Chapter 9: The Magi Project (1)

"Here's your re-issued ID."

"..."

He went to the nearby district office before going to the Player Management Office. There, he looked at the receptionist, disappointed.

'I can't believe no one reported that I was missing.'

He was thinking about how he should explain the five years he went missing when the receptionist gave him a new one.

Although he'd disappeared from Earth for five years, no one had reported that he went missing.

'Did no one notice that I disappeared?'

Or maybe it was simply that no one cared about him.

KangWoo looked at the ID bitterly.

He realized what a lonely life he'd lived in the past.

'But it's going to be different now.'

He had no intentions of living the same way as before.

He grabbed the ID and went where he'd promised to meet Han Seol-ah.

"Oh, did you come, Mr. KangWoo?"

"Yes."

"Fufu, then let's go."

Han Seol-ah led the way, and KangWoo followed her.

* * *

[Next station is Seoul Station, Seoul Station.]

"Mr. KangWoo, we've arrived."

"..."

KangWoo didn't reply to her because he was lost for words.

"Woah."

KangWoo exclaimed in surprise.

He excitedly looked at the huge crowd walking around the station.

'This is a city!'

Where Han Seol-ah lived was a little lackluster to call it a city, but exiting that station really felt like you were in the middle of the city.

After following Han Seol-ah out of the station, KangWoo was once again surprised.

Vroom-!

Car smoke was everywhere.

High-rise buildings and asphalt roads.

Busy people were walking somewhere.

"I returned."

After seeing that familiar scene, he finally realized that he had really returned to Earth.

"Mr. KangWoo, that place is the Seoul Player Management Office."

"Oh, yes."

KangWoo turned his head toward where Han Seol-ah was pointing to. KangWoo couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

'Incheon Airport?'

The building she'd pointed to was so big that it reminded him of the Incheon Airport.

He couldn't believe that they'd built such a massive building in the middle of Seoul. It'd probably cost a ridiculous amount of money to build.

'This just shows how important players are for society, right?'

The situation was understandable since players were the ones who were protecting Earth from being destroyed.

"Then I'll go and enroll in the basic education course. I think the first lesson is a theory one, so I will probably get home late."

"Then I'll see you at home."

"Yes, Mr. KangWoo."

After waving her hand, Han Seol-ah went to enroll in the basic education course.

After parting ways with her, KangWoo walked toward the place in charge of registering new players.

The process didn't take long.

After checking out the ID a few times, the receptionist spoke in a robotic voice.

"Then please move to the test room."

"Okay, thanks."

KangWoo grabbed the ticket from the receptionist and turned around.

Many people were waiting in front of the test room.

"Hello? Mom? Yes, I'm in front of the test room. Once I get the license, I'll immediately enroll in the basic education program. Just wait for a little bit. I'll definitely be successful and receive offers from big guilds."

"Excuse me, what rank attribute did you get on the 1st awakening?"

"I got D rank."

"Woah, but it's still quite high. Maybe you'll get a B rank on the 2nd awakening."

"Haha, but compared to Baek KangHyun and Chae YeonJoo, it's nothing."

"Those people got S rank on the 1st awakening. They can't be compared to us."

"Have you heard of Nam KiTae?"

"The person who got S rank on the 5th awakening and was immediately scouted by Hanul Guild?"

"Yes, I was really jealous. I honestly don't expect to get such rank on the 1st or 2nd awakening. But if I could get that later on..."

"Then your life would take a 180-degree turn."

KangWoo silently listened to what they were saying.

'It seems like the rank of the attribute is definitely important.'

You unlocked a different attribute every 10 levels.

The rank of that attribute equaled the rank of the player.

The rank you obtained on a low level was especially important.

The reason was that players with a low-rank attribute struggled at leveling up, so there was a huge chance that they wouldn't be able to awaken further.

If you managed to re-awaken, the chances of getting a higher-ranked attribute increased, but most wouldn't be able to get that chance.

"Hmm..."

KangWoo opened his status window and read his 1st awakening attribute.

"??? rank attribute."

* * *

It said there was no way to know the ranking of his attribute.

'Is it because it's beyond the norm?'

He didn't know how strong S, SS, or even SSS ranks were, but he was sure they couldn't be compared to his Authority of Predation.

