Chapter 204: Hunter Qualification Exam (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 204: Hunter Qualification Exam (1)
“One.”
“I was wrong…!”
“Two.”
“Boss!”
I had just finished making them clean the room and was in the middle of instilling some manners into these punks who couldn't shake their neighborhood thug habits when an announcement came.
[The first part of the Hunter Qualification Exam, the written test, will now begin.]
[All applicants, please proceed to the examination hall indicated on your smartphones and follow the proctor's instructions.]
[Failure to enter the examination hall within the designated time will result in disqualification.]
[I repeat….]
An announcement signaling the start of the exam echoed through the building.
The first test was a written one.
Dungeon conquest, confronting villains, responding to terrorist attacks, and so on.
We had to describe the proper course of action for a Hunter in various given scenarios.
“Up.”
“Up!”
As if they'd been waiting for the word, the three gangsters shot up like springs.
Tsk… Pathetic weaklings.
I shot a glare at the guys, who were panting like they were about to die after a mere 300 push-ups.
“I don't know when I'll be leaving, but until that day, you'd better not make a sound other than breathing.”
“Yes, Boss!”
I wouldn't be staying here for long anyway.
Judging by this body's condition, there was a high chance I'd bomb out of the second test, no matter what it was.
Then again, who knows.
I might just end up in the 8% who fail the written test—a test that has historically boasted a 92% pass rate.
Vzzzzt-
My smartphone vibrated in my pocket.
It seemed to be the message with the exam hall location, just as the announcement had mentioned.
“6-2….”
I stuck the pen I'd brought with me into my pocket and took the elevator to the sixth floor.
Pushing through the bustling crowd, I arrived at examination hall 6-2.
The moment I stepped inside, my smartphone went dead.
A jamming system installed to prevent cheating had shut it down.
“Please check the exam ticket number on your desk and take your seat.”
The exam number was written on the top-right corner of each desk.
My seat was... the very back of the first row on the left.
Just as all the applicants found their seats, a man with a stern face and a solid build entered and closed the door.
Thud!
“Welcome, applicants. I am Yoon Jeong-cheol, and I will be the proctor for this exam.”
Judging by the aura flowing from him, he was probably an upper B-rank.
“Before we begin, I will go over the rules.”
His dry, monotonous voice recited the rules written on the paper in his hand.
They were all pretty standard.
The things you shouldn't do during a test are obvious, aren't they?
There was just one difference.
“You are welcome to cheat.”
Cheating was allowed.
Not openly, of course.
“That is, if you're confident you can fool my eyes completely.”
It was a show of confidence.
The proctors assigned to the written test were all active Hunters.
And among them, only those who were B-rank or higher.
In other words, for a Hunter aspirant with their paltry skills, the moment they even attempted to cheat was as good as failing.
“Then, let the exam begin.”
The test papers were passed from front to back.
There were fifty questions in total.
All of them were short-answer or essay questions that had to be completed within 120 minutes.
I calmly read the questions and wrote down my answers.
As long as you studied, the questions themselves weren't that difficult.
That's because every single question on the test came from one book.
The name of the book was the ‘Hunter Code of Conduct’.
The author: the Hunter Association.
Just hearing that, you get the picture, don't you?
That's right.
The reason the first part of the Hunter Qualification Exam was fixed as a written test was for the sole purpose of selling that book.
Since all the questions came from it, every Hunter aspirant had no choice but to buy and read it.
What was even more vicious was that a revised edition came out every year or two.
They'd add or remove minor and major details, making it so you had to buy the new one.
The money they raked in from this alone was said to be astronomical.
“Hmm.”
Anyway.
The questions themselves were structured so that anyone who had read the book a few times could answer them without issue.
Of course, a few questions required a deeper understanding, but it didn't matter if you got them wrong.
That's because as long as you passed, the written test counted for a minuscule portion of the overall score.
After spending about ten minutes carefully checking that I hadn't misaligned my answers, I rested my head on the desk and waited for time to pass.
It would've been nice if I could leave early, but the rules unfortunately didn't allow it.
Beeep! Beeep!
A loud alarm signaled that time was up.
“I will now collect the test papers.”
The completed tests were passed from back to front.
Once he had collected the papers from each row, the proctor immediately fed them into a scanner in the corner.
Which Haetae model was that again?
Anyway, putting the test papers in there allowed for an instant scoring of the applicants' results.
[Announcing the results.]
Along with a soft mechanical voice, a results table appeared on the white wall.
“Phew….”
My score on the table was 90.
The passing cutoff is 80, so... I passed without any trouble.
