Chapter 38: Perhaps E-rank?
Chapter 38: Perhaps E-rank?
Ji-woo’s mother got better and stayed at home for a while, as their food stall was still under reconstruction.
It was quite costly to repair the food stall, around 6-8 million won. Luckily Ji-woo’s mother still had some savings for that. (note: 8 million won = around $7200)
On the other hand, Hwang Eun-bi’s inheritance got donated to the neighborhood around Ji-woo’s mother’s food stall, except for funeral expenses.
Ji-woo felt that his mother was overreacting to the inheritance. But, he also couldn’t go against his mother’s will. After all, the one who understood and the closest to Eun-bi was his mother, not him.
To be the truth, Ji-woo felt sorry if they used the inheritance. The one who had to help his family first before anyone else was him. However, because he only had 1 million won on hand, there was not much he could do with that amount of money. In the end, he reluctantly felt bitter about the inheritance that got donated by his mother.
There were monthly living costs and debt interest, added with Kim Ji-won’s tuition fee this year. It would burden her mother to handle all of that alone.
Of course, Ji-woo had many options to earn money, either in a good or bad way.
Ji-woo could work at a convenience store or a construction site since those places didn’t require a history of education in terms of employment. It was just that it took a lot of time before it was enough.
Work as a thug or a bodyguard for rich people? Ji-woo’s mother wouldn’t like that job.
Let’s say, Ji-woo robbed a bank and lied to his mother about where he got the cash. His mother wouldn’t believe it until Ji-woo could prove where the money came from it.
Ji-woo’s current situation was really complicated.
‘It seems like I started fearing my mother more than the Underlord.’ Ji-woo thought while smiling wryly. The figure of his mother always crossed his mind and made him worry if he caused trouble. Thus, stopping him from doing anything reckless, even though he had so many options.
Why did Ji-woo think of other jobs instead of hunters, unlike his initial plan? The reason was due to him still unsure about how to bypass the Mana detection from Hunters Association.
Mana Detection got used to determine the amount of Mana and the rank of hunters. After that, they would create a hunter ID based on the information. And use it in the daily affairs of the hunters.
Ji-woo needed that Unique ID to be a hunter. Only then could he join a guild, or if he wanted to work as a solo hunter and earn a salary.
Ji-woo already knew the pros and cons between Guild and going independent.
Becoming a Guild member meant having a higher salary. Meanwhile, an independent hunter was a bit poorer than the Guild’s hunters.
And then, Ji-woo decided to go to the Demigod guild first before getting his Hunter ID. He just wanted to show that he could beat some of their hunters and hoped he would get accepted into the Guild with that plan.
“Mom, I wanna go out, taking a walk around the neighborhood.”
“Alright, don’t come back late, Ji-woo~ya.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Ji-woo was making an excuse to go out. Then, He saw a middle-aged man approaching him and slightly bowed when Ji-woo came out of the gate of his house.
“Hello, did you remember me, Kim Ji-woo~si? We met in Seoul before.”
Ji-woo just stared at the middle-aged man without giving any response to the greeting.
“Ah, sorry for disturbing your time. My name is Lee Jae-suk, Chief of the Monitoring division from Hunters Association.”
“It’s fine. I have no interest whatsoever in the Hunters Association,” Ji-woo nonchalantly replied while bowing to Chief Lee.
Chief Lee got taken back by those words, and he even saw Ji-woo walking away from him. Panicked, he took out a small, palm-sized device from his pocket. Then, it got directed at Ji-woo, who was slowly leaving him behind.
Biip, Biip–
Chief Lee was surprised to hear the device and saw the light emitted from it.
Ji-woo also heard the sound and stopped his movements. He looked back at Chief Lee, who was holding the device from which the sound came.
“What are you doing?!” Ji-woo spoke informally to Chief Lee with a bit of annoyance.
Meanwhile, Chief Lee didn’t hear Ji-woo at all. He was still in a state of shock after hearing the device ring. A device commonly used to detect Mana from new hunters. Clearly, he didn’t feel a tiny bit of Mana from Ji-woo.
