NOVEL NEXT He is a legendary prison guard
**<br>1) Iron-Blooded Warden Poahim was the object of fear for all prisoners on the Reiter continent. No matter how vicious a criminal was, they couldn’t even breathe properly in his presence. When dealing with prisoners, all stats increase by 1000%. Prisoners freeze in fear and panic when they see you.</p><p>The last part.</p><p>He had only paid attention to the stat increase and had passed over this part without much thought, never imagining it would have such an incredible effect.</p><p>“This is amazing. This is amazing.”</p><p>He couldn’t help but exclaim.</p><p>So this is why awakening is good.</p><p>Awakening is great.</p><p><0x18> <0xCD> ◈</p><p>Shi-hyun looked at the clock.</p><p>There were about 10 minutes left until quitting time.</p><p>Since dinner service was all done, he didn’t have much to do.</p><p>He sat for a moment to organize his thoughts.</p><p>He had learned a few things today.</p><p>First, his abilities had been increasing during breakfast and lunch as well. It seemed that since he was in such a weakened state, simply eating well was enough to boost his abilities.</p><p>And those abilities were related to physical attributes like strength, agility, and stamina.</p><p>Conversely, working as a guard seemed to enhance mental abilities like wisdom, mental strength, and magical power.</p><p>Since both his body and mind were exhausted, it appeared that helping one would restore the other.</p><p>Fortunately, there hadn’t been any particularly difficult quests so far.</p><p>‘Good, let’s keep this up.’</p><p>The clock indicated 5:25 PM.</p><p>When things were hectic, leaving even a minute late would draw attention, but leaving five minutes early was usually no problem.</p><p>Shi-hyun packed his things and stood up.</p><p>“Don’t block the bathroom entrance. Didn’t I tell you not to block the bathroom entrance? Move the clothes and towels right now.”</p><p>Just as he was about to exit the section, he noticed clothes and towels blocking the bathroom entrance from room 5.</p><p>If the bathroom was blocked, it could lead to suicide or self-harm inside, so it was prohibited.</p><p>Still, perhaps because it was a private space, the inmates often tried to cover it with towels whenever they could.</p><p>One inmate who met Shi-hyun’s gaze flinched and hurriedly moved the clothes and towels.</p><p>Then a message appeared in his view.</p><p>[Quest: Give a legitimate order to an inmate who has violated the rules. 10/10 completed]</p><p>[Poahim is satisfied with your passionate work attitude].</p><p>[Wisdom +1, Mental Strength +1 restored]</p><p>[Poahim wants to see the diligent efforts of his junior even at night. Show him your dedication while working late.</p><p>[Quest: Work overtime.]</p><p>“….”</p><p>Well, that’s another task resolved.</p><p>It seemed he would have to cover for Jun-cheol, who was scheduled to work overtime this weekend, in exchange for a meal. Jun-cheol would probably be thrilled, considering how exhausted he was.</p><p><0x18> <0xCD> ◈</p><p>“Thank you for your hard work.”</p><p>After changing clothes and saying goodbye to his fellow guards, Shi-hyun stepped out of the gate when his smartphone vibrated.</p><p>He saw it was his friend Kim Sang-kyu, whom he had known for 20 years.</p><p>“Hey, what’s up?”</p><p>Are you off work now?</p><p>“I’m off work, so I’ll answer.”</p><p>Haha, right? By the way, how did it go with Su-jin?</p><p>“You called pretty early.”</p><p>Hey, man. I’ve been busy. Don’t you know our company is pushing us hard these days?</p><p>“I know, I know. Just making conversation.”</p><p>So, how did it go with Su-jin?</p><p>“I got dumped, okay?”</p><p>– Really? I expected that. You must be down now. Let’s go out. I’ll buy you a drink.</p><p>“I’m good on drinks; let’s just have dinner.”</p><p>– Oh? Then let’s do that. What are you in the mood for?</p><p>“Do you remember the bossam place at the junction? Let’s meet there by 7.”</p><p>Okay, see you then.</p><p>The call ended.</p><p>Shi-hyun smiled to himself.</p><p>After all, there’s nothing like an old friend.</p><p>He headed straight to the bossam place without stopping by home.</p><p>He arrived about 10 minutes early, but Sang-kyu was already there waiting.</p><p>“Hey, you look a bit better, at least.”</p><p>“I’m just feeling disheartened.”</p><p>Shi-hyun was honest, but Sang-kyu seemed to take it half as a joke.