Chapter 43, Mana Sensitivity Re-examination.
I took an annual leave for the first time in a long while.
I couldn't even remember how long it had been.
Wait, have I ever actually used an annual leave properly?
I don't think I've ever taken a proper day off since I was appointed.
I only ever thought about cashing out my leave days; I never planned to use them just to rest.
But today, I used one.
It wasn't exactly because I wanted to rest, but to take care of some personal business.
"Yaaaawn..."
Still, thanks to taking the day off, I woke up later than usual.
My alarm had already switched to a 'missed alarm' notification ages ago.
Sleeping in on a weekday truly is the ultimate luxury for an office worker.
Rubbing my eyes furiously, I dragged my slippers out to the living room.
As soon as I walked out, my older sister shot up and came over.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah."
"Hurry up and eat. Should I heat up the doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew)?"
"No. I'll just eat it as is."
"Alright. My little siblings sure love eating cold doenjang jjigae~"
Personally, I love scooping cold doenjang jjigae over hot rice.
It makes it the perfect temperature and tastes great.
I pulled out a chair and sat at the dining table.
My sister served me rice, and I enjoyed a delicious meal with the side dishes.
Following that came a glass of iced Americano she handed me.
Thanks to the capsule coffee machine we bought recently, I had no reason to buy coffee outside unless it was during my lunch break at work.
"Isn't this really good? And super cheap too."
"It is good. How much was this?"
"Was it 3,000 won for 10 capsules? They were selling it super cheap on Pangku Rocket Delivery."
Being able to drink 10 cups for the price of two.
To my unemployed sister and younger sister, there probably wasn't a better bang for their buck.
While I was chugging down the coffee, my sister slyly sidled up to me.
Anyone could tell she wanted something.
"Sis. Need an allowance?"
"Hehe..."
"I guess it's about time you ran out."
It had been a little while since I last gave her pocket money.
I immediately opened my banking app and wired her 100,000 won.
"Whoa. 100,000 won."
"Tell me if you need more."
"Thanks, Gyeong-ho."
My sister planted a kiss on my cheek.
Feeling inexplicably embarrassed, I furiously wiped the cheek she kissed.
How should I put it... compared to a sticky, deep kiss lusting after each other's tongues and saliva, a peck on the cheek somehow feels more affectionate?
It's similar to how an erotic scene in a serialized monthly manga can be more arousing than watching a straight-up hentai doujinshi.
"Oh right, Gyeong-ho. Since you took the day off today, are you staying home all day?"
My sister placed her hand on my thigh, her fingers slowly creeping inward.
She probably assumed I was just going to rest at home and wanted to help me get off.
"Today is my safe day, you know? Wanna blow a load in your sister's pussy?"
She stood in front of me and suddenly pulled her skirt all the way up.
She slid her white panties down.
Then, she spread her pussy wide open with her thumbs.
My dick was already rock hard.
If it were up to my base instincts, I would have railed her right then and there, but...
I flicked her on the forehead.
As hard as I could.
Smack!
"Ouch!"
"I'm good for now. Just because I took leave doesn't mean I plan on staying home."
Like I said earlier, I had a specific reason for taking the day off.
"Huh? Then what?"
"I gotta go take care of some business."
"I thought you took a leave?"
"I took the leave because I have to go out and handle something. I'll be back."
I casually patted my sister's exposed lower belly, changed my clothes, and headed out.
I can just blow a load in her pussy when I get back home later.
There was only one reason I took the day off today.
The Hunter Awakening Center.
I had to go there.
"In all my life, I never imagined I'd end up going back there..."
Truthfully, if you are a citizen of South Korea, you are bound to visit it at least once in your life.
Which means the chances of going a second time are incredibly slim.
In South Korea, when you turn 19, you are required to visit the community center to get your ID card issued.
Similarly, getting your magic sensitivity tested is just common sense.
Should I call it a benefit of citizenship?
In other countries, you have to pay for it, but in Korea, they do it for free.
Though the military draft physical... that's definitely not a benefit.
Anyway...
You could say your life as a Hunter is practically decided right there.
F and E ranks are the Unawakened.
Total duds.
From D-rank and up, you are treated as an Awakened.
Then what the hell is an E-rank?
Truthfully, being an E-rank doesn't mean you have absolutely zero magic power.
You have it, but the problem is you can't use it.
Think of it as having a completely dead battery inside your body.
Not that you could do anything with that anyway.
On the other hand, D-rank is different.
You can use skills, and physical enhancement is also possible.
