A Supporter Among Supporters

Fellow supporters, that was.

A system message floated before my eyes.

No matter how I looked at it, this was a status window.

Awakeners don't normally see anything like a status window, of course. Apparently the Boundary Eye's 'Target Information Read' ability manifested in this form.

But an overall growth potential of S+...?

On paper she looks like a straight-up cheat character, but with nothing to compare her against, I have no idea if that's actually good — or if everyone else just sits around A to S.

And what were those traits, Devotion and Composure...?

The moment the question formed in my mind, a new message appeared above the status window.

Information about the traits rose up in text before me, like an info panel straight out of a video game.

"Hmm..."

Both traits looked good at a glance, and her overall growth potential was S+. If I were assembling a party, she was exactly the kind of talent I'd need...

The problem was that I had nothing to compare her to.

With no data at hand for now, my first priority should be getting to know this ability step by step. If every person I met from here on out turned out to be S-rank — unlikely as that seemed — there'd be no reason to hang onto this particular woman at all.

First things first: let's go submit my application.

The place would be packed with prospective freshmen, making it the perfect testing ground for my ability.

I peeled away from the crowd of tourists and headed for the reception desk.

The Hunter Academy admitted new students only once a year.

And with the application deadline for the 303rd cohort just one week away, the reception area was currently bustling with awakeners who had come from all over the world.

Incidentally, while the Tower drew people from every corner of the globe, communication posed no problem whatsoever. Even if everyone chattered away in their own native language, each person heard the others as naturally as if they were speaking their mother tongue.

So I put my ability to the test on that endless stream of people, and the results...

The first prospective freshman I'd come across. Overall growth potential B, and no traits?

And straight after a B comes a C+?

No traits this time, either.

A pattern was starting to emerge. Shin Seoyun had been a very special irregular indeed...

And then, at last, I laid eyes on this trait...

Wait. So traits can actually be bad ones?

Worse — this one wasn't just bad, it was a goddamn anti-tank mine!

Imagine teaming up with her without knowing anything, climbing together, and then Panic kicks in at the worst possible moment...

Just picturing it was horrifying.

And in that instant, it fully clicked.

If I see Shin Seoyun again, I have to grab her.

First of all, nearly every awakener began their serious climbing only after graduating from the Hunter Academy on Floor 1. Shin Seoyun seemed to be a new student of this incoming cohort as well, so if she enrolled at the Academy, I'd be able to find her there.

Application first, then.

But...

"The sun's way too hot out here."

"The line kept going even once we got inside the building."

"Wow... there are this many awakeners?"

"They gathered from all over the world, after all."

The chatter of prospective freshmen standing in a long, snaking line drifted over from every direction.

The line was absurdly long. Standing here, I'd probably be waiting for over half an hour...

Wait — there isn't, by any chance, a separate line for DPS here too, is there?

No, no. Would that be taking the whole privilege thing a step too far?

I approached one of the staff managing the queue and asked, casually.

"Excuse me... is there, by any chance, a separate reception desk for damage dealers?"

I dipped my head slightly in embarrassment as I asked — and to my astonishment, the staff member nodded.

"There is, of course... Are you a dealer, by any chance?"

Wow. It actually exists.

I answered quietly, in case anyone overheard.

"Yes. I'm a dealer."

"Then please follow me this way."

Sensing that I didn't want to draw attention, the staff member tactfully slipped me out of the line and escorted me to the dealer reception desk.

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

The dealer reception desk was, predictably, deserted. Thanks to that, my application took all of two minutes.

After all, so long as you had a dealer's ID, no other qualifications were required.

The receptionist handed back my ID along with an armful of notebooks and documents.

"This is your temporary student certificate. Your student ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ID will be issued after the entrance ceremony. This is the training curriculum for 303rd cohort dealers, and this is the dealer's handbook of academy rules..."

I tilted my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head as I listened.

A dealer's handbook of academy rules...?

So there was a separate one for supporters, too?

"Are the academy rules different for dealers and supporters?"

"Yes. When the same rules applied to everyone, the dealers' graduation rates dropped, so... Ah! I'm so sorry!"

"No, don't worry about it. Most dealers don't put in the effort anyway."

"Uh... yes. Honestly, that's true."

That was news to me.

Dealers and supporters were differentiated right down to the rulebook? Now I was curious what exactly was different.

"Pardon me, but could I get the supporters' handbook as well? And everything else that differs — the training curriculum, all of it."

"Huh? I mean, I can do that, but why would you..."

"Just curious."

In the end, I walked away with the full set of supporter documents too.

Information on my prospective party members — no harm in having it.

Stepping out of the reception area, I was swallowed once more by the busy throng of people. Prospective freshmen streaming through the Academy's main gate, tourists trailing after guides to see the sights.

Weather's nice. Maybe I'll just kill some time here.

I planned to find a decent spot to sit and slowly go through the documents I'd just received.

Cafes selling desserts clustered thick around the Academy's main gate.

Whoa. This place is still here. I used to come by fairly often...

I stepped into a cafe I remembered and ordered a slice of cake with my coffee.

A cake I'd loved ten years ago but rarely allowed myself, because it was too expensive.

Then I took a seat, pulled out the documents, and started reading.

