The Novel’s Villain

4. Talent (5)

Jin-woo was now waiting for his turn in the standard luxurious waiting room. It was also the Chancellor who set him up with this private waiting room, even going so far as to give him a ride and telling him to rest comfortably before he left with the Commander.

The event schedule was displayed on the table. The order of the ceremony was written in detail, including the Chancellor’s greetings, words of blessing from the Commander of the Korean Competent Warriors, the mayor of Seoul, and then other high-ranking figures that also offered congratulatory remarks. Chairman Lee Hee-jin, of course, wasn’t present.

After all, Chairman Lee Hee-jin was harder to see than the U.S. President. He rarely made public appearances.

‘Chairman Lee Hee-jin is an emperor.’

It wouldn’t even be strange to describe him as a god. All of those high-ranking officials were stand-outs from all walks of life. They didn’t kneel anywhere they went, but now they were just a part of a big crowd.

Knock, knock!

Someone knocked. Jin-woo nodded, and Yoo-na opened the door. She was momentarily startled as she opened the door, backing away. She had seen someone extraordinary. Jin-woo also stood up. It happened out of embarrassment rather than out of respect. It was such an unexpected appearance.

“Hehe, I’m sorry to disturb your rest.”

“…That’s fine.”

Jin-woo was reluctant to meet the Sword Master after Chairman Lee Hee-Jin and Lee Min-Woo. For some reason, the Sword Master, who had shut himself in the mountain, had come directly to Seoul. It was him who didn’t even care about Anyang, even if it was a wasteland.

‘No, then why is he here?’

He thought that he would never see him again after the Choi Family Sword School incident, so he had no choice but to panic as he appeared in front of him. The Sword Master looked at Jin-woo as if he was proud and nodded. His eyes were exceptionally clear, making it very burdensome.

“Haha! You’ve grown more. Even after all those efforts, you keep looking up again…what on earth are you looking at?”

“It’s not like that…”

“Haha! You’re aiming for the universe itself. That’s how a man’s supposed to be. I’ve learned from you again. Life is a series of enlightenments. There’s always fresh air, right? Hahahahaha!”

The Sword Master laughed cheerfully. Jin-woo didn’t know what to say, so he kept his mouth shut. In this case, it was best to just stay still.

“Um, right. You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”

“Ah…no.”

“Take this.”

The Sword Master handed over a lunch box wrapped in a fine cloth. When Jin-woo took it, he put a hand on Jin-woo’s shoulder.

“Congratulations. It’s all right to announce your big news to the world. After all, you’re a man with great capability.”

“I haven’t been examined yet.”

“Isn’t the examination only a trivial matter? Hahahaha! What matters is only your attitude. Where there is a heart, there is a sword.”

“That’s…Sword Master…”

“Sword Master, what! Just call me Grandfather. Since we shared enlightenment, we are like family.”

“Still, that’s a bit…”

“Haha! don’t say such a sad thing!”

He said a few more words before heading out. It felt as if there was a raging storm passing by. Jin-woo looked at the warm lunch box in his hand. As he unfolded the floral patterned wrapping cloth, a slightly crude-looking wooden box appeared. On the wooden box, there was a piece of paper with calligraphy carefully written on it.

‘Eat it before it gets cold.’

A beautiful ink-and-wash painting was drawn under those letters. It looked very carefully drawn. Yoo-na looked at it and smiled softly.

“There is no way the Sword Master did this, but I think I know who sent it.”

“Hmm…”

“It looks like she made the lunch box herself. She put a lot of effort into it.”

Jin-woo tilted his head and opened the lid. The side dishes made with sincerity were beautifully placed. It was such a waste to eat them. Why did Choi Hee-yeon give it to him? Even with such a question, doubts arose.

‘It isn’t poisoned, is it?’

Jin-woo laughed bitterly. Probably not. He kept thinking about it because he worried he humiliated her a little too much. As expected, Choi Hee-yeon was a great person. It wasn’t anyone who would give a gift to their enemy. There were some vague thoughts that perhaps she liked him, but at least she didn’t seem to hate him. Pushing those thoughts aside, he ate lunch. It was also quite delicious.

It was time for him to be examined by the time he finished. The measurements of the ordinary students were already over. Only Jin-woo was supposed to have a separate place for the examination. He was treated special, but who could complain? In the yard, a festival was being held in his name.

As he moved to the examination room, he noticed high-ranking figures sitting there.

“Mr. Lee Jin-woo is coming in. All guests, please stand up.”

Clap-clap-clap!

When Jin-woo came in, everyone stood up and clapped. Flashes went off all over the place. It was such an atmosphere that it seemed like a great person was coming out. It was awkward to see the Mayor of Seoul, whom he had only seen in various memes and videos, standing up and clapping with a big smile.

‘No, what is this…?’

