It had already been three days since that squabble with Yong Sang-jae at the aptitude center.
After that, I finished up the final procedures to apply for Polygon.
And then…
"Alright, that's the last of it!"
The registered mail containing my talent grade had finally arrived.
I'd been loitering in front of the house the whole time just in case my relatives got to it first.
As soon as I snatched it up, I headed straight for the post office.
No way was I going to get snagged by family after coming this far.
"Heh, hmm-hmm."
A hum slipped out on its own. Yeah, that's right.
With a riiip, I tore open the envelope to check once more.
As expected, the words inside read: "C-rank Ability User."
"Ha!"
Sure, the paper said "C-rank."
But this was official proof that my talent had been certified.
That's when I noticed something odd.
'Huh? What's this?'
A sticky note was attached to the documents.
I peeled it off and read the message:
"Kang-hyun, congrats on your awakening. Let's grab some meat sometime. My treat. Stop by the aptitude center around 6, whenever you're free."
Kim Yun-sung hyung.
A laugh slipped out.
Looks like he was not only manning the counter, but also handling all the registered mail himself. A real government worker through and through…
'And 6 o'clock, huh.'
6 meant quitting time for a civil servant.
So basically, he was telling me to come by as he got off work.
Still, since he was treating me to barbecue, I'd have to go.
'He's just way too kind.'
The one thing I learned from him: if someone does you a kindness, pay them back with meat.
To be honest, Kim Yun-sung had always been like that.
Whenever something happened, good or bad, we'd end up eating barbecue together.
'Anyway, I'll deal with this later.'
I folded up his note and tucked it into my pocket, then slid the registered documents into the folder where I'd already sorted everything else.
'With this, all preparations are complete.'
Once I sent this file — including the certificate proving my talent grade — to Polygon, they'd get back to me within a day or so.
"Transcript, check. Grade certificate, check. Other documents… check."
Still, just in case, I carefully went over everything again.
If I messed up here, everything would go up in smoke.
After double-checking thoroughly, I sealed everything up into a single envelope.
Now all I had to do was wait.
Three weeks flew by in the blink of an eye.
And now, I was finally standing in front of the place I'd long awaited: Polygon.
"Ah, finally here."
An artificial island off Incheon, built for hunter training.
That was the location of Polygon, the specialized training institution for nurturing hunters.
'Still…'
I never thought I'd be coming here not for reporting, but as a candidate.
And the reason I was here now was for the entrance exam.
Every time I came to cover the new recruits, I'd been envious.
But not anymore. Now, I was one of them.
Most importantly—
I was seeing a completely different scene from the past.
Every test-taker here was someone who had awakened their talent.
I focused slightly, and status windows popped up above their heads.
'Even on the way here, it was like this. What a sight.'
Floating windows everywhere — it was breathtaking.
Glancing down, my eyes caught the admission slip in my hand.
Just three days after mailing all my documents, Polygon had sent me this ticket.
POLGTT206713404.
The letters were my test code, the numbers meant I was the 13,404th applicant in the year 2067.
'Still, 13,404th…'
Which meant there were even more after that.
The sheer popularity of Polygon hit me again.
'If I remember right, there were five rounds of exams this year.'
Since I was in round three, who knew how many applicants there'd be total.
It looked like once again, ability users from all over the world had applied.
Polygon was always that popular.
'This really is the Polygon of the past.'
So much had changed since the last time I'd reported here.
Well, the last I saw was Polygon ten years from now.
'Yong Sang-jae should've handled himself fine. My problem is…'
Even though he was an S-rank ability user, Yong Sang-jae had still taken the exam.
Of course, the results were never released.
But knowing him, he probably breezed through the written exam.
Naturally, Polygon had too many applicants to handle in a single day.
If they tried, it'd be chaos.
So the exams were spread out over several sessions.
'At least I've gotten used to Frost Shaping these past weeks.'
Shrrk — ice crystals formed in my right hand.
That was the result of three intense weeks of training.
Luckily, I'd gotten comfortable with mana before the practical exam.
'Registering my ability as "Cold Weapon Shaping" was the right call.'
I'd run countless tests, but Frost Shaping alone couldn't match Yong Sang-jae's power.
'Well, I don't have mana supply skills or synergies, after all.'
My reality was that I was saddled with restrictions.
Even if Frost Shaping was an S-rank skill in Yong Sang-jae's hands, by itself it wasn't that strong.
'Yeah, no wonder they called me C-rank.'
Looking back, I could understand why my grade was "C."
If they rated only by skill utility, then my Frost Shaping was indeed just C-level.
But that wasn't the important thing right now.
'Let's see, where's the exam hall…'
I pulled out the pamphlet map and went over Polygon's layout again, carefully tracing everything.
Some buildings hadn't been built yet, but the main structure was similar to what I remembered from the future.
'And yep, still using the cohort system.'
Polygon ran on a three-year cohort cycle.
Which meant there were no upperclassmen, only alumni graduates.
So, even within the same cohort, there were sometimes big age gaps.
'Well, plenty of people trained for years just to get in.'
But Polygon was strictly merit-based.
Here, age was nothing but a number.
Anyway, focus.
'Holy Mark, Holy Mark…'
My exam slip listed my hall as Holy Mark (聖痕).
Since I'd been here many times to report, finding it wasn't hard.
Even public classes had brought me here often.
That's when—
"Hey."
Someone called out from behind.
I turned my head.
A boy stood there, looking gentle, with brown hair falling in uneven bangs. His eyes were tense, his posture awkward.
But something about him felt oddly familiar.
'Where have I seen him before?'
The harder I tried to recall, the less I could remember.
Ah, right — I didn't need to bother.
