The Skill Maker

Edited By: Sebas Tian

First time riding a plane.

First time going overseas.

Everything was a first.

If Kim Yoo-Na didn’t come along, they could’ve been like lost children.

However, Kim Yoo-Na guided Hyun-Soo and Hyuna with ease.

‘When I came to, I was inside a car.’

It seemed like we went to different places to get inspected and pa.s.sed through different places, but everything seemed like a dream that he couldn’t really remember.

“Wow…this is really interesting. Are you seeing this, Hyun-Soo?”

Hyuna glued herself to the window and looked at the scenery that pa.s.sed by.

Hyun-Soo reacted the same way and Kim Yoo-Na, who was sitting in the front, giggled quietly.

Of course Hyun-Soo and Hyuna didn’t hear it because they were too busy sightseeing.

They were in the car for a while and after going through the entrance that had iron bars attached to it, the car moved for a while longer.

And moments later, the car stopped.

Kim Yoo-Na turned around and spoke.

“We’re here. You can leave your bags and exit the car.”

“Woooooow.”

Hyuna stepped out first and exclaimed with her mouth open.

‘This place…makes some wealthy people look bad.’

Hyun-Soo followed Hyuna and understood why she was so amazed by it.

A large building was built on top of a large amount of land.

The size was intimidating.

The external design was cla.s.sy and the beautiful trees around it made it look luxurious.

The best part was the building that was located in the center.

“The building that you see in front of you is our base.”

It was so large that it was difficult to describe it with words.

‘This is…’

Hyun-Soo wanted to pat himself on the head for the choice that he made.

‘Contacting Kim Yoo-Na that day was the best decision. Good job, past me.’

Hyun-Soo didn’t know how privileged or how great her background was.

She didn’t really try to hide it, but he didn’t purposely ask her.

He did make an offer based on her power and skills, but he didn’t expect anything more than that.

But she offered more than what he expected.

But at the same time, he felt burdened.

‘To think that I would join a team that works in a building like this. Things definitely have worked out for me. It does feel like I joined through a connection though…’

“Yoo-Na, what’s that building over there?”

Hyuna met with Kim Yoo-Na several times while she was preparing to move overseas.

They must’ve become closer then because she was treating Kim Yoo-Na like an older sister.

‘It’s like she got an older sister.’

Anyways, Hyun-Soo felt relieved by the fact that Hyuna was able to depend on another person.

“That’s the dorm that the crew resides in. Not everyone lives there, but we built it because some said that it was uncomfortable to go back and forth. You and Hyun-Soo will be staying there for the time being. The facilities have been built well, so you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable about staying there.”

Despite the fact that Hyuna was continuously throwing questions at her, Kim Yoo-Na answered each one with detail and without any annoyance.

Hyuna was busy looking around and exclaiming at everything.

“Let’s go in. I want you to rest since I know you’re exhausted from the long flight, but according to Katrina, most of the members are gathered. It’s rare for them to gather together like this, so it would be best to meet them even if you’re a bit tired.”

If there was nothing planned, they would either rest or train so they were usually in different places.

Hyun-Soo felt a bit nervous as he followed behind Kim Yoo-Na.

‘I don’t know why, but I’m really thirsty.’

Kim Yoo-Na mentioned that they were skilled, so their self-esteem was pretty high too.

He’ll be meeting those people soon.

‘I probably won’t get a good reaction.’

They most likely won’t welcome him and think he came due to some sort of connection.

‘That’s why Kim Yoo-Na trained me so hard.’

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to level up to a B rank.

The more monsters that he killed and the closer he got to leveling up, the less experience points he was getting.

“Whew…”

Kim Yoo-Na heard Hyun-Soo releasing a heavy sigh and turned around.

“Are you really nervous?”

“Well, of course.”

“If it’s you, I’m sure there won’t be a problem. If you are worried, then trust my decision in picking you.”

