The Awakening of a Transcendent Trainer
The Promise Guild could no longer wait for him.
Trainee: Kang Yujun
Evaluation Score: 10 / 100
Remarks: Exceptional potential, but failed to awaken. Further training is no longer meaningful.
Crisp theoretical knowledge.
Outstanding comprehension.
From the very beginning, Yujun stood out as a promising talent within the Promise Guild.
Recognized for his potential at a young age, he had grown up as part of the guild’s youth program.
When he was first evaluated at twelve, his talent was rated at least S-class.
He was compared to Do Minjun—the representative S-class awakener of South Korea, a renowned telekinetic and archmage—and expectations ran high that, with proper growth, he could become at least as strong as Do Minjun, or perhaps even the strongest awakener in the world.
Rumors swirled that he would undoubtedly reach S-class the moment he awakened.
His nickname was Golden Youth.
It came from the fact that, among all the promising youths of his generation, none had received evaluations as stellar as his.
But there was one problem.
Awakening.
“If you can’t awaken, none of it matters.”
Even after passing twenty, he still hadn’t awakened.
The conditions for awakening were truly random.
Some awakened from the smallest trigger, while others did so only after repeating a certain action over and over.
“Plenty of people awaken just by getting older, so this is quite the headache. I never imagined you wouldn’t awaken.”
The director of the Promise Guild frowned.
“You understand, right? We can’t keep waiting any longer.”
Yujun grew anxious.
So he trained fiercely every single day.
He reviewed everything he had learned with intense focus and pushed his body beyond its limits.
It was the only way he could shake off the unease.
But there were those who looked at him with disdain.
-That guy who can’t even awaken.
-He was so confident when he was young.
-Can’t even manage something as simple as awakening?
People started picking fights openly. Unable to endure it, Yujun swung his fists at them.
Of course, without having awakened, he was beaten one-sidedly.
“……”
Even so, Yujun couldn’t bring himself to say anything in return.
No matter what excuse he made, it would always circle back to the fact that he hadn’t awakened.
“The decision will probably come down soon. Prepare yourself mentally.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
The director looked at Yujun with a mixture of irritation and pity.
Bang—!
The door slammed shut. Yujun dragged a hand down his face.
The enormous expectations had turned entirely into disappointment.
If only his talent had been mediocre from the start, he wouldn’t feel this way.
“Haa.”
From childhood until now, Yujun had poured everything he had into this guild.
If he were expelled, nothing would be left.
The Promise Guild was practically his entire world.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
“Come on, this is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“What can I do? I don’t have the talent. I can’t awaken—what am I supposed to do about it?”
Yujun answered his friend’s words with a bitter sigh.
The other man was a close friend who had gone through the youth program with him for quite a long time at the Promise Guild.
Kim Minseok, currently a B-class awakener.
When they first met, he had been evaluated as having lower potential than Yujun, but now his rank was higher.
Because they had been so close since their youth days, he was the only friend who still kept in touch even after transferring to another guild.
Yujun had lived solely to succeed, so his personal relationships were extremely narrow.
“I’ll pay today.”
At Yujun’s words, Minseok shook his head.
“You’re unemployed now. Do you even have money? Forget it. I’ll take care of it.”
Kim Minseok was a fairly successful awakener and lived with considerable financial comfort.
Thinking back to their first potential evaluations and where they stood now, the gap between the two was like heaven and earth.
But since neither of them cared about such things, they kept pouring soju while sharing old stories as snacks.
“No, but your theory is seriously S-class level. Remember? That trainer Park who produced so many S-class hunters? He went crazy praising you. Said your understanding of theory was better than his own. That you would definitely become S-class. We were all so jealous.”
As the alcohol went down, all sorts of stories poured out without order.
“That was because…”
Yujun gave a small laugh and recalled those days.
What he had been obsessed with back then was a game called the Infinite Tower. It was a game where you formed parties of awakeners with various abilities and climbed to the top of the tower.
The player acted as the trainer of the Infinite Tower, training awakeners and combining parties according to their abilities to ascend the tower.
Yujun had been the undisputed number one ranked player.
“I studied through that.”
The Infinite Tower had done many collaborations, so characters modeled after real famous awakeners actually appeared in the game.
And the abilities were incredibly diverse.
The training system was also extremely detailed and realistic.
It was perfect for me.
For Yujun, who excelled at theory, it was the ideal game.
Kim Minseok, who knew this, smiled as he reminisced.
