# Chapter 51
“After he disappeared, there were some bad rumors for a while. It was almost like a disappearance at the level of going missing, and from what I heard, it seems no one was given any prior notice.”
“Is he dead?”
“I don’t know. They say his survival status still hasn’t been confirmed.”
“I see…”
“The problem starts here.”
Iyeon’s voice lowered.
“The blueprint for the terrain configuration feature doesn’t exist.”
“…Huh?”
Hyegang’s eyes widened. The battle zone was a public project, and getting work approved without blueprints was extremely difficult. The terrain configuration feature would have required unbelievably advanced technology, like trying to catch clouds, so it would have been impossible to work on without approval.
“I don’t know how they did it. But nobody knows the structure of the technology, and at this point, they can’t disassemble it to examine it either. The developer disappeared, so if they mess with it and it breaks, there’s no one to fix it. Even the city’s top engineers all refused to analyze it, saying they wouldn’t be able to manage it. According to what the developer himself left behind, it doesn’t need maintenance, and it’s true that it has never broken down, but…”
“That’s… a bit suspicious.”
“It is, right?”
Iyeon glanced at Sano. Sano was glaring around with a displeased expression. It seemed like he didn’t like the entire testing grounds.
“Je Sano’s not wrong. It’s true that the developer just casually abandoned his responsibilities. And it’s also true that it’s an unidentified, suspicious technology.”
Iyeon’s eyes swept over the constructed testing grounds. The solid walls and floor were clearly present.
“Despite all that, it’s such a groundbreaking technology that we can’t help but use it. It does help with variant response, doesn’t it?”
If everyone had abilities like Je Sano, features like this terrain configuration would be useless, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the reality. At this point, getting rid of it would only result in a reduction of superhuman capabilities.
“It’s complicated.”
Hyegang hummed and rested his chin on his hand. Iyeon smiled and patted his shoulder.
“Anyway, whether to use it or not isn’t something we can decide, so don’t think too deeply about it. If they say we can use it, we use it.”
[Would participants for the morning’s second test please come to the waiting room. I repeat. Would participants for the morning’s second test please come to the waiting room.]
“Ah, I should go.”
Hearing the announcement reverberating through the corridor, Iyeon turned around. “I’ll enjoy the coffee,” he said, waving his hand as he walked away, his demeanor as relaxed as usual.
“Why is Iyeon hyung making excuses like that?”
However, to Hyegang, who had worked with him for several years, it seemed sufficiently strange. In response to his puzzled murmur, Sano turned away from Iyeon and bluntly replied.
“Because he’s stupid.”
It was a sharp tone, cold enough to make the wind blow.
When Iyeon entered the participant waiting room, it was already packed with people. The sound of chatter filled the entire room.
For Mugunghwa Tier 2, the number of superhumans taking the test together was as many as 40 to 50. Even considering the spaciousness of the battle zone, the population density was quite high. For reference, Tier 3 has about 25 people per testing venue, Tier 4 has 10 to 15, and Tier 5 takes the test in one venue regardless of the number of participants.
The total number of participants for Zone 5’s morning second test was 43. With two waiting rooms in the testing grounds, it was definitely not a small number.
However, while a small group like Mugunghwa Tier 4 and above might all know each other’s faces roughly, Tier 2 has over 70,000 people just counting the test heads. Even on the ranking page that displays up to 100,000, less than half of all Tier 2s are listed. Even if they were on the ranking, they would naturally be in the lower ranks, so countless people didn’t have proper information displayed. There were so many people that it was almost impossible to meet the same person from the previous SuperCom again. It was both an advantage and disadvantage that one could always approach SuperCom with a fresh mindset.
The waiting room was bustling, but there was an underlying tension. There were a few people exchanging awkward greetings, but the overwhelming majority were spending time by themselves. Iyeon looked around. Apart from one or two Tier 2 rankers who always place in the top ranks of SuperCom, the room was, as always, filled with unfamiliar faces.
