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Chapter 9: 9: Registration Test (1)
Chapter 9: 9: Registration Test (1)
Special Disaster & Security Management Association.
While it was a plausible name, in reality, nobody called it by that name.
It was the organization commonly known as the Awakeners Association.
Only the ones that had been granted stigmas by celestials, Awakeners, could apply to the Association to receive a license.
Naturally,
this ‘license’ didn’t signify much in itself.
After the gates opened across the world, due to the government’s authority weakening, the practicality of the license was pretty much nonexistent.
“Damn it, it’s so crowded.”
Just so, in front of the headquarters located in Yeouido were numerous Awakeners waiting to take the license issuance test.
The reason why Awakeners across the country had gathered for a license that held little significance was quite simple.
Getting a license would increase the chance of getting scouted by guilds.
A simple analogy would be registering a product at an auction.
1~2-Star Awakeners with good results would be scouted with exceptional conditions from major guilds.
There was nothing much to mention about the opposite cases.
‘I don’t have any thoughts on entering a guild, but…’
He had a separate plan for coming all the way there.
“There’s still some time left in the waiting queue… I should sell the starstones in advance.”
Ohjin started to head towards the starstone purchasing office stuck next to the headquarters building.
He handed over the two pouches of starstones to the employee that had a business smile.
One was from when he had partied with Lee Shinhyuk, and the other was from the dungeon the previous day.
“According to the market price of 2020.11.8, the total comes out to $1444. Would you like that in cash?”
“Please send it to my account.”
Although taking it in cash would feel better, he didn’t want to risk the chance of losing it.
‘No shot.’
He would never risk the chance of losing an enormous amount of money that passed $1000.
“Accounting for taxes, your final total is $1152.”
“Fuck.”
“Huh?”
“No, it’s nothing.’
‘What kind of tax takes 20%, you fucking robbers.’’
“Sigh.”
Although his head heated up from his bottomless anger, he settled it down with his superhuman endurance.
He had wanted to sell them using the illegal route that didn’t take off taxes, but the risks that came with that method were too high.
‘Since they supervise starstones even more meticulously than they do drugs.’
No matter how much their authority had dropped, the Association was still the nation’s largest institution.
If he got caught, it wouldn’t end with simple tax problems.
“Tch.”
Ohjin clicked his tongue while taking the receipt.
‘The only thing left now is the starstone harvested from the mutant.’
‘I’ll need to gather more information before I sell it.’
Whereas normal starstones had an international market price set, a mutant’s starstone was different.
It would garner more profit if you gathered information beforehand.
“Let’s see… it’s about time.”
Checking the time, he could see that it was almost time to take the registration test.
Ohjin moved his feet towards the headquarters building.
“Wait number 57.”
“Here.”
Thud Thud—
Ohjin, who had been momentarily waiting in the waiting room, got up after hearing his number being called.
“Which constellation are you associated with?” the employee asked with a business-like vibe while filing in documents as if he was a machine.
“It’s Lyra.”
“Lyra…?”
Tilting his head, the employee looked through the chart at his side.
“W-Wait. Could you repeat that for me? Which constellation?” he asked with a pressing tone.
Crash!—
The employee shot to his feet.
“It’s Lyra. L. Y. R. A.,” Ohjin replied with a nonchalant expression, like he had predicted that reaction from the start.
“By L-L-Lyra are you p-perhaps…”
“Yes.”
Ohjin smirked while nodding his head.
“Star of the Weaver Girl. I’m the apostle of Vega.”
“……!!!”
The mouth of the employee fell open.
“P-Please wait for a moment!!” He turned his body in a hurry and ran out somewhere.
Murmur—
Everyone nearby shot a glance.
“Ha.”
Ohjin clicked his tongue with a short chuckle.
Although it was the expected reaction, he couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw it.
‘Is this the prestige that comes with a North Star?’
The truth was, he had contemplated a lot about whether he should reveal the fact that he was an Awakener of Lyra.
If he revealed that he was an apostle of a North Star in a world where everyone would go crazy over being affiliated with the 12 Zodiacs… he couldn’t predict what kind of chaos would come.
