Chapter 9
Ability Status Information Comprehensive Record Measuring Machine.
Its official name was absurdly long, so everyone simply called it the Measuring Machine. It was said to be the pinnacle of magic engineering: a device that gathered the power and abilities of a living being under a set of defined standards and converted them into a single, integrated value.
In short, it was a groundbreaking invention that could reproduce part of the status window available only to returnees.
Even if it only measured level, the fact that non-returnees could be assigned a level at all was honestly astonishing.
And its accuracy was insane.
It had pinned down my level without a single point of error.
Apparently it had been built by drawing on all the knowledge and information returnees possessed.
I wanted to ask humanity what the hell it had been doing for the last twenty years.
What level are my master and the Demon King, I wonder?
That thought made my mouth hang open in a stupid grin.
I couldn’t even picture it, but they had to be over 1,000, right? Maybe they’d even go up to 2,000 for all I knew.
Then there were the other legion commanders besides me, and I was curious about them too.
It was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to shove in front of those idiots who spent all day having juvenile little fights over who was stronger than who.
Ah, right. There was Braga too.
I wanted to see my retainer’s level as well.
Nothing about it changed; it simply put power into numbers, and yet that was somehow more curiosity-provoking than I could stand.
If that training-obsessed goblin learned he could objectively check his own strength, he’d probably lose his mind.
It was a shame I still couldn’t summon him because he hadn’t recovered fully yet.
“Excuse me, Cynthia Valentine?”
“Huh? What?”
I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of someone calling my name.
“Were you listening to me?”
“Nope.”
“...You’re remarkably proud of that.”
“Was that supposed to be a compliment?”
“It wasn’t.”
The young, handsome man sitting across from me frowned hard.
The way he adjusted his glasses was eerily similar to some high-ranking mage back in the enemy forces.
Just looking at him soured my mood.
He even had that pretty-boy face that made him annoying to look at.
I leaned back in the chair and crossed my arms.
I was in a room that looked a lot like an interrogation chamber, and a three-way meeting was underway.
The man sitting across the desk was the one I was mostly talking to.
Well. That was to say...
“What was your name again?”
“Sigh. We’re starting there?”
The young man let out a long sigh, then spoke again.
“My name is Kim Su-hyun. I’m the director of the Daejeon City Ability Management Bureau headquarters.”
“Right. That was it.”
Kim Su-hyun’s forehead twitched as a vein bulged there.
My imagination, maybe. He looked pissed.
“Then what about the woman over there?”
I looked toward the expressionless woman standing quietly in one corner.
First impression: approved. She was a fine-looking beauty.
But how should I put it? There was something off about her.
The more I looked, the more I felt a vague, hard-to-name discomfort.
She’d been here since I entered the room, and while her outfit resembled the maid uniforms I’d seen every day while staying at my master’s house, that wasn’t the part that bothered me. It was that I couldn’t feel even the slightest trace of life from her.
But if she was dead, that wasn’t right either, because there was no sour stench of decay or the acrid rot typical of undead.
On top of that, she was breathing properly, and I could hear her heartbeat just fine.
“She is Shin Hyun-ah. You may not have heard of her, but she is the Guardian Chief Protector.”
At Kim Su-hyun’s introduction, Shin Hyun-ah gave a brief nod.
I knew what a Guardian was.
I’d learned while cleaning up the bugs threatening my future daughter that they were a group of awakened people who handled problems ordinary police couldn’t solve.
In other words, they were basically police with powers.
I’d heard they mostly handled surveillance and extermination of monsters approaching the Wall, or hunted villains rampaging inside the city.
The Chief Protector of such an impressive organization. In other words, the boss. And the boss was the stoic maid woman sitting right in front of me.
The world was really going to hell.
While I was staring in disbelief, Kim Su-hyun tapped the desk with one finger to get my attention.
“Cynthia Valentine.”
“Just call me Cynthia.”
Him using my full name over and over was irritating.
It wasn’t a name I’d chosen for myself, so hearing it rubbed me the wrong way.