They might be treated as the weakest at the very bottom of the Hunter world, but compared to ordinary people, they are quite strong.
Well, a D-rank level is a realm a normal person could reach if they trained to the absolute limit, though.
The important thing is the potential for growth.
If you are E-rank or higher, you can grow your magic sensitivity.
Whether by hunting monsters, chewing on magic stones, or stumbling upon a fortuitous encounter.
There are multiple ways.
Of course, that's only in theory...
In reality, it's harder than winning the lottery.
Most people live and die at the exact rank they were born with.
The manga-like stories where an F-rank works hard and becomes an A-rank don't exist in reality.
However...
Even if it's not quite A-rank, there are quite a few cases of people climbing from D-rank to C-rank.
That's exactly why I was going to get my magic sensitivity re-tested.
The assault incident at the gas station a while ago.
Back then, I dodged a punch thrown by a D-rank Hunter.
It wasn't just a regular punch.
It was a lethal punch laden with magic power.
An attack with enough force to send you to the grave if it even grazed you.
No matter if I had D-rank magic sensitivity, there was absolutely no way I could have dodged that without actively using physical enhancement.
But... I dodged it.
And very easily at that.
Almost as if I was utilizing a constant state of passive physical enhancement—something only C-ranks and above can manage.
That was definitive proof that my body had changed.
Otherwise, it couldn't be explained.
For the record, sensitivity and Hunter ranks are two different things.
Even if you have S-rank sensitivity, if you don't graduate from a Hunter Academy and get your license, you're just a civilian.
Conversely, even if your sensitivity is low, you can raise your Hunter rank through sheer equipment and experience.
Even though the ceiling is obvious, there are people who smash through those limits and climb higher.
"Anyway... I need to go and check for myself."
I needed to know exactly what state my body was in so I could prepare accordingly.
That's why I was heading to the Center.
Normally, a re-examination takes a week to book.
Apparently, every Tom, Dick, and Harry has been rushing to get re-tested lately.
But I am a Civil Servant of the Hunter Management Bureau.
The Center is an affiliated organization under our Bureau.
I applied through the internal intranet and got a spot right away for the following morning.
At times like this, being a government worker is the absolute best.
After driving for about 30 minutes, I arrived near the Center.
Looking at the building, which was much grander than when I visited for my test five years ago, I immediately let out a sigh wondering just how much tax money went into it.
Guards were stationed at the entrance.
I didn't think they were there last time.
I drove up and, instead of my ID card, I pulled out my Civil Servant badge and flashed it.
"Lee Gyeong-ho from the Hunter Management Bureau's Civil Petitions Administration Department."
"Verified. You may enter, sir."
A total free pass.
I glanced briefly at the people standing in line and pulled directly into the parking lot.
Those kids are probably the ones whose birthdays are exactly today.
Fresh-faced twenty-year-olds.
From the perspective of a guy halfway to fifty, I was a little jealous.
It was quite a spacious parking lot, but I purposefully parked in the compact car section anyway.
"Mhm. My Ray is cute as always."
Maybe I should go get a car wash later.
Since I used an annual leave, I might as well get a bunch of things done.
The inside was quiet.
It was still before opening hours, so it was deserted.
"I'm Civil Servant Lee Gyeong-ho from the Hunter Management Bureau."
"Ah, thank you for your hard work. You can head right in."
As soon as I gave my name at the reception desk, they sent me straight to the examination room.
"Please take a seat over here."
The nurse guided me.
Next to the chair was a machine that looked like a blood pressure monitor.
To think this machine costs tens of billions of won.
If they could lower the manufacturing cost, it would be much easier for hospitals to do these tests.
I stuck my wrist into the machine and they plastered sensors all over my chest.
The cold gel made me feel slightly unpleasant.
"Please do not move. We'd have to start over."
"Okay."
I closed my eyes.
The machine made a whirring noise and tightened around my wrist.
It felt exactly like checking your blood pressure.
They said it works by reading magic wavelengths, but the feeling was nothing special.
No electric shocks or anything like that.
You just sit there blankly.
A moment later, the pressure released.
"You're all done. Please wait outside."
It was anticlimactic.
I vigorously wiped off the gel with some tissues and stepped out.
Maybe five minutes passed?
The nurse called my name.
"Patient Lee Gyeong-ho. Please come into the consultation room."
I entered the consultation room.
The doctor was staring intently at his monitor.
As I made my presence known and sat down, he finally adjusted his glasses and looked at me.
His expression was peculiar.
It was a look of complete incomprehension.
"Lee Gyeong-ho?"
