Episode 1: You want me to be a tutor after I lost my Hunter license? (Revised)
Episode 1: You want me to be a tutor after I lost my Hunter license? (Revised)
Korea Hunter Academy valedictorian.
The #1 most promising rookie of the year.
Fastest A-Class Dungeon clear.
The talent who would lead the future of the Korean hunter industry.
Shadow Mask.
These were all titles that referred to me.
Yeah.
Referred to me.
The reason I specifically used the past tense is that none of those numerous titles belong to me anymore.
-As of today, Shadow Mask's hunter license is revoked.
With that one sentence, my entire career as a hunter vanished like bubbles.
27-year-old Kim Si-woo.
I, who was a promising hunter with a bright future, returned to being a regular Awakened.
The reason was simple.
Conflict with the Daesung Group.
I rolled up my sleeves to resolve the current situation where a tiny minority of hunter guilds monopolize everything, but what I got in return was a license suspension.
-Korea Hunter Academy record breaker, valedictorian Shadow Mask, arrested and indicted on charges of hunting fellow hunters inside a dungeon.
-Shadow Mask's former colleague testifies, 'He always abandoned allies if they got in his way.'
-The symbol of sincerity and justice, the shocking true face of a hunter.
They drove me into being a criminal with absurd lies.
They put up a former colleague I had a bad relationship with as a witness and pressured me with bribes fed to investigative agencies, including the police.
Evidence that didn't exist appeared, and I was put at a disadvantage.
On the day of the trial, a Daesung official came to see me.
"If you quit being a hunter and don't make any comments about the guild, we will also drop the legal charges against you, Kim Si-woo-ssi."
I had no choice but to accept.
Because the game was rigged that way.
I asked for help from the second-largest guild after Daesung, but there was no way those guys, who were already in bed with each other, would help me.
From the start, I was public enemy number one to the large guilds.
A public enemy who tried to eat into their profits.
My hunter life, having made enemies of the giant guilds, ended there.
You ask why I don't just keep living as a hunter even as an Awakened who lost his license?
You don't know what you're talking about.
If I did that once, I'd just become a Villain.
'I didn't exactly want to live while being chased by the police squad.'
Going abroad was also impossible.
It was because of the World Joint Agreement, created by all the absolute rulers of each region gathering in one place.
The agreement that a hunter criminal or Villain in one region is also a criminal in other regions.
Of course, I wasn't a Villain.
Just a hunter whose license was suspended.
But the proposer of that joint agreement was Korea's absolute ruler, Choi Woo-sung, the first chairman of Daesung.
If Daesung, which has the power to influence international agreements, set their mind to it, they could pressure me anytime even if I were in America.
That was the reason that kept me from going overseas.
'I was too stupid.'
So I just quit.
I was also pissed off at those damn hunter bastards for scratching each other's backs, and I didn't want to see that mess.
So I quit, but once I actually stopped working, the only thing I could do was hunter work.
I regretted not learning a trade, but they say there's always a way to survive.
I utilized the skills I have, found a decent job, and am commuting safely.
"Hey, Kim-ssi, a customer is here."
"Coming."
The job I got after quitting hunter work is an appraiser.
The work was simple.
Checking the items hunters bring in and determining their value.
It was one of the many skills I possessed.
The state doesn't really care about using skills.
There are so many non-hunter Awakened who make a living with their own abilities.
As long as I don't go into dungeons to do hunter work or get involved in criminal activities, I'm fine.
Then they won't catch me for being a Villain.
[Kim Si-woo]
I checked the status window floating before my eyes.
15 years ago.
Gates opened in the world, and monsters poured out.
Yeah, that's right. The Gates that commonly appear in countless works of fiction.
Firearms worked well on monsters, but that only applied to weak monsters.
There were monsters everywhere that couldn't be handled that way.
And then, Awakened individuals appeared.
Those who saw status windows and possessed their own unique abilities.
Humanity called them Awakened.
Adding the power of the Awakened who appeared like comets, humanity removed the threat of the Gates.
Five years passed like that.
Humanity needed to make these Awakened, these hunters, even more powerful to prepare for the greater threats to come in the future.
That's how the Academy was created.
There are many conditions to enter the Academy, but the most basic one is this status window.
The power that divides a normal human from an Awakened.
Isn't this status window floating before my eyes an example showing a world that has completely changed?
