrorism—ones he had seen somewhere before.
"A-Are you people from Lumen?"
"That's why we came dressed to match, right?"
Realizing they were from Lumen, the association president quickly spun his thoughts.
People armed in black suits. Looking at their appearance, it was not hard to infer they were Awakened.
"C-Could it be that Lumen is going to...!?"
"There's no benefit to cutting your throat. It would just waste a good blade."
Having thought they had come to assassinate him, he let out a sigh of relief at the words that it was not assassination, and rolled his eyes.
"W-What do you want?"
"Cleanup of this incident. First, you acknowledge that corruption within the Hunter Association is severe, right?"
"I acknowledge it!"
"Then you also acknowledge that there are Nova spies inside the association?"
"Th-That's...!"
When they brought up a matter that was currently as good as the ultimate taboo, the association president could not answer.
Acknowledging this would be confessing that he was incompetent beyond mere mismanagement.
"If you can't acknowledge it, Lumen will handle it ourselves."
It was not simple intimidation.
He could feel the blade digging into his neck.
How precise the skill was—even though the blade had dug into his neck, no blood flowed.
"I acknowledge it!!!"
As he shouted, the blade was removed from his neck at the same time.
In fear that blood would gush out, the association president raised a hand to his neck, but not a single drop of blood came from it.
But he could clearly feel the skin that had been lightly cut.
"I think this happened because you, as association president, are incompetent. Don't you think so?"
"That's right..."
"Then as the responsible party, you should take responsibility, right?"
"What kind of responsibility do you mean?"
"The leak of Awakened personal information, the Nova terrorism incident, the pressure for our chairman's awakening examination. Acknowledging these things obediently, publicly apologizing, and resigning as the administrator—that responsibility."
Frozen by the arrogant tone looking down on him, he wanted to deny it because that would end his political life.
"Feeling the responsibility and suicide in the office—that kind of ending would require various work and be a hassle, so I'd prefer you just go quietly?"
Hearing the words that they would eliminate him and stage it as suicide, he quickly spun his thoughts.
If he died here, it was over. But if he took all the responsibility and resigned, opportunities could arise in the future.
Moreover, since he was resigning under pressure from Lumen, if this became an opportunity for reconciliation with the government, he could return.
"I-I'll resign."
"That's right. Good thinking. If you ever think otherwise, everyone will know the amount of bribes you took."
The person who had been pressuring him patted his shoulder and left silently, but due to the fear of death, the association president could not get up from his seat for a while.
It was not simply threatening with his life. They had also grabbed other weaknesses and threatened him.
Why threaten with life when they already held the weaknesses?
There was no need to think. It meant that taking the life and fabricating it was simpler.
Experiencing Lumen's hidden power that he had only heard of in words, he had no thought of resisting or anything else.
He only became certain that if he did not follow Lumen's resignation demand just now, he would definitely die.