Ji-woo didn’t get an answer from Chief Lee and came closer to him.
All of sudden, Chief Lee was shouting at Ji-woo. “How can you have Mana?! I didn’t feel anything from you. Did you have an artifact item that can hide Mana?!”
Ji-woo stopped his track and frowned hearing the words. He was looking around toward the gate of his house, worrying about his mother hearing the fuss.
“Can you spare some of your time for me? I want to talk to you about something. Just the two of us.” Chief Lee suggested, understanding why Ji-woo was looking around.
Ji-woo looked at Chief Lee with his remarkable icy cold gaze.
“Follow me,” Ji-woo said. He was interested in why Chief Lee said he had Mana and decided to inquire more from him.
—- —-
Before long, both Ji-woo and Chief Lee arrived at a nearby coffee shop.
“Kim Ji-woo~si, I’m sorry for taking your time for an unclear reason and shocked by this. Then, I will explain…”
Ji-woo raised a hand toward Chief Lee, signaling to stop talking.
“First, where did Chief Lee get my address? How do you know my name? Hunters Association shouldn’t have information about ordinary people.
“Last, from what I remember, we don’t know each other. So, what business does Chief Lee have with me?”
Ji-woo was already prepared for his private life to get exposed after becoming a hunter. However, not for now. Which, he still didn’t know how to obtain hunter ID with his cursed soul.
“That…” Chief Lee had a hard time answering Ji-woo’s question. The Hunter Association didn’t have the privilege of ordinary people’s matters. Especially Chief Lee got the address from an acquaintance in the police department. That was not according to the rules of the organization.
What Chief Lee was doing now wouldn’t become a problem if the matter was about the hunters.
“I-I got the address and information from my friend in the police station where you were there before.
“I know, I shouldn’t be doing this. But after hearing the appearance of the person who killed the High-Grade creature being similar to you, I immediately tried to confirm it. If that’s true, then you might be South Korea’s hope to close all the Portal Gates.”
Chief Lee spoke without enthusiasm while justifying himself.
Ji-woo never expected that someone would connect the Mapo-gu incident to him because of the similarity of style. It must be because a human who didn’t have Mana could kill creatures and also be able to go near the Portal Gate. Prominently with his long wavy hair, which was very unusual for South Koreans.
Ji-woo twitched his face, blaming his hair instead of the Nullifier. He also felt a trace of disappointment from Chief Lee’s voice.
“And it looks like Chief Lee guessed all of that wrong, doesn’t it.” Ji-woo smiled.
Chief Lee lowered his head. It would be a lie if he said no.
At that moment, when the device in Chief Lee’s hand rang. All of his hopes got shattered, and it became a pipe dream to clear all the Portal Gates in the entire country.
“Care to tell me a bit more?” Ji-woo also wanted to know about the accident earlier.
Once again, Chief Lee took out the device from earlier.
“This is a Portable Mana Detection from Hunters Association. It was used for new hunters and let us scout them before the Guilds.
“Merely, it’s for low-rank hunters. Or more, to be exact, it’s used for people who just got Mana’s blessing. This device capability is not enough to be used for someone of a higher rank or a lot of Mana.”
Ji-woo fell into deep thought. He expected the device noise might indicate he had Mana, which he still thought was impossible. He was someone that could sense Mana better than the hunters. How come he couldn’t sense Mana inside him at all?
The Nullifier was an absolute existence within Ji-woo’s body. Not even Rare Mana from Sphere could infiltrate it.
“Usually, the light emitted is fixed. However, for Ji-woo~si, the light continued to flicker indeterminately.”
“What does that mean?” Ji-woo asked, knowing the gist of what was discussed by Chief Lee.
“It might mean an unstable Mana. Also, the light is dim too, which indicates it’s the lowest…,
“N-No, I mean you just a new hunter.”
Chief Lee abruptly changed his words while avoiding Ji-woo’s gaze.
“It seems like, from the Hunters Association system, I should be an E-rank. And on top of that, the lowest one, isn’t it?”
Hahaha–
Ji-woo couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.