Seungho's screen shook and buzzed above his head, access denied. Restless in bed, he kept tossing around. It was late into the night. The silence disturbed him.
Too many questions he didn't have the answer to. What could he do?
He sat up on his bed. And opened Jaeha's stats.
"Select 'Hunter Stats'"
.
[NAME: Yoo Haeja ]
[ STATUS: DUKE'S TEAM | MEMBER FRONT ]
[ COMBAT HUNTER RANK: A ]
[ AURA LEVEL: 3 ]
[ HUNTER AGE: 9 ]
[ POSITION: SCOUT ]
[ COMBAT WEAPONS: UNAVAILABLE ]
[ ABILITY: MANA SUPPRESSION | PRESENCE DISGUISE ]
[ MANA SUPPRESSION: LEVEL 323 ]
[ PRESENCE DISGUISE: LEVEL 241 ]
.
[ STATS ]
[ Strength: 43 ]
[ Agility: 415 ]
[ Vitality: 47 ]
[ Stamina: 45 ]
[ Mana: 350 ]
[ Synergy: 31 ]
.
So he doesn't have stealth per se. He has created his own version of it by leveling up his abilities and concentrating his stat points. This makes sense, I mean it's not like one can choose one's abilities, but earned points are deducted automatically to upgrade them. Possibly one can also put points into abilities too.And he only has two abilities? Let's see how it works.
Seungho scrutinized the stats meticulously from top to bottom and then back up making comparisons and drawing contrasts.
What struck the most were his high points for mana and agility. The cost though was weakness and lack of vitality.
One blast and he could be dead. He must rely on others to protect him, then. Or use mana to protect himself.
He looked down again, at the bottom of the screen.
Mana...
From the crazy high level of mana, it would seem, he needs lots of mana to suppress his own mana. Yet, his aura is really low and he is nine in hunter age.
He scratched his cheek.
Hmph, I wonder if that means he cannot detect someone's mana while he is suppressing his...
I wonder what "presence disguise" actually means. Disguising is a vague concept. It doesn't tell you how.
I guess he chose early on not to focus on striking. That would explain why he had the points distributed that way.
The points gap surely had to do with him being no higher than an A-rank.
I guess the duke is off the charts, and given the vibe in the group, Bae Ara and the Mask are likely S-ranks.
Then something felt right and inconsistent at the same time. His assessment of the group came from group dynamics at lunch time and in the meeting, but deep down he already knew their ranks. He had already noticed he could perceive intense mana levels from them but not always.
He got up from his bed and went to the kitchen to drink some water.
Maybe like Jaeha-sunbae, they all can suppress their mana…?
No, that assumption was wrong. He knew because that knowledge came from some other place.
He pulled a journal out from the large bookshelves. He spent a great deal of time reading. Sat at the dining table. And started penning in all he remembered about the system.
In my case, when I turned into a hunter, after I woke up, I had a screen with such values as "Regret". But when I signed the contract with Entre the look of the screen changed. The system entries changed too…. Ok, it makes sense, different screen styles means different systems.
The point value of 305 for self-defense ability just got wiped out, I guess. He laid on the back of he chair.
That was crazy high.
He got excited there for a moment. He tried to remember, but he had woken up in the hospital bed.
And then after the test, the abilities changed…? Is that even possible?
It was already 3am, so he returned to bed, feeling better for having written down everything.
***
The next morning, when Seungho arrived at Entre, he was in a bad mood. The thought of having already been rejected by the Duke taunted him. He needed to do something more, to put his energy into something.
He was determined to speak with Hwang-manager to find out what other activities he could participate beside those organized by Yuna. He needed to stay focused on this, there was no point in doing anything else that was not increase his idol stats.
When he exited the elevator, on the floor where Hwang-manager's office was located, he heard a sharp metallic noise from a small object hitting the floor.
He looked for it. He sniffed lightly the air and located it right away.
It was a pin with a seal on it. The image looked familiar. He rotated the pin with his fingers to jolt his memory. Yes, he remembered. It looked terribly similar to the door of the cathedral in his second test. The Apelox.
Sanghyun-ssi had described it like an old symbol that means nothing now. Why is this here?
He was so absorbed looking at it, he almost forgot to return it.
"You have a sharp nose...I saw you finding it with a sniff."
An older man with a tailored suit. In fact, the very same man Sangmin so reverentially greeted the other day, his father.
"Good morning." Seungho greeted politely with a bow, slightly deeper than the one Sangmin did two days earlier, to be safe.
"What a polite young man."
Seungho returned the pin without saying a word.
He noticed the sniffing. He must be a hunter too. Sangmin-ssi didn't say anything about it.
"Thank you, about the pin. It would have been a shame if I had not been able to wear this pin while meeting Seo-sajangnim." Sangmin's father said while pinning it on the lapel of his jacket.
He is here to meet Entre's CEO….
"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?" He asked with a light smile. He managed to be serious and warm at the same time.
"Yang Seungho, Ajeossi," and bowed again with the same degree of politeness as before.
"Han Minho, nice to meet you. Excuse me," and he left swiftly getting into the elevator and going up, probably to the CEO's floor.
Sangmin's father is very polite.
***
In the morning the Duke went to the office of Entre's CEO to meet with him without an appointment. She had already received the news.
Seo Yejun received her.
He got up from his desk and invited her to seat by the leather armchairs and offered her a cup of coffee his secretary promptly brought. He sat at the head of the line of chairs, and she sat to his left.
She was a precious asset to Entre, and she knew it.
"I hear you have approved Yang Seungho-ssi's membership to my team. I thought we have agreed I could veto members, and I have vetoed Yang Seungho. Yesterday to be precise."
She didn't touch her coffee on the table.
"Why do you think I went ahead and approved him?"
"Because you knew I would veto him out of my team, Sajang-nim."
He waited in silence, sipping his coffee looking straight ahead, sincerely enjoying the cup.
She held her breath, then exhaled slowly to ground herself. And continued "Yang-ssi is not ready. It is as simple as that. And he won't be anytime soon."
"And yet you don't ask why we think he is or will be. Soon."
"I don't ask because you want him to do something he can't do."
"He can't now, but he will. If you help, it will be great. Have you not seen his abilities?"
"Yes."
"Don't you find even remotely interesting the fact that he has a shield?"
"He can't control his armor."
"It is a shield."
She frowned. Silence. She fidgeted, her mana started to glow.
"You know what 295 is?"
"Just a number."
"It is the value Yang-ssi started off with self-defense ability. Undefined."
"Now it is too late, he has lost it."
"I don't think he did."
She got up irritated and walked back and forth a couple of times.
"I know why you don't want to, but, he can help you."
"I don't think so. The system doesn't display his value anywhere."
Seo Yejun chose not to challenge her on that. Not to embarrass her.
"His pattern is shaping up. You will regret it if you say no now."
"And what if he doesn't turn out he is the one?" She raised her voice.
"We will have wasted time. And can continue searching."
She turned to look at him closely with sharp eyes.
"I don't think you have that."
He got up from his seat and went by the desk and pressed the button, "Shin Suhyeon-ssi is leaving."
Then he turned to face her. "Yang Seungho-ssi is staying on your team and it is final."
Then she knew the CEO meant it. He never used her name like that.
The receiver buzzed. "Han Minho-ssi is here to see you."
"Let him in."
Han Minho stepped in. He nodded at the Duke. Her bow was shallow. They had known each other for a long time.
The Duke knew she had overstepped, but something about Yang Seungho unsettled her.