This Is Not the Test I Signed Up For
“…Yeah, this doesn't feel like an exam anymore.”
Ji-hoon's murmur was quickly drowned out by the commotion around him.
“Whoa, insane! What the hell is this?!”
“Can two groups really get merged into one gate?”
“This is a bug, right? It's gotta be a bug.”
The hunters from each team collided in a scramble, and chaos erupted. Ji-hoon's team was no exception.
“Hey, you're from Team C, right? The guy who took first place yesterday?”
“Uh, yes?”
“God, I'm so jealous. So you're telling me I could just lie around like you? Or did you lobby the S-rank monsters or something?”
There were still people nursing their envy. That was exactly why he'd been doing his best to avoid running into anyone from the other teams — and yet.
Of all the luck. The gate had to go and mutate like this.
“Come on, don't be like that. Share the secret. There's a secret, isn't there?”
“I don't really have anything like—”
Just as Ji-hoon opened his mouth to answer—
Grab.
“Hey, Kim Min-cheol. That's enough.”
Kang Gi-tae shoved his way in, pushing the men back. “You can see Ji-hoon's exhausted.”
“Tch. Kim Min-cheol, Kang Gi-tae — you've got no pull out there, so of course you'd throw your weight around in here—”
At the same moment, the man's eyes, which had been fixed on Ji-hoon, found themselves unable to tear away from the bird and the bear standing beside him.
Hssss—
Poppi and Choco had raised their mana just a fraction, and it coiled around the man's body like invisible chains.
“Wh-what is this…?!”
“Hey. I'll keep an eye on the path in front of me, so you worry about yours. Get lost.”
Kang Gi-tae lowered his voice and stared down at Kim Min-cheol. Drenched in a cold sweat, Kim Min-cheol could barely move until Poppi and Choco withdrew their mana — and even then, he stumbled away.
“Haah… haah… damn it!”
Ji-hoon watched him retreat, then turned to Kang Gi-tae. “Thank you.”
“Don't mention it. We're teammates now.”
Teammates, huh.
Beside him, Poppi and Choco looked equally bewildered.
“I would very much like to itemize, one by one, the disrespect that man showed you yesterday, Boss.”
“All that over a single snack? Even Choco's not that petty.”
Ji-hoon tilted his head as he listened to the two grumble, then muttered under his breath, “We'll keep watching him for now.”
“Alright, let's bring the energy again today! Yesterday's champions are today's champions! Merged gate or not, Team C stays undefeated! Let's go, Boss Kim Jin-woo! Team C, hoorah!”
Kang Gi-tae was shouting at the group with a completely different energy than yesterday. Kim Jin-woo gave a small snort of laughter, and Lee Min-jae followed along behind him, looking vaguely disapproving but going anyway.
Kim Ji-eun communed with her water spirit as she drifted over to Ji-hoon. “Hehe… it's all thanks to you, Ji-hoon.”
“What did I even do?”
“You carried us yesterday, that's what!”
Thanks to that, the atmosphere in Team C was, quite literally, pure harmony. E-rank or F-rank didn't matter. Everyone just had to pull their one small piece of the weight.
“Looking forward to working with you again today.”
Ji-hoon scratched his head with an awkward smile. “I honestly didn't do anything.”
“Boss, humility is not a virtue. You saw plenty of that in Hell.”
“That's right. Your own value is like seasoning — it only tastes right when you pile it on.”
“Can you two please be quiet…? And no matter how mad you get, don't go blasting your mana out like you just did. Got it?”
The two of them drooped, heads hanging. And Ji-hoon turned his attention to the staff member who had guided them into the gate just moments ago.
He's gone.
He was certain the man had come in with them. Had he used some kind of concealment cloak item?
Swish—
Ji-hoon lifted his gaze toward the sky. That…
A hairline fracture. And through that crack—
Trickle—
Something like fine dust was seeping down.
At the same instant, the feather on his necklace and the quills on the bracelet on his right wrist began to vibrate, ever so slightly.
“…Poppi. Choco.”
At the drop in Ji-hoon's voice, both of them snapped their attention to him.
“Don't let your guard down.”
“Understood, Boss.”
“Don't you worry!”
“Ji-hoon?”
Just then, Kim Ji-eun called out to him. “Is something wrong? You've just been staring blankly at the sky.”
“Oh, no, nothing. Shall we start mining the by-products first?”
After all, this mission was about harvesting by-products inside the gate. The other teams were already busy chipping out mana stones or gathering herbs, and Kang Gi-tae and Lee Min-jae had already moved out ahead of them.
“Let's go too.”
Shwaak—
Upon entering the gate, Baek Kang-hyun narrowed his eyes. He was standing in the middle of a desert, sand-laden winds whipping at him without mercy.