[Possessed Skills]
[Passive: Appraisal (SS)]
[You can appraise the touched object. Limit Grade (SS)]
[Passive: Growth Assist (SSS)]
-Strength Growth
[Stat - Helps with Strength growth. Maximum Grade (A) - Linking: Kim Si-woo 1/4]
-Mana Overflow
[Stat - Helps with Mana growth. Maximum Grade (A) - Linking: Kim Si-woo 1/4]
-Sharpness
[Stat - Helps with Intelligence growth. Maximum Grade (A) - Linking: Kim Si-woo 1/4]
-Super Recovery
[Stat - Helps with Stamina growth. Maximum Grade (A) - Linking: Kim Si-woo 1/4]
-Fast Stride
[Stat - Helps with Agility growth. Maximum Grade (A) - Linking: Kim Si-woo 1/4]
-Heart of the Monarch
[Stat - Helps with Charisma. Maximum Grade (SS) - Linking: Kim Si-woo 1/2]
[Additional Effect: Helps you make cool-headed judgments in crisis situations.]
This was all my skills.
At minimum, an SS-rank Appraisal skill and an SSS-rank Growth Assist skill.
If someone else saw this, they would have all dropped their jaws and shouted.
"Crazy skills."
Are the ranks crazy?
No.
-How do you have zero active skills!
Skills were valued one or two steps higher for active skills, i.e., usage skills, than passive skills.
It means one A-rank active skill is valued higher than at least an S-rank passive, or up to an SS-rank passive skill.
The reason was simple.
To catch monsters that firearms couldn't affect, powerful damage was needed, and active skills were the optimal skills for producing that powerful damage.
'Passives are treated like clearance items.'
Just good to have, and not a big deal if you don't.
On the surface, they look amazing because they're SS and SSS rank, but it actually feels like I have skills between A and S rank.
Even both are skills that don't directly affect combat.
I almost failed the Academy because of this.
I was ignored until I graduated as valedictorian with the top grades.
However, thanks to these skills, I was able to graduate as valedictorian.
Others don't know, but these skills are the filial skills that made me a valedictorian.
Thanks to these skills, I hit #1 with stats that rose like crazy.
[Kim Si-woo]
-Strength: A
-Mana: A
-Intelligence: A
-Stamina: A
-Agility: A
-Charisma: SS
If you hit A-rank in just one stat, you're called an A-rank hunter.
And I hit A-rank in all stats.
And Charisma is SS-rank.
Excluding me, there are exactly 5 hunters in the world with stats above SS-rank.
The Saintess in Europe, Mr. America in the United States, the Martial Arts Alliance Leader who is the strongest in China, Miyamoto the ruler of the Japanese archipelago, and finally, Choi Woo-sung, the first chairman of Korea's Daesung.
Unlike them, who hold the titles of absolute rulers of each region and the world's strongest, I'm far from the strongest; I quit hunter work and am just appraising items.
The reason was simple.
It was because my SS-rank stat wasn't Strength or Agility, but Charisma.
'I still don't know what the effect of this stat is.'
5 major stats. Strength, Intelligence, Stamina, Mana, Agility.
These five are known as the stats that hunters usually have.
But for me, one more was added to those five.
Charisma.
A stat that was never used in my hunter life.
Along with Mana, which I had no use for since I had no active skills, it was an unnecessary stat for me.
It didn't help in combat.
It helped when surviving with cool-headed judgment, but it was almost useless in direct combat.
So I hid it.
To just look like a slightly special prospect.
It must have helped, though, as I graduated with top grades.
Thanks to stats that were overwhelming compared to hunters of the same age, I fought better than guys with skills even without having any myself.
But even that had a limit.
'It didn't grow beyond A-rank.'
A-rank engraved as a limiter.
No matter how much I trained, I couldn't grow beyond this.
That was the limit of this ability.
'If I had just one active skill.......'
At least I wouldn't have been kicked out just for the reason of being at odds with Daesung.
At least the Association would have accepted me.
Basically, the information that could be appraised by the Association was limited to the skill name and grade.
The content of the skill and the information on stats were not opened unless the person themselves revealed it.
But what kind of crazy person would blab about their own information to others?
They say even martial artists hide 30% of their power.
So I didn't bother talking about my abilities.
Thanks to that, I ended up saying goodbye to being a hunter.
"It's all in the past."
I thought I had forgotten, but it seems I haven't forgotten completely.
Since I keep thinking about it.
"Maybe it's because I remember struggling to graduate as valedictorian."
But I have no regrets.
Hiding my SS-rank Charisma.
