Bzzzt-
4 AM.
The vibration of my smartphone tore through the silence.
I’m not a light sleeper.
But…
For some reason, I woke up today.
Rustle-
I picked up my smartphone and checked the text.
[Kim Minseong: Hey. Your wife was incredible.]
“?!”
For a moment, my brain shut down.
Thinking I must have seen it wrong, I rubbed my eyes and looked again.
The words hadn’t changed.
‘Kim Minseong?’
The name was familiar, yet completely out of place in this situation.
‘That guy is…’
A classmate from the Hunter Academy, and the grandson of the chairman of Myungjin Group, the number one conglomerate in South Korea.
A so-called third-generation chaebol.
‘Why the hell would this bastard send a text like this in the middle of the night?’
At first, I thought he might have been drunk and sent it by mistake.
But the content of the message was too serious.
Saying my wife was incredible.
My wife, Seo Inna, was currently in Busan on a Guild-related business trip.
‘No, it can’t be.’
My heart began to pound ominously.
With a trembling hand, I dialed my wife’s number.
[The phone is currently switched off. After the beep…]
At this hour?
On a business trip?
Anxiety turned to suspicion, and suspicion soon morphed into terror.
I bit my lip and called Kim Minseong.
[The customer you are trying to reach is currently unavailable…]
Same thing on his end.
It was as if the two of them had conspired to cut off all contact with the outside world.
‘Did this bastard send the text and then immediately turn off his phone?’
I felt utterly alone in the darkness of the early morning.
My grip on the smartphone tightened.
‘Kim Minseong, Seo Inna… You two, don’t tell me?’
The dregs of the past, things I had buried in my memory—or rather, things I had actively tried to ignore—began to crawl back to the surface.
Lee Taeyang.
That’s my name.
At one time, my name was the very symbol of hope in the Korean Hunter world.
[The greatest talent in the history of the Hunter Academy!]
[Potential unmeasurable! A future top-level Hunter in the making!]
When I entered the academy, my potential measurement was so high it broke the machine’s limits.
Thanks to that, I was the top student admitted to the academy!
Every Guild and corporation had their eyes on me.
Among them were Kim Minseong, the Crown Prince of Myungjin Group, and Seo Inna, the daughter of the President of the mid-sized Valkyrie Guild.
Kim Minseong was jealous of me, and Seo Inna seduced me.
Funnily enough, Kim Minseong had also been smitten with Seo Inna.
He used his background as a third-generation chaebol to court her, but she chose me.
It might have been the obvious outcome.
The world had praised me as the birth of a Hunter tycoon who would surpass all of Korea.
To an ambitious woman like her, I must have seemed like a massive winning lottery ticket, making someone like Kim Minseong look pathetic in comparison.
“Taeyang, I believe in your potential. We’ll definitely be the best partners.”
I thought those sweet whispers were love.
But after we married and it was revealed that the lottery ticket was a dud, her attitude changed 180 degrees.
The truth behind my potential that had broken the measuring device.
It wasn't strength, nor agility, nor mana.
[Mental Power: 99,990]
It was an overwhelmingly dominant number, beyond all comparison.
The problem was, that was it.
Usually, high Mental Power should lead to higher magic resistance or mana control, but my case was different.
I just had intense focus.
That was the end of it.
The ability to achieve super-concentration in any situation.
It might be helpful for a Hunter’s survival, but it was utterly useless for beating down monsters.
‘Trash with high potential.’
That was the label attached to me by the time I graduated.
And right after that fact came to light, Seo Inna’s attitude changed completely.
“I can’t even stand the sight of your face. Make sure you don’t cross my path.”
“How does it make sense for you to rest comfortably at home when you can’t even earn any money?”
There was no sweet honeymoon phase.
She looked at me like I was an insect.
She denied my very existence within our home.
The reason Seo Inna didn’t divorce me despite all that?
It was likely because of the slim possibility of me reawakening with new powers.
