Chapter 205: Hunter Qualification Exam (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 205: Hunter Qualification Exam (2)
The exam site, built for the Hunter Qualification Exam, had been continuously expanded since its construction.
This dense forest of giant trees was also an exam site, created just last year by excavating another basement level.
Its name was the ‘Artificial Forest’.
A masterpiece created from top to bottom by a master craftsman of whom Korea was proud.
When asked why he had conceived of such a great forest, he had answered thus:
‘Because the jungle is the fiercest arena for the competition of survival!’
Befitting the fiery words of a craftsman who loved all things passionate, a fierce competition was now unfolding here.
A violent struggle between applicants fighting to pass the exam.
And there were those who watched this intense spectacle with great interest.
“Oh… what’s that kid’s name? Number 428.”
“Number 428… that’s Miss Shin Yu-jeong. A sophomore at Korea University.”
“Wow, only a sophomore and she’s that skilled? I’ve got a good feeling about her!”
Countless CCTVs were installed on the trees of the Artificial Forest.
The main reasons were for supervisors to monitor for unexpected accidents and for scouts from major guilds to observe.
“Whoa… I’d believe it if you told me she was an active Hunter, not just an applicant.”
“That one! What’s her name?”
The monitor they were raving about showed a close-up of Son Seo-yeon, her bobbed hair flying as she took on three other applicants.
The Association employee who confirmed this wore a troubled expression.
“…That’s Miss Son Seo-yeon.”
“Son Seo-yeon? A name as pretty as her face. And her skills are incredible. With talent like that, she’d be a perfect face for our guild in the future—!”
“She’s Hunter Son Si-woo’s daughter.”
“…”
The room fell silent as if doused with cold water.
The moment they heard she was Hunter Son Si-woo’s daughter, the name Son Seo-yeon was erased from every scout’s mind.
And for good reason. It was rare to find anyone in South Korea bold enough to try and recruit the daughter of the national hero, Son Si-woo.
“Then what about that one, over there?”
Another scout pointed to a monitor on the right wall.
On the screen was a man using outstanding martial arts skills to take down applicants, collecting his fifth emblem.
“That’s… Number 521, Hancheol. His parents run a very large martial arts dojo in Busan, so he’s a talent who has mastered various martial arts since childhood.”
“His instincts are definitely on another level.”
Just as a string of positive evaluations from the scouts was continuing…
“With that level of skill, he’d be fine to place at the top of our recruitment list—?!”
Fwoom!
A Fireball flew out of nowhere, and Hancheol collapsed, his entire body scorched black.
As the scouts stared, dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, a man leisurely walked into the CCTV’s frame, peeled the emblems from Hancheol’s chest, and attached them to his own.
The scouts who saw this gasped.
“Gah…! What the hell is that bastard?”
“Just how many emblems does he have on his chest?!”
Not his handsome face, his perfectly balanced physique, or the magic he had just cast.
None of it registered in their eyes.
All they could see were the emblems attached to his chest.
“One, two, three, four… At a rough estimate, he must have about thirty?”
“That’s insane… If he passed, he should’ve gotten out of there already. What is he still doing in there?”
The condition for passing the second exam was to collect five emblems.
But the man already had well over thirty emblems on his chest.
In other words, he was staying in the exam area despite being able to pass at any moment.
One scout swallowed hard and spoke.
“…He must be trying to thin out the competition.”
“Huh?”
“This year’s qualification exam has a record-breaking number of applicants.”
The number of Awakened Beings who awaken each year is steadily, if slowly, increasing.
Consequently, the number of aspiring Hunters is also on the rise.
As if to prove it, a record number of people applied for the qualification exam in the first quarter of this year.
A staggering 30,000 people.
That was the number after cutting off the rest, accepting only the maximum capacity of the six exam sites established by the Hunter Association.
Thanks to this, the Hunter Association was already looking for land to build a new exam site.
Of those, about 3,000 were eliminated in the first test, the written exam.
That left roughly 27,000 people.
That’s why the Association had introduced the emblem-snatching test—to drastically reduce the numbers.
The rule that you needed five emblems to pass meant that after the test, only one-fifth of the original number would remain.
In truth, even that was not a small number.
One-fifth of 27,000 is 5,400.
Considering that only about a hundred Hunters pass each quarter, even that was an overwhelmingly large number.
“So he’s planning to eliminate the competition in advance…?”
“It’s efficient. Since it happens during the exam, no one can interfere.”
“…But that’s only possible if you have the skills to back it up.”
All the scouts’ eyes began to follow the man.
“So, what’s his name? He looks vaguely familiar for some reason… Is he the son of some major guild leader?”
“No, he’s not. His name is Kim Do-jin. You know, the Hunter applicant who was all the rage on SNS recently.”
“Ah! So that’s him?”
“My god… I just thought the rumors were exaggerated.”
They were in awe.
It made sense. Things that gained explosive popularity on social media were often mixed with a lot of falsehoods.
Hunters were no exception.
Exceptional skill, handsome looks, and so on.
Social media was a place where all of that could be fabricated with a single well-timed photo or video.
That was the context for why the major guild scouts hadn't been ardently courting him.
They were stunned to find that the rumors, which they had assumed were exaggerated, were in fact a gross understatement.
As everyone watched him with bewildered expressions, experiencing something like this for the first time…
“Huh, wha—?”