Kim Yoo-Na lightened the mood, which wasn’t like her.

She was trying to help him calm down and thanks to her efforts, Hyun-Soo calmed himself a bit.

Beep.

Kim Yoo-Na placed the bracelet on the entrance control system and with a short mechanical sound, the door opened.

And then.

‘…Wow.’

It was as large as a meeting room and there was a large table.

In the room, there were over 10 people and some were sitting, leaning and standing.

Without having to use his Interface, he knew they were A rank hunters.

They were all glaring.

“Yoo-Na, welcome.”

He heard Korean among the Americans.

Eugene was near the wall and as he waved his hand, the heavy atmosphere lightened up.

“Everyone isn’t here, right?”

“David said he’s going to go surfing today and Ishmael is sleeping in. Brad is playing video games. The others weren’t here when I got here, so I don’t know.”

“Then, we should introduce him to the ones that are here. Hyun-Soo, this is my crew. I’ll go in order…”

Kim Yoo-Na introduced everyone’s name one by one.

When she called their names, there were some that lightly waved their hand and there were others that ignored it and didn’t even look his way.

‘I knew it. Well, I was expecting it.”

Even Hyun-Soo thought this was a pretty unwelcoming situation.

‘They might think that their cla.s.s dropped and become aggressive about it.’

They might a.s.sume that it’ll affect them negatively when it comes to the group’s strength since he was part of the crew.

‘Still, I’ll make them acknowledge me.’

Kim Yoo-Na, who’s an A rank hunter, acknowledged him.

A couple of her teammates saw his skills and acknowledged him as well.

He had to do the same here.

“Hyun-Soo, greet everyone.”

“My name is Kim Hyun-Soo. I have decided to join the crew. I’m still lacking a lot, but I’ll make sure to fill up what I’m lacking so that it’ll be overflowing. Nice to meet you and I’ll be in your care.”

Kim Yoo-Na translated what Hyun-Soo said.

‘If their eyes could physically pressure me, I’m sure there would’ve been holes in me.’

Hyun-Soo’s greeting felt like he was saying, “come at me.”

‘I can’t expect my first attempt to be perfect.’

He hasn’t shown anything yet.

Eugene and Katrina, who returned before Hyun-Soo, explained everything, but since they were so prideful, they tend to judge by their own standards rather than believing someone else.

This was the same situation.

On top of that, the fact that Kim Yoo-Na scouted him herself created enemies.

That alone was enough to realize that she only returned because of Hyun-Soo.

An amazing leadership. She was beautiful with a background and she brought a hunter herself.

She had all the conditions to make anyone jealous.

‘I should probably be careful at night.’

Kim Yoo-Na introduced Hyuna as well.

Since Hyuna wasn’t a hunter, their reaction towards her wasn’t all that bad.

They lightly nodded their heads and waved their hands, which was different from how they treated Hyun-Soo.

Once her teammates a.s.sumed that they were done here, they walked out like the wind.

‘This is probably the start.’

They didn’t give him the chance to talk or get to know them.

This was the start of them taking advantage of him.

He wasn’t qualified since he joined through Kim Yoo-Na, but he had to show them that he didn’t forcefully join.

This will continue until he proves his worth and skill.

“Wow, Hyun-Soo. Everyone is cold…”

Excluding the hunters that already knew Hyun-Soo, Hyuna noticed them walking out and whispered.

It was expected.

Because Hyun-Soo didn’t show anything.

Most of the crew members will continue acting this way until Hyun-Soo shows that he’s on the same level as them.

“During the second semester at school, if a transfer student shows up to a cla.s.s that has good chemistry, wouldn’t they treat that student the same way?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it. So you’re like a transfer student…people are already friends with each other, so it’ll be difficult to be friends with them.”

Once Hyun-Soo explained it so that Hyuna could understand, she nodded.

“Hyon-Ssoo!”

Katrina, who was standing next to Eugene with glimmering eyes, quickly stood next to Hyun-Soo.

