Unmeasurable Power
The low-level employee guarding the barricade in front of the system error approached with a bewildered look on his face.
"What the hell? Why'd you come out alone? Where's Team Leader Cha Do-yeon? And everyone else...?"
I set down the mana stone sack slung over my shoulder onto the ground.
"Hunter Cha Do-yeon can't come out."
"What does that mean? Did she get hurt or—"
"She had a core. Now she doesn't."
"Pardon???"
I relayed the facts without distortion.
"Permanent recovery impossible. She's probably barely clinging to life right now, so grab a stretcher and go check."
He wore an incredulous expression, but seeing my face, he realized I wasn't joking.
He fumbled for his radio in a panic.
"I-it's me...! Get the med team here quick! Cha Do-yeon... No, just come now! If you don't wanna die, hustle!!"
"Don't film there! No photos! Fuck, stop filming!"
A short while later, Myth Guild members started pouring in.
From the vanguard in black tactical gear to executives in suits.
Well, with Cha Do-yeon in that state, it was only natural. The gate entrance turned into a makeshift command post in an instant.
"Hey."
Seemed like talking it out wasn't gonna fly. Just as the Myth Guild members were about to surround me,
Warning. Surrounding atmospheric mana has exceeded normal range.
This is...
The mana grew heavier by the second.
Warning. High-density mana approach toward user detected.
The guild members' shoulders slumped under the pressure. The low-level guy's hand froze on his radio.
A woman was approaching from beyond the guideline barricade.
Indigo long hair bordering on navy, like the night sky.
The hem of her white longcoat fluttered silently with each step.
The crowd parted to either side.
"H-Han I-seo Hunter?"
The on-site agent's voice shifted to tension.
Han I-seo?
Even someone like me, who'd kept my distance from hunters, had heard of her. She was one of Korea's rare A-rankers.
Without hesitation, she walked right up to me.
"I'll take this one."
The on-site agent, who had been about to bluster about investigations, shut his mouth.
Ssssh—
She released her mana just once more, and the agent dropped to his knees.
"Guh... guh!"
The people who had surrounded me collapsed.
......Hmm. About that much. Manageable?
Han I-seo glanced at me emerging casually and muttered softly.
"As expected."
Guess I passed. Escape confirmed.
As a farewell gift, I pulled out the crumpled receipt and tossed it at the on-site agent.
"I'll forfeit my daily wage. Only collected half the mana stones, after all."
Myth Guild folks I don't respect. It was dirty while it lasted. Let's never meet again.
"Consider this my resignation."
“You weren't surprised?”
“I didn't have many options either.”
Getting into an A-rank hunter's car was my most efficient escape route.
I caught her gaze in the rearview mirror once more.
"Why'd you bail me out?"
No beating around the bush. Kindness without reason doesn't exist.
"The place you were at? It was a gate I cleared originally."
"You were on the Regillon Gate raid team."
Han I-seo's eyes widened in the rearview mirror.
"You know your stuff."
"Ten years scraping the bottom as a cleaner sharpens your instincts and ears. Go on."
Han I-seo asked.
"Ten years... since right after the China Dungeon Break?"
"Yeah. Crawled into the mining pits right after the orphanage got vaporized."
I said it flatly.
Repetition wears anything down eventually. Emotions too.
Not some grand secret worth hiding, so I didn't mind.
Han I-seo's gaze shifted from the rearview to the road ahead.
"......I see."
That was the perfect reaction.
No pity, no unnecessary comfort.
I like that.
"I'll be straight with you."
Her eyes flickered briefly.
"I detected mana residue exceeding normal levels inside the gate. New waves from a cleared gate are impossible, so I came to check myself..."
Han I-seo tapped the steering wheel and continued.
"Hunter Cha Do-yeon's mana signature vanished completely, and right after, the exact same wave popped up from someone else."
Insane. She pinpointed mana that precisely from outside the gate barrier?
"And most importantly."
The car stopped at a light. Han I-seo rested her chin on the wheel and stared at me.
"The aura coming off you... it's not something a normal awakener could have. Hard to explain."
"You already knew and figured it out. That I stole Cha Do-yeon's skill."
"Humble or just slick?"
Han I-seo muttered softly, then pressed me.
"You left one thing out."
Damn, she was sharp. No brushing this off.
Reluctantly, I added,
“Stole her mana core too.”
She nodded in satisfaction.
“You must have a ton of questions right now. Why I went up against Myth Guild to snatch you, Baek Sa-eon-ssi. And what I know.”
“It's fine. You can't spill everything on first meeting either.”
Tricky one. Han I-seo was razor-sharp.
Paradoxically, amid Myth Guild's retaliation threats, she'd be my best shield.
It didn't take long to reach the Hunter Association main building.
"We're here."
The hem of her coat lifted from the seat, flashing her sword sheath.
