Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Seo Hyun-woo looked around while dressed in his combat gear.

The Battle Suit development team's staff had gathered to assist with the fitting and performance test of the Battle Suit.

They had already conducted tests on several Hunters, but no significant progress had been made.

That was why, this time, they had raised the bar and selected him as the test subject.

'The development team is underestimating me a little. I'm called the strongest in school at Miterich, sure, but they probably think I'm just a student at the end of the day. At best, they'd peg me at around Blue Hunter level.'

Blue Hunter was just one grade above the lowest, Red Hunter.

The development team had been selecting Red Hunters as test subjects until now, and this was the first time they'd chosen a subject on par with a Blue Hunter.

But that didn't change the fact that the development team was mistaken.

'A department head at Miterich would have at least Blue Hunter-level skill. At the upper end, you could rate them as high as Green Hunter, the mid-tier grade. For me and the Vice President, you could bump it up one more tier each.'

After Blue Hunter came Yellow Hunter, then Green Hunter, and beyond Green Hunter lay Purple Hunter.

In other words, the skill level of Seo Hyun-woo and the Vice President fell somewhere between Yellow Hunter at minimum and Purple Hunter at maximum.

Even at Yellow Hunter alone, one would be considered highly useful personnel in dungeon raids.

'Of course, that factors in potential and room for growth. If you also account for raid experience and combat sense, there are even more variables. Roughly setting an average, my current skill level should be comparable to a Green Hunter.'

Purely in terms of grade, he should be ranked higher than Kang Jin-ha after Kang Jin-ha completed Miterich.

But that was merely a grade, and not every Hunter possessed skill that matched their grade.

On top of that, unless one held the rank of Team Leader or above, completing Miterich still meant starting out as a probationary Hunter.

'Even if I told them in advance, it wouldn't matter. The development team conducts performance tests based on solid research data and test records accumulated up to now. Besides, the Battle Suit in its current state can barely even surpass a Blue Hunter.'

Seo Hyun-woo kept a composed expression as he regarded the opponent before him.

It was the person who would be wearing the Battle Suit to fight him—the development team leader of Hanhon Industries' Battle Suit division.

The interesting part was that nobody had forced him into it; he had volunteered to be the test subject.

'The development team leader is fairly young. And as a non-Awakened, he wants to possess power rivaling that of the Awakened. That's why he's pouring his heart and soul into developing the Battle Suit.'

The Battle Suit development team leader's father was the president of Hanhon Industries.

On top of that, he was sharp-minded—he had graduated from a relevant program and immediately joined the Battle Suit development effort.

Harboring the dream that even the non-Awakened could become like the Awakened, he was staking his life on Battle Suit development.

'The development team leader lost his younger sister at the hands of Hunters. They were all sentenced to death, but the team leader couldn't escape his rage and grief. That's why he's so obsessed with Battle Suit development. He wants to prevent tragedies where non-Awakened are killed by the Awakened—just like what happened to his sister.'

Seo Hyun-woo had no intention of feeling sympathy for the development team leader.

Half-baked emotions would only cloud his judgment.

He simply deliberated over and over on how to best make use of the team leader.

'Should I go easy and follow the original flow, or should I push hard and shock him? The former lets me play it safe, and the latter creates an opening to accelerate Battle Suit development, even if it means taking on risk.'

Seo Hyun-woo lightly loosened up while recalling the content related to the Battle Suit.

The original Seo Hyun-woo had apparently dragged out the fight to show a minimum of courtesy—that much had been written.

There was barely any mention of the Battle Suit performance tests afterward, but eventually, a Battle Suit capable of matching a Red Hunter's strength had been commercialized.

'He probably continued participating in performance tests to maintain the relationship with Hanhon Industries. I don't know what results came out of each session, but the fact that Seo Hyun-woo's existence contributed to the Battle Suit's advancement doesn't change. From here on, I need to control the pace myself.'

Once the Battle Suit's fitting was complete, the development team members quickly stepped back.

Simultaneously, a blue light seeped out from the Battle Suit's core, and the sound of an engine began reverberating.

The development team leader, clad in the Battle Suit, approached Seo Hyun-woo while emitting a mechanical hum in all directions.

"First, I'd like to express my gratitude to you, Mr. Seo Hyun-woo. I understand the Student Council at Miterich has a great deal of work to handle. Thank you sincerely for taking the time out of your busy schedule."

"It's not a bad thing to step away from the routine like this every now and then. I was getting tired of just staring at a monitor."

Seo Hyun-woo answered with an easy smile.

The Battle Suit, composed of heavy alloy, continued to produce an imposing mechanical hum.

But in reality, it only looked impressive on the outside—its actual performance wasn't particularly good.

That was why it still couldn't even hold its own against a Red Hunter.

"Thank you for the consideration. Are you all prepared?"

"Yes. As you requested, I've copied an enhancement-type ability in advance. With enhancement-type abilities, there isn't a significant difference regardless of who I copy from. However, if the original user possesses specific techniques, it does change things a bit."

"You didn't happen to copy the Enhancement Department Head's ability, did you?"

"It wouldn't really matter, to be honest, but I've copied a Full Member's enhancement-type ability. I can only perform basic physical reinforcement and material reinforcement."

Seo Hyun-woo said as much and slowly backed away.

