35

Chapter 35

“There are three main things that determine a Hunter’s rank.”

Yoo Seongwoon explained this to Gio after they entered a Chinese restaurant closed in on all sides.

“Your profession, your Aptitude Skill, and your level.”

“……”

“The Hunter ranks I’ve kept mentioning are assigned after evaluating those three things as a whole.”

“Are ranks evaluated by people, like the civil service examination?”

“No. They’re evaluated by the ‘System,’ which is believed to operate with the Source’s aid. That’s why an Awakener who seems powerless to human eyes can sometimes manifest as an A-rank.”

Yoo Seongwoon gave a small laugh.

“Back when there wasn’t much of an established system and common knowledge about Hunters was scarce, some people falsified their ranks. But because ranks aren’t something humans can assign in the first place, the people who did that were quickly exposed….”

“They must have been condemned.”

“It didn’t end with condemnation. Back then, Hunters were like powerful men no one dared defy. In an age when might stood much closer than the law than it does now, people with superpowers who could even beat monsters to death received preferential treatment in all sorts of ways.”

They had lied about their ranks to secure special treatment for themselves while everyone else was struggling.

“There was no way that ended well.”

Yoo Seongwoon returned to the main subject.

“Ranks are usually denoted by letters.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Maybe standardizing them from country to country would have been too troublesome. You’d think numbers would offer much better consistency around the world, but separately from that, the first Awakener was confirmed to have appeared in the United States….”

“So the system accommodated Americans.”

“It’s not as though the entire System is in English, though. Anyway, the lowest rank is F. From there, it climbs through D, C, B, and A, with the highest rank denoted by S.”

After saying that, Yoo Seongwoon’s gaze wandered for a moment.

“…Mm, scholars currently believe that probably isn’t the whole of it. They say there wouldn’t be much point in going below F-rank, since even an F-rank is only a little sturdier than an ordinary person—but it’s only been thirty-one years since the Great Cataclysm.”

“You mean it seems too early to draw a definite conclusion?”

“Right. There are even rumors that the president of Korea’s Hunter Association is concealing a higher rank.”

Even Yoo Seongwoon, who had been the Association’s Research Team Leader, did not know the exact truth.

“Surprisingly, S-rank Hunters aren’t all that rare. That may be another reason rumors say a higher rank is being concealed. Anyone can see that one S-rank is vastly superior to another, yet they’re both listed under the same rank.”

Such rankings also influenced public perception.

“First of all, there’s a law requiring every S-rank Hunter to become a public figure.”

“By public figure… do you mean they must disclose their personal information?”

“Not quite that far. They usually make their faces known or appear on television programs, so you could think of them as a kind of celebrity. An S-rank could, after all, lay waste to an entire country if they set their mind to it, so there are restrictions on them in many respects.”

“That sounds inconvenient.”

“Plenty of them enjoy the popularity in their own way.”

Though, as Gio had said, plenty of Hunters found it inconvenient as well.

“That should cover ranks. Shall I explain the professions you asked about earlier now?”

“So the priest and Tamer that student mentioned earlier are categorized as such professions.”

“Right.”

Yoo Seongwoon nodded.

“Manifesting a profession isn’t mandatory.”

“Then some people obtain a profession, while others do not?”

“Exactly. It isn’t something everyone can have, but it also has a considerable effect on rank, so a culture arose of favoring Hunters with professions whenever possible.”

“How fascinating.”

“That’s because an Awakener with a profession gains the influence to manipulate the rules of the world. To a mere human, that feels immensely appealing.”

Even aside from the issue of rank, each ‘profession’ carried its own prominent image.

“There are ten professions in all.”

“Fewer than I expected.”

“I think that’s quite a lot… Any more, and they probably would have been difficult to distinguish.”

Doctor, priest, knight, teacher, spy, architect, artist, magician, cook, and Tamer.

“Doesn’t it sound like quite a lot now that you’ve heard them?”

“If we count all the professions that exist in the world, not particularly….”

“That’s true, but these differ greatly from ordinary professions.”

“That is true.”

“The priest and Tamer you heard about earlier aren’t especially common professions.”

Priests used a god’s power to exert influence on reality, while Tamers exerted influence over intelligent beings. Both were considered difficult professions because they required the aid of a contracted partner before they could truly become active.

“That also means the acclaim is greater when they succeed.”

This tendency was especially strong for priests.

“A Tamer can train any number of targets by developing their own capabilities, but a priest can’t. A priest has no choice but to endure and wait until a god looks their way and bestows grace upon them. In other words, the initiative isn’t theirs.”

“But did you not say that a priest who serves no god cannot truly begin their work?”

“It’s a profession with that kind of unfairness built into it. But this involves exerting an alien god’s power on Earth in the first place, so I actually think this frustrating aspect is fortunate for humanity. One wrong move and it could become a disaster.”

