Chapter 451. Artificial Awakening Syndrome (2) |
Chapter 451. Artificial Awakening Syndrome (2)
If I had known it would come to this, I should've skimmed the company hunters in advance. If I hadn't given them such a big cut and instead had set a larger share for the guild from the start, I could've used the resulting profit to hire an appraiser. By the time all the contracts were finalized, though, it was already too late for all that.
I completely messed up the very first step.
I slipped my hand into my pocket.
I really don't want to work.
I thought it over deeply, but as of now, there was still no choice I could turn back on.
Even if it means running at a loss, maybe I should just go crazy later and hire a full-time appraiser...
Even though it's clearly summer today, for some reason, it feels unusually cold on my way to work.
Another day later. To be precise, it was the third day, when the lower-rank guild members couldn't come to work at all because their weapons had been confiscated under the pretext of enchantments.
I finally sorted through all the loot piled up in the rental office and regained my freedom. And as soon as I returned to the seaside mansion, I holed myself up in the basement to accomplish my goal.
Shall I go up to the first floor and take a closer look at the shape?
A magically animated doll capable of autonomous action. I had successfully created that very item that originated from Alphauri.
It's hastily made, but the exterior finishing is decent enough.
The outer layer was mottled like kudzu. I chose a dungeon material that was as flexible and durable as possible, giving the whole thing a subdued, non-reflective finish. With all these features combined, the item quickly balanced itself perfectly in the palms of my hands.
But as I quietly observed the completed prototype golem, a certain thought flickered through my mind for a moment.
By the way, I spent a lot of time deciding which animal to mimic... and somehow, the model I often used back on my home planet just came out.
Centipedes, spiders, and so on—various others as well.
Earth, being clearly another world, had an astonishing number of strangely shaped creatures. Especially animals with absurdly long necks, like giraffes—the sheer impracticality of them somehow made them appealing. But just copying them for their appearance alone was troublesome, since such creatures usually caused a lot of hassle when it came to control...
So in the end, I had no choice but to go with a simple form
What I held in my hand was a magic-engineering weapon modeled after a snake. It didn't have an excessive number of legs that would cause confusion during manual control. And to repeat, this was the form I'd handled most often back in my days as an archmage.
But while it's a relief that the finished product turned out neat, still...
No matter how much effort I put in, this prototype's performance fell short compared to the previous cherished models I used back on Alphauri.
Suddenly, memories from my younger days come to mind.
At this point, what came to mind was a gigantic creature that once lived in the wilds of my distant homeland.
A hellish monster. A hornless dragon.
For reference, that place had a long-standing resident known by these two nicknames. To clarify in advance, the magicians of Alphauri often favored golems modeled after this "hornless dragon." The produced sizes even varied quite a bit.
In Earth terms, they were sold on the market as Hornless Dragon Small, Hornless Dragon Medium, and so on. I also wanted to replicate that technology here as much as possible if given the chance, but with the lack of suitable materials at present, it was nearly impossible.
So for now, I'll have to make do with just a snake.
No matter how many times I think about it, it's a shame. The creatures of Alphauri that have already gone extinct... their mythic names weren't given for nothing. They lived in shallow waters, sometimes moving vertically as if ascending.
And thanks to the peculiar spatial system unique to ancient creatures, every time they swam, they could alter the water currents of an entire region of the planet. If I had been able to recreate a true dragon like that, even this insignificant Earth would surely have been conquered in no time.
[=^=]
But this thing is supposed to be a super-magical weapon built with a legendary core? It was modeled after the creature known as the "snake," which was usually considered vicious, yet for some reason the object before me gave off an oddly weak, almost harmless vibe.
[=w=]
I met the eyes of the prototype resting on my palm once again.
Its eyes were round... Its face was round... And its body was plump, like a freshly made rice cake.
For reference, this object was made using the corpse of a native earth snake, brought in directly, because modifying it at will might cause malfunctions in Earth's environment. But the more I made eye contact with it, the less imposing the golem seemed.
It looks so bland.
A lot of people online were saying the same thing.
[Comments on Seonhan Daily 'Hunter Kim Retires...']
[Whoa------- This country is rotten to the core. Stabbing its own citizens in the back just like that violent ex-convict --no better than each other.
This is why our ancestors looked at physiognomy. Kim Giryeo has the classic snake face!! If you let someone like that into your house, your life will be ruined.]
I wondered why humans on Earth, whenever they saw someone with a harsh or menacing appearance, would curse them as looking like a snake. I thought this as I glared at the machine in front of me, which somehow looked a bit lacking.
Then, shall I at least try a test run...
There were plenty of things I wasn't satisfied with, but for now, this magic doll was still an extension of myself.
Hey!
There was no need to give it some grand name just because it was my only troop. It was just a haphazardly assembled prototype anyway, so I eventually settled on a simple name for it.
Yong! Drop yourself over by the sofa.
At that, the golem, having recognized my voice, began to move.
Smrk.
The mud-colored magical tool slithered naturally like a real snake, moving its body to a designated spot. It was a structure difficult for humans to handle, but in fact, the AI of that product, Ego Sword, had its own decent value.
Since setting up a full behavior protocol from the start is tedious, it's better to leave just the basic framework and proceed.
Jj- Jj!
Suddenly, my phone started ringing.
It's Jeong Haseong.
Of course, it wasn't hard to see who was calling. The moment I picked up the device, the three characters of the name appeared clearly on the screen. I answered the call immediately.
Hello?
The person on the other end, Jeong Haseong, responded instantly to that voice.
Hunter Kim!
It was a title I hadn't heard in a long time. However, the tone wasn't quite the same as usual.
Hunter Kim, aren't you at the guild building today?
I blinked my eyes and replied to the question, which somehow sounded unusually agitated.
Why all of a sudden?
