Chapter 80
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Why Are You Doing This To Me! Why! (1)
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—Today?
He knew he had to take an aptitude test, but he couldn’t recall being told when.
—Yeah.
—Can I go anytime?
—Let me check the schedule. Besides, for someone who does nothing, why are you playing so hard to get?
—I’m a hot commodity.
—You wanna die? What time are you coming?
—Hmm, is around two o’clock okay?
—Yeah. I have an important meeting, but it should be almost over by two, so come then.
It seemed that if he ate and left at a leisurely pace, he would arrive after lunchtime.
After agreeing to Choi Soo-hyun’s offer to make a reservation, he hung up.
‘I hope nothing’s happened to Eun-young.’
He checked the community site, which still had no new comments, then had lunch and casually left the hotel.
The Association, which he hadn't visited in a long time, felt incredibly unfamiliar.
—The number you have dialed is unavailable at the customer’s request…
“He told me to call him when I got to the Association.”
Choi Soo-hyun didn't answer his phone, likely busy with work.
After showing his ID at the lobby, he went up to the 10th floor, where the aptitude testing room was located.
He was walking through the lobby, mindlessly following the signs on the wall, when he stopped in his tracks.
‘I think I’ve been here before…’
He was sure the sign had told him to turn right earlier as well.
Only after walking in circles a few times did he realize he was lost.
“Why the hell is this Association so complicated!”
Is it a maze?
This isn't my fault; it's the fault of the Association for having such a confusing layout.
I'm not bad with directions!
When I was first isekai'd, Kang Han-gyeol had already finished his aptitude test.
Thanks to that, I had no memory of it.
Though he’d heard there wasn't much to the aptitude test anyway.
“Is this it?”
He gently pushed open a door that looked like it would lead to a gymnasium.
It wasn’t the aptitude testing room.
Instead, about twenty Hunter trainees were gathered inside.
The trainees, all dressed in comfortable clothes, were in the middle of a mock battle.
His curiosity piqued, he stared intently at the sparring Hunters.
A man in his mid-twenties stood opposite a young woman who had just shed the last vestiges of her teens.
The young-looking woman caught his eye.
“Oh, she’s…”
She was one of the trainees who had entered the dungeon with Eun-young.
It was his first time seeing her face, but she looked exactly like her photo, so he recognized her at a glance.
‘Why is she attending a class?’
The dungeon raid was the final part of the trainee curriculum.
Unless he was mistaken, there was no reason for the woman to be taking trainee classes again.
‘Was her name Chae Seol-ha?’
She was a Hunter who served Servia, the same god Choi Soo-hyun had once served.
Her opponent, the man, was blatantly provoking Chae Seol-ha.
“How pathetic. Retaking the course? How do you even manage to do that?”
“Shut up.”
“This is why kids are no good. They don't know how the world works.”
“…”
“Servia this, Servia that. If you were so great, you wouldn't be retaking some stupid course!”
At his words, the onlookers snickered.
Chae Seol-ha’s expression twisted in open disgust.
The Association employee in the middle blew a whistle.
Since it was a mock battle, Chae Seol-ha was using practice mana bullets.
Her opponent was also holding a wooden sword.
The man lunged at Chae Seol-ha.
He relentlessly pushed her back.
Even for a mock battle, it felt a bit excessive.
Chae Seol-ha, who barely managed to block the man’s attacks, looked for an opening to counter.
The moment she aimed her gun at the man, the tips of her fingers trembled.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
There was no reason for a kid who had been in a dungeon to be shaking like that.
A moment's lapse in concentration leads to a grave mistake.
As Chae Seol-ha failed to pull the trigger, the man swiftly struck her wrist hard with his wooden sword.
“Aargh!”
With a scream, Chae Seol-ha dropped the gun she was holding.
The match was decided.
But the man's next move was suspicious.
He raised his wooden sword high.
The wooden sword swung toward Chae Seol-ha's shoulder.
‘That crazy bastard!’
*Thwack.*
He caught the man’s wooden sword with one hand.
“Wh-What?”
“Who is that?”
“Who are you?”
“You just used a skill, didn’t you?”
He glared at the man, his hand still clamped around the wooden sword.