Resisting Daesung.
It was all moving according to my own will.
Muttering to myself with a mix of complaints, I headed to the workbench.
Now I have to do my job as an appraiser.
If there's a customer looking for me, I just have to do my best for them.
It's already been 6 months since I joined this appraiser firm.
Now I'm starting to get used to this job, too.
The work was simple.
If a hunter brings an item, I just appraise it.
The day's income is determined by providing an accurate appraisal and receiving compensation for it.
Because of that, there are a few appraisers who intentionally fake appraisals, but because of guys like that, appraisers often check items through cross-verification.
You ask what happens if you get caught lying?
Your hand gets chopped off.
It's the golden rule that if you play tricks, you lose a hand.
The work was really simple.
Since I just have to appraise.
I guarantee the accuracy of the appraisal information.
SS-rank Appraisal isn't child's play.
So, within 6 months of joining, I became the company's ace appraiser.
It was a job where I could easily hit the top if I just shoved the skill name I received during my hunter certification in their faces, though.
After I was kicked out for opposing Daesung, all my Academy and hunter records were deleted.
So, well, I have no choice but to show it with skill.
Anyway, I've settled in, in my own way, but I'm not satisfied.
When I sit still and appraise, I often think of the time I was active as a hunter, and my hands get itchy.
Still, I have to endure it. Can't be helped.
Of course, it's not like the shitty feeling has disappeared completely, though...
"I don't know. If I can't climb it, I shouldn't look at it anymore."
Unless I'm going to become a Villain.
Sighing deeply, I went to the office.
"You were here?"
A familiar face was waiting for me.
No, it wasn't necessarily a welcome one.
"Long time no see. Sunbae."
"Geez, why are you being so stiff?"
He was a man with impressive, coarse stubble.
Especially his short-cut hair and thick, caterpillar-like eyebrows, plus his glaring eyes and thick nose, properly showed his temperamental personality.
It was Jeong Bong-sik-sunbae, my senior by 2 years at the Academy, who had now quit hunter work and was doing business.
"Now that we've both quit being hunters, are you going to keep calling me sunbae until the end?"
"We aren't exactly close enough to be comfortable, are we?"
"That's harsh. I thought we were brothers who once shared blood on the same battlefield."
"Brothers, my foot. Wasn't it a relationship where one side relied on the other unilaterally?"
"It was a positive symbiotic relationship. Hehehe."
"From my perspective, you were a troublesome parasite."
"Calling your sunbae a parasite. That's too much."
I went through so much trouble saving this guy in the dungeon.
"The items I missed because of you would be worth 1 billion won at market price."
"Even if you had gotten them, the guild would have taken them all anyway."
"That's true."
I quit because that system was shitty.
"Anyway, what brings you here?"
"I came to have an appraiser appraise something. What else would it be?"
Jeong Bong-sik took out a small dagger.
It was a valuable-looking weapon with a jewel embedded in the hilt.
I picked up the sword and stroked it gently.
I held the hilt, touched the jewel slightly, and drew the sword to stroke the blade.
The blade was sharp, and it was no ordinary item.
"Ho-oh."
After examining the whole item, I let out an exclamation without realizing it.
[Lepila's Tooth - Estimated Grade: S ~ S+]
[A dagger made from the tooth of the legendary snake, Lepila. The exceptional cutting power is impressive. When poison is applied, poison damage increases by 4 times.]
"It's at least an S-rank dagger. If you get a good price, S+ is also possible."
"Hehehe, this guy's skills haven't died."
"Did you know?"
"Something like that."
A test, huh.
It feels a bit unpleasant, but there must be a reason.
Even if he seems light, he's not the type to do things for no reason.
"Is this something that requires going this far?"
"Si-woo, you. How long are you going to do this job?"
"Yes?"
"I told you I was doing business before, right?"
"You did. What was it, clearance sales? Did you get it from there?"
"No. This item has a story. And I folded that clearance business, too."
"You folded it?"
"I started an education-related business a while ago."
Something feels uneasy.
"No matter how much I think about it, this side has good vision. So I want to work on something with you, what do you think?"
"What does that have to do with this appraisal?"
"Of course it does. To teach kids, you have to know what state they're in, right? If you use your appraisal skill to check the kids' current state and even their future potential, I'll teach the ones with good prospects. How about it?"
"Are you trying to set up a separate academy?"
"No."
Jeong Bong-sik opened his mouth, his eyes shining.
"Tutoring. I'm talking about tutoring."