Sung Jin woo took a step outside, the surroundings changed in an instant. And he was back in the empty lot of the local mountainside. It was none other than the very spot where he initiated his Class Change Quest.
The time indicated was five in the morning. It was already time for the sunrise.
Jin woo clicked his tongue while confirming the time.
‘If I knew the quest would end up taking this long to complete, I should’ve left a message for Jin-Ah earlier.’
What a relief then, that he’d often come home late from raids taking longer than expected, back when he was working for the Association.
Jin woo took one last look behind him. But the Gate he exited from just now was already gone without a trace.
He felt an ache in his chest.
‘Huh….’
…
When looking at the spot where the Gate used to be, it kind of felt like he had woken up from a long dream.
Was it a dream?
Jin woo scanned his immediate vicinity.
The soldiers decked out in pitch-black armours – as soon as he thought about them, they rapidly emerged from his shadow.
‘……..’
At first, he simply thought of them as nothing more than monsters.
The shadow soldiers…
The monsters that stepped out from the shadows of the dead after they were summoned by him.
However, if these things were monsters, then just what should the guy who could freely control them be called now?
Jin woo smirked softly.
…
‘Well, it doesn’t matter one way or the other….’
Jin woo stored the soldiers back into his shadow.
He noticed that his steps going down the mountain were rather light and cheery.
He slept until late in the day. But, that couldn’t be helped. By the time he got back home, the sun had risen up pretty high already.
Ring~ ring~
Jin woo’s sweet slumber was eventually disrupted by the ringtone from his smartphone. His hand fumbled around near his head and with some difficulty, located his phone.
“H-Hello?”
His voice cracked up from his dry throat.
– “Hul…. Oppa, you were still asleep?? You know what time it is?”
Jin-Ah’s shocked voice came out from the speaker. So, he asked her back.
“Okay, what time is it now?”
– “It’s two in the afternoon!”
“What?”
He glanced at the time on the phone’s screen with half-open eyes. She was telling the truth.
– “…..Oppa, you haven’t forgotten that you’re supposed to come to my school today, have you?”
Her voice sounded anxious.
Jin woo finally raised his upper body, albeit very slowly.
“What time should I get there at the latest?”
– “Before five!”
“I won’t be late, so don’t worry.”
– “As expected of my orabeo-nim! When you’re near the school, gimme a call first, okay?”
Jin-Ah switched on her charm attack and ended the call soon afterwards.
Scratch, scratch….
Jin woo scratched his unkempt hair for a bit before slowly getting up from the bed. He didn’t have a lot of time left if he were to get ready.
‘Well, I’m going to meet my sister’s homeroom teacher after all.’
Not only that, this teacher would be in charge of her third year in high school, one of the most important periods in a person’s life.
‘So, I can’t just wear whatever now, right?’
He opened the closet and rummaged through the clothes in there. However, he was greeted by a rather dusty, mouldy odour.
Of course, it was not something pleasant to smell at all.
His frown deepened.
He continued to dig around, but all he could find was an old business suit he wore once during his own high school graduation.
‘Will it even fit me now?’
He was hoping against hoping but well, as expected – the clothes were too snug and he couldn’t even move his arms.
‘Yup, my body has grown much bigger lately.’
Putting on the old clothes painted a stark picture of his current reality. The suit was nearly bursting at the seams, literally.
….What should he do now?
Jin woo was pondering what to do, but then he spotted the bank book that Yu Jin-Ho gave him a day before. It was for the account filled with the proceeds from selling off all those magic crystals.
He alternated his gaze between his nearly-torn clothes and the bank book with its new stamp still sealed together, before a smile formed on his lips.
‘Been a while, but should I go on a shopping spree, then?’
He opened the door and left his room.
He entered the bathroom and took a quick shower.
He swiftly wiped the water off of him.
He put on whatever clothing he could find and stood before the mirror.
All this, and he only needed three minutes.
He could’ve moved faster, but he figured that this old, decrepit apartment would fall apart if he did.
‘My hair hasn’t completely dried out yet, but….’
The end result was him saving over 20 minutes, so there was no need to rush now.
Time to leave, then.
Jin woo was about to step out of his room, but discovered something and stopped in his tracks. He found the key for the apartment. It was sitting on top of his desk.
In the past, he’d have felt a bit lazy and unwilling, but still turned back to grab the key; however, he simply extended his hand instead of walking over there.
‘I mean, if I don’t use it in times like this, just when will I ever get to use this skill?’
Dominator’s Touch!
The key crept forward bit by bit, before flying into his open palm as if a strong magnet was reeling it in.
