Chapter 4

Psychopath (2)

I let out a light sigh. The rumors may have been true. Seo Jin-Wook, who was destined to become the next guild leader of the Celestial Dragon Guild if he grew up well, may have had a fatal flaw in his mind. He was in a serious condition if he took that ridiculous dispute against an A-class hunter.

‘Did the story of mental illness end only with rumors because he died young one year after awakening?’

He must have died before the rumors could spread properly. I asked Secretary Kim, who looked at me with suspicious eyes.

“Can I ask you a few more questions?”

Secretary Kim laid his finger on his chin as if he found it weird. His head was large enough that the childish insult ‘Pumpkin Head’ seemed acceptable. He then spoke, tilting his big head.

“Team Leader, do you not remember?”

“Can you stop asking me the same question?” I asked after blocking his persistent check of my memories.

“Do I usually do so many crazy things?”

After exchanging a few words, Secretary Kim didn’t seem to have a personality that cared too much about his superiors. I directly asked because he seemed unlikely to overlook or refrain from answering. Then, indeed, the answer that came back with a snort didn’t betray my expectations.

“Do you do a lot of crazy things? It would be correct to say that your mind would return intermittently.”

“What things in general? For example?”

“If to start with something light, you get nervous a lot, then suddenly anxious, and doubt the people around you for no reason…”

He listed examples such as having radical thoughts, being illogically aggressive and having a distorted reality. As I heard it, it seemed to be close to borderline personality disorder; although I had never studied psychology, the contents of the books I read came to mind clearly.

“One could say that you have done all kinds of things imaginable. The dangerous ones are when you…lose your sanity. You can’t stand what normal people would walk off. Should I say it’s a textbook example of an Anger Management Disorder?”

Anger Management Disorder. That was content confirmed in the document.

“Should I say, a man born to express Anger Management Disorder? Once, if just a mere number is wrong, you become extremely violent. You hit, throw, tear…and if the anger doesn’t go away, you take it on yourself.”

Self-harm, too? He was indeed crazy.

“Also, you waste time and money to the point where no logic works for you when you get hooked to something. Thanks to that, your gambling debt in the billions had to be paid by the guild, and the imported cars that you bought when you can’t even drive reaches billions in their worth.”

Impulsive disorder.

“Apart from that, you sometimes suffer from hallucinations, saying that there is something inside you and that strange voices keep whispering to you.”

Now it was schizophrenia. It was a comprehensive set of mental disorders.

“Are there no rumors going around when it’s that much?”

“We are managing it on behalf of the guild’s sake. Still, some rumors have spread among the hunters.”

The crackdown seemed to have achieved some success even after Seo Jin-Wook awakened. In my previous life, he was noted as a prospect who would lead the future for a short period from the point of awakening to his death. There were rumors that his potential mana was superior to any other Korean hunter.

‘The reason that the rumors of a lifetime spread and stopped must be because of the powerful story covering it.’

Come to think of it; I focused my mind on the Mana Core that I was concerned about from the moment I woke up. It had not been awakened yet, and it could not move freely, but it was possible to observe it with my skill.

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Zap!

It felt like I had been hit by lightning. I tried to hide my shocked expression.

“What’s wrong?”

I swallowed my response.

“Why did you suddenly become quiet again?”

I couldn’t afford to answer. I stared at the mana that hadn’t yet been activated, hidden inside this body. Indeed, it was overwhelming. My whole body felt the thrill. It felt like looking into a bottomless abyss, the end of which couldn’t be determined. It wasn’t even inferior to Hibiki in her prime. I swallowed back my fear.

‘He was a real monster, this hunter named Seo Jin-wook.’

If he hadn’t died so young, if he had succeeded in activating all this potential mana, I think he might have changed history irrevocably.

‘Wait a minute.’

Change history? The potential mana amount was at a terrible level, but the current body overlapped with me, and an idea was about to bloom. I then turned to Secretary Kim again.

“My 19th birthday is coming up soon. How will I be awakened? With an awakening stone?”

There were one of two ways to awaken as a Hunter. Put one’s life on the edge of death or, among the artifacts from the dungeon, used one known as an ‘Awakening Stone.’ Of course, the easiest and most widely used method was the second one.

