Chapter 3
I’ll translate the chapter into polished English and format all system/UI content with the required styled HTML blocks, keeping the title line exactly as specified.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chapter 3
It was no different from any other day.
I was just staring at the screen as usual, with nothing special happening.
“...A reincarnator.”
The woman who happened to be looking at the screen sent it a languid glance.
She had opened it on a whim, just because she was bored in the middle of a busy day. By then, new reincarnators were appearing by the dozens, and they no longer felt all that remarkable.
It was just timing.
Nothing more than that, or so she thought.
[The reincarnator’s presence is too strong.]
[Pausing and reconstructing the network.]
“What?”
The alarm that flashed up made the woman narrow her eyes.
The system window suddenly crackled and shook violently.
“What the—?”
Before she could even be surprised, the screen clicked off.
A few seconds passed.
When the network came back online—
[The reincarnator’s presence is too strong.]
[Pausing and reconstructing the network.]
Click-!
“Huh?”
The screen cut out again.
Then another four seconds passed.
That was how long it took for the network to come back online.
As soon as the screen lit up again, a notification appeared.
[Reconstruction successful.]
[God of Martial Arts has entered.]
[Please extend a warm welcome.]
The black letters at the top were a color that had never appeared in the reincarnator network’s history since its confirmation.
Amid the feverish reactions, the woman watched the situation with anxious eyes.
Hundreds of comments flashed by in an instant. Soon there were thousands. It was only natural—an event like this had shattered a silence that had been hanging over the board for quite some time.
Then, amid the nonstop flood of comments—
“...Martial God...? It’s Martial God...?”
The woman staring at the screen muttered in a trembling voice.
“...No way...”
The woman licked her lips and typed a comment of her own.
It was a brief question.
The comments froze for a moment at her words.
Several seconds of silence followed.
The woman’s appearance only fueled the fire further.
Amid the feverish reactions, she watched the situation with anxious eyes.
She desperately hoped for some kind of response, praying and praying again that he would answer.
“Ah...”
In the end, Martial God showed no reaction at all.
Seeing that, the woman let out a helpless sigh.
“...Martial God...”
A nameplate of dull black and a simple yet overwhelming title.
Looking at it, the woman bit her lip.
“I have to find him.”
She had to find that person somehow.
No matter what it took.
* * *
“...What the hell...?”
As the board continued to burn with activity, I had to stare blankly at the situation.
“What the hell is going on?”
Logging in had been fine, but what was this? I’d wanted to take a look around the board, but the reactions were exploding like crazy. Posts were shooting upward so fast it was like watching a live chat, and I couldn’t even make out what was being said.
And on top of that—
Ring-! Ring-!
The bell icon beside it was spitting out alarms nonstop. I was so overwhelmed I wondered if I could even turn the sound off.
I was completely lost. What was I supposed to press? Could I even press anything?
I lightly tapped the icon.
Then it took me to the post that had been automatically written announcing my arrival.
“...Martial God...”
It had been written in black letters, saying that Martial God had entered.
Color indicated rank.
Each rank had its own designated color, and the letters were colored accordingly.
“It’s black again.”
It had been that way from the start, but I’d never even heard of a color like this existing.
Maybe that was why the reactions were so strange.
There were too many comments on the post.
A whole festival of colors.
Even the colors of the A-ranks, the kind you could hardly ever see in real life, were there, and every so often even an S-rank color flashed by.
People like me would never dare to look up at them directly, but here they were from all over the world, throwing in comments at a frantic pace.
“...Seeing the reactions...”
This definitely didn’t seem normal.
Anyone could tell that much.
And then—
“Huh...?”
A gold-glowing comment appeared in the middle of them.
The moment it did, the nonstop flood of comments came to a sudden halt.
“Holy shit.”
The second I saw it, my eyes widened.
A golden color meant an SS-rank, which meant one of only three people in the entire world.
“DragonMagician?”
Who was that? Almost immediately, reactions exploded like a tidal wave.
Everyone seemed to know who the owner of that comment was.
What was odd was—
“Are you really the one?”
