Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Insight Eye Acquired
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Ding. Bzzzzt.
His smartphone buzzed frantically in his pocket.
The irregular vibrations against his thigh felt like erratic heartbeats, grating on his nerves.
Siwoo furrowed his brow and checked the screen.
It was a message from the construction company: the office interior was complete.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh settled heavily on the ground.
Out of habit, he opened his banking app.
The number on the screen pierced his pupils.
[Balance: 324,000,000 KRW]
His fingertip trembled faintly as it touched the display.
Some 300 million won.
It was the severance pay he'd scraped together after being discarded like a worn-out shoe by the major management firm where he'd devoted ten years as a scout.
A loan secured against his rundown villa.
And to top it off, high-interest private loans from shady lenders—money he'd gathered at the cost of his very soul, no less than the price of his life.
'If I lose this money, it's the Han River for real.'
Siwoo clenched his fist in his pocket.
The pain of his nails digging into his palm anchored him to reality.
"I've lost my mind. Seriously."
The self-mocking words that slipped from his lips mirrored his tangled emotions.
But it was too late for regrets.
He'd already established the management corporation and signed a lease for an office smack in the middle of Gangnam, stretching himself thin.
On top of that, the interior work—two months in the making—was finally done.
There was no turning back now.
Siwoo lifted his head and stared at the building before him.
Korea Hunter Association Awakening Center The massive glass dome glittered blindingly under the afternoon sun.
Inside, hundreds lined up daily, dreaming of life-changing awakenings.
It was also a hunting ground teeming with hyenas eyeing them.
Scouts from small, mid-tier, and major guilds. Agents from management firms gunning for exclusive contracts.
They fixed their gazes on the electronic board broadcasting results from the judgment room, locked in fierce competition.
The moment a C-rank or higher appeared, they'd pounce like predators, shoving contracts in the awakened's face.
A battlefield without a single gunshot.
Siwoo straightened his loosened tie and checked his reflection in the showroom window.
Crisp suit, neat as could be.
But dark circles shadowed his eyes from exhaustion, and his lips were parched.
He might look polished on the outside, but inside, he was burning up.
"Let's go."
With grim resolve, he pushed through the revolving door into the building.
Cool AC air washed over him, carrying a hubbub of murmurs.
"Huh? Manager Han? Oh, wait—no, you're not a manager anymore."
A sneering voice snagged at his ankle.
A familiar, grating tone.
Siwoo turned to see Park Manager, his ex-colleague, standing there cockily with a canned coffee in hand.
A mocking smirk played on his lips.
"What brings you here? Didn't you pack up and head back to your hometown?"
Siwoo didn't respond.
Park Manager, ace of the major guild's sales team.
He was the type who thrived on crushing underperforming colleagues, addicted to results.
"Oh, don't tell me you started some podunk management firm with that pitiful severance? Nah, no way."
Park Manager burst into open laughter.
His voice carried, drawing stares from the other scouts and agents in the lobby.
Their eyes held more contempt and pity than curiosity.
The industry was a small world.
The rumor of Han Siwoo—ten years of service—getting ignobly fired for poor performance had spread like wildfire.
A guy who botched every contract, notorious for his incompetence.
That was the label the industry slapped on him now.
Ten years of pounding the pavement harder than anyone meant nothing.
The hunter world didn't care about effort.
p>It was a brutal meritocracy of results and ranks alone.
"......"
Siwoo silently endured their gazes.
But they didn't know.
That night after the dismissal notice, as he packed his things and left.
Drowning his misery in cheap soju alone, he passed out and woke to a changed world—no, a changed himself.
'Status Window.'
Siwoo murmured inwardly.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ⚡ Name: Han Siwoo 💨 Awakening: Manager (Unique) ✨ Rank: D 💪 Skills: • Insight Eye (Active) • Growth Synchronization (Passive) This was why Siwoo had thrown his entire fortune into this insane gamble.
The world's one-and-only 'Manager' awakening. And the cheat skills tailored to that class.
With these, he could flip the board.
No—he could swallow the entire industry whole.
Ignoring Park Manager's sneer, Siwoo headed toward the awakening waiting room.
"What's he gonna do in the waiting room? Like he can tell ahead of time. Tsk tsk. No wonder he got canned."
Park Manager's scornful voice stabbed into his back.
'Yeah, you wouldn't see it. Not with your eyes.'
Siwoo curled his lip and pushed open the waiting room door.
What he was about to do was beyond their wildest imagination.
The waiting room brimmed with suffocating tension.
