Awakening
I am Kim Yu-hee.
I am male.
College graduate, working part-time at a convenience store.
Even though the hunters have been fighting tooth and nail and the organizations have been doing their best to respond, the world is still holding together in this serious crisis.
Thanks to that, the world is turning out pretty much the same as before.
That is why I am able to live the unremarkable life of a drop-out.
[Player ‘Kim Yu-hee’ has joined the System.]
“What the…?”
And just a moment ago, I awakened.
Along with the status message that all awakener received.
Rainbow Aura
“What the hell… young man, that light just now… was that the awakening?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
The old man who came to buy cigarettes looked startled at the light bursting from my body.
“What? It’s a rainbow?”
“Y-yes, maybe… it’s the awakening…”
I had never seen a rainbow light before.
Green, yellow, blue, red.
Awakener on Earth all emit one of those four colors at the moment of awakening, and that color determines their rank.
Green = C-rank
Yellow = B-rank
Blue = A-rank
Red = S-rank
But mine is rainbow.
Rainbow light is obviously different.
They say people who win the lottery at least get to dream of it, but I didn’t even get that. (Normally awakeners like me just get it out of nowhere.)
“Anyway… so I’m becoming a hunter now?”
I wasn’t particularly envious of the awakeners.
I was just a regular citizen satisfied that my body was safe and I could eat today without worry.
But the moment the awakening happened, my heart started pounding like crazy.
Did I secretly crave a special life…?
“Beep.”
[Player ‘Kim Yu-hee’ has joined the System.]
“Let me check.”
With the heart of someone checking a lottery jackpot, I immediately looked at the awakening information.
First thing after awakening is the rank.
I already knew red light meant S-rank, but when the letter “S” appeared right in front of my eyes, I felt it for real.
So from now on I have to do something.
The initial interview of Korea’s number one hunter right after awakening went something like this:
“Then my rank is S-rank, huh?”
I still had my finger on the [Player ‘Kim Yu-hee’ has joined the System.] message that was floating in front of me.
Touching it worked just as it said, and a pleasant “zzing” feeling traveled through my fingertips.
S(EX) Rank
Because it was rainbow light, it could be better than S-rank or an entirely new rank.
I tensed up.
Since it was a color no one had discovered yet… even though rainbow had a positive image, anything could appear, and anything would be weird.
So what rank would it be?
[S(EX) Rank]
“?!”
Fortunately it was just S.
The rest after it was just some weird suffix.
***
I told the convenience store manager I needed to settle an account, called a friend to cover for me, and rushed back to my tiny one-room apartment.
About six pyeong, a small one-room studio.
I shoved the scattered panties and socks in the corner, flipped the shabby blanket over me, and read the status message.
S(EX) rank.
The name was hard to pronounce.
But it was obviously an enormous achievement.
My heart was racing and cold sweat poured down.
S(EX) Rank
“Clearly my ability will surpass the strongest in the world.”
According to common sense made public about players,
Two things come with awakening:
1. A “class” is given.
2. A “trait” matching the class and rank is given.
For my S(EX) rank there would be an enormous hidden trait.
[Hidden Rank]
📍 Location: Kim Yu-hee’s apartment
🎁 Reward: S(EX) Hidden Trait
[Hidden Rank] – [Sniper]
“Sniper?”
Since it was hidden, I expected a different class, but the name felt strangely familiar.
Apparently there is no sniper among ordinary awakeners.
(Most regular awakeners get something modern like “mage,” “warrior,” “shaman,” or “priest.” Not all, but still.)
Anyway, in the hunter world I would be the only one with this class.
The message continued.
[Trait is being granted.]
For the S(EX) rank sniper trait, I unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.
Attack Power 100,000x (Sniper only)
“!!!”
I shot up from my seat without realizing.
Ten thousand times the attack power?
For a sniper?
“Beep.”
My heart was pounding like crazy.
I remembered the Chinese hunter ranked tenth in the world, the God of Martial Arts, who got the “Warrior” class and a 1,000x attack power trait from S-rank awakening.
At that time the world was shaken.
An all-time great dealer appeared, and China’s hunter world no longer had to worry about damage output.
But 100,000 times?
Even if it was only for sniping, that was absolutely transcendent.
At that moment,
[Transcendent Hidden Ability — Balance System activated.]
[Player ‘Kim Yu-hee’ receives a penalty.]
“?”
[Trait 2 is being granted.]
HP: 1 / Fixed Value
“No way, shit!”
Of course.
My life wasn’t going to work out like this.
A penalty was applied.
10,000 times the attack power, but HP locked at 1.
Fixed value.
No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, HP could never be raised from 1.
“Ha… damn it. What am I supposed to do?”
A sigh came out with the cold sweat.
HP is the basic consideration for survival among awakeners.
From the moment of awakening, I become a “character” bound to the system.
If HP reaches 0, I die.
Top-tier hunters say tankers have millions or billions of HP and the ultra-top have tens of billions, but I had 1.
“So I’m supposed to die?”
One blow and I’m dead.
Even a scratch with a claw from the gap in the door kills me.
“Take the glass body close to a curse instead of the destructive power close to divinity.”
That was how it felt.
The status window looked like this:
■ Class: Sniper
■ Rank: S(EX)
● Trait: Attack Power 100,000x (Sniper only)
● Trait 2: HP 1 (Fixed Value)
[More Details]
The elation of a moment ago vanished the instant I received the penalty.
