Chapter 6: Certification

Returning home, I dragged my exhausted body and sat in front of the computer.

Every bone in my body felt like it was creaking, but my mind was clearer than ever.

No, not just clear—dopamine was surging like never before.

“Gotta let the world know about this great achievement quickly.”

The gallery addict’s soul urged me to post right away.

I transferred the certification shots from the tutorial to the computer.

I picked a photo that wouldn’t reveal my identity.

To prevent any issues, I removed the photo’s metadata as standard.

I also routed my IP through a VPN.

The chosen shot was a slightly blurry photo with the word EXTREME on it.

Perfect.

I immediately accessed Hunter Gallery and started typing.

[Title: Certification) Cleared Extreme Difficulty and Back.]

Just cleared the tower tutorial, and there was this thing called Extreme difficulty.

If you’re Korean, isn’t picking the highest difficulty the national rule?

So I chose it, and from the 1st floor, 10 goblins popped out.

Thought I was gonna die;

But who am I?

Future S-rank hunter.

Lightly brushed them off and came back.

(Scoreboard photo)

As soon as I posted and refreshed, comments started flooding in.

As expected, the reactions were predictable.

ㄴ ?

ㄴ Yeah, fake.

ㄴ Difficulty fake what’s that

(Roughly =ㅅ= character emoticon)

ㄴ 10 goblins, are you a kid lol Hard is 2 goblins.

ㄴ At least make the scoreboard edit less obvious. Font’s broken.

“The last guy, what’s his deal?”

As expected, there’s always a know-it-all everywhere.

I snorted and took a sip of cola.

Treated like a typical aggro troll.

This was within expectations too.

The thrill of flipping these reactions is the charm of gallerying.

I was about to post an additional certification to stagger the timing.

Then a supportive post came up.

Not one I wrote.

[Title: Isn’t That Person the One Who Changed 1st Floor Ranking?]

Just went to the tower and checked 1st floor ranking, 1st place nickname changed to ‘ㅇㅇ’.

Time was just now.

This seems real?

ㄴ What? For real?

ㄴㄴ [Link] Official Hunter Association ranking site link. Go check. Really ‘ㅇㅇ’.

ㄴㄴ Wow f*ck. It’s real. Score insane.

From that post, the gallery’s atmosphere flipped 180 degrees.

[Title: All You Fakers Line Up lol]

I said it was real, didn’t I?

ㄴ Faker out

ㄴ (‘Knew it’ running away con)

[Title: DemiGoD to Water Rocket lololol]

Current 1st place score 14,000 points

2nd place DemiGoD 4,000 points

3 times gap shiver

DemiGoD <<< Suddenly looks like water rocket, upvote lol

ㄴ Me first lol

ㄴ (Roughly DemiGoD face red-edited photo con)

Comments on my original certification post started multiplying rapidly.

ㄴ This person minimum SSS-rank.

ㄴ Here for pilgrimage. Please let me win lottery 1st.

ㄴ Sorry for cursing as aggro, big bro. Spare me.

ㄴ Please party with me. Healer. Female.

Explosive reaction.

Floods of praise and worship.

I leaned back deep in my chair with a satisfied smile.

“This is why I gallery.”

While soaking in the pleasure of the pouring comments for a while, I suddenly thought of Mage Gallery.

What’s the reaction there right now?

Swelling with anticipation, I headed to Mage Gallery.

But what awaited me wasn’t praise.

[Title: Newbie, What Are You Doing?]

Author: Beetle

That post in Hunter Gallery, it’s you, right?

Why the hell did you post a certification there?

[Title: Goodbye lol]

Author: p Pikachu

Poor newbie now doomed to be dragged by government as test subject lol.

Unexpected reaction.

Panicked, I hurriedly commented.

ㄴ Thought it wouldn’t reveal my identity, so I posted.

Isn’t it fine?

If I were an ordinary netizen, maybe.

With 10 years of gallerying experience, I perfectly handled IP routing and photo metadata deletion.

I thought identifying me with this was impossible.

ㄴ Magic is Firepower: Too careless thinking gallery server’s in Paraguay?

ㄴ Beetle: If the state decides to catch you, you can’t escape.

ㄴ Refrigerator: Hunter management team in NIS is more competent than you think.

Seeing their reactions, I started getting anxious.

I first deleted the certification post in Hunter Gallery.

Tears of blood flowed.

No, my concept post…

[Title: But Would the State Really Try to Catch Me? It’s Just 1st Floor]

ㄴ Beetle: Why think not. Of course they’ll look.

You don’t know how big ranking 1st is.

ㄴ Refrigerator: Surprisingly, government might not search. But DemiGoD will likely look for you. That guy’s obsessed with 1st.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: That’s scarier than NIS looking for me…

ㄴ p Pikachu: What you gonna do now lol. Already spread everywhere lol.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: I deleted the post.

