He Is a Transcendent
He crushed everyone from second through tenth in under ten seconds.
No one even saw Park Hyunmyung move. In the blink of an eye they were down, and after that, consciousness simply left them. It wasn't only Choi Kangnam — every ranker present shared the same blank. None of them could remember when Park Hyunmyung had approached, or how he had put them on the floor.
The average level of a ranker who finished the tutorial was five.
After clearing the tutorial, Choi Kangnam had hunted Park Hyunmyung without rest. Along the way he had spoken with countless people and pieced their accounts together. At the moment the tutorial ended, the rankers' average level sat around five. To wipe out nine of them in roughly ten seconds, you needed to be at least level eight. Which meant that, back then, Park Hyunmyung had already reached level eight or higher.
And yet they had all entered God's Island at the same time — every last one of them unawakened. Hitting level eight in that absurdly short tutorial window was impossible. Even if Park Hyunmyung had soloed the entire tutorial, it still wouldn't add up.
Unless he was using a bug.
…Unless he was a cheater.
From that point on, Park Hyunmyung had rewritten the Hall of Fame again and again, threatening the territory of Randolph — the one everyone suspected was Phantom — with overwhelming scores. And yet no one had ever actually seen him. From Main Quest 1 all the way through 6, there was not a single eyewitness account.
So where, exactly, had Park Hyunmyung been clearing the main quests?
Second-generation Awakened can't enter Pangenia, and the places on Earth where you can resolve main quests are limited.
That was what made it so strange. Outside the tutorial, Park Hyunmyung had simply evaporated. It shouldn't have been possible — because every main quest he had cleared so far had only one or two possible locations on Earth.
Main Quest 1: Survive.
Main Quest 2: Obtain a Class.
Main Quest 3: Climb the Tower.
Main Quest 4: Seal the Rift in the Dark Space.
Main Quest 5: Obtain a Mystery.
Main Quest 6: Clear a Party Dungeon.
Especially the most recent one — the party dungeon. By definition, you had to form a party. You had to enter a dungeon with people from Earth. And yet no one knew who Park Hyunmyung had teamed with, or which dungeon he had walked into.
Choi Kangnam wasn't the only one asking. Awakeners across the entire world were turning the same question over in their minds. Phantom — Randolph — was the oldest veteran of Pangenia, sitting on mountains of information no one else possessed; that much they could accept. But Park Hyunmyung was a second-generation Awakened, a human of Earth. A man restricted to Earth was threatening even Randolph's scores? Not once by accident, but every single time?
I don't know what kind of bug it is, but it won't work here!
Choi Kangnam's provocation of Park Hyunmyung had been calculated. Everyone gathered in this expedition was strong — monsters who represented Korea, each armed with special traits and abilities. There was even a Transcendent among them. No one would dare use a "bug" in front of all these eyes. And even if they did, they would be caught. More than anything, Choi Kangnam had maxed out his Observation talent, determined never to be blindsided by that man a second time.
"Enough."
That was when Deputy Association Leader Lee Arin appeared and shut the whole situation down. The moment she showed herself, the atmosphere locked solid. Everyone faced her with rigid tension. The woman they called the Great Master was a powerhouse rumored to surpass even Association Leader Park Taewoo — famous not only for her strength, but for the cold precision of her methods.
"…Deputy Leader. We can't fight alongside someone whose ability we don't even know, can we?"
But Choi Kangnam couldn't hold it in. He wasn't wrong. Powerhouses from every corner of the world were gathering to head for the Black Dome. You couldn't entrust your back to someone whose true strength was a complete mystery.
Lee Arin only shook her head. Then she looked at Park Hyunmyung and spoke.
"Choi Kangnam. You absolutely cannot win."
She drove the stake in. He couldn't win, so there was no point in fighting. He would absolutely lose.
Choi Kangnam bristled.
"If he's a bug user, then—!"
"He is not using a bug."
"…Y-you can't know that until you see it yourself, can you?"
"I already have."
Lee Arin's gaze locked onto Park Hyunmyung. She had met him once before.
A user of pure martial power.
Not a bug. A man who had instinctively wielded celestial force even before awakening — who had crushed monsters while radiating demonic energy so intense one could have mistaken it for the Heavenly Demon's Dominion Step. At the time she had thought he carried the Heavenly Killing Star. Beings born under that fate appeared once every few thousand or tens of thousands of years, and even left alone they thrust themselves into the world like an awl through a pocket — just as Wilhelm had.
To think the talent she had tried to scout back then was Park Hyunmyung.
Now it makes sense.
She understood at last how he had shattered the trials in such incomprehensible fashion — how he had overwhelmed the other nine rankers in the tutorial.
For a user of pure martial power, it would have been simpler than breathing.
She had never seen one on Earth. In Pangenia, none had existed except Wilhelm. A man already outside the bounds of humanity competing on the same plane as ordinary humans was absurd on its face. That was why she had tried to recruit him — to raise him herself. But Park Hyunmyung had never come looking for her afterward. She had wondered what he was doing; he had simply been growing on his own.
…What a ridiculous creature. To act on pure instinct, without anyone teaching him, without anyone telling him how.
"He is a Transcendent."
