Ch. 5 - Awakening (1)

The world went dark all of a sudden. A light that only I saw dropped from the sky. 

'Why all of a sudden?'

[ The program's installation is about to begin. ]

I'm not dreaming. I'm really about to awaken. 

I sensed a warm light engulfing my body. I couldn't believe I'd finally get to experience this pleasure once again. I could feel energy rushing through my body.

Once the light disappeared and I recovered my sight, I could see Kim looking at me with confused eyes.

"Coach?"

"Yes."

"Aren't we going to move?"

"Oh yeah, we definitely should."

I smiled while answering him.

The blondie looked at me while tilting his head. 

It really didn't matter what he thought. I had finally managed to awaken. 

I could see the status window in front of me, which was proof that I had finally managed to connect with the system.

I started to feel anxious while watching the installation bar go up. 

Once you get connected to the system, you get assigned the ability that best suits you. 

Like the main character of a popular webtoon, you usually awaken when you or someone you know is in danger.

I'm not in any danger right now, now that I think about it. As soon as I entered the dungeon, I awakened. Should I be concerned about this?

I was curious as to what kind of ability or strength I'd gain. Well, since it's me, it's probably going to be good.

I was finally going to gain fame and money.

I'd probably end up dating a celebrity. And newspapers will feature a photograph of me driving a sports car.

Of course, I wasn't lusting for material possessions, but the truth is that those with a lot of money have to spend more than others. Because if they don't, money simply doesn't circulate.

"Coach Lee, is he the newbie you're in charge of?"

"Yes, he's hunter Kim Taeyang from the Hwarang Guild."

"Oh my goodness, he's gotten into a terrific guild!"

The person I was speaking with at the time was a 42-year-old active hunter.

Because he is older than the others, his athletic ability lags behind. Nonetheless, thanks to his experience, he was able to survive by completing safe hunts.

"He's probably going to be outstanding if he's one of your students."

"He still has a long journey ahead of him. Just look at the color of his hair. It's like the color of a chick. "

"Hunters nowadays have their hair dyed in all kinds of colors."

They parted ways after a short period of joking around.

Even if it hadn't been for the 40-year-old hunter, he knew a lot of people. 

A hunter, as the name implies, is someone who thrives on hunting. However, they were also referred to as miners by the general public.

After all, hunters went into dark dungeons on a daily basis to extract magical stones from the monster's body. For some, it was understandable that these guys were fundamentally miners.

Even though hunters used the expression "I'm going to mine," they hated it when other people referred to them as miners. 

"Coach, you really know a lot of people."

"Well, it's been half a year since I started coming to this place. Most of them are people I see here often, which is why I greet them with a smile. But it isn't like I get along with everyone around here. "

I said this after seeing someone I didn't like walking towards me.

It seemed reasonable that hunters would come here every day. However, trainers were not hunters. As a result, there was no genuine reason for them to be here.

Despite this, there was someone he saw far too many times.

"Lee HyunBin."

A muscular guy who resembled a cockroach turned around and walked towards where I was standing. 

"Are you also here for training?"

The name of this guy is Player. 

"Did they name you like that because they wished for you to become a strong player?"

He's the type of person whose entire existence appears to revolve around training and eating.

"He's a newbie from the TooShin guild that came to our center. He's actually incredibly talented. Everyone has high hopes for him."

"Hi, I'm Kim InHo from the TooShin Guild."

'TooShin Guild'

I was disgusted just by hearing that name. During the interview, they wanted me to summon the holy sword because I was a former hero.

"This is Kim Taeyang, a rising star of the Hwarang Guild." 

"Hi, I'm Kim TaeYang. This is my first dungeon incursion."

The muscular guy smiled when he saw Kim TaeYang's wavy blond hair.

What he was thinking was evident. Kim TaeYang appears to be someone who enjoys partying and despises training.

I was worried at first because I assumed he wouldn't listen. But, much to my surprise, I was totally wrong. He did, in fact, put in a lot of effort into his training.