That person was reacting as if they knew who I was. Did they know something about Martial God?
“...Should I reply?”
If they knew something, shouldn’t I at least ask?
Thinking that, I clicked the reply button.
Tzzt-!
“Ugh!?”
Pain shot through my finger. Startled, I yanked my hand back. What the hell?
Clutching my stinging finger, I stared wide-eyed at the screen.
[Because your synchronization rate is low, you cannot leave any traces.]
“...This is insane.”
So I couldn’t even send a reply. What a joke.
“Then what, I’m just supposed to lurk?”
I was only allowed to watch and not react.
Ring-! Ring-! Ring-!
Even now, the notification window kept blaring nonstop. Just as I was thinking maybe I should turn the sound off because it was so annoying—
[The five-minute daily entry limit has passed.]
[Network access is now restricted.]
[The network will now forcibly shut down.]
“What...?”
The network shut off along with the system window.
“A five-minute limit?”
What kind of nonsense was that? I’d never even heard there was a time limit.
“...Why is everything so weird?”
Only things that had nothing to do with the common sense I knew were happening.
“Did I really awaken properly...?”
I could see the network, so I had definitely awakened.
And yet even that was limited to five minutes, so there was no way to check.
“Tch...”
What was I supposed to do with this? I was deep in thought when—
Wuuuung-!
My phone vibrated in my pocket. A call. I pulled it out and checked it, and saw that it was from Teacher Dan Ajin.
“Ah.”
The moment I saw her name, I hurriedly answered. A forgotten fact came rushing back to me.
“Hello, Jinwoo?”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“You’re on your way, right? I couldn’t reach you.”
“...Ah...”
Right. I’d been so overwhelmed by the fact that I had reincarnated that I’d forgotten about this part.
I was supposed to go to Seoul today.
On the last day, Teacher Dan Ajin had used her connections to submit a recommendation letter for a company.
My grades were good enough, but because of my lack of an awakening, I’d wondered whether I would even be able to get in. It looked like she had really gone out of her way for me.
“I’m sorry, Teacher. I was supposed to go, but something came up and I haven’t been able to make it.”
“What? Something came up? What kind of thing?”
“Well... I awakened.”
“What did you say...!?”
A loud voice came through the phone.
“You awakened? Is it true...?”
“Yes. I awakened.”
“Oh my...! Congratulations, Jinwoo!”
“Haha... Thank you.”
Her congratulations were full of genuine happiness.
“You went to so much trouble for me... I’m sorry this happened.”
“Ah... No, no. The important thing is that you awakened. Then I’ll tell them you’re declining this time. I’m almost there anyway...”
“No. I’ll go too.”
“What?”
“This happened because of me. I think I should go with you.”
In any case, I’d need to go to Seoul sooner or later, and I thought I ought to see Teacher’s face as well.
“I’ll head over now.”
I hung up and moved at once.
* * *
About forty minutes later, I came out of the subway station.
As soon as I stepped outside, the Han River came into view in the distance.
It had been a long time since I’d been here. How many years had it been? As that familiar yet somehow uncomfortable sensation started creeping up on me—
“Jinwoo.”
I turned toward the soft voice and faint scent of perfume.
A woman with a gentle, striking face stood there.
“Teacher.”
It was Teacher Dan Ajin, the woman who had taught me for the past three years.
“Congratulations.”
She came over and patted my shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“I wanted this for so long... and in the end, you did it.”
Her characteristic warm tone made me smile despite myself.
“...I still don’t really feel it yet.”
“That’s only natural. Ah, it must be cold, so should we go inside first? Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s get something simple.”
We found a restaurant. It happened to be located beneath the company we were supposed to visit.
Two bowls of gukbap were set on the table, and then—
“So what happened?”
Teacher Dan Ajin asked me.
“I’m not really sure. I suddenly awakened yesterday.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes.”
“Awakenings are usually sudden, to be fair. Even for your teacher, it was like that at first, Jinwoo.”
A B-class superhuman.
That was Teacher’s rank, and her past life had been that of someone who taught knights in a fantasy world.
“But this is the first time I’ve seen a case like yours.”
