Chapter 149 - Chapter 149

['Kwon Jihan' uses the skill .] 

[It has no effect on you.] 

"Kwon Jihan, you don't need to use . Today, I will reveal everything and answer all of your questions. There's no point in clinging to something that's already been exposed."

"Ah, right."

Kwon Jihan deactivated the skill.

Hwashim ignored the two doing squats and sat down at the table.

"As you've probably figured out, I'm a Gaia skill user."

"You mean . Why did you hide it all this time?"

"Because I hate bothersome things."

"That's not really something someone who's already working as a hunter should say."

"I never intended to cause a big stir. I just wanted to quietly go through low-ranked dungeons and protect the lower-level hunters that no one else would."

"…I see."

A golden glow appeared in Kwon Jihan's eyes as he bent his legs, activating . After a brief moment, he spoke.

"When I first saw your system profile, was it that controlled our minds?"

"No. It was just a simple suggestion to make you perceive me as a C-rank."

"So you didn't deceive the system profile but rather tricked our minds."

Yoon Seo spoke as he completed his 151st squat.

At the same time, he was using to read Hwashim's system profile.

[Encyclopedia of People: Hwashim, 28 years old, male 

Rank: S-rank 

Traits: Stealth, Protector of the Lowly, Chosen One 

(Protected by the God of the Sun) 

(Protected by the God of the Forest) 

(Protected by the God of the Leaves) 

(Protected by the God of the Earth) 

(Protected by Gaia) 

Skills: S, A, A, A 

Unique Skills: S, S 

※ Gaia skill: L 

Would you like to check the rest of the stats?]

[HP: 7901/8101] 

[MP: 2912/6000]

He was a chosen one, blessed by five gods, including Gaia. Hwashim wasn't just a regular C-rank but truly a special individual.

"So, when you were trembling and writing your will, was that all an act?"

"No. My offensive skills don't work on water or ice monsters, and my total mana is relatively low. It's true that I've always fought with the thought of dying."

"When were you planning to reveal this to us?"

"I wanted to hide it until the end if I could, but I decided to let it go the moment we entered the Great Dungeon."

"Why did you volunteer to enter the Great Dungeon?"

"To release .."

Release it? Yoon Seo tilted his head in confusion. His thighs were starting to feel sore, and since the conversation had become serious, he stopped squatting and sat down at the table. Kwon Jihan, waiting for this moment, sat beside him.

Peep, peep.

Riceball was still diligently doing squats.

"When and how did you acquire ? Also, when you looked with , did you see if there were still remnants of Galaxaia left? And we'd like to share this information with the leadership group, including Vice Guild Leader Do Deungsoo. Is that alright?"

"Do as you wish."

Hwashim began to speak.

"First of all, Galaxaia no longer exists. However, there are still those who doubt that their comrades aren't part of Galaxaia. As for the former cultists… it seems we don't need to worry about them anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"When I read them with , it seemed like their mindset had changed. can also be used for simple mind-reading."

"..."

"You can share this with Vice Guild Leader Do Deungsoo. Yelena Ivanov and Soo Jaehee already suspect me. Also… I acquired two years ago. To be precise, I got it when I awakened."

"Two years ago, when exactly?"

"Around autumn."

"October?"

"That's right."

"That's around the same time I got . Tell me everything in as much detail as possible."

Yoon Seo also pulled himself together and focused when he heard that Kwon Jihan and Hwashim obtained their Gaia skills around the same time.

"Until two years ago, I was an unawakened soldier, tasked with clearing low-level dungeons alongside lower-ranked hunters. Those who tackled dungeons with our unit were all older awakeners. The youngest was 60 years old. As you know, elderly awakeners are shunned by any raid group. They struggle to adapt to rapid changes and fall behind. Even teaching them anything requires dozens of repetitions for them to barely grasp it. What guild would be insane enough to recruit them? And in these times, with a shortage of hunters and an abundance of dungeons, it's impossible to have hunters train them. Luckily, there were plenty of F-rank dungeons that hunters avoided. These were dungeons where no awakener wanted to be responsible for clearing them. The government gathered elderly awakeners and soldiers like me to form attack teams and assigned us to handle dungeons close to their deadline."

Ten years ago, many brave unawakened people entered the Great Dungeon due to a shortage of awakeners.

After the Awakener Law was established, unawakened people were prohibited from entering dungeons, but an exception was made for soldiers. Many F-rank dungeons were cleared by military units using modern weapons.