‘Was it because he hated receiving hits?’

Unlike the blondie, the other newbie seemed to be someone who actually listened to others. He had perseverance and try-harder written all over his face.

"It's the first time for both, huh? You'll probably see each other very frequently. Both of you seem to be from the same age group, so try to get along with each other. "

"I hope we get along."

"Same here."

They greeted each other with a handshake.

It was as if they intuitively saw each other as rivals. Both of them appeared to be testing the strength of each other.

He hit someone the first day he came to our center, now that I think about it. He's not going to attack first, is he?

"He's the rising star of the Hwarang Guild. Wouldn't it be better if he was trained by someone with real experience? "

Here he goes again.

"Oh, it's not that I think that you're useless or anything. We all know you're good. But there are some things that only a real hunter can teach another person."

At first, he didn't seem like a person at first. But he was still upset with me because of something I had done.

He had challenged me to spar when I had just started my profession as a trainer. It was some sort of tradition, he said.

The match ended with my complete win. He challenged me again the next day. He claimed to have been distracted the day before. As a result, he received a K.O.

According to industry sources, he was rejected by a female hunter as a result of this incident.

"That's why I told you that I wasn't going to spar with you."

"What? Why are you talking about sparring, huh? "

The blond guy appeared to have grasped the gist of what I had just said. After all, he had just recently sparred with me.

The blond's eyes were sorrowful as he looked at the muscles. 

His face had turned very crimson. It seemed that I had brought back memories he wished to forget.

Kim InHo, the new hunter, was the only one who couldn't quite understand what was going on.

"In our guild, everyone recognizes Coach Lee's skills. Of course, I think the same. "

From today onwards, I'm going to treat him better. 

He has become a decent human being. Since I first saw him, I knew that he was a good guy at heart. 

"Having a trainer that hasn't awakened is like driving a car without a driver's license. You're saying that because there are a lot of things you still don't know. "

‘I have awakened too.’

[ The installation process has finished ]

 I could once again see my status window.

[ ◾◾ Lee HyunBin LV1 ]

Strength: 27

Agility: 32

Stamina: 27

Magical Power: 03

Luck: 27

These were my current stats.

The majority of hunters begin with 10 points in each stat. They usually only get 20 points in the primary stat. As a result, mine was relatively high.

But in the other world, I was known as the strongest. In comparison, they were a bit disappointing. Especially my magical power.

'Well, as long as I'm connected to the system, I'll be able to increase it. So it really doesn't matter. '

What I was worried about were the two pixels next to my name.

‘Hero Lee HyunBin? Warrior Lee HyunBin? Knight Lee HyunBin? ’

There's no way to know my job. Now that I look at it, all my special abilities and skills are also pixelated. 

I've heard that sometimes when the downloaded data is too large, it appears like this. 

"Oh? Coach, you awakened? Really? "

"Yeah."

"Wait, when? Oh, was it when you were just staring blankly while drooling? "

What? Was I drooling? Did I stare blankly? How shameful. But since I've awakened, I'll let him go. 

After hearing that I had awakened, the muscular guy started to shake in anger. It was pitiful to look at him.

The new hunter with him had an expression that seemed to be asking, 'What's the big deal with someone awakening?'

But I'm different. It's been only half a year, but many people were interested in me, especially Hwarang Guild's previous leader.

Although that old man couldn't protect his hair, he tried his best to protect me. After all, he even gave me his presentation card and asked me to call him if I ever awakened. 

"Seriously? Congrats. What did you awaken as? "

"Oh, thanks. I'm not sure. I'll have to check once I get out of this place. "

"It's time for me to go. Good luck with the hunt. "

The muscular guy had a grim expression on his face. The blond guy seemed to be excited. 

"Coach, what did you awaken as?"

"I just said it. I need to check it later on. "

"Huh? But mine appeared almost immediately. "

"I'm at a different level than others. It's probably an ability that requires more data to be downloaded than the average. "

"Oh, yeah. So that's it."

