# 018. Long Live the King (2)
“Oh my, look at her. Does our Yeong-i even know what a king is? Isn’t she clever? Your brother is quite handsome!”
Sweat trickled down Jaehee’s back. His stepmother lifted Yeong-i up and burst out laughing, but he couldn’t laugh with her.
Yeong-i puffed her cheeks and shook her head. But the more she did that, the more her stepmother laughed and kissed her cheeks. Jaehee couldn’t laugh along with his stepmother and just stood there with an awkward expression, looking at Yeong-i.
“Yeong-i, let’s leave your brothers alone to rest, and you come play with mommy. You two, get some rest.”
Jaehee couldn’t move an inch until his stepmother left with Yeong-i. Only after her figure had completely disappeared did Jaehee turn to Jeongwoo.
“Jeongwoo, w-what, how is this… How did Yeong-i know? Could it be that Yeong-i is also an Awakened One…? No, that’s impossible! She didn’t even go through the tutorial…”
“We don’t know all the possibilities yet. For now, like your stepmother said, maybe she just said it because she thinks you look cool. Calm down.”
“No, what Yeong-i said earlier didn’t seem like just random talk. This is driving me crazy. What the hell is going on…”
“I’m not entirely sure either. There haven’t been cases of someone so young awakening… Let me look into it.”
Until now, Jaehee had always easily found answers to incomprehensible things from Jeongwoo. Because of that, he was able to live in this strange world without much worry. But now, faced with a problem that even Jeongwoo didn’t know about, he had no idea what to do.
“W-what should I do? How can this happen when Yeong-i isn’t an Awakened One? Even the system window appeared. Asking if I would accept her.”
“Jaehee, try to calm down. Let’s ask Yeong-i later when it’s quiet. Why she said that. I’ve never heard of someone this young… But Jaehee, are you going to accept Yeong-i?”
At Jeongwoo’s words, Jaehee sighed again. A red dot had been blinking in the corner of his vision, constantly irritating him. As he looked at the red dot, an unread message unfolded.
[Will you accept Shin Yeong-i as your subject?]
“I don’t know… I’m not sure yet. But did Yeong-i really know what she was saying?”
“You said a message appeared saying Yeong-i chose you as her king, right? Then Yeong-i definitely made that choice. Even though the system seems chaotic, it’s not that lax. If Yeong-i didn’t have the ability to judge for herself, she wouldn’t have been given the authority to choose.”
“Sigh, I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know what a king does, and it’s burdensome to be told to become one. At least there’s time… I’ll think about it for a while.”
Jaehee felt tightness in his chest as he uttered the word ‘king’ with his own mouth.
A king? He had never even been a class president in his life.
If he could choose his own role, Jaehee would have chosen something like ‘ordinary citizen.’
Why on earth had Yeong-i chosen him?
How did it come to this?
“You can’t run away forever. You will become a king.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Jeongwoo whispered softly, but Jaehee, deeply absorbed in his thoughts, didn’t hear properly.
* * *
The instructor at the front of the classroom was passionately talking about dungeons and Awakened Ones.
Jaehee pretended to take notes diligently and then turned his head to peek at Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo was studying so hard—something he never did in school—that he had even received praise from the instructor several times. Jaehee, who had planned to just pretend to listen to the class and play with Jeongwoo, pouted his lips in betrayal.
It had been a week since they started the mandatory education at the Awakened Management Bureau. For the first two days, Jaehee and Jeongwoo watched lecture videos about ethics and civic consciousness separately. He forced himself to stay seated, half dozing off, half daydreaming.
After that, they received education with other Awakened Ones. He hadn’t expected much, thinking what could they possibly teach when Awakened Ones had only existed for about two months. He also had Jeongwoo by his side, who knew more about this situation than the Management Bureau, and he had confidence from having faced Cheonsan-jiju, which the Management Bureau couldn’t handle right after they came out of the tutorial.
But as he actually listened to the lecture, there was a lot he didn’t know. The world had changed surprisingly much in just two months.
“Now, these photos are all about dungeons. By the way, these photos are all confidential materials not disclosed to the public, so if you leak them outside, you’ll face legal penalties. Please don’t upload the lecture content or materials on the internet. Places like Hunternet, the Management Bureau checks all of them. Don’t upload them unless you want to be investigated and fined.”
After giving several warnings, the instructor displayed the photos.
A black hole standing vertically in front of a mountain could be seen. The moment Jaehee saw the black hole, he knew it was the same kind of hole he had entered during the tutorial. The surroundings were surrounded by high concrete barricades, with military units standing guard.