She couldn’t act that way since the other members were there, but she probably felt more comfortable once they left.

“Wercorme!”

“Huh?”

Katrina suddenly greeted him.

Her Korean was pretty bad.

However, Hyun-Soo was surprised by the fact that she was trying her best to learn Korean.

“…Hyun-Soo, I think you should hurry up and compliment her.”

Hyuna noticed the glimmer in Katrina’s eyes and poked his side.

“Huh? Oh…thank you. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

‘She wasn’t this nice to me when we were in Korea. What’s going on?’

He felt a bit relieved by the fact that there were people that welcomed him within the group of people that treated him coldly.

“Hyun-Soo, glad you’re here. I’m sorry about how they treated you. They just have really high self-esteem. Well. If you show them what you showed us, they’ll warm up to you one by one, so don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, I’m not too worried.”

Hyun-Soo was confident about getting acknowledged.

The problem was when.

“You’re very laid-back.”

Pat, pat.

Eugene patted Hyun-Soo’s shoulder while smiling.

‘At least there are two people that welcomed me. It’s better than there being zero. No. Including that African-American hunter, it’s three.’

“Would you like to look around? I’ll guide you.”

Eugene and Katrina volunteered.

“Yoo-Na, go take care of your business. It’s been awhile since you’ve been here, so I’m sure there’s a lot you need to take care of. I’ll make sure to do a good job babysitting Hyun-Soo, so don’t worry.”

“…Hyun-Soo isn’t a baby, Eugene.”

“Within our crew, he’s still a baby. Anyways, don’t worry and go take care of things.”

Kim Yoo-Na had a worried expression.

But, Hyuna…

“Yoo-Na, it’s fine. We don’t want to waste any more of your time. Go ahead.”

Said that and she forced herself to stand up from her seat.

And then, she warned Eugene and Katrina in English.

“Okay, shall we get going? Your legs will hurt if we go through every part of this building, so we’ll show you the important places.”

It looked extremely large on the outside, but the inside was just as big.

No, it was actually bigger.

‘Just how many underground floors are there?’

“The upper floors are usually used for foreign affairs and the underground floors are used for different activities. It’s for safety reasons as well. We even installed lights so that photosynthesis can happen and it doesn’t require us to go outside.”

The building’s system was pretty similar to the training room that Kim Yoo-Na borrowed before.

This building was 10 times bigger than that training room.

The facilities and the levels were 10 times better as well.

There were professional programs and machines and there were people that handled those.

‘She said it was a small group, so I thought the base would be small too, but this is way too much.’

The more Eugene guided him, the more Hyun-Soo was confused about Kim Yoo-Na. He wasn’t sure if she thought this was small because her standards are high or if she was normal, but she wasn’t able to comprehend how great this place is because she had a pet.i.t bourgeois mentality.

‘I don’t know. Let’s just focus on adapting.’

“You’ll be a.s.signed a personal training room. If you want to work with the other members, you can go to the center room. But, it’s best to go there later. Or you can go when me or Katrina are training.”

The next place Eugene took them to was the restaurant.

“It’s a buffet style, but if there’s a dish you want to eat, you can ask the chef since they can pretty much make anything. However, you have to order before nine, so don’t forget it. They do provide finger food at night.”

‘The restaurant looks more like a hotel banquet hall.’

It was too much to call this place a restaurant.

The place was filled with unfamiliar foods, but there were some that he saw on TV.

“Excuse me, can I eat here too?”

Hyuna was walking beside Hyun-Soo and when she asked, Eugene laughed out loud and answered.

‘It seems like his level of kindness has changed a lot, but I could be wrong.’

“Of course. You can eat here whenever you want.”

“Wow, thank you. It looks really good. But, I feel like I’m going to gain weight if I keep eating here.”

Eugene laughed after seeing Hyuna worry about something so small.

After looking around the restaurant, Eugene led them to the building where the dorms were.

