OMH Chapter 20
by Volare20. The S-grades I Ended Up Raising (1)
The Martial Arts Tournament ended, and the official personnel evaluation period began.
How well I do during this period determines the tasks I’ll be assigned next year. Since the pay varies depending on the task, everyone wants to get a good personnel evaluation.
After all, having money allows you to enjoy more freedom than the Association provides as a basic. Well, the real goal is just to hang out in Downtown, though.
Still, besides that, ranks are also determined based on the personnel evaluation, so it’s quite important.
The position you gain in the Association is also the power you can wield within the Association.
If you get a high position, you won’t be dragged around by the Association’s decisions. Rather, you might even influence the Association’s decisions.
Of course, it would be difficult with an ordinary position, but anyway, your words will gain strength.
Just like Kim Daeyeop in front of me right now.
Kim Daeyeop, an A-grade Nature-Type Esper, is an Esper with as much experience as I have. Kim Daeyeop has diligently carried out the Association’s missions for a long time, so he has the deep trust of the Association.
So, his position in the Association is solid, and furthermore, he is close to a position of commanding Espers by receiving a certain rank. Such a person doesn’t neglect their own training and regularly attends places to prove their abilities, like the Martial Arts Tournament.
In these respects, Kim Daeyeop is similar to me. We’re both loyal to the Association, and even the length of time we’ve worked is similar.
However, there’s a crucial difference between Kim Daeyeop and me.
Unlike me, who was a child when I first came to the Association, Kim Daeyeop was an adult.
Unlike me, who was just trying to adapt to the Association when I was young, Kim Daeyeop must have been steadily building his position from then on. That difference in starting points is probably what made me the one receiving my personnel evaluation from Kim Daeyeop now.
“So, everyone is viewing Hana’s performance in the Martial Arts Tournament as excellent. You’ve always won ever since the Association came above ground. Last year, you couldn’t compete in the finals due to an emergency mission, so you ended up as the runner-up, but everyone knows you would have won if you had participated. We also know you’re achieving impressive results in the Great Monster Extermination Team.”
I felt relieved as I listened to my evaluation that Kim Daeyeop conveyed.
Even though I recently caused an accident in the team, it seems my evaluation is decent. I’m a B-grade Enhanced-Type, so I can’t achieve spectacular results, but it was a relief.
I personally think Enhancement-Type is a useful ability, but compared to Psychokinetics or Nature-Type Espers who control water, fire, electricity, etc., it’s as if the impact is weaker, and there’s a trend to neglect it a bit.
Because it only strengthens the human body, there were many limitations in various crisis situations, and although you can eliminate the enemy right in front of you, there was a high possibility of becoming dangerous because you had to confront them directly with your body.
I am a dual-ability user with Adamantine Body/Invulnerable Physique added, so I had a wider range of things I could do than ordinary Enhancement-Type ability users.
My main mission in the team, as the one with the best durability in the Association thanks to my dual abilities, was to search for enemies and find weaknesses, but frankly, it wasn’t a noticeable task.
‘Until last year, I only heard that I was good at doing what I was told, so I didn’t expect much from this year’s evaluation, but it’s okay to look forward to next year?’
It feels good to hear Kim Daeyeop, who is stingy with evaluations, convey these words.
Kim Daeyeop patted me on the shoulder and finished his words by conveying this last message.
“…So, since the evaluation period is coming to an end, an official personnel-related notice will be issued soon. The research team believes you have the ability to manage Espers. I’ll see you at the manager’s meeting soon. Then, keep up the good work.”
*
As the end of the year approached, the days became much colder. The sky, which had been dark and gloomy since morning, began to drop the first snow of this winter as evening approached.
On a dark winter evening with falling snow, I gathered with my friends at a bar in Downtown to celebrate my bright future as a manager.
“To Gang Hana, who will become the first manager among our peers!”
“Cheers!”
Today was also Hwayoung’s day off, so the Monster Extermination Intermediate-F Class Junior Team had gathered for the first time in a while.
Our team, which was formed seven years ago to resolve the chaos caused by the Gate Break, was disbanded three years later as the Association took on the role of a temporary government.
