Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Hunter (4)
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"This is the Hunter-exclusive testing room!"
At Derek's words, Su-ho's gaze turned to the rooms lined up along the corridor.
Hunter-exclusive testing room. A place that not only maximized mental strength but also boosted stats.
Since he had fully inherited Jin Seong-hyeok's power and could use it anytime, it was exactly what Su-ho needed—someone whose mental strength couldn't yet control that power. Training here to build up his mental strength would allow him to freely wield the other techniques of Jin Seong-hyeok's that he hadn't been able to use so far.
"From where we're standing now, the rooms on the right are for mental-type Hunters, and the ones on the left are for physical-type Hunters."
"Even the Hunter-exclusive testing rooms are divided like that?"
Derek nodded as if it were obvious at Su-ho's question.
"Yes. Mental-type Hunters need even more mental strength, so we had to separate them. The rooms for mental-type Hunters are designed to let them unleash high-level mental power."
Derek pointed to one of the many rooms with his finger.
"This will be the room for Cha Su-ho Helper—no, Hunter."
Hunter. Derek continued speaking toward Su-ho, who looked unfamiliar with the title that wasn't Helper.
"It's a fingerprint recognition system, so just place your thumb on the door handle."
"Don't I need to register my fingerprint separately?"
"It's already registered, so feel free to use it."
He hadn't even scanned it, but it was registered?
As Su-ho looked at him suspiciously, Derek quickly opened his mouth.
"All branches under the Association can access Helper and Hunter information. We pulled your data from Center 1's files, so no need to be wary."
"Ah, got it."
Only then did the misunderstanding clear up, and Su-ho reached for the door handle. As he placed his thumb on the fingerprint scanner attached to it, there was a beep, and the door opened with a click.
"Then, I'll take my leave."
Su-ho watched Derek's departing figure, then turned his gaze. A pitch-black room. As soon as he stepped inside, the door shut with a click.
Su-ho hurriedly groped the wall for the switch.
'Cha Su-ho.'
'Hold on, let me turn on the light...'
'There are no lights. Sit quietly and focus your mental strength. You'll soon feel massive delta waves in the room.'
Su-ho froze at Jin Seong-hyeok's words.
'Delta waves?'
'Yeah. Artificially set up for mental-type Hunters.'
Come to think of it, from the moment he entered the room, he felt strangely calm. His tension eased, and his body felt languid.
'First, slow your breathing and concentrate your mind. Imagine gathering it at the tip of your nose.'
Gather at the tip of his nose. Su-ho sat down, closed his eyes, and focused his mind.
His body felt like it was floating. Even with his eyes closed, his mind grew sharper. He could hear his heartbeat, feel his organs moving—everything.
'Now gather power from your chest. Like when you first summoned the Flame Chain.'
Following Jin Seong-hyeok's occasional guidance, Su-ho concentrated. As the flame blazing in his chest spread through his veins and arteries, his whole body boiled.
'Now calm it down steadily.'
It didn't go well at first. When the heat surging from his chest spread wildly through his body, he had no idea what to do.
'Suppress it all at once.'
How many times had he tried? In this timeless space, Su-ho practiced solely controlling the heat with his mental strength.
Each time he failed to contain the spreading heat, he felt his body plummeting, only to rise again.
'Focus more.'
Jin Seong-hyeok's voice came. How much time had passed? From overusing his mental strength, his whole body was drenched in sweat, and his mouth was parched.
But strangely, Su-ho didn't feel like resting or taking a sip of water. All he wanted was to keep containing the boiling heat in his chest.
That was when it happened. Feeling his chest heat up again and energy trying to surge through his body, Su-ho took a short breath. Then, imagining he was pressing down the bursting energy, he began gathering his mind.
For the first time, control worked. The fiercely burning heat began to subside, then settled calmly.
'D-did I just...!'
Jin Seong-hyeok spoke to the astonished Su-ho as if praising him.
'Success. You did it quicker than expected. Do it once more.'
'Yes!'
With newfound confidence, Su-ho repeated the process. Suppress the boiling heat, calm it. After dozens of repetitions, once he got the hang of it, Jin Seong-hyeok spoke.
'Let's check. Summon the Flame Chain.'
At Jin Seong-hyeok's command to summon the Flame Chain, Su-ho called it out as small as possible.
Whoosh. The Flame Chain blazed fiercely, revealing itself and illuminating the room. Su-ho moved it around here and there, then let out a small exclamation.
'Whoa...'
'Feels much easier now, right?'
'Yes. It feels more tightly and strongly connected to my chest...'
'Good. That's enough for today.'