“Hah!”
He detonated his mana and blasted the sandstorm aside. Only then did his field of vision clear.
“This place…”
Nothing. Not a thing in sight. Team C should have entered here, without question.
“Are you sure this is the right gate?”
—It is, Branch Chief.
“And Jin Seo-yoon the hunter is also…”
—That's GUILD. MASTER. to you, Branch Chief?
An irritated voice came through the comm. Baek Kang-hyun let out a small sigh.
“Yes, Guild Master Jin Seo-yoon. Is this the correct location?”
—That's the one. Yoon Do-ha confirmed it too — Team C went in through there.
“Then what on earth is this…”
Even when a gate's mana was unstable, the entry point shifting after insertion was a rare occurrence. And even when it did shift, it was by ten meters at most. Right now, however, the entire area around him was empty.
“I'll proceed with a search for now.”
—Our dear delicate Branch Chief, shall I come lend you a hand?
Jin Seo-yoon tossed out the joke lightly. But Baek Kang-hyun stiffened, and spoke in a low voice.
“…You might actually need to.”
His eyes had gone cold and still. “I may need your help.”
—…You're serious?
“I'm serious.”
The mana was fluctuating. This was, without question, a D-rank gate. But the mana that had just surged was B-rank. For a single instant, it had climbed as high as A-rank — and now it had dropped back down to E-rank.
“There's a strong possibility this is a mutated gate.”
Clang—!
Clang—!
The inside of the gate rang with the sound of hunters' pickaxes chipping away at mana stone deposits.
“This takes me back.”
To when he'd first returned and been rated F-rank. Back when he'd done work exactly like this alongside old man Oh Tae-sik.
“I remember it well, Boss. When we first reunited, you were carrying a pickaxe yourself, as I recall.”
“Ancient history, isn't it?”
Clang—
Clang—
Just then, Kim Jin-woo, who had been swinging his pickaxe in silence, wiped the sweat from the back of his hand with his forearm. “Shall we take a break?”
At their leader's words, everyone gathered in one spot and slumped down.
“Ugh… manual labor… seriously… phew… this is brutal…”
Kim Ji-eun handed out water bottles to the members, then gulped down her own.
“Still, my water spirit's happy — it says it's been a while since I actually exerted myself.”
“Because you don't usually exercise?”
When Kang Gi-tae asked with a teasing grin, Kim Ji-eun just laughed. “Oh, come on. I mean, yeah, I'm a little out of shape, but it's not that bad!”
Watching the two of them, who had apparently become fast friends already, Ji-hoon smiled to himself. Thank goodness they'd taken first place yesterday.
“Jokes aside.”
Kim Jin-woo looked around at the group. “Everyone — what do you all think?”
Every gaze converged on him.
“I believe something's going to happen, just like yesterday.”
“So does our leader, I see.”
“Did you sense anything with your detection skill?”
“You probably couldn't sense anything at all, right?”
Ji-hoon answered in Kim Jin-woo's place.
“H-how did you know?”
The truth was, Kim Jin-woo had activated his skill the moment they'd entered. But there had been no heat shimmer rising from anywhere. Either the mana stones here really were all in the lowest grade…
…or something was deliberately scrambling its mana.
Either way, the whole team had arrived at the same conclusion: this space was different from any gate they'd seen before.
“We've finished the mana stones, so let's head over and gather the herbs next.”
“In a place this bone-dry, the herbs are going to be the hardest part.”
Kim Ji-eun sighed as she surveyed the sand-choked wasteland around them. “No, wait a second…”
Just then, Kim Jin-woo narrowed his eyes. And then—
“Mana Scanning (A).”
Fssht— pak—
A brief flash of light spread out around Kim Jin-woo's body. It was so instantaneous that no one beyond his immediate vicinity would have noticed.
“Boss, how far did you extend it?”
“…Pushing it higher… a hundred and fifty meters.”
“That's our leader! Not just anyone gets to be an A-rank hunter!”
Kang Gi-tae whooped it up. And there, in front of him—
Drip—
Kim Jin-woo was breaking out in a cold sweat. “Something… is coming.”
“Sorry? What do you me—”
Before Lee Min-jae could even finish his question—
Crack—
Crackle—crack—
Roughly a hundred and fifty meters away, the ground began to split open, slowly.
“Monsters are respawning! Everyone, battle stations!”
Kieeeek!
Kyaak! Kyakyaak!
The moment the cracks appeared, the monsters that had inhabited the D-rank gate began regenerating. The hunters readied their stances.
Goblin packs, at worst. Maybe an orc or two, at the outer edge. To the ranks gathered here, they were a single mouthful.
“Ha! About time I got to loosen up!”
Kang Gi-tae stepped forward, casting his strength enhancement.