</p><p>“After all that, how can you be disheartened already? Don’t act tough; if you want to cry, just cry.”</p><p>“Okay, okay, I got it.”</p><p>The Bossam restaurant had about twenty tables and was half full.</p><p>Shi-hyun and Sang-kyu sat in a corner and ordered bossam and soda because Shi-hyun had insisted he didn’t want to drink.</p><p>When the boss arrived, Sang-kyu took a bite and opened his mouth.</p><p>“Honestly, you broke up well. Su-jin had a bit of an attitude, you know? I couldn’t say it directly because of you, but she had some issues.”</p><p>In the past, Shi-hyun would have reacted angrily to such comments from a friend, but now he could only smile bitterly.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re right. I must have been blind.”</p><p>“Wow, our Shi-hyun has lost his charm, huh? Talking like that.”</p><p>“I told you, didn’t I?”</p><p>“Wow, you meant it.”</p><p>Sang-kyu’s eyes widened in surprise.</p><p>“She boasted about her money, you know? Handbags, watches, all that stuff. saying they cost millions.”</p><p>“Really? Was she like that? Well, her world and ours are different. Her annual salary is probably starting from 100 million won, right?”</p><p>“What? How do you know that exactly?”</p><p>“She’s an A-class awakener, right? In the U.S., A-class awakeners start at 1 million dollars. That’s the industry standard. Whatever happens, the leading country in awakener management is the U.S., and everyone else just follows.”</p><p>“Oh, right. I remember you were a bit of an awakener enthusiast.”</p><p>Since he hadn’t paid much attention to awakeners before, Shi-hyun had almost forgotten that Sang-kyu was an old member of an awakener community with over 1 million members.</p><p>“Yeah, man. If you’re curious about anything about awakeners, just ask me.”</p><p>“Oh? Then let me ask. What’s the price for an S-class awakener?”</p><p>“S-class is highly confidential, so not much is known, but it’s speculated to be at least 200 million dollars. That’s probably the accepted theory.”</p><p>“200, 200 million dollars?”</p><p>Shi-Hyun almost spat out the soda he was drinking.</p><p>“Hey, hey, are you joking? Who makes 200 million dollars a year?”</p><p>“Does it sound like a joke? Think about it. The F-22 Raptor, the best fighter jet, costs over 200 million dollars, right? But wouldn’t an S-class awakener be worth more than just one Raptor? When an S-class gate opens, if there’s no S-class awakener, the country is doomed. And while Raptors have high maintenance costs, S-class awakeners bring back massive amounts of money from gates.”</p><p>Sang-kyu continued.</p><p>“Countries are pouring huge budgets into managing S-class awakeners. Do you know why? They have to pay at least 200 million dollars to keep their patriotism intact. Otherwise, they’ll lose them to countries like the U.S. and China. If that happens, the country is really in trouble. Even now, many countries have become practically vassal states because they lack S-class awakeners.”</p><p>“Wow, they’re like walking conglomerates. If I save up a bit, I could just print money. I wonder what they do with all that money.”</p><p>“Want to hear something even more interesting? The items they carry are also incredibly expensive. No, they might even be more expensive.”</p><p>“Items?”</p><p>“Don’t act like you don’t know. When you awaken, items from the other world come into your inventory, right? How else would the first awakeners have fought?”</p><p>“Oh, no. I knew that; I just suddenly remembered listening to you.”</p><p>Shi-Hyun made a slightly sour expression.</p><p>He realized that in the chaos, he had forgotten to check his inventory. There should be items in there.</p><p>He thought he must check it when he got home.</p><p>“Anyway, keep going. I’m really curious about the items.”</p><p>“Wow, so you’ve finally taken an interest in this? This has been the hottest topic in recent years. There have been tons of papers published.”</p><p>Sang- Kyu seemed excited that Shi-Hyun was showing interest and began explaining eagerly.</p><p>“Common and magic items, what we call junk, are often dropped from mobs in low-level gates. They’re worth just the price of scrap metal. But from the rare grade onwards, it’s different.”</p><p>“What’s different?”</p><p>“To get rare items, you have to defeat the boss monsters in low-level gates or B and A-grade mobs in high-level gates. And even then, the drop rate isn’t high.”</p><p>“I see. Okay, I understand.”