The World Does Not Exist for ■■

Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: ford53
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< Chapter 31: A Coincidence for the NPC (2) >

Kim Mansoo was the instructor responsible for the new recruit training at the Seonjook Mercenary Corps.

However, neither Kim Mansoo himself nor any of the other instructors considered him a ‘real’ instructor.

It was obvious why. How could anyone take him seriously as an instructor when he had been the vice-commander of the mercenary corps just a week ago?

He hadn’t become an instructor because he was keen on training recruits or because he wanted to teach someone.

The real reason he had become an instructor was quite disgraceful: he had beaten up the son of a city councilor, and incidentally knocked down a reporter who was filming the incident.

Simply put, his new role as an instructor was a form of discipline.

To appease the city councilor who had come shouting at the mercenary corps, the commander had directly dismissed him from the vice-commander position and demoted him to an instructor.

Yet, everyone in the mercenary corps knew this punishment was merely a formality.

Who else in the world would use a superhero-like talent as an instructor?

Kim Mansoo knew this too, so he bore the boring days without much complaint.

Yes, the days were boring. Today, yesterday, and probably tomorrow too.

Kim Mansoo, avoiding the gazes of the staff who were wary of him, stepped out of his office and approached a window from which he could see outside.

The weather in Gaeseong was the same as ever. Neither particularly good nor bad.

The dimensional gate in the distance, as always, was bustling non-stop with people and containers coming and going.

Occasionally, he spotted some fools attempting the mercenary corps entrance exam, though most couldn’t withstand the test and scurried away in defeat.

A few capable ones might have passed the exam as they followed another instructor across the building corridor.

Of course, none of them caught Kim Mansoo’s eye.

‘These days, even the mercenary world is short on manpower. The new recruits are just….’

As Kim Mansoo was killing time with these thoughts, someone caught his eye.

The person was dressed in a neat casual suit that looked like something a girlfriend might pick out, dragging a large suitcase behind.

‘A lost journalist, or a new civil servant?’

Kim Mansoo thought he had seen enough and was about to look away, but just as he was turning his gaze away, the man started walking straight toward the Seonjook Mercenary Corps building.

‘…Could he be coming to take the exam?’

Only then did he squint and scrutinize the man. When he enhanced his vision with mana, the man’s features became distinctly clear.

‘He looks like a male concubine.’

The young man dragging the suitcase had a pretty handsome face. His eyes shone golden, perhaps because he was wearing colored lenses, and he looked more like an idol than a mercenary.

He appeared to be somewhere between a boy and a young man, making it hard to pinpoint his exact age.

‘He… actually looks surprisingly decent?’

Upon closer inspection, the aura he exuded was rather impressive.

His steps were measured and sharp, like a well-honed blade, and the tension visible in his movements suggested he could throw a punch at any moment.

He wasn’t just some pretty boy; he clearly had undergone some form of training.

‘A superhuman aspirant… Judging by the timing, maybe a dropout from the academy?’

Superhuman aspirant.

It was a term for those who had been consuming elixirs from a young age to train to become superhuman.

Mostly, these were children from wealthy families who could afford such elixirs, but sometimes, families with nothing would gamble on feeding their children elixirs in hopes of them becoming something more.

Of course, if simply consuming elixirs could make someone a superhuman, then training superhumans wouldn’t be such a significant national affair.

Only a few aspirants could even sense mana, and among those, only a handful could manage it well enough to become real superhuman.

Some applied to superhuman academies to slightly increase their chances of becoming one…

But superhuman academies were exactly what they sounded like—they existed for superhumans.

Only those who were already superhuman or on the brink of becoming one could enter.

Thus, every admission season at the academy saw a slew of young people faced with the harsh realities of their talents and circumstances.

If they were children of the affluent, they could just consider the elixirs a health investment.

Children from less fortunate backgrounds often had to drop out of school and join mercenary corps to pay off their elixir debts.

Considering his gait and demeanor, this guy seemed likely to be one of those cases.

‘I should personally administer his entrance test.’

Having smoked his last cigarette down to the filter, Kim Mansoo descended the building’s stairs.

Sure enough, in the building’s lobby, there was the same young man he had seen from the window, now talking with a lobby staff member.

“Hey, Park Youngsoo.”

“Yes, Vice-commander. What is it?”

“Damn it, how many times do I have to tell you I’m not the vice-commander anymore? Anyway, you see that guy over there.”

Kim Mansoo grabbed another instructor passing through the lobby and pointed at the young man with the suitcase.

“I’ll personally administer his entrance test.”

“Vice— I mean, Mansoo-hyung, you want to do it yourself?”

“Yeah, I just have a feeling about this kid. He seems sharp.”

“…I don’t feel anything, though.”

“Hey, you and I aren’t the same, are we?”

When he scowled, the instructor grumbled but moved toward the lobby counter.

The instructor approached the lobby staff and started a conversation; shortly after, a guy dragging a suitcase showed some papers.

‘What’s that?’

As Kim Mansoo squinted, the instructor returned empty-handed.

“What? Why did you come back like that?”

“That person says they don’t need to take the entrance test.”

“What? Why? Did we recruit office workers too?”

“No, they already passed. They brought an acceptance letter.”

