Ch-367. ** Arin**
—
Choi Kang-nam was convinced that Park Hyeonmyung was a bug user.
The Island of the Gods, where the tutorial began.
Only *non-awakened* individuals were allowed to enter that place.
No matter how strong an unawakened human was, they could never break free of the mold.
Even someone who had trained in martial arts for decades still had limits.
Yet Park Hyeonmyung, whom he encountered during the final trial of the Island of the Gods, had already transcended common sense and established concepts.
*He crushed ranks two through ten in less than ten seconds.*
Park Hyeonmyung’s movements were invisible.
They collapsed in the blink of an eye, then lost consciousness.
It wasn’t just Choi Kang-nam—every other ranker was the same.
No one remembered when Park Hyeonmyung approached them or how he brought them down.
*The average level of rankers who completed the tutorial was five.*
After finishing the tutorial, Choi Kang-nam relentlessly tracked Park Hyeonmyung.
In the process, he met countless people and compared accounts.
At the point of completing the tutorial, the average level of rankers was around five.
To annihilate nine such people within ten seconds, one would need to be at least level eight.
Which meant that, at the time, Park Hyeonmyung had reached at least level eight.
But they had all entered the Island of the Gods simultaneously.
And all of them had been unawakened.
Reaching level eight during the extremely short tutorial period was impossible.
Even if Park Hyeonmyung had soloed the entire tutorial, it still made no sense.
*Unless he used a bug.*
…Unless he was a bug user.
After that, Park Hyeonmyung continued rewriting the Hall of Honor.
With overwhelming scores, he threatened the domain of Randolph—suspected to be Phantom.
Yet no one had actually *seen* Park Hyeonmyung.
From Main Quest 1 through 6—
there wasn’t a single eyewitness account among them all.
So where, exactly, had Park Hyeonmyung completed those main quests?
*Second-generation awakeners can’t enter Pangaenia, and there are only limited places on Earth where main quests can be completed.*
That was what made it strange.
Aside from the tutorial, Park Hyeonmyung had vanished as if he had evaporated.
Which should have been impossible.
After all—
Main Quest 1: Survival
Main Quest 2: Obtain a Class
Main Quest 3: Climb the Tower
Main Quest 4: Seal the Rift of the Dark Space
Main Quest 5: Obtain Mystery
Main Quest 6: Clear a Party Dungeon
Every main quest Park Hyeonmyung had cleared had extremely limited locations on Earth where it could be completed.
At most, one or two places.
Especially the recently cleared *Party Dungeon*—it required forming an actual party.
Meaning he had to enter the dungeon with other people from Earth.
Yet no one knew.
No one knew who Park Hyeonmyung had formed a party with, or which dungeon he had entered.
Choi Kang-nam wasn’t the only one curious about this.
Awakeners all over the world were questioning it.
Phantom—Randolph—was the oldest veteran of Pangaenia, someone who must possess countless pieces of information unknown to others, so that was one thing.
But Park Hyeonmyung was a second-generation awakener, an Earth-born human.
How could someone restricted to Earth threaten even Randolph’s scores?
And not just once by coincidence—but consistently?
*I don’t know what kind of bug it is, but it won’t work here!*
Choi Kang-nam’s provocation of Park Hyeonmyung was not without calculation.
The exploration team gathered here consisted entirely of elites.
All monsters representing Korea, each with unique traits and abilities.
There was even a transcendent among them.
There was no way he could use a “bug” in front of all these eyes.
And even if he did, it would be exposed.
Above all, Choi Kang-nam had maxed out his Observation talent.
With the resolve never to be fooled twice.
“Enough.”
That was when—
Vice Leader Arin stepped in and put an end to the situation.
The moment she appeared, the atmosphere stiffened.
Everyone faced Arin with tension.
She was known as the *Grand Master*, a powerhouse rumored to surpass even Alliance Leader Park Tae-woo.
Not only for her strength, but for her cold, ruthless methods as well.
“…Vice Leader. We can’t fight alongside someone without knowing his true ability, can we?”
But Choi Kang-nam couldn’t hold back.
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
Powerhouses from around the world were gathering to head into the Black Dome.
They couldn’t entrust their backs to someone whose strength they didn’t understand.
However, Arin shook her head.
Then she looked directly at Park Hyeonmyung and said,
“Choi Kang-nam. You can never beat him.”
She drove the nail in.
There was no need to fight—because he would *never* win.
Absolutely never.
Choi Kang-nam protested.
“That’s because he’s a bug user—!”
“He doesn’t use bugs.”
“…T-that’s not something you can know without seeing it yourself, is it?”
“I’ve already seen it.”
Arin’s gaze locked onto Park Hyeonmyung.
She had met him once before.
*A pure-force user.*
Not a bug.
Someone who instinctively wielded heavenly power even before awakening.
He had obliterated monsters while radiating power so overwhelming it could be mistaken for the Heavenly Demon’s Dominion Step.
At the time, she had thought he possessed the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Such beings appeared once every thousands—or tens of thousands—of years, inevitably rising to prominence even if left alone.
Like Wilhelm.
Yet to think that the talent she had tried to scout back then was Park Hyeonmyung.
*Now it all makes sense.*
Now she understood.
How he could shatter trials of such incomprehensible difficulty.
How he could overwhelm the other nine rankers during the tutorial.
*For a pure-force user, it would’ve been easier than breathing.*
She had never seen such a person on Earth.
Nor in Pangaenia—except for Wilhelm.
Someone who had already stepped beyond the category of humanity.
Competing on the same level as ordinary humans made no sense to begin with.
