Chapter 6

Kei is inside a ramyun shop eating. In front of him are 7 empty bowls. “Haaa, that was good. How much for all this? Actually, don’t worry take this.” Kei threw a stack of bill towards the shop owner.

The owner was shocked and couldn’t do anything but thank him continuously and kept bowing.

‘Feels good having money, I can splurge as much as I want to.” Kei laughed deep inside and felt satisfied.

[So, are you going to awaken your ability now?]

‘Yep, let’s go get the overpowered ability for the main character!’

[I have a feeling you’ll be disappointed.]

‘Don’t you dare jinx me.’

[Dress up first before going there. You probably won’t even be allowed to go inside with how you look right now.]

Kei looked at himself and sighed. ‘You’re right.’

…

Kei got his hair done and bought new clothes for himself. Wearing a hoodie over a t-shirt and jeans with new shoes made him look fashionable. He stood in front of a tall building. ‘Korean Hunters Association’ is written in on the building. Hunters are called as such because their primary purpose is to hunt monsters, they are often in a subjugation team to make up for their shortcomings.

‘I get my ability awakened here, but why do I feel like some guy will provoke me and become one of the annoying petty villains.’

[You read too much manhua lately. Everything you think of, comes from novels and manhuas.]

‘Oh! come on, as if whatever happening right now never became a plot for a manhua. I swear I’m inside a story right now.’ If only Kei knew how right his stupidity was.

Kei entered the building and was faced by a staff. “Sir, what did you come here for? Are you planning to join a team? Apply to be a Hunter? Or maybe use the ability awakening orb?”

Kei answered him politely. “The orb please.”

The staff bowed and took the lead. “Please follow me.” She led Kei to another room via a corridor.

“Where are you taking him? Seo Ah?” A burly man went out of the room Kei and the staff was about to enter.

‘See? Told you it’ll happen.’

[Fine, suit yourself.]

“The Ability Awakening Orb.” She answered and bowed. She then opened the door to allow Kei to enter.

“He looks like a weakling, even if he has any abilities, he’ll probably die as soon as he enters a Gate.” The man reprimanded Seo Ah.

Seo Ah looked at him and responded. “Jae-Bong, this orb isn’t ours. It was given by the angels to help us awaken ability of the people. We don’t have the authority to bar certain people from awakening their abilities.”

Jae-Bong looked at her and gave up. “Kid, I don’t know who you are nor what you plan to do with your ability, but what you will see inside those Gates are hell. Go study and apply for a proper job, dying isn’t just worth it.”

[Look, it’s not a petty villain. Hehe.] Remy laughed and sounded pretty happy.

‘Turns out he’s a good guy. Can’t judge a person by appearance.’

“Thanks, sir, for the advice but I want to awaken my ability.” Kei smiled and humbly bowed.

Jae-Bong just shook his head and allowed him inside the room. Seo Ah smiled at Kei then spoke. “Sorry for that. Jae-Bong is an ability user and the leader of one of the top teams in Korea. Saying he goes to hell pretty often is not wrong, he’s witnessed many deaths personally and just wants to see it stop.”

Kei shook his head, “Don’t worry. He’s a good guy.”

Kei and Seo Ah entered the room and saw a guy standing in the room.

Seo Ah introduced the guy to Kei. “This is President Daewoo. Why are you here, sir?”

Daewoo nodded to Kei and answered. “Some bigshot’s son wants to awaken his ability so he wants me to personally supervise it. There’s still some time before he arrives, how about you go ahead?” He pointed at the orb in the middle of the room.

[Kei, I don’t think that orb will work on you.]

‘Why?’

[Your Magic Circuit is still broken remember? The orb doesn’t really awaken your ability, it only allows someone who has ability to learn what it is. It works by forcing mana through your body and it forces you to activate your ability, it will not work for you since your circuit is broken.]

‘Well fuck then, tell me that sooner. I came here all dressed just for this.’

[Having the magic energy forced in your body will just destroy your circuit even worse, it’s already near impossible to repair, any more damage and it will be actually impossible.]

Kei didn’t know what to do, he stood in front of the orb and just stayed there. Seo Ah and Daewoo grew curious but didn’t ask what he was doing.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open and a young man lavishly dressed entered the room followed by two huge bodyguards.

‘Finally, my savior.’

“Peasant, move. It’s my time to shine.” The young man arrogantly shouted at Kei to move aside.

Kei nodded and just moved. He then went to the door and exited the room, then quickly left the building.

[By the way, we’ve been talking about abilities but do you know what abilities are?]

‘Uhm, they’re like skills in a game, right?’

[Well, you’re not wrong, but that’s not also right. Abilities or the correct term would be Innate Ability are in all humans. But not everyone can use their ability as the magic circuit in their body is either not working or is too weak. There are common abilities which are Strength, Speed, Accuracy, Heal, and Enhance. These abilities are useful in a team but Unique Abilities are a lot stronger. If you have an innate ability Fire which uses half of your magic energy and you use the magic Fire and gave it half your magic energy, the innate ability will win by a large gap.]

‘Ok so Innate abilities are like a human’s Super Skill or Ultimate skill?’

