AWOST 07

Chapter 07

It had clearly been reborn as a card containing an excellent option.

[Stubborn Perseverance — Summon Card]

The summon’s concentration cannot be disrupted by any external force.

“This is really good, Master! With this, whenever I need to concentrate to release aura, no matter what method they use, they won’t be able to interrupt me!”

Hearing Rakis himself say that made the card’s credibility shoot up.

I had a feeling this was a card that could definitely upgrade him.

My appraisals were going incredibly well.

The results could have ended with nothing but mediocre options being unlocked, yet I felt like I was hitting jackpots one after another.

They had something like this in gambling, right?

A beginner who knew nothing about gambling would be unusually lucky at first.

Beginner’s luck.

But once they became blinded by greed and started getting serious, they would lose everything in no time.

That was a painful lesson.

So I never expected this luck to continue endlessly in the first place.

Still.

Luck only had meaning if you seized it while it was there, so I was simply rowing as hard as I could while the tide was coming in.

I appraised the second card as well.

Since it was another card with a hidden option, I mentally prepared myself(?) before opening it.

[Inner Stimulation — Summon Card]

The efficiency of the summon’s specialty is increased by 10%.

“With this card, the firepower and range of the aura I can use will increase by 10%, right, Master?”

Another good card.

An option that increased something by a percentage rather than a fixed number became exponentially more noticeable as the recipient grew stronger.

“I’ll have you absorb both cards right away. Normally, I’d have to get buffs like these from support-type Hunters, but this worked out nicely.”

I was completely satisfied.

Normally, buffs like those were provided by Hunters known as buffer-type classes.

Helping someone maintain concentration was usually handled by swordsmen who took on the tanking role, especially Hunters specialized in defense.

But now I no longer needed any of that.

I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone for support in those areas.

“It’d be nice to sell the dimensional stones right away, too.”

I didn’t think I’d have any immediate use for the dimensional stones. They weren’t appraisal targets either.

So I explained to Rakis how to sell them at the Market and handed him my smartphone with the authentication pattern unlocked.

Rakis needed to oversee everything until all the dimensional stones had been sold and the money deposited into the account.

I could see through his vision as well, but I wanted to use this opportunity to create a perfectly automated(?) system.

“I’ll be back!”

Rakis’s booming voice echoed.

Slave No. 1 was off.

A short while later.

Ding!

Through Rakis’s eyes and ears, I heard the sound of the money being deposited into my account.

At that moment, Rakis’s gaze happened to be directed at the smartphone screen, where the balance of my bank account was clearly displayed.

3.3 billion won.

—Thank you for your hard work! May your business prosper!

Even in a Market filled with people he had never met before, Rakis’s natural social instincts were on full display.

Everyone probably thought he was a little unusual, but they didn’t seem to consider him outright strange, so I didn’t nag him about it.

Just looking at his appearance.

He seemed exactly like an American Hunter who had learned to speak in a Korean military-style manner for fun.

Perhaps people found it amusing precisely because an American was talking like that.

Rakis strode outside.

Then I remembered something and gave him another order.

“Rakis.”

—Yes, Master!

“On your way back, stop by a convenience store and buy six cup noodles and six instant rice packs. Pay with the cash I gave you.”

Because Maha Delivery had been continuously delayed due to the heavy snowfall, I needed enough extra food to last another day or two.

Things like mobile payment required my fingerprint, so I had given him some cash before he left.

If he could pay in cash and bring back the change properly, it might not be a bad idea to give him plenty of cash from now on.

A debit card would still be the most convenient, though.

—I shall carry out your command!

“You don’t have to be so formal just because I asked you to buy food. Anyway, just go get it.”

—Yes, sir!

Ugh.

The outside world was dangerous.

It was nice having Rakis take care of annoying chores for me.

He was both a friend and an excellent servant.

For me, every moment after opening the front door and stepping outside was a continuous drain on my energy.

Even going out briefly yesterday had completely exhausted me, and I had passed out the moment I lay down.

It hadn’t even been that long of an outing.

Mentally, though, it felt like I had run a marathon all day, and I had been completely knocked out.

Maybe it was because I was so accustomed to the online world?

Meeting people face-to-face was a hassle.

Phone anxiety?

Of course I had that too.

So I preferred doing everything remotely.

‘Still, there’s no doubt I’m going to keep encountering situations where I have to go outside….’

I planned to make an effort little by little.

If I wanted to send Rakis into dungeons or towers that required a license, I would ultimately have to move around myself.

It was impossible to create an identity for Rakis, who was human but not human(?).

And getting him officially certified as a summon would attract far too much attention, which I didn’t want.

Think about it.

If there were a summon that could exist without being restricted by distance… .

Wouldn’t everyone become greedy for it?

Even I would immediately want to somehow capture it and tame it as my own summon.

I didn’t mind if my own identity became known.

But I didn’t want the details of Rakis’s true nature to become public.

While waiting for Rakis to return.

Click. Click.

I searched through several Hunter communities just in case, but there was definitely no such class as an ‘Appraiser.’

Of course, there were posts like this.

Guys, there are Summoners, Ki Masters, and Shamans. So why aren’t there Appraisers or Enhancers?

[Comments]

↳ Because they don’t exist, you idiot.

↳ I have hair, so why don’t you? Because you don’t have any, obviously.