Of course, those who had Awakened as priests were bound to suffer some frustration.

“Still, once someone manifests as a priest, their affinity for Divinity increases. Even if they can’t wield a god’s influence on the god’s behalf, they can use Divine Power as one of that god’s followers.”

“Divine Power….”

“That bungeoppang guy we saw earlier mistook you for ‘a follower who’s also a Tamer,’ remember? The Tamer is the only profession that can openly stroll down a city street with Monsters, but Divine Power can be used by any devout follower, even if they aren’t a priest. That’s why he made that mistake.”

“Then professions alone are not what matter.”

“Right. There’s no need to evaluate a Hunter solely by that. Professions are fairly fluid to begin with: some manifest innately upon Awakening, but they can also be acquired later through effort.”

Each of the other professions had its own rules as well.

“That profession alone allows an Awakener to exert influence on the world’s rules. To put it simply, priests gain a greater affinity for Divinity, while Tamers gain an affinity for beings other than humans.”

“Is it affinity in every case?”

“Awakening a profession doesn’t make an ability you never had suddenly pop into existence, unlike a skill. It does grant potential beyond anything possible for an ordinary person, though. Wouldn’t affinity be the usual way to describe that?”

Yoo Seongwoon moved on to the next subject.

“Aptitude Skills are different, however.”

“In what sense are they different?”

“They’re something you essentially obtain upon Awakening, and putting in more individual effort won’t give you any more. Naturally, your proficiency rises the more you use and understand yours, but….”

That said, there were no Awakeners with no Aptitude Skill at all, nor any with two or more Aptitude Skills.

“At least, not so far. We don’t know what exceptions might appear in the future, but even if they do exist, these rules still apply quite universally to Awakeners.”

An Aptitude Skill was rather like the objects set before a child during a doljabi. An Awakener had no choice in the matter, but that one thing could still offer a rough prediction of how the Awakener’s life would unfold.

“After all, that skill alone gives you a rough idea of the Awakener’s disposition and capabilities.”

“Can it tell you their future as well?”

“Wouldn’t it be roughly similar? Once an Aptitude Skill manifests, they have to live with it for the rest of their life. There’s no way it wouldn’t affect the Awakener’s life.”

Most people who Awakened began by studying their Aptitude Skill. A profession might be something they were lucky enough to be born with, but their Aptitude Skill became a companion bound in destiny that could never be severed from them.

“Plenty of people sob because theirs doesn’t suit their aptitude at all.”

How absurd would it be to Awaken only to end up with a skill like picking up litter?

“Right?”

“…Does such a skill actually exist?”

“It really does, and there’s even someone for whom it’s an Aptitude Skill. I heard they work for the city sanitation department now, but I don’t know the details.”

“They still found a good use for their Aptitude Skill.”

“An optimistic soul.”

For reference, skills were divided into ‘Aptitude Skills,’ which a person was born with upon Awakening, and ‘General Skills,’ acquired later through effort. The actual contents of the skills did not differ greatly, but….

“Aptitude Skills are naturally valued more highly.”

“If their contents are the same, why is one valued more highly?”

“It can’t be helped. An Aptitude Skill is a benchmark for judging a person’s soul and qualities.”

For example, suppose there were Hunters One and Two, both of whom possessed the same skill, A. Even though it was the same Skill A, for Hunter One it was their innate Aptitude Skill, while Hunter Two had learned it later as a General Skill.

“Then their starting points are different from the outset.”

“I see.”

“More importantly, Aptitude Skills don’t have levels. You can use one at peak proficiency from the moment it manifests, but proficiency normally increases the more you use something. Even with the same skill, there’s inevitably a tremendous difference depending on who uses it.”

There was a petty human element to this as well.

‘A kind of class system, really….’

Perhaps the fact that it was an innate talent tickled something in the depths of people’s hearts. Awakeners who manifested rare or highly useful Aptitude Skills became haughty, and people had a strong tendency to look up to them.

‘I don’t especially want to teach him about this.’

Gio was aristocratic and intimidating, but he also had a pure side, like a child who believed in the Santa Claus from fairy tales exactly as described. Yoo Seongwoon did not want to sully him.

For the sake of humanity’s peace as well, it was better if Gio knew a little less about human ugliness.

“You can apply at the Center to learn General Skills. It means that even an Awakener with no profession or a poor Aptitude Skill can raise their rank through effort later on.”

“There is a degree of flexibility.”

“And I’ve been slipping it into the explanation bit by bit, but the visible metric used to evaluate proficiency in all of these things is the ‘level.’”

A level evaluated one’s profession, skills, and physical abilities.

