No Sneak Filming Allowed
The camera lens swiveled slowly.
"Alright, folks. Take a guess where we are right now."
A voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. The footage, trembling slightly with the shakes, showed the vast interior of a training facility.
"The Returnee Training Camp. Which is, in other words, the hottest ticket in all of South Korea right now."
A snickering giggle followed.
"If I upload this, the views are gonna explode, I'm telling you. The thumbnail practically writes itself."
"Hey, pipe down. You get caught, you're out on the spot."
"Oh, come on. Everyone's sneaking in footage at this level anyway—"
Tap.
The screen jolted.
"...Huh?"
Blocking the lens was a black-gloved hand. And above it, a man's face came into view, tilting slowly downward as he peered into the camera.
"Everyone's sneaking in footage, you say?"
A tailored suit. An Administration Agency armband. And a pair of eyes that were smiling without smiling in the least.
"Did you think we wouldn't know that?"
Gulp.
The sound of someone swallowing hard went straight into the recording.
"Put down all cameras. Now."
The air around them turned to ice in an instant.
That was the moment the Agency staff who'd been waiting in the back all moved at once.
"Any cameras or recorders caught by our detection equipment will cost you your camp admission eligibility! Submit them immediately!"
Spooked by the Agency officer's warning, the would-be streamers scrambled into action. One by one, hidden cameras soon clattered to the floor.
From inside bags. From the linings of clothes. Even from the soles of shoes—and a pair of glasses.
"S-sorry!"
"Please, just don't kick us out!"
The ones who'd tossed their cameras groveled shamelessly before the Agency staff.
"Wow..."
Kim Ji-eun's mouth hung slightly open.
"They really caught everyone. You'd think they'd let a little slide for publicity purposes."
Beside her, Lee Ji-hoon rested his chin on his hand, watching the scene unfold. And then he spotted one particular man.
'Ugh... damn it.'
A curse spat out purely through lip movement. Ji-hoon's gaze drifted that way, just for a heartbeat.
"I'm sorry, please just let me in! I want to join a guild too!"
"Then prove it with skill. Not with a camera like that. Understood?"
The man who'd been groveling before the Agency officer broke into a beaming grin.
"Yes, sir! I'll show you, I swear!"
"Hmph... move along."
Swish—
The man passed through, and the detector registered nothing.
"Hmm..."
Ji-hoon, who had been quietly observing the whole exchange, finally spoke up.
"Excuse me."
He ended up calling the man back after all.
"Huh? Y-yes?"
"If you get caught in there, you'll genuinely die."
Gulp—
The man blinked rapidly.
"What's that supposed to—"
"You're wearing a mana-restriction device, aren't you? That's how you hid the camera inside, right?"
The man flinched hard.
How did he know?
"Those people might not catch it, but if someone like Baek Kang-hyun notices, you're finished. He'll genuinely try to cut you down on the spot."
"K-kuhok, hiccup—"
"Sounds like a lie, doesn't it?"
Ji-hoon's eyes pointed toward Baek Kang-hyun, resting his hand on the hilt of his blade.
"That's a man who became head of the Administration Agency's Central Branch—the number one hunter in Korea—not with his head, but with his body. He will come at you for real."
The moment those words left his mouth, Ji-hoon pressed his right hand lightly against the man's Adam's apple.
While wearing the bracelet made from Choco's quill spikes.
"K-khh, hck..."
The man's breathing instantly went haywire. Barely forcing out a breath, he managed to speak.
"Y-yes, hah, huk... I-I'll do it. Th-thank you."
"Glad you came to your senses."
Ji-hoon flashed a smile and withdrew his arm. And the man—
"Oh! Wait! There's one more!"
—hauled out the camera he'd hidden inside and stripped off his mana-restriction magic-tool vest, turning both in. Only now did the wavering mana around the man's body finally settle.
[That appears to be quite a high-grade magic tool. You'd hardly see its like even at Hell Farm.]
Poppi was right. The vest the man had been wearing was, at minimum, A-rank magic gear. Considering most of the people gathered here were E- to B-rank, it was hardly equipment one could come by easily.
Unless you had the Agency's backing, like Ji-hoon did.