↳ Honestly, wouldn’t that be completely broken if they existed? They only exist in games. They shouldn’t exist in the Hunter system.

↳ But you never know. Maybe someone awakened as an Appraiser and is hiding while pretending not to be one, secretly reaping all the benefits?

The last comment made me flinch slightly.

Anyway, that was the general consensus.

Even when there were articles mentioning the possibility, they were always about why there were no Hunters in such a class.

There had never been any mention of an officially confirmed Hunter with that class.

And appraisal scrolls were extremely rare.

[It has been confirmed that only one appraisal scroll was actually traded across the entire United States last month.

Major guilds in the United States and other developed countries are desperately trying to secure additional appraisal scrolls.

However, due to their extremely low drop rate, securing sufficient stock still appears to be a distant prospect.]

The articles about it all said essentially the same thing.

There were no Appraisers.

Appraisal scrolls were rare.

The other Hunters probably couldn’t even imagine being able to profit so easily from appraisal the way I could.

All I had to do was keep my mouth shut.

After all, the changes caused by appraisal were bound exclusively to me.

If I didn’t tell anyone, there was no way for anyone to know.

And there was no particular reason for me to tell anyone.

“The friend option… probably not.”

I had considered using the older brother I was close with through the game to find some underground route that would let Rakis move around without a license.

But even then, I felt like I’d always be worried.

Instead.

It would probably be better to enter a dungeon together with Rakis and simply rest at the entrance while he traveled through the entire area.

That way, I wouldn’t have to commit any illegal acts.

“Still, I should contact him.”

I might read and ignore other people’s messages, but I always made sure to leave a reply whenever this older brother contacted me.

He was the person who served as a bridge between me and the outside world, keeping me from living a life completely cut off from society.

If it was him… .

I thought it would be okay to tell him at least that I had become a Hunter.

In the underground sixth-floor office, after his younger sister Jin Se-hee had left and Jin Se-hyeok was once again alone as usual.

—Hyung, I just checked.

“Yes!”

Clap!

Jin Se-hyeok clapped his hands when he saw the message from Lee Yeon.

To Jin Se-hyeok, Lee Yeon was simply the kind of guy he enjoyed talking to, even if they were only having ordinary conversations.

He was younger than him.

But whenever they talked, Jin Se-hyeok liked the feeling of speaking with an older brother who was thoughtful and mature. Lee Yeon even gave him things to think about from time to time.

He had heard Lee Yeon’s voice only a handful of times.

But it wasn’t difficult for him to imagine what Lee Yeon sounded like through his messages.

—You’ve been logged in every day like a ghost tied to a place, so what happened that you suddenly stopped replying? You even logged off.

Did you awaken as a Hunter or something? Unless something really shocking happened, there’s no way you, of all people, would do this.

Weren’t you the guy who spent twenty hours appraising things even when you had a severe case of the flu?

The messages poured in like a machine gun after Lee Yeon sent only a single line saying he had checked his messages.

That was how unusual it was for Jin Se-hyeok to have to wait like this.

For a moment, he had even wondered whether Lee Yeon had somehow died while playing the game.

Meanwhile.

After seeing Jin Se-hyeok’s passionate response, Lee Yeon chuckled.

“You really do know me well after all these years.”

The passage of time spent together was frightening.

It allowed people to learn more and more about each other.

However.

Lee Yeon had absolutely no idea that Jin Se-hyeok was a top, or rather, one of the very top Hunters in the world, with a level far exceeding 700.

Just as Jin Se-hee had said earlier, no one except his family knew his true identity.

Publicly, he was known as nothing more than an ordinary Hunter, and nothing was known about his actual strength.

Since he intended to tell him that he had awakened as a Hunter, Lee Yeon typed out a simple message containing only that information.

—Yes, I awakened.

—Oh, really? Then I’ll admit you have a legitimate reason for disappearing. Want me to introduce you to some beginner training? I know tons of places!

Just as expected, his older brother immediately showed concern for him.

But Lee Yeon had no intention of undergoing noisy, formal training.

He had already calculated how he planned to grow.

—No, it’s okay. I’m not in any particular hurry, so I’m going to learn on my own step by step. You know I was always like that in the game, right?

—True. Even when the patch notes explained everything, you were the type to collect the data yourself, weren’t you? What a stubborn guy.

—That’s right.

—All right! Anyway, if you ever need anything, just tell your big brother! I may not look like it, but I know people everywhere.

—Thanks for worrying about me. Anyway, I’m going to rest until tomorrow and start logging in little by little the day after.

—Got it. I went by your hideout today, and there were more than ten users waiting outside. You probably got a ton of mail too.

—Well, I think everyone needs a day off sometimes.

—Exactly! I’ll park one of my alt characters in front of your place and set up an automatic message saying you’re taking a generous break until the day after tomorrow!

—Thanks, hyung.

—Sure. See you later!

And so their conversation ended.

There had been a conversation about the special issue of Lee Yeon awakening as a Hunter, but aside from that, it was simply an extension of the game-related conversations they usually had.

But then.

“What is this?”

The border of the chat room where Jin Se-hyeok had just been exchanging messages with Lee Yeon was glowing gold, unlike usual.

It was exactly the same golden glow that appeared only when a hidden option could be discovered through appraisal.

“A person… can be appraised?”