'It's an OP Authority indeed.'

The best part of the Authority of Predation was that it allowed him to keep growing indefinitely.

And thanks to it, KangWoo had reached a point no demon could reach.

'Although I'm not at that point anymore.'

He wasn't worried.

Although his Authority of Predation had been sealed, he still had ways of gathering demonic energy.

Once he gathered more demonic energy, it should be possible for him to recover his old strength.

'No, if I use this player's or whatever's strength maybe...'

He would be able to surpass his old self.

"Mr. Oh KangWoo."

"Yes."

KangWoo entered the test room.

Inside the test room, there were lots of white testing orbs, and in front of them, many nervous players had their hands on top of them.

A woman wearing round glasses approached KangWoo.

"You need to place your hand here, then activate your power. Depending on the rank of the attribute, the color will change."

"How does it change?"

"It's the same as gates. The higher the ranking, the darker the color will become."

KangWoo nodded at her words.

'How will it be represented?'

His attribute ranking was outside the norm, so he was curious about what reaction it would show.

'Well, I guess details don't matter.'

He wasn't the type who hid his strength and tried to receive as little attention as possible.

On the contrary, he was the type of person who stepped up when needed.

Without hesitating, he placed his hand on the orb.

"You got F rank."

'Huh?'

After checking that the color had barely changed, the woman said that with a dull voice while writing something.

KangWoo tilted his head at the unexpected result.

'Is it because it's sealed?'

There was no way to know.

Was it because his strength couldn't be measured because it was outside of the norm?

'Well, it can't be helped.'

There was no way to change the results.

He clicked his tongue. He would've preferred them to bring a monster and make him fight against it.

"Players with a rank lower than D will receive an E-rank player ID. With this, you can enter gates that are in a similar category. You'll need permission to enter one with a higher ranking."

"What can I do to increase my ranking?"

"If you do the basic education course, you'll immediately be placed in D rank. Except for that, you'll need to sell more than a certain amount of mana stones."

"Okay."

"Then, please, wait at the counter. I'll immediately get you your ID. Oh, if you want to do the basic education course, you'll have to apply for it separately."

"It's okay."

He had no intentions of receiving a basic education course.

He could easily kill goblins with his current amount of demonic energy.

'It's just a waste of time.'

He heard that they taught you the basics you needed to know to fight, but that had no meaning to him.

He had all the experience he had gained while fighting for ten thousand years, so he did not intend to do the basic education course and waste money.

KangWoo turned around and left the testing room.

The woman with the round glasses sighed while looking at KangWoo leaving the testing room.

'It seems like he doesn't have any talent at all.'

Even considering it was the 1st awakening, almost no one got an F.

The average was E. Sometimes, people got lucky and got a D rank.

'He isn't going to receive the basic education course?'

Just getting an F rank was awful, but if on top of that, you didn't receive the basic education course, the outcome of it was obvious.

'He's probably going to die as soon as he enters the gate.'

Almost no party accepted an F-rank player.

If that happened, most people would try to reach the 2nd or even 3rd awakening by hunting alone. And thus, they ended up dying while hunting alone inside the gate.

"Oof."

She let out a sigh.

'It's better not being a player at all than being an F-rank one.'

It was sad living while doing a desk job in a world where you never knew when it would end, but it was still better than being an F-rank player whose death was almost assured.

"Hmm...?"

At that moment, she saw something in the crystal orb that'd been used to test Oh KangWoo.

"What's happening?"

The crystal orb started to darken.

From white to a light grey, and from a light grey to grey.

And finally...

It became pitch black.

"Did it break?"

She'd never seen the color change by itself.

She looked at the crystal orb with a confused expression on her face.

Crack-!

The surface of the pitch-black crystal ball began breaking.

After a short while, the crystal orb KangWoo had touched shattered into pieces.

"Ugh... It was definitely broken."

After looking a the shattered crystal orb, she put an expression that seemed to be saying, "as expected".

'There's no way he could have gotten a black attribute ranking.'

Even Baek KangHyun, who'd gotten an S-rank on the 1st awakening, had only managed to turn the orb into a slightly intense grey.

But this wasn't grey, but a pitch-black.

According to the records, it was something that had never happened.

"Oof. Next person, please wait for a little bit!"

She grabbed the broken crystal orb and yelled.