"Go through Association registration. With me here, Myth Guild won't touch you openly."
She opened the car door and jerked her chin.
"Head in and wait. I need to stop somewhere."
"Where to?"
Still guarded, huh. Han I-seo replied with a deadpan look.
"Sugar crash."
"......Pardon?"
"Came out without eating... Anyway, go on ahead."
Reception waiting area. Worn cleaner uniform. Gaunt, covered in crusted monster blood.
Hard to even suppress the mana leakage.
Gazes from people passing through the lobby turned to me with disgust.
"Feel that mana residue? Something's off."
"Late bloomer awakener, probably. Obvious. Bet it's some useless F-rank like [Building Wall Cleaning] or [Mud Shaking]."
"Stinks, let's sit farther away."
Someone tapped my shoulder.
A sweet vanilla scent wafted over.
“Wait long?”
She hid that immense mana this easily.
And by "food" she meant...
Hot dog.
“Hot dog?”
She plopped into the chair beside me, already biting into it.
“Not late, right?”
“......You went to buy hot dogs.”
"Just fried, smelled too good. Want one?"
“Feels like it'd go up my nose if I ate now. But uh...”
Of all things to catch her eye.
“Not important, but...”
“What? Why the hesitation?”
Han I-seo peered at me curiously.
“Sugar on your lip.”
“Pardon?”
She really didn't know. I pointed to her lower lip.
“......Oh. Hup! Oh.”
She barely kept her composure, wiped the sugar with her thumb, and licked it off.
“My turn soon. I'll head up first.”
“Ahem. I'll watch.”
......Surprisingly careless.
[Number 318. Please come to counter 6.]
I left Han I-seo munching the rest of her hot dog and headed to the counter.
"Here for registration."
I handed over the number ticket.
The clerk scanned my appearance top to bottom and flashed a salesy smile.
"If you're looking for unloading assistant jobs, it's not this building—the annex out back—"
"New awakener hunter registration."
“Ah, yes~ Got it.”
I took the forms, leaned on the counter, and filled them out briskly.
Pressed hard with the pen, neatly in every blank.
Name: Baek Sa-eon
Awakening Status: Unawakened → Awakened
Occupation: Hunter
Skills:Crimson Flame (A-rank)
The clerk taking the forms would be stumped.
Anyone who knows would recognize whose skill that is.
It hasn't spread yet, so they're not even imagining it.
Reluctantly, he placed the form on the scanner.
Beep—
A mechanical tone rang out.
"Identity confirmed. Please move to the measurement room."
“Excuse me, but due to circumstances, can she observe?”
Han I-seo popped up and asked the clerk.
Since when was she behind me?
“Ah, yes.... No problem if it's Hunter Han I-seo.”
The clerk replied reluctantly.
Mana-blocking runes etched into the floor. I stood before the massive cylindrical measurer in the center.
"Place your palm on the central panel and release your mana naturally."
I placed my hand on the panel.
“Draw mana from your core.”
Han I-seo offered the standard advice and stepped back beyond the safety line.
The sensation of a path suddenly opening in a body empty for ten years felt unfamiliar.
Paradoxically, my body remembered first.
Vrrr—
Numbers and ranks climbed on the wide monitor.
E-rank threshold passed. D-rank passed.
Having swallowed Cha Do-yeon's core, this was expected.
C-rank passed.
The clerk gripped his pencil tightly.
It hit B-rank.
Beep beep beep—
Warning alarms blared.
The display flickered.
Once. Twice. Third time.
[ERROR][ERROR][ERROR]
The numbers vanished.
Error codes filled the screen instead of readings.
Not that it couldn't read B-rank or above. Otherwise, it'd show the upper limit, not error.
Hundreds of B-rank hunters in the country, all registered with this machine.
So the problem was me.
"Rebooting. One moment."
The clerk opened the side panel. The display shut off, then rebooted with the logo.
"Once more, please."
I placed my hand again.
This time, I focused harder.
Not just on the core—I recalled the senses from fighting the Death Knight, etching them deep.
Vrrrrrr—
The machine's vibration changed.
"Wh-what?! What's going o—"
The panicked clerk reached for the keyboard.
Screeech—!
“The screen...”
Warning. User's mana core is resonating with '???'.
Resonance means...
Han I-seo, sensing the threat, yelled at the clerk.
"Get down!"
Boom—!!!
The top panel exploded entirely. A flash shot to the ceiling, shattering against the blocking runes.
Glass shards rained down amid spreading smoke.
Han I-seo had deployed a wind barrier to shield the clerk.
The half-melted measurer wreckage. On the charred display—too mangled for results—one line remained.
“Han I-seo-ssi. What does it say?”
Han I-seo stared at the debris and spoke.
"......First time I've seen it too."
Notification. Grade determination impossible. Classifying user as out-of-spec.