Chapter 5: Angel
The drama of a poor young man getting bullied by a rich heir and betrayed by his girlfriend was unfolding right in front of him, but he didn’t seem to care at all.
As an existence that had lived through countless eras and constantly traveled across different civilizations, he had seen things like this far too many times.
Besides, he wouldn’t actually do anything. Even if it were the first time he had witnessed it, the outcome still wouldn’t change. That was the fairness he gave to all life.
"Next."
The awakening supervisor had been laughing at Mark just a few seconds ago, yet his expression immediately returned to being serious like before.
This was what you called professionalism.
The black-haired young man stepped forward with a blank expression, no different from a lifeless rock, making the awakening supervisor pause for a moment.
Since early morning, he had awakened many people, but this was the first time he had seen someone so indifferent toward the most important event of a person’s life.
"You seem pretty confident, huh?"
This unusual attitude piqued his curiosity enough to ask another question. Not everyone could receive this kind of attention.
After all, the awakening supervisor was an experienced B-rank hunter. He could be considered part of the middle class of society, not some lowly nobody.
"Always."
Without the slightest change in expression, he answered indifferently.
"Tsk, you’d better awaken something powerful. I’ve seen plenty of arrogant idiots leave in the greatest humiliation."
The awakening supervisor immediately lost interest because he felt the young man in front of him had no respect for him at all.
The interesting thing was that this absolute confidence wasn’t based on strength. It might sound ridiculous to say this to other cultivators, but it was the truth.
Ever since he was born, he had never known what regret was. Sorry, thank you, or anything else that expressed his emotions had all been learned from others. He himself barely had any of those things.
His state was the perfect balance between extreme ego and egolessness. These two opposites combined didn’t create anything remarkable. That was why he always wore that lifeless, blank expression.
The awakening supervisor’s irritation was completely ignored by him. Then, he stepped forward on his own and placed his hand on the crystal sphere.
A mystical light unlike anyone else’s flashed, and time seemed to temporarily stop. His soul immediately appeared in a special space.
This place was like an ancient temple built from gigantic stone slabs. Towering pillars stretched so high their tops couldn’t be seen, as if they could support the pure white sky that radiated a faint holy glow.
Everything was enormous, so enormous that it was hard to comprehend because its size didn’t seem to be fixed.
It could be said that the greatest structure humanity had ever built would feel insignificant beside even a single stone pillar in this place.
Sensing that the laws of this place were somewhat different from Earth’s, he was just about to use his spiritual sense to examine it when the "sky" burst with brilliant golden light.
The sound of trumpets echoed, shaking the space like the prelude to the arrival of someone important.
From within the dazzling light, a woman... no, it should be said, a six-winged angel with the appearance of a peerless beauty descended.
On her head was an ornament with a pair of small wings covering her eyes, making her presence even more holy and mysterious.
Of course, no matter how mysterious she was, as long as he used his spiritual sense, he could see through the essence of her existence.
"Hey, immortal being, are you here to grant me a power?"
Facing an angel who was much taller than him, he simply stared at her and asked directly.
"What?"
Her holy and mysterious aura completely vanished as a shocked female voice rang out. This was followed by clumsy behavior unworthy of an angel.
She had been an angel for a very long time and had bestowed blessings upon countless souls, but this was the first time she had encountered something so far beyond imagination.
No matter how hard she tried to observe him, she could only tell that he was a mortal. But was this really the attitude a mortal should have? Even the most arrogant mortal she had ever met wasn’t anything like this.
In the best-case scenario, she was just being overly suspicious. In the worst-case scenario, this stranger possessed authority so overwhelming that even an immortal existence like her wasn’t qualified to see through him.
Just like that, the atmosphere shifted from holy and solemn to strangely silent. The two quietly looked at each other without either of them speaking, but only the angel was feeling tense.
Even though she was high above him, forcing the human before her to look up, for some reason she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
She felt that if she didn’t treat the person before her with respect, something bad would happen.
It sounded absurd, but angels were kind existences after all, unlike demons, so speaking to a mortal as an equal wasn’t too hard to accept.
Both of them had astonishing patience. If this special space had a clock based on Earth’s time, they would have been staring at each other for thirty minutes already.
If time hadn’t been almost completely frozen after arriving here, an ambulance probably would have already taken him to the hospital, and humanity would have recorded its first case of brain death caused by awakening.
"So... I can’t awaken?"
Although she was still completely confused, the angel had no choice but to follow the usual script.
She could skip the holy effects, but she still had to recite the lines written by her superiors.
"Ahem, there was a tiny little problem just now. Wait a moment."
She cleared her throat and awkwardly managed to regain a bit of her holy presence. Compared to her grand entrance, her current presence was nothing more than a cheap knockoff.