"Yes."
"The results are... hiss, a bit surprising."
"Why? Is it bad?"
"No. You went from D-rank to B-rank."
For a second, I thought I misheard him.
What?
From D-rank to B-rank?
"Excuse me? B-rank? Isn't it a glitch?"
"I double-checked, and it's definitively a B-rank. And not just barely scraping by, it's high-tier. The numbers are extremely stable."
Wow.
D-rank to B-rank.
Does that even make sense?
Going up even one rank is a miracle, but I jumped two.
Isn't that a level where I'd be treated like royalty if I handed out my business card anywhere?
It felt completely unreal.
Me? A B-rank?
The doctor asked, brimming with curiosity.
"By any chance, have you hunted any monsters recently?"
"No. I'm a Civil Servant for the Hunter Management Bureau... I'm stuck at a desk in the civil petitions office all day."
"Then did you absorb a high-purity magic stone? Did you spend a bit of money?"
"Where would a salaryman get that kind of money? I can barely afford to put money into my savings account."
The doctor tilted his head in confusion.
He looked back at the monitor and muttered to himself.
"Bizarre. It's unheard of for it to rise naturally like this. Especially in such a short period..."
Then he lowered his voice and asked secretively.
"By any chance... did you have some sort of third-party fortuitous encounter? Like eating or touching something strange. Or drinking water from a hidden spring deep in the mountains."
He sounded like he was joking, but...
In that split second, one particular thing came to mind.
The sealed dragon weapon I touched during my business trip to Jeju Island.
Didn't I feel something strange back then?
No way...
Did that raise my magic sensitivity?
Wait, just touching it bumped me from D to B?
But I absolutely couldn't tell him the truth.
If it gets out that I laid my hands on a national treasure, I'll be disciplined.
And not just a simple disciplinary action; I could be arrested.
I nonchalantly shook my head.
I put on the most clueless expression I could muster.
"Nothing comes to mind... But aren't 'fortuitous encounters' something that only happens in Wuxia novels?"
"It's used a lot in Wuxia, but it's a real-world term too. It just means a strange or serendipitous twist of fate."
"Aha... So it wasn't just a Wuxia term."
The doctor smirked and brushed it off.
"In any case. It seems you, Mr. Clerk, have stumbled upon an unidentified fortuitous encounter."
"I-is that so..."
"Sometimes there are cases that just can't be explained. The human body is truly mysterious, isn't it? Congratulations. You hit the jackpot."
"Haha... I'd prefer cold hard cash."
I scratched my head.
The doctor printed out a confirmation certificate.
"You can submit this to your workplace, the Management Bureau."
"Thank you."
"If you hand this in, you'll get back the annual leave you used today."
Oh.
Hell yeah.
Saved my annual leave.
Talk about a stroke of luck.
As soon as I got home, I turned on the computer.
I didn't even change my clothes.
Who knows, I might have to go back out again later.
For now, I had to check out the Gallery.
When it comes to South Korean Hunter information, the 'Hunter Gallery' is the fastest.
Half the posts are shitposts and it's full of cursing, but you have to admit their information-gathering capability is top-tier.
I logged in and wrote a post.
[Title: Anyone here ever gotten their magic sensitivity re-tested?]
[I got bumped from D-rank to B-rank today.]
[Does this happen often?]
Reply: D to B? You writing a novel? lol Even a trash-tier mass-produced web novel would get flamed for a setup like that. Give it a rest.
Reply: No proof means what? At least post a pic.
Reply: I took it today too and I'm still an F wtf. My 50k won... should've just bought fried chicken.
Sub-reply: If it happened often, our country would already be a Hunter Empire lol We'd have beaten the US.
Reply: Fuck off to the pathological liar gallery. You think this is your diary?
Reply: Current C-rank here. Going from D to B? That's like the odds of winning the lottery 1st place 500 times in a row. Wake up from your dream. Even if you shoveled magic stones down your throat like rice, it wouldn't happen.
Reply: Did you bribe the Center staff? How much did you pay?
Sub-reply: Bribing them would be harder lmao. You think a civil servant is crazy enough to forge that for you?
Sub-reply 2: The Bureau is so corrupt these days, maybe it is possible? Slide them some under-the-table cash and anything goes.
Sub-reply 3: They're already embezzling, you think they'd turn down a bribe? lol
Reply: What, did you slay a dragon or something? Did you chew on a Dragon Heart?
Sub-reply: If he slayed a dragon he'd be an S-rank, why would he only be a B-rank lol. Horrible return on investment.