“This is the first dungeon discovered in Korea. As everyone knows, dungeons began to appear from the day the first Awakened One who completed the tutorial arrived. Each dungeon has a set period for rampage, and if the dungeon is not conquered within that time, monsters will emerge from it. Can you see the red circle under that black hole? When that red circle fades completely, the dungeon will burst. Currently, the government manages the gates and helps Awakened Ones enter and conquer dungeons before they burst. Now, the next photo shows monsters that came out during the Hongdae Dungeon Break.”
The instructor showed the next photo. It was a picture of a rock insect that looked like a hedgehog, similar to what they had first hunted in the tutorial.
“This rock insect, resembling a hedgehog, is a weak monster but has caused many casualties. This is because they tend to move in groups, and at that time, we didn’t know that modern firearms wouldn’t work on them. Since then, the principle that only Awakened Ones can face dungeon monsters has been established.”
Jang In-ho, the instructor teaching the class, slowly looked around at the Awakened Ones sitting in the classroom.
The main purpose of the Awakened Management Bureau was actually to control the Awakened Ones. The suddenly emerged Awakened Ones were the only means to deal with monsters, but they weren’t very reliable beings. Most were ordinary housewives, office workers, and students before awakening, and some were even criminals with prior convictions. It was impossible to know on what basis the system selected Awakened Ones.
But now, when even one Awakened One was precious, they couldn’t exclude someone even if they were a criminal. However, the Management Bureau was putting a lot of effort into managing and controlling Awakened Ones. That’s why they were conducting mandatory education even at such a busy time.
“From this afternoon, we’ll start practical dungeon conquering exercises. We’ll form groups of five and enter a dungeon. Please form your groups by the end of lunch time. There’s nothing much to worry about. Practice instructors and healers will go in with you, and the dungeons will be assigned based on your ability measurement to find the most suitable place. This concludes the morning lecture.”
“Thank you for your work.”
People started murmuring and eyeing each other. Even though the class was over, since they had to form groups, they stayed in their seats, observing the atmosphere. Most of the people attending the lectures were beginners who had never been to a dungeon.
“Jeongwoo, how should we form our group…”
“Tch, these bastards. They talk well. As if they’re not just planning to use and discard us.”
As Jaehee was about to speak to Jeongwoo, a man in front of them leaned his chair back and cursed. When their eyes met, Jaehee flinched.
“Hey, students. No need to look far, just join a group with this hyung. Being with me will only benefit you, no losses. And let me give you some advice from years of experience: don’t trust those Management Bureau bastards.”
The man in the front seat stood up. Though it wasn’t noticeable when he was sitting, the man was quite built. Jaehee frowned at the strangely frivolous tone, and Jeongwoo approached.
“Well, we haven’t decided how to form our group yet.”
Jeongwoo spoke the words of rejection on behalf of the confused Jaehee. When Jaehee glanced over, Jeongwoo seemed annoyed by the man. The man smirked at Jeongwoo’s words and came closer.
“If you knew who I am, you wouldn’t say that. You’re the ones who came out of the tutorial last, right? There was a lot of talk because of you two. People believed nonsense like the later you come out of the tutorial, the stronger you are… My name is Kang Min-gyu. And I am a king. You know about the global main mission, right? If you impress me, I might accept you as my subjects. How about it? Are you starting to reconsider?”
Jaehee blinked at the man and then looked at Jeongwoo. For the first time, a smile appeared on Jeongwoo’s previously expressionless face.
“You’re… a king?”
“Yes. Not many have revealed that they are kings yet. I thought about not revealing it, but then I figured there’s no reason to hide it. Besides, it’s a mission given to everyone, right? It would be good for people to know I’m a king.”
Jaehee was bewildered by the man’s boastful words. Before Jaehee could say anything, Jeongwoo stepped forward.
Jeongwoo, with a completely different smiling face than just before, extended his hand toward the man.
“My name is Woo Jeongwoo. If you’re a king, it would be good to be in the same group. This friend here is Shin Jaehee. Nice to meet you.”
“Haha, see? I told you, right? That your mind would change once you knew who I was. Young man, you know how to get ahead. Oh, and this friend here is my subject number one, my minion, Yang Jeong-il. Now we just need one more person…”
“Ah! Then please include me too!”
As the man finished speaking, a woman appeared from somewhere. Kang Min-gyu nodded at the woman with a cute impression.
