Chapter 25: Friction and Incompetence

Shortly after Lee Na-yeon and her entourage left, Se-hyeon received a call from Choi Hyun-seung at the Hunter Association. Since he was already planning to head to a simulation center to practice managing his orbs, they agreed to meet at a nearby café.

“Hunter Jang Se-hyeon! Over here!”

Choi Hyun-seung waved frantically from a corner table. Se-hyeon walked over, slid into the seat opposite him, and got straight to the point.

“What’s going on? You sounded urgent.”

“You stopped a D-rank dungeon wave single-handedly today,” Choi said without preamble.

Se-hyeon raised an eyebrow. “Oh? That happened only a few hours ago. You found out already?”

There was no point denying it, nor did he have any reason to hide it.

“Haha, the Dungeon Management Department noticed an anomalous spike in the clear-rate data and flagged it. It looked exactly like the statistical pattern from the Kobold Den. When I called the on-site staff, they confirmed you walked out with an Elite Orc and over two hundred carcasses. That’s how we knew.”

Se-hyeon smiled subtly. ‘I figured they’d notice eventually, but catching it within a few hours? I suppose the Association actually does its job.’

“Yes, it happened that way,” Se-hyeon acknowledged. “Is it going to be an issue?”

“An issue? Not at all! In fact, Manager Kim requested that I sound you out about undergoing an official Irregular Evaluation. I completely agree with him.”

Se-hyeon’s interest was piqued. “An Irregular Evaluation? I thought Irregulars were rule-breaking anomalies that defy standard ranking metrics. Does that really apply to me? I’m just a mage who hits a bit harder than the rest.”

He hadn’t awakened some entirely unique, mold-breaking archetype; he simply possessed a massive stat pool. To him, calling that an “Irregular” felt like a stretch.

“Haha, hitting ‘a bit harder’?” Choi chuckled. “Hunter Jang, no hunter in the world can solo a monster wave of their own rank just by being slightly stronger. It’s statistically impossible.”

A hunter could easily steamroll a wave in a dungeon far below their tier, but surviving a matching-tier wave alone defied the fundamental balance of the system.

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely. Solo farming an equal-rank dungeon is already absurd, but crushing an entire wave by yourself? There isn’t a single recorded precedent for this worldwide.”

Se-hyeon fell silent, weighing the options. “Hmm…”

“May I ask what’s making you hesitate?” Choi asked carefully.

“It’s nothing major. I’m just not entirely sure of my own capabilities yet,” Se-hyeon lied smoothly. “Let’s do this: at my current pace, I expect to reach Phase 2 growth in about a month. Let’s revisit the Irregular Evaluation then.”

In reality, Se-hyeon had already achieved Phase 2 days ago. However, revealing his true growth rate would only invite dangerous scrutiny; if he admitted to hitting Phase 2 in less than a week, how would he explain hitting Phase 3 or 4 later? Furthermore, he had noticed the absolute ring’s growth rate slow down significantly after hitting 10%. The required experience threshold had clearly scaled up. Even so, he estimated that a solid month of high-yield hunting would push him to Phase 3.

“Wait… Phase 2 in a single month? Are you serious?” Choi’s jaw dropped. For an average hunter, breaking through to Phase 2 took anywhere from six months to a year of relentless raiding.

“Soloing dungeons of my own tier yields a massive amount of experience,” Se-hyeon explained reasonably. “Plus, my kill counts are substantially higher than standard parties.”

Choi nodded, realizing the logic. Normal hunters ran dungeons one tier lower, split the experience among four or five party members, and cleared maybe twenty to thirty monsters per run. Se-hyeon was hoarding 100% of the experience from runs yielding up to two hundred D-rank monsters. The math checked out.

“Haha, ‘substantially higher’ is an understatement. But yes, when you put it that way, it makes perfect sense. I’ll let Manager Kim know we will postpone the evaluation until you reach Phase 2.”

