Unlike the crowded entrance, the Korea Player Association was quiet inside. It became even quieter as Choi Yu-Seong moved to the inner part and eventually, he couldn’t even hear the small talk between the association staff.

Just as he passed through the first security checkpoint, Jin Yu-Ri asked him, “How did you know about Lee Jin-Wook? I thought this was your first time meeting him.”

“Would you believe me if I said it was my intuition?”

“If that’s the way you want it to be, then that’s what I’ll think,” Yu-Ri responded looking slightly bewildered.

“I have my ways of figuring things out. Just think of it that way.”

Yu-Seong smiled as he shrugged his shoulders. Yu-Ri didn’t continue asking. Like she said, she would trust him since that was what he wanted.

‘I don’t want to lie, but how could I tell her I knew that by reading a novel?’

Although the people in this world were vividly alive and breathing, speaking, and showing real emotions right in front of his very eyes, they were originally just characters inside a novel to him.

Would they believe him if he told them the truth? And even if they did, how much of a shock would that be? He didn’t want to imagine it.

‘What’s important is that the world in front of me is my reality.’

There was no reason for him to act awkwardly or break down just because he was trapped inside an alternate reality based on a novel. For him, this world was now his undeniable reality. Therefore, similar to predicting the future, Yu-Seong recalled the novel’s story.

In the original novel, [Modern Master Returns], it described Irregulars to be extremely rare. If narrowed down to a small country like Korea, the chance of being an Irregular decreased even more. That was why it was highly possible that Jin-Wook was also a main character in the original novel. However, there was one reason why Yu-Seong took so long to figure him out.

‘He’s the villain, Storm.’

Jin-Wook was a character that was referred to by his infamous villain name more often than his actual name. That was why Yu-Seong couldn’t remember him just by hearing his name.

‘He was arrested by the Special Police Force for selling drugs, gang violence, illegal prostitution, and being the head of a villain organization and eventually died.’

The Special Police Force was a police organization that exclusively took care of villains. Naturally, its members were made up of players whose identities were classified. Since this organization dealt with villains, it was natural for them to be more cautious about securing the safety of its members and their relatives.

Anyways, if he just thought about it a little bit, Jin-Wook was similar to Choi Min-Seok. After all, weren’t the illegal businesses Jin-Wook would promote later on similar to the ones Min-Seok was currently doing? In other words, the relationship between them would continue in the novel. However, the novel resolved the incidents regarding Jin-Wook without revealing any kind of connection between those two.

Nevertheless, Yu-Seong now witnessed differences from the novel: Jin-Wook was originally a villain that covered his face with a mask, but now he appeared much earlier than expected through a fancy, showy event that was accompanied by a squad of reporters.

‘The future changed.’

It was a butterfly effect. Yu-Seong’s changes led to unexpected conflicts with Min-Seok, resulting in an unanticipated appearance by Jin-Wook.

After remembering about Jin-Wook being Storm, Yu-Seong was unable to think of a plan right away. In the novel, the Storm was a villain who committed countless evil deeds since he was a student. In other words, it wouldn’t be unexpected if he actually committed any crimes.

‘The novel didn’t say what incident there was because of its lack of details, but…’

Considering Jin-Wook’s reactions today, it was certain that his crimes were somewhat severe. To be more accurate, he hadn’t answered the press corps’ questions not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.

‘How could I say something when I know nothing.’

Since a guilty conscience needs no accuser, Jin-Wook voluntarily provided easy prey for the hyena-like reporters. He was probably in the middle of desperately trying to figure out how Yu-Seong knew about his past. Or, maybe he was being reproached by Min-Seok.

‘Anyways, it was clear that Jin-Wook was a powerful player considering the chief of the Special Police Force, a potential S-rank player, had to personally arrest Jin-Wook in the future.’

Even if Jin-Wook had a terrible personality, he was still an Irregular.

Despite the initial shock, the event Min-Seok set up to humiliate Yu-Seong benefited him in many ways. Yu-Seong had started rumors about Jin-Wook while also mentally attacking a potential rival for today’s exam. For both his Star-Factor skill and his own desires, he was determined to nail the exam.

After he and the Jin siblings reached the second security checkpoint, the association’s staff stopped them and spoke in a businesslike tone.

“From now on, only the applicants can enter.”

Although he was speaking to Yu-Seong, a member of the Choi family, the staff spoke confidently. He almost seemed to be proud of working for the Player Association.

‘After all, the Player Association in this country is quite strong.’

