Ha Yoo-jin

Even I hadn't seen this coming.

I'd figured out by my second cycle that age had a hand in potential, but I never would have believed an eight-year-old had cleared the tutorial. He must have had help of some kind — traveled with a guardian, or crossed paths with a decent adult along the way. He was alone now, though. Given the place I'd pulled him out of, whoever had been with him was probably dead. After the rescue he'd kept glancing around for someone, but no one had come looking for him, and he hadn't gone looking for anyone either.

Still, the fact that he was alive at all was remarkable. The Free Coalition had a fair number of children, but kids under ten were genuinely hard to find.

I used the Administrator's Eye on the boy.

Nine skill slots. Exactly what you'd expect from Supreme-tier potential.

And looking at the makeup of those skills, I could guess how he'd survived. He'd been living for nothing but survival, plain and simple. In the tutorial you gained experience regardless of contribution, so he would have picked up levels bit by bit.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

His Strength and Stamina were pitifully low. Given his age, his starting stats would have been lacking to begin with, but the fact that they were still sitting at that level meant he hadn't seen much actual combat. His Mana and Agility, though, were high. The Mana had probably grown from using his skills constantly, and the Agility had most likely developed as his senses were pushed to the limit just to stay alive.

His skill grades were on the low side compared to that Supreme potential, but potential was potential — his room to grow was enormous. If I raised him myself, he'd shoot up fast.

There was no one around the boy. Ha Yoo-jin had been taken in by the Coalition, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there were plenty of other minors without guardians. He was on the younger side, so he received support, yet everyone was so busy that even if he got his meals, he was left to himself the rest of the time. A lot of kids were in the same boat. At least they clustered together among themselves, though. Ha Yoo-jin was especially young, and shy on top of it, so he had no friends at all. And with skills like those, no one paid him any mind unless they deliberately walked up to him.

Faint Presence was a passive skill, after all — even if people saw him, they tended to overlook him and walk right past. If they at least registered that he existed, they might have called his name. This boy had no one here who was close to him. Half by his own nature, half because the world refused to see him, he was completely isolated.

I had a Tower to climb. Even with Supreme potential, could that kid keep up with me? Physically, there was a decent chance. Whether a mentally immature child could endure it was another question. And as much of a bastard as I was, I still wondered if I really needed to use a kid that young.

I was still watching him when Joo Ha-yeon came over. She was in slightly better shape than Nam Eun-ju or Na-yeon, which was probably why she was up and walking around.

"What are you staring at so hard?"

"Why aren't you resting...?"

"I figured moving around would be better than sitting still. It was a shocking scene, but... we're only going to see worse from here on out. I can't fall apart this early."

She'd already braced herself for it. She was right. The higher you climbed, the more filth you saw. Climb the Tower long enough and you learned just how far a human being could fall.

"You've been staring at something this whole time, though... hmm..."

She followed my gaze.

"What on earth are you... wait?"

It took her a long moment of staring before she finally spotted Ha Yoo-jin.

"...He looks familiar..."

"...He's the child we rescued from that place."

"...I see. He's so young... But why is it so hard to look at him? That's a little strange, isn't it?"

"It's probably a skill. Nothing else would explain it. I don't think he's using it on purpose... but your eyes just don't want to settle on him."

Ha Yoo-jin wasn't even using Stealth. And even so, Joo Ha-yeon hadn't spotted him right away. If he'd had Stealth active on top of it, no one short of me or Na Seoyun would have found him. Both skills were Rare, and the synergy between them was excellent. Without a detection skill of your own, you needed a certain threshold of Agility and Mana just to notice people like him.

"He has a skill like that, too... that's frightening."

Frightening. She was right. Someone with skills like those, once they leveled up and chose Assassin at their next class change, would become a truly terrifying existence. Especially for priests and mages — unless they were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exceptionally high-level, an assassin was their natural predator. They'd strike the back line in a single breath and stroll away alive. A nightmare to face. The problem was that this one was eight years old.

"Whether it's the skill or not, no one seems able to notice him. He's not going hungry, at least — the meal distributions are seeing to that... but beyond that, no one approaches him first, so he has no friends. He just sits there like that, the same way I was."

"...His guardian... I suppose..."

I nodded. Almost no one had made it out of that situation in one piece. Survivors had been rare.

"...Should I mention him to Miss Ba-da?"

"I'm still deciding. He has talent, but whether he could endure the Tower..."

I was mid-sentence when my eyes met Ha Yoo-jin's.

The boy locked eyes with me, blinked a couple of times as if something didn't add up, and then his pupils blew wide with shock. He shot to his feet.

I stopped talking. Joo Ha-yeon gave me a look, asking what was wrong, then turned toward Ha Yoo-jin. The skill was a nuisance, but her mana — her holy power — was on the high side. As a member of my party, she was currently among the very top ranks. If she hadn't known he was there, that would be one thing. Now that she did, she wasn't about to lose sight of him.

She watched him stand up with that startled look on his face, and tilted her head.

"Oh. He stood up?"

The boy's eyes wavered when he realized Joo Ha-yeon was looking at him too. He glanced away, wrestling with something for a long moment, then seemed to make up his mind and started walking slowly toward us.

Joo Ha-yeon looked puzzled as he approached. I'd just finished telling her that this child never approached anyone first, and now he was coming straight to us. She wouldn't think I'd been lying, so she must have realized something unusual was happening.

