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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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It was two small crystal orbs, as Yoo Soon-tae had described, small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand.
“Place both hands on top of the orbs. And please don’t move while the assessment is in progress.”
“I understand.”
Park Soo-eun signaled to the examiner, and the examiner soon started the assessment.
Whoosh-!
As a faint electronic force gathered in the crystal orbs, a reaction came from Gang-so’s body.
The internal energy within Gang-so’s body repelled the force!
It was as if it were saying, ‘What are you doing, coming in here?’
But now, he had to let that force enter his body.
Gang-so thought it was a good thing he had asked Yoo Soon-tae about the awakened assessment yesterday, and he controlled his internal energy.
As a result, the electronic force, which had hesitated for a moment, smoothly entered his body through his right hand and exited through his left hand.
From behind, Park Soo-eun said,
“Thank you for your cooperation. You can take your hands off now.”
Gang-so removed his hands, and Park Soo-eun looked at the monitor next to him and said,
“The results are in. The result is… F-rank.”
Thanks to the explanation about awakened individuals he had received from Yoo Soon-tae yesterday, he was able to understand the terminology about awakened individuals that Park Soo-eun was using now.
The technique he was using now made it possible to understand based on his knowledge.
“What does F-rank mean?”
“It means… a little better than ordinary people. Ordinary people are G-rank.”
“Ah, I see?”
Park Soo-eun thought that Gang-so was dejected because he hadn’t received a high rank, but that wasn’t the case.
The reason Gang-so was dejected was because his goal had been G-rank, but the timing of controlling his internal energy was a little late, so he ended up with F-rank.
‘This place… definitely has more abundant energy than where I came from. That’s why I’m not used to controlling my internal energy. I’ll get used to it soon, though.’
However, he decided to be satisfied since he had heard that F-rank awakened individuals were treated the same as ordinary people.
For some reason, Park Soo-eun had a disappointed expression.
“Then we will begin the training. And since F-rank is also considered an awakened individual, you will need to receive a brief, albeit theoretical, education on awakened individuals.”
That was also good news for Gang-so.
It meant he could get more information.
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Lunchtime.
Park Soo-eun came to the cafeteria to eat.
He had given the isolated person he was in charge of training a premium boxed lunch set and even explained how to eat it.
In truth, training an isolated person was a difficult task.
He had to teach them everything from scratch.
However, the training of isolated persons was the responsibility of Support Division 2, which meant it was a very important task.
The closer to Support Division 1, which handled top-secret information, the more important the tasks.
The team leaders of Support Division 2 took turns handling the training of isolated persons, and this time it was the 2nd team leader’s turn.
There was a reason why team leaders were in charge of training isolated persons.
There were reasons such as managing personal information and follow-up, but the biggest reason was that many isolated people were high-ranking awakened individuals.
To control and train them, an awakened individual of a higher rank was needed.
That’s why team leaders were in charge of training isolated persons.
In fact, the training of isolated persons was just a pretext.
How could someone who knew nothing about the current era be trained in just one day!
Even a passing slime would laugh at that.
In truth, there was another real reason for the training of isolated persons.
“Park Soo-eun!”
Park Soo-eun turned to the person who called him.
“Ah, Eun-ho!”
Baek Eun-ho was the 3rd team leader of Support Division 1, and he was also Park Soo-eun’s colleague from the Hunter Academy.
“I heard you’re in charge of training the isolated person this time. Did you get their rank?”
“F-rank. So the division head was very disappointed. He said it’s been a while since we had an isolated person, and they turned out to be F-rank.”
“Sigh, our division head will be disappointed too. He was hoping that this isolated person might be the Zero-rank awakened individual who caused that incident at the gate in the Land of Death.”
“That’s a shame. Are you working overtime again today?”
“Sigh, I have a lot of work besides that gate incident.”
“Then I’ll treat you to some tteokbokki for a late-night snack…”
At those words, Baek Eun-ho put a fried shrimp from the side dishes on his tray and said,
“Have you ever been hit with a fried shrimp?”
“Normally… no?”
“If you say one more word, I’ll show you that it’s possible to be hit with a fried shrimp.”
“Hahaha… You’re joking, right?”
“I’m serious. Do you want me to say it in a formal font?”
“…I’ll just shut up.”
“What do you mean, tteokbokki for a late-night snack? Why can’t you think of jajangmyeon and tangsuyuk?”
That’s right.
The reason Baek Eun-ho was angry wasn’t because he was working overtime, but because he didn’t like Park Soo-eun’s choice of food.
* * *
At that moment, Gang-so took a bite of a complimentary roll cake and was in awe.
‘Th-This! To feel both fluffiness and softness at the same time!’
When Gang-so first saw jajangmyeon, he thought that this place was only flashy on the outside and that the food culture was lacking.
However, as soon as he tasted jajangmyeon, that thought began to crumble, and now it was completely shattered.
Following the cola, the roll cake he had just eaten had moved him.
‘It looks plain, but it has such a rich taste! This is the first time I’ve experienced such a variety of flavors.’
He had eaten all kinds of delicacies while acting as a sort of troubleshooter, not only at the request of the Orthodox Murim but also by the order of the Emperor.
So he thought that no food could impress him.
That was Gang-so’s மிகப்பெரிய mistake.
His tongue was being thoroughly beaten by that mistake.
Before he knew it, the slice of roll cake had disappeared into Gang-so’s stomach.
As he was savoring the sweetness that still lingered in his mouth.
Creak.
The door of the training room opened, and Park Soo-eun entered.
“We will resume training in 10 minutes.”
“I understand.”
