Putting Abilities to Practical Use
"Watch out for the poison darts!"
"Anyone hit by a paralyzing dart, fall back!"
"These monster bastards!"
The short, squat monsters came pouring out of the Monster Hole in a rush, brandishing rusted daggers and poison darts as they charged straight at the Awakeners holding the perimeter.
"Kyaaaaak!"
Clang!
The Awakeners met the flying rusted blades with iron pipes and bats studded with nails and sharp metal scraps, swinging hard.
"Die, you freak!"
Thwack! Crunch!
A bat wreathed in blue energy smashed into a goblin's skull and crushed it flat. That single blow touched off a bloody free-for-all as the surrounding Awakeners answered the swarm of charging goblins.
These goblins were smaller and weaker than the pig-headed monsters called orcs. Their numbers and their paralyzing poison darts made them a nuisance, but the Awakeners were no pushovers either.
"Haaah!"
Whoosh—! Slice—
At the front, a rough-faced man with a real sword carved through the oncoming goblins so cleanly it drew gasps of admiration. In one fluid motion he took a goblin's head as it lunged with a dagger, then spun and split another that had tried to flank him clean through the waist.
"There's nothing to fear from vermin like these! Fourteenth and Fifteenth Units, hold the double line and push forward!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
The two unit captains answered as one and led their people in, keeping formation tight as they met the goblin charge without breaking ranks. Every one of them carried a sharpened real sword. Ordinary people could not own such blades, but these were all Awakeners of the National Safety Agency, so the weapons were theirs by right.
Clang! Slice! Whoosh—!!!
It did not matter how wildly the goblins thrashed.
The National Safety Agency Awakeners had been carefully selected and rigorously trained; they were living combat machines.
Those without real swords—armed instead with nail-studded bats, iron pipes, or wooden practice blades—poured their Psychic Energy into every swing and beat the goblins down. The ones wearing knuckle dusters on both hands fought with pure striking arts, slipping past daggers to smash faces flat or using whatever specialty they had honed to the fullest against the swarm.
Dozens of goblins had poured from the Monster Hole with its flickering red glare.
The Awakeners ringing them in numbered more than twice that—well over a hundred.
"Kyaaaaak!"
The goblins had charged out full of bravado, but with the Awakeners locked in a solid encirclement there was no way through.
Thud! Thwip!
"Ugh!"
"I—I'm hit!"
The less skilled or the careless took poison darts and staggered in pain or panic; comrades pulled them back out of the line.
Slice—!
Heads flew and bodies were carved apart. At the spearhead of that relentless advance stood Jeon Dok-jin and the National Safety Agency Awakeners. With them leading the way, the guild-affiliated Awakeners sealed every escape route, drove the goblins into a corner, and cut them down.
About ten minutes later—
Thud... thump...
Not a single goblin still stood on two feet.
"......"
Two men approached Jeon Dok-jin as he looked over the corpses.
"It's finished."
"Clean it up and recover the Crystal Ore."
"Yes, sir."
The two unit captains withdrew, issued orders, assessed the wounded, and began harvesting Crystal Energy gems from the goblin bodies.
"Urgh!"
"Blech!"
The moment the fighting ended, the weak-stomached ones started vomiting. Monsters or not, the scene of spilled guts and blood sprayed everywhere was pure carnage. In the heat of battle they had fought on adrenaline; once it was over, the raw brutality hit them hard.
The National Safety Agency Awakeners did not flinch. They were combat personnel who had been through multiple layers of training after selection. Their stomachs still turned, of course, but far less than those of the guild Awakeners.
We'd detected the anomaly and prepared, but they really did come pouring out.
No one could have known what would emerge from inside. Fortunately it had been the dart-using dwarf monsters—goblins—so the fight had not been especially hard. They were weaker than the pig-headed monsters. The poison darts were a nuisance, but they only caused temporary paralysis rather than death; falling back in time was enough.
Leaving the National Safety Agency Awakeners to tend the wounded and strip Crystal Energy ore from the corpses, Jeon Dok-jin kept his eyes on the Monster Hole that still radiated its eerie energy.
The entire surrounding area was Deadvine territory—overrun by foul-smelling vines that oozed a sickening miasma. Ordinary people would grow dizzy and light-headed just standing near them. Awakeners, however, could push the energy back with Psychic Energy and remain unaffected.
The monsters that had come out were dead, but there was no telling what else might still burst from that hole.
I need to make a report.
The monsters had been dealt with, yet the Monster Hole itself remained right where it was.
The following Monday, Min-hyeok returned to Gombang work.
"You feeling all right?"
"Heard you were in real bad shape."
"Is it true, though?"
The whole team crowded around him, firing questions and checking on him.