Apart from organizations that dealt with public affairs, the Player Association had private classified groups, like the Special Police Force. Even though the nation acknowledged that, it still approved of the association while the public also had faith in it. Even though the higher-ups of the Player Association might be somewhat corrupted, it was indisputable that its existence deterred the activities of villains.

“Understood.” Yu-Seong nodded and answered.

“Good luck with the exam,” Yu-Ri spoke as she stepped back and waved.

“You’ll do great, sir,” Jin Do-Yoon encouraged Yu-Seong.

Smiling at them, Yu-Seong passed the second security checkpoint.

* * *

Beyond the second security checkpoint, the site for the written test that held a chalkboard in the center was noisier than the outside where the association’s staff was guarding with a serious expression.

“Hey, did you see the news?”

“Choi Yu-Seong said that he couldn’t fail even if he wanted to.”

“He also said that a high score is already as good as his.”

“He’s crazy.”

“I’m also not confident in failing, Haha.”

“Why don’t you go say that outside in front of the reporters? With confidence.”

“Are you crazy? I’m gonna get cursed out.”

After the security door opened, Yu-Seong, who was tall, had coal-black hair, and a neat suit, walked through the boisterous crowd.

“Hey, Choi Yu-Seong’s here.”

“Damn, he’s hot.”

“Wow, he looks like a work of art.”

About thirty applicants who were waiting for their turn couldn't take their eyes off Yu-Seong.

‘Now this is a little embarrassing.’

Smiling awkwardly, Yu-Seong sat in an empty seat. Even then, everyone continued looking at Yu-Seong.

“Look at him smiling. He seems so innocent. Is it because his skin looks like porcelain?”

“He looks more handsome than our Timus oppas.[1] I should just be a fan of Choi Yu-Seong.”

“Just keep loving Timus or Thanos or whatever idol you did until now. Choi Yu-Seong may look like an angel, but he’s a devil inside. Don’t forget that, guys.”

“They say he’s a changed man.”

“People don’t change.”

Yu-Seong could especially hear the voices of female applicants talking about him.

‘This really is embarrassing.’

After he woke up as Choi Yu-Seong, his looks were actually the biggest reminders that he was now a different person. Since everyone passing by looked and even screamed at him, it was impossible to forget how different he looked. Fortunately, that attention shifted to Jin-Wook as he entered the exam site after Yu-Seong.

“It’s Lee Jin-Wook.”

“The Irregular.”

“I heard he's some sort of criminal.”

“I wonder how good he’ll be.”

Listening to people talking about him being a criminal, Jin-Wook’s face reddened as he glared at Yu-Seong.

“What, do you have a problem?” Yu-Seong snorted and replied to Jin-Wook’s glare.

Although Yu-Seong’s words seemed to anger Jin-Wook, he didn’t act foolishly as he had outside.

‘I guess he learned from his actions or the fact that I’m from the Choi family might have given him some pause.’

Jin-Wook drew attention from Yu-Seong and sat in the furthest seat from him. As he did, the security door opened once again and a man wearing black sunglasses and a black suit entered the room carrying a briefcase. After glancing at Yu-Seong and Jin-Wook, he treated them no differently from the other applicants.

‘It’s the exam proctor. Who is he?’

Standing in front of the chalkboard, the man satisfied Yu-Seong’s curiosity.

“Park Cheol-Ho. I am in charge of today’s exam.”

“Oh…”

“Wow…”

Officially, there were three S-rank players inside the Player Association. Considering a popular guild in Korea had up to two S-rank players, the Player Association had more S-rank players. Being one of those three S-rank players, Park Cheol-Ho was more famous for his nickname, the Iron Wall.

‘The Iron Wall, huh… It’s gonna be hard to play tricks.’

This was better for Yu-Seong because even if Min-Seok tampered with the exam in other ways, it would be difficult for him to avoid the detection of the strict and obstinate Iron Wall.

‘Let’s just do like we did in practice.’

As Yu-Seong calmed his mind, Cheol-Ho pulled out a pile of exam papers and spoke indifferently.

“Let’s begin the exam.”

* * *

The hunter exam generally had three parts.

The first part was the written exam. Besides fundamental fighting power, a hunter must have various experiences, the know-how, and intelligence since he would actually be entering a dungeon. The written exam was to evaluate whether the applicants had more than basic knowledge about these. Since the pass criterion was over 70, everyone could easily pass as long as they studied.

Yu-Seong finished the exam in 15 minutes and stood up.

“Are you done already?”

“Yes.”

Yu-Seong nodded calmly at Cheol-Ho’s question and submitted his paper that had answers marked on it. Cheol-Ho then passed it to the grading instructor next to him. After checking the paper for less than a minute, the grading instructor looked at Yu-Seong somewhat surprised, and smiled slightly.

