Practical Training Begins

The main topic of the phone call with the assigned case officer was, surprisingly, not Han Yujin's knowledge but the matter of 'practical training' that needed to be experienced in connection with the hunter specialized school.

“I haven’t received any preliminary education yet. Is it really okay to jump straight into practical training?”

“Hmm.”

For a government official, the man displayed a surprising degree of flexibility. The feeling was that everything would be fine as long as they coordinated properly and no issues arose.

Or perhaps he was simply confirming that someone with such extensive knowledge of rifts was unlikely to encounter problems over something like this.

“Then please schedule me for the one in three days. How many practical sessions do I need to complete in total?”

“It can be reduced?”

“I see.”

Listening further, it seemed cases where an official from the Ability Management Bureau personally served as evaluator were quite rare. It was more standard for the hunter school instructors to handle evaluations for outsiders as well.

Naturally, Han Yujin realized he was receiving special treatment.

The conversation then moved on to the preliminary education that was officially supposed to come before practical training.

There were two options. One was to apply for the night program at the hunter specialized school and begin classes in a week. The other was to follow the training program at the Ability Verification Training Center, which would open in roughly forty days.

The educational content was identical between the two, and the evaluation methods and difficulty levels were similar as well.

“I’ll go with the hunter school’s night class. That starts sooner.”

“Yes, thank you.”

After that, the call ended without any further discussion of Han Yujin’s knowledge.

Seems like they’re trying to avoid giving the impression that they’re rushing or pressuring me.

He would probably wait until they met in person on the day of the practical and casually bring it up then. After all, it was only three days away.

After pondering the practical training and preliminary education a while longer, Han Yujin inwardly shook his head as he recalled the Yeongwon High School investigation he had been unable to mention.

I can’t suddenly ask for an investigation out of nowhere.

If it had at least involved an acquaintance, it might have been different. But requesting a personal investigation from a well-known official of the Ability Management Bureau without any clear reason still felt inappropriate no matter how he looked at it.

That said, if I had a plausible pretext, I might be able to mobilize the entire Ability Management Bureau…?

If he made good use of this special treatment, he might be able to accumulate a considerable amount of Karma. Especially if the birth of that powerful ghost, Wonhee, stemmed from something significant enough to warrant the Bureau’s intervention.

And if, by some chance, that place was even slightly connected to the occurrence and progression of the ghost apocalypse, the amount of Karma he could gain would be far greater than expected.

After considering several approaches, Han Yujin manipulated his smartphone to check his bank account balance.

It was enough for an ordinary college student to live on for a month or two, but clearly insufficient for the plans he had in mind.

Should I take out a loan?

Having obtained his basic qualification certificate, he could secure a decent loan even without a proper job. As this was part of the government’s welfare policy for ability awakeners, the interest rate was also extremely low.

He decided without much hesitation. In the past he would have agonized over it for ages, but the confidence he now felt about his future—built upon his awakening ability—made the choice easy.

Additionally, the series of events he had experienced through that ability had sharpened his decisiveness. After all, even though he returned to reality each time, having died several times made becoming a little bolder feel only natural.

I’m going to earn plenty in the future anyway. If there’s a chance to obtain Karma through money, I shouldn’t hesitate starting now.

Having made his decision, he searched the internet for a reputable detective agency.

If he wanted to investigate something efficiently, it was only logical to hire a professional. Especially if he had no intention of devoting himself to the task full-time.

When there was a lot of work to do, time passed quickly.

Having planned to take out a loan, he visited the bank early the next morning. Although he had not yet made an official decision, he had already resolved to sign a contract with the Ability Management Bureau and thus began preparations in advance.

The first step was to organize the contents of the Fire Bullet Art and Jade Skin Art separately and save them onto a USB drive. He could hardly hand over the original texts obtained from the Ohaeng Sect ruins as they were.

Moreover, he needed to add his own annotations regarding the dharma texts. Once he actually started organizing the material, He realized this was no light task. He had no choice but to approach it with the mindset of studying it thoroughly, organizing the information as he went.

It’s all for the sake of Karma.

With Karma, he could utilize his awakening ability to grow as rapidly as before. Once he grew stronger, every difficult and troublesome matter would resolve smoothly.

In addition, he could not neglect his studies on the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art and the Five Elements Magic Arts.

Naturally, he considered using his awakening ability.

Before that, however, he was far too curious whether he could open the door to ‘Earth just before the apocalypse.’ He attempted it, only to fail miserably.

