Chapter 123 (1/2)

Lee Ju-ho circled around the exact same spot right in front of the Awakener Authority’s building while looking quite anxious. Su-hyeun was sitting on a nearby bench reading a book while sipping on coffee the older man had brought earlier.

Lee Ju-ho just couldn’t understand Su-hyeun. “We don’t have much time left, yet how can you be so laid-back enough to read a book?”

“Well, I don’t have any reason to feel rushed, so it’s fine.”

While making his reply, Su-hyeun flipped to the next page. His eyes moved quickly and busily as he read the words on the paper.

Seeing how relaxed his demeanor was, Lee Ju-ho could only sigh and pound on his chest. “In any case, why is that kid so late?”

“It’s an S-Rank evaluation, after all. It’s actually a relief that things are taking a while.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means he avoided getting disqualified right at the beginning, doesn’t it?”

Su-hyeun’s reply caused Lee Ju-ho to form a dazed expression for a moment or two, but then he nodded his head in an exaggerated manner, as if he realized something just then.

“I-I see.”

“That’s why you should also calm down and patiently wait for him. Besides, by now he should be…”

“Hey, you two!”

Hak-joon was running towards them from the distance.

Without a doubt, his voice came from afar, yet he must’ve run so hard that he was already right in front of the waiting duo’s noses.

“I did it! I really did it!”

Judging from how he was jumping around in excitement, there was no need to even ask him.

Su-hyeun closed the book and got up from the bench. And rather different from how Hak-joon was reacting, he simply smiled faintly as if he had already predicted this end result. “What did I say? I told you it’s nothing to worry about.”

“You were so right. It was really easy, you know?”

Hak-joon carried a triumphant look on his face, then pulled out a phone while looking as if he had forgotten about something and began typing text messages reserved for someone.

Lee Ju-ho, sounding unconvinced, raised his brows and asked, “What about your registration certificate?”

“Ah, that. Here.”

Hak-joon pulled out the awakener registration certificate stuffed into his cross bag and showed it to Lee Ju-ho. It was the same thing that Su-hyeun received when he became an S-Rank one year ago.

Lee Ju-ho confirmed the certificate and breathed a sigh of relief. “Now that was too close for comfort.”

“If I knew it’d be this easy, I would’ve taken the evaluation one or two months ago. I was so nervous since I can’t retake the evaluation for a year, but this…”

“No time for idle chatter, unfortunately,” said Su-hyeun as he lightly patted Lee Ju-ho and Hak-joon’s shoulders. Then he turned around to leave. “Let’s hurry and be on our way.”

Act 7

The three men climbed aboard a private plane and departed right away for San Francisco, US.

Hak-joon had been stuck inside the tower and couldn’t come outside for the past half-year, all for the sake of acquiring the S-Rank qualification. So, his jaw couldn’t help but drop after checking out Su-hyeun’s private plane.

“T-t-this thing is really yours?”

“You didn’t believe me when I told you before, did you?”

“Isn’t this even bigger than the one we borrowed from the Reaper Guild the last time? Just how much did you pay for this plane anyway? No, wait a minute. Just where did you get the money in the first place?”

“Out of all the Ether stones and the by-products of the monster corpses from that blue-colored dungeon, around 70% was judged to be mine. The money’s from selling off all of my share of the loot.”

“70 percent?”

Hak-joon’s jaw dropped even further.

Since he also participated, he also received some money from the aftermath of the blue-colored dungeon raid.

He figured that the reward cash was pretty generous even by his standards, but at the moment, he was failing to even compute just how enormous the “70% of the entire earnings” from the same dungeon could actually be.

“Wait, Jordan said he’d yield his contributions to you, didn’t he?”

“Right, and the Medical Guild’s contribution was also mine, too.”

“…Umm, bro? Can you even maintain this thing?”

“I still have some money left. Besides, if it becomes too much of a hassle, I’ll just participate in another raid or something,” Su-hyeun replied while looking completely unbothered by it, but Lee Ju-ho and Hak-joon were forming really depressed expressions.

Especially so with Lee Ju-ho — he was shaking his head and muttering out as if he had given up already. “The guy who eats tteokbokki for lunch and gimbap for dinner now owns a private plane….”

Su-hyeun didn’t even eat proper meals unless it was with Lee Ju-ho, yet here he was, spending his money so carefreely like this. It was a bit hard to reconcile these two images of the same man.

However, only one matter of interest would cause Su-hyeun to splurge, and that would be on how to save himself some time, even if only by a little bit.

The private plane flew non-stop for half a day.

Soon, the American continent gradually entered their visual range, and as the plane slowly descended from flying altitude, the three men catching some quick Z’s woke up one by one.

“Ahh! Are we there yet?”

“Looks that way.”

After seeing the two yawn so loudly, even Su-hyeun ended up yawning, too.

The seats on the plane could be folded back almost flat like real beds, which allowed him to get a fairly relaxing rest. He began wondering just when was the last time he slept so soundly like this.

“We’re not late, I hope?” Hak-joon asked while packing his luggage, perhaps beginning to feel a bit concerned that now he was here.

Su-hyeun confirmed the date and time once more and replied, “We’re not late. We still have a cushion of one day, so you don’t have to worry so much.”

“That’s a relief.”

It seemed that they still had some time before the start of the Ranking Wars.

Not wanting to be late because of unexpected delays, Hak-joon even took the S-Rank evaluation test in secret. If reporters or the guilds somehow caught wind of the situation and showed up, then that would lead to unnecessary delays.

Su-hyeun glanced outside through the plane’s window.

He could see a building standing tall in the center-most spot of San Francisco in the distance. A grin spread over his lips after he recalled the name of the building in question.

<<The Gordon Tower.>>

What a laughable name that was. A building named after its owner.

One might be tempted to think that such a thing wasn’t strange, but Su-hyeun knew what Gordon Rohan’s personality was like, so he couldn’t help but chuckle.

That man would never be satisfied unless he was acknowledged as the best at whatever. Su-hyeun knew all too well why such a man decided to organize the Ranking Wars.

<<It’s all because he wants to prove that he is the best in the world.>>

Since when did it start?

Gordon Rohan was born into a wealthy American oil baron’s family, meaning he was born a billionaire. People jokingly said that half of San Francisco belonged to him, so it was rather easy to estimate the depth of his financial wherewithal.

He was one of three men that people always mentioned when talking about the wealthiest individuals in the world.

He used his bottomless wealth to acquire a football team, and it continued to win its league every season. His corporations focusing on smart technology and Ether stone energy refinement always stayed as the number one in their respective fields. To top it all off, he even possessed talents that made others acknowledge him as the world’s best awakener.

He lived with the modifier “the best” seemingly for his entire life.