After all, it had never happened before that someone awakened right before turning twenty.
Even Teacher seemed to find it strange.
“Anyway, congratulations.”
As she offered her congratulations, her eyes flickered slightly. Reading the thought hidden inside them, I smiled.
She’s curious about my rank.
I could read what was on Teacher’s mind, but I didn’t bring it up.
At the same time, her expression turned a little more serious.
I straightened up at the change in atmosphere.
“Jinwoo.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Are you really going to do it?”
She didn’t ask what I was going to do. I already knew what she meant.
“Yes.”
My answer was already decided.
When she heard it, Teacher let out a quiet breath through her nose.
“...Your awakening is truly something to celebrate, but realistically speaking, no matter what rank you ended up with, it’s going to be hard.”
I wondered what rank she thought I was. From her reaction, it seemed she assumed that because I hadn’t answered, I must have gotten something terribly low.
If I’d wanted to, I could have told her my rank right then and there.
...Still.
For some reason, I found myself hiding it.
It felt like I should.
“I don’t want to stop a student from moving forward, but the wall of reality is going to be thick.”
“I know.”
“And you still really want to become a superhuman?”
“Yes.”
I’d found my opening.
“Even if it’s the lowest rank possible.”
Even if I was facing an impossible situation like EX and whatever else.
“I have to go.”
I had to become a superhuman.
No matter what it took.
“...”
Hearing my firm answer, Teacher narrowed her eyes.
“I see.”
After her reply, her eyes, which had frozen for a moment, softened with a trace of a smile.
“All right. If your heart is set on it, then there’s nothing I can do. I’ll have to decline this time.”
“I’m sorry you went to the trouble...”
“No. If anything, I’m grateful you were willing to go with me. The appointment’s at three, so let’s wait a bit.”
“Yes...”
“Ah, and call Gyeongbeom for me.”
“Huh?”
I widened my eyes at the sudden name. Gyeongbeom?
Why was he coming up now?
“He’s been whining to me because you won’t answer his calls.”
“...”
I had to make a face of utter disgust. Jin Gyeongbeom. He’d been the only real friend I had for the past few years, but he was a pain in the ass.
I can go a little while without calling him.
It had probably been about two weeks.
I’d been busy with one thing and another, so I’d been slow to reply, and apparently he’d gone whining all the way to Teacher about it.
“Anyway, congratulations again.”
After hearing Teacher’s words, I started turning things over in my head.
Come to think of it...
Wouldn’t she know something if I asked?
Even if I didn’t tell her my rank directly, maybe she’d know something about this EX rank—or about the black color.
“Teacher, I—”
I was just about to ask her about it when—
-The press conference regarding this incident will be—
A voice drifted from the news. The restaurant owner had turned up the volume.
My gaze was drawn over immediately, and Teacher looked at the TV as she spoke.
“That’s a real problem too. Terrorism... in a world like this.”
There had been a string of terrorist incidents making the world noisy lately.
Apparently unregistered superhumans were carrying out attacks on specific companies and densely populated places.
“What on earth is the motive?”
“...Who knows.”
The motive.
The motive behind terrorism. I wondered if there even was one.
Honestly, whatever the motive might be—
What kind of grand meaning could there be in carrying out terror?
As I felt something inside me grow cold, I was looking at the TV when—
“Ah...”
Teacher suddenly noticed my expression.
“Sorry. Your teacher was being inconsiderate.”
“Huh? Ah, no.”
I waved a hand at her words.
“It’s fine.”
It really was fine now. No, it had to be fine.
“Ah, what I was just about to ask you—”
Since that was settled, I was about to bring up the question again when—
“But Jinwoo.”
“Yes?”
Ring.
Huh?
Suddenly, an alarm sounded.
And then a system window opened.
[Emergency quest triggered.]
“Huh?”
Quest?
What did that mean?
[Survive.]
“What the—”
Unreadable text flickered before my eyes.
“Jinwoo?”
Teacher asked as she looked at my reaction.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just—”
At that moment—
Kwo-jeok.
Kwoooooooom--!!!
The building suddenly exploded.