The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood – Chapter 22

What a bolt out of the blue.

‘Which bastard reported me? Could it be An Yunseung? No way, then I would’ve been caught a long time ago.’

I was called in so suddenly that I was brought to the Awakening Examination Center before I knew it.

I stopped briefly in front of the main gate. And I asked the employee next to me.

“Excuse me. But I don’t have any money, isn’t the re-awakening examination fee expensive?”

That was the most concerning issue right now.

I heard that the re-examination fee is over 400,000 won, since there’s no government support for it.

“Re-examinations done for investigation purposes are not charged.”

“Ah, I see.”

Then is it actually a gain?

I cheered inwardly at Seon Uyeon’s answer. An awakening power test is also a mana quantity test, after all…

I can check Giryeo’s specs beforehand.

‘Just like how he can’t smell his own scent, it’s hard to gauge your own mana until you use it.’

But Seon Uyeon looked at me, who was in a giddy state, and said dryly.

“By the way, the fee is only waived if your rank stays the same after the re-examination.”

“Huh?”

“If you’re found guilty, you’ll have to pay a fine and the examination fee, right?”

I shut my mouth at those words.

Wait a minute, then am I in a dangerous situation right now…?

‘Oh, what should I do? I’m barely making ends meet with my food expenses.’

But before I could argue, the examiner strode right up to me.

The end of the hallway. A place entered through an opaque glass door.

In that place, I encountered a device I had never seen before.

“Is this the awakening examination device?”

“…You used it last year.”

“Ah! That, right.”

It was like…

If I were to scrape together the memories in Kim Giryeo’s brain to express it, there were three things that looked like hibernation capsules from a movie.

It has PIXY written in large letters on the side. Is that a company name?

“Please lie down comfortably here. Rest your neck on this part. The measurement will take about a minute.”

I laid down in the capsule as instructed by Seon Uyeon.

Then, the glass on the front covered me like a lid, and the space I was lying in was temporarily sealed.

Chik━. Chik━. Chik━.

The sound of the air pump operating regularly echoed.

‘Ah.’

I immediately understood the Earthlings’ method of measuring mana.

What’s rushing into the capsule is dense external mana.

That is, by having the internal mana factors and external mana factors that naturally come out through a magician’s breath meet, the concentration of their combination…

━Beeeep.

“It’s done. You can come out.”

Oh, it’s over before I could even finish my thoughts.

I got up, smoothing my hair that was flattened from lying down.

“What are the results?”

Of course, the measurement was as expected.

“It’s within the normal range for F-rank. Top 60%.”

Seon Uyeon reads the value displayed on the side panel.

It’s an obvious result. Because there is a major flaw in this test.

“It must be because of my lungs.”

With this testing method, the mana of those with respiratory diseases cannot be accurately measured.

That stupid, trashy chain smoker, Kim Giryeo, completely ruined his lungs in his life!

To put it simply, he’s in a state where he can barely breathe, so how can you do a breathalyzer test by blowing out air?

‘To measure mana with such a sloppy device. How barbaric. So barbaric~’

That’s why Kim Giryeo got an F-rank in his life.

I clicked my tongue, lamenting the Earthlings’ lack of technology.

“I know there’s a possibility of that. So, today we’re also going to re-measure your awakening power with the latest testing device.”

“……”

“Of course, we’ve been giving re-examination notices to all those with lung-related illnesses since last year. If you think that excuse will work now…”

And it took only 3 seconds for my composure to shatter.

“What did you just say, Seon Uyeon-sensei?”

The Earthlings already know the problem?

I unknowingly used honorifics. Then, that woman said with a cold gaze.

“Kim Giryeo-ssi, you’ve already missed the chance to voluntarily correct your rank.”

My mouth felt parched for some reason.

“If the result of the latest testing device is different enough from the previous one to change your rank, you will be a false rank reporter.”

“….”

“You’ve seen a lot in the news about what happens when you’re caught hiding your awakening power, right?”

I don’t know.

I’ve never heard of such information.

That’s why I’m even more scared. The unknown fear made my spine tingle.

“Ah, no. Wait a minute. The people at the Association are misunderstanding something…”

I tried to argue urgently, but they didn’t allow it.

The employees who were waiting nearby suddenly surrounded me and started searching me to see if I had secretly brought in any items or equipment!

“Wait a minute!”

Moreover, after being thoroughly searched by the Earthlings, I was forcibly taken to a large room.

The latest testing device they mentioned was waiting for me in the center of the room.

“It looks like an MRI machine, right? Don’t worry. There’s no reason to take off any metal items when using this.”

