Kwon Hajin stood in the holding area with his ticket in one hand while twenty other candidates crowded the space around him, and every one of them looked more at home here than he did.
They wore expensive shoes, fitted jackets, and styled hair, and none of them looked worried about the application fee they had burned just to stand in line.
'Damn, everyone here is rich as hell,' he thought, eyeing logos he only knew from ads. Two rows ahead, one guy had a stylist fixing his collar while a camera drone filmed him before the ceremony had even started.
'Who the hell brings a stylist to an awakening test?' he thought, tugging at his borrowed shirt. It was wide in the shoulders and too short at the wrists, but it was the best thing Jonghyuk from the orphanage left behind before vanishing into some guild last year.
He adjusted the collar and tried not to think about how much deodorant it had taken to make the thing wearable.
'At least it doesn't smell anymore,' he thought, which was about the nicest thing he could say about it.
The Seoul Awakening Center looked stupidly expensive, which made sense since the whole thing was funded by guild sponsorships and billionaire donations. Marble floors, holographic ads cycling raid highlights, even the air smelled like some kind of branded mint. Screens above the stage ran a live comment feed while drones floated in lazy arcs to capture every face.
Kang Dojin stood two spots ahead with his stylist and that perfect soft smile that made sponsors swoon. Golden hair, with a white coat that had the Aegis crest, every inch of him screamed "future headline." His stream overlay was already live on the big screen with a six-digit waiting room count ticking upward.
'Of course he's here early,' Hajin thought, watching a cameraman tilt for Dojin's best angle. 'They probably warmed the platform for him.'
A staffer in a silver vest stepped up to the mic. "Next, Kang Dojin."
Dojin walked out like he'd rehearsed it, hand raised just enough to look humble. He placed his palm on the crystal, aura flared gold, and the screen exploded with data.
[Class: Holy Knight Commander (A-Rank)]
[Combat Affinity: 92%]
The hall erupted with applauds while rookies cursed under their breath as the live chat on the upper screens poured hearts and crown emojis. Dojin bowed once, smiled like this was all expected, and walked off to the VIP lane where another camera caught his side profile.
'Ninety-two percent huh, good for you man,' Hajin thought, clapping enough just to blend in.
The mic crackled. "Kwon Hajin."
Every head that wasn't already looking at their phone turned. Hajin exhaled once, slid his ticket into the staffer's reader, and stepped onto the platform. The crystal was cold under his palm and he could feel sweat gathering under his collar.
[Class: Summoner (Minor Creature) (F-Rank)]
[Combat Affinity: 8%]
There was silence for a moment, before a scout who could not hold back his laugh burst out laughing, even the comment feed above them flooded faster than the system could scroll.
[GateFan42]- "Minor creature? Is that even a branch?"
[CombatDad]- "Eight percent? I don't think I have seen anyone get such a low score before."
[RefundPlease]- "Someone refund his fee."
Hajin kept his face blank. 'Eight percent? Is that seriously all I amount to? Class ain't anything special either, great.'
Behind the public results, something flickered, a second interface bled through the corner of his vision with old script crawling in a darker font the screens didn't broadcast.
[Locked authority detected]
[Bloodline anchor located]
[Queen Archive... calibrating]
The words warped and vanished before he could focus while the official display stayed bright and humiliating.
The staffer cleared his throat as if Hajin was wasting stage time. "Step down, please. Next candidate."
He stepped off the platform and felt every camera peel away as the room's attention snapped to the next name while his ticket vibrated with the standard "thank you for participating" notice and a link to retake options he couldn't afford.
He moved to the side lane where failed candidates lined up for printed reports, and the girl at the desk stamped his slip without even looking up. Red text covered half the page, with recommendations for "support roles" and "non-combat vocational tracks" in clean corporate font.
'Nice way to say labor job,' he thought, folding the paper before anyone else could read it.
Two boys from the holding area walked past him with their results still glowing on their wristbands, and one of them slowed down when he spotted the F-rank mark on Hajin's chest. The guy grinned at his friend, then pitched his voice louder so people around them could hear.
"Eight percent is brutal."
"Hey, at least he can summon a hamster or something," the other one said, laughing as they kept walking.
Hajin didn't answer, and he didn't need to because neither of them looked back once they were done performing for each other.
The hall lights shifted to bright gold when the next A-rank result went up, and applause rolled across the room again while he stood at the edge with his folded slip digging into his palm. Drone cameras floated right past him, hunting prettier reactions and cleaner success stories.
'This place was built for people like Dojin, not for broke guys with an F-rank ticket,' he thought, exhaling through his nose.
He headed for the exit ramp, but movement near the VIP corridor made him glance over and catch Kang Dojin walking out with two staffers, one handler, and a sponsor rep already talking percentages. Dojin paused when their eyes met, then tilted his head with that same polished smile he used on camera.
"Rough result," he said, his tone soft enough to sound kind from a distance. "Streaming might still work for you, though. People like cute summons."
Hajin stared at him for a beat, then tucked both hands into his pockets so nobody saw how hard he was clenching them.
"Congrats on ninety-two," he said. "Try not to trip over all that talent."
Dojin's smile stayed up, but his eyes flattened for half a second before he turned and kept walking toward the sponsor lounge.
The moment he stepped outside, the branded mint air disappeared and cold wind slapped his face hard enough to make him blink. Traffic noise swallowed the ceremony music, and his phone buzzed three times in a row with notifications from his loan app, his rent app, and a part-time shift board he had already muted twice.
'One day,' he thought, unlocking the screen with his thumb. 'Can I get one day without somebody asking me for money.'
The Hunter Association app pushed his official awakening card to the top of his feed, and the rank line sat there in bright red at the top of the screen.
[Kwon Hajin]
[Class Grade: F]
[Combat Affinity: 8%]
[Status: Active - Unlicensed]
He almost closed it, but a second layer of text crawled across the display for less than a second before the app refreshed itself.
[Signal overlap detected]
He froze on the top stair and tapped the screen twice, then three more times, but only the normal card remained.
'No way I imagined that,' he thought, looking up at the center doors while candidates kept filing out behind him. 'Either I'm concussed or something in there wasn't part of the test.'
Another buzz ran through his phone, except this time the vibration hit a fraction of a second before the screen lit, and the air in front of him seemed to tilt just enough to make his stomach drop.
A dark script flashed across the edge of his vision again, thinner and sharper than before, almost carved instead of typed.
[Host trace confirmed]
[Archive key pending]
[Stand by]
His hand shot to the rail when his balance slipped, and by the time he steadied himself the text was gone again, leaving only traffic noise, a cold stair, and a crowd that kept walking without even glancing at him.
'Stand by for what,' he thought, staring at empty air while his pulse hammered against his throat.
He shoved the printed report into his bag, pulled his hood up, and started down the steps before anyone else decided to look his way.
Behind him, the giant screen on the building switched back to Kang Dojin's smiling profile, but Hajin kept walking until the applause faded while the dark text still burned in the back of his eyes.