Why did it fail?

According to the operational principles of his ability that he had figured out so far, it should have succeeded. Yet somehow the feeling had been off from the beginning, and the door had once again fixed itself onto that ‘post-apocalyptic Earth.’

Does the door not necessarily fix according to my wishes? Or is there a clear reason I cannot travel to the time before the apocalypse?

A hypothesis occurred to him: the post-apocalyptic Earth was truly the future of this present Earth, and because Han Yujin himself was still alive there until the moment of the apocalypse, he could not fix the door to any earlier point.

If he could fix the door even in such a situation, it would mean two versions of Han Yujin would exist in the same world.

If even that is possible, it means I could use my awakening ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability to do all sorts of extraordinary things…

At some point Han Yujin shook his head.

This was a time paradox that grew more complicated the more he pondered it—a problem that, according to the laws of the universe, should have been impossible in the first place.

In any case.

Since revisiting that extremely dangerous post-apocalyptic Earth was out of the question, he immediately left the waiting area. Besides, he still felt his mental recovery was incomplete, so resting another day or two would not hurt.

The morning he woke up after that rest.

He visited the detective agency he had found and reserved online the previous day.

After riding the bus for about an hour, he arrived in a bustling central district of Seoul. The agency was located on the second floor of a rather respectable building—one would not have expected to find a detective office in such a place.

Thanks to the reservation, Han Yujin was immediately guided to the consultation room where he met a team-leader-level figure from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the agency.

The man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, had the look of an ordinary office worker. However, his physique was excellent, and the hand he offered for a handshake felt quite strong.

The atmosphere is a bit different from what I expected…

He had imagined the sort of detective commonly seen in dramas—the somewhat shabby man who would stake out in a car for an adultery investigation and frantically snap photos of a couple emerging from a motel.

The person before him now, however, gave the impression that he could easily handle investigations far rougher and even borderline illegal.

“I’m Kang Tae-hyuk, leader of Owl Private Investigation Team 1. What brings you to us today?”

As he spoke, he placed a booklet from one side of the consultation room in front of Han Yujin. It appeared to be an introduction to the other detectives in the office and the types of investigations they had handled.

Instead of skimming through it, Han Yujin immediately stated his business.

“I need information on the foundation behind a place called Yeongwon High School—more precisely, on the pseudo-religion that established that foundation.”

He then provided the school’s address. There were several other high schools across the country with the same pronunciation but different meanings.

“What kind of information are you looking for? Are you trying to locate someone?”

“No. I want everything about that religion. Where their cult buildings are located, roughly how many followers they have, the extent of their assets or social influence, how many core figures there are and who they are, what their religious doctrines consist of, whether they perform any special rituals, and if so, what form those rituals take and what their purpose is. In short, everything.”

“Hmm… The more specific the objective, the easier the investigation becomes. Why do you need this information?”

“It seems there’s a rather serious problem there. Not something as simple as tax evasion or exploiting believers’ assets, but a more severe issue.”

“If it’s more severe, then roughly what kind…?”

“That’s exactly why I came here—because I don’t know.”

“Hmm.”

From Han Yujin’s perspective, this was all he could say. He judged that fabricating a plausible reason might instead create confusion during the investigation.

Unfortunately, because of that, it also sounded like groundless speculation, and Team Leader Kang Tae-hyuk wore a slightly awkward smile.

Even so, he did not seem inclined to refuse the job.

“This will be more interesting than a typical adultery investigation. A comprehensive inquiry is certainly possible. The issue is the cost.”

“How much would it be?”

“Given how broad the scope of information you want is… I’d say two million won per day to start. We can adjust upward if more manpower becomes necessary as the investigation progresses.”

Two million won per day.

And with the possibility of increase depending on how the investigation developed.

It definitely felt expensive. Even when compared to the industry averages he had checked online beforehand, it was by no means cheap.

However, considering that the target was no ordinary subject, and that—as the man said—he would have to gather a wide range of information without knowing the exact reason, it did not feel like outright gouging.

Well… some of the reviews did mention that while the skills are excellent, the prices are high.

He had come prepared for it to be somewhat costly. It would have been better if he had arrived flush with money from active hunter work, but if that were the case he could simply return later and make the request then.

As he remained silent in thought, the man offered another suggestion.

“If you find it too expensive, we can cut the price by more than half and conduct a simpler investigation. I quoted that rate because you mentioned it was a significant problem and I intended to perform a thorough inquiry.”