[But why did you stop him, Elder Brother? That was a golden opportunity for your deeds to become widely, widely known.]
"And what happens when they expose what all of you look like?"
With the Hell Farm crew's whereabouts—and their current state—still unknown, the last thing Ji-hoon wanted was to introduce unpredictable variables. That was why he'd grabbed the man and had that little... persuasion session.
'On that note, I didn't expect it to work that well.'
Ji-hoon checked the accessories looped around his arm and neck.
Accessories made from S-rank boss monsters. Most people would feel an overwhelming pressure just from the mana they radiated. Hoping to avoid using these items at the camp as much as possible, Ji-hoon kept watching the people filing through the inspection line.
"Ji-hoon! You're out already! I had no trouble at all!"
Kim Ji-eun said, hoisting her water jug.
"Your animal friends made it through too, I see."
"They said since we brought them for our skills, they just waved us right through."
Apparently, since the whole stated purpose of this gathering was evaluating the returnees' capabilities, the staff had been lenient.
Kim Ji-eun gazed at the mountain of confiscated cameras.
"To think they'd try to film broadcasts even here. What is a streamer, anyway?"
"Tell me about it."
The world had changed a lot in ten years.
"Back in my day, people just sent star balloons and called it a life."
"Sorry? What did you say, Ji-hoon?"
"Nothing at all. Anyway, there really are a lot of people here."
"Isn't it exciting? I wonder what kinds of abilities everyone else has—kyaa!"
Watching Kim Ji-eun's utterly innocent delight, Ji-hoon let his guard down a little. Baek Kang-hyun, Jin Seo-yoon, and even Yoon Do-ha—three S-ranks were here. Surely nothing could go wrong?
[Elder Brother, you are planting a flag right now.]
"Shut it. And where did you even learn the word 'flag'?"
[From a drama yesterday.]
So now he was watching dramas too.
"Those who passed, please collect your designated location tags!"
And with tags in hand, Ji-hoon and Ji-eun headed into the waiting room.
Soon every applicant had arrived in the waiting room, where they received a short briefing.
"...And that concludes the procedures. Now, please form your groups as instructed!"
According to the Agency staff, a number was written on the back of each location tag, and each person was to find the group marked with that number.
"Groups of five will form a single team. Please confirm your assigned number and group."
It wasn't a simple sequence order. Ji-hoon's number was 63.
At that moment, a large screen lit up in front of them—some species of magic tool, most likely. Scanning the display, Ji-hoon searched for his number.
"Sixty-three... sixty-three..."
Beneath the name he found, two characters: Team C.
He made his way over to the section where Team C had gathered, and—
"Huh?"
There was the spirit summoner from earlier—Kim Ji-eun.
"Ji-hoon!"
Kim Ji-eun waved happily at him. At the same time, the other team members' eyes swiveled toward him.
"Hello there..."
Ji-hoon offered an awkward greeting, and Kim Ji-eun stepped in, as if to thaw the frozen atmosphere.
"Looks like everyone's here now! Shall we introduce ourselves?"
She really was a bright one. At least there'd be no situation where everyone sat in stony silence, too awkward to speak—Ji-hoon quietly relaxed at the thought.
Sweeping back her short brown hair, Kim Ji-eun introduced herself with infectious energy.
"I'm Kim Ji-eun, twenty-one years old! I'm a spirit summoner—I got summoned to a world with spirits, you see."
One of the men sitting quietly nearby raised a question.
"Spirits? That's pretty unusual. So what's your rank?"
"Oh, E-rank!"
"Pfft—!"
The man burst out laughing.
"E-rank? That's adorable, seriously."
"Excuse me?"
"No, no, I just didn't expect to find actual E-rank and F-rank people coming this far. Cute as a button, just like you look."
At being treated like a little kid, Kim Ji-eun's expression stiffened slightly. Then, steeling herself, she found the courage to ask back.
"Th-then... what about you? Could you introduce yourself?"
"Ah, I'm Kang Gi-tae. Twenty-five, and I'm just a C-rank reinforcement type."
Oddly, extra weight pressed down on the words 'reinforcement type.'