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Okay, we’ll proceed right away. Please lie down.”

D*mn it.

I shouldn’t have been lured in by the words that the examination was free.

No, I shouldn’t have opened the door in the first place.

“Ugh…”

I couldn’t resist the ominous pressure that Seon Uyeon and the employees were emitting, so I had no choice but to enter the examination device.

Wooo-wooo-woooong.

My heart was pounding like crazy as the measurement progressed.

‘No. I can’t pay 480,000 won for the examination fee.’

Wooo-wooo-woooong. Thud.

And a little later. Finally, the machine’s operating sound stopped.

Silence descended upon the vast examination room.

“Is it… over?”

But there’s always a chance of something happening.

I got up with the hope that maybe there was a testing error, but Seon Uyeon’s expression denied it.

‘I’m screwed.’

Not only Seon Uyeon, but all the hunters in this room were staring at me with stiff faces.

I’m done for.

“Uh, um.”

Where should I start this?

I’m an alien, you see. I just picked a corpse with the most abundant mana and reincarnated?

But Kim Giryeo actually had bad lungs…

“How many years is the prison sentence for a false reporter?”

That’s it. What explanation.

I gave up on everything and murmured with empty eyes.

“Kim Giryeo Hunter.”

But…

The words coming from Seon Uyeon’s mouth were even more shocking.

“Awakening power 14. It’s within the F-rank range.”

“…?”

“To be precise, it’s 14.08Aw… There, there is no suspicion.”

I passed the examination safely.

I was briefly happy at the thought that I didn’t have to pay the re-examination fee.

But I gradually began to realize what this news meant.

“Seon Uyeon-ssi, what’s the principle of this latest testing device?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t know? No, this isn’t the time for that. Hey. Give me back my phone that you took.”

I immediately got my phone back.

It wasn’t difficult to find the information I wanted.

Because when I searched for the principle of the latest awakening examination device on the internet, a related explanation came up on the first page.

And as a result of reading the explanation.

I, who was at the pinnacle of all madohak, can confirm that this testing device is quite accurate.

Theoretically, it cannot produce a large error value.

Cold sweat started to flow from my forehead.

“Why is that? Is it because the result is strange?”

“It’s just that…”

“This is the best product among the existing testing devices, so there is no error.”

Seon Uyeon calmly said, not knowing why I was flustered.

“Ah, I see what you’re worried about. It went up by about 2 from last year’s result. Now that I look at it, the value is close to the new type. Although it’s not marked, it seems like you were probably measured with this kind of machine last year too…”

This is what you call an increase?

“Anyway, this much change is not a problem. Don’t worry.”

I urgently asked a question after hearing those words.

“Can it keep increasing in the future?”

The innate mana of Alpha Uri natives hardly changed. It was a talent that was determined from the time of the fetus.

But Kim Giryeo is an Earthling. Maybe he could keep growing like this and escape from F-rank.

“No. Usually, it stops after increasing this much.”

However, Seon Uyeon’s calm voice soon delivered a stern verdict.

“Because there is absolutely no case where innate awakening power changes naturally.”

Okay, let’s go back slowly.

At first, I thought the problem was Kim Giryeo’s lungs.

I thought that because the lungs, the output device, were broken due to smoking, he couldn’t use magic.

But what if the problem wasn’t with the output device?

What if this body had an empty fuel tank from the start, so magic failed every time…?

“Giryeo-ssi. What’s wrong?”

So that’s how it was.

The answer to the problem I had forgotten came out.

‘That golem back then.’

Before, even though we passed the same path, I couldn’t meet the golem, but An Yunseung’s team had an accident where they woke it up.

Why would that be?

Kim Giryeo was not recognized as an intruder from the start. Because his mana was too low.

“Kim Giryeo Hunter? Do you feel any side effects from the examination? Like dizziness.”

All the pieces of the puzzle fit together, and I’m about to laugh in disbelief.

I put my hand in my pocket and stared blankly at the examination device.

I was so positive all this time.

That the lost power would return if I just fixed my lungs. That then I could even conquer Earth alone.

Honestly, I was extremely arrogant right up until I entered that latest testing device.

I was only worried about getting caught for having a tremendous amount of mana hidden in my body.

But, to think that the body I occupied was hiding such a cute defect.

“No. There’s nothing wrong.”

I guess I should start accepting it.

My reincarnation magic failed.

A fatal error occurred in the selection of the corpse, and thanks to that, I ended up living as the weakest, lowest-grade magician on Earth.

Hahaha.