TRGBH 02

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【Kim Darum】

【Level】: 1

【Traits】

└ [Manipulation] Puppet (LV 1)

└ [Special] System Observer (LV 1) New!

【Corruption Rate】: 0%

【Ranking】: Below Standard

【Performance Score】: 27,000 New!

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After checking my status window, I quickly realized what had changed.

One trait had been added.

Surprisingly, the newly added trait was also the exact same trait I had possessed in my previous life.

“What… System Observer? I got the same trait again? Then this means it’s not just a coincidence…”

There was only one difference.

In my previous life, I didn’t obtain the [System Observer] trait until ten years after awakening.

Anyway, my surprise lasted only a moment.

Soon, countless possibilities and scenarios flashed through my mind like lightning.

A moment later, the reflection in the mirror was wearing a huge grin.

Not bad.

No, this was actually very good.

The combination of [Puppet] and [System Observer] fit together perfectly, almost as if they were meant for each other.

Come to think of it, the reason I had managed to make even a small name for myself as a hunter was because I obtained the [System Observer] trait.

On top of that, I had only just awakened, yet I already possessed two traits.

Multi-trait hunters weren’t completely unheard of, but they were extremely rare.

And having two traits from the moment of awakening?

I had never even heard of such a case.

Unlike [Puppet], [System Observer] was a trait with a very simple ability.

However, depending on how it was used, it could be more useful than almost any other trait.

The first ability of [System Observer] was that it displayed one piece of hidden information on the trait holder’s status window.

That information was the ‘Performance Score.’

The Performance Score could be considered an overall measurement that converted an awakened person’s abilities into numbers.

For some reason, [System Observer], which was classified under the Special category, didn’t display a detailed description in the status window like other traits did.

Because of that, in my previous life, I had to spend a long time researching what those numbers meant.

The relationship between the score and ranking.

The standards and range used to determine those numbers.

After countless trials and errors, I came to the following conclusions.

*The Performance Score does not simply represent combat power.

However, it has a very meaningful positive correlation with combat power.

*The Performance Score is not suitable for estimating someone’s ranking.

However, it is suitable for determining a target’s absolute value.

How was I able to figure all this out?

It was thanks to the second ability of [System Observer].

The ability to ‘view a target’s status window.’

Of course, the information that could be viewed was limited according to the trait’s level.

At trait level 1, I could only see the name of the opponent’s main trait.

But the hidden information, the Performance Score, could be checked for any target.

Do you get it?

I could now accurately distinguish between opponents I could safely fight and opponents I shouldn’t even make eye contact with.

In the hunter industry, it was extremely common for inexperienced hunters to recklessly attack monsters and die because they didn’t know any better.

The most important thing for surviving within the system was the ability to understand the ‘gap between me and my opponent.’

And I had gained this valuable ability at the exact moment I became an awakened.

While excited, I looked through my status window.

Then I soon realized that something was strange.

【Performance Score】: 27,000

The Performance Score was… way too high.

I was a level 1 rookie who had only just awakened.

Yet my score was already close to 30,000.

Considering that my final score in my previous life had been in the 70,000s, this number was absurdly high.

But I soon figured out the reason.

This was probably proof that the system valued the ability of the [System Observer] trait that highly.

Of course, if we were only talking about actual combat power, my current score was clearly exaggerated.

But that was fine.

No, it was actually even better.

The higher the Performance Score, the better.

The indirect advantages provided by that number could sometimes become a stronger weapon than actual skill.

I felt relieved.

This start wasn’t bad at all.

Grandfather, are you watching?

Just like you said, I threw away my greed and emptied my heart, and it was filled again in no time!

Hahaha.

‘……’

Well, it was true that I had emptied my mind and gotten rid of my worldly desires, even if only for a moment…

I checked the cellphone lying on my desk.

As expected, today was March 1st.

In two days, on March 3rd, the Hunter Association would hold a hunter selection evaluation for awakened nineteen-year-olds.

Just like in my previous life, I planned to participate in the evaluation this time too.

The selection evaluation would take place in a safety-rated stage provided by the system, but the Hunter Association had always added Easter eggs to the stage.

In other words, those who ranked high in the clear rankings received incredibly valuable rewards.

In the past, I couldn’t even dream of making it into the rankings.

But this time would be different.

In many ways, this was an opportunity I couldn’t afford to miss.

‘Two days until the evaluation…’

The house I had lived in when I was nineteen was in Hannam-dong.

The evaluation would take place in Yeouido.

Since they weren’t far apart, I had plenty of time to prepare.

Today and tomorrow, I planned to get myself into the best condition, thoroughly check the traits I had regained, and prepare myself for the evaluation the day after tomorrow.

As I organized my thoughts, I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t the only one living in this house.

“Ah… damn it.”

I quietly opened the bedroom door.

Under the gap in the door, I could see two feet wearing cute slippers with flower patterns.

“D-Darum, are you okay? Nothing happened, right?”

A woman’s voice came through the slightly open door.

There was a great deal of worry in her voice.

When I opened the door, a woman with dazzling beauty was standing in front of me.

I recognized her immediately.

‘Oh… she was home.’

There was only one reason she would be lingering outside my bedroom at this moment.

‘I cursed way too loudly after getting the Puppet trait…’

She must have rushed over because she thought something had happened.

But even after coming all the way to my door, she couldn’t bring herself to knock.

She had simply been standing there, hesitating.

“Darum. Did something happen?”

She asked again with a worried expression.

Instead of answering, I stared blankly at her anxious face.

‘She really was beautiful…’

Come to think of it, after entering puberty, even though we had lived together, I couldn’t remember ever properly looking her in the face.