More than twenty people swarmed around him.
Their target was the thirty-four emblems brazenly displayed on his chest.
With a number that large, it was a tempting prize, even for a team of twenty.
But what surprised them wasn't the twenty people ganging up.
“Wh-what is he doing now?”
“The ground around him is shaking…!”
What they were focused on was none other than Kim Do-jin.
Or more precisely, the unbelievable phenomenon occurring around him.
The ground, covered in all sorts of vegetation, began to crack open with splitting sounds.
And what finally emerged was…
“V-vines?”
It was vines.
And they were massive.
*
“Ugh!”
So many.
“Gah…!”
Way too many.
I knew this exam had the most applicants in history, but I didn't think it would be this many.
“Talk about bad timing…”
Another one down.
I peel the emblem from the fallen participant’s chest and stick it onto my own.
“That makes thirty…”
I’d already surpassed the five emblems needed to pass right at the start.
Following the traces of mana left by other applicants made finding people a piece of cake.
I was originally going to finish right then and there… but I changed my mind.
“An opportunity like today might not come again…?”
Stealing emblems.
It inevitably leads to a physical conversation.
When you have a bunch of guys desperate to pass, the only way to take their emblems is to beat them down.
In other words, this is a place where violence is justified, and it’s the perfect time to eliminate the competition, right?
And so, the hunt began.
Of course, I didn't hunt down every single person I saw.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes…?”
“How many emblems you got?”
“Two…”
“Here, take three.”
“Huh?”
For the morons who clearly had no chance of passing, I deliberately gave them emblems to help them pass.
Why?
Because these guys would only be a threat to me if they came in groups of hundreds, not dozens.
“You pass.”
“…?”
My team members are the standard.
If it’s someone my team members could hunt with ease, I let them pass.
“Hmm… you fail, just barely.”
“Kegh!”
Anyone skilled enough to potentially harm one of my team members, even by a fluke, was mercilessly taken down.
As a result, I’ve ended up passing more people than I’ve knocked out.
“Sigh, and I still have thirty left.”
The emblems dangling from my chest are starting to feel heavy.
I need to find some of these small fry, hand these over, and get them to pass. Sheesh.
“Achoo—!”
Just then, I came across a guy making a strange battle cry.
Hiding behind a tree, I watched him fight. His long limbs moved freely, intercepting his opponent.
“Not bad…”
He’s quite skilled.
Seeing the form in every punch and kick, he must have trained in something since he was young.
He seems talented enough to have distinguished himself even if he’d enrolled at Korea University.
So, what does that mean?
“Sorry about this.”
「Fireball.」
I launched the spell just as he was taking the emblems from the opponent he’d defeated.
The massive fireball, thrown in an instant, swept over his entire body in a brief, intense flash.
“Keoheok…?!”
A normal applicant would have had their eyes roll back in their head and passed out, and that would’ve been getting off easy.
Despite the shock of his body being engulfed in flames, the guy locked his eyes on me.
Geez, that just makes me feel worse.
But that was only for a moment.
Unable to withstand the impact, he collapsed, his body scorched black.
“His durability is pretty impressive…”
The guy has the makings of what you’d call a tank dealer.
The scorch marks are just on the surface of his skin; he’s fine underneath.
If he goes straight to the infirmary for treatment, there won’t even be a scar.
“You’ll pass the next exam, buddy.”
So for this one, do me a favor and yield to my kids.
I take all four of his emblems, attach them to my chest, and set off again.
“Hmm, where to next?”
Just as I was wondering which way to go to find a strong opponent…
People began to appear from behind the giant trees, one by one.
In front, behind, to the sides—everywhere.
“Heh, they’re finally showing themselves.”
I’d noticed a group was tailing me for a while now.
I kept giving them openings, waiting for them to emerge, and it seems they’ve finally decided they have a chance.
“One, two, three, four… twenty.”
The ringleader who gathered these people seems to have miscalculated.
“Twenty isn’t going to be enough…”
If they really wanted to take me out, they should have gathered about five squads of twenty.
“Listen up, everyone! That bastard has over thirty emblems on his chest alone! If we take those, our chances of passing will skyrocket!”
“Ooh!”
“Let’s get him all at once!”
“Let’s go!”
Humans are social creatures.
Because things that are impossible alone become possible when many people gather.
And the warmth shared between people fosters courage instead of fear.
That’s also the reason I have sex with multiple women. Hmm.
This world has too many scary things to live in it alone.
“Let’s see…”
Depending on the situation and location, the same amount of mana can produce different effects.
For example, in a dense forest like this, the concentration of earth-related mana is high.
In that case…
I wring out the surrounding mana to awaken the things sleeping deep within the earth.
I infuse mana into the small, weak, fragile things that could be easily torn by hand, accelerating their growth.
Kugugung…!
Crack!
Craaack!
Their massive bulk tears through the ground, revealing themselves to the world.
“Ah, ahhh!”
“What is this?!”
The vines, now grown large enough to ensnare a human body in an instant, squirmed and inspired terror.
「Vine Whip.」
The giant vines whipped around like lashes, dominating the area.
There were those caught and hung upside down in mid-air, those knocked flat by the whips, and even one guy who was pierced in a very unfortunate spot by the tip of a vine.
“Uh, hmm.”
Let’s not take that guy’s emblem.