Chapter 34
I’m translating the chapter into polished HTML-formatted English and preserving the special in-universe UI blocks with the required styled `
` templates. I’ll keep the narrative natural, split dialogue cleanly, and make sure no Korean text remains.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Last Candidate
Entered the Reincarnation Network.
God of War has entered.
I entered the network as usual. There was a time limit, but I still came in regularly to check the information here.
This time was no different.
“Now then...”
What had been posted today? I skimmed the content at a glance. With the time limit being short, I had to move fast.
I typed knight order into the search bar. What I wanted to see were posts related to the newly established knight order.
The reactions to the new knight order weren’t very positive. It seemed Korean superhumans, in particular, had a lot of resentment toward the Association.
Not surprising.
It wasn’t exactly shocking.
Superhumans had never particularly liked the Association to begin with.
Using searchers to catch terrorists. It had already been quite some time since the terrorists had revealed themselves and begun operating, but they still hadn’t been caught.
...That is strange.
As long as knight orders existed, crimes committed by superhumans had dropped drastically. That was also why so few unregistered awakeners existed.
Well.
Since they weren’t exactly doing anything honorable, hiding themselves didn’t seem strange.
I kept reading, but the posts were already thinning out.
There wasn’t much about the terrorists.
Superhumans didn’t seem especially interested in the subject.
To put it more accurately:
The reason there was anything at all was because they were watching the Association make a fool of itself, not because they cared about the terrorists.
I narrowed my eyes at that.
Hmph.
There wasn’t anything else worth reading. At least not on this network.
I was about to close it for a moment when—
“...Huh?”
I frowned as I looked at the post that had caught my eye.
What the hell was that supposed to mean? I hurriedly clicked into the thread.
What the hell?
“What is this...?”
“...”
Just as the Association had said, more and more people were beginning to see the God of War as a terrorist. This was becoming troublesome.
It doesn’t matter as long as my identity isn’t exposed, I guess.
Still, a terrorist...
I’d rather not be mistaken for one.
Not just any scum, but terrorists.
Being compared to those bastards I want to tear apart...
The fact alone made me disgusted.
“...Hah.”
I let out a sigh. I was about to search for more information like this, but—
Time limit has expired.
Reincarnator Network has closed.
The Reincarnation Network vanished from in front of me. Damn it.
“Still short as ever.”
With a creak, I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my tired face with one hand.
“Ah.”
Thinking about the terrorists gave me a headache. Becoming a knight was good, everything about it was good. I’d come this far for that very reason.
“What are you going to do if you don’t have enough information?”
It didn’t matter.
...I’ll just find them.
If they were hiding, I would find them. Bastards who stirred up trouble with malice in their hearts. If I kept searching, and searching, and searching...
I’d reach them in the end.
When the final moment came, I would grab even the collar of their clothes if I had to.
The bastards who killed my parents.
The dogs that murdered my mother and father, then vanished.
That was the purpose of my life: to catch them.
* * *
Early the next morning, just as I was doing my morning training after waking up, Irene contacted me.
“Come by nine. Same place as last time.”
It was a simple text. The moment I saw it, I headed for the interview hall at Irene’s summons. Today was finally the day the interviews would be completely over.
...This time, she said they’d be selecting fewer people than before.
Most had been chosen in the first round, and the second round supposedly had half as many openings.
There would probably be far fewer people to see.
But even so, I think there’ll still be a lot.
It was Hale Irene’s name value. Because of the impact that came with it, far too many superhumans had applied for the interview.
And it made sense.
They were going to work with the strongest superhuman in the world.
The undisputed greatest among them.
The symbol of the United States herself was coming to Korea to work, so of course there would be plenty of superhumans who wanted to work with her.
As proof of that, the number of superhumans who had applied for the first round alone was said to be absurd.
And those were the people they had carefully picked from that pool.
I didn’t know about the other knight orders, but Irene’s knight order was on an entirely different level.