“When we were still trying to understand 1, you had already mastered 100. The level was completely different.”
That was why everyone had felt awe rather than jealousy.
“During theory classes, you would immediately apply what you learned. The rest of us couldn’t even understand it.”
Every trainer who had taught him had praised Yujun’s ability to absorb theory.
“And it wasn’t just theory you were good at. Your eye for talent was incredible too. You used to coach me and the other youths. Remember?”
“Of course I remember. That’s how we became friends.”
Yujun took another drink.
As Minseok said, Yujun wasn’t only exceptional at understanding theory—he also had an outstanding eye for evaluating awakeners’ abilities.
Because of that, he would often give advice to the other youths.
“The moment I changed my posture like you told me, the blockage just broke open.”
Kim Minseok’s current position was due in part to Yujun’s help.
Gulp—
They were just sharing nostalgic stories over drinks, but those memories only tormented Yujun more.
So he kept drinking without pause.
“But it all ends with expulsion. It’s over now.”
He hadn’t heard the word “expulsion” directly, but it was as good as decided.
He still hadn’t awakened at this age. There was no reason for them to show any more consideration.
Yujun let out a long sigh.
What was he supposed to do now?
“What good is being good at theory? I’m not even an awakener myself.”
If only he could apply even one-tenth of the theory in his head to himself.
If only his physical ability matched his keen eye for talent.
Yujun drank until dawn and returned home with Minseok. His friend, who had worried about Yujun’s situation as if it were his own, was quite drunk.
“Pay for your stay and go.”
Yujun laid Minseok down on the floor and climbed into bed himself.
Since he was so drunk, it wouldn’t matter where he slept.
He let out a sigh and closed his eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come.
“Damn it.”
The conversation he had shared with Minseok earlier kept swirling in his mind.
The youth colleagues who had risen rapidly after receiving his advice.
People who had succeeded thanks to him, only to later pretend not to know him or outright ignore him.
Only a very small number, like Kim Minseok, continued to express gratitude.
That was why the words someone had once said to him stabbed deeply into his chest.
“Instead of spending time teaching others, worry about yourself first. All you do is talk a good game.”
It was infuriating.
And desperate.
“I already knew that.”
Grind—
Yujun opened his eyes and clenched his teeth.
Then a sound came from somewhere.
Ding—!
Conditions have been met.
You have awakened!
“What?”
He doubted his ears several times.
It clearly said he had awakened.
The effects of the alcohol vanished in an instant.
He had been quite drunk, but sobering up took only a second.
You have opened the eyes of a trainer! From now on, you can train awakeners!
Use your abilities to nurture awakeners!
You can now view the currently unlocked abilities.
Shaaaaaah—!
A burning sensation filled his eyes. Yujun frowned.
Amid the pain, everything in his vision began to distort.
Blue light.
And cracks.
The two phenomena violently scrambled his sight.
“What the…?”
Snore—!
In Yujun’s eyes, he could clearly see Minseok sprawled out and sleeping comfortably.
“Huh?”
Yujun’s eyes widened.
Something strange was visible on Minseok.
There was a crack around his knee that looked as if it were misaligned.
Almost as if possessed, Yujun activated the skill.
“Awakener Scan.”
“Oh my god.”
Yujun’s hand trembled.
“This is…”
The trainer in the Infinite Tower had possessed a special power.
The ability to view an awakener’s status window.
Thanks to that, players could clearly identify problems and potential, allowing them to train awakeners perfectly.
It was like having the answer sheet right in front of you.
But that was just a game system.
Awakeners gained special abilities upon awakening, but they couldn’t see status windows like in the game.
Yet right now, Yujun could see it.
He clenched his fist tightly and muttered.
“So only I can see this right now?”
“Yujun, the meeting is over. We can’t do this anymore. No matter how much we consider past affection or potential, we can’t overlook it any longer. You’re being expelled.”
The director of the Promise Guild finally delivered the notice of expulsion.
“To be honest, we could even file a claim for damages. But we won’t go that far. Orders came from above to end this on good terms.”
The director clicked his tongue briefly while looking at Yujun.
This was considered ending on good terms.
The amount of money invested in him over the years was truly regrettable.
Just how much had been poured into Yujun?
“Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue again.
But Kang Yujun showed no particular reaction to any of it.
In his mind, the humiliating days he had endured for failing to awaken kept replaying.
“Thank you for everything until now!”
Yujun bowed with a refreshed expression.
They had no idea.
That he had finally awakened.