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CHAPTER 18: I Became the Successor of a Constellation.
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The conference room fell silent once again.
This time, it was a different kind of silence. The air was thick with a mixture of shock and bewilderment.
‘A skill evaluation?’
‘An F-Rank dares to challenge us?’
‘The nerve of this guy….’
The attendees’ eyes wavered. They seemed unsure how to react to the unexpected bombshell.
Oh Jintaek was the first to respond. He looked at Minho and burst out laughing.
“Haha! Well, now. You want to face off against us?”
His laughter echoed through the conference room. But it didn't seem genuine, more like an attempt to mask his surprise.
“Kang Minho, do you have any idea who you’re dealing with here?”
Oh Jintaek said, gesturing around the room.
“Even if we aren’t deployed in the field, everyone in this room is C-Rank or higher. Except for you, Minho.”
He continued, lightly tapping the badge on his chest.
“I, for one, am an A-Rank. And you, an F-Rank, wants “us” to evaluate “your” skills?”
“That makes it even better.”
“What does?”
“Because the more skilled you are, the more accurately you can judge my abilities.”
At Minho’s reply, Oh Jintaek’s expression twisted subtly. He felt as if he were being mocked.
‘Is this bastard for real?’
Just then, one of the directors stepped in to defuse the situation.
“Kang Minho, I understand what you mean, but….”
“Director.”
Minho said, looking at Han Sangjin.
“A moment ago, Team Leader Oh, you called me an unverified test subject, didn't you?”
The atmosphere in the room turned icy again. At the mention of the word ‘test subject,’ Dai’s face hardened as well.
“Why don't you find out for yourselves whether that's true or not?”
‘This will never end if we just keep talking.’
Although he acted as if he were angered by the ‘test subject’ comment, Minho was, in fact, maintaining a cool head.
He had simply found a more effective way to overcome this impasse.
Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. Especially to people set in their prejudices.
Oh Jintaek broke the cold silence.
“That’s some incredible confidence you have there. Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll give you a chance.”
He took out his phone.
“But let’s do it a different way. It would be a bit beneath the people in this room to deal with an F-Rank directly, wouldn’t it?”
It was a blatant dismissal.
“Instead, I’ll send a suitable person from my team. That should be more than enough, right?”
Minho nodded but sighed inwardly.
‘He talks a big game but backs down himself. A typical condescending boss.’
In truth, there was another reason Oh Jintaek wasn’t stepping up himself.
Unlike regular Hunters, the ranks of Hunter Management Department employees were largely inflated.
Aside from Director Han, almost no one here had ever actually fought a monster.
It was simply that in Hunter society, rank signified social status, so those in high-level management positions were naturally granted high ranks.
In any case, such internal affairs didn’t matter.
He would use a convenient excuse to call in a skilled person, but no matter who showed up, all Minho had to do was prove himself with the results.
“Investigator Lee? This is Oh Jintaek. Where are you right now?”
The voice on the other end of the phone was energetic.
“Ah, Team Leader! I’m in the training room on the third basement level with the team. What’s up?”
“Commendable, dedicating yourselves to training even on the weekend. Could you come up to the first basement level for a moment?”
“The first basement level? Isn’t that the testing room?”
“That’s right. We have a situation that requires a simple test. It’s an F-Rank, so it’ll be over in a flash.”
There was a brief silence from the other end.
“Understood. I’ll be right up.”
“Thanks. And Investigator Lee?”
“Yes?”
“Performance review season is coming up, you know. If you handle this with particular care, I’ll be sure to remember today’s work.”
“…Yes, sir! I’ll handle it to your satisfaction!”
Hearing the anticipation in the voice, Team Leader Oh wore a satisfied expression.
‘So this is how he manages his subordinates.’
Oh Jintaek had summoned his team member without a proper explanation, dangling a promotion as bait.
Dai leaned over and whispered quietly to Minho.
“This was part of your plan, wasn't it?”
“I didn’t expect everyone to trust me the way you do, Team Leader.”
“Still, be careful. That man, Lee Kangsoo, is a former martial artist.”
Just then, Oh Jintaek ended his call and began to explain.
“Only Kang Minho needs to go down to the testing room on the first basement level. The rest of us will watch from the monitor here.”
He pointed to one of the walls in the conference room, where a large monitor was installed.
“Junhyeok, please show him the way.”
“Understood.”
At Dai’s words, Junhyeok rose from his seat. Minho stood up as well.
Before leaving the conference room, Minho looked at Oh Jintaek and said,
“You can look forward to it.”
“To what?”
“The results you’re about to see.”
Oh Jintaek showed a flicker of surprise but quickly forced a smile.
“Right. I’m looking forward to it. To see what an F-Rank can do.”
***
The elevator doors opened to a hallway.
There were several doors on either side, and Junhyeok pointed to a room labeled ‘Testing Room A.’