That’s because we managed to eliminate most of the dangerous monsters and the Association had stably settled into the world.
As the Association no longer had to force all members to exterminate monsters, everyone wanted to do work that suited them well.
Hwayoung wanted to focus only on medical work, Seunghwan wanted administrative work, and Haemi changed her work to helping with experiments in the research team. Sanghyuk wanted to do life-saving rather than monster extermination, so I was the only one left catching monsters like before.
Besides, the number of monsters had decreased a lot compared to before, so the days I was dispatched also decreased.
When there were no dispatches and I was at the Association, I had nothing to do except coordinate with my teammates.
‘So, I’ve been training with the trainees these days, but now I have to switch them all to individual training.’
Anyway, I feel good about the news, which is no different from a promotion.
Wooreen, who was sitting next to me, didn’t know what we were doing, but she smiled and cheered with us.
Wooreen, who became my roommate the day before yesterday, ate lemonade and french fries in the midst of us drinking draft beer.
Wooreen is a 6-year-old who can’t even go to the bathroom alone, but she has a clear my-pace attitude and isn’t picky, so she was a surprisingly good roommate.
For example, in places where uninteresting topics are poured out like now, she was a comfortable person to be with because she was an independent child who played alone with chicken legs and french fries.
However, since independent children can’t do many things on their own, they often arbitrarily cut off ongoing, uninteresting conversations.
“I want to call my brother.”
I took off the Smartwatch on my wrist, made a video call to Woojin, and placed it in front of Wooreen.
Woojin is still not recovered and doesn’t want to meet anyone, so Wooreen is with me.
Wooreen doesn’t know the situation well, but she didn’t express dissatisfaction with living with me because her brother was sick.
Instead, she begged me to let her call her brother.
Surprisingly, Woojin, who was rejecting visitors, answered Cha Wooreen’s call to my number.
However, I haven’t spoken to Woojin since I was kicked out of Woojin’s hospital room.
‘Still, it’s okay because I can hear Woojin’s voice if Wooreen talks to Woojin. I can see his face if we make a video call.’
Wooreen, who wanted to have a video call with her brother and eat french fries, grabbed a handful of fries and waved her hand at Woojin on the screen.
The siblings affectionately exchanged greetings when Woojin suddenly asked a question.
-But where are you now, Wooreen? It doesn’t look like the Dormitory.
“Tell him it’s a restaurant, Wooreen.”
I felt like I would be scolded if I told him I came to a bar, so I lied. Wooreen kindly said it was a restaurant as I said, but Woojin wasn’t convinced.
-Does the Association restaurant stay open this late? It looks like a restaurant.
“Ah, Woojin, you wouldn’t know because you haven’t been to Downtown. There are commercial districts run by civilians near the Association building. Wooreen and I are having dinner here.”
Hwayoung stuck next to Wooreen and joined the call together. She’s still comfortable even though she knows Woojin is rejecting visitors.
‘Woojin seems surprised that Hwayoung suddenly joined in.’
As I expected, Woojin eventually mumbled his farewell and hung up the phone. I felt sorry that it was cut off quickly, so I grumbled at Hwayoung for no reason.
“You know Woojin is afraid of Espers, why did you join in?”
“Since he lives in the Association, he has to get used to it. Wooreen is with us too. You made the call with your number, so what’s the problem?”
“Still, Woojin isn’t ready yet.”
“Now that the Association will be inducting him after the tournament, it’s a loss for him to keep avoiding it. Espers are the people he’ll be facing all the time, so how long can he avoid it? The Association is probably the safest place for Guides anyway, right?”
“Hey, stop talking about depressing things. Why are you talking about other people’s gloomy stories at a celebration? The official notice hasn’t been issued yet, but let’s talk about what kind of work you’ll be assigned. It’ll probably be a training assistant, so are you pushing out one of the current assistants?”
Haemi cut off me and Hwayoung when we were talking about Woojin.
Well, it wasn’t something to talk about at a place to celebrate my promotion in advance. I spread my imagination with my friends and talked about the managerial position I could do now and the authority I would gain from that position.
Then, because Wooreen was there, we couldn’t stay together until late, so we finished playing moderately and broke up.