Chapter 55: 55

The S-rank .

The Awakener combat force was rumored to be quite close to the movers and shakers in the political scene, consisting of only five known individuals in all of South Korea .

Lee Ju-ho knew that Su-hyeun was an A-rank Awakener . Of course, he also knew of the latter growing even stronger in the last year or so .

But he still didn’t expect the latter to become an S-rank after only two years .

The wall existing between the A- and S-ranks was simply too vast and thick to cross .

“Well… it somehow worked out that way,” replied Su-hyeun, as he nodded his head at Lee Ju-ho’s question .

This was the basis for an S-rank Awakener .

The Magic Level and Magic Factor had to be over seven and 70, respectively .

Su-hyeun had already satisfied those two conditions . After consuming the highest-grade potential catalyst not too long ago and digesting every bit of the liquid, he managed to advance to the next level .

“Why didn’t you say something earlier? I wouldn’t have been this anxious if you told me sooner,” said Lee Ju-ho .

“It wasn’t that long since I became one . If you were worried about this, then I can only apologize . ”

“Ah, well… no need to apologize or anything…”Read more chapters at Listnovel . com

Lee Ju-ho became sheepish and sighed when Su-hyeun apologized instead . It felt like he was in the wrong for sounding like he was accusing the latter of something .

While sinking deep into the chair once more, Lee Ju-ho tried to change the topic . “In any case, what will you do next? Everyone knows your identity by now and will report on the fact that you’re currently registered as a C-rank pretty soon . ”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem . I can always say that I was C-rank one year ago . ”

“That’s what I was mean . Aren’t you going to get re-evaluated?”

There was the rank re-evaluation, an evaluation process that Awakeners could request once each year when they wanted to change their ranking .

It proceeded concurrently with the regular rank evaluation, and mainly the Awakeners hoping to receive a higher rank than their current ones requested for it .

Normally, people requested it to raise their rank by one level, but…

“From C-rank up to S . Well, now . I think it’s going to produce a pretty epic spectacle, alright . ”

The appearance of an S-rank Awakener was more than enough to become a hot topic already .

If the truth became known that the very same S rank Awakener was the hero responsible for saving the City of Anyang and jumping three levels during his rank improvement evaluation, then the mass media would riot once more .

“Urgh… . ”

“Based on your reaction, I take it you’re at least a little interested?” Asked Lee Ju-ho .

“I do need to get re-evaluated, that’s for sure . Everyone knows that already, anyway . Remaining in C-rank like this won’t benefit me in any shape or form, either . ”

“Is it because of money? Or…”

Lee Ju-ho realized that the question was unnecessary and immediately shut his mouth .

He could easily tell that it wasn’t because of money, judging from how Su-hyeun had acted up until now .

Su-hyeun not even once used the money he earned in dungeons to live in luxury .

Excluding his purchase of a house to act more freely, he was someone who thought that having a meal wasted his precious time . He invested almost all of his time primarily on climbing the tower .

Lee Ju-ho was unable to just sit back and watch, so he gave Su-hyeun a sports car as a present . Even then, him turning its ignition remained a rare occurrence even now .

“What is all this for, anyway?”

So, Lee Ju-ho changed his question .

He suddenly became curious as to why Su-hyeun became an Awakener .

Normally, it’d be to chase after things like wealth, prestige, and power . Even Lee Ju-ho himself couldn’t fully escape from that mold .

“Well, that’s because… . ”

Su-hyeun avoided the question .

Regardless of whatever reply he came up with, it was likely that the other party wouldn’t understand . He was the only person who knew the future, after all .

>

The world was rapidly changing .

The rate of dungeon generation was rising quickly, and outbreaks were now occurring without warning .

Even then, society at large remained at a standstill . They all thought of it as a problem similar to the issues of pollution from a few years ago .

In reality, the number of casualties from the last event was quite low . There was no need to even mention the civilian deaths as there was almost zero loss of life even among the Awakeners this time .

Knock, knock!

The short bout of silence was shattered by someone knocking on the hospital room’s door .

“Come in . ”

Creak!