Somehow it was very embarrassing. No one thought so, and people seemed to be very serious. It felt like being invited to a gag show that wasn’t funny at all. The leaders of opposing parties, lawmakers, the Commander he saw a while ago, and the Chancellor were all there. In the middle, the Sword Master was nodding with a soft smile. He wasn’t just getting examined right away. As in this occasion, there was a bland formal procession that had to be dealt with first.

Jin-woo’s seat was prepared separately. It was a very luxurious chair, but it was very uncomfortable to sit on because the chair was placed in such a large space. When Jin-woo sat down, everyone joined him. Yoo-na and his bodyguards quickly moved in to surround him. Thanks to that, it became even more of a scene, but it couldn’t be helped.

Whoever planned this was very strange because it gave off an atmosphere like sitting atop a throne. They must be out of their mind.

“Right! Thank you for inviting me to this wonderful event. I am Yoo Joon-sik, the MC of this glorious JW Bright Future Festival competency measurement test.”

The national MC, Yoo Joon-sik, said so and came upon the stage. There were also cameras, but fortunately, it wasn’t being broadcasted. It was probably used for publicity or internal documentation. After Yoo Joon-sik greeted Jin-woo and the guests, he picked up the microphone.

“There will be congratulations from Mr. Kim Min-soo, the leader of the National Unity Party.”

When party leader Kim Min-soo came up, the reporters who were seated took pictures. Party leader Kim Min-soo stood on the podium after bowing.

“Eh… first of all… I would like to express my gratitude to Chairman Lee Hee-jin for providing such an honorable occasion. And I also would like to congratulate Mr. Lee Jin-woo, who shows a beautiful and clear mind and a devoted heart for the country despite many hardships. Um… Our Republic of Korea is now…”

Party leader Kim Min-soo was a controversial figure. When Jin-woo was on the internet before, there were a lot of memes of him. One of his famous sayings was, ‘If all are full-time employees, who will do part-time jobs?’, ‘If you just have children, you will have a good life’ and ‘You should thank even the terrible pay!’ He was the representative of a hateful Parliament member with an unsympathetic impression. However, the present Kim Min-soo was very polite. He was so careful not to make a slip of the tongue.

He was a person who showed his arrogant attitude even on formal occasions, so it felt very awkward to see him like that.

‘It’s boring.’

It was a pretty boring speech. In summary, it was praise for the Frontline Group, praise for Chairman Lee Hee-jin, cringy praise for Lee Jin-woo, and how important the role of the National Unity Party was in the revival of the Republic of Korea. The Mayor of Seoul and several other figures came up and congratulated Jin-woo following that. He hadn’t even received the competency measurement test yet, but they gave him congratulations in advance.

The pre-examination event took about an hour. Jin-woo was bored and sleepy, but somehow he endured. The celebratory performance of Lee Beom-gyu, who was viewed as the national singer, was worth watching. He sang very enthusiastically, but no one clapped, so when Jin-woo finally did, applause burst out. Everyone was surprisingly quick to read the room.

Originally, there was more in the order left, but when Jin-woo started to grow bored, the quick-witted team immediately cut it off.

“Then we will proceed with the measurement event. Some people can help, right? We’d like to invite Professor Choi Sung-min, the world’s leading authority in the field of Gates, and his research team.”

Choi Sung-min, a professor at Daesun University, was the world’s leading authority in Gates’ capability, utilization, and potential measurement. Not only that, he was a genius doctorate with various degrees. His paper on the correlation and effectiveness of mana and the body, the study on mana transfers, and other outstanding research results, to exaggerate only slightly, helped him build a reputation comparable to Einstein’s.

That same professor personally stepped forward and guaranteed that he would never manipulate the results. He even brought with him the world’s most accurate measuring instrument, which he recently developed. It was a higher-quality device than the one that measured students before Jin-woo.

“Let me give you a brief description of the device. This device is…”

Choi Sung-min’s explanation began. It was supposed to be distributed to Korea starting this year, and it would be exported to the U.S. military next year. He stated that the export to the U.S. military would be a downgraded version.

Clap-clap-clap!

When he finished his explanation, everyone clapped. Professor Choi Sung-min’s explanation was quite long and took another hour. Jin-woo finally stood up. He wanted to finish it quickly and go home already.

“Then, Mr. Lee Jin-woo, please come up on stage.”

Jin-woo started heading up to the stage where the device was installed.

Bam-bam-taraaaaaa! Bam-bam-bam!

When the music suddenly started, Jin-woo stopped as it startled him. Everyone stood and clapped. Jin-woo thought it was becoming somehow more and more spectacular, but given he had come this far, he couldn’t stop now.

The measuring device was about the size of a refrigerator. If you put your hand into the hole in the middle, your possibility and potential rank as a competent person would appear on the screen. If there were a clear ability, it would have been necessary to certify the ability. Still, most of the time, this wasn’t the case, so it was a truly revolutionary device to determine whether a person was competent or not and measure their potential.