“Pass, perfect score.”

Hearing the news, the applicants that were still taking the exam all looked at Yu-Seong. Although many passed the written exam because an applicant only needed to score a 70, a perfect score was a totally different story. The difficulty of the last five essay questions was so especially difficult that sometimes only a dungeon researcher could solve them. After all, there was even a saying that the true perfect score on the written exam is a 90.

“Nice. I hope your big talk wasn’t all talk, and you actually have these skills. Pass.”

As Cheol-Ho nodded and complimented Yu-Seong, Yu-Seong slightly bowed and moved on to the next test site by leaving through the door beside the chalkboard.

‘I got lucky. I didn’t expect a full score.’

Acting calm, Yu-Seong exhaled after he went to the second test site. Although he was also quite nervous from the rumors of how difficult the essay questions were, the questions were luckily about the near future that he had read in the original novel.

Nevertheless, the perfect score was also due to his skills. For one month, he painstakingly trained to master not only actual combat but also theory. Furthermore, for Yu-Seong who grew up in Korea on another Earth, subjects that required memorization was his specialty.

“Welcome. This is the test site to measure the capacity of your ability,” A female staff member, wearing a neat white shirt and formal pants, said to him in a stiff tone. She thought that Yu-Seong was nervous as he sighed and moved slowly.

Compared to the written exam site, this place was a narrow space with only one staff member holding a pen in front of a desk. Next to her was a punching machine that was usually used in arcades and a bowl of purple water that he hadn’t seen before. Surprisingly, this was the equipment that would measure the power of a player.

‘The first is the written exam, the second is measurement, and the third is the actual combat.’

Recalling the sequence of the hunter exam, Yu-Seong took his suit off and warmed up.

“Now you seem more relaxed. Since you wrote in your resume that you are an all-rounder, would you prefer the physical strike? Or would you prefer the psychic manifestation?”

The physical strike used the score of the punching machine while the psychic manifestation used the shape and inflation of the mana solution inside the bowl. And since this was a test for a hunter license, a high score would obviously be useless if the player’s ability was unrelated to combat or combat assistance.

“I’ll do both.”

“...I guess it would be possible since you’re an all-rounder.”

However, of the all-rounders that spoke like Yu-Seong, there wasn't anyone who got a good score.

“Normally, we advise all-rounders to specialize in one aspect.”

“What if that player didn’t want to?” Yu-Seong asked, rotating his arm in front of the punching machine.

“...We only advise, not enforce.”

“Then I’ll do both.”

“Understood.”

The association staff nodded slightly. Since her questions were all based on a formal manual, she wasn’t responsible if he overdid it.

“You may begin whenever you’re ready.”

Exactly one minute had passed after that. The association staff’s eyes widened upon looking at the numbers from the punching machine and the mana solution’s transformation.

“Is this enough?”

As Yu-Seong asked somewhat breathlessly, the staff gulped and shook her head.

“The equipment may be malfunctioning…Would you be okay to redo it?”

“Yeah, well, it’s not that hard.”

After Yu-Seong smiled and stood in front of the punching machine, a number that was even slightly higher than his first was marked beside his name.

“It’s unbelievable….”

She couldn’t even write the figure properly as her hand that was holding the pen trembled. Although she was known to be calm and poised among the association staff members, her composure was long gone. If she didn’t catch her breath and used her other hand to steady her writing hand, she would’ve made a mistake when writing down his unbelievable results for this important test.

“Um, can I move on?” Yu-Seong asked, looking at her. What was there to say?

“Pass, you have passed.”

Although she stammered a little, thankfully, her voice didn’t tremble much.

* * *

Every applicant completed the written exam.

“Good work. I will see you in the next exam.”

Entering the measurement site with the last applicant, Cheol-Ho patted the man’s back that failed the test - he had fallen short of the score requirements. Cheol-Ho tilted his head as he looked at the record book the staff kept. He thought Yu-Seong’s score for the physical and psychic exam was strange.

“This…”

“It’s not a mistake. I was also surprised at first and requested that he re-do the test.”

Listening to the somewhat aroused tone of the female staff that pretended to be calm, Cheol-Ho’s lips twitched oddly.

‘This guy…?’

Cheol-Ho was one of the people who hated the rascal Yu-Seong the most. But today, it seemed that his opinion would completely shift.

Cheol-Ho breathed loudly through his nostrils, a habit of his whenever he was in a good mood or excited.

1. In Korea, a female idol fan usually refers to her favorite male idol group members as oppa. Here, ‘Timus’ is an idol group ☜