"Wait, are you Dani-oppa?"
"He already told you? How did he introduce me?"
"Guild Master-nim said Dani-oppa is a reeeally strong hunter! That’s why you’re gonna help Hanguru today!"
"He really said that? Jurim-hyung?"
Gidan’s face lit up with genuine delight.
Did being acknowledged by Guild Master-nim make Dani-oppa happy?
"Yeees."
And then, Guild Master-nim had continued by saying that Gidan was also insane, so Hanguru should stay far away unless he wanted to get dragged into some nonsense.
Hanguru, deep in thought for a moment, zipped his lips. That part he definitely shouldn’t say.
Watching Gidan look so pleased, Hanguru gazed at him warmly.
Dani-oppa might have immaturely teased a kindergartener, but Hanguru would maturely protect his fragile ego.
‘Is this what social skills are?’
Hanguru was an adult now.
He wiped his nose with his sleeve and patted Gidan’s shoulder in a consoling manner.
Gidan, amused, tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
And then—
Ding!
[Potential Guardian detected. If attachment levels increase, you may register them as a Guardian.]
"Heeeh," Hanguru’s mouth fell open.
‘An S-rank...’
Hanguru looked back and forth between Gidan’s mischievous face and his status window before firmly shaking his head.
‘Hanguru’s not that desperate.’
There was no way he was just going to randomly throw someone into his Guardian slot.
‘Hmph!’
Completely unaware that he didn’t actually have any other options, Hanguru let out a tiny huff and then asked,
"But, oppa, what was that earlier? Was it magic?"
"Earlier? Ahhh—"
Gidan flashed a casual smile.
"A skill penalty. You know what that is?"
"I know! It’s like when you clap too hard, and your hands hurt!"
It was common knowledge that the stronger an active skill was, the higher the chance of restrictions being placed on it.
"Oh? Idiot Hanguru even knows that?"
Gidan teased, and Hanguru huffed, turning his head away with a hmph.
"Pouting?"
"No."
"Totally pouting."
Though he refused to look at Gidan, Hanguru murmured with quiet concern,
"But, Dani-oppa... why did you use it?"
Right in front of the Guild Master’s office, no less.
"Ah!"
Gidan’s eyes crinkled into a bright, mischievous smile.
"I was hoping to steal the top ranking spot while hyung was out of it. But turns out, he was fine. What a shame."
Eh?
...Was he joking or not?
But would anyone go that far as a joke?
Hanguru thought back to the red blood he had seen earlier and asked worriedly,
"But... can’t you just not use that skill? It looks painful..."
"That’s not an option."
For some reason, Gidan’s voice dropped, sounding cold and subdued.
"I need to get stronger."
There was something strange in his tone. Hanguru glanced up at him.
But then—
"Alright, we’re here."
Gidan’s usual bright grin returned as he pushed open the door.
Inside, On Jurim was sitting on the edge of a desk, talking on the phone.
Noticing them, he turned his head.
"Hyung, I’ve decided to give up on today’s coup because of Hanguru. I never knew you loved Dani so much."
Jurim’s face twisted in sheer disgust at the nonsense, but Hanguru’s eyes lit up.
Had he protected Guild Master-nim?
Was it because of the bribe earlier?
It hadn’t been his intention, but... he had accomplished something.
Hanguru stretched out his arms toward Jurim, full of confidence and expecting praise.
Jurim hung up the phone and picked him up.
Hanguru had been hoping for words of appreciation, but instead, all he got was a bored remark.
"Quit spouting bullshit and let’s go."
Awakener Management Bureau, Yeouido Branch – Awakener Registration Center
‘People really are obsessed with their nieces and nephews these days.’
Lee Yujeong, an employee at the registration center, sighed as she thought about how many parent-obsessed hunters had passed through lately.
These days, it truly was the era of Awakeners.
Not only could hunters earn a ridiculous amount of money—
Sports stars and popular TV personalities had also become Awakeners, and at this point, the top 10 trending YouTube videos were all hunter raid strategies.
Furthermore, with the various industrial changes brought about by dungeon byproducts, even universities had begun favoring Awakeners.
This shift in university policies triggered a change in educational trends, and there was no way South Korea’s notoriously education-obsessed parents would overlook it.
"If you awaken, you get a free pass into college!"
"Summer special classes for future Awakeners—Registration open now!"
"Seoul National University’s Awakener Admissions Info Session for Elementary Students!"
Companies made money off these kinds of advertisements, but Lee Yujeong was a government employee.