Even though the match was over, the man had swung his sword.
As if that wasn't enough, he had also used a skill, which was clearly intentional.
If Chae Seol-ha had been hit by that attack, she would have broken a shoulder or an arm, at the very least.
“Even in a mock battle, there are lines you don’t cross.”
“Wh-What did you say! You… you’re not even a trainee! Who are you to interfere?”
Ignoring the man, he turned his head toward the Association employee who was acting as the referee.
“Excuse me, but who might you be?”
“Just a passerby… No, a lost Hunter.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interfere. But you should probably pay more attention next time.”
The refereeing employee wasn't a Hunter.
‘This damn joke of an Association. What are they thinking, having a civilian referee a mock battle?’
He might be an Association employee, so not a complete civilian, but still.
That didn't change the fact that he wasn't an Awakened One.
*Sigh.*
The taxes paid by guilds for every dungeon run were no joke.
Where did all that tax money disappear to?
He let go of the wooden sword and turned around.
He extended a hand to the fallen Chae Seol-ha.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Th-Thank you.”
“You should get that wrist treated.”
Chae Seol-ha hid her reddened wrist behind her back.
The Association employee declared a break.
The employee approached him.
“You said you were lost?”
“Yes, I don’t know why the layout is so complicated.”
At his muttering, the man laughed awkwardly.
So you admit it’s a maze, huh?
“May I ask the purpose of your visit?”
The office spaces for regular Hunters were mostly on the lower floors.
Unless you were a trainee, you rarely came up to the higher floors of the Association headquarters, except for guild business or special expeditions organized by the Association.
“It’s nothing so grand. I’m just here for an aptitude test.”
“Ah, you’re here for the aptitude test. The testing room is down the hall to the right, then take a left, cross the sky bridge, and it’s at the end of the left corridor.”
“Ah.”
In other words, he had gone completely the wrong way.
“I’m sorry for interrupting the class.”
“No, it’s quite all right. And we will take measures regarding the Hunter who used a skill.”
“I’d appreciate that. And this girl’s wrist, too.”
I pointed a finger at Chae Seol-ha, who was standing there awkwardly.
“Don’t worry.”
“Well then, I’ll be on my way.”
The man who had been listening to the conversation from a short distance away flushed red.
He bowed his head slightly and turned to leave.
“I told you I didn’t use a skill! Who the hell are you!”
“Wait, what are you—!!”
The man with the wooden sword charged at him, clearly determined.
He slightly twisted his body, parried the man's sword, and then effortlessly flipped him with a shoulder throw.
“Hey, you know why trainees are called trainees? Because you can’t control yourselves, just like now. You heard I was a Hunter, so you should have just let it go. How dare you attack me? If this were a dungeon, you’d have a knife in your gut right now.”
“You bastard!”
The man’s punch grazed his cheek.
The Association employee’s face went white as a sheet.
Lifting his chin slightly, he looked down at the man.
Did you just hit me, you little punk?
* * *
Sitting in a small meeting room next to the aptitude testing room, I looked at Choi Soo-hyun and said,
“It was self-defense.”
“Cut the crap.”
“As you know, hyung, I was bullied as a trainee. That experience left me with trauma, and now I have this habit of not being able to stand by when I see malicious bullying…”
“I said, cut the crap!”
Unable to take it anymore, Choi Soo-hyun punched the wall.
The large TV hanging on the wall rattled.
One more punch and that TV was going to fall.
It looked expensive.
“Even so, did you have to beat the daylights out of him in front of all those kids?”
“I know, right? Why did he have to mess with me when I was just trying to leave quietly? But he hit me first.”
“You didn’t just let him hit you, did you?”
I turned my head and whistled. Choi Soo-hyun muttered, as if half-resigned.
“I’m done talking.”
“When you think about it, it’s your fault for not answering your phone.”
“Did I or did I not tell you I had an important meeting and to wait for me while you took the test? I said I’d be there soon! If you didn’t know the way, you should have waited patiently. You had to go and cause trouble in that short amount of time? Please, just behave yourself at the Association!”
“Ugh, such a nag.”
Even my mom probably nags less than Choi Soo-hyun.
