Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Praetorian Farming (2)
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‘How much would be just right?’
I had to convince Cha Se-ra why I was hiding as an unregistered Awakener first, so a little circus act like a mini rain cloud wouldn’t cut it.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to flaunt my powers too extravagantly either. I needed to keep a few cards up my sleeve myself, and there was no telling how she’d react down the line.
‘Hmm.’
Worst case, if she witnessed me literally reshaping heaven and earth, she might snap and report me straight to the Association. That possibility wasn’t zero.
As the old murim adage went, hiding thirty percent of your strength was a virtue. Maybe I should dial it back accordingly.
‘Check.’
Analysis complete.
From now on, I’d self-downgrade from super-genius Weathermancer to plain old genius Weathermancer.
So, the level of power to reveal?
Enough to whip up a decent rainstorm around Hapjeong-dong, where she lived. That should suffice.
Whoooosh!
Once I’d settled on that, putting it into action was a breeze.
I blended my past experiences with the new reservation weather technique, twisting the atmospheric flows. Soon enough, faint changes began stirring in the skies over Hapjeong-dong.
“Done.”
“Huh?”
“Just wait a sec. It’s on reservation.”
I pulled out my smartphone and set an alarm for twenty minutes from now. Done.
I showed it to Cha Se-ra, who tilted her head curiously but nodded obediently, settling in to wait for the alarm.
Five minutes passed. Ten. Before I knew it, fifteen.
‘Hmm.’
Did I mess up the math a bit?
Sensing an error in the scheduled timing, I glanced at Cha Se-ra and casually bumped the alarm ahead by ten more minutes.
“...?”
“Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes.”
Reshaping the world in an instant would’ve been one thing, but fine-tuning the timing like this came with its own headaches.
After a total of thirty minutes, a sudden downpour finally erupted from the skies over Hapjeong-dong.
Shhhh...
Plip. Plop.
Plip-plop-plip-plop.
The Meteorological Administration had forecast less than a five percent chance of rain today.
And it hit right on schedule. No way to chalk that up to coincidence.
Having tasted a glimpse of my mighty authority, Cha Se-ra stared in slack-jawed shock before firing off urgent questions.
“You... really did this?”
Yeah, yeah. Even I had to admit it was an absurd sight.
But what had unfolded right before her eyes was undeniable reality—the very prestige of a super-genius Weathermancer.
Whoooosh!
I gently manipulated the wind to mist a spray of rain inside the balcony. Cha Se-ra, drenched in an instant, locked wide-eyed shock onto me.
“For real...?”
“Want me to spray you again?”
“No, no—I believe you! It’s just... too shocking.”
Finally accepting reality, Cha Se-ra furrowed her brow in deep contemplation. She alternated glances between the sky outside and my face, groaning softly.
“An ability like this... I doubt you’d find it anywhere in the entire hunter industry...”
“Obviously.”
“So, what’s your class in the end? Some kind of magic type...?”
She tilted her head, pondering, then suddenly clapped as realization dawned. She shouted at me.
“Ah! Weathermancer!”
That’s right. Me—the rarest of rare-class Weathermancers, the prodigy among prodigies.
“Wait, then... that Weathermancer who pulled agro on the public channel a while back... that was you too?”
“Probably?”
Come to think of it, right after awakening, I’d left a comment about the Weathermancer class on Archive’s Korean public channel.
Since I’d gone into full hiding right after, it ended up dismissed as trolling in the end. But it had sparked a brief buzz, so it wasn’t weird if Cha Se-ra remembered.
“Aha...”
As if all the pieces were falling into place, she nodded clearly and met my eyes.
But the clarity lasted only a moment. Her expression stiffened as a crucial realization hit her.
“Wait... doesn’t that make you Korea’s first? The Association could make an official announcement any day now...”
“Mm-hmm.”
“No way... you’re not unregistered, are you?”
Spot on.
Reading the answer from my brazen, shameless expression, she groaned like she had a headache.
“Gasp... why on earth?”
“Too annoying.”
More precisely, I didn’t want to shatter the lifestyle I’d maintained so far.
“Didn’t you love getting attention before?”
“That’s different. And I don’t really.”
Strictly speaking, my channel persona was High School Dropout Middle Schooler, and my Clam account wldks_08 was basically a fabricated character.