"…!!!"
Choi Kangnam's eyes went wide as a rabbit's. So did everyone else's. Among the second-generation Awakened, no one had transcended yet. Even those who had reached level ten were a tiny minority. And he had already transcended?
That's a lie…!
…How had he transcended? First-generation Awakened consumed Stars in Pangenia to break through, but the second generation still had no clue how to do it. It was classified information people would beg and weep to learn.
Even Lee Arin, who had spoken the words, was not entirely certain about Park Hyunmyung's transcendence.
…Truthfully, I can't sense anything at all.
No presence radiated from Park Hyunmyung. None of the scent that should cling to someone who had swallowed a Star and transcended. Even as a user of pure martial power, he was not yet on her level — so she could only guess it was some ability related to transcendence, or a category of Hidden Trait.
Because—
He holds multiple Hidden Traits. Among them may be ones even I don't know.
Park Hyunmyung. He had said it himself.
—Don't you need to hold eight Hidden Traits? Take me along and it'll be solved.
…From the very beginning, Park Hyunmyung had known the secret entry condition for the Black Dome. Of course, learning it was simple enough. Anyone who possessed the Hidden Trait Great Sage, as she did, could simply look at the Black Dome and know. In other words, Park Hyunmyung also had the Great Sage. But as far as she knew, no Earth-born human possessed that Hidden Trait.
And yet even Wilhelm wouldn't know the conditions for awakening the Great Sage trait…
The player who had controlled Wilhelm wouldn't know either. Having it meant Park Hyunmyung had met the requirements. She didn't know how many Hidden Traits he held — but speaking with that much confidence was proof that he himself possessed at least two or three rare ones. That fact alone made any further test unnecessary.
"If you cannot accept it, leave."
If you can't accept it, go on your own. The words were aimed squarely at Choi Kangnam. She had no time to waste on his tantrums.
"…"
In the end, Choi Kangnam had no choice but to shut his mouth. She was the Deputy Leader of the Hero Alliance and something like a master to him — and yet she was colder and more distant than anyone. One more word here and he would be cut from the expedition on the spot. Lee Arin never kept anyone who crossed her nearby. They called her the Great Master, but she felt no attachment to them at all. She never called herself their master. She never smiled. She never praised. That was why earning her dislike was so terrifying.
What the hell is Park Hyunmyung supposed to be…!
Choi Kangnam ground his teeth in secret. A rolling stone was prying out the one already set in place. What he found even harder to believe was Lee Arin's response — that she would take Park Hyunmyung's side. Hadn't he been the finest of all her disciples?
I'll prove I'm the better one!
…The only person who deserved Lee Arin's favor was him.
Inside the plane bound for America, Choi Kangnam's provocation and jealous stares kept circling me.
Lee Arin.
I could guess the reason. …Lee Arin. She had sat down right next to me.
I already knew plenty about her. No Korean could fail to. The powerhouse who had risen to Deputy Association Leader in the shortest time on record — Korea's pride, the one even Park Taewoo found difficult to handle.
She certainly looks strong.
Even the Hidden Trait Eye of Truth couldn't read a thing. That meant she was wearing gear, a skill, a trait, or a Mystery that blocked observation at the Null grade or higher. She was the first Awakener I had ever failed to read. Whatever she carried, it was proof of her strength.
Of course, we had met once before.
I think I received a business card.
More precisely, she had offered to scout me. But I had never gone looking for the Alliance. …I had assumed I never would.
…Who would have thought they'd bring down the Spirit Tower and scatter its wreckage across Earth.
Everything that had been inside the Spirit Tower had poured into the world. The problem was the Spirit Kings. They were running wild. Even Isera, contracted to the Fire Spirit King Agnes, had begun to rampage alongside them. Blade Dragon God Hana and Lucaria were barely holding them down. The Demon Blood Species had been fully mobilized as well. So I couldn't expect any help from Hana and the children on this job.
Hudson has to attend the papal election in my place.
On top of that, the Goddess Festival had drawn massive crowds. With the Round Table, Hudson was the only one who could hold things together. Ordinarily I would just walk in alone, as always.
I don't know which of the Abyss's Dominators are inside that thing. No point in drawing attention from the start.
This was unprecedented. Even I hadn't seen it coming. First priority was mapping the interior. I needed to know what was happening inside before I could respond. Charging in blind and having the Dominators of the Abyss recognize me and form an alliance would only make things worse. They might not remember what happened on God's Island — but better not to risk it. Times like these, you tested the stone bridge before you crossed.
So I had chosen to reveal myself to the Hero Alliance entirely — not as Phantom, not as Randolph, not as Wilhelm. Purely as Park Hyunmyung.
Come to think of it, this might be a first.
…My first official activity on Earth. But it was an experience I would have to go through eventually. I couldn't live forever without ever showing my face.
That was when she spoke.
"How disappointing. Why didn't you come find me?"
…Deputy Association Leader Lee Arin, sitting right beside me. She smiled — a sly little curve of the lips — and opened her mouth, words thick with room for misunderstanding.
At the same time—
Whoooooosh—!
Like a cold wind rising, the number of stares fixed on me as if they meant to kill me only grew.