Maybe my expression showed it, because Kim Su-hyun nodded easily.
“My apologies. Very well. Cynthia, then.”
“Why.”
“You seem to be brushing off everything I say, so I’ll cut to the point.”
He pushed his glasses up and looked at me with a serious expression.
Behind the lenses, his stern eyes flashed sharply.
“Are you a returnee?”
The question I’d expected at last came flying at me.
I shrugged as if it didn’t matter and gave a light laugh.
If I said no, would you believe me?
“I wouldn’t.”
“Then why ask?”
“Belief and truth are entirely separate matters.”
So he wanted confirmation straight from my mouth?
When I stared at him flatly, Kim Su-hyun went on to explain.
“Do you know this? The highest rank a normal person can achieve by passing an ability aptitude test is First Class. The benchmark is level 100. Beyond that, it becomes unrealistic. Above that comes the returnee rank, and the average level usually falls somewhere between 200 and 300. Even America’s officially recognized number one hero, ‘Archangel,’ doesn’t even reach 400. He’s level 398.”
Then Kim Su-hyun stared straight through me.
“Your level is 724. At first I judged the Measuring Machine to be malfunctioning. The number was simply impossible. But after checking it dozens of times, I found no error.”
“So?”
“If level 724 is real and not a false reading, then the chance that you are not a returnee is practically zero.”
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue and frowned.
That was that. They’d already decided I was a returnee.
Even if I hadn’t been one, they would’ve treated me as if I were, no question.
“Ah, and since we’re on the subject of America, I should mention that we already know you forged your identification.”
“What?”
“After a little digging, we found no entry records and not even a matching name. Something felt off, so we asked the Americans to verify your identity. Their response was that you didn’t exist. And then you went and boldly naturalized in Korea under an American nationality. I honestly never would have imagined it.”
Damn, so that got caught too.
Come to think of it, the moment my level showed up on the Measuring Machine, I should’ve assumed everything was already ruined.
“One more thing.”
“Another one?”
“Cynthia. You have an inventory, don’t you?”
“Inventory?”
Of course I did.
I still hadn’t officially admitted I was a returnee, but I was one in fact.
But why was he asking so confidently?
“I see you really didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“Inside the city. More precisely, inside the Wall, the location of all identification cards can be checked in real time. Naturally, if an ID is destroyed and lost, it can no longer be traced. But there’s no way it could keep appearing and disappearing from the system the way yours does unless it’s being stored in some kind of subspace, like an inventory.”
“Damn it. No wonder the cops were always so damn good at finding me.”
I’d thought it was weird how they kept tracking me down no matter how I dodged them to avoid fines. So that was why?
Just as I was feeling exasperated, the corners of Kim Su-hyun’s mouth lifted slightly.
“That reaction. So you admit it?”
“What’s there to ask? You’ve already made up your mind.”
“I have only circumstantial evidence and material evidence. I want the truth.”
“Shit. Fine, I’m a returnee. Happy now?”
That little interrogation routine was starting to piss me off.
The rage monster sleeping inside me peeked its head up like, Did somebody call me?
Hold it together. Just hold it together.
I cracked my fingers and steadied myself.
If I caused trouble here, all the effort and planning I’d spent on living with Lee Seo-ah would go up in smoke.
No, we could probably still live together, but from Lee Seo-ah’s perspective, that would mean giving up on an ordinary life.
Would that really be good for her?
I wanted Lee Seo-ah to be happy. I had no intention of turning her into a doll I dragged around as I pleased.
Hoo. Relax.
I barely managed to suppress my temper.
Hiding the fact that I was a returnee was probably a lost cause now.
In that case, I might as well squeeze every advantage I could out of this.
Having changed tactics, I suddenly held out my hand.
“If you’ve figured out I’m some badass returnee, then hand over whatever ability certificate thing you’ve got.”
“Of course. We can’t exactly leave a level 724 awakened person classified as an ordinary civilian. Thank you for your candid answer.”