But now, two years later.
I was still a Level 1 Hunter working as an Analyst for a subcontracting company.
Seo Inna, on the other hand, was living a glamorous life, rapidly advancing in her father’s Guild.
And today.
That one text message from Kim Minseong had arrived.
I spent a sleepless night and went to work.
Even after arriving at the office, I couldn’t focus on my work.
The charts and data on the monitor danced chaotically.
The only sentence replaying in my head was, Hey. Your wife was incredible.
“Team Leader Lee Taeyang, the President wants to see you.”
The female employee’s words snapped me back to reality.
My steps felt heavy as I walked to the President’s office.
Normally, I would have been nervous, wondering if I’d made a mistake in my data analysis, but today I had a strange premonition.
And…
My ominous feeling was not wrong.
“Sit.”
President Park of Blue Moon, a subcontracting Guild, pushed a paper envelope toward me.
“What is this?”
“A letter of recommended resignation. It’s a nice way of saying you’re fired.”
The notice was completely out of the blue.
“Fired? What mistake did I make? This month’s analysis report had a 0% error rate. So why all of a sudden…”
“Right. Your analysis skills are incredible. That’s not the problem.”
President Park lit a cigarette, his brow furrowed.
He avoided my gaze, blowing smoke toward the ceiling.
“The order came from above.”
“Above?”
“Myungjin Group. The word came from them to get rid of you.”
Myungjin Group.
It was Kim Minseong.
My fists clenched so tightly my nails dug into my palms.
“Aren’t we a subcontractor for Gwang-ung? We don’t even have a direct contract with Myungjin, so why do we have to care about what they think?”
“Don’t you know how small this industry is? If we get on Myungjin’s bad side, subcontractors like us will be out on the street tomorrow! My hands are tied.”
President Park waved his hand dismissively.
“I’ll give you some severance pay, so pack your things and leave today. Don’t make me say anything more.”
It was an order to leave.
Grit-
I bit my lip and stood up.
It was unfair.
I’d been ignored for having no abilities and treated coldly by my wife.
Now, I’d lost my job, too.
All because of a single word from that bastard.
“I understand.”
On my way out of the company with my things.
The sky was clear, but my world was gray.
President Park, and Kim Minseong.
I vowed to one day repay this humiliation, but all I held in my hands right now was a worn-out employee ID and a box of my belongings.
When I got home, a familiar pair of high heels was by the entrance.
Seo Inna was back from her business trip.
Sitting on the living room sofa, legs crossed as she flipped through a magazine, she looked as elegant and cold as ever.
“You’re home early? What about work?”
That was her first remark, thrown without even looking at me.
I dropped the box of my things onto the floor with a thud.
The sound made her turn her head.
“I was fired.”
“What? Fired? You got fired from that subcontracting gig that pays peanuts?”
There was no concern in her voice.
Only a mixture of contempt and annoyance.
I pulled my smartphone from my pocket and shoved it in front of her.
“Explain this.”
“What is it?”
Seo Inna’s eyes wavered for a moment when she saw Kim Minseong’s text on the screen.
But it was only for a split second.
She scoffed and tossed the smartphone onto the table.
“So?”
“What do you mean, ‘so’? Is this true? What did you do with Kim Minseong on your business trip?”
“Ha, Lee Taeyang. You’re so pathetic. Have you developed a paranoid complex now, too?”
“What? Paranoid?”
“Yes! I met Minseong for a business meeting. You know how much of a prankster he is, right? He just sent that to tease you, and you’re acting like it’s the end of the world. You have no ability, just a massive inferiority complex.”
The sheer audacity of her turning the tables on me was astounding.
A business meeting?
At 4 AM?
With their phones turned off?
But she was brazen.
She was actually trying to make me out to be the crazy one.
“I’m so sick and tired of living with you. You have no vision, no ability, and now you’re suspicious. I can’t breathe. I can’t live like this.”