“It’s in there. But… are you sure you’re confident? If you lose, it’ll put Senior Dai in a really tough spot.”
“Hmm, you said the opponent is a former martial artist?”
“That’s right. Do you know Baki Hanma? The main character from a martial arts manga. He's exactly that type.
On top of that, he’s a gentleman, so the other teams like him too. No, seriously, can you really win?”
Minho held back a laugh at Junhyeok’s urgency. Then he delivered a line straight out of a martial arts manga.
“Don’t worry. I have an ace up my sleeve.”
“Ooh! Like a secret weapon?”
“Not a weapon, but I do have one secret.”
“The one you said you couldn’t talk about?”
“No. The secret that I might be stronger than you think.”
“……?”
Junhyeok just blinked for a moment, not understanding what he meant.
Only when he saw the smile creeping onto Minho’s face did he realize he was being teased.
“This is no time for jokes! Ah, seriously.”
“Sorry. It just seemed like you were more nervous than I was, Junhyeok.”
“Of course I’m nervous. Senior Dai and Team Leader Oh were practically at each other’s throats.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that look on Senior Dai’s face. Well, I guess the fact that you have the composure to joke around means you’ve got something up your sleeve.”
They had arrived in front of Testing Room A. When they opened the door and stepped inside, a wide space unfolded before them.
The area was about half the size of a basketball court.
The floor was covered with a special shock-absorbent mat, and the high ceiling meant there would be no problem with jumping or other vigorous movements.
“You can wait here. You can start whenever Lee Kangsoo arrives.”
“Okay. Thanks for showing me the way.”
Minho replied, casually rolling his shoulders.
“I’ll head up and watch, then. You have to win. Good luck!”
Junhyeok gave him a thumbs-up for encouragement before closing the door and leaving.
‘To think I’d end up in a place like this.’
Alone, he slowly looked around the testing room and began to warm up. At the same time, he checked his status.
‘My body has been feeling lighter and lighter since my Awakening.’
What he’d said to Junhyeok wasn’t entirely a bluff.
Thanks to the effects of his continuous training in the soul space, his abilities had improved significantly.
[Body Enhancement: Lv. 5]
[Danger Sense: Lv. 3]
His physical strength had increased, and his reaction speed had quickened.
‘Especially as my Danger Sense level has gone up, I’ve become able to read my opponent’s movements to some extent.’
Just then, the door opened.
“Hello.”
A man who appeared to be in his early thirties entered with an energetic voice.
He was slightly taller than Minho, with broad shoulders. The most noticeable thing about him was, of course, the B-Rank badge on his chest.
“I’m Lee Kangsoo. You’re the one I’ll be working with today?”
He greeted Minho with a bright expression. There was no sense of hostility at all.
“I’m Kang Minho.”
Minho returned the polite greeting. Kangsoo studied Minho for a moment, then tilted his head with a puzzled look.
“You’re not using a weapon?”
“No, I’ll be using my bare hands.”
“Hmm, sounds good!”
In truth, he had the Twin Swords, Blood Tracker he’d taken from Taehyun, but with so many eyes watching, he couldn’t use them now.
CCTV cameras were installed all over the walls, recording everything without any blind spots.
Kangsoo took off his jacket. Underneath, he wore a black tank top that revealed his solid muscles.
Several tattoos were etched onto his forearms. Noticing Minho’s gaze, Kangsoo gave an awkward laugh.
“Ah, I was actually a martial artist before I retired. I got a new tattoo every time I won, and before I knew it, I had this many.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Haha, that’s all in the past. Now I’m just an ordinary Hunter.”
He spoke humbly, but a sense of pride in his skills was palpable.
“By any chance, do you have any martial arts experience, Minho? It’s rare to see a hand-to-hand combat type Hunter.”
“No. I just learned by throwing myself into fights to survive….”
“Ah, so you’re the practical type!”
Kangsoo nodded.
“Alright. But do you happen to know what kind of test this is? Team Leader Oh didn’t give me any details.”
Minho hesitated for a moment. Should he tell him the truth? But this was a secret project.
It was best to keep the number of people involved to a minimum.
“I don’t know the details either. They just told me to show them what I can do….”
“Ah, I see.”
Kangsoo nodded as if he understood.
‘It must be just a simple demonstration. He’s an F-Rank, so I’ll just go easy on him and get it over with.’
This person named Minho probably had connections in high places and had arranged this opportunity to show off his skills.
In any case, Team Leader Oh had promised him a good performance review, so what mattered was handling today’s task cleanly.
‘If I end it too quickly, it’ll look like I’m not taking it seriously. But if I drag it out, they’ll wonder what I’m doing against an F-Rank.’
He decided to finish at a reasonable level.
“Shall we begin, then?”
Lee Kangsoo said, lightly bumping his fists together.
“Fighting!”
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