Kim Mansoo’s brow furrowed.

‘An acceptance letter?’

“Since when have we dealt with such things in our mercenary corps?”

“…It’s been about 10 years, Vice Captain.”

“…”

The instructor shook his head in disbelief, sighed, and took out a pen and paper to write something down before handing it to Kim Mansoo.

“That guy will be assigned a specialty by Team 3 and then directly put into action.”

“Team 3? The newbie’s going straight to the front?”

“It seems the application was quite impressive. If you think he looks alright, why don’t you go check him out yourself?”

With that, Instructor Park Youngsoo left. Kim Mansoo looked at the note with narrowed eyes.

“Name, a thousand skills. Specialty is… good at everything?”

This guy is crazy. Kim Mansoo chuckled and crumpled up the note.

* * *

After checking the acceptance letter, the lobby staff led him underground, not simply down an elevator but through a thick iron door to a place resembling a bunker deep below.

How long had he walked when Yeomyeong detected a faint smell of blood?

It was a different scent from human blood.

Yeomyeong furrowed his brows and concentrated mana on his sense of smell. While he still couldn’t pinpoint the exact nature of the blood smell, the accompanying scents of oil and gunpowder became increasingly apparent.

‘…It’s not just a simple smell of blood.’

As he followed the staff deeper, the odor intensified.

Upon reaching their destination, Yeomyeong realized the source of the blood scent.

‘…A monster?’

What greeted him was a vast concrete expanse that looked like an underground parking lot, with a gigantic creature tied up at its center.

The monster resembled a wolf at a glance—a wolf with two heads and six legs.

“Who…oh, damn. Surely not a newbie.”

In front of the wolf-like creature, a man honing a large knife turned to look at Yeomyeong and the staff.

The man had a notable long scar across his face and exuded a deadly aura.

The staff, familiar with such scenes, without further explanation, pulled out some documents and handed them to the man.

The scarred man briefly examined the documents and raised an eyebrow.

“So, expectations do come true, a real newbie. With only a day left until deployment… Tsk, acknowledged.”

As soon as the man spoke, the staff bowed slightly and left the bunker, his demeanor indicating there was nothing more to see.

In the ensuing brief silence, the sound of the departing staff’s footsteps and the monster’s labored breathing continued.

Once the footsteps were no longer audible, the scarred man, knife in hand, approached Yeomyeong.

“I am Manseok Cheol. No need to remember the name; after today, we won’t be meeting again.”

“Cheon Yeomyeong.”

“Cheon Yeomyeong, you wrote down quite the impressive specialty. Is it arrogance, or confidence?”

Cheon Yeomyeong recalled the specialty he had listed on his resume and smirked.

Good at everything.

It was something that could easily come off as arrogance to others.

‘Was Seti trying to set him up by writing that on his resume? Probably not.’

Considering the temperament she had shown, it was more likely she truly believed that.

Yeomyeong pondered briefly on how to respond, then decided to trust Seti’s judgment.

He pushed modesty aside and answered Manseok Cheol with a confident face.

“I wrote it with confidence.”

“Oh, the vigor of youth. Not bad.”

He said in a tone that was hard to tell if it was sarcastic or admiring, and then handed the knife he was holding to Cheon Yeomyeong.

A large, sharp knife suitable for dismantling a tuna.

As soon as Cheon Yeomyeong took the knife, Manseok Cheol turned his head and pointed at a monster tied up in the clearing.

“Cheon Yeomyeong, do you see that monster?”

“Yes, I see it clearly.”

“Our mercenary corps captured it from the Manchurian rift. We put in a lot of effort to capture it alive, not dead. Why do you think we brought this creature here?”

“…Did you capture it for experiments?”

“Similar, but no. Not for experiments, but for a test.”

“…A test?”

What does he mean by testing with a dying monster tied up? As Cheon Yeomyeong tilted his head in confusion, Manseok Cheol chuckled ominously.

“Cheon Yeomyeong, what do you think is most necessary to capture a monster?”

“Weapons, isn’t it?”

“Yes, weapons are important. A monster like that can be turned into rags with just a magazine of an automatic rifle… But that’s the wrong answer.”

He paused for a moment and then continued, looking at Cheon Yeomyeong’s hand.

“To capture a monster, humans are more important than weapons. No matter how good your weapon is, it’s useless if you get scared in front of a monster.”

Is that so? Cheon Yeomyeong tilted his head again.

“You don’t seem convinced. You’ll pass without having to prove anything.”

“What kind of test is it?”

“It’s a test to sort out the cowards.”

Manseok Cheol said this and then stepped back from Cheon Yeomyeong.

“Don’t move from that spot.”

He then pulled out a small button from his pocket. It was a button that gave off an ominous feeling.

Click.

As soon as Manseok Cheol pressed the button, the iron chains holding the monster slackened and sagged.

Grrr…

Soon after, the six eyes of the wolf-like monster twinkled towards Cheon Yeomyeong.

The monster, regaining its freedom, crouched low, ready to pounce. Manseok Cheol’s gaze towards Cheon Yeomyeong grew cold.

“The chains around the monster’s neck are still there, so don’t be too scared. If you don’t move from that spot…”

Before he could finish explaining, Cheon Yeomyeong moved before the monster did.