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Chapter 11
“Really? Cha Taejun’s here too?”
Cha Taejun, a teammate of Gosan, had the quintessential mercenary look.
Over two meters tall, short hair, and bold, rugged features that suited his tanned face well. The heavy, rough aura his appearance gave him made him popular in a different way from Gosan. In fact, all five members of Special Team 1 were popular.
Morae quickly lowered her head.
It was unlikely, but the moment Gosan so much as acknowledged her, everyone in this waiting room would turn their attention this way. Just imagining it made cold sweat break out.
Please don’t recognize me. Please don’t recognize me.
Unfortunately, Morae’s prayer went unanswered.
Pushing through the crowd, Gosan stopped right in front of Morae and Songyi and smiled warmly.
“Songyi, Morae, it’s been a while. How have you been?”
The waiting room fell silent in an instant.
Who are they?
Who are they to be talking to Gosan?
I’ve never seen them before. Are they high-rankers?
High-rankers wouldn’t be in the re-evaluation waiting room.
A flush crept up Morae’s neck. Songyi jumped to her feet and shielded Morae from the stares.
“Ah—hello, Hunter Gosan. What brings you here?”
“I’m here to escort Morae.”
Only then did Morae look up, startled by the unexpected answer.
“Me?”
“You’re waiting for a rank re-evaluation, right? I’ll guide you to the testing room.”
“I’m number 197, though…”
“This is when you use a personal connection.”
“……”
Since when were we ‘connections’? And is it really okay to say that out loud in front of everyone? How did he even know I was here for re-evaluation?
But she couldn’t ask any of it. Her face burning red, Morae stood up.
She could hide her face with a hat, but she couldn’t block her ears. Whispering voices drilled straight into her head.
Why on earth was Gosan himself coming to pick her up? Was she some newly emerged S-rank awakener? Ridiculous guesses like that flew around.
The barrage of stares made her skin prickle all over. Just getting out of the waiting room left her completely drained.
“Morae, it’s okay. I’m here,” Songyi said, taking her hand.
The warmth of her firm grip was reassuring. Perhaps because of that, by the time they reached the testing room, Morae’s anxiously fluttering heart had calmed quite a bit.
“This is it, Morae. Go on in.”
“Yes… thank you.”
“While Morae’s being re-evaluated, Songyi, come hang out with me. I’ll show you around the Ability Management Office.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll wait here.”
“Songyi, go have fun. I’m really okay.”
“But—”
“If you leave me alone, I’ll just worry about you.”
In the end, Morae gently pushed the still-hesitant Songyi toward Gosan.
“Please take good care of our Songyi.”
“Of course. Leave it to me.”
Gosan winked playfully. Morae bowed her head in greeting and went into the testing room.
The interior was more spacious and pleasant than she’d expected. Complex-looking measuring devices and a single-person sofa were arranged in the center of the room.
As she entered, two researchers in white lab coats turned to look at her. One was standing with a tablet, the other seated at a desk, reviewing documents.
The researcher at the desk stood up with the papers in hand.
“Hunter Kang Morae, welcome.”
“Ah… yes.”
Without realizing it, Morae looked up at his face.
A man with a cold demeanor and silver-rimmed glasses. She was sure it was her first time seeing him, yet he somehow felt familiar.
Did I see him in a strategy video?
Tilting her head, she lowered her gaze to his lab coat. [Research Team 1 Leader: Shin Jiyul]—a name she didn’t recognize.
“Please have a seat. You’ll need to remove your hat for the measurement. Is that all right?”
“Oh—yes, I’ll take it off.”
“While we prepare the measurement, we’ll briefly confirm your personal details. Hunter Kang Morae, age twenty-three, Tamer, E-rank. Is that correct?”
“Yes…”
That’s strange. I feel like I’ve heard this before somewhere.
The other researcher approached, attached a pad to Morae’s forehead, and fitted a measuring device onto her arm. Graphs and numbers she couldn’t make sense of appeared on the monitor.