The channel users and Clam followers weren’t engaging with the real me anyway.
It all boiled down to a no-strings, one-sided dynamic.
‘But...’
The moment the full truth came out, I wouldn’t be able to brush off the fallout so easily.
Once people knew I could control Korea’s weather, they’d all demand I become an S-rank national treasure.
Even Hwanung had his three servants—Wind, Rain, and Cloud. Me? I’d be handling every bit of the stress solo.
“Yeah... going public with an insane power like this would cause a global uproar...”
“Pretty much.”
“Got it. I’ll look into ways I can help out. You’re not planning to hide forever, right?”
“...”
Exactly.
The truth would come out eventually anyway. For now, I just needed a little time to think.
Cha Se-ra, exuding confidence like I should trust her completely, woke up the next morning looking teary-eyed. She clung to me, lamenting her fate.
“Ugh... don’t wanna go, don’t wanna go, don’t wanna go...”
“Quit whining and go already. People are waiting.”
“I already used up my vacation, and I haven’t even played properly yet... what’s this...”
A sudden dungeon raid plan had popped up, dragging her inexorably into the Forest Guild’s strike team.
There’d be plenty of time after she got back, but she was expressing her work hatred with her whole body.
“You sure you’ll be fine without me? Nuri’s super picky once you get to know her...”
“I’ll manage. Taking care of kids is my specialty.”
It was just a cat anyway. Dare it challenge the Pharaoh’s reincarnation, the 21st-century pharaoh?
If it did, I’d personally teach it what a hierarchy was, right here and now.
“Hng... see you later then. Eat properly. And don’t open the door to any weirdos...”
With that, Cha Se-ra set off on her multi-day trip, leaving this spacious house entirely mine.
‘Hmm.’
It really hit me anew—this place was luxuriously incomparable to my old two-room dump.
If my account subs piled up enough, maybe I should move into a spot like this?
Of course, with my ID and Awakener issues unsolved, fat chance.
Thud. Thud.
“Meeooow.”
“Owner’s gone. At least a few days.”
It had been ages since Cha Se-ra got ready to leave. Had it been passed out in the bedroom? Now it finally waddled out and plopped down.
Tsk tsk. Cats, man.
The perfect moment proving their nature—treating their owner like a butler or servant.
Not my family or anything, but utterly insolent creatures.
“Meeeooow...”
Confirming the owner gone and some random soldier squatting in her place, it suddenly puffed up its fur and started hissing aggressively with its whole body.
Was this punk seriously picking a fight with me?
“Kyaaang!”
“Meeeooow—!”
I countered its howl right back. It startled big-time, freaking out as it leaped up into its signature alert stance.
‘Hmm.’
Well, ever since I moved in and diluted Cha Se-ra’s attention, the cat had been grumpy toward me nonstop.
But what could you do? That’s how adorable and lovable I was.
If it had been even cuter, I’d be the one sidelined. In this eat-or-be-eaten world, the loser dog curls up meekly in the corner—that’s the rule.
“Kyaaang!”
“Kyaaang!”
“Kyaaaak!”
“Kyaaaak—!”
Realizing the thing in front of it wasn’t pushover material, it backed off a step to regroup.
Cha Se-ra, weak to anything cute, would’ve folded at a little nuzzling and whining. But treating me as an equal? Big mistake.
Right as we were duking it out over control of the house, the intercom buzzed. Some third-party intruder dared interrupt our sacred battle.
Ding-dong.
Ding-dong.
Knock, knock.
Daring to meddle in the Pharaoh’s exercise of authority?
Wondering what it was about, I asked who it was. The voice claimed to be from apartment 1002 downstairs.
“...”
Nothing special about the answer, but honestly, it felt a tad suspicious.
Right when the owner Cha Se-ra left, and I was home alone? A sudden visitor?
Harboring those doubts, I unchained the door and cracked it open. Through the gap, a woman with an unreadable expression revealed her intent.
“Um... sorry, but the cat’s yowling has been really loud...”
“Ah.”
Realizing I’d completely misread the situation, I apologized politely and promised to fix it. She gave an awkward smile and headed back to her place.
Hmm... I wanted to die of embarrassment.