Chapter 67 – New Team Member (Part One)

The rather long examination finally ended, and Hyeon-seo walked out.

Il-hyeon, who had finished his examination earlier, was waiting in front of the exit.

Unlike Il-hyeon, who always skipped the part about his abilities, she had undergone a detailed examination of her own, which took a little longer.

“How was it?”

“It was strange. I’ve only ever seen things like this on TV.”

“When did you watch TV?”

“Hmm… Good question.”

Hyeon-seo let out a hearty laugh, though it wasn’t clear what she found so funny.

But a moment later, her expression suddenly stiffened.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you think I’ll be able to join the team?”

Hyeon-seo asked anxiously.

It seemed she had been worried for a while that she wouldn’t be able to work on the same team as Il-hyeon.

Unlike other summons, she was a ‘person,’ and she feared a situation might arise where she couldn’t accompany him.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to join. Besides, I told you this was just a measurement, not some kind of entrance test.”

“R-Right?”

“Yeah. The results should be out. Let’s go.”

Il-hyeon said reassuringly, opening the door and stepping out first.

Outside, the team members were waiting with Section Chief Kim Yeong-ryeol, who had conducted their examinations.

Unlike Team Leader Choi Eun-chae, who oversaw the entire Aegis research team and was quite young, he was an old man with white hair.

“Ah, good work. The results are in.”

The section chief handed the two sheets of paper he was holding to Il-hyeon and Hyeon-seo, who stood beside him.

They were simplified summaries of the complex test results.

“Let’s see…”

Il-hyeon carefully took the paper and slowly read through it.

He knew there was no need to be impatient as long as he had his Predation ability, but he couldn’t help feeling nervous when receiving results like these.

Among the various densely packed figures, the overall assessment was written at the very bottom.

To put it simply, it exceeded expectations.

“You’re at the very top of B-Rank. It hasn’t been long since you barely scraped into B-Rank… I’ve never seen this level of growth in all my years doing this.”

Section Chief Kim Yeong-ryeol, who had also personally handled Il-hyeon’s previous examination, said in admiration.

He had been recruited when Aegis was first established after the disaster 20 years ago when monsters first appeared, and though he had seen countless Awakened, this was a first.

Each time one surpassed a rank, advancing to the next was incomparably more difficult than before, requiring far more experience and training.

From C-Rank to B-Rank, from B-Rank to A-Rank.

Because the level and difficulty increased by a whole dimension with each step up, the number of people at each rank worldwide dropped off dramatically.

While there was certainly a significant power gap between ranks,

the prevailing theory was that it was an issue of the inherent limits of the human body.

For an Awakened, rising in rank was akin to breaking through another limit.

It was natural for the pace to slow as one’s rank increased, and it was common for people to hit a plateau, their growth stopping entirely.

“Hmm…”

Il-hyeon straightened his expression, suppressing the corners of his mouth that were trying to curl up into a smile.

Before even a full season had passed since he awakened his abilities, he had already surpassed the average level of the team members in Aegis, where the world’s best Awakened were gathered.

It felt like just yesterday that he’d stumbled into Aegis as a clueless civilian and been treated as someone needing protection.

“Wow, life is so unfair. It’s only been a few months!”

Upon learning Il-hyeon’s rank, Ghost jumped up and down, feigning injustice.

Of course, his words were laced with jest; he wasn’t being serious.

He too had awakened his abilities at 15 and had lived a privileged life thanks to his innate powers and talent. Wherever he was scouted, he was always the center of attention, the star player.

Back then, he had lived on the high of being young and gifted.

It was only after coming to Aegis, a place overflowing with monsters packed with absurd talent, that he came to his senses.

It was just that Il-hyeon, who was currently struggling to maintain a neutral expression, was a monster on a whole other level.

No, honestly, it was probably more like two levels.

“It’s something to be congratulated for.”

Seok Pil-joon commented, feigning indifference as he sipped his coffee, while Lee Soo-yeon simply watched Il-hyeon with a smile.

“I’d better get on your good side now. You’ll be taking the team leader position soon.”

“Too late for you, buddy.”

Il-hyeon said to Ghost with a smirk.

“How did yours turn out, Hyeon-seo?”

“Oh, me? It says… A-Rank.”

Hyeon-seo answered nonchalantly to Lee Soo-yeon’s question, and the atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

The team members in the room couldn’t believe their ears, wondering if they’d misheard, but the section chief stepped forward to confirm it.

“That’s correct, A-Rank. All her metrics are well-balanced, indicating a high level of skill. And having three abilities is just unbelievable. I’ve never seen her before; it’s amazing how you find people like this.”

Unaware of the full situation, he seemed to be admiring Lee Soo-yeon’s incredible talent for recruitment.

Of course, that wasn’t the case, so a brief silence fell over the room.

The section chief looked bewildered by their reaction, and Lee Soo-yeon managed to speak.

“Th-Thank you. I’ll report this to the Director myself, so please just print out the data and then destroy the records.”

“Will do.”

He nodded in response and went back into the examination room.

As soon as the section chief closed the door behind him, the laughter they had been holding back burst out.

“*Pfft.*”

“Bwahahaha!”

Ghost practically doubled over with laughter, and even Lee Soo-yeon could be seen suppressing a smile.