ㄴ p Pikachu: Deleting post doesn’t erase server records lol. Goodbye lol.

Am I really screwed?

Suddenly, everything went dark.

Just when I became a mage to live comfortably, starting with getting dragged by NIS.

All sorts of horrific imaginations flashed through my mind.

Then, Beetle added a new comment.

ㄴ Beetle: …If the government really contacts you, tell me. I’ll handle it.

ㄴ p Pikachu: Showing off too much in front of newbie? lol

ㄴ Beetle: No. My fault for not properly explaining.

Should’ve told you how desperate the government is for strong hunters.

ㄴ Refrigerator: Well, if it’s Beetle, more than enough to handle.

“Is this person the only S-rank?”

South Korea’s only S-rank, Kim Suho.

His class is wind attribute mage.

“Come to think of it, nickname is Beetle. For real?”

Such a big shot helping me?

Someone I’ve never met?

I couldn’t believe it, but no choice now.

Doubt his inexplicable kindness, but don’t reject it.

Slightly relieved.

An S-rank hunter who can negotiate with the state says they’ll handle it, what could go wrong?

Anxiety subsided, became calm.

Then, a post on a different topic came up.

Seemed to shift the mood.

[Title: So? Nothing for Getting 1st Rank?]

Author: Magic is Firepower

DemiGoD that jerk used to brag so much when 1st.

ㄴ p Pikachu: That guy’s life joy is bragging lol. Would’ve bragged like crazy even not 1st lol.

S-rank hunter I took 1st from today. Nickname DemiGoD.

“Living up to the nick.”

S-rank hunter. Only a dozen or so superhumans worldwide.

Among them, guy always monopolizing 1st in power. DemiGoD.

I got curious about what other S-ranks think of DemiGoD.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: So how’s DemiGoD in person? Really unbeatable even by other S-ranks?

ㄴ Beetle: Monster. Honestly, shouldn’t be grouped as S-rank. He’s SS-rank.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Personality?

ㄴ Beetle: Personality? Sh*tty. Look at nickname? Thinks he’s actual god… Well, if I was that strong, might think that too.

ㄴ p Pikachu: Just crazy attention seeker lol. Posts on sns every 5 minutes lol.

“Hm? That’s me.”

Of course, I’m anonymous, not real name.

Hearing about the S-rank hunter from people who met him was fascinating.

But that wasn’t important now.

Because someone was curious about my story.

[Title: So What Did You Get for 1st Clear?!]

Author: Magic is Firepower

If you don’t tell, I’ll sh*t in Han River and set it on fire. Serious.

ㄴ Refrigerator: (Roughly fist-flying emoticon)

ㄴ p Pikachu: Pathetic lol. Act your age lol.

I grabbed the keyboard again.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: There was a reward.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Upgraded skill book color.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Also got reward for first Extreme clear, that also upgraded skill book color.

As my comment went up, the comment section exploded again.

ㄴ Magic is Firepower: What? Twice?

No, more than that, skill book is level-up reward, how’d you get it on 1st floor?

ㄴ Beetle: If they killed 10 goblins as said, leveling to 2 makes sense.

ㄴ Refrigerator: So you drew a rainbow skill book? I only have one of those? Got that from 1st floor?

ㄴ Beetle: Oh, really? For real? You got rainbow grade now?

Their excited reactions made me scratch my head.

Time to pour cold water on expectations.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: No. Gold. Was all brown at first.

ㄴ Beetle: Still amazing. No one gets skill book from 1st floor. And gold at that.

ㄴ Refrigerator: Right. Gold skill will help a ton early on.

ㄴ Magic is Firepower: You know how important skill books are to mages, right?

We’re a job running on skills.

Their encouragement made my shoulders shrug. Yeah, gold grade is something.

Plus, I’m just 1st floor now. Infinite growth potential.

ㄴ Refrigerator: So what’s the skill?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Not sure if it’s good.

ㄴ Magic is Firepower: We’ll judge that. Hurry, what is it?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Sand Swamp.

With that comment, Mage Gallery’s time stopped.

The lively comment exchange cut off like a lie.

Silence.

I wrote again to break the awkward silence.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Why’s everyone quiet?

Then, as if waiting, super awkward comments started coming.

ㄴ Beetle: Uh… Great skill! Sand Swamp! Wide-area CC skill!

ㄴ p Pikachu: Good draw for first skill lol. It’s fine lol.

ㄴ Magic is Firepower: Not a trash char! Just don’t use that skill!

…Somehow, strong feeling I drew a dud.

But I tilted my head.

‘Feels like a cheat skill to me… Why call it trash?’