She shot up from her seat.
“Let’s get a divorce.”
“What?”
“I said, let’s get a divorce. If there’s one blemish on my life, it’s marrying you. I’ve already spoken to my father. I’ll send the papers tomorrow, so just stamp your seal on them.”
Without a backward glance, she went into the master bedroom.
Slam!
I stared at the closed door and laughed hollowly.
“Ha, haha…”
I knew.
To her, I was no longer a husband, but a burden.
Whether her relationship with Kim Minseong was real or not didn’t matter.
What mattered was…
She had been looking for an excuse to dump me.
A small spark.
But it had caught fire, and Kim Minseong had poured gasoline all over it.
The divorce proceedings moved at lightning speed.
There was nothing to divide in terms of assets.
The security deposit for our apartment was paid by her family, and the money I earned was barely enough to cover living expenses.
Alimony?
They said the evidence of an affair wasn’t clear.
On top of that.
They even made the absurd claim that my lack of ability was the main cause of the marriage’s breakdown.
In truth, I didn’t have the strength to fight.
I had no money for high-end lawyers, nor the connections to stand against a massive Guild.
‘Seo & Jang…’
Seo Inna had brought in the best law firm, while I had a neighborhood lawyer.
It wasn’t even a contest.
In front of the courthouse.
The final mediation date was over.
“Live well. No, I doubt you’ll be able to live well, though.”
Those were Seo Inna’s last words as she left the courthouse.
She got into a black sedan that was waiting for her.
The back seat window slid down smoothly, and a familiar face appeared inside.
Kim Minseong.
He lowered his sunglasses slightly, looked at me, and twisted the corner of his lip into a smirk.
Mockery.
It was the smile of a perfect victor.
Vrooom-
The car glided away from the courthouse.
Left behind in the exhaust fumes, I trembled with rage.
The fury boiling inside me rose to the top of my head.
“You son of a bitch, I want to kill you. I want to destroy everything!”
But there was nothing I could do.
I was a Level 1 incompetent, and he was one of the most powerful men in South Korea.
I looked up at the sky.
The hot sun was shining with a cruel brightness.
‘Lee Taeyang... what good is a name like 'sun' when my life is in the gutter!’
It felt like the world was laughing at me.
Should I just die like this?
No.
Even if I die, shouldn't I get my revenge on those bastards first?
Extreme stress, anger, and frustration mixed together, making it feel like my head would explode.
My heart pounded like crazy.
It was the moment all the emotions I had suppressed my entire life finally erupted.
‘My mind... Ghk. It feels like it's about to collapse.’
My vision turned red.
I heard something snap inside me.
It was then.
Ting-
A transparent message window appeared in the air.
[Warning: The user's mental state has surpassed the critical point.]
[Measurement Impossible.]
[Anger, hatred, killing intent, despair... All emotions exceed their permissible limits.]
A red system window, different from the usual.
I staggered, staring at the words.
[The conditions have been met.]
Conditions? What conditions?
[Mental Power: 99,990]
[An ordinary body cannot handle this Mental Power.]
[However, your soul has not collapsed.]
My head grew hot.
As if I had swallowed the sun, an immense heat surged up from the pit of my stomach.
[The hidden Hidden Piece is being unlocked.]
The world before my eyes slowed down.
The noise of the people passing in front of the courthouse was blocked out, and only the system's voice hammered into my brain.
[This is not something as trivial as Mana.]
[You are the Master of a Star.]
Rumble-
I felt the illusion of the ground beneath my feet vibrating.
No.
The universe inside my body was vibrating.
It felt as if the sun in the sky was resonating with me.
It was hot.
But it wasn't painful.
On the contrary, it was comfortable, as if I had reclaimed a part of my own body.
Ting-
[Awakening the Power of the Stellar System.]
[Class: Changing to Solar Master (Solar Master).]
End
ⓒ Hwaun#13d8r
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