S(EX) rank.
Who came up with that name in the first place?
I felt uneasy from the start.
I clicked “More Details.”
The skill window was still “No content.”
The skill tree that was supposed to pop up didn’t appear yet.
The item window was also “No content.”
I hadn’t acquired anything yet.
The rest were locked as I hadn’t started acting as a hunter yet.
I glanced around and thought, “This is normal awakening.”
“It’s not a good awakening at all. Seriously.”
A glass body that dies from one touch, but an attack power worth having.
“Should I just stay still?”
Absolutely not.
That would be the stupidest thing.
Whether by my choice or not, I had already awakened.
If I do nothing here, I just live with the “HP 1” debuff for the rest of my life.
I couldn’t stomach that.
From now on I have to survive as a proper hunter.
“No time to think. I’ll just move.”
Now that this is the case, there is only one thing I must focus on.
A safe life I will never have to risk.
Hide, never face enemies head-on.
How do I attack viciously without taking even one hit?
“Already stressed out.”
First, I don’t know anything.
It’s not the 100,000x attack power that matters right now, it’s the HP 1.
Who knows what it will be later.
At that moment…
-[x] HP
“Ah… don’t lie to me.”
I didn’t even realize a gate had opened because of the awakening.
Outside, I could already hear hunters fighting fiercely, and the kind warning message for “players” had appeared.
Am I already being treated as a hunter?
That wasn’t the problem.
“Kuuuuaaah!”
The sound of the monster was unusually loud from the very beginning.
When I tapped the warning message, a gate guide window appeared.
[Advanced Boss] Black Minotaur
■ Unique Boss “Black Minotaur” defeated [0/1]
“Advanced difficulty, boss type… That’s rare in Seoul.”
This was an old story even for Seoul.
Even the Black Minotaur, the nightmare that appeared in Hokkaido, Japan in the early gate days and caused 4,000 deaths.
“Kuuuuaaah!”
“This is serious.”
Looking outside, the gate had spawned right near my one-room apartment.
Peeking outside, a minotaur bigger than a 30-story building was roaring, its entire body pitch black.
“Definitely screwed.”
This meant civilian casualties would be unavoidable unless I could kill it.
“But even if Korean hunters at this level can’t handle it…”
“Whoa!”
I heard most of Korea’s High Rankers had gone to solve the Advanced gate in Gangneung, where an Imugi had appeared.
“But the remaining Seoul force shouldn’t be weak. It’s official.”
The Hunter Management Bureau of Korea wasn’t sloppy.
“Please… Hunter-nim.”
Why am I talking like I’m referring to someone else?
“Talking like I’m referring to someone else… right now.”
I just hoped I wouldn’t get dragged in and die.
I had nothing to do with that terrifying minotaur.
No matter how absurd the awakening and the 100,000x attack power were, I hadn’t checked my abilities yet at LV 1 with HP 1.
I hadn’t even figured out how to approach it.
“I’ll fight the next gate.”
Sadly gates opened too frequently.
Just as I decided that,
[Tutorial] [Sniper]
📍 Location: Near your apartment
🎁 Reward: Sniper Shelter Expansion, Sniper Shop Open, Skill Tree Open
⏱ Deadline: None
“…A tutorial to kill one enemy with a practice sniper rifle.”
So the tutorial was to actually snipe and kill one monster.
Shelter, shop… I didn’t know the rewards yet, but it looked like my identity as a sniper was about to become real.
“Okay, I’ll do my best.”
Of course, a little later.
Right now, to clear the tutorial, I had to take down the max-level minotaur.
Fortunately there was no deadline.
It meant “take your time.”
So…
“I’m not going out. I’m not going out!”
For HP 1, the outside world was dangerous.
But then…
“Kuuuuaaah!”
“Eh? Eh? Eh?”
The minotaur was coming this way…
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
No way.
It was just running.
[Practice Sniper Rifle received.]
I picked up the sniper rifle that had just appeared in front of me.
Just in case.
The reflex of HP 1.
But
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The minotaur suddenly jumped toward me.
“???”
At that moment an EBS documentary scene flashed through my mind.
A mindless black cow rampaging and trampling everything.
Hokkaido had been reduced to rubble like that.
But…
“Why? Why? Why?! Why?!”
Why toward me?! It could have run the other way!
I curled up under the blanket in my one-room apartment like a burrito and peeked out.
Of course I held the rifle just in case.
The long sniper barrel pressed against my cheek, cold.
“Block! Prevent it from stepping on the building!”
“Defense is stronger than expected!”
“Then why don’t you stop it! Where are the Seal Hunters?!”
“Seal Hunters are a little late!”
Thanks to the system, the hunters’ communications reached even me.
Because it was so close and an Advanced gate, it felt like a full broadcast.
“No! Pour everything into the attack!”
I saw hunters behind the minotaur desperately pouring their skills, but it looked like they would capture it in no time.
But that wasn’t the important part.
“Wait, am I really dying right now? Please stop…”
“Kwaaaang!”
Impossible.
The minotaur’s sprint speed had increased dramatically.
A black cow was charging straight toward the building I lived in.
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
“Hiiik!”
Its massive thigh muscles and hamstrings, pulsing with every living step, exploded as it pushed its body to the limit like this was its last moment.
If this continued, my building would simply be stepped on and I would be…
“I want to live!!”
I burst out from under the blanket, opened the window a little, and raised the sniper rifle.