This is why he doesn't have a girlfriend.
Chae Seol-ha, who had been listening to our conversation, cautiously raised her hand.
She looked like she had no idea why she was here.
“Um, why am I…?”
“Oh. Right. Here.”
Choi Soo-hyun fumbled in his pocket and tossed a tube that looked like toothpaste to Chae Seol-ha.
“Neosporin, no… a healing salve.”
“Since when does an Association employee hand out Neosporin?”
“Shut it.”
“Yep.”
Chae Seol-ha fiddled with the tube of healing salve Choi Soo-hyun had given her.
“Hyung, why was she taking that class anyway?”
Chae Seol-ha had only the final dungeon expedition left. She should have been done with theory and practice sparring long ago.
At my question, Choi Soo-hyun answered nonchalantly.
“She mouthed off to Song Eun-young in the dungeon.”
“But that woman was the one who—!!”
“Sounds like she deserved to retake the course.”
At my words, Chae Seol-ha clamped her mouth shut.
Her face flushed, clearly feeling wronged.
Eun-young could be quite intimidating.
Looks aren't deceiving, after all.
Chae Seol-ha’s eyes welled up with tears as she claimed it was unfair.
“I made a mistake, but… it wasn't so bad that I should have to retake the entire course!”
“You made a mistake, didn’t you?”
“I mean, a mistake is a mistake, but in life, people…”
“You can only call it a mistake if there’s a next time. If Song Eun-young hadn’t been there, you would have died. After you died, were you going to go up to the monster and say, ‘Ah, I carelessly made a mistake, could you please fight me again?’ You think the monster would say, ‘Oh, is that so? Understood. Let’s go again’?”
At Choi Soo-hyun’s lecture, Chae Seol-ha fell silent.
She seemed to feel it was unfair, but she couldn't refute his point because he was right.
“All the others just have to clear the dungeon again and then they graduate… I’m falling behind.”
“It’s only two months.”
“It’s not ‘only’!”
“It is. Two months. You can catch up in no time. And what’s so bad about retaking a course?”
“Who retakes a stupid class like this unless they’re an idiot?”
“Well, sorry for being an idiot.”
Choi Soo-hyun crossed his arms and looked down at Chae Seol-ha.
Chae Seol-ha looked flustered, as if that wasn't what she meant.
“I took it three times. So? Are the Hunters who went into the field before me doing better than I am?”
He just had to squeeze in a boast about himself to feel satisfied.
As expected of someone in charge of education and training, he was a master at handling young Hunters.
Choi Soo-hyun gently placated Chae Seol-ha.
“Two months is nothing. I don’t know what you’re so anxious about, but there’s no need to be.”
Though it was hard to tell if he was bragging or comforting her.
“Can I become like you, Soo-hyun oppa, I mean… you? As a Hunter!”
“Becoming like me might be a little difficult.”
“…”
“But if you work hard, you might just be able to reach my ankles.”
“I’ll work hard!”
Don't work hard!
He’s a piece of trash!
What kind of comfort is that!
With her head bowed, Chae Seol-ha left the meeting room.
Choi Soo-hyun’s gaze returned to me.
“Hyung, you were an idiot?”
“You wanna die? There were circumstances!”
“Circumstances?”
“I got into an IRL fight with an Association Hunter during training.”
Choi Soo-hyun shrugged lightly.
Ugh, an IRL fight.
To think a guy like this is my colleague.
As we walked out into the hallway, I grew curious about Choi Soo-hyun's story of fighting an Association employee.
“Why did you pick a fight with an Association employee?”
“I do not listen to those weaker than me.”
“…What?”
“It’s a joke, you punk.”
Choi Soo-hyun patted my shoulder, telling me not to take him seriously.
It is a joke, right?
* * *
After the aptitude test was over, I came down to the lobby with Choi Soo-hyun, who had left work a little early, to have dinner.
The Association lobby was a bit noisier than usual.
Before I could even ask what was going on, a man in a blue cape strode toward me.
“Are you Kang Han-gyeol?”
“I am.”
“I challenge you to an IRL fight… no, a duel.”
“Not interested.”
Is this guy crazy?