That glasses-wearing bastard. Why did he look so pleased?
The slightly raised corners of his mouth were annoyingly smug.
When I glared at him the way I had before, Kim Su-hyun raised one finger and said,
“We’ll issue you a Special Class certificate.”
“Special Class? What’s that supposed to be?”
“At level 200 and above, you’re granted Special Class awakened status. In practice, it’s basically reserved for returnees. It’ll take some time to prepare, so please come back tomorrow.”
“Damn it. What a hassle.”
I was grumbling under my breath when another finger rose on Kim Su-hyun’s hand.
“And there’s one more thing.”
“What now?”
“Please don’t get too angry. No matter how high your level is, procedure still has to be followed.”
“Then spit it out!”
“Put simply, we need your data.”
The first step in obtaining awakened status was passing the ability aptitude test, and the second was having your level verified through the Measuring Machine.
If your level was 1 or higher, you passed. After that came the final step: classifying the type of your ability.
Depending on its direction, it was divided into combat type, all-round type, and support type, Kim Su-hyun explained.
“There are people with very high levels who can’t fight at all. That’s why we need to know what kind you are. Under international law, we can’t issue a certificate that lists only your level, so our hands are tied.”
“Shit. What a pain in the ass.”
All this trouble because of that damn Measuring Machine.
Of all things, why did it have to be the greatest example of magic engineering? If it could be forged like an ID card, that would’ve been nice.
If that had been the case, I could’ve just picked up a 9th-grade certificate and gone to see my future daughter’s face ages ago.
While my expression darkened further, Kim Su-hyun pulled a small device from the inside pocket of his suit and handed it to me.
He started tapping away at it, and a huge hologram appeared in front of me, bringing up what looked like a questionnaire.
“Please fill that out. We need to verify it and prepare the appropriate test, so write only the truth if possible.”
“I have to take a test too?”
“We need a basis for issuing the certificate.”
He was making far too much sense for me to argue.
In the end, I muttered to myself while filling out the questionnaire.
“There. Done!”
“Thank you for your cooperation. Then please wait here for a bit. Once we’ve finished preparing the test based on what you wrote, we’ll call you in. It won’t take long, so don’t wander off. If you need anything, use the call button by the door to summon a staff member. They’ll bring most things you ask for.”
With that, Kim Su-hyun took back the device, stood up, and left the interrogation room.
Shin Hyun-ah, who hadn’t said a single word the whole time, gave a short bow and disappeared after him.
Either they’d taken some special measures in this room, or mana just wouldn’t move here, because nothing responded to super-senses either.
They were absurdly cautious.
Left alone at last, I tipped my head back and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Ah, I miss Seo-ah.
Only a few hours had passed since I last saw her, and yet it felt like months.
I was hit by an intense urge to wrap my arms around my lovely future daughter’s frail body and nuzzle against her while inhaling deeply.
Good. The moment I got out of here, I’d go do exactly that.
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Meanwhile, once Kim Su-hyun got outside, he read through the questionnaire Cynthia had filled out with an interested look.
“Specialty: hand-to-hand combat. Main weapon used: sword. But doesn’t use it much? What the hell does that mean?”
Since the form asked for the main weapon used, had she just written down whatever she could handle?
“Oh? So she can use magic too.”
And a 5th-order master at that?
Her level was pretty decent, too.
“Kim Su-hyun.”
“What is it?”
“Are you going to leave that person alone?”
The voice carried no emotion at all, flat and even.
Kim Su-hyun tore his gaze away from the device and looked back.
Shin Hyun-ah, who had followed him in silence until now, had stopped and was quietly facing him.
“What if I don’t?”
“Executing her would be best. Restricting her would be the next best option. I don’t think leaving her alone like this is right.”
“Because she’s a villain?”
Shin Hyun-ah slowly nodded.
Kim Su-hyun let out a soft snort.
“If the guardian who protects the peace of the Republic of Korea sees it that way, then I suppose that’s what it is.”