Its rank alone was already ridiculous.
Several A-class, and one S-class.
If you were to average out a typical knight order, it would probably be around B-class to A-class. At most, A-class.
That is, except for the First Knight Order.
The First Knight Order was currently under Yu Jin, so it was hard to even average it out.
The Second Knight Order had an S-class captain, but most of its members were B-class.
The Third and Fourth Knight Orders were each led by A-class superhumans, while the Fifth Knight Order was... a little unusual, so I’d leave that aside.
Judging from that, the newly formed knight order—also known as the Sixth Knight Order, the anti-terrorism special unit—had an absurdly high average.
Even compared to the elite First Knight Order, it wasn’t a level below.
Compared to the tests and interviews for other knight orders, Irene’s order was actually easier in that regard.
At the very least, the number of applicants wasn’t falling behind.
The rank, of course, but everything else too. That was why it felt so strange.
It just showed how enormous the influence of Hale Irene’s name really was.
I couldn’t say it was hard to understand.
I think it’s only natural.
Even ordinary people, who weren’t superhumans at all, adored her.
And that woman had come to Korea and opened a knight order.
It wouldn’t have been strange for all sorts of people to show up for an interview. In fact, the strange thing was—
me.
I was the one who was strange, standing next to Irene as some so-called interviewer despite being nobody special at all.
That was the oddest part of all. If I couldn’t understand it, could anyone else?
...No idea.
As far as I was concerned, I just hoped this wouldn’t cause any unnecessary trouble.
Knight Lee Jinwoo. Identity confirmed.
When I approached the door, the machine activated and opened it by itself. The title of knight still felt unfamiliar, even now.
“...You’re here?”
As I stepped inside, Irene greeted me with a sleepy expression.
“...Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m just a little tired.”
She tapped the side of her neck with a pale hand. Her blond hair swayed each time.
“Let’s finish quickly and go.”
“...Ah, yes.”
Even so, this was the unit she would be working with, and yet Irene still seemed as indifferent as she had at the beginning.
“Should I call in the first applicant if you’re ready?”
“Yes.”
Once Irene gave permission, I called the first person in.
“Good morning, I am...”
The same process as last time began.
“Rejected. Rejected. Rejected.”
Most of them heard those words. Irene repeated the same response with a dead-eyed expression, one after another. This time, I kept my mouth shut.
It wasn’t because I’d been wary after making a scene last time. It was just that...
Eye of Enlightenment isn’t activating.
The Eye of Enlightenment that had activated back then. Unless there were people with special abilities like that time, there wasn’t even a chance of passing them.
And there weren’t any.
“Good morning... I’m a B-class superhuman who’s sort of like an A-class-”
“Yes. Good work.”
“Ah, wait, just once—!”
“Go on in.”
Irene waved the interviewer away. We were already near the end. What had we even done?
“We’ve picked one person.”
“...That’s enough.”
One A-class superhuman. A person who had barely made it into Irene’s eyes and passed.
Everyone else had been rejected. Unlike last time, this round had been absolutely ruthless.
“This is the last person now.”
The voice made it very clear she wanted to get this over with and leave.
The last one is...
I checked the papers.
An A-class?
The rank was high. As I was looking at that, the door opened and a man entered.
Creak.
“Good morning.”
He was a tall man with an easygoing face.
“I’m a superhuman named Kim Jincheol, ranked A-class.”
Hm.
He didn’t look bad. And the fact that Irene wasn’t rejecting him immediately suggested there was something to him—
Detected killing intent.
Hero's Super-sensory activated.
...Huh?
My skill suddenly activated. What was going on? And then—
Corka’s Illusion exposes falsehood.
Eye of Enlightenment has activated.
Kim Jincheol: The shell of Forbidden Knight A is being peeled away.
Details have been altered.
O Jimin: Shadow Star (S)
...
My body froze in place.