MDITS Chapter 22

 

“Hmm, I see… So you also go inside Rifts.”

Crumple.

The papers in Seol Yoon-hee’s hands were crumpled.

Only then did Do-jun realize that he had made a big mistake.

Seeing her reaction, Do-jun let out a false cough.

“Ahem. Shall we have our breakfast?”

“So, what do you do inside the Rifts, Father?”

During the preliminary assessment, Do-jun’s results did not show any rating.

Although Lee Kang-hyun said that the results could change if Do-jun underwent body strengthening, it meant that he himself had no competence to become a Hunter at the moment.

That is why it’s dangerous for Do-jun and other civilians to enter a Rift.

“Well, I…” 

There was no point in evading it anymore.

Do-jun sighed and began to explain his work.

“…look around inside the Rift to record monster appearances and rate the Rift itself based on their difficulty.”

Upon hearing it, Seol Yoon-hee bit her lips in worry.

She knew that she had no right to tell Do-jun what to do.

In truth, she wanted him to look for another job, but she knew it would put him in a pickle if he does it.

“But of course, I do not go inside alone. There’s no problem in terms of safety since I go with the contracted hunters in our department. That’s why you don’t have to worry too much.”

Thump.

Seol Yoon-hee’s palm hit the mattress hard.

“How can I not worry! Dad’s going inside Rifts!”

“……”

“Father, I’m afraid I’ll have to do this…”

“…What?”

“I will personally give you special training.”

At that remark, Do-jun let out a ridiculous expression.

He then pointed at Seol Yoon-hee.

“You’ll…”

And then to himself.

“Train me…?”

Seol Yoon-hee nodded with a determined look.

“I’m an aspiring Hunter anyway. From now on, I’ll train you every weekend. I’ll teach you the basics step-by-step, and you should also go to the Hunter Management Agency next Monday and get body strengthening. You should accumulate even just a little Mana by then.”

“……”

“Are you listening?”

“Ah. Yes.”

What would have happened if the warriors in Murim heard this?

It would probably be the talk of people as they drink alcohol for the next hundred years.

Seol Yoon-hee approached Do-jun and had a discontented look as she faced him.

“You know, I really mean it, father. C’mon, we’ll go outside now.”

Do-jun sighed inwardly and nodded.

＊ ＊ ＊

At a nearby park on a Saturday morning.

There were quite a few people going out for a walk in the park.

And there, two people were at the trail.

“Father, you know about the status window, right?”

“Yes.”

“Ten years ago, ever since Rifts appeared, everyone could now see their stats objectively through a system. Father, try shouting out ‘Status’.”

“…Status.”

Name: Lee Do-jun

Level: 999

Title: Heavenly Demon

Strength: 999

Agility: 999

Vitality: 999

Inner Qi: 999

Skills: Pocket Watch (SSS), Heavenly Demon Cultivation (SS), Adamant Body (S), Poison Immunity (S), Intangible Sword (S), Aerial Control (S), Fortune-telling (D), Defense Barrier (B), Sound Dominance (D), Absorbed Evolution (B), Bleeding (C), Fusion (A)

When did it start?

Do-jun’s stats had already converged to 999 for quite some time.

He wasn’t sure if it was because the limit of the status window was 999, but he already knew.

That his skills were far greater than 999.

“There will be a window in front of you like a hologram. So, what does it say?”

Do-jun thought for a while.

Of course, he couldn’t say it as it is, but he didn’t know what he should say.

During the preliminary assessment, nothing was displayed on his results, and since Seol Yoon-hee was also there during that time, he decided to take that into account.

“Level 1. Strength, 10. Agility, 6. Vitality, 9. Inner Qi, 0. No skills.” 

“Wait a minute. The sum of your basic stats is 25?”

Seol Yoon-hee was surprised.

If the sum of his Strength, Agility, and Vitality is over 20 and Mana is over 1, he would’ve been classified as an E-class Hunter. In addition, his Strength and Vitality were higher than Seol Yoon-hee herself.

‘Perhaps… Father is actually good.’

His strong fine muscles were evident even with a sweatshirt on.

Plus, he was quite tall with a height of over 180cm.

Even though it was only a fair estimate if one would base it only on his appearance.

“But… Did you just say Inner Qi? I’ve never heard of that kind of stat before…”

Only then did Do-jun realize he had made a mistake.

Inner Qi is the transformation of Mana from Do-jun’s cultivation training in Murim.

If Mana is the unrefined, impure energy in the atmosphere, then Inner Qi is the pure congregation of Mana.

“Ah, I was mistaken. It’s Mana.”

“My Mana is 0.”

Unlike Seol Yoon-hee, who has undergone body strengthening, Do-jun did not have a record of doing so.

Since Mana can only be absorbed by the body by undergoing body strengthening, it was natural for Do-jun to have zero Mana.

“Anyway, now that I know that Father goes inside Rifts, as your daughter, I can’t allow you to go inside there without any preparations.”

Seol Yoon-hee took out a book from her bag.

Mana Application Techniques.

The foundation of Shik (Form), Chul (Discharge), and Yeom (Thought).

It was a relatively thin booklet about a hundred pages long.

She had read it frequently, so the pages were quite crumpled.

Seol Yoon-hee then showed him an illustration from the book.

“There are three techniques that Hunters use to control mana. First is Shik (Form), where you can imbue Mana into a weapon. Another is Chul (Discharge), by discharging mana as is. And finally, Yeom (Thought) which is the substitution of Mana into another attribute.”