But I wasn't exaggerating. The data of hunters that had a regular job didn't take too long to download. 

When I saw that I couldn't check the details immediately, I knew that it was good news. When I awakened as a hero in the other world, the program installation took many hours.

"Should we go and do the test? You know that you need to get some goblin vouchers to get your hunter's license, right? "

"Coach, shouldn't you also ask for testing? Then we could go and start collecting them together. " 

Now that I think about it, he's right.

"Don't worry. It's your first test, so I'll just watch your back. "

I said that, but I was dying inside. I wanted to check my abilities. But I was here as a trainer, not a hunter, at the time.

I took Kim to the area where the goblins had spawned. 

The Anyang Amusement Park Dungeon was divided into three layers.

In the first layer, weak monsters like goblins appeared. 

In the second one, although they were at the level of a goblin, they spawned in groups. At times, a strong party of goblins would spawn.

In the third layer, strong monsters like orcs appeared since they were in the dungeon's deepest part. 

The reason why the deeper you go, the stronger monsters appear is straightforward.

When a gate appears, the dungeon's core is planted. Around that dungeon core, the area surrounding it becomes a dungeon.

The first place to appear becomes the deepest part of the dungeon. And the last one becomes the first layer.

The fact that a dungeon has 3 layers didn't mean that the deepest part was underground. It's not like these guys were moles or anything. The closer monsters appeared to the core, the stronger they were. That was because they became stronger by absorbing the mana provided by it.

People taking the hunter test were around the goblin respawn area. He could see familiar faces, like the muscular guy that tried to make fun of me before. 

He had his arms crossed. He was looking at the blondie with great interest. He wanted to know how strong the hunter I trained was.

Kim InHo, the one the muscular guy had trained, was definitely worth the praise he received. He managed to kill goblins without taking any damage. 

Considering that this was his first real-life experience, his killing speed was incredibly fast compared to the other newbie hunters here. 

Some hunters were having a hard time dealing with the goblins. The trainers of these people were starting to get nervous.

A few hunters were too afraid to fight with goblins. Others were so afraid that they began to cry.

Even though they had awakened, some people just didn't have the personality traits required to become hunters. 

"Then, Hunter Kim TaeYang, please begin."

"Yes, coach."

Kim walked towards the lesser goblin that had just spawned. He extended his hand. Slowly, the blond guy's hand entered a black hole and disappeared from sight. 

When you become a hunter and get access to the system, you will receive some inventory.

You could use that to put away weapons and other things too. It was pretty useful.

Most attack-type hunters have an inventory of between 1 and 5 spaces. You usually only have enough space to guard one weapon. 

The weapon I had recommended to the blond guy was one called the Kukri. It was a long knife that made cutting through opponents very easy. 

After watching the blond guy get closer, the lesser goblin took out its rusty short sword. Even if they were summoned to an unknown place, they were instinctively prepared for battle. It was in their nature.

He ran towards the goblin. The monster, who sensed danger, wielded the dagger while threatening him. 

Swoosh!

You could see the horror in the goblin's eyes. His head had just been separated from the rest of his body, and was rolling on the floor.

I already knew that the blond guy had excellent physical aptitude. After all, he went through my training without any major difficulties. Now, it was time to test his talent as a hunter. 

"Wow, it cuts very well!" said the blond guy while wiping the blood away from the Kukri. 

Thanks to the system, hunters received an attack bonus.

But there were people that, because of their nature, couldn't fight. That didn't seem to be the case with him. 

I knew that he had what it took to be a good hunter. 

"What? He killed it in just one hit? "

"Isn't he a newbie?"

"Don't tell me it's another one that Lee HyunBin has trained."

People around us were pretty surprised by what had just happened. I looked at the muscular guy. Of course, I didn't forget to smile at him. 

[ You've been connected to the system. ]

[ Your inventory has been expanded to 50 spaces. ]

The system had just sent a message after finishing the installation process.

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