Zen reunited with Lizz, with goals to use Shadow Contract on her.
[Winto Sung will be meeting you soon!]
Zen looked at the notification in silence. He wasn't even worried, knowing that if anything truly went wrong, he could dump 320 points into intelligence, effectively saving him from most situations.
"For now... Lizz." Zen grabbed her attention, causing her to blush upon meeting his gaze. "Shadow Contract."
Lizz felt her energy grow, while also feeling drained of that same energy, making her very tired very quickly.
A female Shadow with a bastard sword stood next to Lizz, bowing to Zen. "Is this...?" Lizz began, causing Zen to nod. "Here, try to swing this sword." Zen returned the female Shadow back into Lizz's body, filling her with tons of energy.
Lizz took a deep breath, before swinging the black bastard sword. Her swing sounded like it split air, a quick whooshing sound passing by her and Zen's ears.
"T-thank you! With this new power... I can finally help people..." Lizz whispered near the end, but Zen's undeniably high sensory skills caught the quiet words.
[New Quest Unlocked!]
[Open Harem Skill to check Quest!]
Zen silently looked at the pop-up, then pet Lizz's head. "I... Will talk to you soon, since your Shadow is basically you." Zen denied his urge to instantly check the quest.
"I need to do something I've been procrastinating on." Zen sighed, before activating his time acceleration skill, and quickly moving, disappearing from Lizz's sight.
"I can't believe I fell for him... this is unbelievable. I fell for my best friend's brother, I'm the worst." Lizz sighed, making her newly gained sword disappear by reflex.
"Excuse me sir, another man came by and requested a re-evaluation." The woman absently called out to the assistant manager.
"Well... sometimes Hunters become delusional and don't want to accept reality. Send him to the re-evaluation room. It'll be too much of hassle to tell him he'll need to pay a fine if he doesn't change ranks." The assistant manager, Jung, whispered to the woman, who waved the Shadow Monarch towards the re-evaluation room.
"What's his name...?" The assistant manager's eyes bulged, quickly calling his guild master.
"This is Baek Yoonho speaking." Baek answered the phone as he shuffled through some papers. "That Hunter you spoke of, he's here!" Jung exclaimed.
"That man, he's there?" Baek suddenly stood up, slamming his hand down onto his desk. "Yes, he's here! Hunter Zen Han is here!"
"Next person, please come in." The kind and patient employee called out to the Hunters sitting in the waiting room.
"There's no need to worry. Some people have turned their whole lives around because of these examinations, even if it isn't common. But if you end up as a D Rank, you'll be sought out by those scouts." The relaxed man pointed to the several small guilds all standing about, speaking amongst themselves.
"Ah, I understand. They can't get a lot of members, so they get newly awakened Hunters ASAP." Zen hummed understanding just what the guilds were doing.
"Next person come inside please." The nice woman smiled innocently, almost ignoring the man who looked utterly dejected as he walked out of the examination room.
"You won't be nervous if you throw out your expectations. As long as you aren't an E Rank, you'll have no problem with putting food on the table." The relaxed man got up and dusted himself off, following the woman into the re-examination room.
"If I get at least C Rank I can gain a down payment and join a big guild. I can live with my daughter again. I need at least C Rank." A man was chattering with fear, his emotions clear for Zen's heightened senses.
Zen couldn't help but understand, for years being stuck in the tight containment of the E Rank made him more understanding, his life being controlled by a simple letter.
"I'm an E Rank..." The once relaxed man came out of the re-examination room, his relaxed ideology seeming to leave him after the unrelenting E Rank settled back onto him.
"The next person can come inside." The woman smiled, but then noticed the man shivering with nervousness. "Are you ill?" She asked.
"No... It's not that. I'm just... nervous. Would you go in before me?" The nervous man asked Zen, who nodded in response. "Yeah, I'll go instead." Zen entered the room, and stood next to a large magic reading sphere.
"You full name, please." The woman asked, going into a computer. "It's Zen Han." The employee entered his name into the machine. "An E Rank? Why do the E Ranks always try?" The woman thought, slightly frowning.
"Are you here for a re-evaluation?" She asked. "Yes, I am." Zen easily replied. "Could you please out your hand on the black crystal and keep it there?" She asked Zen, who did it nonchalantly.
"Huh? An error?" The woman pondered. "Excuse me, we'll try again." The machine still showed a notification that just showed an error screen. "Huh? This had never happened before. We'll try once more." The woman was getting slightly flustered.
"What's wrong with this machine?" She asked herself, catching the attention of the assisstant manager.
"Where's Chang Shik, and why are you here alone?" He asked, walking up to her.
"Mr. Shik left to the washroom." She quickly answered, trying once more only for the machine to continue to mess up. "So, what's the problem?" He asked.