Gang-so brushed his teeth with the toothbrush and toothpaste that Lim So-young had packed for him.
‘Hmm, this toothpaste really refreshes my gums. Oops! I shouldn’t swallow it.’
He returned to the training room, opened his notebook, and the training resumed.
The purpose of the isolated person training was to help them understand and adapt to this society.
During the short training period, the focus was on basic knowledge, and one of them was understanding the current political system of Korea.
Gang-so was shocked once again.
‘There is no emperor in this world? Instead, the people elect a president, similar to an emperor, through voting? And there’s a term limit? Huh! If the emperor heard this, he would immediately exterminate nine generations of their families!’
Even in his confusion, Gang-so diligently took notes in his notebook.
Thanks to his hard work in taking notes, he was able to completely master Hangeul.
And Park Soo-eun’s lectures were excellent.
“One of the major characteristics of this society is freedom of the press.”
“What is freedom of the press?”
“Well, it means… that you can freely discuss any phenomenon.”
“Even any crazy opinions?”
Park Soo-eun laughed awkwardly.
“Usually, we just dismiss it as nonsense, but our Awakened Association and the government are keeping an eye on it.”
“So that you can respond if crazy talk turns into action?”
“…”
“And then use force… can I understand it that way?”
“I won’t deny it.”
Gang-so chuckled inwardly.
What Park Soo-eun was saying was a kind of warning.
It was a warning not to cross the line while living in this society. Gang-so was already aware of this.
“I understand. I will keep that in mind.”
“That’s a very good attitude.”
The class continued, and Gang-so was able to learn many things.
Traffic rules, how to use public transportation, how to use various tools, and so on.
Although it was only a theoretical overview, not practical experience, it was still very helpful.
Gang-so felt fortunate to have met Yoo Soon-tae.
If it weren’t for him, Gang-so wouldn’t have had this opportunity so easily.
‘I should work hard as a deliveryman from now on.’
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When he woke up after a good night’s sleep in the dormitory, the small hand on the clock was on the number 5, and the big hand was on the number 10.
“Then… is it 5:10? No, the long hand increases in 5-minute increments, so it’s 50 minutes!”
Usually, he woke up earlier, but he woke up later than usual because he was tired from cramming so much into his head yesterday.
Gang-so got up and stretched briefly.
But he didn’t circulate his internal energy.
If someone sensitive to energy was nearby, they would quickly realize that Gang-so was not an F-rank awakened individual.
‘Like that woman who came to eat jajangmyeon before.’
Kim Myung-hee, who had come with her younger brother before, had noticed even when Gang-so had slightly released his energy.
There might be people stronger than her in the Silver Tower, so it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.
However, Gang-so was mistaken about one thing: there was no awakened individual in the Awakened Association with more sensitive senses than Kim Myung-hee.
If he had to pick one, there was the S-rank awakened individual ‘Shin’, but he was only cooperating with the association, not an employee.
Gang-so didn’t really want to hide his strength, but he didn’t want to regret it again.
‘Honestly, pretending to be an ordinary person is so much work!’
He had to control his strength even when picking up something with his hands, and he had to be careful when walking too.
He wondered why he had to go through all this trouble, and he wanted to just live recklessly, but he made up his mind while listening to the training.
The world he was standing in now was like a precarious stack of blocks built by a child.
‘They said the place where I opened my eyes was the Land of Death, created by the backflow of an S-rank gate…’
Of course, something like that shouldn’t happen again, but if two or three S-rank gates appeared simultaneously in Korea…
The carefully stacked blocks would come crashing down.
‘And it’s dangerous to have a problem-solver who can fix everything. What if the problem-solver has a change of heart or disappears…’
Then, too, the blocks would inevitably come ‘crashing down’.
Gang-so nodded.
‘It might be cruel, but for the sake of this world where Soon-tae’s family lives, my existence must not be revealed.’
Gang-so washed his face, put on the clothes that Lim So-young had packed for him, and sat on the bed, staring blankly ahead.
‘Did I wake up too early? What should I do now?’
As he was spacing out for about an hour, he sensed someone approaching.
‘It’s that guy called Team Leader Park Soo-eun!’
He was a strong man with a refreshing aura.
Knock knock.
Soon, there was a knock on the door.
“Are you awake?”
“You may come in.”
At Gang-so’s answer, the door opened, and Park Soo-eun entered with a tired face.
In fact, for Park Soo-eun, training isolated persons was an addition to his usual work.
Since he had to be involved in the training of isolated persons from morning to evening, a significant amount of his daytime work was inevitably delayed.
The problem was that his work couldn’t be left pending.
He had to somehow pass on certain tasks to other departments by the next morning, and the conclusion was working overtime.
‘I can see why the people in Support Division 1 always have dark circles under their eyes like pandas.’
He was dying of sleepiness.
‘I should have torn an awakening buff scroll before coming.’
Meanwhile, Gang-so, who had assessed his condition, felt a sense of concern for some reason.
It wasn’t concern for Park Soo-eun, but concern about whether he would be able to conduct the class properly today.
For Gang-so, grasping the nature of this world was of utmost importance.
“You woke up early.”
Park Soo-eun was impressed to see Gang-so already prepared to start the day.
“I usually wake up at this time. But you look very tired.”
“Hahaha, do I?”
“Please have some coffee.”
Gang-so quickly made coffee from the supplies provided in the training room and handed it to him.
For him, paper cups, electric kettles, and even instant coffee were shocking things.
However, after a day, he had become accustomed to them and could make coffee very skillfully.
“Hahaha, thank you.”
Park Soo-eun took the coffee and took a sip.
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