From Choi’s perspective, waiting was the smarter play anyway. Whether Se-hyeon was a true Irregular or just an incredibly potent traditional mage would become undeniably clear once his Phase 2 baseline was established.

After parting ways with Choi, Se-hyeon headed straight to a nearby simulation center, rented a private training room, and began his practice.

“Shadow Orb.”

Whirrrr!

Six dark orbs materialized around him. He took a deep breath and concentrated entirely on their vectors.

‘I can summon six, but fine-tuning five of them while a sixth is present is surprisingly clumsy.’

When he only summoned five orbs, controlling them felt as natural as moving his own fingers. But when he summoned a sixth and tried to let it idle while actively controlling the other five, his mental focus fractured. The idle orb created a slight drag on his concentration, leading to micro-errors in his precision.

“First step is mastering five-orb micro-control while six are active,” he muttered to himself.

Spamming spells was easy, but absolute mastery meant flawless, independent control. Shaking off any impatience, he practiced methodically. It took an hour of continuous micro-adjustments before he could manipulate five orbs with absolute perfection while keeping a sixth suspended. It took another hour after that just to get the sixth orb moving semi-autonomously.

By the fourth hour of his session, he snapped his fingers.

“Got it.”

Six Shadow Orbs danced through the air, weaving intricate, independent patterns flawlessly.

“Phew, four hours. But now that I have the spatial rhythm down, adding more should get progressively faster.”

Now that his brain understood how to partition his awareness for a sixth variable, scaling up would take less time. Even if he only added one controllable orb per day, he would master all thirty within a month—well before his actual transition to Phase 3.

Three days passed in a blur of hunting, training, and watching his bank account swell. His only real regret was that he hadn’t discovered any more hidden underground vaults like the corrupt director’s stash.

As he was leaving his latest dungeon gate to head back to the simulation center, a voice called out.

“Hunter Jang Se-hyeon?”

Se-hyeon turned to see a stranger approaching him. “Yes? Who are you?”

“Ah, a pleasure to meet you! I am Assistant Manager Yang Do-chang from the Talent Development Department of the Korean Hunter Association.”

Se-hyeon’s expression turned calculating. ‘Talent Development? Choi Hyun-seung warned me these guys might sniff around, and here they are.’

“Ah, the Talent Development Department. I’ve heard a lot about you. I believe you’ve been taking care of my sister, Se-hee.”

Yang Do-chang smiled warmly. “Haha, it’s only natural. Our department intends to provide unstinting support to Miss Jang Se-hee going forward.”

“I appreciate that,” Se-hyeon said evenly. “But what brings you to me?”

Despite knowing exactly why the man was here, Se-hyeon played dumb. Yang Do-chang immediately bowed his head in a deeply respectful gesture.

“First, I would like to sincerely apologize for our department’s gross oversight in issuing you a ‘Non-Awakened’ verdict during your initial evaluation.”

Se-hyeon had never truly cared about the mistake, but he wasn’t about to turn down a formal apology. “I’ve already received ample compensation through the Awakened Management Department for that. But apology accepted.”

Yang Do-chang visibly relaxed. “Thank you. Additionally, we have prepared a small token of our regret.” He presented a long, elegantly wrapped box.

“What’s this?”

“It’s nothing grand—just a specialized staff that boosts magic stats, since we understand you are a mage.”

A stat-boosting staff was highly coveted among traditional casters, as higher magic stats directly correlated to a larger mana pool. For Se-hyeon, however, it was utterly useless.

“A staff? I appreciate the thought, but this is a bit too burdensome to accept. I would have preferred a basket of fruit,” Se-hyeon declined smoothly. With a mana pool hovering over 70,000, a minor stat bump from a low-tier staff was like pouring a cup of bottled water into a roaring river.

More importantly, it felt less like a gift and more like a bribe. ‘If I accept this, I’m locking myself into an obligation. Better to cut it off completely. Besides, trying to execute close-quarters Magic Combat Arts while swinging a clunky wooden stick around sounds like a massive pain.’