</p><p>“Continuing from there, unique items are on another level. They’re considered treasures in the other world, and a unique item can only appear in the inventory of an A-class awakener when they awaken. And A-class awakeners are rare. Plus, you have to defeat boss monsters in high-level gates, which is difficult, and the drop rate is low. So the price is whatever they want.”</p><p>“I’ve heard that unique items are amazing.”</p><p>“But even unique items are nothing compared to legendary ones. They’re one-of-a-kind, truly a legendary masterpiece and work of art. Many of the materials are things that don’t exist on Earth, like amantium or orichalcum, and the magic attached is on a whole different level.”</p><p>Sang-kyu’s words flowed smoothly, like a salesperson pitching a product.</p><p>“Legendary items must drop from S-class gate bosses, right? I know that much from all the media coverage about how dangerous S-class gates are.”</p><p>“That’s right. Many people, both awakeners and civilians, have died because of S-class gates. Most legendary items were probably obtained when S-class awakeners awakened.”</p><p>Sang-kyu continued.</p><p>“One of the legendary items that has leaked information is the Dragon Tooth Sword owned by the U.S. S-class awakener Jacob. It’s said to be a sword that calls storms. Literally. It has Thunderstorm magic inscribed on it.”</p><p>“I have another question. Can I ask?”</p><p>It seemed they were about to go into another round of praising legendary items, so Shi-hyun interrupted. After all, legendary items were like high-end apartments in Gangnam—something he’d probably never have a chance to encounter.</p><p>“Ask anything.”</p><p>“Is there any way for regular people to enter a gate?”</p><p>“Not. If a regular person entered a gate and something went wrong, who would take responsibility?”</p><p>“I see.”</p><p>It seemed he would have to postpone any thoughts about entering a gate until he got his hunter’s license.</p><p>“Even E-class gates would be hell for a regular person.”</p><p>After that, Sang-kyu kept talking throughout the meal.</p><p>It seemed he was excited to have someone finally engaging with his interests in awakeners.</p><p>Thanks to that, Shi-Hyun unexpectedly gained useful information about awakeners.</p>
chapter 04
Chapter 4:
Awakening is a Good Thing
“Hey, Lee Yeon-ho, how long has it been since you’ve brightened up? Don’t lie down with a blanket spread out. Is this your bedroom? Fold it up and put it away right now.”
While working, Shi-hyun spotted an inmate lounging around with a blanket spread out in the cell.
This was a common occurrence.
In one section, there were usually over 20 rooms and nearly 80 inmates, but there were only two guards on duty during the day, making it impossible to maintain order among the inmates perfectly.
So, unless it was a serious violation of the rules, turning a blind eye was part of the job.
If he pointed out every little thing, there wouldn’t be enough time in the day to get through all the tasks.
Still, Shi-hyun was meticulous in his observations. If he pointed it out, the inmate might think twice about doing it again, but if he didn’t say anything at all, they would likely repeat the same behavior without hesitation.
“Come on, my back hurts. Just let it slide a bit; we’re all humans here.”
Of course, an inmate lounging around with a blanket wouldn’t take a reprimand quietly.
“Fold the blanket right now! Right now!”
Shi-hyun raised his voice.
As guard, it was natural for his voice to get louder.
After all, if his voice was too soft, it would lead to him being looked down upon by the inmates.
“Ugh, seriously. You’ve been annoying me since this morning. Hey, Chief! Huh…!!”
The expression on Yeon-ho’s face changed dramatically the moment his eyes met Shi-hyun’s.
His face turned pale as if he had seen a ghost.
His thick eyebrows, which usually twitched with irritation, drooped like a defeated puppy.
“Y-Yes. Oh, I’m sorry, Chief. I’ll put it away right away.”
The person who claimed to have a sore back hurriedly got up and started folding the blanket.
“Ah, okay, just make sure you do it.”
As Shi-hyun turned away, his eyes were wide with shock.
Normally that person would take their sweet time folding the blanket, but now they were acting like they were in a state of panic.
This was unprecedented. Normally.
‘Could it be?’
Shi-hyun recalled the ability he possessed.
**
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