“No, I’ll go with two million won per day without reduction. Roughly how long until we get a general outline if we investigate for a few days?”

“Let’s proceed for a week to ten days. I’ll send the daily results by email every evening. If anything is unsatisfactory, you can make additional requests.”

“Then let’s start with one week.”

“You won’t be disappointed. Our fees may be on the high side, but there’s a reason for it.”

He laughed brightly and instructed another employee to bring the contract.

Han Yujin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hoped this investigation request would not turn out to be wasted effort. Regardless of how much money he would earn in the future, wasting it would not feel pleasant.

Even if it was not directly connected to the ghost apocalypse, as long as it uncovered something that could generate Karma—for example, the ugly underbelly of a pseudo-religion that would make for good media exposure—it would not be a loss.

The investigation into Yeongwon High School was, for the moment, only a secondary objective.

The task that would reliably accumulate Karma was to complete the practical training, preliminary education, and other required processes before beginning full-fledged hunter activities. At the same time, he would prepare ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to spread his knowledge.

Even if he only disseminated the basic dharma arts effectively, he would be able to achieve his desired goal sufficiently.

For the Hoe-won Gong, he planned to completely omit the section about sublimating the soul into a dharma soul. The body and soul training method that included purification and mind-clearing arts would hold enough value on its own.

There’s no reason for me to rush ahead alone.

As he had thought once before, spreading knowledge was inevitably a time-consuming process.

He did not know whether he would eventually reveal everything, but there would be ample room to adjust according to the situation. Telling everything in advance did not mean the effects would appear any faster.

In any case.

Today was the very day of the practical training to be conducted in conjunction with the hunter specialized school.

With the help of purification arts and the like, he finished preparing to go out in an instant, left his one-room apartment, and stepped onto the main road. They had agreed to meet at the location where the officer had dropped him off previously.

He waited while contacting them several times via smartphone.

When the officer’s car arrived, a woman sat in the passenger seat in addition to the familiar officer. Han Yujin immediately recognized her as the assigned case officer, Kang Min-ah.

She was as young as her voice had suggested, and the short bob suited her well. At the same time, she exuded an elite aura comparable to the officer beside her.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello. Did you wait long?”

“No, I just came out.”

After exchanging the usual greetings and climbing into the back seat, the car started smoothly.

He had originally said he would take public transportation, but the officer had stubbornly insisted it was on the way, so he had accepted with feigned reluctance.

Honestly, it was convenient.

After greeting the case officer he was meeting for the first time, the conversation naturally flowed into casual small talk.

At some point the topic shifted smoothly toward Han Yujin’s knowledge.

“Have you given it any thought?”

“Yes. I intend to sign a contract with the Ability Management Bureau.”

“Excellent! You definitely won’t regret it.”

Even while keeping his eyes on the road ahead, the officer could not hide his delight.

It was understandable. The knowledge of someone who had displayed A-rank hunter abilities immediately upon awakening was no small achievement.

Even if I don’t become fully affiliated, having at least some connection to a government agency will probably make accumulating Karma much easier.

This was another of Han Yujin’s considerations.

Thanks to his firm answer, the atmosphere grew even more relaxed. The officer and case officer continued the conversation endlessly, as though showing off their conversational skills, and drew Han Yujin into it as well.

Though it felt like casual chatter, he was able to obtain a considerable amount of information necessary for hunter activities, so Han Yujin naturally focused.

After traveling for an hour and a half, stopping once at a rest area, the three arrived at the place known as the ‘Rift Terminal’ on the western outskirts of Seoul.

It was a facility operated with numerous rift induction devices that attracted and opened a corresponding number of rifts—a great invention that had contributed enormously to the stability of human civilization.

Of course, not every rift was perfectly guided, but without even this invention the overall social atmosphere would not have been nearly as peaceful as it was now.

They parked in a lot on one side and entered the terminal.

The structure and materials felt like a fortress that had sacrificed some exterior elegance. Armed soldiers stood guard with loaded firearms in various places, and many people clearly identifiable as hunters wore an assortment of weapons and defensive gear.

For Han Yujin, who was visiting for the first time, it felt as though he had briefly stepped into another world using his awakening ability.

So this is the world of hunters.

With a faintly pounding heart, he continued following behind the officer.

As expected, the authority of a Level 5 official from the Ability Management Bureau was formidable here as well; almost nothing caused any delay.

After passing through all the procedures with surprising simplicity, they headed toward the area where the hunter specialized school students had already arrived and were waiting.