The moment Su-hyeun responded, Hak-Joon entered the room carrying a fruit basket .

The former already knew that the latter had come to visit by sensing his presence, and waved his hand to greet the younger man .

“Been a while, isn’t it?” said Su-Hyeun .

“Didn’t we see each other two days ago?”

“Did we? The last time we got together was such a long time ago, so…”

“Both my bro and I had been way too busy lately, so it couldn’t be helped . Although, I didn’t know you were the real Kim Su-hyeun back then, bro . ”

Su-hyeun smiled awkwardly at Hak-Joon’s words .

Lee Ju-ho observed the atmosphere before standing up from his spot . “Well, I’ll be on my way now . Give me a call when you’re about to be discharged, please . ”

Su-hyeun raised his upper torso from the bed to bade Lee Ju-ho goodbye, but the latter dissuaded him from getting up altogether and exited the room .

Not too long afterward, Hak-Joon settled down on the chair Lee Ju-ho had been sitting in earlier .

He even bought a small fruit knife as if he was planning to peel the fruits he brought along .

“How are you feeling?” Hak-Joon asked .

“It’s already been a couple of days, you know . Feels like I’ll be just fine getting discharged tomorrow . ”

“That’s a relief . ”

“What’s wrong? If something’s on your mind, just tell me . Don’t worry about it too much . ”

“It’s nothing, just…”

Hak-Joon’s hands peeling the fruit came to a halt as he closed his mouth after hearing Su-hyeun’s words .

The pregnant pause persisted for a long while . Su-hyeun had been thinking that Hak-Joon would either be angry or disappointed by him, so the current reaction came across as a little strange .

Since he had nothing urgent to do anyway, Su-hyeun decided to patiently wait .

Eventually, he spoke up .

“Hyung, do you remember… what you told me earlier?”

“What did I say?”

Su-hyeun asked back, but Hak-Joon began hesitating again . After pondering for a while, he simply shook his head .

“Nah, it’s nothing . ”

“Come on, what is it? I’m curious now . Tell me . ”

“It’s nothing important . Besides all that, bro . Why didn’t you say anything? We’ve known each other for over a year already, too . That hurt my feelings, you know . ”

“I’m sorry about that . Actually, I…”

Sure enough, the conversation with Hak-Joon went down the expected avenue . However, Su-hyeun was quite certain that this wasn’t what he wanted to say to him .

>

His curiosity was rushing in .

He was thinking of uncovering more information about Hak-Joon once the current situation had settled down .

>

It’s only been two years .

That was not a short time . Out of the current batch of Awakeners, there have been only a few that managed to become A-rank within two years .

That was when considering the entire world .

Just from that alone, one could tell how talented Hak-Joon was . The more Hak-Joon’s brilliance shined brightly, the greater Su-hyeun’s curiosity grew .

Especially more so, when he openly carried a face that shouted out to the world, ‘I have a secret’ .

In the end, Hak-Joon didn’t say anything particularly important and left the hospital after inquiring about Su-hyeun’s wellbeing .

Su-hyeun immediately picked up his mobile phone afterward .

“Hello? Hi, can I ask you for a favor?”

Act 6

Hak-Joon exited the hospital room and slowly walked along the corridor . He came here after lengthy deliberation, but as expected, he just couldn’t say anything .

>

He thought that he had grown quite close to Su-hyeun .

Despite this, he began feeling that the friendship between them existed only in his mind .

>

It was too presumptuous to hope for Su-hyeun’s help . In all honesty, the relationship between him and Su-hyeun only amounted to being acquaintances that didn’t even meet each other all that often and just shared a few calls every now and then .

“Uh, we meet each other again?”

About eight months ago, he ran into Su-hyeun by sheer coincidence while heading towards the assigned dungeon to clear it .

He noticed a sparkling sports car and wondered whose it was, only to realize that Su-hyeun was behind the wheel .

“You lived around here?” Hak-Joon asked .

“Yes, I moved into the neighborhood not too long ago . I needed something so I was on my way to Yangpyeong just now . ”

“Aah, so you’re now my new neighbor, then . ”

“Why don’t we meet up again sometime and have a meal? Sounds good?”