Seol Yoon-hee took a revolver out of her bag.

To be exact, it was a Mana Gun which looked like a revolver.

It was the weapon that she used when a Temporary Rift appeared at the mart, and a goblin emerged out of it.

“The easiest technique is Yeom. However, it is impossible for Father to use it right now since you’d need to have a skill… so I’m going to teach you the next easiest technique, which is Chul, where you can fight monsters from a distance. You won’t be able to do it right away since you don’t have Mana, but let me show you how it works first.”

Seol Yoon-hee then took a deep breath and raised the Mana Gun in her hand.

Little by little, Mana seeped into the Mana Gun, and gradually, it began to glow.

Pew.

Then Seol Yoon-hee discharged her Mana.

“The process of putting Mana into a Mana Gun is called charging. If you succeed in doing so, you’re already halfway there. Hmm… Why don’t you try it? It’s not marked on the status window, but everyone has a bit of Mana in our bodies.”

Actually, even before Seol Yoon-hee got body strengthening, she had successfully charged a Mana Gun.

“Here you go.”

Do-jun, upon receiving the Mana Gun, stood still for a while.

“First off, close your eyes and feel the fine air flowing around your body.”

“…Mhm.”

Do-jun closed his eyes and tried feeling his surroundings as he was told.

“Then from your body, let it flow into the Mana Gun.”

He couldn’t do that.

No matter how much control he has over his qi, Seol Yoon-hee would soon notice even if he put just a little bit of Inner Qi into the Mana Gun.

So instead, Do-jun decided to take a different approach.

A really small portion of Mana floating in the atmosphere.

Added directly to the Mana Gun.

Figuratively, it’s only 0.1% Mana which shows how careful he was in doing so.

Woong.

A brief but subtle light came out of the Mana Gun and disappeared.

And Seol Yoon-hee was surprised to see it.

“H-how did you do it in one go…”

For Seol Yoon-hee, it took her a month to do so.

And even that was already fast among aspiring Hunters.

Considering three months to be the earliest and six months to be the latest.

That’s why in her eyes, Do-jun became a genius.

“…Ah.”

‘How many times should I have pretended to fail?’

Do-jun thought as he returned the Mana Gun to Seol Yoon-hee with regret.

Seol Yoon-hee alternately looked at the Mana Gun and Do-jun as if she still couldn’t believe it.

“Father.”

“Yes?”

“You’re actually really talented!”

“T-thank you.”

“Oh, but I’m against you becoming a Hunter.”

Since it’s dangerous.

Training Do-jun now was for him to be able to defend himself.

In fact, hunting monsters was an absolute no-no.

“I don’t intend to be one either.”

At Do-jun’s answer.

Seol Yoon-hee smiled satisfactorily.

＊ ＊ ＊

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Monday morning.

Kwon Hyuk-soo turned his head to the sound of constant typing coming from his side.

It seems that Do-jun was working on something, so he pulled his chair up and went closer to check him out.

“…Do-jun?”

[Body Strengthening Results]

Do-jun downloaded a picture of a body strengthening results posted by others from Google and edited it.

He changed the name to his, and the Mana Stone that was used was F-class.

Overall, he gained 1 Mana from strengthening his body.

“…What are you doing right now?”

What Do-jun was doing was obviously forging documents.

It was a felony that could result in criminal punishment if it pursued private interests for this act.

Do-jun even copied and pasted the Hunter Management Director’s official seal and then printed it out in color.

“……”

“Please keep it a secret.”

“No, why the hell…”

Do-jun explained the situation to Kwon Hyuk-soo via a messaging app.

He explained that his daughter, Seol Yoon-hee, found out that he is working in the Rift Management Department and that he enters Rifts for his line of work. That’s why she had asked him to go to the Hunter Management Agency and strengthen his body.

However, Rift Management employees are prohibited from applying for body strengthening.

This was because a former Rift Management employee became a Hunter and committed corruption within the department.

Kwon Hyuk-soo, who heard of Do-jun’s situation at the lounge, nodded in understanding.

“You’re living in captivity. Totally.”

“Is that so?”

“Well… Sigh, I feel sorry for you.”

Kwon Hyuk-soo smiled as he remembered Do-jun’s phone ringing from time to time.

“You said your daughter just entered the academy, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then she’ll be on the Rift Tour?”

Do-jun nodded.

Kwon Hyuk-soo looked at Do-jun worriedly.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“Hm?”

“About your daughter. Don’t you have to hide your relationship? The three of us, including the chief, will be going there, you know that, right?”

Do-jun shook his head.

There’s no reason for him to hide it anymore.

Plus, he already told the director and his associates.

He didn’t have to hide it just because the chief would be coming with them.

“Oh, that’s right. There’s an important matter next week. Do you know about it?”

What did Kwon Hyuk-soo mean?

The Hunter Management Agency transferred the management rights of one of their B-class Great Rifts to the Rift Management Department.

Next Friday, a joint inspection and a test will be conducted with the Hunter Management Agency.

“The chief came over from a different department. That’s why he’s behind in promotion compared to his other colleagues. If we get this, he’ll be able to get promoted.”

Do-jun swallowed hard.

“If the transfer is not granted… What will happen then?”

“…Then I guess we need to lay low for a while.”

Kwon Hyuk-soo said, throwing the coffee he had finished in the trash bin.