Arrival at Arecibo

Arecibo is a city located between the western and central regions of Puerto Rico. It had once been one of the island’s major cities, but that changed toward the end of the 20th century. The reason was straightforward: this was the site selected for the Next Generation Hunter Training Joint Program.

Out of all the land on Earth, several factors made this place the chosen location. There was enough space to install and maintain a World Gate. The corresponding point in Shareltea was stable. Dungeon Gates spawned randomly on land near World Gates, but because Puerto Rico was an island, the range was limited. Even if a Dungeon Gate failed to close, monsters would have a hard time escaping to the outside world. On top of that, the absence of political collusion and endless turf wars provided a convenient justification.

There had been backlash ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the original residents being driven out, but their complaints were ignored. In the distant past, back then, and even now. The fear felt by the people of this world had no limits.

The First World needed to prove the superiority of its system in a cold war that had dragged on for more than half a century. It had to demonstrate that those who solved every adverse condition and problem through the miracle of the World Tree’s blessing were the inferior ones. And so the city that had carried the medieval, early modern, and modern eras within it crumbled beneath the command of the times.

In the wilderness of the old era, a university, military academy, training ground, and brand-new city were planned. A facility capable of housing anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of people. A place that existed solely for the next generation of aspiring hunters.

But not everything was built only in Puerto Rico. Leaving land idle was inefficient. In the Shareltea region connected to the World Gate installed in Arecibo, massive facilities began rising there as well. So they could train even finer hunters. So they could remain sufficiently safe from external threats. And the Next Generation Hunter Training Joint Program received a new name: Palaestra Academy.

In addition, Arecibo was redesignated as a multinational co-governed zone to symbolize international cooperation. Of course, the fact that the great Yard-pound system was still in use rather than the international standard showed how nominal it all was. In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠practice, America exercised administrative control.

“They built the damn city ridiculously huge for no reason…”

Naturally, American scale had been applied according to the rulers’ wishes. Extreme in height and depth, bizarrely sprawling in every direction. Extra space left for efficient layout and future expansion. Buildings constructed from solid metal so they could endure combat better. Grotesque commercialism meant to offset the city’s deficit.

“No kidding. It’s just complicated and oppressive. What kind of academy design is this supposed to be?”

The sky was sealed off by skyscrapers. Advertisements from consumer goods corporations and hunter guilds blazed everywhere. Troops stood ready in various places against possible emergencies. Cadets in crisp uniforms walked around openly carrying weapons. It looked terrible and felt even worse. The distances between the buildings examinees had to travel were also… severely far. While cadets might receive some consideration, examinees clearly did not, so even after finishing registration and measurement, we still had to walk a ridiculous amount.

Bicycles, small electric cars, and public transportation were running, but so many people had passed the written exam that the vehicles were on the verge of bursting.

“Everyone, move just a little bit, please!”

“I can’t—I can’t breathe—”

“Kyaaaak! Someone’s going to die! Let anyone off, hurry!”

“Khek! Kehek! Cough!”

“Stop pushing, everyone! We’re all going to fall over!”

The bus on the brink of explosion, a sight you wouldn’t even see in Seoul, was a living nightmare. They were supposed to split the written-test passers across two months for the practical exam, so how on earth had it come to this?

In the end, Cheon Mari and I had no choice but to trudge the whole way to the practical exam site on foot.

The practical exam site lay beyond the World Gate, in Shareltea. The walk took quite a while, and the boredom stretched on.

Perhaps tired of walking with her brain switched off, Cheon Mari opened the document envelope she had received after the measurement. Several result sheets slid out. She handed one of them to me.

“Did you just straight-line the personality test?”

“No?”

“Then why is the result like this?”

“Hmm… Maybe because in elementary school, when they asked for an essay, I wrote about everything that happened with you?”

Roughly the part about fighting my mortal enemy every day. Roughly the part about becoming friends with my mortal enemy. Good grief.

“Are you insane? Why would you write that honestly?”

“They told me to write honestly, so I just wrote whatever came to mind. The prompt was probably the same for you—didn’t you write honestly too?”

“Of course I manipulated mine.”

I’m not an idiot. Obviously I would. At my confident answer, Cheon Mari made a stunned face.

“Ha, let me see yours for a second.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Crazy. You really went all out on the manipulation.”

“If I didn’t want them to stop me at the secondary personality test, of course I had to.”