Her salary stayed the same while her workload only increased.
In the end, this meant that Yujeong had to deal with countless parents who simply refused to accept that their children were unawakened—while making next to nothing in return.
"Just another day at work, huh..."
Lee Yujeong forced a polite smile as she looked at the woman in front of her—Shin Nayun, who was beaming at her.
Even though she was just a low-ranking employee, she was still in the industry. There was no way she wouldn’t recognize Shin Nayun, a top-ten-ranked hunter.
"She’s even prettier in person."
There was no way someone like her would suddenly want to re-register as an Awakener, so...
Yujeong glanced to the side.
A little child—who looked no older than three or four—was smiling brightly.
"...Cute."
She had never heard of Shin Nayun getting married, so this probably wasn’t her daughter. At most, it was her niece.
"Even rankers go soft for their nieces and nephews, huh."
Hopefully, she wasn’t here to throw a fit just because her niece wasn’t an Awakener.
Should she call the manager just in case?
Feeling slightly anxious, Yujeong accepted the form the child handed her from across the desk.
It was a simple registration sheet that asked whether the Awakener could see a status window and to list their stats and skills.
Name: Hanguru
Age: 4
All Stats: 1
Skills: Tingly-Tingly! (F) (written in shaky handwriting)
"Even the skill name is cute."
Yujeong quickly suppressed the smile creeping onto her face.
Of course, she couldn’t rely on a simple form to confirm Awakening status.
There were far too many cases of people—especially kids with wild imaginations—filling an entire page with fantasy novel settings.
"Miss Hanguru, what does this skill do? Hmm, does it make spikes come out of your body?"
"No. If you get hit by Hanguru’s weapon, it tingly-tingly hurts!"
"Aha, that’s adorab— I mean, why don’t we test it out here?"
Yujeong extended the back of her hand. If it was a skill she could verify directly, it would make things much easier.
But Hanguru hesitated as he looked at her hand.
"But then unnie will go ‘ouch’...."
Ah.
Now she understood why Shin Nayun had turned into a complete nephew-fool over this kid.
"I may not look like it, but I’m super tough! It’s important to check your skill, so can you give it a little test?"
"Okay..."
Still looking uncertain, Hanguru lightly tapped the back of her hand with his only weapon—a little duck-shaped clip.
“Ah!”
A sharp, tingling pain, like getting pricked by something.
Startled, Yujeong flinched, and Hanguru immediately panicked, hugging his duck clip close to his chest.
Nayun patted him reassuringly, saying it was okay, while Yujeong also gently ruffled his hair.
It really did sting.
Hiding her surprise, Yujeong picked up the registration form and stood.
"Please follow me. I’ll take you to the assessment room."
"Let’s go, Hanguru."
"Yeees."
As Nayun and Hanguru followed the employee, the CCTV cameras subtly tracked their movements.
"Please wait here for a moment."
Standing in front of a door labeled Assessment Room, Hanguru swallowed nervously.
"This is it!"
Once inside, they would use machines to measure his stats and skill potential.
Nayun, who had been texting something on her phone, looked over and smiled at him.
"Hanguru doesn’t need to be nervous. The people here know what they’re doing."
Hanguru gave a small nod and stepped inside.
Meanwhile, in stealth mode, Gidan walked through the Dungeon Ecology Exhibit, wearing a headset.
The Awakener Management Bureau was responsible for basic dungeon education.
It was meant to prevent Awakeners from recklessly diving into dungeons with their newly acquired hunter licenses—only to get themselves killed like fragile goldfish.
With dungeon raid videos making it easier than ever for civilians to get exposure to monsters, there had been skepticism when the ecology exhibit was first introduced.
Many dismissed it as nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money.
But the Bureau had since advertised a significant increase in beginner hunter survival rates.
So, at the very least, it wasn’t a completely pointless initiative.
The exhibit resembled an aquarium, featuring large cylindrical tanks filled with special liquid, preserving monsters in a suspended animation state.
The liquid kept the creatures in hibernation—but if any tank were to break due to poor maintenance?
The monsters would wake up and rampage through the center.
Fortunately, since it was a weekday morning, the exhibit was mostly empty.
A blessing from the kindergarten gods.
Feeling pleased, Gidan hummed as he leisurely strolled past the display tanks.
"If I wanted to gather all the Bureau’s hunters in one place..."
Scanning the monsters as he walked by, Gidan eventually came to a stop.
"At the very least, it’d have to be something like this."

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