Chapter : 26
Deployment
The cracked ground, fragments filling its broken surface, and the annihilated Black Wukong—all of it was enough to send a chill through anyone.
At the center of it all, Seoyul stood with a spear driven into the ground, steadying his breath.
“……That’s insane.”
Kim Seong-ho muttered in awe, but then a question suddenly crossed his mind.
‘This was caused by a D-rank?’
‘No—it wasn’t a coincidence after all.’
Head of the Rescue Division, Lee Han, had expected this reaction.
CRASH!
Seoyul forcefully tore open a crumpled car door that wouldn’t budge.
Inside, a child was trembling uncontrollably, staring blankly as if unable to believe what had just happened.
“It’s okay now! The bad guys are all gone. You can come out.”
“R-Really?”
“Of course~”
Seoyul’s bright, reassuring tone made the child hiccup slightly—then…
“Waaahhh!”
The child burst into tears and clung tightly to Seoyul.
‘I’m alive.’
Feeling the warmth in his arms, Seoyul felt a deep sense of relief and comfort.
He realized once again—no matter how messed up the world was, this was why he couldn’t give up this job.
“Hey! We need to check the kid’s condition quickly. Medic, bring them forward!”
“Medic” was slang used in the Bureau for healers.
The healer watching Seoyul and the child chuckled quietly.
Seoyul grinned and shouted toward Lee Han.
“Since we were on standby during downtime, you should at least buy us meat before I transfer out, sir. How about a full team dinner?”
“OOOOO!!!!! Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!”
At Seoyul’s rhythm, all the rescue team members cheered and looked at Lee Han expectantly.
Sweat began to pour down Lee Han’s face.
‘……’
How much alcohol would this many people consume?
In a stingy civil servant system where even dinner expenses came out of one’s own pocket, how was he supposed to cover this?
“SHUT UP! Why are you thinking about a party when we’re still handling the incident!”
Seoyul quickly covered the child’s ears, while the team looked disappointed, glaring as if to say, “Typical Chief.”
With a twitching smile, Lee Han made a drinking gesture with his hand.
“Let’s finish this quickly… and then go!”
“WAAAHHH!”
The rescue team immediately began clearing the tunnel aftermath.
Later
‘This is ridiculous.’
Just yesterday, they had been drinking and singing all night at karaoke.
The alcohol had been awakened-personnel-grade liquor, leaving Seoyul’s head foggy with a hangover.
‘That guy probably got beaten up all night.’
Still, Seoyul felt a strange mix of concern and respect for Lee Han, who had organized such a massive team dinner.
Lee Han’s wife—who was also a retired awakened—was someone whose marriage fights were more like rock smashing than cutting paper with a knife.
‘Whatever. The deputy director makes five times our salary anyway.’
He’ll manage somehow, Seoyul thought.
Ahead of him, bio-patches were attached to his body, monitoring his heartbeat and mana output.
It was a pre-deployment medical check before his reassignment to Ulleungdo—and also a reassessment of his awakening status.
‘My rank has increased, but I’m probably not S-rank yet.’
Among awakened civil servants, A-rankers were somewhat common, but S-rankers didn’t exist in the bureau.
If he were suddenly declared S-rank, things would get complicated.
Jealousy and resentment were already widespread, and Overcross—who openly hated him—might do something absurd.
‘I even drank last night on purpose to mess up my mana and brainwaves…’
“Cough!”
Seoyul awkwardly cleared his throat.
Medical officer Park Seong-il adjusted his glasses, clearly unimpressed.
“You drank quite a lot. Your brainwaves are unstable. You were told not to consume anything before the test.”
“I did NOT drink and drive!”
His extra remark earned him a sharp glare.
“Done.”
Park Seong-il calmly finished the examination and checked the report.
“What’s the condition?”
“…I’ll tell you later. This is the last step.”
Seoyul moved to the final testing site.
The test field replicated the Hunter Association’s ranking evaluation zone.
Known as the Raw Stone Crater.
Before him stood a two-meter volcanic model.
It looked simple—but it was actually a top-tier awakened evaluation device created by the British mega guild Wizard Kingdom, worth hundreds of billions of won.
A core for mana input was placed in front of him.
“You remember how to do it, right? You saw it in training materials.”
“Not at all.”
Park Seong-il sighed quietly.
Seoyul muttered in protest.
“In my day, we just placed a hand on the awakening stone and it glowed to determine rank.”
“That was inaccurate and outdated. This device is two generations ahead.”
“Fine. So where do I put my hand?”
“On the core. Imagine a volcano erupting and inject your mana. Don’t hold back—though you probably can’t anyway.”
‘Guess I’ll leave it to luck.’
Seoyul placed his hand on the core.
The moment he did—
WOOONG!
Light spread from the core into the crater.
Red energy, like flowing lava, spread through the patterns.
The core began emitting vibration frequencies.
RUMBLE—
The model trembled slightly.
If the vibration became unstable, it would trigger an alarm, so Seoyul had no choice but to push out all his mana.
RUMBLE RUMBLE—
And then—
The crater erupted with red magma-like mana.
It wasn’t harmful in itself—but the color indicated mana density.
The higher the purity, the more intense the color.
This one looked like it was boiling with destructive heat.
And the vibration grew stronger, as if the entire model might collapse.
Park Seong-il panicked and shouted.
“Stop! Stop!”
As soon as Seoyul removed his hand, the crater instantly went silent.
“….”
Park Seong-il stared blankly at him.
‘This is bad.’
Seoyul laughed awkwardly.
“I think it’s broken. Haha… maybe I still have hangover strength in me.”
“…The test is complete. Please change clothes and go to the director’s office.”
“……Yes.”
Park Seong-il clearly wasn’t listening anymore.
For a scientist, this situation was impossible.
The system was never wrong.
Soon, the result was converted into a number.
[Magnitude: 7.5]
Thud!
Park Seong-il fell backward in shock.
“7.5… magnitude?”
Magnitude measured the seismic intensity produced by mana output.
D-rank awakened barely registered.
C-rank: around 5
B-rank: around 6
A-rank: around 7
S-rank: 8 and above
Seoyul’s result—7.5—was dangerously close to S-rank.
And the system classified him as AS rank:
- A = mana quantity
- S = mana density
‘This is basically S-rank level A… insane.’
Park Seong-il trembled with excitement and regret.
‘I should’ve gotten his autograph…’
He recalled Director Park Gwang-su’s words:
- “He will exceed expectations. Keep this result confidential.”
‘I’m going to explode if I keep this in.’
He quickly sent the report and rushed out.
Just as Seoyul finished changing—
“Ah, is there anything else?”
“Yes! One very important thing remains in your life!”
Park Seong-il held out a clipboard like a sacred relic.
Seoyul tensed.
“W-what is it?”
He shouted:
“Please give me your autograph!”
“……Huh? Oh, you mean sign the approval form?”
“No! I will treasure it for life! Please fill an entire A4 page with your signature!”
“?”
Seoyul stared at him in confusion.
‘What is wrong with this guy?’
