Chapter 6. Special Division Rookie (2)
“The sky split open during that test? This is what you call a report?”
“Yes.”
Park Min-ho answered confidently while standing in front of Kim Jin-cheol.
Kim Jin-cheol slapped the report down on the desk.
“You bastard! How many times have I told you not to write reports like this? I told you to write a report, not some damn novel! And why did you print it out when you could've just emailed it?”
The report in front of Kim Jin-cheol was packed with tiny handwritten notes, almost like a student had filled every inch of the page as punishment.
“Well, it's classified...”
The report was about none other than the Massacre.
Considering that even his existence was top secret, it certainly qualified as classified information.
“Min-ho, do you know how strong our security programs are? Why would you do this?”
“They're vulnerable to hacking.”
“Hey! This is vulnerable to theft!”
“If you keep it with you, President, won't it be safe?”
Kim Jin-cheol fell silent.
The argument was strangely convincing.
“At this rate, next you'll tell me to mix red pepper powder into soju when I catch a cold.”
“Don't you do that too? Works instantly.”
Kim Jin-cheol stared blankly at Park Min-ho before letting out a deep sigh.
He regretted forgetting that the Special Division had always been filled with people who were slightly insane.
“Haah. Fine. Forget that. So...”
Kim Jin-cheol's expression became serious.
“What exactly happened that day?”
That day.
Operation: First Day at Work.
The day the Massacre officially came to the Special Division for the first time.
And on that day...
“Every mana circuit within a five-kilometer radius of Association Headquarters burned out. The President's Office went into chaos over the anomaly, and even the World Association detected it.”
A huge part of Seoul had been plunged into darkness.
Emergency alarms had sounded.
Citizens had even been evacuated.
And the cause of all that chaos had been the Massacre.
“To summarize, the test confirmed that the Massacre cannot use mana.”
“...Does that even make sense?”
Kim Jin-cheol had already received that report.
But he still couldn't understand it.
“He's estimated to be SS-Rank. And this isn't some measurement error. You personally saw him inside that unrankable Gate.”
Kim Si-hyeon slaughtering monsters.
That was precisely why they had given him the nickname Massacre.
“It's true. But it's also true that he can't use mana.”
And the important part was...
“Can't use it...”
Not that he had no mana.
But that he couldn't use it.
“When the training system malfunctioned and an undead monster appeared, the Massacre swung his halberd.”
“And?”
“Darkness fell.”
“Hey!”
“I'm being literal.”
Park Min-ho answered without backing down at all.
“That single swing severed every mana circuit across the surrounding area of Seoul. And...”
Park Min-ho flipped through the report he had submitted.
The next page contained a photograph instead of endless black handwriting.
“The sky split open.”
The Association building itself had remained intact.
The only things destroyed were the zombie's head and the surrounding mana circuits.
But the photograph showed the sky above them.
Clouds that had been unusually thick that day had been split cleanly in a straight line.
A feat even S-Rank Hunters couldn't perform.
“The Massacre's Hunter rank is definitely SS-Rank. And that's the conservative estimate.”
“...”
“At the same time, he doesn't know how to use his own power.”
“So?”
Park Min-ho spoke as though he were making a dangerous gamble.
“I believe bringing him into the Special Division was the correct decision. However...”
He continued carefully.
“We should keep him tied to the Special Division and restrict his outside activities as much as possible.”
One thousand push-ups.
After finishing those, another five hundred while doing a handstand.
Then squats.
Back in a world where it was difficult to find metal weights, I had taped containers filled with rotten water together and strapped them to my back.
Finally, weapon maintenance.
I couldn't move until I was prepared well enough to fight a hundred zombies without a problem.
“...”
I didn't need to follow this routine anymore.
But habits were difficult to abandon, so I continued doing it every day.
There was one difference.
I'm not sweating.
Back in a world where running outside wasn't possible, I had to build both strength and stamina through resistance training alone.
I increased the weight little by little every day.
By the time I finished my routine, I was usually drenched in sweat.
But now...
Is it because my body became young again?
That was what I had assumed.
But even after increasing the weight every single day...
“...This is definitely abnormal.”
Now I could do over a hundred squats with two hundred kilograms and still not break a sweat.
During the last test...
Clench.
The sensation of gripping a halberd again after so long.
And the slash I used against a zombie I never expected to see again.
The feeling from that moment was unlike anything I had experienced throughout the previous thirty years.
“Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, it's me, Choi Ji-woong! May I come in?”
“...? Come in.”
The door opened after my answer.
Choi Ji-woong carefully entered.
As always, he made sure his footsteps were loud enough for me to hear from far away.
“...Is that popular these days?”
“What?”
“Making doorbell sounds with your mouth.”
“Ah, no. The safe house doesn't have a bell, so I tried making the sound myself.”
He grinned foolishly.
He was clearly under the influence of something.