"We entered an F-rank Yellow Dungeon back then, and the terrain was worse than we expected. Sinkholes hundreds of meters deep appeared unpredictably all over the place. Coincidentally, we had no one with a flying skill or flying item, so anyone who fell would die on the spot. The only strategy we could form was a swift attack, and our unit fought monsters while keeping the elderly in the rear. Ideally, we should have been training the elderly while fighting, but we didn't have the luxury for that."

"..."

"About halfway through, we were resting after a round of fighting when the ground beneath us began to collapse. Most managed to escape safely, but one person fell along with the soil. That old man was 82 years old, the head of his family, caring alone for three disabled children. According to the awakeners, the dungeon entry message didn't indicate a drop in numbers, meaning the old awakener had survived—miraculously, perhaps. But then our opinions diverged. He would die anyway without a healer, even if we rescued him. Still, if he was alive, wasn't it right to save him? Shouldn't we at least bring his body back to Earth? But if we tried to recover his body, we could all die from exceeding the time limit. And there was a risk that he might die while we were on our way down…."

"So? What happened?" 

Kwon Jihan, engrossed in Hwashim's story, urged him to continue.

"Everyone left the sinkhole except for one person. That one person tied himself to a rope and descended into the 330-meter sinkhole. It took a very long time. Being unawakened, I couldn't even see the dungeon entry message to know how many were still alive. Should I go back up? Is he already dead? Am I doing all this for nothing? Should I just go up? Should I follow my comrades? What am I even doing here? Those thoughts kept crossing my mind as I moved until, eventually, I found myself at the bottom. And… there he was, pinned under a massive boulder, bleeding and in agony. The size of that boulder… it was as big as…"

Hwashim gestured, pointing to the entire camping car.

"I was unawakened, so I couldn't lift the boulder. I couldn't send a guild message or anything, and all I could do was hold the old man's hand. I wished I could somehow let those who went ahead know that he was still alive, that if they could just move the boulder, he could be saved. For an awakener, this boulder would be nothing."

"..."

"Then the old man spoke. He told me to leave him behind. He said that if an exit appeared and we didn't reach it in time, we would vanish together. He said he had lived long enough—he was 82 years old. I didn't have many choices, but abandoning him wasn't one of them."

"A choice where there's only one option isn't really a choice." 

Yoon Seo said calmly. Hwashim nodded. 

"While I was uselessly trying to move the boulder, a white light suddenly burst in front of me, and a translucent screen appeared before my eyes."

"..."

"Messages popped up congratulating me on awakening. It said, 'To you, virtuous and righteous one.' I immediately sensed that this awakening message was different from others I'd heard about, and that I'd gained a special skill."

"..."

"That's how I obtained . Does that answer your question?"

It certainly did. Yoon Seo gave a faint smile.

'The Gaia System really loves genuinely good people.' 

Only good people awaken… and perhaps that's why it gathers "chosen ones" who would never stray, even though some people's character can change after awakening.

'Though I am an exception.'

The original owner of was also a diligent and sincere person. He was a foreigner who spoke Korean quite well, and his name was somewhere between Hughes and Hughie—so we just called him Hughes. He died without leaving a will to Seo Chaeyoon. From Lee Kangjin, Yoon Seo had only heard that Hughes had been cut in half and died instantly.

"..."

When Yoon Seo took out a pill bottle, Kwon Jihan immediately pulled out a water bottle and handed it over. Yoon Seo took it naturally and drank.

After swallowing the medicine, Yoon Seo asked.

"What does it mean to release the skill?"

"This skill can even control and dominate a person's mind. The Gaia System describes it as giving the target a 'story.'"

"A story?"

"Yes. You can assign up to three stories in total. For example, if I mentally dominate you, Seo Chaey—no, Kwon Jihan, and make you believe 'I am an unawakened person without ,' you would believe that. If the skill is successful, that story gets saved into one of my three slots. I can name the story anything I want. If I call it 'Kwon Jihan's Story,' then it will be saved as that, or if I call it ' Story,' then that's what it will be."

"That sounds annoying. Try it on me now. I'll defend against it immediately."

"…It was just an example."

Yoon Seo thought that Kwon Jihan might actually be able to defend against mental domination from . But could he?

With the item 'Lucifer's Smile,' which he obtained in the Great Dungeon, his resistance ability was enhanced, giving him S++ level defense. Still, he wasn't entirely confident in standing against .

It was truly a terrifying ability.

"However, at the moment, I can only use simple suggestions. Making someone feel like they're of C-rank or making their presence seem blurred—those are the best I can do, and even those don't work very well."

"I see. Is it because the mind control slots are all filled?"

"Not completely. Two out of the three slots were already occupied when I acquired the skill."

Hwashim looked at Yoon Seo.

In those red eyes, Yoon Seo sensed an ominous and uneasy feeling.