The ASH receptionist asked me.

“What are you here for, sir?”

“I’m here to get my trait evaluated for the hunter registration exam.”

“Family name?”

“Kang. Kang Cheong-Sin.”

His fingers dribbled across the keys for a good second before glancing up from his screen.

“Floor 238. Your examiner will be there.”

As a testament to how large the Associate Society of Hunters’ headquarter was, the lobby branched out to several entire hallways dedicated to elevators.

A minute later, a familiar voice greeted my entrance to the testing ground.

“Cheong-Sin-ssi. I see you’ve finally awakened after all these years.”

It was Ahn Hajin, a guy I never thought I’d see again since my days at the orphanage.

“So it's Hajin-ssi. Long time no see.”

His unnatural red hair trailed down his temples like a blazing flame. One would think his trait influenced it—being that he had a special one called “Fire Meister.” He dyed it when he first discovered his trait, and as appearances indicated, that tradition carried on.

I had vague memories of being friends with him growing up, but it was mostly because we were the same age and not that I liked him in any particular aspect. Since he was sent off to the hunter academy a few months after he discovered his trait, we were nothing more than strangers with coinciding origins.

The last I’d heard, he’d become a successful hunter.

“I didn’t know you worked here. It feels like just yesterday when we were lazing around in the playground.”

“Yes. Anyways, let’s get on with the examination. So you’ve written here in your examination request that your ability is to deflect all non-physical attacks back at the opponent, right? You also wrote ‘Legendary’ in the grading box, which I’m assuming is why I was assigned to examine you. Still. I don’t know if I believe a trait as broken as this can exist, but we’ll see now if it's a bluff.”

He shone a bright, almost pretentious, smile at me before placing his clipboard aside.

“Come inside the circle.”

There was a chalked up ring outlining the perimeter of the room. The white powder was something called magic residue created from grinding up magic stones.

The moment I stepped into the white ring, a barrier formed around me and Hajin, creating an arena invulnerable to external influence.

“Here take this.” He tossed me a bracelet similar to the one he had on. “It’s a protection artifact. Now show me your trait.”

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“My trait only works if you attack me first.”

“Excuse me then. I'll do just that.”

A ball of fire birthed from his index finger. The flickering matched that of a faulty lighter, but the air around it burned a blue tinge. He could likely muster something the size of a cannonball to throw at me, though he restrained himself to fire the length of his thumb.

I kept my eyes on the open flame as he flung it at me.

Instinctively, my hand came up to guard it as it collided with my face.

Something was off.

Emptiness shrouded me when I met it face on. I thought I’d gone blind from getting too close to the floating candle as my eyes were burning. And when I came to, the paranoid white ceiling of the hospital chirped at me.

Maybe all of that was just a dream, and I had always been a sick patient. I was a schizophrenic patient. Yes. I was delusional…

“Mr. Cheong-Sin. You’re awake.”

A hospital nurse spawned by my side, and it was then that I realized my trait never activated. Why? More importantly, did that mean my trait evaluation was discounted? And if I couldn’t get a hunter license, wouldn’t that mean my goal to become rich as a hunter ended before it even began?

I scrambled for my phone. Seeing the email of what I’d expected, I heaved a breath of confusion. There were no words or comments in that email about my performance. Only a straightforward, cold, “Your talent is unqualified for work as a hunter.”

Why didn’t it work?

When I recollected the event in my mind, the only thing that came up was fear. Even though I mentally did not fear the flames, my body reacted to it as all animals in contact with something dangerous would. I was frozen in the moment and let my primal instinct take over.

There truly was no easy money in this world.

According to the nurse, I suffered from a third degree burn to my forearms and some subsidiary heat damage to the eyes. I couldn’t recall ever raising my arms in defense, but apparently, I did.

Thanks to the immediate intervention of a standby hunter who could heal wounds as well as the protection bracelet, my face returned to normal. It healed almost too perfectly, actually. The dark bags plaguing my eyes for the past weeks had gone with the burns.

After I was discharged from the hospital, I went home to rest. I considered treating myself to a decent meal for once as it was the one day of rest I had, but ended up not eating at all as if such self-punishment would change anything.

Naturally, I’d given up on becoming a hunter. At the time, the decision came from a mixture of not understanding what an overpowered trait I possessed, and an incompetence over how to utilize it. Moreover, registering for a single examination costed me a hundred thousand won. I didn’t have that kind of wealth to waste on multiple attempts.

~~~~~

“Warning! Warning! The government is declaring a heavy lockdown! Find the nearest shelter immediately!”

It was the first time I'd seen such a notification appearing on my phone when I had clearly turned off the notifications right before clocking-in for work. Yet, it was bypassed. The device was even buzzing demonically with sporadic morse code that anyone with basic knowledge could hear as an S.O.S. signal. It was way too early for such bull—

“EEEKKK!!!”

When I searched for which dinosaur made that screeching sound, I found myself locking eyes with it. It was one of those ugly green dwarves—a much taller one—practically double the size of a human, but that didn’t change the fact that its mouth was disturbing to look at with its magnified features. With teeth bulging outward from the upper and lower lip interlocking like a venus flytrap, it was the nightmare fuel of children around the world.

It was the first time I’d seen a monster without being behind the safety of a camera lens.

The window separating us might as well have not been there, as it stared right through me.

For a second, I forgot to breathe.

It wasn’t that I forgot. I couldn’t.

Because what else could a mouse do in front of a lion?