If you thought about the countless nuisances that would follow, you might be tempted to live like a loser while hiding strength—like the main characters in mass-produced isekai fantasies.
‘That’s just dumb.’
Prestige was authority.
The foundation he had possessed was too lacking to give up the enormous authority that came with being a North Star’s apostle.
Aside from the simple problem of money, he could gain connections, information, and a host of other small things.
Thinking about the things he had to do in the future, they weren’t just one or two things he needed.
‘And, to solve that…’
Authority.
He needed the title of being a North Star’s apostle that nobody could dare disregard.
“It… It’ll take a bit of time, so could you please wait over here?” The employee who had run off came back and asked respectfully.
The machine and business-like appearance that the man had displayed at the start could not be seen.
‘That’s right. This is the power of authority.’
Smirk—
Ohjin nodded his head while smirking.
“Please follow me.”
The employee led the way.
“Huh?”
“What’s going on?”
Although he felt the gazes from the murmuring onlookers, he lightly brushed them off.
Click—
“You can wait inside here.”
The place the employee had guided him to was a waiting room that had the words ‘VIP’ written on the door.
* * *
* * *
“Got it.” Ohjin slightly nodded his head and headed inside.
“…Hmm?”
Sitting down inside was a blond youth with short hair that gave the impression of a good-for-nothing.
“Who’s he?” the blond youth asked towards the employee like he was a servant.
“Ah, I see Awakener Park Jungwoo has already arrived. The thing is… I’ve brought him here due to some circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
“That is…”
The employee studied Ohjin’s expression.
Ring Ring!—
At that moment, the sound of bells spread across the room.
“E-Excuse me, I have something urgent to attend to!”
“My explanation…”
Bang!—
Running away, the employee closed the door behind him.
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence came down with only the two of them remaining.
‘Who’s that bastard?’
Ohjin looked at the blond youth called Park Jungwoo with narrow eyes.
Sitting comfortably on the sofa, the youth was staring in his direction.
He momentarily thought about starting up a conversation, but he decided to ignore him.
‘Well, he’s probably some rookie affiliated with a major guild.’
He had heard that Awakeners who had already joined a guild would occasionally take the registration evaluation to make their names known.
Looking at the fact that he was situated in the VIP room, it was probably within that category.
‘Moreover…’
Ohjin’s eyes headed towards the table in the corner of the waiting room.
Spread out on top of the table was a buffet-like array of desserts such as biscuits, cakes, and simple snacks.
Not only that… Inside the mini-fridge located next to the table, in addition to drinks of every kind, was a wide selection of alcohol.
‘This is… all free, right?’
They were probably left there for people to eat while waiting.
‘Buffet…’
‘Holy shit. A buffet.’
He had only ever seen buffets in pictures before; it was the first time in his life he had seen one in person.
Tremble—
Starting from his spine, a thrilling sensation spread across his body.
‘Just how much is all this?’
A glance was enough to tell that the snacks and cakes displayed on the fancy plates were really fucking expensive.
‘This…’
He couldn’t restrain himself.
No…
It was something that shouldn’t be restrained.
An opportunity to fill up for free couldn’t be passed up.
Grab, Grab—
He filled up his plate with snacks and cakes.
Munch, Munch—
Since he didn’t know when the employee would return, he gobbled up the snacks and cakes in a rush.
“Huhuhu. This is so nice.”
Although he didn’t like sweet things, that matter became obsolete with the fact that everything was free.
“…hah.”
Park Jungwoo, who was looking at him emptying plates like a beggar, let out a sigh.
Ohjin ignored him.
‘Does this place have a plastic bag?’
Ohjin, who had emptied three plates in an instant, looked around for a plastic bag.
‘Let’s pack up the rest and take it home.’
Weren’t they left there to be eaten in the first place?
There probably wouldn’t be a problem if he took them.
‘Kyhuhu, Ha-eun will jump in joy again.’
She would be overjoyed even more since she had utterly no opportunities to eat desserts.
While he was imagining Ha-eun’s smile in his head—
“What are you, a fucking beggar?”
Bang!!—
—Park Jungwoo, who had been observing with a frown, violently dropped his foot on top of the table.
“……”
Ohjin momentarily put down the cake and raised his head.