“No sense of loyalty.”

“Idiot black cow.”

They were compliments to each other. The serious, heavy atmosphere suddenly melted away. I grinned, and Cheon Mari grinned back. After that, all sorts of pointless chatter flowed between us.

I’m not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sure how long we talked, but we eventually reached the other side of the World Gate. A blue, gentle climate different from the Far North brushed against our skin. Instead of buildings focused on cold resistance, structures decorated with metal and brick sprawled everywhere.

Still, the most important place—the actual practical exam site—was still far. Thirty minutes on foot, or five minutes if we used transportation. Since we had already walked plenty, borrowing a ride wouldn’t be a problem.

I immediately flagged down two steam-spewing, tractor-like taxis cruising the street. The reason for two taxis instead of one was that our practical exam locations were different. She was headed to Test Site 3, I was headed to Test Site 5.

“Once we’re both done, let’s meet in front of the World Gate on the Earth side.”

“Got it.”

With a final “good luck on the test,” we parted ways.

I climbed into the rattling taxi and arrived at the exam site.

“Everyone, please line up in an orderly fashion!”

“Anyone who cuts in line will be moved to the back!”

“You there! Go to the back right now!”

The line at the entrance to the test site was quite long. Everyone waiting to take the practical wore expressions that said they couldn’t believe they had to wait like this. After who knows how long, people who appeared to be academy staff began handing something out one by one.

“Translator Earbuds.”

They were wireless earphones or buds enchanted with interpretation magic. Since I already knew English I didn’t need them, but I figured they had a purpose and put them in my ears.

“The fuck am I supposed to do if you tell me my weight in pounds?”

“Last year there weren’t many freshmen who looked good enough to recruit as grad students. I wonder how it’ll be this year…”

“Excuse me? The armory? The armory is that way, about five hundred yards.”

“They said there was an unexplained explosion at Test Site 4. What the hell is going on?”

“You there! This is during testing—stop loitering and go somewhere else!”

Only then did the noise that had been like static begin to resolve into understandable speech. From the Westerners in front and behind me to the person who looked like a local far off in the distance. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The world suddenly felt a lot less boring.

With nothing else to do, I tilted my ear toward the surrounding conversations, eavesdropping again and again. Then an unfamiliar accent drifted from one side. When I turned my head that way, I saw blond men and women moving around busily. I couldn’t make out the words because they were too far, but the staff seemed to be trying to clean something up.

According to the human learning I had accumulated from the news, there was a 140% chance that a test-taking cadet had caused an accident. Probably threw, shot, or slammed magic in the wrong direction. I clicked my tongue and, after the endlessly long wait, finally entered the test site.

The staff standing at the entrance explained what I had to do from now on. Change into practical exam attire, put on the Hunter Watch, take the practical test, then Korean, go home. Truly simple.

After changing and putting on the Hunter Watch, I lined up in front of the test room where the practical would be conducted. Since the practical took a long time, the crowding and waiting were unavoidable. Still, perhaps to keep us from falling asleep, the wall beside the test room was made of glass.

“They’re just showing this openly.”

It could easily turn into a humiliation show. And they were broadcasting the humiliation live.

“Khek, gehek, glurk.”

A dragon-kin woman was getting thoroughly pounded by a metal golem. No—she was past being hit; her leg had been caught and she was being flung around like a ragdoll. The core of the practical combat test was to defeat the golem or inflict as much damage as possible. That part carried a heavy portion of the score.

Yet the scene before us seemed to trample that objective and scream not to even look at it. Everyone watched with bated breath, mouths open at the sight that far exceeded expectations.

“It wasn’t like this until they swapped the golem earlier…!”

“Is that thing even normal?”

“No matter how you look at it, they must have accidentally replaced it with a higher-grade golem…”

Whether it knew our feelings or not, the golem grabbed the woman’s dragon tail, spun her like a pizza, and hurled her toward the glass wall.

“Kyaaak!”

Orange ponytail, green eyes, skin so pale it was almost white, two black horns, and a beautiful face twisted in pain slapped against the glass. About a second later she slid down with a wet thud. She lay on the floor with her tongue hanging out. Because she had collapsed spread-eagle, even the name tag on her chest was completely exposed.

Just an ordinary nameplate. The same kind any examinee would have. But what was it?

For some reason, the name gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.