#055
“How can you bend the law?”
Is there a way to twist the clause that states it’s illegal for only guides to enter dungeons?
I tilted my head and looked at Hyun Dowoon.
“Instead of dividing into espers and guides, we could get different results if we discuss a new awakened person system.”
“…What?”
A new awakened person system? Somehow, it feels like things are getting bigger. Unable to follow Hyun Dowoon’s thinking, I tilted my head in confusion, and he smiled lightly and said:
“Currently, espers are classified by their innate type and abilities, while guides are classified by how much they can calm an esper’s power during guiding and their control ability. But this classification system misses one big characteristic that awakened ones have.”
“What’s that…?”
“Constellations.”
My eyes widened. Come to think of it, awakened ones did have their own constellations.
“Usually, espers’ ability types are determined by their constellations. Each person’s status system has their constellation and skills written in detail.”
I had never thought about how awakened ones know about their skills and constellations.
When I made up a story about my constellation to Hyun Dowoon, he didn’t find it strange that I knew the detailed name of my constellation.
That means he also knows about his own constellation.
Why am I realizing this only now? The fact that there’s a status system might mean that Hyun Dowoon can also see some kind of game system window in some way.
‘Does it appear in as much detail as what I see?’
While I was speculating about the extent of the system’s functions visible to awakened ones, Hyun Dowoon told me about a system of classifying by constellations.
“Completely dismantling the current ranking system for espers and guides would cause a lot of confusion and resistance. But if we use constellations as a supplementary system, we might rediscover people who were left out in the simple ranking system.”
“Is that also divided into ranks?”
Since I’ve seen mentions of Hyun Dowoon having the first L-class constellation, it seems constellations are also ranked.
In the case of my made-up constellation ‘The Universe’s Inventor’, aka the Inventory constellation, I made it up as A-class, so if it goes by rank, it wouldn’t be bad for me.
The problem is how to get others to recognize a non-existent constellation.
“The rank of constellations would be helpful too. But for espers, it wasn’t always absolute. That’s why we ended up dividing ranks by comprehensively considering their skills and usability.”
“The rank isn’t absolute?”
“There are quite a few constellations that give skills that can’t be used in combat. Even if it’s an A-class constellation, if it gives skills that aren’t particularly helpful in combat, and even if it’s a B-class constellation, if it gives useful skills, their performance in the field will inevitably be different, right?”
At those words, I opened my mouth with an “Ah.” Well, while there are espers active across various industries, basically the most important duty of awakened ones was combat in dungeons. So Hyun Dowoon’s point about combat skills being important was certainly not wrong.
“So it might be good to create a supplementary ranking system by using a method of identifying people who could be helpful in new ways, by sharing the status window on inspection devices.”
“Ah… You mean sharing the status window on devices?”
“Yes. That way, you can prove your constellation and abilities.”
At Hyun Dowoon’s words, I hit another wall. My constellation is fake, so how do I prove it?
‘This is a big problem.’
If it’s a method that outputs to a machine, it’s definitely going to fail. I tried my best to hide my dismay.
“Anyway, with this method, guides don’t necessarily have to only do guiding, and even F-class espers could do new things.”
“That… does sound like a good idea.”
It was certainly a very innovative and efficient idea. The fact that he came up with this method right after I made my proposal was really impressive.
But… while it seems to be flowing in a way that helps my quest, how do I get through this verification right now?
“But it seems like it would take 2 months or 2 years, not 2 weeks, for discussions to progress to the stage of verifying constellations.”
“Hmm. That’s certainly true. It’s too much to apply to you right away, Jaeha. But we can slightly sidestep the law by framing it as ‘a capable person who can enter dungeons’ rather than a ‘guide’.”
“Are you trying to create a new classification of awakened ones that’s neither esper nor guide?”
“We can’t do that right away, but it depends on how we interpret the law. We could legally raise the question of whether someone like you, who has abilities that guides don’t have, can only be seen as a guide.”
What should I say to lead him? What should I say to make Hyun Dowoon not ask me to verify my constellation?
I racked my brains. Then I closed my mouth once and quickly said:
“For the first case, I don’t think it makes sense to numerically verify the constellation’s rank or what the ability is. Because of preconceptions, they’ll just see me as an F-class guide anyway.”
“Do you have a preferred method? It seems like you’re already thinking of something.”
“Rather than proving my rank, I think it would be better to show me actually attacking in a dungeon. If I say I’m going to create a team, there will probably be strong opposition from other teams, but if I show them directly, they won’t be able to say otherwise.”
“But, Jaeha.”
Hyun Dowoon still seemed very worried about me attacking alone.