“W-water spirit! Come on out!”
Kim Ji-eun hoisted the spirit onto her shoulder.
“The main emergence is over there, but there are faint fissures on the right flank as well. I'll keep watch on that side.”
Kim Jin-woo sharpened his detection skill further. Lee Min-jae drew a shield and a one-handed sword from his subspace pocket.
“Shield Reinforcement (B)!”
Cha-kang!
Mana light converged across the shield's surface. Not quite Woo-jae's level, but solidly reinforced all the same.
And Ji-hoon—
“Poppi. Choco.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Just give the word.”
“Protect the team. Only if it gets dangerous.”
At his words, Poppi and Choco growled low and stepped forward, one deliberate pace.
“Charge!”
WAAAAAAAH—!!!!
Toward the goblin packs and orc packs ahead, hunters from Teams A through N — every returnee among them — threw themselves into the fray.
Thud!
Slice!
Shwaak!
Blood sprayed with every clash of hunter against monster. The monsters fell without managing a single proper counterattack. Everyone gathered here ranged from F-rank all the way up to A-rank—
“Ha! These things are nothing!”
—and a handful of A-rank hunters with famous names to their credit were among them.
“That's Lee Min-hyuk for you! A true A-rank swordsman!”
Lee Min-hyuk grinned as he hefted his greatsword. He'd been half-dead of boredom swinging a pickaxe — who knew an event like this would break out?
“Hahaha! Come at me, all of you!”
Following Lee Min-hyuk's lead, Song Joo-min, another A-rank from the magic division, kicked idly at the charred corpse of an orc. “Hard to believe this even counts as D-rank, huh.”
Kim Jin-woo, surveying the cleanly cleared battlefield, finally let out a breath of relief.
But Ji-hoon said, quietly, “Orcs are C-rank, aren't they?”
One sentence. And in the same breath, the entire team stopped breathing. The flow of mana. The monsters' corpses. Everything suddenly felt alien, off by some impossible degree.
“…No way.”
Kim Jin-woo cast Mana Scanning again — a focused scan, aimed squarely at the faint fissures on the right flank.
And then—
“Gahk—!”
Kim Jin-woo clutched at his throat and dropped to one knee.
“Boss?! What's wrong?!”
Kang Gi-tae rushed to support him. At the same instant—
“Poppi!!!!!!”
Shraaak—
Kagagagagagak–––!!!!
A razor-sharp blade slammed to a halt against Poppi's massively expanded wing. If he'd left it unchecked, it would have sheared through both Kang Gi-tae's and Kim Jin-woo's necks.
“How dare you.”
KWAANG—!
Poppi flung his wings wide and beat them down in one tremendous sweep. The monster was hurled toward the center of the hunter formation.
Kwakwakwang!
It cratered into the ground — and rose straight back to its feet. Through the dust, the monster's silhouette emerged, seething with fury at having been blocked and thrown.
An elongated, stretched-out body. And upon it—
Wriggle.
Wriggle.
Small shapes, squirming. Dozens of eyes turned toward them all at once.
KIEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!
Thump.
A roar that struck the hunters square in their hearts. At that scream, every hunter of C-rank and below immediately began foaming at the mouth.
“Ugh… khh… ah….”
Thud.
Thud.
Lee Min-jae, somehow gritting his way through it, and the B-rank and A-rank hunters stepped forward. But—
“Haah… haah….”
“Damn it… this was supposed to be a D-rank gate!”
“Everyone, hold formation!”
Every body on the field was rigid with tension. And now, the monster's true form revealed itself — a massive central head crowned by eight smaller ones.
“An A-rank boss…”
“A… Medusa?”
A monster known to be more troublesome to fight than even the average A-rank boss. A creature that hurled petrification and psychic assault without rhyme or reason — and it had appeared as the boss.
The same moment — the Administration Agency situation room.
“Get a read on the situation! Something's wrong with the gate!”
Jin Seo-yoon was panicking.
“Heheheh, absolutely fascinating. I've never seen a gate like this in my life!”
Yoon Do-ha was glued to the monitors like a man possessed.
—Send support troops NOW!!!
And on top of it all, Baek Kang-hyun's voice, demanding reinforcements.
The situation room had descended into pandemonium. And with good reason.
[Warning: Dungeon grade recalibrated from D-rank to C-rank.]
[Warning: Dungeon grade recalibrated from C-rank to A-rank.]
…
[Warning: Dungeon grade recalibrated from A-rank to S-rank.]
[Warning: Dungeon grade recalibrated from S-rank to B-rank.]
[Warning: Dungeon grade recalibrated from B-rank to A-rank…]
“…What the hell is this.”
Jin Seo-yoon groaned, low and hollow.
And after that, nothing but silence fell over the situation room.