728 A world where 'we' don't exist [1]

It was white.

My vision was white.

It remained like that for quite a while. I wasn't sure for how long, though. Time seemed inconsequential at the moment as I basked in a strange warmth.

It enveloped every part of my body, pouring into me and tickling every part of me.

…It felt oddly good.

The feeling didn't last for long. Soon, my vision warped and my senses started to return.

It wasn't long before I felt something bump against me and I heard the sound of engines roaring in the distance.

"What are you doing, asshole?"

"Huh?"

When I turned around to look around me, I was taken aback to find that I was standing in the middle of a crosswalk. People moved past me with annoyed and threatening looks.

"What are you standing there like an idiot? Move the fuck away."

I was pushed once again.

When I turned to look, I saw a young girl glaring at me before she disappeared into the crowd.

After frowning for a while, I ultimately made the decision to cross over to the other side of the road. Even though I wasn't entirely clear on the reason why I was standing in the middle of the road, I should know better than to just remain standing there.

After making it to the end of the road without incident, I stopped for a second to take a look at my surroundings.

'What's going on?'

Everything looked and felt so…

Different.

"Is it just me?"

I could see children running around with happy expressions on their faces, and adults walking alongside them with smiles plastered on their faces as they went about their business.

It was as though the war that they'd just gone through had never happened.

'Are they that happy that the war is over?'

The scenery wasn't bad. I quite liked it. It was quite peaceful, and unknowingly, I cracked a smile.

"Kevin did a good job."

All that I was seeing was thanks to his sacrifice.

My smile slowly receded as I thought about him.

'If only he was sti-'

"hm?"

Realizing something, I looked up at the sky, and a curse slipped past my mouth.

"The fuck?"

I gave it a few blinks to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Confirming that I was indeed seeing correctly, I lowered my head and glanced at the air around me.

It contained little to no psyons.

"W,what?"

I felt my heart stop for a moment.

If that wasn't all...

The massive crack that used to hang in the sky was also gone. As if it never existed in the first place.

"Hold on a second, what the hell is going on?"

Looking around and finding an empty bench, I sat down and massaged my head.

When I extended my hand, a faint glow materialized all the way around it. The glow was not particularly bright, and it covered only the exterior of my hand; however, the moment it did so, I noticed that everyone around me was staring at me with surprised looks on their faces.

"An awakener!"

"He can use mana!"

"Ha?"

As I looked around at everyone's faces, which were glowing brightly at the sight of my powers, confusion continued to grow within me.

…I was already used to such stares.

I was somewhat well-known, but as I looked around, I noticed that everyone had their smartphones out and was taking pictures of me. This made me even more aware that there was something wrong with the situation.

Especially since their focus wasn't on me, but on the faint glow in my hand...

"Are you a newly licensed hero? Did you already sign up for a guild?" 

A guy wearing a suit and sunglasses approached me. He seemed rather fit, and his aura was close to <C> rank. Probably <D+> rank.

For some reason, the moment he arrived, the people around him moved and looked at him with even more reverence than they previously did toward me.

'Is he famous?'

I stealthily gave him a closer look and, after determining that he was not a person I had seen before, I gave a covert shrug.

'Must be some sort of celebrity, I guess.'

I didn't really pay attention to anything outside of what I cared about. I was famous, but not to the point where everyone knew me, unlike Kevin.

"My, my, I didn't expect to see a talented young man over here." 

His eyes under the sunglasses seemed to be glowing as he looked at me.

He handed me a diamond card.

"Pleasure to meet you; I'll cut straight to the chase. I would like to recruit you to our guild."

There was visible pride in his voice as he said those words.

I was amused, but I still took the card.

[Dominion Scott : Head Scout of Green Claw Guild]

Playing with the card, I looked at him and pointed at myself.

"Don't you know me?"

While I didn't expect everyone to know me, I didn't expect someone who seemed to be working in the guild business to be unaware of who I was.

I wasn't being arrogant; I was just aware of the fact that I was quite well known within the Guilding industry.

Especially since I was so highly ranked within the Hero ranking.

"Hm?"

The man cocked his head with a confused look.

"Should I know you?"

I was taken aback, and my brows furrowed.

'Does he really not know who I am? Perhaps he's new to the business?'

That probably was the answer.

Smiling, I handed him the card.

"Never mind. Thank you for the offer, but I'll have to reject it."

"You're rejecting?"

It was the man's turn to frown as he stared at the card in my hand. Raising his head, he looked at me deeply before his voice lowered.

"Are you already with some other guild?"

"…No?"

I had my own mercenary group. What guild?

"Are you perhaps from the Union?"

"No?"

The hell was with the questions?

"Are you per-"

"Look man, I'm not with anyone. If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave."

His behavior was beginning to annoy me, and I couldn't stand it any longer. As a result, I shoved the card back at him and got ready to leave to head back to the headquarters.

Only that...

"I'm talking. Who told you to leave?"

A hand pressed against my shoulder. There was quite a bit of force put into it, but it wasn't as if it was very painful.

"Haha."

I let out a laugh.

'It's been a while since I've met someone this arrogant…'

I cocked my head to the side and looked at the man before focusing my attention on the hand that was pressing against my shoulder.

I smiled. 

"It's in your best interest if you were to let go."

"Hey, kid. I've been treating you pretty nicely. I'd appreciate it if you took a look at the offer once more."

The man lowered his head, exposing his eyes under his sunglasses. As a bright yellow glow began to emanate from his body, the complexion of the people in the area around us began to change.

Looking around me, I frowned.

"Do you seriously not know me?"

I already knew the answer, but I had to make sure. For some reason, I felt that there was something off about the situation.

"Heh."

The man laughed, and the yellow glow around his body started to expand.

"Kid, do you think that just because you've awakened your powers you're some sort of bigshot? Let me tell you, your powers mean not-hm!!!"

"Alright shut up."

I pressed my hand against his mouth and clenched his head tightly. Instantaneously, the yellow glow that had been enveloping him vanished, and his face turned completely white.

After lowering my head and taking a quick glance at the business card that he had given to me earlier but that had since fallen to the ground, I bent over and picked it up.

I looked at the guild name, which was imprinted on the card.

"Green Claw Guild, huh?"

Never heard of it before.

I was a bit surprised. I had never heard of this diamond ranked guild before. I assumed I knew the names of most of the diamon graded guilds because there weren't many of them... but from the looks of it, my memory was starting to fail.

'No, that's impossible.'

Was this perhaps a new guild that made great contributions to the war and was thus promoted as a result?

…If so, I'd explain why everyone seemed to be looking up to someone who was ranked so low. 

'How should I deal with this?'

As I turned my attention back to the man, who was by this time wriggling around in my grasp, I felt my head throb with annoyance.

"Hm!! Hmm!"

His once-pale face had taken on a purplish hue, and he stared at me with a terrified expression.

I heaved a sigh and released my grip on him as I reflected on my earlier discoveries and noticed the terrified expressions on the faces of the people around me.

'I don't have time to deal with this crap at the moment.'

"Cough, cough!"

The moment I released him, he started coughing violently.

"Y,you.. y,you…"

He seemed to want to say something to me, but I ignored him and headed out.  There were more important things that I needed to take care of. 

Although he looked like a chained villain, I wasn't too bothered.  Staring at the card in my hand, it slowly burned and disappeared.

'Perhaps, I'll pay the guild a visit later…'