“What kinds of targets do you usually tame?”
“Mostly plants and insects. Depending on the request, sometimes small animals.”
“With insects, you often tame multiple at once, I imagine.”
As the conversation continued, her tension gradually eased. Morae answered more comfortably.
“Not necessarily. With insects, if you tame the leader, the rest often follow.”
“And when they don’t?”
“Then I tame several individually.”
“What’s the largest number you’ve tamed in a single attempt?”
The researcher who had finished preparing the measurement politely took Morae’s hat from her hands and set it on the table, then placed a glass of fruit juice nearby.
Was the service always this good? She had her rank measured right after awakening, but that was over ten years ago, so she didn’t remember clearly.
“Hmm… maybe last spring? There was a locust swarm outbreak in Taean. That day was probably when I tamed the most.”
“Do you recall the exact number?”
“I don’t remember that far.”
“I see…”
Behind them, the researcher holding the tablet suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. Shin Jiyul turned his head.
“Senior Min, what is it?”
“Well… I searched for the damage caused by the locust swarm in Taean last spring…”
“And?”
“It says the number was estimated at around eighty thousand.”
“……”
The sight of a vast vineyard completely blackened by locusts was still vivid in her memory. So it was eighty thousand.
Unlike Morae, who remained calm, Shin Jiyul’s gaze sharpened. After confirming the article on the tablet, he activated the measuring device.
“Hunter Kang Morae, we will begin the re-evaluation. Please do not speak during the measurement.”
“Yes.”
After watching the monitor for a while, Shin Jiyul’s expression grew serious. His finely shaped eyebrows rose above his glasses.
“Unranked?”
Senior Min’s eyes widened as he leaned toward the monitor. The rapid clatter of keyboard typing followed.
“Ah—it looks like an error. I’ll measure again.”
Morae, who had been quietly listening, cautiously spoke up.
“It probably isn’t an error. When I was first measured, no rank came out then either.”
“……”
The ranks measurable by the Ability Management Office ranged from E to SS. Every awakener fell within that range—officially.
Unofficially, there had been exactly one awakener whose rank hadn’t registered at all: Gyeon Suho.
He was so strong that measurement itself was impossible. The only thing they could confirm was that his power exceeded SS-rank.
Of course, Kang Morae couldn’t be the same case. If she truly possessed power beyond SS-rank, there was no way she herself wouldn’t know.
“Hunter Kang Morae, please wait a moment.”
“Yes.”
Shin Jiyul reviewed Morae’s initial rank assessment file.
The examiner’s note stated that her attack power was nearly nonexistent, and she was difficult to classify as support, so the lowest rank had been assigned. There was nothing wrong with the report. The rank judgment was reasonable.
But could an E-rank tamer really tame eighty thousand locusts at once?
“Hunter Kang Morae, have you ever participated in a raid?”
“Well… E-ranks aren’t allowed to participate in raids.”
No awakener kind enough would risk their life by bringing an E-rank tamer along. Feeling he’d been rude, Shin Jiyul quickly changed the question.
“Have you ever attacked another target using something you tamed?”
“No.”
“How many targets have you subordinated through taming so far?”
“Subordinated? No, that’s not it. I don’t tame like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know about other tamers, but I don’t dominate my targets or turn them into subordinates.”
Morae’s taming wasn’t about crushing others with overwhelming force—it was about gentle assimilation and influence.
“It’s kind of like becoming close friends.”
If a tamed target followed her words, it was no different from helping out a friend in trouble.
There was no violence or coercion in the process—just actions that came sincerely from the heart.
Shin Jiyul frowned, clearly unable to understand.
“Tamers are an attack-type class. You simply haven’t tried yet, but you should be able to command your tamed targets to attack. So—”
Morae smiled awkwardly and cut him off.
“I don’t want to.”
“May I ask why?”
“You can’t tell a friend to go beat someone up, can you?”