“Absolutely. The awakening stone from the Class A Dungeon is readied, the price already paid. Well, even if you use something from an F-class dungeon, you, Team Leader, will surely awaken. There aren’t only one or two guild people who have witnessed you going berserk with telekinesis every time you got pissed. I saw it clearly with my own eyes.”

Even before awakening, some expressed their power when in a state of emotional excitement. It proved that there was enough potential mana in the body, and these people would awaken with 100% probability if conditions were to be met. Seo Jin-wook seemed to have been one of them.

“When is my birthday?”

Secretary Kim looked at me again oddly.

“Just a week from now.”

A week later, under the Hunter Management Department’s presence, the plan was to come into contact with Awakening Stone and become a hunter. Following the international norms of this era, deliberate awakening attempts by persons under the age of 19 were illegal. On the surface, it was intended to protect youth by limiting the right to self-determination, but if you were to look closely, it prevented children’s access to weapons of mass destruction.

‘In a week…’

I was worried about—my state now. Choi Seung-hyun’s soul, who had already awakened as a hunter, resided in Seo Jin-wook’s body before it had awakened with his skill. There was no Seal of Awakening on Seo Jin-wook’s body. In other words, the soul awakened, but the body had not. If so, judging by this condition, had ‘I’ awakened, or not?

‘What happens when I touch the Awakening Stone in this state?’

Deep wrinkles appeared on my brow. Secretary Kim stared at me while I was in deep thought.

Ring!

The phone rang, and Secretary Kim checked the recipient with a frown.

“Yes, hello? No, I’m still in the Team Leader’s quarter.”

I heard a faint scream of anger from someone over the phone. Secretary Kim raised his finger and made a gesture to wait for a while, then went out of the bedroom door. Then, after talking on the phone for a few minutes, he opened the door again.

“We can’t hold much longer. You must leave right away. The guild leader is stubborn.”

Updated from

It seemed that meeting him was inevitable.

*

It took a few minutes to walk to Seo Jin-wook’s father’s office, the leader of the Celestial Dragon Guild. This company house, which was prepared for the guild leader and his direct lineage, was more appropriate to be called a palace. It made me realize again how the Celestial Dragon Guild’s reputation was in this era.

As I walked through a long corridor where civilizations and dimensions were exhibited, I occasionally encountered employees whose thoughts I could easily estimate. Whenever they found me, their expressions stiffened. I tried to keep my poker face as much as possible, but I couldn’t hide the pale color of my face.

“I guess I’m notorious.”

Secretary Kim answered me calmly.

“Notorious? Highly…highly. You’re almost a natural disaster.”

Anyway, there was no way that this man would reply to me without a word.

“Huh?”

As we walked down, we came across a man who seemed to be waiting for us.

“Seo Jin-wook, Team Leader.”

Our eyes met. He had a short, muscular body that looked a little less than 170cm and short-cut hair. The impression overlapped with a Hunter that still remained in my head.

“Hunter Park Chang-hee…”

It was him who Seo Jin-wook had failed to give a flying kick during the argument just before I possessed him. Park Chang-hee, facing us, began to speak in a calm tone.

“I was waiting at the house. I’m glad your consciousness came back. “

His expression as he spoke seemed to have all his emotions removed at first glance. However, I noticed the strange feeling that surfaced in his eyes.

‘Why does he feel suspicious?’

I had spent most of my previous life in the hunter game. I’d been through it with all these guys. Although he would not be at the forefront of the battle, he attended the political negotiations and operations between the hunters. You couldn’t fool my eyes like that. He seemed reluctant, so I answered with caution.

“What happened?”

“Of course, I came to apologize.”

Then he strode in front of me, narrowing the distance in a moment.

“It’s a post-war situation anyway, and no matter what you, Team Leader, did, I admit that there was an excessive on my part with the defensive action I took as a hunter against the non-awakened Team Leader. I’m sorry.”

One step behind, Secretary Kim began to mutter with an unpleasant expression as he toyed with the ring on his hand.