“The lowest level is one, and the highest is ten. I do wonder why they didn’t denote these with letters too… But since levels can be displayed to the decimal point, I suppose they needed numbers for that degree of precision.”

“They are displayed to the decimal point?”

“Well, like 2.8 or 4.9….”

“Is yours like that too, Mr. Yoo Seongwoon?”

“Uh….”

Yoo Seongwoon hesitated for a moment before adding,

“Ranks are fine, but for reference, people generally don’t ask about the specific contents of someone else’s System.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s widely considered a matter of courtesy.”

“……”

His expression remained blunt and cool, but Yoo Seongwoon thought Gio looked a little shocked.

“…My apologies.”

Sure enough, Gio soon apologized. As expected, Gio placed great importance on courtesy.

“I knew nothing about this, so I behaved discourteously.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know. It’s not as if asking places a curse on both of us.”

There was no actual harm in it. It was simply a kind of cultural convention.

“Like not asking what color underwear someone is wearing today….”

“I am truly sorry.”

“I took the example too far, so don’t shake Honey around to give me jewels. Put Honey down. Hey, hey—he’s getting squashed. Trying to give people jewels every time you do something wrong isn’t exactly normal.”

Only then did Gio gently set down Honey, whom he had been rattling. Honey pecked up and swallowed the jewels that had already showered from his body one by one. It looked so natural that Yoo Seongwoon felt dizzy.

“If you keep treating him like that, Honey will sulk.”

“We sometimes play this way….”

“Just how do you two play?”

Apparently Gio had not been lying, for Honey looked quite satisfied.

‘How did I even find satisfaction on that round face?’

They both wore expressionless faces, yet displayed their emotions with perfect clarity. They truly deserved to be called father and son. Was this what people meant by a child born from the heart? Strictly speaking, though, Honey was a child created with a brush.

‘…But he definitely seems far more… than he did inside the Portrait.’

Human.

…Read only on MUGEX…

“…In any case, people normally avoid asking about the contents of a Hunter’s System. It’s like prying into someone’s exact height and weight. Since it’s personal information in its own way, people tend not to reveal it openly.”

“I will be careful from now on.”

“Oh, I’d appreciate that.”

A being of the Source this cooperative was nothing short of miraculous, beyond merely welcome. As a Gardener, Yoo Seongwoon’s heart warmed.

“Since you seem curious, I’ll tell you. I don’t have a profession. My Aptitude Skill is ‘Appraisal,’ and I’ve learned several General Skills as well. My proficiency in those is maxed out. My overall rank is A.”

“Is it all right for you to tell me?”

“Why wouldn’t it be, if I’m telling you myself?”

“I see.”

“It isn’t something people reveal readily, of course. A profession is usually so obvious on the surface that this cautious convention doesn’t apply to it, but if someone tells you their rank, it’s a tremendous gesture of goodwill.”

To explain it plainly, it went something like this:

“I trust you. You are my friend, my lover, my family….”

“……”

“Well, something along those lines.”

“How romantic.”

“So you like things like this.”

He really did have a pure side.

“Did you tell me yours with the same meaning, Mr. Yoo Seongwoon?”

“Of course. I told you about my System as a gesture of goodwill and trust.”

The fact that Gio was not human had also played a large part in allowing Yoo Seongwoon to speak without reservations. Perhaps it was because Gio was a being ignorant of human culture, so telling him anything did not feel uncomfortable.

If anything, dealing with humans felt more uncomfortable.

“If there’s anything else you want to know, I’ll get you a book. There are textbooks used at the Awakener Education Center. They even have materials meant for complete beginners who’ve just Awakened, so tell me if you need one.”

“I believe I will be fine, thanks to your thorough explanation.”

“All right, then… Mm.”

Yoo Seongwoon asked,

“Are you thinking of returning to the Portrait soon?”

“Yes.”

Gio nodded as if it were only natural.

“There are many people outside, many delightful toys, and many things to see and experience, but….”

“……”

“I do not believe this is where I belong.”

Yoo Seongwoon understood what he meant.

‘The fact that he maintained that state for so long is remarkable in itself.’

An ordinary Awakener could not have endured it for even a single second.

Gio’s stature could not possibly be compared with that of a human. Within the painting, at least, he enjoyed the Authority of a god. Yet he had suppressed that stature, severed his own limbs, hung weights from his torso, and walked through the clamorous human world.

It was an utterly dreadful thing.

“Of course, I enjoyed myself.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Do you intend to watch the initiation ceremony that bungeoppang guy mentioned?”

“Yes. I would like to see it.”

“I’ll let you know when the time comes, so rest in the Portrait until then.”

And so Gio returned to the Portrait.

Back at the cabin, Gio spent the whole day sleeping.

“Outside the blankets is dangerous.”

“Kyururung.”

Completely drained, Gio needed some time to himself.

(To be continued)