“Those who passed may return to their dorms to rest. Those who failed... please return to your dorms immediately, pack your belongings, and begin the departure procedure.”
Judging by the results, it seemed no one in this room had failed.
But other rooms would be a different story.
The moment the proctor opened the door to leave, the previously blocked-off noise from outside flooded in.
“Fuck, this is bullshit!”
“P-Please, just give me one more chance! Please!”
“Putting us through a written test just to sell that fucking piece of shit book...!”
The anguished cries of those who failed, either by mistake or by not reading the book carefully enough, rang out.
As I headed to my dorm on the ninth floor, a sudden wave of anxiety washed over me.
Surely none of my group made a mistake and failed... right?
I immediately turned on my phone and typed a message in the group chat.
[Me: Everyone passed the test, right?]
The read-count number next to the message quickly vanished as replies poured in.
[Shin Yu-jeong: Do you take us for idiots? You think we'd fail this?]
[Im Na-eun: Hehe... Do-jin is so cute when he's worried.... I passed too, don't worry!]
[Son Seo-yeon: (Thumbs up)]
[Elena: A written test so easy even this foreign worker Elena can get 100? You don't say! Ta-da!]
“Phew….”
It seems I was worried for nothing.
Feeling much more relieved, I read through the rest of the messages.
[Shin Yu-jeong: Oh~ Elena got 100? Me too.]
[Im Na-eun: Me too! But isn't it weirder not to get 100 on this...?]
[Son Seo-yeon: (Thumbs up)]
[Elena: What about you, Do-jin?]
“……”
[Kim Do-jin: 90....]
[Shin Yu-jeong: ?]
[Im Na-eun: ?]
[Son Seo-yeon: ?]
[Elena: k]
That final ‘k’ from Elena felt like a critical hit that shattered my world.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The next morning.
After finishing a hearty meal, I returned to my dorm and was staring blankly at my phone when another announcement came.
[The second test will now begin.]
[All applicants, please finish your personal preparations within one hour and wait in your dorms.]
[I repeat….]
The instructions were strange.
They said the test was starting, but instead of telling us where to go, they told us to wait in our dorms. What was that about?
I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face, then lay on my bed to wait.
Exactly one hour after the previous announcement ended, another came.
[The second test will now begin.]
[Applicants, please lift the mattress on your beds and attach the emblem you find there to your chest.]
“H-He says to lift the beds?”
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and lift it.”
“Ah, yes.”
At Gangster 1's command, Gangster 3 heaved up the mattress of the bottom bunk.
Lying there was an emblem shaped like a blazing flame.
Seeing this, Gangster 2 sidled up to me.
“Uhm, Boss?”
“What.”
“Could I maybe lift the top bed for a second? Hehe....”
Four people, four beds.
But I had shoved the three of them onto one bunk bed, while I was using the other two beds myself.
For one of them to get an emblem, they had to lift one of my beds.
Well, it was annoying to give it up, but I had no choice.
The test had to start, after all.
“Hurry up and take it.”
“Yes, thank you!”
Around then, I also got up, lifted the mattress I'd just been lying on, and grabbed my own emblem.
There was an adhesion magic circle drawn on the back, so it stuck to my clothes automatically when I placed it there.
About five minutes passed like that.
[The ‘Emblem Scramble’ will now begin.]
[To pass the second test, you must steal the emblems of others and secure a total of five.]
[You will be transported to the test site shortly.]
[Please assume a comfortable position to prepare for any motion sickness from the spatial transfer.]
Simultaneously, a dense wave of mana began to flow from the surrounding walls.
The mana was forming a magic circle designed to transport living beings within the space.
It seemed they had embedded thin plates of mana stones between the walls and inscribed the magic circle on them.
[5... 4... 3... 2... 1.]
I closed my eyes in time with the countdown.
“Wh-whoa...!”
“Aargh!”
Listening to the frantic shouts of the gangsters experiencing spatial transfer for the first time, I surrendered my body to the floating sensation.
About three seconds passed.
A refreshing openness I couldn't feel in the stuffy room, along with the soft sensation of the ground beneath my feet, told me I had arrived.
When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a vast, dense forest where just finding another person, let alone stealing their emblem, seemed like it would be a monumental task.
Amidst the breathtakingly beautiful scenery of nature, distinct threads blurred my vision.
Threads of mana, each glowing with a different color.
They were trails.
Trails that revealed the locations of those who were constantly emitting streams of mana.
It meant that if I followed these threads, winding them in one by one, I could find anyone.
Staring at the tangled mess of threads before me, I moved my fingers busily.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe....”
Alright, Dr. Know-it-all, give me a sign