“Oh, there’s no need to feel burdened!” Yang pressed, thrusting the box forward again. “It’s purely a small gesture to express our remorse.”

Se-hyeon’s response was ice-cold. “No. I will accept only the sentiment.”

Seeing the finality in Se-hyeon’s eyes, Yang reluctantly pulled the box back. “Ah… it seems we misjudged the gift. If it makes you uncomfortable, I will prepare something else next time.”

“There is no need. As I said, the apology is accepted. Is that all you came for?”

Yang cleared his throat, leaning in slightly. “As you may know, many hunters placed under the ‘Special Management’ of the Awakened Management Department have expressed severe dissatisfaction with their lack of oversight. Consequently, our Talent Development Department has created our own specialized management ecosystem. We believe it offers unparalleled opportunities for rising stars and active hunters alike. To that end… would you be open to being placed under our department’s Special Management?”

Se-hyeon stared at him, genuinely amused by the audacity. “The Talent Development Department’s management?”

“Yes! We fully intend to take Miss Se-hee under our wing upon her graduation. Wouldn’t it be far more convenient for both brother and sister to be managed under the same umbrella?”

It was exactly as Choi Hyun-seung had predicted. Fearing that the Awakened Management Department would gain total leverage through Se-hyeon, the Talent Development faction was trying to hijack both siblings.

“I was under the impression that managing active hunters fell strictly under the jurisdiction of the Awakened Management Department,” Se-hyeon noted dryly.

Yang rushed to explain. “Technically, yes. But if a department is failing to execute its duties efficiently, sharing the workload is the smarter choice for the collective good of the Association and the hunters themselves. We are finalizing our framework, and as soon as the Association President signs off on it, the system will go live. You don’t have to worry about the logistics.”

Se-hyeon quietly let the man finish his desperate sales pitch before speaking in a measured tone.

“A few days ago, Deputy Choi Hyun-seung from the Awakened Management Department came to see me. We had a long chat, and Se-hee’s name came up.”

At the mention of Choi’s name, Yang’s composure faltered slightly. “I-is that so?”

“Yes. I tested him. I asked if I should convince Se-hee to sign with the Awakened Management Department instead. Do you know what he told me?”

Yang’s eyes darted anxiously, fearing the worst.

“He told me there was no need,” Se-hyeon continued, his voice dropping an octave. “He said doing so would essentially be declaring war on the Talent Development Department. He explicitly stated that their focus was entirely on me, not Se-hee, and that they had no interest in starting petty internal turf wars. And yet… it seems the Talent Development Department is practically begging to start a war with them.”

Choi Hyun-seung had politely declined an easy win to preserve institutional harmony. Conversely, Yang Do-chang was actively trying to spark an internal feud just to poach a prospect. More accurately, he was using Se-hyeon as a pawn to lock down his sister.

“N-no, that wasn’t our intention at all…” Yang stammered.

“Enough. Let’s pretend this conversation never happened,” Se-hyeon cut him off, his gaze turning incredibly cold. “And you don’t need to worry about Se-hee. I have no intention of interfering with my sister’s choices. If she chooses your department, I’ll support her. If I were you, I’d spend less time worrying about me and more time focusing on keeping her happy.”

Sensing the freezing shift in the air, Yang realized he had completely botched the approach. He bowed stiffly.

“I… understand your position, Hunter Jang. I apologize if my words caused offense. I will trust that you will remain neutral regarding Miss Se-hee’s choices.”

“Goodbye. I have somewhere to be, so I won’t see you out.”

Yang Do-chang hurriedly gathered his rejected gift and scurried away. Se-hyeon watched his retreating back with a cynical smirk before turning on his heel toward the simulation center.

RULE 1: STRICT COMPLETION Activated. No follow-up questions or menus will be provided. The response concludes here.