Before I knew it, he was standing in front of me, looking quietly up. Brown eyes and black hair, the kind every Korean had. He was grimy from going unwashed for too long, and gaunt, as if he hadn't been eating enough. His eyes were clear, but something dark lingered behind them.

"...Um, mister..."

"...What is it?"

"A-are you the mister who... who saved me?"

"Yeah. You remember."

He nodded, looking up at me with those slightly darkened eyes.

"But mister... can you see me okay?"

"...I can, yes?"

"Then... why do people just walk right past me?"

That would be the skill...

"Well... it's probably because of a 'skill' you picked up."

"...Skill... Faint... Presence."

"That's the one."

Looking at his Mana, he could use the Stealth skill too. As his Mana kept climbing, the skill's efficiency would climb with it, and he seemed to have figured out that people were finding it harder and harder to notice him. From the way he was talking, he thought he was turning invisible. ...In a sense, he wasn't wrong.

Back where he'd been held, if no one there had possessed a detection skill — or even if they had — he probably could have escaped on his own. But the people I assumed were his guardians had been captured too, and he was a child who couldn't do much by himself, so he hadn't tried. Because of this ability, he'd been reduced to a personal errand boy for whoever had the detection skill.

I looked at the boy and spoke.

"That's why. If someone isn't skilled enough, they can't find you."

That was the problem. Turning off a passive skill wasn't impossible. The difficulty, however, was extreme. Put simply, you'd need to be at the level of a top guild's first-string roster just to suppress it — and even then, it burned through a considerable amount of mental energy. Passive skills were always on. Overriding one required a high degree of mana control and sheer will. The people who could do that were, by definition, already at a high level.

This boy had Supreme potential, so he'd get there eventually — but not now. Five years at the minimum. Even Supreme potential needed time to grow. That was how long it would take before he could slip free of that skill. And even then, keeping it off all day would be impossible. For this child, the skill was a kind of shackle. And, at the same time, a possibility.

"Then... am I just going to be forgotten, little by little?"

Ha Yoo-jin's eyes trembled with anxiety and fear.

"If you mean most people... probably. But the exceptional ones will find you."

It was a sad truth. If Ha Yoo-jin's potential had been merely average, it wouldn't have had this kind of effect. He'd either have died in the tutorial, or survived by the skin of his teeth without being ignored right in front of his own face like this. But this child was Supreme-tier. An eight-year-old who had me genuinely debating whether I should take him with me.

Looking at him, I told myself I should let it go. Taking him along would be fine, in theory. In the last cycle, it had taken most people five years just to get out of the Labyrinth, and about that long again to clear the Lower Floors. The Middle Floor had taken even longer. But that was Korea being slow. Other nations had solved both in far less time.

I intended to get Korean trainees out of the Labyrinth and onto the Lower Floors in two or three years, not five. That was part of why I was tying Han Ba-da down here — to stop the place from rotting into the garbage heap it would become, and to establish order inside the Labyrinth. The same went for the Lower Floors. I had no intention of wasting ten years getting to the Middle Floor. I was going to make sure Korean guilds established themselves there faster than any other nation.

Of course, that was the timeline for the majority of trainees. Front-runners like me would climb far faster than that. I already had the qualifications to go to the Lower Floors, didn't I? I planned to wring everything I could out of them, and at the same time set up an environment where the trainees could grow properly. This way, the very top ranks would lose a bit of their edge, but the average level would rise. Of course, anyone who grew on raw talent alone would still end up stronger than ordinary trainees.

"You're... strong, right, mister?"

"...Yeah."

"You won't stop being able to see me, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right?"

"Probably not."

"The noona next to you saw me too. Right?"

If it was the party that had gone to rescue him, they wouldn't lose track of him as he was now. But the future was another matter. Na Seoyun and I definitely wouldn't lose him. Na-yeon... she might manage it under ordinary circumstances. If she fell short, she could borrow a spirit's power. But from Joo Ha-yeon on down, I wasn't sure. That was how high this child's growth potential ran, with that Supreme-tier talent.

"Please take me with you."

......

"P-please put me in your party."

I'd seen it coming from about the midpoint. That he was going to ask this. Through no fault of his own, his own ability had made him invisible, and in that state, there was no growth to be hoped for.

If I asked Han Ba-da, she'd look after him. She was kind — once she knew his situation, she wouldn't have the heart to refuse. And given how strong he'd become in the future, he'd ultimately be an asset to her. Lee Yoon-hyung was in Han Ba-da's party, too, so the boy could learn how to fight as a thief. But if I did that, this child would stagnate here for a while. Potential was potential, so even if he grew later, a certain degree of success was guaranteed — but it couldn't compare to me raising him myself from the start. And Han Ba-da was busy. Because of this child's nature, no one short of a genuine powerhouse could even look after him properly. From Han Ba-da's perspective, he'd be a difficult existence to manage.

While I was still thinking, the boy started listing off his selling points one by one.

"I-I don't eat much, either. I get full on just a little. And I'm good at running errands. I'm pretty fast. People always said I pick up on things quickly, and, a-and I'm good at scouting. Because I'm invisible, monsters can't see me very well either. Fighting, i-if you teach me, I'll learn really hard. Okay? Please take me with you. I don't want to be ignored. I'm scared. Please?"

I closed my eyes.