Over 200 people clutching numbered tickets, hands slick with sweat. Some jittered their legs, others closed their eyes in prayer. The air hung heavy.
Siwoo wove slowly through them, steadying his breath.
Then, he activated the skill.
'Insight Eye.'
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Insight Eye (Active) His pupils glowed blue in an instant.
A bizarre sensation as the world warped into streams of data.
A splitting headache lanced his temples, but Siwoo gritted his teeth and endured.
Status windows began floating above people's heads, revealing their hidden potential.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 👤 Name: Choi Min-gu 📊 Rank: F ⭐ Potential: F ⚠️ Notes: None Flop.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 👤 Name: Park Ji-young 📊 Est. Rank: E ⭐ Potential: E ⚠️ Notes: Mana control unstable Flop.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 👤 Name: Kim Cheol-su 📊 Est. Rank: F ⭐ Potential: F ⚠️ Notes: None Flop. Flop. Flop.
Siwoo pinched the bridge of his nose, pressing his temples.
Dozens scanned, not a single standout talent.
Mostly F or E ranks.
Hardly enough to make a living as a hunter.
'Please... just one. Please.'
His gut twisted in agony.
This was all-in on his life. Not some pocket-change side hustle.
To turn the tables, he needed at least an A-rank. No—an S-rank caliber jackpot.
Statistically, A-rank odds were 0.0001%. One in a million.
Korea had just five S-ranks and 34 A-ranks total.
In this crowd of 200, the chance was practically zero.
That's why scouts ignored the waiting room, glued to the board.
But Siwoo was different. No skill existed anywhere to appraise ranks ahead of time.
None discovered, none reported.
This power was his alone.
His Insight Eye pierced not just current rank, but future potential.
In other words, he saw the future.
That's when it happened.
In the farthest corner, huddled behind a pillar in the shadows, head bowed—a woman caught his eye.
Messy hair. Gray tracksuit with bony knees poking out.
Behind thick horn-rimmed glasses, unfocused eyes darted anxiously; her nail-biting fingers trembled.
She radiated zero confidence, social misfit, life's loser.
Others sat at a distance, as if she stank.
A transparent nobody, ignored by all.
But Siwoo's eyes shook wildly.
His heart hammered against his ribs.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 👤 Name: Lee Jia 📊 Current Rank: F ⭐ Potential: A-rank Re-awakening / D-30 ⚠️ Notes: Latent mana rapidly condensing for re-awakening. 'Found her.'
His breath caught.
To Siwoo's eyes, Lee Jia wasn't some shabby pebble.
Inside her gleamed a radiant diamond—no, something rarer than vibranium ore.
A-rank. Not just any A-rank, but a dramatic re-awakening thirty days after an F-rank judgment.
No such case in Korean history.
This was opportunity. No—a lifeline from the heavens.
Only Siwoo knew.
Other scouts would dismiss her as F-rank trash.
Siwoo swallowed dryly.
He had to sign her before she entered the judgment room.
He could wait for the F-rank on the board and snag her cheap.
But that wasn't his play.
'The re-awakening's the issue.'
The instant she hit A-rank, guilds worldwide—Korean or not—would swarm her.
Penalty fees? Chump change to major guilds and firms. Tens, hundreds of billions were pocket lint.
They'd bury him in cash, and his fledgling firm would lose its A-rank star.
To bind her truly, paper alone wouldn't cut it.
He needed her heart.
Right now, in her most insecure, wretched moment.
Extend a hand now, and she'd owe him a lifelong debt of gratitude.
Siwoo tightened his tie once more, smoothed his clothes.
Composing the most polite, trustworthy expression from a decade of scouting, he approached.
"Excuse me."
Lee Jia flinched hard at his voice, shoulders jumping.
"Y-yes? M-me?"
She looked up.
Terror flickered behind those thick lenses.
"Yes. Might I have your name...?"
"Lee... Lee Jia. But who...?"
She stared up warily, like a stray cat facing a stranger.
Siwoo flashed his honed scout's smile—smooth, reassuring, sales-perfected.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Han Siwoo, CEO of Miracle Management."
"M-Management? Why right now...?"
Lee Jia gawked, baffled.
No way a CEO approaches someone like her, her eyes said.
"I worked as an agent at a major firm for ten years. My eye never fails. I'm certain you're a C-rank hunter."
Siwoo drew out the contract—perhaps dearer than his life itself.
Without hesitation, he penned in the signing bonus.
100,000,000.
"Straight to the point: sign an exclusive contract with Miracle Management."