“Don’t mock me. That person is a villain. She has already committed crimes, including murder, multiple times.”
“That’s still just circumstantial evidence, isn’t it? There’s no material proof.”
“Kim Su-hyun.”
At her sharp call of his name, Kim Su-hyun hurriedly raised both hands in surrender.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I’m not confident I can handle your anger.”
“...”
“Hoo. Chief Protector, let me be blunt. I disagree with you on a few things.”
“What do you mean?”
“The mass disappearances that have happened recently. Cynthia does stand out as a strong suspect. But why did she end up under suspicion in the first place?”
“Lee Seo-ah.”
At Shin Hyun-ah’s answer, Kim Su-hyun nodded along.
“Exactly. The people who had been bullying a weak and fragile young student disappeared, and then a high-level returnee suddenly appeared and, for reasons unknown, was treating that student like precious treasure. How much must she value her to even naturalize just to adopt her?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“That the villain we define as a villain would not act like that.”
Villains acted only for raw, primitive desire.
They were no different from the monsters outside the Wall.
The only difference was that they wore human skin and could speak.
They never obeyed the laws set by society.
They would never forge IDs, sneak through the Wall “quietly,” and enter the city.
And they sure as hell wouldn’t apply for naturalization and pay fines for prior petty crimes just to adopt one orphan.
“Murder? Sure. It’s still just circumstantial evidence, but let’s say Cynthia is the culprit behind the disappearance case. Even so, her actions clearly serve the purpose of protecting that student, Lee Seo-ah. She’s different from a villain.”
“Even so, murder is an atrocious major crime.”
“Of course I know that. I’m not trying to defend a murderer. I’m simply suggesting a little flexibility.”
“Flexibility?”
Kim Su-hyun adjusted his glasses.
His gaze sharpened as it turned on Shin Hyun-ah.
“Her level is 724. Seven hundred and twenty-four. The catastrophic monster that came south from North Korea eight years ago was level 516. You know very well how much damage we barely managed to prevent back then, don’t you, Chief Protector?”
“...”
“If the choice is between making an enemy of a level 700 monster on nothing but circumstantial evidence and calling it tolerable even if she’s committed some crimes, I think the latter is better.”
Don’t go poking the nose hair of a lion that’s sleeping peacefully.
“It’s not like she went around killing indiscriminately, is it? After looking into it, every one of those people had dirt under their fingernails. They were connected to politicians and the sort of scum you can’t just touch lightly. Now that they’ve disappeared, society might actually get a little healthier.”
“Among the missing are young students.”
“You mean the bad kids who’d been bullying people for years? This is just my personal opinion, but I think it’s right to cut off a yellow sprout before it can grow. In my experience, kids like that never reform.”
“...I understand your point. And I judge it to be reasonable.”
In the end, Shin Hyun-ah decided to back down.
Kim Su-hyun wasn’t wrong.
“Still, I think we can’t leave her unchecked.”
“I agree with that. We’ll need surveillance. And for that, the test we’re about to run will be important data.”
Finishing his sentence, Kim Su-hyun turned his attention back to the device.
So she really didn’t write down any special traits.
There were a few blank fields, but that had been expected, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Based on what he’d seen so far, Cynthia’s abilities seemed best classified as either combat type or all-round type.
“Hm? What’s this?”
“What is it?”
Seeing Kim Su-hyun suddenly pop a question mark over his head, Shin Hyun-ah approached and asked.
Kim Su-hyun showed her the hologram from the device.
“Do you see this last item?”
“It’s asking for a major specialty. But this is...”
“You don’t know either, Chief Protector?”
Shin Hyun-ah shook her head.
“I’ve never seen it before either.”
“Wonderful. This is troublesome.”
The major specialty was one of the most important factors in the test.
It was no exaggeration to say it determined both the type of test and its difficulty.
I was sure she’d be a magic swordswoman.
Kim Su-hyun looked again at the item in question on the device.
“What the hell is this thing called ‘Jusu’?”
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