Some time later, I'd finished the dealer paperwork and was spreading out the supporters' documents when a familiar figure walked in through the cafe entrance.

Ding—

It was the blonde woman I'd met beside the tour guide earlier — Shin Seoyun.

Oh?

I'd assumed we'd cross paths again after enrollment, but I hadn't expected to see her again this quickly.

She was carrying a set of supporter documents, apparently having just finished her application. She collected her order, glanced around for a seat — and her eyes met mine.

"..."

She blinked, eyes going round, as if a little surprised.

She recognized me from a fleeting encounter in passing this afternoon?

I'd already been racking my brain over how to strike up a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠conversation, so this worked out nicely.

I let a hint of warmth show and spoke first.

"Hello. I saw you earlier, next to the tour guide, right?"

"Hello. Yes, that's right. Oh, you're Korean."

Shin Seoyun nodded and came to a stop.

You can't spit on a smiling face, as the saying goes — even with someone you barely know, if you're the one to approach them kindly first, a familiarity that never existed before has a way of springing up. I gestured with my eyes at the documents she was carrying.

"How about we incoming 303rd cohort students get to know each other a little early? I'm Cha Minhyuk."

Shin Seoyun's gaze flicked over the documents spread out in front of me, and she nodded.

"I'm Shin Seoyun. Looking forward to working with you."

The moment I spoke up and she took a seat at my table, I could feel the other patrons in the cafe sneaking glances our way.

"Hey. Hey. Look over there."

"Whoa..."

I could even make out their low, admiring murmurs. And no wonder — Shin Seoyun's brilliantly shining blonde hair drew every eye in the vicinity, and her face boasted a beauty that wove together the finest features of East and West in perfect harmony.

She was probably mixed-heritage.

I brushed off the stares around me and focused on Shin Seoyun. What mattered right now wasn't her looks — it was getting close to this S+ potential supporter.

With a supporter this outstanding, even the dealers would be competing to take her along.

First, though... let's just open the conversation lightly.

"I didn't expect to run into a fellow Korean freshman like this. There aren't exactly many of us here. It's kind of amazing, really."

"Right? I know almost all of the Korean students in this cohort — did you awaken here, by any chance?"

"Sorry, no. I awakened outside the Tower and only came in a little while ago."

I was a bit taken aback.

She knows almost all the Koreans in this cohort? Is she connected at the level of national intelligence or something?

"Ah, that's because I graduated from the Seoul Hunter Specialized High School. A lot of this year's incoming class are from my year there."

"Ah, I see."

I nodded.

Hunter Specialized High School. So that's what it was. It had already been ten years since I'd become an entrant, so I'd forgotten.

The South Korean government, as a rule, didn't permit minors to climb the Tower. Climbing was dangerous — you could die at any moment — so the policy was to wait until you were a legally responsible adult who could own your own choices.

Because of that, awakeners who were still minors attended hunter specialized high schools on full scholarships, building up the knowledge and combat experience they'd need for climbing while preparing for life after they came of age.

And a graduate of the Seoul specialized school, at that...

By the standards of entrants just starting their climb, that was an elite credential.

"That's impressive. You're a total elite."

"Oh, come on. Not at all."

Even at my compliment, Shin Seoyun only smiled awkwardly, showing no sign of being pleased. So she wasn't the type to be swayed by flattery.

Then let's take the conversation in a different direction.

"I awakened and entered the Tower all on my own, so I don't have a single awakener friend. Honestly, I'm a little envious."

"Oh, really? You haven't joined even one awakener group or community?"

"Nope. I didn't really know about them..."

Shin Seoyun's eyes went round, and she spoke up.

"You don't have to be from a hunter high school, you know. There just aren't that many Korean awakeners in general, so there are actually more groups formed around the idea of us Koreans sticking together and being friendly. Here..."

As she spoke, she turned her smartphone screen around to show me.

Out of habit, I scanned the information I could read from where she held it. Her nails were trimmed to a sensible length, with no decorations — every so often you'd see female entrants with manicured nails, which as a hunter was obviously a bad idea. The shape of her calluses said plenty of training and combat experience, but nothing from direct frontline combat. No traces of weapons-technique practice. A rear-line, support-type supporter.

Having finished that flash of analysis, I turned my attention to the screen she was offering.

It was a messenger app, with a long cascade of chat rooms lined up.

...How does one person have this many chat rooms?

And most of them had hundreds of unread messages stacked up.

Worse, this was only her open chat tab — the private messages tab on the left had a notification showing hundreds of unread messages too.

"Wow..."

The admiration slipped out of me before I could stop it.

She's really popular, huh?

But Shin Seoyun apparently interpreted my awe in her own way, because she opened her mouth with an expression charged with a certain sense of duty.

"Don't worry. I'll invite you to a few of the chat rooms."

"..."

It felt like... a class president trying her hardest to fold an ostracized kid into the group.

...It's not like I actually need to join some Korean awakener group.

Well, if it meant getting closer to her one way or another, that was a good thing.

"Thank you. Would that really be alright?"

"Of course."

Shin Seoyun nodded, then added:

"Us Korean supporters have to look out for each other!"

"..."

...Hm?

Supporters... looking out for each other?