That was why she had tried to recruit him.
She had intended to raise him herself.
But Park Hyeonmyung never came to her afterward.
She had wondered where he was and what he was doing—
only to realize he had been growing on his own.
…Truly an extraordinary man.
To act instinctively without being taught, without being told.
“He’s a transcendent.”
“…!!!”
Choi Kang-nam’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
So did everyone else’s.
Among second-generation awakeners, not a single person had transcended yet.
Even reaching level ten was extremely rare.
And yet he had already transcended?
*Lies…!*
…How did he transcend?
First-generation awakeners transcended by consuming stars in Pangaenia, but second-generation awakeners hadn’t found even a single clue as to how transcendence worked.
Information so valuable they’d beg and cry to obtain it.
Yet even Arin herself wasn’t fully certain about Park Hyeonmyung’s transcendence.
*…I can’t feel anything at all.*
She sensed no aura from him.
If he had transcended by absorbing a star, there should have been a distinct presence.
Even as a pure-force user, he shouldn’t yet be on par with her in raw power.
So it was likely an ability tied to transcendence—or perhaps a category of *hidden traits*.
Because—
*He has multiple hidden traits. Some of them might even be unknown to me.*
Park Hyeonmyung himself had said so.
—Don’t you need eight hidden traits? If you take me along, that problem’s solved.
…From the start, Park Hyeonmyung knew the Black Dome’s secret entry conditions.
Of course, learning that wasn’t difficult.
Simply possessing the hidden trait *Great Sage* and looking at the Black Dome, as she had, was enough.
In other words, Park Hyeonmyung also possessed *Great Sage*.
Yet to her knowledge, no Earthling possessed that hidden trait.
*But even Wilhelm wouldn’t know the conditions to manifest Great Sage…*
Not even the controller behind Wilhelm would know.
Possessing it meant Park Hyeonmyung had satisfied those conditions.
She didn’t know how many hidden traits he had, but—
his confidence alone proved he possessed at least two or three rare hidden traits.
That alone made any testing unnecessary.
If you can’t accept it, leave on your own.
The words were essentially directed at Choi Kang-nam.
There was no time to waste on his petulance.
“……”
In the end, Choi Kang-nam shut his mouth.
She was the vice leader of the Hero Alliance and like a master to him—
yet colder and more distant than anyone.
Say one more word here, and he’d be dropped immediately.
Arin never kept anyone who displeased her close.
They called her *Grand Master*, but in truth, she had no attachment to them.
She didn’t call herself their master.
She didn’t smile.
She didn’t praise.
That was why earning her displeasure was terrifying.
*What is Park Hyeonmyung, anyway…!*
Choi Kang-nam ground his teeth inwardly.
A rolling stone knocking out a stone that had been there all along.
But even more unbelievable was Arin’s reaction.
That she would side with Park Hyeonmyung.
Wasn’t *he* her most outstanding disciple?
*I’ll prove that I’m better!*
…The one who deserved Arin’s favor should be him alone.
—
—
Inside the plane heading to the United States.
Choi Kang-nam’s provocation and jealousy-laced glare hovered around me constantly.
*Arin.*
I could guess the reason.
…Arin.
Because she was sitting right next to me.
I knew her well enough myself.
No Korean could be unaware of her.
The powerhouse who rose to vice leader in the shortest time ever.
Supposedly even Park Tae-woo found her difficult to deal with.
*She definitely looks strong.*
Even with the hidden trait *Eye of Truth*, I couldn’t read her.
That meant she possessed equipment, skills, traits, or mysteries that blocked observation beyond the *Void* rank.
But this was the first awakener I couldn’t read at all.
Whatever she had, it was proof of her strength.
Of course, I *had* met her once before.
*I think I even got a business card.*
More precisely, she had tried to recruit me.
But I had never planned to go to the Alliance.
…And I had thought I never would.
*…To think the Spirit Tower would be destroyed and its remnants scattered across Earth.*
As a result, everything inside the Spirit Tower flowed into Earth.
The problem was the Spirit Kings.
They were rampaging.
Even Issera, contracted with the Fire Spirit King Agnis, had begun to rampage as well.
Only the Blade Dragon God Hana and Lucaria were barely holding them back.
Even the Bloodspawn Clan had been fully mobilized.
Given that, it would be hard to rely on Hana and the others this time.
*Hudson has to attend the papal election in my place.*
And with the Goddess Day drawing massive crowds—
Hudson was the only one who could act alongside the Round Table.
Normally, I’d just go in alone.
But—
*I don’t know which Abyss Sovereigns are inside. Drawing attention from the start wouldn’t help.*
This was an unprecedented situation.
I hadn’t anticipated something like this either.
First, I needed to grasp what was happening inside.
Only after understanding the situation could I respond properly.
Charging in blindly and having the Abyss Sovereigns recognize me and form an alliance would be a headache.
They might not remember what happened on the Island of the Gods—but you never know.
Times like this called for extra caution.
That was why I chose to reveal myself to the Hero Alliance.
Not as Phantom.
Not as Randolph.
Not as Wilhelm.
But purely as Park Hyeonmyung.
*Now that I think about it, this might be my first time.*
…This was my first official activity on Earth.
But it was an experience I had to go through eventually.
I couldn’t hide myself forever.
That was when—
“It’s disappointing. Why didn’t you come looking for me?”
…Arin, seated right beside me.
She smiled slyly as she spoke.
Words full of dangerous implications.
And at the same time—
Whoooosh!
As if a cold wind had blown through the cabin, murderous glares multiplied, all aimed straight at me.