Hak-Joon was in a dilemma when Su-hyeun approached and asked for the contact details in a friendly manner, but in the end, he gave away his phone number .

If this was any other time, he’d have ignored the request, but perhaps them coincidentally running into each other several times like this must’ve been to blame; he gave in and ended up swapping their contact details with Su-hyeun .

“Give me a call if you need anything . If it’s something I can help you with, then I will,” said Su-Hyuen .

It was unclear why he suddenly said that .

Indeed, that wasn’t something you’d say to a person you’re encountering for only the third time who you initially met through sheer coincidence .

His tone of voice also seemed to imply that he knew something about Hak-Joon, as well .

Although it concerned him somewhat, Hak-Joon decided to overlook it .

He took it as the other guy saying that out of courtesy .

For some reason, he just couldn’t forget those words .

The day before, he felt like the inside of his head had been rocked hard after learning that the Su-hyeun he knew was that Kim Su-hyeun .

“Damn it . ”

>

Hak-Joon spat out a long sigh .

He lowered his head and scratched it in irritation, and the next moment he raised it again, Hak-Joon’s steps came to an abrupt halt .

“So, you came?”

“… . Chairman . ”

Jung Dong-Yeong waiting for Hak-Joon at the end of the corridor, formed an ominous smile, and waved his hand .

Three days passed by since he was hospitalized .

Su-hyeun roundly ignored the doctor’s recommendation of staying in the hospital for a little bit longer and discharged himself right away .

He wasn’t horribly wounded anyway . All he did was to use up every bit of his magical energy until it ran completely dry, which in turn caused a sudden strain on his body .

“Yes, yes . ”

Su-Hyeun’s eyes were withdrawn .

Lee Ju-ho’s voice was coming out from the mobile phone pressed to his ear .

“…That’s the current situation . ”

“How solid is this info?”

I think whether it really happened or not needs to be verified first .

“I’ll leave it to you, then . ”

“Don’t worry about it . I’m also a bit pissed off, you see . In any case, I’ll properly dig into it . Oh, and there’s something unrelated I want to talk to you about… the director wishes to speak to you . ”

“Why didn’t he directly call me for that… . ?”

“Well, he doesn’t know your contact details, you see . He wanted me to give you his contact numbers . Are you willing to meet him, though?”

“Ah, I see . Well, I’ll give him a call, at least . ”

It was rather obvious why that man wanted to speak to him .

After chatting some more, Su-hyeun ended the call with Lee Ju-ho . He wasn’t sure why, but it felt as if things were going to get rather hectic from now on, even though he just got discharged from the hospital .

>

It had been a while since the last time he saw that man’s face .

In the past, Su-Hyeun used to meet the director several times in a month to growl at each other’s throats in an uncivilized manner . They never saw eye to eye on their thoughts and values .

But now, that man had no relations to the current Su-Hyeun .

Tti-ring!

Lee Ju-ho’s text message arrived .

It was the director’s contact number .

A few somewhat random words were written just below it .

[Also, I heard that the Dump Guild has started paying you attention . Maybe I’m overthinking this, but it’s still not a bad idea to stay vigilant, right?]

The Dump Guild…

He realized that he had momentarily forgotten about how he used their name and created this situation .

>

Those bastards enjoyed killing people so much that they even established a guild of their own . Out of all the incidents currently taking place behind the shadows, quite a few were likely to be related to them somehow .

But now, someone used their name and saved the lives of hundreds of thousands? They wouldn’t be feeling good about that .

>

Su-hyeun sighed loudly .

“It’s going to get hectic soon . ”

He was destined to clash with them in the future, anyway . If he got to drag the ones hiding in the shadows out into the open, then he couldn’t see that as an entirely bad result, either .

Tap .

Su-hyeun dialed the contact number as shown in Lee Ju-ho’s text .

The ring tone continued for a couple of times, and the other side soon answered the call .

“Hello, director . It’s Kim Su-Hyeun speaking . ”