Chapter 32

The Unique Skill of the Two

I barely suppressed the rising suspicion in my eyes towards her. Instead, I just shuddered while still wearing a smiling face.

"Of course, it is. Why would I lie with such a thing?"

I lied.

About a month ago, I was asked about my unique skill where both Seo Gyu-cheol and Han-seol were around. I briefly worried about how I should answer them.

'First, it is impossible to expose [Mana Drain]!'

Telling the enemies that I could grow limitlessly only gave them another reason to kill me as soon as possible. Indeed, the time that Seo Jin-wook died was within that short time, only a year from the point that he had awakened.

'But all the more, I shouldn't reveal [The Successor's Eyes]'

The effect was maximized when the opponent was unaware of the state. In the previous life, Choi Seung-hyun's true abilities were only known by a handful. Thanks to that, the competitors were always defenselessly attempting a surprise attack.

'They will not believe me if I don't have a unique skill altogether, they will catch me if I state a normal skill, and I will be caught right away if I state a unique skill that I cannot perform!'

After such a short deliberation period, I decided on what skill I would state to Seo Gyu-cheol and Han-seol.

"Jin-wook."

Han-seol spoke.

"The unique skill is called [Replica]."

[Replica] was a unique skill that a hunter named Roadman possessed in the previous life.

He kept his secret tightly, yet as he had to face us off due to a conflict against my guild, his skill was revealed to me. As he performed a mediocre sword dance in front of Randy, he lost his head by the swung magical sword.

The overview of the ability was... To put it, a lower-end version of the analysis of skill and reproduction by [The Successor's Eyes].

When [Replica] was activated, even if the skill card wasn't equipped in the slot, it saved the skill used by another hunter in a certain distance for a limited number of times.

I chose it, considering that there would be many occurrences that I would be working along with other hunters from now on. If I used only four officially declared skills, my active skills would be too narrow.

From the enemy's perspective, they would lower their guards, thinking that the skills that an E-Class hunter could copy would be limited due to the Mana capacity.

"You said that copying the unique skills of another Awakened is impossible?"

"Yeah."

"If your mastery of the skill gets higher, wouldn't it be possible to copy the unique skills as well?"

"Hmm? I'm not sure about that. System messages did not explain that far."

"Is that so?"

"Why do you ask such a thing all of a sudden?"

She made a look that revealed the fact that she was contemplating for a good moment, then barely opened her lips.

"Keep this as a secret from the Guild Master that I'm telling you about this, okay?"

What was she going to talk about? I nodded my head silently.

"Jin-wook, have you guessed what my unique skill is?"

It was an unexpected question. My heart beat faster, but I tried to pay attention to my expression in order to calm down.

As I would expect, her unique skill would be something related to the curse. It was about the red seed that was hidden in Park Chang-hee's body as well as mine.

I responded calmly.

"Of course, I don't know. That's only known between my father and the Assistant Guild Master."

"Yes, only the two of us know."

With an awkward silence, she continued.

"You know that Guild Master trusts me wholeheartedly, right?"

"I know that well."

An absolute trust enabled her to stay grounded that, even if anyone said anything about Han-seol, he would support everything she did. Seo Gyu-cheol trusted Han-seol that much.

"How do you think that happened?"

"I heard you were his lifesaver..."

"That's right."

Before coming into Celestial Dragon, it was said that Han-seol saved Seo Gyu-cheol's life.

Everybody thought that Seo Gyu-cheol's trust began from that incident.

"The fact is, there is one more reason why that man trusts me."

She stared at me with calm eyes.

"You should be aware of this since you are well aware of the guild's history. After absorbing the guild that I was in, the Celestial Dragon Guild started to grow exponentially."

That was the truth.

Seo Gyu-cheol carried the symbol of the first S-rank hunter in Korea with fitting physical strength. However, the capability to run a guild was indeed a different story.

When he was still building up his guild, nobody commented that Seo Gyu-cheol was the best hunter in Korea, but when it was said that the Celestial Dragon Guild he led was the best in Korea, there were a lot of doubts.

However, all of this changed as Han-seol and the hunters she led joined the Celestial Dragon Guild.

"What do you think is the most crucial element of the Celestial Dragon's growth?"

"...Well, the fact that the Assistant Guild Master joined?"

She laughed in reply.

"No, not that."

I thought hard about this.

"Well, they had good luck."

It wasn't always lucky, but there were few crucial events right after Han-seol joined.

They voluntarily got the right to explore a dungeon, which others were not interested in, and got expensive items close to a jackpot. They did not know about the changes in hunter-related laws in advance, but they 'accidentally' benefited from preparing due to internal circumstances. The financial benefits from that event were then used to scout high battle-rating hunters.

Considering the performance, there were few failed attempts to clear. Celestial Dragon Guild's Dungeons rarely had unexpected anomalies during clearing that caused hunters to die or the dungeon to collapse. The Okcheon Dungeon was an exceptional case, which made it even more news-worthy.

Han-seol, who listened to me quietly, nodded.

"Yeah, the Celestial Dragon was lucky. Coincidentally, right after I joined in."

"···"

The calm gaze stared at me, almost as if to see through me.

"The examples of luck that you shared... And the choices made to make that luck into a reality. What if I were actually behind all those choices? What if I gave the Guild Master all the pieces of advice?"

"But those things···"

Without being able to continue my words, a storm rushed in my head.

"But such advice can't be... Without knowing the future..."

No way.

No way?

My speech slowed down without me realizing it. My mind was in a perplexed state.