Answering "I'm taking the day off" would have been simple enough, but I was more curious about why such a question even came up, so I decided to get ahead of it.
Actually, I thought I might have dropped by to see you earlier and headed over to the Seoul guild building, but there were journalists everywhere...
But what does this mean?
What did you say?
Oh, my goodness.
The first thing that came to mind, naturally, was suspicion. Journalists had gathered at the temporary office I had rented for guild operations. However, my company was effectively closed at the moment due to schedules involving enchantments and golem production. No matter how much the landline installed in the rental building rang, there was no way to check it. For now, that was the entirety of the background.
Why on earth are there journalists at my guild?
I asked a brief question into the microphone of my phone.
You haven't seen today's news, have you?
What I heard next was an ominous prelude. While I was busy dismantling Ego Sword, the world's attention had clearly shifted in another direction.
Yeah, it's not like I sit around reading the news every day, you know.
Ah! Heuk! Wh, what I just said wasn't meant to blame you at all, Hunter. Yes, of course, it's perfectly normal for someone to not always keep up with the news.
After that brief fuss, a concise conversation followed.
Thank you for covering up someone else's laziness as best you can. But anyway,
Tak.
I picked up the mobile phone again.
I heard the artificial awakening scandal blew up so big that my license restoration got completely buried. Do you happen to know why the reporters suddenly came to my guild?
The Earthling then spoke.
It's because Hunter Kim was on the list of fake awakened individuals.
It was truly a pointless situation.
The posts that used to just circulate on internet tabloids were broadcast as news by a major network, and now there's even a public petition calling for a thorough investigation of you, Hunter Kim.
What...
From what I've seen of public opinion, the situation definitely isn't looking good.
Just how many times must the term 'hot issue' have to be attached to this sacred name, Kim Giryeo?
This isn't the time for that. It'll be faster if I just check the internet myself.
For reference, the traditional Earth invention called the cellphone had an impressive feature. By skillfully using the "back" gesture, I could open a portal site while still on a call.
Step, step.
I then used a launched internet application to assess the situation.
[Kim at the Center of Controversy Again... This Time Named as a Forged Awakener!]
The main page of the newspaper site was, unsurprisingly, a mess. Even on the hunter-exclusive forum I checked afterward, the atmosphere wasn't any better.
[I knew this b*stard would do that (812)]
[Wow, someone posted a speculation and this is creepy as hell.; (30)]
[So he was showing signs ever since he was first registered as an S-rank (114)]
The top three HOT posts were all about me.
################
Title: I knew this bastard would do it
Content:
Characteristics of artificially induced awakened individuals
(According to information revealed so far)
① Lying in bed, groaning with illness
② Despite being a high-grade individual, he frequently have nosebleeds.
③ The circumstances of their awakening are unclear.
Jeong Haseong met a Kraken, and Seo Esther had the roof of a two-story villa in Gangwon-do completely blown away by a monster--normally, mutations appear after such major incidents, but artificial awakening shows none of that.
"That Hunter' features
① is further explanation needed?
################
But, if you think about it a little more deeply, this trend makes sense.
Oh my.
Judging by the circumstances... judging by the circumstances, South Korea's fourth S-rank really was a strange one...
Hunter, have you checked public opinion? There are always plenty of amateur detectives online who love to speculate. Apparently, some of them calculated your retirement timing and other details, and added their own commentary.
I was out of luck. The past actions of an alien matched a particular theory in an uncanny way. The combination of retirement and the rumors about health worked against me fatally, making it impossible to appear innocent.
[Speculation post] Could it be that 'that Hunter' underwent some additional treatment and came back more stabilized than during the sudden previous trip to the U.S.?]
Of course, the fact that I had acquired the Elixir was a secret, so that outing at the time also became embroiled in controversy.
[So that's why the former Association President Hunter KGR's rank under wraps. He was a superpowered human created through the Association's cruel experiments, wow.]
[I've seen stuff like this in movies;]
I wish the South Korean hunting industry would stop just standing by and actually step forward.
I squinted my clear eyes and took a moment to catch my breath. Honestly, proving someone as a naturally awakened individual was so uncertain that it made this whole situation feel even more bewildering.
What am I to do about this?
But even if there's nothing I can do about countless netizens, I should at least be able to persuade this one person.
It's all groundless.
I spoke clearly into my phone.
I've checked the posts online too, and just to be clear—I really did awaken naturally.
Is that so?
As soon as I said that, a sigh of relief came through the speaker.
The illness I went through, to put it simply, was just a result of a hereditary condition acting up, combined with chain-smoking until it went out of control.
By the last sentence, my conversation partner had, conversely, let out a sharp, startled breath.
So put aside any worries about artificial awakening completely.
I didn't pay much attention to the reactions of the Earthlings. The topic of conversation shifted immediately.
Haseong-ah, on the contrary, I was actually thinking about how to resolve this whole situation.
Resolving?
They say the side effects are that severe, so just letting the procedure spread among civilians like this doesn't seem right either.
Aha.
So while we're on the topic, let me ask--do you happen to know where that Hunter Changho is right now? Has his location been tracked?
The third S-rank of South Korea. His only contact method is blocked now, so I can't reach him by phone anymore--but with the power of an archmage, I could easily intimidate him into working if I wanted to.
It may feel terribly unfair, but this is for the sake of humanity--so please, just cooperate.
I wanted to make use of a certain mammal who was relatively well-informed about the underworld--if possible, that is.
Kang Changho?
But when I asked where Kang Changho was, Jeong Haseong let out a troubled sound from the other end of the speaker.
He's probably not in the country right now?
What reason could that superpowered individual possibly have had for leaving Korea?
Author's Thoughts
Hi, from now on, I will update this novel 3 chapters/week. Thank you for all your support so for:)