Grab!
Jin woo snatched the key and grinned refreshingly.
Having gotten ready to leave in the proverbial blink of an eye, Jin woo closed the door to his room, a whistle escaping from his lips.
His first stop was at the bank.
He was wondering just how much cash from the sales of the magic crystals had accumulated in his new bank account.
‘I couldn’t come earlier because I’ve been so busy until now.’
As the raid team leader, Yu Jin-Ho was in charge of managing the magic crystals.
From what he told Jin woo, that kid had been selling all the magic crystals at the end of each day and deposited every single cent into this account.
He didn’t mention in detail how much the money would be, though.
‘That Jin-Ho. He reports to me every little thing that happens, but he doesn’t really mention much about money issues.’
Was it because he wasn’t really interested all that much? Perhaps because he grew up lacking nothing, Yu Jin-Ho’s interests were quite far removed from the matters involving money.
No, they tended to be along the lines of celebrity gossip, stories of raids, songs or movies he liked – those kinds of things.
Even if it was nominally a conversation, it’d be Yu Jin-Ho who yapped on and on all by himself, though. And Jin woo would simply listen quietly on the side and provide appropriate responses every now and then.
‘Ah, now that I think about it…’
A chatterbox guy like him also didn’t say anything about his family situation until now.
Now that was pretty strange. Jin woo combed through his memories starting from when they met for the first time, but he couldn’t remember a single instance of him mentioning his family.
While thinking that it was pretty bizarre, he had arrived at the bank.
‘Well now, that’s some crappy timing, isn’t it?’
All of the ATMs were currently under maintenance.
He was left with little choice, so Jin woo walked inside the bank branch. He got his number in the queue, waited for his turn, before eventually sitting down in front of a bank teller.
“Hello there.”
A female teller with a bob-cut hair reaching just below her ears and a refreshing smile asked him politely.
“How may I be of service today?”
“I’d like to see the amount currently in the bank account, please.”
“I understand.”
With a smile, the female teller took the bank book Jin woo presented to her.
While waiting for her to do her thing, Jin woo scanned the inside of the bank. It was a normal Thursday afternoon, yet there were quite a large number of people inside.
As he continued to look at the crowd, the female teller got to confirm the amount resting in Jin woo’s account and her eyes shot open super-wide.
“…!!”
[Remaining amount: â‚©1,482,920,000] (TL: Just over $1.315 mil)
She checked the number of digits again, but without a doubt, it started from a billion.
Not only that, he hadn’t even accumulated this amount over a long period of time.
For the past week or so, the records showed that over 100 million Won had been deposited every single day.
‘He looks so young, so how could he?’
The female teller initially took Jin woo as a university student who came to the local bank to get the bank book newly printed on because his mother asked him to. But, her expression had changed quite a bit now.
The female teller asked him, her voice containing just a sliver of ulterior motive.
“Oh, my goodness. May I ask, what you do for a living?”
Perhaps she herself was embarrassed by her own ulterior motive, the female bank teller’s cheeks blushed softly as she cautiously studied Jin woo’s reactions.
He replied as if it was nothing.
“I’m a Hunter.”
“Ah…..”
The female teller slowly nodded her head almost instinctively.
The popular rumour she heard was indeed true.
‘I heard that Hunters made lots of money, but….’
But to think, it’d be on this level….
All of a sudden, her life as a normal working-class employee came across as rather pathetic.
Only until a minute ago, this man was a regular customer, just like everyone else. But now, Jin woo looked like a person from another galaxy altogether.
‘He must be a pretty high ranked Hunter, right?’
This amount wasn’t something an average Hunter with average skills could ever hope to touch.
This would be her first time meeting a truly high-ranked Hunter, then.
“Our bank has launched brand new products and services especially catered for VIP customers such as yourself.”
Her smile was no longer the business one, but a real one, too. The female bank teller’s gaze was now firmly fixed on Jin woo.
‘Oh, my. He’s….’
Seeing his current appearance, the one where he must have thrown on some clothes lying around, and that slightly dishevelled hair, her heart began beating faster than ever before. She realised that he must’ve been a very busy man who managed to find some free time to stop by the bank today.
“This product has proven really popular with our customers lately, so how about taking a closer look at the benefits it offers, sir?”
Too bad for her, Jin woo refused right away.
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”
“Ah…. is that so?”
The female bank teller’s voice was thickly laden with regrets over missed chances.
Sensing that this chat might get drawn out if he said something wrong here, Jin woo quickly took the bank book and stood up from the seat.
“Thank you for your help. Have a nice day.”
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