"I'm fine. That's why I'm here, right? But what do you mean, is it true?"
"That you became an Awakener."
"When I heard that I nearly fell over...!"
"I still can't believe it myself."
Every face was pure shock. Min-hyeok just grinned.
"I'll show you once we start working."
Just then Seong-min came walking over from the restroom with Team Leader Jeong Gi-bok.
"Min-hyeok."
"Ah, Team Leader."
"Glad you're healthy again."
"Right? Heh...!"
After a week away, Min-hyeok traded greetings under a warm welcome from the whole crew. When the workday began on schedule, the team could only stare in open-mouthed wonder.
Min-hyeok was using Psychic Energy to hoist stacked cement bags as if they weighed nothing and haul them at a blistering pace.
"Whoa..."
"That's insane."
"I figured an Awakener doing labor would be efficient, but..."
Watching him work was enough to make anyone's jaw drop. The efficiency was on a completely different level from before.
"This is... starting to make me nervous."
"Why?"
"I mean, if more guys like Min-hyeok awaken and start doing Gombang work, what's left for the rest of us?"
"Hmm..."
"Don't worry about that."
Team Leader Jeong had walked over.
"You're not worried, hyung-nim?"
"If that was going to happen, Awakeners would've flooded this job a long time ago. You know why they haven't?"
"Because they think they're special."
Seong-min, who had just come down after moving cement bags, answered. Jeong Gi-bok nodded.
"Seong-min's right. They carry a superiority complex we can't even touch. They're the chosen Awakeners—that kind of arrogance. Using their power for this kind of labor feels shameful to them."
"Shameful? That's a bit much..."
"Hyung-nim, would they really feel that ashamed?"
"They would. Their pride runs higher than any of you realize."
Seong-min knew the mindset of Awakeners well. Beyond simple superiority, they saw themselves as a different class from ordinary people. Becoming an Awakener was not something just anyone could do, and the power turned them into superhumans ordinary folk could never match.
"There are thousands of Awakeners out there—maybe more—and I've never once seen one doing hard labor or Gombang work."
"Now that you mention it..."
"I knew they thought they were special, but..."
"I didn't realize it went that far..."
While the team members clicked their tongues, Min-hyeok came over.
"What? Nobody working?"
He had just finished another run with cement bags and looked puzzled to find everyone standing around chatting near the stacks.
"We should move some."
"Min-hyeok, doesn't it bother you at all doing Gombang work?"
"Huh? Bother me how? Honestly, once I tried it, it was ridiculously easy. Heh..."
"Because you're an Awakener..."
"So basically you're saying you don't feel any particular way about it?"
"Feel what?"
Min-hyeok tilted his head in genuine confusion. The others laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
"That's our Min-hyeok. Still one of us."
"You've become a real person..."
"All right, everybody hustle."
Min-hyeok watched the others shoulder their bags, then set his own stance. While the rest carried one large bag and two small ones, he stacked three small ones on his back and started up the stairs.
"Heave-ho!!!"
Blue Psychic Energy steamed off his body like vapor as he climbed with light, easy steps.
By the time they finished both the morning and afternoon shifts, it was past five in the evening.
"If we keep this pace we'll be done by Friday morning!"
"No kidding~!"
"Hell, we might even finish Thursday!"
"Looks like our team's got another ace!"
"I'm just that good. Heh heh heh!"
From today through Friday they had to move every last cement bag, tile, stone block, and timber from the seventh floor down to the first, floor by floor. The volume was huge, but at this rate they would wrap it up Thursday instead of Friday.
Daily pay for the work was five hundred thousand won for the morning and five hundred thousand for the afternoon—a million won total. Seong-min, of course, was already set to receive around 1.2 million.
"Doesn't that mean we should raise Min-hyeok's pay too?"
"Seong-min, what do you think?"
Seong-min lowered his sports drink.
"Of course we should."
"Ohhh! My daily rate's going up?!"
A short while later Team Leader Jeong came down from the first floor after shaking hands with the site manager and walked over.
"Hyung-nim, Min-hyeok just became our new ace right after Seong-min. Don't we need to bump his pay?"
"Mm... looking at what he did today, yeah. All right—Min-hyeok, you get 1.2 million. Seong-min, you're at 1.3 million."
"You're raising Seong-min's too?"
"He's still the top ace on this team. He's earned the treatment."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They all knew that thanks to Seong-min they got more work and made better money.
And so Seong-min's rate rose to 1.3 million won, Min-hyeok's to 1.2 million, with an extra 150,000 and 100,000 respectively for each additional job.
"Yes!"
Min-hyeok threw both arms in the air. Seong-min snorted a quiet laugh, and the rest of the team broke into easy, hearty chuckles.