‘Somehow, it feels like a device right out of sci-fi, huh?’

Professor Choi Sung-min gave off such a vibe. His long, gray hair and his mustache were impressive. It made Jin-woo wonder if he was going to build a robot.

When the device started, the floor vibrated with the sound of an engine running. Jin-woo became somewhat anxious. When you watch a movie, this atmosphere was the kind of atmosphere where something went wrong.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes, it isn’t dangerous at all. Nothing to worry about. Put your hand in here.”

“Umm….”

When Jin-woo put his hand inside the device, Professor Choi Sung-min put on a suspicious pair of goggles before glancing at his assistants. The assistants put on a stern look and reached for the switch next to the device. The countdown began with a majestic BGM. It wasn’t even a rocket launch, but everyone was watching with bated breath.

‘I want to go home.’

Jin-woo just sighed. At this point, he had to once again seriously consider whether he was normal or not.

“3! 2! 1!”

Everyone shouted in unison. With the countdown concluded, the device patterns emerged on the white surface of the device, and a strong flow of mana could be felt. In the original story, the main character just measured his rank, so there was no mention of this. He was originally S-rank, but he received D-rank! That’s all. Like all fantasy novel protagonists, the original protagonist hid his power in the beginning.

He tried to look like an extraordinary genius who hid his powers, but readers called him a loser who hid his powers. That loser was the main character.

“Ooh!”

The number on the screen attached to the device started going up. Professor Choi Sung-min watched with great admiration. Jin-woo also felt better because it seemed likely to end without any problems.

It was that moment.

“120%, 130% 180% Huh? Huh!? Pro-Professor, the number is…!”

“H-huh! Turn on the spare tank!”

“Yes? I-I understand!”

Things grew very busy. Those who were sitting in their seats also felt the unusual situation and stood up from their seats. Jin-woo had no choice but to feel anxious.

“This is safe, right?”

No one answered Jin-woo’s words. Choi Sung-min and his team seemed very busy. Something continued to rise, and the red light flashed.

“T-the mana transmission rate has exceeded 300%! 400%, 580%, it keeps going up! Oh, my God! That’s an incredible number!”

“W-we must measure it no matter what! Put it all in!”

“Yes! I-I understand!”

Intense sparks splashed around the device. It was that moment when Yoo-na and his bodyguards were startled by the unusual atmosphere that began to approach.

“Kyaaagh!”

“Ugh?!”

The screams were heard from Professor Choi Sung-min and his research team. Someone seemed to have been shocked.

Bzzzzttt! Pang!

With the sound of something exploding, the power went out. There was a moment of silence, and the lights blinked on. The device was still barely working, even though smoke was coming from it. Looking at the seats, almost everyone except the Sword Master was lying on the floor, including the reporters. They slowly got up from the floor and looked at Jin-woo.

Yoo-na and the bodyguards came running.

“Are you all right?”

“Huh? I’m fine. That looks worse than me.”

Everyone had an expression like a bomb had gone off. Professor Choi Sung-min picked up his broken goggles and looked at the device. The screen was half broken, but the number came out normally. Prof. Choi Sung-min looked at the screen with a blank look on his face. So did the research team.

“The mana transfer rate is 999%, e-even more! Is it not possible to measure it accurately?”

“I-it’s not an error. An unmeasurable number also appeared on the backup device!”

“Oooh! This is a miracle! Whoahaha!”

The reporters took a picture of the professor and the research team cheering. For some reason, they were enjoying themselves. Jin-woo sat awkwardly and took his arm out of the device. Yoo-na blinked as if she couldn’t understand the situation. Jin-woo tilted his head.

“The result is good, right?”

“It seems so… why don’t you step back for now?”

They moved away from the device to a safe area. Although there was a commotion, the measurements seemed to be correct.

“Here’s the result!”

“Ooh!”

When one of the research team came with a piece of paper, Choi Sung-min accepted it. Everyone’s eyes were focused on the professor. He looked at the paper in disbelief before fixing his broken glasses.

Prof. Choi Sungmin’s face was filled with excitement.

“Do you see these numbers? The highest we measured this morning was 51%. The potential rank was D+. It was a very good number given the potential for development. There’s plenty of potential to grow into a great talent. If you try hard enough, you’ll get a C rank…”

“Just tell me the results quickly!”

“C-cough, I understand.”

Prof. Choi Sung-min nodded as the Chancellor shouted.

“This is the measurement result of Mr. Lee Jin-woo. The mana transfer rate has exceeded 999%, so it cannot be measured, and it far exceeds the currently established standard. Potential rank evaluation. That means it cannot be expressed even with the highest rank of S. So, it’s not S+, but even… more than SSS. In my name and honor, this result proves that there is not even an inch of manipulation.”

There was silence for a moment at his announcement.

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