The very thing they had half-jokingly suspected before the results came out had actually happened.

“C-Congratulations.”

Il-hyeon forced himself to say, feeling a sense of emptiness.

Her being strong was definitely a good thing.

But he had just been feeling confident about his own test results, only to find out he was weaker than someone summoned by his own ability.

Hyeon-seo scratched her head, looking embarrassed.

“If you think about it the other way, it’s an incredible ability, right? To be able to do this with a core. An A-Rank Awakened just popping into existence.”

Seok Pil-joon remarked nonchalantly, looking at him.

A-Rank Awakened were, without exception, among the most skilled individuals in the world.

The fact that most of them held team leader positions in Aegis or the Response Teams was a clear indicator of their level.

Although her stats were closer to the lower end of A-Rank, it was still an incredible level, and the rank itself carried significant weight.

“That’s right. My existence is part of your ability, too.”

Hyeon-seo said, as if to comfort him.

Wondering if his expression had been that obvious, Il-hyeon touched his own face.

Of course, Il-hyeon had thought so too; he had just been momentarily thrown off by the unexpected result.

“What about her ability ranks?”

Il-hyeon asked.

“One S-Rank… and two A-Ranks.”

Seok Pil-joon said slowly, having taken the results sheet to look at it.

At that, even the last traces of amusement vanished from the team members’ faces.

Everyone in the room, disbelieving their ears, crowded around to examine the sheet, staring intently at the abilities section.

This was no joke, in more ways than one.

S RANK: [Force Field]

A RANK: [Spatial Leap], [Curse]

‘My god…’

Il-hyeon’s jaw dropped at the clearly written ability ranks.

In terms of abilities alone, she was at the team leader level, or even higher.

Even counting all the active and retired Awakened in the world, S-Rank abilities were incredibly rare.

On top of that, she had two A-Rank abilities, which was just absurd.

However, Il-hyeon felt something was off.

Hyeon-seo’s Spatial Leap could be used regardless of the distance to her target and required no prior preparation, but it came with a huge restriction.

She could only go to a predetermined location: wherever Il-hyeon was.

In other words, her Spatial Leap ability was useless for anything other than quickly getting to Il-hyeon.

Considering it was a spatial ability, its limited utility meant it should have been ranked C or D at best.

But here it was, proudly listed as A-Rank.

‘Does this mean she can’t fully utilize her ability yet?’

The rank was based on an ability’s potential, so to use it to its fullest, one’s physical capabilities had to be strong enough to support it, and it took a lot of time to become accustomed to the ability itself.

This was especially true for high-rank abilities.

It was the same for Il-hyeon; even with three SSS-Rank abilities, he was still continuously figuring out how to use them.

And her third ability, Curse.

The name alone didn’t make it easy to understand.

Contextually, it seemed to refer to the power that prevented wounds from healing, but he couldn’t understand why it was specifically labeled as ‘Curse’.

‘Hmm, does it do something more?’

While Il-hyeon was deep in thought, Lee Soo-yeon spoke up.

“You said it was the core of an A-Rank mutant monster, right?”

“Yes. I felt something from it that I didn’t feel from low-rank mutant monsters, or even high-rank normal monsters. I’m not sure if this case was special, though.”

Il-hyeon took out the Queen Spider’s core from the clothes he had taken off earlier.

It was the A-Rank ace monster from the recent scene, but it didn’t seem particularly valuable, nor did it show any signs of summoning a person.

Il-hyeon guessed it was because it wasn’t a mutant monster.

He crushed the core in his hand and absorbed the Ether that flowed out.

He then mentally summarized what he had learned about using cores with his Predation and Summoning abilities.

First, if a summon maintained by his ability was fed a core, regardless of its type, the summon would become permanent, no longer requiring Il-hyeon to sustain it.

Instead, it needed cores like meals, and it grew stronger the more Ether it absorbed.

Next were the cores from rare mutant monsters.

When a summon absorbed one, it gained not only the Ether but also the special abilities the monster possessed.

Just like how Phoenix had gained its blue flames and shockwave.

This much was certain.

And finally, in the case of a core from an A-Rank or higher mutant monster.

He wasn’t sure, but he believed it made it possible to create a person, like Hyeon-seo standing next to him now.

He couldn’t confirm yet whether it specifically had to be A-Rank or higher, or if the Nightmare he had struggled to defeat was just a unique case, but he decided to work with that assumption for now.

“Cores from A-Rank or higher mutant monsters… That’s worth looking into.”

Lee Soo-yeon commented, and Ghost, hearing her, chimed in.

“But mutant monsters aren’t easy to find, right? Especially A-Ranks.”

“That’s true, but… the number of mutant individuals has noticeably increased recently, so it might actually be an opportunity.

Mutant monsters didn’t show up in Gate analyses, making it difficult to specifically hunt them, but the situation was still better for acquiring their cores than before.

“Oh. And Hyeon-seo, I look forward to working with you.”

“Huh?”

Hyeon-seo asked back, not understanding Lee Soo-yeon’s sudden statement.

But her expression did a complete 180 at what she said next.

“You can start work tomorrow.”

“R-Really? Yes, yes! I look forward to it! I’ll do my best!”