“I heard that you, who would be unaffected by a kick from a civilian like that, attacked our Team Leader? I have heard that it was an impossible move to make without using mana…above everything else, how can a hunter use the mana against a civilian? He could have died. Wasn’t that intentional?”

He wouldn’t be able to talk back by just looking at their ranks, but Secretary Kim spoke in a bitter voice without hesitation. Park Chang-hee didn’t hide his displeasure. For the first time, he made an explicit expression.

“I don’t think it’s Secretary Kim’s place to reveal his tongue?”

I interrupted him.

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“Let’s stop it. Anyway, it was my side that got emotional first. I apologize, too.”

I didn’t remember it, but considering the fact that he took the lead for no reason, it was certainly 100% the fault of Seo Jin-wook. However, I wasn’t comfortable because of what I had recently learned through Secretary Kim. Did he hit someone non-awakened while using the mana? That was no different from responding with live ammunition against a child charging towards you with his bare body.

“But it’s a little surprising that you even used mana on me.”

“Once dungeon exploration is repeated, and the extreme situations that come and go through the crossroads of life are repeated, the sense of battle will naturally come to one’s body. It’s an extremely trained reflex; I responded reflexively without even knowing. It seems that I will be disciplined at the guild level for that part. I will receive it without a word.”

Secretary Kim began to mutter once more.

“You will barely receive a punishment thanks to the Assistant Guild Leader, anyway.”

Assistant Guild Leader? I was puzzled, but I thought I had to send Park Chang-hee away quickly before the sparks splashed over to Secretary Kim.

“Alright, stop it. Excuse us first. There’s a place that we must head to…”

Perhaps because it was too different from Seo Jin-wook’s usual attitude, Park Chang-hee’s expression signaled he sensed something strange… However, it seemed that it wasn’t only that he was feeling. I did not miss it. After all, I found him suspicious.

“I know. The guild leader summoned you.”

He took another step closer to me. What in the world, why was he sticking on me like this?

“I apologize once again. I hope you get well as soon as possible.”

Then he bowed to say goodbye. It was too polite, to the point it felt excessive. Looking down at his head, I wondered what felt off. Park Chang-hee raised once more. And, once again, our eyes met. Suddenly…

“···!”

I stared into his eyes as if I were frozen. A brilliant blue wave swirled inside Park Chang-hee’s eyes. I was well aware of this phenomenon— Mana Dances. To compare the complex movements, imagine a butterfly made of light rays flapping its wings. There were countless small collisions like that of a rainy sea surface, and there were afterimages of light. All of it intertwined, unwound, and danced.

At first glance, it looked like a disorderly movement, but after completely memorizing the movement, a pattern soon appeared. That was the mana movement that was made when the skill was activated. I didn’t even have to wait for [The Successor’s Eyes] to explain. I knew very well what skills that pattern created.

[Penetration (Rank: E, Active)]

The haze-like mana emanating from Park Chang-hee’s eyes slowly penetrated and expanded into the air and approached me.

‘There was a reason why this bastard kept closing up the distance!’

Of course, Secretary Kim, who stood right behind him, didn’t notice anything, and he would have been helpless if I had been the former Seo Jin-wook before the possession. However, my eyes couldn’t be tricked.

‘This bastard, why is he suddenly trying to see through me? Is the goal to see inside my clothes? Is he a pervert? Or…does he want to go further and see inside the skin?’

Anyway, I didn’t intend to wait for that misty mana to seep into my collar. But how do I do that without letting him know? Just in time…

“!!!”

Oh, this guy? Even as I walked, I was a little dizzy due to the concussion’s aftereffects, but when I looked at the flashy mana pattern formed in Park Chang-hee’s eyes, I felt worse inside.

“Eup!”

I then openly gagged. I went to the bathroom a few times when the doctor visited, but I guess it was still not over. I decided not to put up with it because my stomach had turned upside down. I looked down at Team Leader Park Chang-hee. He was looking up at me as he approached, narrowing the distance to only one or two steps, carefully considering the range of his skill activation.

As I stared at his face, I opened my mouth. Park Chang-hee’s face was distorted as he had a flash of intuition.

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“Blaaaargh!”

Without hesitation, I poured everything over his face.