When I just continued staring at her without answering, she swallowed her words and looked over my body from head to toe.

Then she noticed the red ticket in my hand.

“Did you decide to follow in his footsteps after all?”

She spoke with a lonely expression.

Even her voice was trembling slightly.

That finally brought me back to my senses, and I opened my mouth.

“Yes. That’s right.”

At my answer, she lowered her head.

When she raised it again, her eyes were filled with tears.

She stared at my face for a long time before quietly turning around and walking away.

That’s right.

Around this time, I had become as distant from this beautiful woman as I possibly could.

Even though we didn’t share a single drop of blood, she had always treated me with love…

But during puberty, I had been terribly cruel to her.

In my previous life, I had participated in the hunter selection evaluation just like this.

Afterward, I started living in a dormitory, and I remembered that I never had the chance to live with her again.

Looking back now, those had been incredibly immature and foolish actions.

We didn’t share a single drop of blood, but she had raised me since I was five.

Even after my father disappeared, she had always stayed by my side and done her best as my guardian.

As I watched her walking away across the living room, I moved my lips.

What was I hesitating for?

Hadn’t I regretted this broken relationship countless times in my previous life?

Who did I think I was to let my pride get in the way?

I had to call her back right now.

But what had I called her again?

Crazy bastard!

What did that even matter?

She had always been my mother, no matter when or where.

“Mom!”

The two words that came out of my mouth echoed through the silent house.

My mother, Joo Miyeon, suddenly turned around and looked at me with a shocked expression.

“D-Darum. What did you just call me…?”

“Mom, don’t worry too much. I won’t disappear without a word like Dad did.”

“D-Did you just call me Mom?”

“Of course. What else would I call Mom? Should I call you ma’am—”

Ah, I remembered.

Ever since the time when a dark mustache had started appearing above my upper lip, I had stubbornly called her ‘ma’am’ every single time.

Ah.

What a terrible son I had been.

“Mom…”

She covered her face with both hands and burst into tears.

Mom, I’m sorry.

After living through my life, I finally realized it.

There was no one in the world who loved me as much as you did.

I walked over to her and carefully put my arms around her shoulders.

“Why are you crying? I only called you Mom…”

“Sniff… Do you know how much I wanted to hear you call me Mom…? Ever since you entered middle school… you treated me so coldly… You always called me ma’am… and wouldn’t even look me in the eye… Do you know how hurt I was…?”

Her shoulders trembled.

“You wouldn’t even come out of your room, and I had no idea what you were thinking… I was so scared that… just like your father… you would suddenly disappear too… I was so afraid… I can’t…”

She poured out her words uncontrollably.

In the end, she burst into loud sobs.

Ah…

I really had been the worst.

Mother, please forgive me.

Your son has committed an unforgivable sin.

I desperately searched for the right words to calm her down.

“Please think of it as me suddenly growing up after awakening, just like how puberty suddenly came to me before. I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done. So please don’t cry.”

“I spent so much time telling you not to awaken… but now that I see you, I guess I’m actually glad you awakened… I’m sorry…”

“What are you sorry for now…?”

“For being so pathetic that… after telling you how dangerous it was and trying to stop you, I’m actually relieved to see how you’ve changed after awakening…”

Oh, my mother.

I love you.

I desperately held back my tears.

Mom wiped her tears, took a deep breath, and then, with a calmer expression, led me into the sitting room on one side of the living room.

Soon, she brought out tea and snacks from around the world and carefully set them in front of me.

The two of us sat facing each other and looked at one another for a long time.

My mother, Joo Miyeon, spoke first.

“So, are you planning to participate in the hunter selection evaluation in two days?”

She was a woman who had been married for nearly ten years to an awakened who had worked as a hunter in Korea.

There was no way she didn’t understand what it meant for me to tear the red ticket and awaken as soon as I turned nineteen.

I answered calmly.

“Yes. I should. After the evaluation, I’ll probably have some free time before I move into the dormitory.”

“I’m still worried. Unlike your father, you were weak physically since you were young. You were always falling down and getting hurt… I wish I could go with you…”

“You don’t need to come with me. I’m fine. More importantly, don’t you have a schedule, Mom?”

“Ah, I do, but… they’re all domestic schedules anyway. I can tell the company to cancel them all.”

My mother, Joo Miyeon, who had raised me, was still one of Korea’s top actresses and was enjoying the peak of her career.

When my father was at the height of his popularity as a hunter, he managed to marry her, who was one of Korea’s top actresses at the time.

I was five years old back then.

Even now, I couldn’t understand what kind of miracle that widower with a child had pulled off.

What on earth had Mom seen in that man that made her decide to marry him?

“Don’t do that. And from now on, don’t turn down your overseas schedules either. I’m an adult now too. You don’t have to stay by my side anymore.”

Actress Joo Miyeon was talented enough to receive offers from Hollywood as well.

In my previous life, it took me a very long time to realize that she had deliberately avoided overseas schedules until I became an adult.

Ha…

Mother, the more I think about it, the more I realize what an unfilial son I was.

“Still, I’m planning to stay in Korea for the time being. I want to talk with my Darum about all the things we haven’t been able to talk about.”

Her large eyes curved into crescent moons.

I smiled back at her.

Two days later.

“I’ll be back~!”

As I left through the front door, I reassured Mom that I wouldn’t get hurt and that I would come straight home as soon as the evaluation ended.

She hugged me tightly as she saw me off.

“Come back safely, my son.”

‘Mom, don’t worry. Even so, my nickname in my previous life was Undying Flame. Even when people thought I was dead, whenever they saw me again, I was always alive and kicking.’