The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 049
[Breaking News: Warp Gate Realization in the Tower Civilization Era?]
[Seoul-Busan Travel Now Possible Through EX Floor]
[South Korea Acquires the Dream Transportation Method]
└Is this real?
└Can confirm. I was in Seoul five seconds ago.
└??? The KTX is finished
An exclusive privilege of the EX Floor.
Awakeners who entered the EX Floor of Seoul Tower could choose their exit point.
They could emerge in Seoul or Busan.
There was only one requirement to satisfy.
[This is a Seoul Guild notice. Check it out]
───────
[Seoul Guild Notice]
Awakeners who enter Seoul Tower or the former Busan Tower may select either Seoul or the former Busan as their exit point upon departure.
However, they must obtain permission from the Awakener ranked first in the Hall of Fame for the EX-cleared floor, or from a Sovereign who has been delegated full authority by that Awakener.
───────
└So basically you need the EX-rank Awakener’s permission
└Like the EX-rank Awakener would bother with such trivial matters lol
└It’s basically saying you need Seoul Guild’s permission
└Lee Byung-gyu really became a god
The distribution industry was the first to approach Seoul Guild.
A corporate behemoth that had shaken South Korea’s distribution landscape.
Choi In-sung, president of Ssuk-Rocket, personally requested a meeting with Seoul Guild.
A warp route connecting Seoul and Busan.
If Ssuk-Rocket monopolized this path, the entire distribution game would change.
Choi In-sung was certain of it.
The CEO of Ssuk-Rocket went to the Seoul Guild lol
└This is definitely a monopoly
└Please just reduce those distribution margins, are you guys joking
└But honestly, there’s nothing we can do about them. They’re already monsters
However, the result was unexpected.
“I apologize.”
“Yes, of course that would be… Wait? Did I mishear you?”
Lee Byung-gyu had rejected the Seoul-Busan link for Ssuk-Rocket’s Awakeners.
“We’ll provide 120 billion won annually as an exclusive usage fee for the EX Floor.”
“It’s not a matter of money.”
Choi In-sung hesitated for a moment, but soon deployed his usual logic.
When money won’t work, it’s only because there isn’t enough of it.
“130 billion won annually.”
“It’s not about the money.”
“I’ll pay 140 billion won.”
“Even if you offered 140 trillion won instead of 140 billion, it wouldn’t change anything.”
“Then what do you want?”
“There’s nothing I want.”
“What do you mean by—”
Lee Byung-gyu shook his head.
“It’s the will of the EX-rank Awakener.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“It’s difficult to go against his wishes.”
“…”
“For us, his convictions weigh far heavier than astronomical sums of money.”
News of this spread.
[Mega-corporation Ssuk-Rocket Rejected]
└So the EX-rank god really turned them down?
└They offered over 100 billion and got shot down?
└Guess the EX-rank Awakener hates Ssuk-Rocket
└EX bro, do you have a phobia of Ssuk-Rocket or something?
└Whatever, Ssuk-Rocket’s reputation is pretty notorious anyway
Rumors spread that the EX-rank Awakener despised Ssuk-Rocket.
As a result, Ssuk-Rocket’s stock price plummeted.
The market’s circuit breaker was triggered.
[But no matter how I think about it, I don’t get why they’re excluding Ssuk-Rocket?]
The reason would soon be revealed.

* * *
Twenty-two years old this year.
Kim Chul-in was nothing more than an ordinary delivery worker.
“God, I feel like I’m dying.”
Most delivery workers were Awakeners with inventory-related abilities.
Awakeners capable of maintaining vast inventories.
Yet lacking any other notable powers, they were treated as “quasi-Awakeners.”
Naturally, their treatment was abysmal and their social standing was low.
Today my fever burned so intensely I could barely move, yet I had to drag myself to work.
-We’ve got plenty of others who can do your job.
The age of Tower civilization.
A far crueler era than before.
As society restructured itself around pure ability, the non-Awakened and the powerless became invisible.
There were countless inventory Awakeners who could replace Kim Chul-in.
I dragged my burning body through another day.
It hurt enough to die, but I didn’t.
-See? You can do it, so why are you faking illness?
It wasn’t faking.
My fever had climbed to 104 degrees.
If I were non-Awakened, I would have collapsed ten times over.
-Kids these days, tsk tsk. No passion.
I started working at nineteen.
In three years, I hadn’t taken a single day off.
One day off and I’d be fired.
-Pull this stunt one more time and you’re done. Understand? Answer me!
When I got home, I logged into a community forum.
[Boddari Union Gallery]
Cities have Guilds.
And beyond the Guilds, there are “Unions”—gatherings of those who share the same abilities.
The Boddari Union is a meeting place for inventory-type Awakeners.
In reality, it was barely worthy of the name Union, yet it was undeniably an active community.
‘Huh? Why is the post refresh rate so fast?’
Posts were flooding in in real time.
The speed was impossible to keep up with.
‘EX-rank Awakener? What? Why is it spammed everywhere?’
A striking keyword caught my eye.
[EX-rank Awakener permits free Seoul-Busan transit for all over the next year]
└Ssuk-Rocket was trying to monopolize it and quoted over a billion won lol
That EX-rank Awakener totally exposed it lol
└Is this real?? Why??
└EX oppa, take me ㅠㅠ (suddenly)
An era where ability was everything.
Especially in Korean society, where such extremes were the norm.
From the heart of this world, an EX-rank Awakener sparked a new wave of change.
[Seoul Guild Statement]
Kim Chul-in read the words aloud.