I focused my eyes.
=
Name: Jung Hoon
Level: 1
Hunter Rank: Undecided (Expected: A)
Skills:
1. Hawk's Eye (B)
2. Steadfast Conviction (A)
3. Dragon-Slayer Sword (A)
Stats: Stamina (B), Mental (A), Strength (B), Agility (C), Mana (C)
=
Ah, no wonder.
With the name and skills, I remembered.
One of Korea's future tankers: Iron Mountain Wall, Jung Hoon.
And yeah, he was about my age.
"You're headed to Holy Mark too?"
"…What?"
"I saw you pointing at the map with your finger…"
So he'd peeked at my map with Hawk's Eye.
Well, that was fair. Skills were meant to be used.
No harm in checking directions with it.
"Yeah, I am. Why?"
"This school's huge… honestly, I get lost easily."
Was Jung Hoon really bad with directions?
I'd never heard that before.
'That doesn't add up.'
In the future, he was one of Korea's top S-rank tanks.
Tanks were the guides inside dungeons.
And he was claiming to be a directionless klutz?
Even with Hawk's Eye? Didn't sound convincing.
"Mind if I go with you to Holy Mark?"
"…Doesn't matter."
If his hall was the same, we'd be heading there together anyway.
Still, something felt off.
"Whew, good. Didn't know you were a Polygon candidate too."
"…Have we met?"
I racked my brain, but I'd never met him personally.
Sure, I'd seen him during reporting trips — but that was years in the future.
So where had he seen me?
"You wouldn't remember me. But I saw you."
"…Where?"
"A few months ago, at the aptitude center."
"…The aptitude center?"
"Yeah. You were with Yong Sang-jae. You two friends?"
Ah, now it clicked.
That ruckus with Yong Sang-jae — if he'd been there, he'd have seen me too.
Fair enough.
So was his real interest Yong Sang-jae, not me?
"Yeah, something like that. What about you, why were you there?"
"Me?"
In my memory, Jung Hoon had been a hard worker like me.
The only difference: his talent had awakened early, mine hadn't.
Thinking about it now, that was a huge difference.
But anyway—
"You were there for a talent test too?"
I probed him, curious whether he'd approached me because of Yong Sang-jae or something else.
'Out of all those people, picking me out just because I was with Yong Sang-jae… suspicious.'
He'd already awakened years ago.
With an A-rank aptitude, he should've been in a different building entirely.
So if he said he was there for a test, it'd be a lie.
"Nah. My dad works there."
"…Your dad?"
"Yeah, he's a section chief."
"Ohh."
Wait, so he was Kim Yun-sung hyung's boss?
That figured.
But what did his dad working there have to do with him being at the center?
"You usually drop by your dad's work?"
"He forgot his lunchbox."
"…Lunchbox?"
"He's got severe hypertension. Has to carry a special lunch every day. I was delivering it. That's when I saw you. You guys were kinda loud."
Well, yeah, it had been noisy.
And the story made sense.
Maybe I was just being paranoid.
"Ah, by the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Jung Hoon. You?"
"Baek Kang-hyun."
As we headed toward Holy Mark, we chatted idly.
And honestly, I was pretty satisfied.
Even if he had some hidden motive, just being around him was a win for me.
Why? Simple.
['Opportunity' has been activated!]
A visitor had arrived.
I glanced at the new message.
=
Character: [Jung Hoon]
Stage 1 – Eat lunch with Jung Hoon. (0/1). (Incomplete)
Stage 2 – Locked.
As expected, it was a different quest than with Yong Sang-jae.
Have lunch with him, huh.
Didn't seem too hard.
"Hey, we're here. That's it, right, Kang-hyun?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
Polygon's layout was basically a labyrinth.
Following the map literally would take ages.
So I'd taken the shortcut.
Just before the exam, I needed to skim my summary notes again anyway.
Beside me, Jung Hoon let out a gasp.
"Wow."
Yeah, I was impressed too.
Even knowing what to expect — this many people?
'So this is Polygon scale, huh.'
The lecture hall looked more like a college auditorium than a high school classroom.
Every seat was practically full.
And we weren't even late. That was Polygon's entrance exam for you.
"Front or back?"
"Eh, somewhere in the middle's fine."
Where I sat wouldn't change my score.
I chose a spot mid-row.
Naturally, Jung Hoon sat right beside me.
"…You're sitting there too?"
"Empty seat, right? We're friends now, aren't we?"
"Well… guess so."
Was Jung Hoon always this easygoing?
The Jung Hoon I knew had always been a solemn shield warrior.
Guess as a kid, he might've been different.
He unpacked a notebook from his bag.
'Right, I should review too.'
Pretending to open my bag, I pulled from my inventory a notebook labeled "67.3."
My cheat sheet.
It contained this year's exam questions, events, and Polygon curriculum. I'd been reading it three times a day.
'No idea how the practical will go.'
To get in, you had to pass both the written exam and the second-round practical.
Fail the written with too low a score, and you were cut immediately.
Since my only skill was "Cold Weapon Shaping," there was no predicting how I'd do in the practical.
Which meant I needed insurance.
I had to score as high as possible on the written.
That's when Jung Hoon gave me a puzzled look.
"Kang-hyun. You're not reviewing anything?"
"Huh? What do you mean? I've got it right here…"
On my desk sat the ultimate cheat sheet.
"Right here? Your desk's empty."
"…It's all in my head."
"Oho, confident, aren't you."
He whistled at me.
I'd acted casual, but something was off.
He was reacting as if he literally saw nothing on my desk.
Wait. Hold on.
'Don't tell me… my notes are invisible to others?'
Read more on BrightNovels.com