[You just rendered all my explanation useless.]

After walking for a while, Kei was standing in the middle of the city. ‘What do I do now? Remy you said you have a solution to fix my circuit.”

[Fix your circuit? I don’t know how.]

‘But...’

[What I do know is how you can use magic energy. I didn’t say I can fix your circuit. For now, find a private place.]

‘Well, I just want to say that you’ve mislead me for years.’ Kei was annoyed and went inside a hotel.

…

[Ok, so now try to feel the magic energy around us. Just like what you were doing when you woke me up.]

Kei was sitting cross legged on a bed in the hotel. His palms were placed on his knees and his eyes closed.

Kei felt the air around him slowly entering his body through his pores. The ant biting pain from before came back.

[Seems like you really have the talent for this. Now force the energy to flow with your blood.]

“What the fuck is that? I don’t even feel my blood flowing so how can I do that?” Kei shouted and complained.

[Shut up and just do it. Just make it flow in your body, what you’re doing right now is forcing your body to adapt to magical energy. If your circuit isn’t broken then this should be really easy right now since you just put the energy in the circuit and it’ll flow by itself.]

“I want another teacher, someone better.” Kei kept complaining.

[I’m not your teacher and I’m better than anyone you can ever find. If I am your teacher then you just set up a death flag for me so, NO!]

“Are you even alive? I’m sure Krie is better at teaching than you. Shit, never mind I didn’t say anything.” Kei felt like he stepped on a landmine and immediately retreated.

[Go get your bird girlfriend to teach you then.]

Kei didn’t know what to say and felt like any response would be dangerous. After hesitating for some time, the only words he could say was sorry.

[Tell me who’s the best teacher.]

“You ma’am.”

[Who’s the best?]

“You.”

[Who’s the most beautiful?]

“You.”

[Who will you marry?]

“Yo… where did that come from? Stop that and just tell me what to do next.” Kei almost slipped up.

[Tsk.]

“Did I just hear you click your tongue?”

[Nothing. Now concentrate. I want you to circulate the magic energy throughout your body, doing this will make your body not just stronger but also allow you to use your ability. This is not as efficient as the magic circuit but it’s better than nothing.]

Kei concentrated really hard and beads of sweat dropped from his face. His face slowly showed his pain and he gritted his teeth while veins appeared on his face. He gripped his fist really hard and continued.

[Good, endure the pain and slowly revolve the energy around your body.]

After some time, Kei made one revolution in his body. “I’ve done it.” He lied on the bed while gasping for air.

“Damn that hurts. So, now can I use my ability?”

[Now, I want you to keep that state up for as long as possible. You can only use your ability while the energy is revolving in your body.]

“Well, I give up. I don’t want any ability. I’m just going to stay in this hotel for as long as possible and enjoy life with this money.”

[You can’t do that. You still need to pay back the favor of the Thirteenth Mortal King. He was the one who gave you this necklace.] Remy scolded him sternly.

“And when the fuck did he give me the necklace? I stole thi… I bought this with my own money. I didn’t ask for this.”

[Are you sure that necklace is the one you stole?]

Kei looked at his necklace and the red gem embedded in it. “Right, the one I stole… I said BOUGHT, I bought it. The one I bought isn’t this necklace, where is it?”

[The king probably swapped it sometime ago.]

“I don’t care, he did it all on his own, I don’t think I ever owed him anything. And, because of this my magic circuit is all broken.”

[But… fine, I’ll help you so don’t complain. Take this as repayment for your magic circuit.]

Kei started again, this time, it was faster for him to start since he already got used to it. Kei noticed that half of the magic he absorbed is disappearing somewhere, relieving him of some pain.

Remy kept encouraging him. [Keep it up, each time the energy revolves inside you, the more your body will grow stronger and the more you’ll get used to the pain.]

1 revolution, 2 revolution, after 5 revolutions, Kei finally gave up and gasped for air, his face was fully red and blood was flowing from his mouth. Kei felt his body strengthening with every revolution, after the fifth one, he felt his strength almost double. His body is covered with black pus and smelled really bad.

[That’s your body’s impurities. That is the only advantage of what you’re doing right now, using a magic circuit wouldn’t clean your body like this.]

[Do this every hour, till you’re used to it. Once you’ve reached 10 revolutions, try doing it without concentrating really hard. Do it while you’re doing other stuff, this should be second nature to you, practically instinctual.]

Kei nodded and took of his shirt. “I’m going to take a bath and do it again later. Tomorrow let’s try to find some Gate.”

[Your strength has greatly improved with this. Don’t forget to train your body and magic. I won’t be awake for much longer since I used my energy to help you earlier. I need to sleep for about a month to recover my soul energy.]

Kei held the necklace and frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

[Why do I need to tell you? Why will you miss me?]

“Yeah, it’ll be lonely again. Well, I’m used to being lonely so go to sleep then, the earlier you sleep, the earlier you’ll wake up.”

Remy inside the necklace beamed and his face reddened. [Good night, Kei.]

Kei nodded and went inside the bath to remove the dirt on his body. “Sleep well.”

--End--