“All humans possess dignity and rights?”
I’d heard such talk existed before the Tower civilization era.
But it was a world I had never experienced.
“Difference is not a weakness, but a force that makes us stronger?”
It was absurd. Difference was weakness.
With only an inventory ability, I had always been insignificant.
My nickname in school was “Boddari Idiot.”
“The same dream. A better tomorrow. A more just world. And a more just world to pass on to our children.”
It sounded like hollow idealism.
On the surface it seemed plausible, but there was no substance to it.
“All revolutions begin with small changes.”
And that change had begun with the approval of free passage between Seoul and Busan.
For the Boddari Union, it was nothing short of revolution.
On a small scale, fresh seafood from Busan could now be direct-shipped to Seoul with just a few clicks.
Since items didn’t spoil inside an inventory, it was perfect for maintaining freshness.
In this age of globalization.
It meant a direct connection between Busan Port and Seoul.
The Boddari Union’s influence would undoubtedly skyrocket.
“We will not interfere with the profits you gain?”
The Seoul Guild had officially announced it.
Word was it reflected the EX-rank Awakener’s true intentions.
The crucial part wasn’t just the Busan-Seoul connection.
What if such things happened worldwide?
The Boddari Union’s importance would only grow.
‘Is this… real?’
I gripped my phone tightly.
My vision blurred slightly.
The letters before my eyes weren’t quite in focus.
It wasn’t simply a matter of gaining passage rights.
An emotion that couldn’t be put into words.
Something deep within my chest trembled.
‘This isn’t the world I knew.’
[This is the will of the EX-rank Awakener, and the Seoul Guild supports his convictions and sense of justice.]
Twenty-two years old.
Inventory Awakener Kim Chul-in.
For the first time, he received consideration from the world.
At least in the world that EX-rank Awakener spoke of, he too was ‘someone’.
His fingers moved as if possessed by divine will.
[EX Salvation Corps]
Choi Kang-mok’s official fan community.
The EX Salvation Corps had made their first appearance.

* * *
The Boddari Union erupted in cheers.
Citizens carrying white flags emblazoned with ‘EX’ marched through the streets.
The news was filled with nothing but that story.
-Society overly skewed toward ability-based hierarchy; EX-rank Awakener sounds the alarm!
-Magic for the weak; the savior EX-rank Awakener emerges.
Choi Kang-mok felt somewhat uncomfortable.
“…They’re packaging it that much?”
Fundamentally, it was the truth.
Choi Kang-mok knew all too well how desperately non-Awakeners—or Awakeners without power—struggled to survive.
-This Mayo admired the user’s righteous spirit and conviction.
–
If we
become one,
we
might think more rationally than before.
Yet he hadn’t spoken so grandly.
He had simply said one quiet thing.
-What if we gave Inventory-type Awakeners opportunities first?
That was all.
He’d said it even before hearing the 100 billion won proposal.
Had he heard about that money first, he might have truly wavered.
But there was another bulldozer at work.
Seoul’s Sovereign, Lee Byung-gyu.
‘The EX-rank Awakener’s convictions must be demonstrated through action.’
He had already been dreaming the same dream.
He simply hadn’t been able to act on it.
‘Opening life to non-Awakeners as well.’
What had remained only a dream now became reality.
Thanks to the EX-rank Awakener.
Seoul’s Sovereign, who had no choice but to compromise with reality, could now live by his convictions.
‘I’m fortunate to have met an EX-rank Awakener in my lifetime.’
Who would offer such a tremendous opportunity to a group of pre-Awakeners?
-The Seoul Guild will support the conviction of the EX-rank Awakener.
After that, Lee Byung-gyu publicly rejected the exclusive contract with Ssuk-Rocket.
And he released an official statement.
Choi Kang-mok’s single sentence.
That simple proposal alone expanded into a six-page document.
To avoid the frame of “favoring only a specific class,” the scope was broadened to include all ordinary citizens.
“Oppa, that’s so cool. Absolutely insane. People are going wild right now.”
“Why so many ‘so’s’?”
“You turned down 100 billion won? Now they’re calling you the Savior’s EX-rank Awakener?”
“….”
“You really turned down 100 billion won? So coolly?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Oh, even your humility is cool.”
“Shut up for a second.”
Actually, the sequence of events had been reversed.
The “hero who rejected 100 billion won and chose the Boddari Union” wasn’t the truth.
I had brought up the Boddari Union first,
and only then did the 100 billion won deal come in.
Lee Byung-gyu had deliberately edited it out.
As a result, Choi Kang-mok came to be revered as an EX-rank crusader who confronted the absurdities of the era head-on.
It wasn’t intentional.
‘But….’
The feeling wasn’t unpleasant.
More than money in the hundreds of millions, this emotion seemed like it would linger a little longer.
Then a new notification came through.
[Hidden Quest completed: “Greater Justice, Dedication for the Many.”]
Choi Kang-mok’s head snapped up.
I had seen a “Hidden Quest” notification back when I had maxed out the inner core effect of the Human-Faced Tree Lord.
If this time was the same as then?
A significant reward would be granted.
[Within 24 hours, the number of Awakeners who have transferred via EX-rank privileges has surpassed 1,000,000.]
Just from saying one thing, it had come this far.
I had accidentally completed a hidden quest.
[!Temporary
Ultra-Discount Shop
is now open!]
[Value +7,777%!]
[Time Remaining = 10:00]
Limited to ten minutes, the ultra-discount shop began its frenzied rampage.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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