I smiled slightly. Realizing that I had put up a wall telling him not to say more, Hyun Dowoon closed his mouth.
“Even if it’s just observation, other people will enter too, so I won’t be subject to the clause that guides can’t enter alone. And if there’s a problem during the attack, someone will have to step in anyway.”
“You’re very adamant.”
“I’ve thought about how to minimize opposition. There will probably be many people who come intending to watch because they don’t trust me. But in the end, I’ll prove my abilities, so it’s fine.”
Hyun Dowoon sighed lightly at my words. It was a sigh that seemed to say he couldn’t stop me.
“For now, I’ll discuss with the relevant departments and contact you again.”
“I’ll wait for your contact.”
I nodded and answered. Somehow, Hyun Dowoon’s expression seemed a bit happier at my words about waiting for his contact, which made me feel strange… but it seems I’ve completed the first stage of persuasion.
‘I need to complete the quest and get the reward somehow.’
Not only do I like the content of the quest, but I feel urgent because I think there will be a reward that will help my current floating situation.
I could only hope that Hyun Dowoon would persuade them well.
***
‘I had to tell Hyun Dowoon out of necessity, but I should tell Haejun too.’
Thinking it wasn’t right as a lover to tell him after setting everything up, I was planning to go meet Shin Haejun.
“Where are you?”
After parting like that yesterday, there had been no contact from Shin Haejun. I needed to make an appointment, and above all, I needed to ask where he was since I didn’t know, but honestly, I wasn’t sure if Shin Haejun would answer.
‘Even so, no contact after our first fight?’
I felt a bit upset since Shin Haejun had always been the one to reach out first. But I hadn’t contacted him either, and it was awkward to complain about no contact after just one day, so I couldn’t express my feelings.
But the realization that came right after feeling disappointed was that Shin Haejun had initiated all contact until now.
‘He must have felt disappointed… Is he angry? Isn’t not contacting first a really bad sign?’
I stared at my phone, feeling unnecessarily anxious. However, even after waiting for 5 minutes standing still, there was no alarm on my phone at all.
For now, I had no choice but to wait until he contacted me. I regretted not asking what he usually does earlier.
As I trudged home, I saw a familiar middle-aged woman coming out at the apartment entrance.
As I squinted, trying to figure out who it was, it suddenly hit me.
“Ah…!”
The housekeeper I met when I went to deliver yuzu tea to Shin Haejun’s house!
Just as I stood still recognizing her, she seemed to recognize me too, her eyes widening slightly.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I bowed my head, and she immediately approached me and spoke.
“Aren’t you that Sehyun’s friend who met the young master last time? Is your hand okay?”
“Ah, hello. Yes, it’s fine.”
Thanks to Hyun Dowoon using his healing ability, it healed instantly without even leaving a scar.
As I spoke with an awkward smile, the lady nodded her head.
“Oh my, that’s a relief. It looked like a big wound that would leave a scar.”
“Haha…. Thank you for your concern.”
“Are you on your way to meet Sehyun? He’s not home today either.”
The lady seemed to think I lived upstairs. There was no need to tell her otherwise, so I just asked about something else.
“I guess he went out somewhere?”
“Oh my, don’t even mention it. You wouldn’t believe how much he fought with the young master since this morning.”
“What?”
“Oh no.”
Perhaps it was a rule to keep household matters secret, as she closed her mouth with a regretful face.
Shin Haejun and Kim Sehyun had a huge fight, what on earth happened?
‘Did Haejun lose his temper and take it out on Kim Sehyun?’
Although he’s my lover, he doesn’t have a good personality, so it was quite suspicious.
“I’m close with Sehyun, but I’ve also become close with Haejun recently. Don’t worry too much.”
I smiled brightly and showed her our recent message conversation. The lady’s eyes widened, and she kept exclaiming, “Oh my, oh my.”
“Why are you reacting like that?”
“Is the person the young master has been close with recently you, young man?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She said “close with,” but her tone was strange, as if she knew we were dating. What on earth is Shin Haejun doing at home for the housekeeper to infer this just from glancing at our chat?
I’m a bit curious, but now wasn’t the time to ask about that.
“Why did Sehyun and Haejun fight?”
“Well… Today, young master Haejun was sick, and Sehyun said he would take care of him, but the young master said it was annoying and threw everything he could get his hands on. He got angry, telling Sehyun to go somewhere else because it was noisy, so Sehyun ended up leaving the house.”
‘Wow… Shin Haejun’s personality is terrible… Wait, no!’
He’s sick? Was he unable to contact me because he’s sick?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