"Well, this machine keeps messing up." She sighed, causing Jung to look over her shoulder. "Mr. Yoonho has made a big deal out of this Hunter, but truth be told, a second awakening is beyond normal." Jung looked, to see the error message.
A sudden chill surged up his spine as he saw the message. "How long have you been working here?" Jung asked, swallowing his dry spit.
"It's been about 6 months... have I done something wrong?" She innocently asked, beginning to get nervous.
"No. Get Chang Shik over here right now." He told her quickly. "Huh?" She was taken aback. "I can't believe I didn't notice it, this is why I can't get a promotion!" Jung thought aggressively as he pointed to the screen.
"This isn't an error, this means we can't measure it. He's 'Immeasurable!' Do you understand what this means?" Jung's reveal shocked the poor girl. "Then...!" She looked at him, her eyes bulging.
"This is South Korea's 10th official...!" She was utterly shocked.
"That's right, he's an S Rank. South Korea finally gained a new S Rank."
"Chief Yin Chul, did Hang Dongsu from the Scavenger's guild have to do something with the recent Red Gate incident?" A red headed man asked. "No, despite what you may think. As someone at the scene of the event, I can say for a fact, Dongsu didn't assistant in anything."
"Then because you were at the scene you must know just who was the assistant then, correct?" The man with red hair asked another question.
"If I were to say anything..." Chul began, only to suddenly stop himself. "You don't speak of things you aren't sure of, but I understand." The man took a puff from his cigarette.
"Anyways, I'm more interested in just what is happening with the discovery of an ant with wings." The man's several rings on his fingers shimmered from the sunlight.
"We only discovered a dead corpse, but if the ants could land without dying... No, I'm sure the guilds will be called before that." Chul shook his head.
"Whatever the case, you have the Hunters guild full cooperation." He reassured. "By the way, Building B has been quite noisy today." The man out out his cigarette, his striped suit looking as nice and clean as always.
"Building B? I can't hear anything." Chul admitted, looking back at the top tier Hunter. "Sorry, I'm just a little bit sensitive."
"A new Hunter is probably making a ruckus about their Rank, I'll go check it out." Chul began walking towards the Building, only for the Hunter to speak up. "No. I'm also curious." The Hunter began walking ahead, his light red hair moving slightly with the breeze.
"I almost forgot because of his face of what kind of man he is." Chul thought, following the Hunter.
"Um, with our current magic detector, it's impossible to measure Hunter Zen's magical energy. Could you come back in a 3 days?" Jung asked, catching the attention of the several small guilds.
Chatters passed through the people, the various people understanding that Zen was certainly the 10th S Rank of South Korea.
"Is that... Choi Jongin?! The guild master of South Korea's best guild is here?!" The small guilds couldn't help but be intimidated. "Why is the man named 'The Ultimate Soldier' here?!"
"That man is Choi Jongin?" Zen thought, meeting Choi's gaze.
"With his top tier fire magic, they say he can wipe out entire buildings with ease." Zen thought, sighing as he realized he still had to get better.
"Was it prearranged for this man to join the Hunter's guild?" A scout pondered. "The Hunter's guild already knows about him? The top guild is on a whole different level..." another scout looked with wide sparkly eyes.
"Hunter Zen Han was an S Rank after all?!" Chul thought, his eyes going wide.
"There's no need for me to ignore the commotion caused by the immeasurable result. I don't need a machine, this man is certainly South Korea's 10th S Rank." Choi noticed, pushing his glasses up. He saw the calm but strong aura surrounding every part of Zen's being.
"My name is Choi Jongin, I'm the master of the Hunter's guild. It seems like you've just gone through your examination. I'd love to take some time and discuss it with you." Choi began, only to have Zen suddenly pass him.
"I'm sorry, but I decline." Zen disappeared in an instant, ideas of his plan to meet Winto Sung going through his head.
"Did Choi Jongin just get rejected?" A scout couldn't help but ask, causing the guild master to turn to Chul.
"Did I forget to introduce myself? Perhaps I was a little too forceful..." Choi noted, suddenly seeing Baek Yoonho slide in front of the door, looking determined.
Suddenly though, Baek realized he was caught. "That face... that's the face of a man who was caught in the act."
"I think I've finally found out just who was in the Red Gate incident." Choi Jongin felt successful, a new goal in his sights.
"Excuse me, The Gamer?" Zen heard a voice call out to him, causing him to turn and see the person he'd been waiting on.
[The Abyss's Business Man]
[Level 140]
[Winto Sung]
"I'd like to talk with you, if you'd allow it." Winto asked, a kind smile on his face. Zen didn't show any signs of hesitation, but his Shadows did voice their opinions of disliking the man.
"I promise you'll be protected, I'm just here to talk about the request you took." He convinced Zen, who already planned on saying yes.
"Sure, let's." Zen agreed, Winto and him both walking towards the nearest diner, a relaxed place to talk.