Reply: It's probably bullshit, but if it's real, your life is set. Starting salary of 500 million won easily. Guilds will be begging to recruit you.
Just as I expected.
Nobody believed it.
Well, even I can hardly believe it; there's no way strangers would.
Instead, I just got absolutely flamed.
[Title: Yo, I just booked a re-test too]
[Got swayed by OP's bullshit and booked it.]
[If I get a B-rank I'm escaping this life.]
[Let's gooo, escaping the dirt-spoon life.]
Reply: Yeah, you're an F. Keep dreaming.
Reply: Money down the drain amirite? Buy some lottery tickets with that money instead, tsk tsk.
Reply: Leave a review later. I'll get the popcorn ready.
[Title: Fact check on re-tests (MUST READ)]
[1. Your rank can go up from a re-test. But it's an extreme minority.]
[2. Usually, it's just going from E to D during your growth spurt. Happens alongside puberty.]
[3. A fully grown adult going from D to B is a miracle. Medically impossible.]
[4. Conclusion: That guy earlier is either a troll or he saved a country in his past life.]
Reply: My vote is on troll. Just an attention whore craving validation.
Reply: Fact) OP is a paid shill for the Management Bureau. They came to collect funds. Heard there's a tax revenue shortage lately.
Sub-reply: This is it lmaooo. It's viral marketing. Almost fell for it.
[Title: I took a re-test a while ago too lol]
[F -> F.]
[Fuck, my 90k won.]
[Got my back smashed by my mom.]
Reply: Lmaooooooo
Reply: Burp~~~~ Well, that digests nicely.
Reply: Just consider it your tuition fee for life.
[Title: I'm an active D-rank Hunter, is a re-test even worth it?]
[My damage doesn't even pierce right now, if my rank goes up, do I get stronger?]
[I'm treated as dead weight in parties, it sucks.]
Reply: Obviously. Your entire engine is being swapped out.
Reply: But you rank up because you got stronger, you don't get stronger by getting tested. Your order of operations is backwards. Bro doesn't understand causality.
Reply: Only go if you've felt a physical change in your body. Going right now is a waste of money.
Sub-reply (OP): Oh, is that how it works? Saved myself some money, thx
Sub-reply 2: Is this retard for real?
[Title: Do you guys know? Even S-rank Choi Hyun-seok...]
[There's a rumor he went from C to S from a re-test.]
[Saw it on a tabloid.]
Reply: I can see why tabloids are called tabloids
Reply: Bullshit lol He was a genius from the start.
Reply: C to S is stretching it. Do you only read manga?
Reply: Stop believing 'I heard it from a guy' rumors. Your brain is gonna rot.
[Title: How much is the re-test fee?]
[I'm a college student, if I ask my mom will she give it to me?]
[Should I lie and say it's for academy tuition?]
Reply: You're dead if you get caught. A back-smash is guaranteed.
Reply: It's like 90k won. Fucking expensive.
Reply: Just buy fried chicken. You're wasting away.
Reply: Stop talking out of your ass, raise your GPA, and be a good son.
[Title: What is a B-rank's salary?]
[I'm jealous as fuck, make me a B-rank too.]
Reply: If you join a guild, the signing bonus alone is over 200 million won. You can get a Jeonse lease in Seoul.
Sub-reply: With incentives, you easily clear 300~400 million. You'll be driving imported cars.
Sub-reply 2 (OP): Wow, a total life reversal.
Reply: It's cheap considering it includes the price of your life. Later on, if you push your Hunter rank up, lose track of your limits, and mess with the wrong thing, you'll be gone in a flash.
I scrolled through and read the comments.
Quite a few people had experienced taking a re-test.
It seems everyone dreams of a life-reversing jackpot at least once.
However, there were absolutely no cases that changed as dramatically as mine.
At most, it was E to D.
It really seems like that dragon weapon was the cause...
I was nearly certain of it.
However, I don't know if it's just me, or if it happened to others too.
What about Lee Yena?
Lee Yena is an A-rank Hunter, but wasn't her magic sensitivity B-rank?
If she bumped up to A-rank...
She might even be able to aim for an S-rank Hunter license.
She said her dream was to be a Civil Servant, so I doubt she'll return to being a Hunter, though.
Thinking I should ask Lee Yena, I opened my messenger app.
I tapped her profile picture, then immediately closed it.
No. Let's just leave it.
The "Dragon's Tomb" isn't even completed yet; bringing it up might just stir a hornet's nest.
I'll ask her later, once she comes up to Seoul for sure.