He had just gotten the hang of it—how could he stop?
'I can do more. Now that I've got the feel...!'
'Mental strength requires full rest. This is plenty. Besides, you'll be surprised when you go out.'
Jin Seong-hyeok chuckled.
'The first time I came out of the testing room, it felt like three days had passed.'
'Wait, three days?!'
'In a disconnected space where you're focusing your mind, losing track of time is natural. Go out and see. At least a day will have flown by.'
A whole day?
With a disbelieving face, Su-ho jumped to his feet.
"Ugh..."
Was it this bright? Su-ho squinted at the blinding white light flooding the corridor.
Moreover, as soon as he left the room, ravenous hunger hit him. He wouldn't be this hungry from skipping one meal.
Casually checking his watch, Su-ho's expression turned to shock.
'Hyung.'
'What.'
'...We came in around 5 p.m. yesterday, right? If it's 6 p.m. now...'
There was no way he'd only been in the testing room for an hour.
'Told you. A day flies by in an instant.'
'...I'll set an alarm next time before going in.'
Grrrrr.
No sooner had he spoken than his stomach growled. Rubbing his empty belly, Su-ho said,
'Can I eat something decent today?'
He desperately craved a steaming bowl of spicy tteokbokki with rice. But Jin Seong-hyeok's next words shattered that hope instantly.
'Sure. A chicken leg should be fine.'
A chicken leg? Su-ho's mind, which had pictured tteokbokki with ramen noodles, cooled instantly.
'Obviously no fried stuff.'
'Obviously. No tteokbokki nonsense—drink a protein shake first.'
Su-ho pressed his forehead, regretting the question, and walked down the long corridor with a dejected face.
Three days had passed since taking the Hunter test. They said results came the next day, but even today, they hadn't arrived.
It didn't matter. Whether late or early, Su-ho had one thing to do.
Quickly build mental strength to wield more of Jin Seong-hyeok's power.
So today, as always, Su-ho headed to the Hunter-exclusive testing room and spoke to Jin Seong-hyeok.
'When will you teach me the techniques?'
'Once your mental strength grows a bit more. Right now, it's only around SS-grade level.'
'SS-grade already?!'
Jin Seong-hyeok clicked his tongue at the surprised Su-ho.
'Aren't you undervaluing yourself too much?'
Jin Seong-hyeok's voice was serious.
'I've thought this before. No matter how much my power influenced it, becoming an A-grade Helper doesn't add up.'
Hunter power enhancing Helper strength didn't make sense.
'I don't know the mechanism, but my guess is... you were originally an A-grade Helper.'
'What? That's ridiculous...'
Born F-grade, Su-ho had taken rank tests multiple times at the orphanage. Even after joining the Center, he retook them—and always got F-grade.
Originally A-grade?
'Your abilities must have awakened thanks to my power. I've tested dozens of times, always F-grade.'
'What if you were A-grade but it hadn't manifested?'
'...Huh?'
If unmanifested, he couldn't have even done Clean.
'Still, I... Cleansed a D-grade Hunter before...'
Sure, inefficient and got cursed for it, but he had done it.
'Nah, a blocked A-grade ability leaking a bit could handle that easily.'
'Still doesn't make sense.'
'It does to me. Think of it as my power triggering the manifestation—easy to understand.'
When Jin Seong-hyeok was alive, five A-grade Helpers struggled for a full Clean. Yet Su-ho, absorbing not a berserk Hunter's power but wielding Jin Seong-hyeok's, never felt a headache once.
Even if not at full past strength, Su-ho had never formed even a tiny clot while using it.
'The way you purify my power instantly shows your Helper ability is A-grade or higher.'
Su-ho's shaken expression calmed after a moment of Jin Seong-hyeok's words.
'You might think so, but it's definitely your power that strengthened me. As Helper or Hunter.'
'Yeah, fair enough.'
To Su-ho, abandoned by parents for being F-grade and relentlessly bullied and ignored, talk of being originally A-grade was irrelevant.
The future mattered.
'Hyung.'
'What.'
'If my mental strength is already SS-grade, can't I learn one more technique?'
Jin Seong-hyeok sighed.
'I said earlier: a bit more mental strength, then I'll teach you.'
'Then teach me something I can do now. To face Deadlock... I need to get stronger fast.'
Deadlock.
At the name, Jin Seong-hyeok spoke as if something came to mind.
'Deadlock uses a sword and is far superior to Masa and Eunwoo.'
If preparing to fight Deadlock...
'Before learning techniques.'
Jin Seong-hyeok chuckled.
'Sparring with someone who wields a sword wouldn't be bad.'