"Assistant Guild Master, are you..."

My heart beat even faster, and the veins around my whole body were about to explode.

"Now, what you're saying is, is that what I'm guessing it is?"

"Yes."

Han-seol quietly continued.

"It was possible thanks to my unique skills. All wise choices... A choice that was followed by luck. I could know it before anything happened."

She briefly stalled, then she finally spat out the words that I had guessed.

"Jin-wook, my unique skill is called [Prophecy]."

*

It felt like blood was flowing out of my face. I was genuinely surprised and didn't even have to act out the feeling.

Han-seol just said that her unique skill was foretelling the future. In addition to that, I knew someone who had made the same statement in the future.

'Angelica Heard.'

"···"

Han-seol continued to explain in a calm tone.

She couldn't fully control this skill yet, and she didn't know if she would get better at handling it with mastery in the future, but for now, she said there were limits to the time zone and place she wanted to see.

Telling the future was said to come in a random moment, much like an oracle. Moreover, all the detailed information wasn't clearly visible yet vague, like a watercolor painting with the smeared paint. She said she could understand part of the context if she were able to see the scene.

I asked while listening to the explanation.

"...So why are you suddenly telling me those today?"

"Jin-wook, I just thought your unique skill [Replica] might have copied my [Prophecy] and activated it. Have you ever had a similar experience?"

"Why did you think so?"

Han-seol took a deep breath and spoke.

" Sometimes, there are times that the scene I saw changes. After I activate [Prophecy] and put into action after determining to do so, the consequences are implied."

"···Yes?"

"But then, I recently saw the reality being played out completely different from the future that I have seen."

Her expression darkened.

"Because Chang-hee died."

"···"

"From the future that I've seen, Chang-hee is alive until at least five years. At a point later than that, Chang-hee did not appear, so I can't be sure of the far future, but he should have been alive for at least five more years."

Heavy silence passed after these words.

"But then, that suddenly changed."

"···"

"The future changed because someone saw the future. I cannot analyze the butterfly effect, but at least I haven't made any determination or put something into action that would change Chang-hee's life. I couldn't explain it in detail, but at least I have evidence that it's not because of my prophecy. So... I just thought that someone other than me had seen the future."

In the end, it was a hypothesis that my imaginary [Replica] was activated by copying her [Prophecy]. As a result, it was an assumption that Park Chang-hee had died because of the butterfly effect from my actions.

I shook my head.

"No, at least I've never had such a strange scene in my head as Assistant Guild Master said."

"...Okay, I see."

She nodded.

"It seems like I've only let out disturbing words. Come to think of it. It could have sounded like I was blaming you. I'm sorry, but my chest felt so heavy that I couldn't stand it. And··· I wanted to tell you something to be careful about if you have copied [Prophecy]. Knowing the future sometimes puts unbearable pressure on you. Even if it's a vague, faint scene."

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm really not the one."

"Okay, I see."

Han-seol made a look as if she was convinced and stood up.

"I'm sorry if you felt bad."

"No, it's not bad at all? It's okay."

"···Yes. Please keep the secret that I've told you today. Okay?"

"Of course."

I looked at her, purposely with a peaceful smile on my lips, and then spoke.

"I was stunned. [Prophecy]... Thank you for talking to me about it."

"No, thank you for understanding."

As she was about to turn around, I spoke in an almost joking tone.

"Since you said that you could see the future... I have to ask this. What happens to me in the future? Do I live well for a long time?"

The end of the original Seo Jin-wook came to mind. I waited for her answer with a bright smile.

Han-seol, who showed her back for a moment, slowly turned around and looked into my eyes. After a moment, she answered.

"Yes, of course. The farthest future I've ever seen is 40 years from now. I can see you, Jin-wook, in that scene."

40 years later.

It was when the Tower of Choice would rise, and Choi Seung-hyun of the previous life... would face death.

"40 years later? Then how old am I... Wow, how do I look? "

Just for a moment, a stiff look passed over her face.

Then she replied right away, recovering.

"I won't tell you. If I'm going to say good things, you're not going to put effort into it, and if I tell you harshly, you will feel bad. So train hard!"

As soon as she closed the door of my room as she left, there was a chill on my face. I muttered inwardly.

Han-seol.

Angelica Heard.

What they had in common was that they claimed to have the skills to predict the future.

In Angelica's case, the words were half-right and half-false. She really predicted the future, but she didn't have that skill.

What about Han-seol? What kind of case would she belong to?

I floated a hologram using my terminal. It was the final report of Secretary Kim's request to an outside company a few days ago.

There was a survey on an ordinary civilian, called Angelica Heard, who was a non-Awakened at this point.

The summary of the report was as follows.

'A person who meets the conditions suggested by the client cannot be found at present.'

The fact that they avoided the expression 'non-existent' but failed to find it after this much investigation meant that at least none of the people registered by the census normally existed with that background.

I thought of the past memories once again—memories of my past life.

As for the past of Angelica Heard, almost strangely, nothing was known.

'What if the identity itself was created suddenly?'

There was one more thing that got on my nerves.

It would be announced that Han-seol and Seo Jin-wook were dead in about ten months, and it was only about a month after the tragic accident that a hunter named Angelica Heard appeared in the world.

I thought hard before I sent a message to Secretary Kim through the terminal. I wrote down the names of three people there and asked him to investigate them.

The names were as follows.

Nathan Drake

Randy Samuel Hickerson

Amano Hibiki

Excluding Angelica, these were the names of my future teammates.

"···"

The more the evening progressed, the more my thoughts deepened.