Ji-hoon sized him up. A skin-tight t-shirt stretched to its limit, and a look of insufferable self-satisfaction on his face—anyone could see it.
'Classic narcissist. Lives for his own reflection.'
Poppi had been waiting for this moment, apparently, and purred his gossip from the side.
[His tone reminds me of those Cerberus mutts. Cheap and shallow at a glance. Best not to keep company with him.]
Even to Ji-hoon, the strutting bravado was plain to see. As he kept one eye on Kang Gi-tae, Ji-hoon listened to the remaining introductions in turn.
A-rank detection specialist Kim Jin-woo, and B-rank defense specialist Lee Min-jae. Both were returnees of over five years already.
'Relatively high ranks, I suppose.'
And then, last but not least—Ji-hoon's turn.
"I'm Lee Ji-hoon. My class is tamer... and, uh, F-rank."
Kim Ji-eun clapped all by herself—clap clap clap. Everyone except Ji-eun let out a sigh at the word "F-rank."
Then Kang Gi-tae began clapping too.
"Well, that settles it. Our leader will be A-rank Jin-woo hyung here, and you two—Ji-eun-ssi and Ji-hoon-ssi?—just sit there looking pretty and cheer us on."
"Sorry? I-I'd rather not just cheer—I want to cooperate and—"
At her answer, Kang Gi-tae snickered.
"We've got a real comedian here. E-rank and F-rank should consider this a field trip. Surely you're not thinking you'll actually get something huge out of being here? Right, Jin-woo hyung?"
Kim Jin-woo nodded without a word. Beside him, Lee Min-jae grumbled under his breath, clearly displeased about something.
"I got all excited about joining one of the 5 Great Guilds, and of course the E-rank and F-rank end up on the same team..."
Even without trying, it was grating to listen to.
[Their attitudes displease me greatly.]
"Hm. Yeah, same."
At this rate, their teamwork was headed straight for the gutter.
[Elder Brother, shall Choco bite him? That muscle-man is clearly all show-muscle, no go.]
Choco bared his teeth ever so slightly.
Meanwhile, Kim Ji-eun kept insisting on her usefulness.
"I can command a water spirit, you know? I'd make a decent supporter. I can even strengthen skills. Low rank or not, everyone has a role to play."
"Why are you thinking so hard about this, hm? Just stand there and be pretty, like I said."
Kang Gi-tae's hand drifted naturally toward Kim Ji-eun's shoulder.
And in that instant—
[GRRRR!]
"Grrrr!"
Choco let out a growl, and Ji-hoon bared his teeth in perfect sync.
"Wh-what the hell?"
Flustered, Kang Gi-tae stumbled back a step.
"You weren't much of a student, were you?"
"Ha, haha! I was actually great at studying. In elementary school I was at least top five in my class—"
"Save it. You don't understand the test designer's intent here?"
Ji-hoon pointed at the display screen.
"Why do you think they mixed the teams up like this? It's asking, 'In real combat you can be thrown together with anyone—how will you handle it then?' Isn't it?"
"Th-that's, I know that much—"
He clearly hadn't known until that very second. Lee Min-jae and Kim Ji-eun stifled laughter, and A-rank Kim Jin-woo stepped forward to add his piece.
"Ji-hoon-ssi is right. In the field, you never know which hunter you'll end up alongside. It'll be the same once you join a guild."
"Tch..."
"Let's just do our best for now. The key will be finding our own roles and acting accordingly."
Once the A-rank had spoken, Kang Gi-tae had no choice but to click his tongue.
"Well, if Jin-woo hyung says so..."
Kang Gi-tae slunk back to his seat wearing a sour expression.
And just then, the footage on the big screen changed.
"This is the first gate. A D-rank dungeon simulator."
Baek Kang-hyun, who would be grouped with Team A, addressed the screen.
"The keyword is maze. The team that escapes with the highest score earns a special bonus."
"Ooooh!"
"A maze, huh."
"Sounds like fun, actually?"
The hunters had no idea what form it would take.
And in their midst—
"Poppi, Choco. Listen carefully to what I'm about to say."
[Yes, Elder Brother.]
[Listening tight, I am!]
—Lee Ji-hoon was holding a war council that no one else could hear.