He had gotten a rough first impression of the Battle Suit, so from here on, he needed to focus on carefully controlling his strength.

It would be best to draw things out as long as possible, and the development team leader had to remain unharmed.

However, the Battle Suit's exoskeleton had been processed with magic stone, so it wouldn't sustain even a scratch from an ordinary attack.

"As I mentioned beforehand, I possess skill above the level of a Red Hunter. Even though I'm still a student, I'm confident about that much."

"We're fully aware. You are the Student Council President of Miterich, after all. I can only hope the Battle Suit doesn't fall apart. I'll try to hold out with a 99% probability."

The development team leader tossed out a light joke and sealed the helmet's faceplate completely shut.

Simultaneously, the engine noise grew louder and the blue light from the core extended along the seams in long lines.

It meant the Battle Suit's power had been pushed to maximum output.

"We'll test power output first. Please respond to my attacks accordingly."

"I'm ready."

At Seo Hyun-woo's reply, the development team leader began with slow steps before breaking into a run.

He extended his right arm back and pulled his shoulder with full force.

Seo Hyun-woo watched him and channeled blue mana into his right fist.

'Control the strength......'

THUD—VRMMM.

An impact and a strange resonance intertwined, echoing loudly through the testing room.

Seo Hyun-woo's fist was pressed against the Battle Suit's fist, their mana repelling each other.

But the Battle Suit's fist was quickly pushed back and sent flying away entirely.

"......Shutdown! The Battle Suit has shut down!"

"What? From just one punch?"

"What about the Safe System?"

"The Safe System isn't responding either!"

"Disassemble the Battle Suit now!"

The development team members who had been watching from beyond the monitors rushed into the testing room.

Seo Hyun-woo promptly stepped back and turned his gaze toward the Battle Suit.

The blue light emanating from the Battle Suit's core was gradually fading.

On top of that, the Battle Suit stood frozen in an awkward posture, not moving an inch.

'......Did I put in too much strength? I tried to be careful, but this is how things turned out.'

***

'Ha...... I underestimated him too much. A complete shutdown from a single attack.'

Lee Min-sung, the team leader of the Battle Suit development team, let out a hollow laugh with a bewildered expression.

The Battle Suit had just ceased functioning, which meant he couldn't move in this state.

If at least the Safe System had activated, he could have easily extricated himself from the Battle Suit.

'The comms are dead too. Disassembly from this state is going to take quite a while.'

Lee Min-sung felt his breathing grow shallow and held his breath as long as he could.

The Battle Suit's shutdown had knocked out the oxygen supply system as well.

He had prepared for any contingency before conducting the test, yet here he was facing this very problem.

'Seo Hyun-woo didn't throw that punch with everything he had. The amount of mana wasn't that high either. And yet it ended up like this. Even against Red Hunters, this never happened.'

Lee Min-sung sank into thought as he heard the sound of the helmet being disassembled.

He had thought the Battle Suit had achieved at least a basic functional form, yet it had amounted to nothing.

Of course, taking the fact that Seo Hyun-woo was Miterich's Student Council President too lightly was also a major blunder.

'With a 1% probability, I couldn't even last 10 seconds. Ah, as I thought, I really hate the number 1.'

Lee Min-sung was seized once again by his compulsion and began denying the number 1.

1% was a probability far too low, and 10% was no different from 1%.

Since a 100% probability could never actually exist, he despised it all the more.

WHIRR—, CLICK.

"Helmet faceplate disassembly complete!"

"Team Leader, are you alright?"

"Ah, I'm fine. A moment later and there would've been a 99% probability of asphyxiation."

Lee Min-sung steadied his breathing and immediately assessed the situation.

The development team members were at his side, disassembling the Battle Suit.

And beyond them, Seo Hyun-woo stood watching him with a composed expression.

"I let my guard down. I didn't expect to go down this easily."

"I feel I've committed a grave discourtesy. You won't be able to test the performance like this."

"Oh, no. This is purely our fault. We'd been successfully holding our own against Red Hunters, so we must have gotten complacent."

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Fortunately, there's a 99% probability that I'm unharmed."

Seo Hyun-woo smiled in response.

Lee Min-sung was notably fixated on the phrase "99%."

If 99% came up, it meant Lee Min-sung was either in a very good mood or that nothing was wrong.

'Something's off. There's no way a mere attack like that would cause the Battle Suit to shut down. In the original story, it was written that he went easy on his opponent.'

Seo Hyun-woo was puzzled, yet he managed to piece together a rough explanation.

Just because the original Seo Hyun-woo had gone easy on his opponent didn't necessarily mean the performance test had gone well.

Everyone's standards were different, after all.

'I see. He didn't want the truth to come out. Hanhon Industries has its pride too. Maybe the Battle Suit was so weak that admitting the truth was simply too embarrassing.'

Seo Hyun-woo arrived at a tentative conclusion and furrowed his brow.

This was one of the problems that arose from not being the protagonist.

Since the original story hadn't explained things in detail, there was always room for some form of misunderstanding.

Especially when individual subjectivity came into play, as it had this time, the meaning could be distorted even further.

'Seo Hyun-woo really is strong, then. Turning a Battle Suit that held its own against Red Hunters into scrap metal in one blow. If he's this strong, couldn't he just take over the protagonist role instead of Kang Jin-ha?'