Looking at Park Jungwoo staring at him with sharp eyes, he smiled.
“Hmm.”
Comfortably leaning on the sofa, Ohjin crossed his legs.
“What a quite daring young man.”
Changing his manner of speech, he continued with a solemn voice.
“It’s nice to see the energetic youth these days.”
It wasn’t only his voice.
As if a switch had turned on, Ohjin’s expression, gesture, and even the atmosphere he gave off changed in an instant.
The display of him emptying the plates like a beggar vanished like it had been a mirage, and a mysterious vigor similar to that of an old master seeped out.
“What nonsense are…”
“—Do you know who I am?”
Flinch—
Park Jungwoo’s shoulders shook.
“…So who are you?”
“Hoho. I guess matters like these occur since I haven’t been active all that often these days.”
Kekeke—
He relaxedly crossed his arms while laughing like an old man.
“Though I feel like people on the level of getting guided to the VIP room should be able to recognize me…”
“……”
Park Jungwoo clenched his fist while shutting his mouth tightly with an uneasy expression.
‘Who is he?’
Judging from his confidence, he seemed to be someone famous that had his face known to the world, but no one came to mind in the moment.
‘He sounds like some kind of old man…’
Come to think of it, he had heard of it before.
That there were instances of high-ranked Awakeners of at least 9-Star recovering their body and youth.
‘S-Shit.’
Gulp—
Park Jungwoo, who had felt something amiss, started to sweat with a nervous expression.
Come to think of it, Ohjin was someone like himself who had been guided to the ‘VIP room’.
It meant that he wasn’t your average Awakener.
“Which guild are you in?”
“Pand—”
“Manners.”
“…Huh?”
“Your manners are quite lacking.”
Keke—
Ohjin let spill a good laugh while narrowing his eyes.
“……!”
Goosebumps spread across from Jungwoo’s spine.
The frightening gaze in between the narrowly opened eyes made Park Jungwoo’s body unconsciously swoop down.
‘W-What the hell.’
He felt lost, like he had been staring into a neverending black sky.
He couldn’t understand just how a person could change this drastically with one glance.
It was impossible to tell if he was the same person that was eating cakes like a beggar a few moments ago.
“I-I’m… affiliated with the Pandinus Guild.”
“Pandinus…”
A guild made up of Scorpio’s Awakeners.
It was a guild famous enough to be picked as one of Korea’s top ten guilds.
‘Was the guild leader’s name Kang Chanhyuk?’
Thousand Poison Stab (???), Kang Chanhyuk.
To call him one of the representative Awakeners of Korea was a bit of a long shot, but he was still quite famous.
If you wanted to specify rankings, he was narrowly within the top 30.
Taking into account that there were tens of thousands of Awakeners in Korea, there was no doubt he was incredibly skilled.
“Aha, so you’re in Chanhyuk’s guild.”
Ohjin nodded his head while staring into the void with a reminiscing expression.
“…A-Are you perhaps familiar with our guild leader?”
‘Nope.’
‘I don’t know a thing.’
“We used to eat together a lo~ng time ago and go to the sauna and whatnot!”
“S-Sauna…?
“Keke, that young boy became a full-fledged guild leader before I knew it.”
The more Ohjin talked, the paler Park Jungwoo’s expression became.
“I should have a drink with him soon. Ah, that’s right, could you send my regards to Chanhyuk? Just say it was from ‘Gwon Ohjin’ and he’ll recognize who it’s from.
“T-That is. The… I…”
Jungwoo’s body shook with a deathly pale expression.
“I-I apologize for being discourteous and unrecognizing of such a paramount individual!!!”
“Keke. Don’t worry about it. A young man can make some mistakes.”
With an expression of a kind man, Ohjin lightly tapped on the shoulders of Park Jungwoo.
“Not at all!!! I-I made too big of a mistake…”
“Hmm. If that’s the case, could you do me one favor?”
“Give the word and I’ll do anything!!!”
Park Jungwoo courteously bowed down his neck and loudly shouted out.
“Then—”
Ohjin slid out his hand and pointed towards the table that still had tons of snacks and cakes remaining.
“—could you bring a plastic bag and pack those for me?”
“……”
* * *