Hyun-Soo didn’t see the entire building, but since Eugene said he would only show the important areas in the beginning, he was satisfied with that.

‘There’s no reason for me to visit the computer or machine room, so it doesn’t matter.’

“Since you two are siblings, you don’t mind having your rooms next to each other, right? Let’s see, where did Yoo-Na put you in?”

When Eugene asked Katrina, she answered immediately.

“705, 704.”

“Right. We’ll be making the key cards for you soon. Use the temporary keys for now.”

Eugene was looking around and after taking out the cards, he gave them to both Hyun-Soo and Hyuna.

“There are gyms in the second and third floor where you can exercise. There’s a snack bar on the fourth floor. The fifth floor is the break room. And above that are the dorms.”

‘Wow.’

When Hyun-Soo went up to the seventh floor to check the a.s.signed rooms, he was surprised.

The building was extremely big, but there were only four rooms on each floor.

There were two rooms on both sides and a large hallway was in the center.

“Wow, Hyun-Soo. The rooms are really great. They look like hotel rooms that you see in dramas!”

“There is only basic furniture, but thank you for saying that. If there’s a piece of furniture that you want, you can place it in here and decorate it however you want. Our crew are all lazy and busy sleeping, so…even though we’ve built a nice facility, they don’t know how to use it. Oh, just letting you, when they were building this place, I supervised it.”

Eugene bragged with a smile.

‘It’s worthy enough to brag.’

Hyun-Soo hated it when guys bragged about anything, but he agreed that this was worth bragging about.

The room was two times bigger than the place that Hyun-Soo used to live in and it was decorated like one of those luxurious hotels.

The living room was separated from the kitchen.

And the layout of the bedroom.

There was even a dress room and an area where equipment can be placed.

“The bathtub is big too!”

Hyuna was used to seeing a bathtub where she wasn’t able to stretch out her legs, so when she saw the whirlpool bathtub, she exclaimed.

“We…don’t have to pay rent or anything, right?”

“Huh? Ha ha. Your jokes are pretty funny, Hyun-Soo.”

He asked because the place was so luxurious, but Eugene smiled brightly.

‘Well, it’s because it’s way better than what I had imagined.’

Too much is as bad as too little.

‘It feels like they’re indirectly pressuring me to stay on their level.’

He was feeling anxious because after looking at the facilities, that’s what it felt like they were saying.

However, despite the pressure, Hyun-Soo felt something boiling deep within him.

He had the desire to try.

The feeling of victory.

That’s what he wanted to name it.

Rather than being intimidated by the pressure it was giving off, it was a good way to motivate him.

‘I’m curious as to how far I can go up.’

That’s the reason why he followed Kim Yoo-Na and decided to go to a new and bigger world.

There isn’t a person alive who isn’t curious about how much they’ll grow and how much stronger they’ll become.

Hyun-Soo was the same.

“I like that look in your eyes. I guess you won’t be crying about how you’ve been bullied.”

“If that’s what you think, then you’re wrong.”

“Ha ha. Yeah, I have high hopes for you, Hyun-Soo. I’m sure it’ll motivate us in a good way.”

Eugene wasn’t the kindest person in the world.

He just mentioned that he was going to use Hyun-Soo for something without any hesitation.

‘There’s a reason why he’s being so kind.’

It was expected.

‘But, Kim Yoo-Na…’

Even though their relationship started with a contract, Hyun-Soo knew what Kim Yoo-Na was like.

She did things out of her own will and called it a favor to be considerate of the other person.

‘I’m not that shameless to overlook the kindness that I received.’

In this entire situation, Kim Yoo-Na’s kindness was mixed into it.

Her kindness brought him out to a bigger world.

And Hyun-Soo knew it.

“Whew…”

Hyun-s…o…b..eathed in deeply.

Pa.s.sion was filled in his eyes when he opened them.

‘This is really the start.’

End.