The Little Prince (3)
After Seong Hyun-woo went inside the testing room, Han Yeon-soo also left.
A support request came in because of a crack that appeared nearby.
She does not show off when she is with me, but she is a hardworking first-class hunter.
How many hours do I have to kill?
I sat on the Association lobby, watching people pass by.
Surely, there are a lot of awakeners here. Because it’s the Association, there are some pretty famous people passing by.
The strong ones had distinctly different auras.
[There are no talents in this world. How can’t anyone around you look stronger than you are?]
Huh? But they are all-stars…
The Traveler looked surprised and clicked his tongue in disbelief.
I passed the time talking to him.
I didn’t notice how much time has passed.
Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder and sat next to me.
“You talk to yourself a lot… I thought you were on the phone,” the stranger remarked.
He was wearing a gray uniform with a pattern embroidered on it. An Association employee.
“Ah, because I like talking to myself, ha ha ha.”
“I guess you have the ability to see souls and spirits around. I know someone with that kind of awakening, and it was annoying. Even when we were talking alone, he would suddenly make a strange noise…”
“Ha ha ha ha ha.”
I did not want to comment about my abilities and instead tried to cover it up with laughter.
“Your clothes…” he noticed. “Are you a cadet? You haven’t taken the hunter test yet. Why are you here?”
“Oh, I had something to do around here.”
“I guess someone you know came in today for measurement, right?”
He was asking more questions. It seemed that he had no intention of letting go.
It was a mysterious voice. He was almost whispering, but his voice echoes loudly in my ears.
Is he an awakener? But I can’t feel mana on him…
‘Excellent Insight’ was activated.
A more detailed view of his appearance came into my eyes.
The Association’s gray uniform is hiding a moderately muscular body.
It was not as much as most hunters would have, but something that an average person can achieve through fitness training.
But his proportion was a little off. The lengths of his arms are slightly mismatched, and the movements of his muscles as he breathed were awkward.
Although it was subtle, the tips of his fingertips constantly tremble, and the edges of his mouth had unnatural movements when he speaks.
It was as if he was wearing a mask… No, a costume that covers his body.
His upper face was fully covered by a hat.
These are small oddities that ordinary people would have missed.
However, he looked bizarre to me.
I frowned. I have never been wrong.
He could only be one of the two.
A person in disguise… or something not entirely human.
“Excuse me?” he caught my attention. “Your expression doesn’t look good. Do talking about these things bother you?”
“Oh, no. I just thought of something.”
The man nodded.
If I could see his eyes, I would know it for sure. The only thing that wasn’t covered by his hat was the lower part of his face.
Who the hell wears a hat that way?
[You must have noticed something strange, too?]
The Traveler remarked next to me.
[He looks bizarre… but it’s hard to decide. I can’t tell whether it’s a mask or a different species.]
“…”
What I was expecting was a monster called Doppelganger. A clever creature that could change its appearance to a human figure.
However, a Doppelganger could not have gotten inside a building filled with awakeners.
[Have you ever heard of phantom metamorphosis? People in Moorim use that regularly. A miraculous feat of changing not only their appearance but even the structure of their skeletons and muscles.]
I heard about something like that, in martial arts and fantasy novels.
[Most of the people who had suffered through phantom metamorphosis turn their bodies to something that was dramatically stronger than before.]
“…”
[Those who have much experience in metamorphosis, however, can deliberately degenerate their own bodies. Deliberately lowering their skills and physical abilities – it is something that masters use to disguise themselves.]
I focused on the Traveler’s words. It was interesting. I’m not certain that the stranger beside me really used that.
“Do you smoke?”
“No, I’m a minor…”
“Right. I took it up too early when I was younger, hahaha.”
The man laughed. Even the act of laughing seemed a little suspicious in my eyes.
[I’ll teach you how to find out. Pull his ear. Someone hiding himself won’t take that well. That may cause them to lose their focus and let their disguise go.]
“Will you be waiting for your friend much longer? I’ll have to burn a cigarette.”
“Ah… I want to get some air, too.”
“Okay, you can come with me.”
Originally, I would have just let it go. But he was just too suspicious. I could not afford to let an unknown villain go.
If I find out that he is a villain, I will dismantle his body to pieces as soon as he reveals himself.
“Oh, wait a minute…” I caught his attention.
I raised my arm and held it towards his head, towards the bottom of his ear.
[Good, touch it, and let the force flow in…]
Pagak-!
I felt a sudden pain in my wrist climbing up through my shoulder.
Meanwhile, the man’s ear twisted at a bizarre angle.
Despite having Excellent Insight active, I was not able to capture what happened in detail.
It was too fast.
At the same time,
[Uh, hahahahaha!]
The loud laughter of the Traveler rang in my ears.
[Finally! Someone interesting in this poor dimension!]
The man’s face melted down.
[It seems that someone at my level is in this world.]
I saw the stranger’s eyes.
“…!”
Those were the eyes of someone I know. There was no need to see his other features.
Of all the people I’ve seen in my life, there was only one person who had eyes like that.
It was a mistake to reveal him.
* * *
“Oh, above average. This much… let’s try it for Level 3, shall we?”
“Level 3… okay?”
“Ah, Level 5 is an ordinary person, Level 4 are people who are a little special, and Level 3 is a category of superhumans.”
“…”
“So, surely you wouldn’t be as much as an Academy cadet? At the age of 12, this is probably your first test, right?”
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