‘Hm?’
Iyeon’s gaze stopped as he noticed a woman in a distinctive outfit sitting in the corner. Dressed in a black tracksuit set with her long hair tied up high, she had something elongated strapped to her back, but it was wrapped in cloth, making it impossible to identify what it was. A wooden sword perhaps? But even for that, it seemed too long…
It might seem a bit strange in a world with superpowers, but firearms and bladed weapons were prohibited in the testing grounds. They were tools that went too much against the purpose of the test… Non-superpower-created weapons, such as practice weapons like wooden swords, were allowed to be carried, but hunters rarely carried weapons as large as that. Usually, hunters take pride in their superpowers and focus on honing them.
However, the woman’s face was too cold to look at with curiosity. Iyeon, who had been glancing at her, soon lost interest and sat down somewhere random. It wasn’t like he came here to socialize, so what was the point in making small talk?
[The morning’s second test will start in 15 minutes. We will distribute the test rules booklet, so please listen along with the announcement.]
The robotic-sounding announcement played again. Iyeon picked up one of the booklets placed at the front of the waiting room and opened it. Most SuperCom tests had similar rules. This time wouldn’t be much different either.
Before entering the testing grounds, all participants receive a bracelet. The bracelet displays the wearer’s basic biorhythm, gi-ryeok emission amount when using superpowers, expected score, remaining test time, and projects three markers somewhere on the wearer’s body. They appear over clothes, so they can be checked just by looking, without procedures like undressing.
The markers disappear when hit with an attack of a certain pressure, typically at a strength that would make a clapping sound. If all of these markers disappear, you’re eliminated.
Inside the testing grounds, all combat using superpowers is permitted. Participants can use their superpowers without any restrictions, and if necessary, the use of engineer-made auxiliary tools is also authorized.
The criteria for ranking were twofold: how many markers they eliminated and how long they survived. The test lasts for an hour and a half, and if you survive until the end, you get survival bonus points. However, if you don’t score a single marker elimination point by the end of the test, you get 0 points.
And the most important rule.
It’s possible to attack opponents, but you must not inflict fatal injuries, permanent damage, or injuries equivalent to those. In case of an accident, the person responsible is immediately removed from the testing grounds, and their intentionality is rigorously examined before being referred to the disciplinary committee.
‘It’s hard to inflict such serious injuries with Tier 2 superpowers anyway.’
The prohibition of lethal weapons in the test was in that context. Unlike with variants, against humans, such things might be more dangerous than Tier 2 superpowers.
Iyeon closed the booklet and placed it on the seat next to him. The rules were similar to the previous SuperCom.
Based on previous experience, if you got the survival bonus points, you could comfortably rank in the middle range even without eliminating many markers. Tier 2, known as the lowest-tier hunters, was filled with people who had strong desires for recognition as much as they were disregarded, and they also self-destructed quickly due to greed. One of the characteristics of the Tier 2 SuperCom was its pyramid-like score distribution with an incredibly wide base.
The beginning was tough because of the large number of people, but even so, Iyeon was a veteran hunter. He prided himself on the fact that there weren’t many people within the same tier who had as much combat experience as he did.
[Everyone gather. We will now enter the testing grounds. After teleportation, please wait without moving until the announcement. Penalties may be imposed if instructions are disregarded.]
Iyeon moved toward the front of the waiting room according to the announcement. Two teleport ability users were standing at the very front of the line holding a pile of bracelets. They were helpers responsible for teleporting the participants to random positions within the testing grounds.
Since there were many people, it took a while to teleport everyone. When Iyeon, who was almost at the end of the line, finally stood in front of the neatly dressed superhuman, the teleport ability user handed him a bracelet and took his hand while giving a simple greeting. Despite being tired from using their ability many times in a short period, their lightly smiling face was kind.
“Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as he bowed his head in greeting, he felt his body float. The momentary weightlessness that occurs when teleporting gave him goosebumps every time he experienced it.
