B-Rank Promotion Exam
-Wow. As expected of Black Dragon!
"You've worked hard."
Tak.
Jeong Chan-woo stepped out of the car, catching his breath lightly as he eyed the villain.
The perp had gone limp, clearly realizing any more struggling was pointless.
"Seems like you're getting the hang of this job."
"Can't be helped."
The first day had just one incident, but from the second day on, cases kept popping up nonstop.
I was supposed to have flexible hours, but at some point, I started feeling awkward about it and made sure to show up by 10 a.m. at the latest.
"I had no idea Association hunters were this busy."
"We're the busy ones."
"Right...?"
In my mind, Association hunters had the sweetest gig.
Desk work and hunting—best of both worlds.
"Picked the wrong team for this crap."
"Couldn't agree more."
Eutcha.
I got up from the seat and rolled my neck.
"Another day gone like this."
Felt like I'd been running around all day, and the sun was already setting.
I glanced sideways at the noisy sirens blaring from afar, dropping my head with a thud.
Time until Illusion Tower opens: 215.6 hours
The opening of the new tower was right around the corner.
Working as an Association hunter really made time fly by.
The Lord of the Twisted Underworld anticipates the appearance of the new tower.
The Black Dragon popped up every time I checked the Illusion Tower timer to throw in his two cents.
Looking at him, it was clear: just as I figured, I'd have to dive in the second it opened.
"Speaking of which, tomorrow's the day."
"Huh?"
I shot Jeong Chan-woo a what-are-you-talking-about look.
He checked his phone calendar and said,
"The B-rank promotion exam."
"Already?"
I confirmed the date from what he said.
Mid-February already.
Promotion exams were always at the end of the month.
Felt like just yesterday I took the E-rank exam and somehow ended up C-rank.
Now a whole month later, it was B-rank exam day.
"You submitted the application, right?"
"Of course."
Once I decided to live as a hunter, raising my rank was a no-brainer.
Exams every month—I'd submitted mine without fail.
But.
"You can't promote without the exam, right?"
"No. Even Association hunters have to take the exam like everyone else."
"But I jumped straight to C-rank..."
"That was an exception."
Jeong Chan-woo cut me off firmly.
I grumbled as I shoved the villain into the belatedly arriving police car.
"Then at least tell me what the exam's about. B-rank and up are all different, right?"
"That would violate fairness too."
Tch.
Wanted a free pass.
I clicked my tongue in regret and climbed into Jeong Chan-woo's car.
Guess I'd have to actually try tomorrow at the B-rank exam.
And so, another day faded away.
The next day.
I arrived at the B2 training ground for the promotion exam and trembled at the corners of my mouth as I spotted Jeong Chan-woo and Seong Yu-mi standing above, looking down at me.
"Why are you two here...?"
"To proctor our Black Dragon's exam, obviously."
This felt bad.
Really bad.
Unlike the calm Jeong Chan-woo, Seong Yu-mi's wicked grin made everything start feeling off.
About ten minutes passed like that.
Seong Yu-mi sealed the exam hall doors, grabbed the mic, and spoke.
"Ah. Ah. Can everyone hear me?"
Guess so.
She cleared her throat at the responses and continued.
"Welcome to the B-rank promotion exam, everyone. As you know, I'm Seong Yu-mi."
Serious gazes poured onto Seong Yu-mi.
She nodded at the suspicion mixed in and said,
"With hot-topic Black Dragon here, you're probably suspicious of us as proctors."
"......"
The hall went dead silent.
Even those not shooting suspicious looks thought the same.
Or rather, from the start.
"You'd suspect anyway, even without us."
Suspicion always dogged Association hunter promotion exams.
The fear of internal info leaks.
Couldn't be helped.
Non-Association hunters like them had no info and just had to take the exam blind.
"Surely some of you think that."
"......"
"A few are reacting, but I won't call anyone out."
I glanced at the gray-hoodie guy next to me.
He was the first to react to her words.
I really heard nothing!
The Association had announced no info would be given to examinees anyway.
Believe people when they talk, why so suspicious.
"So, we've prepared a special promotion exam this time."
Special.
Every gaze snapped to Seong Yu-mi.
I looked up at her with unease too.
She winked at me lightly and went on.
"You're all hunters. Like it or not, you're on the side of justice, with the duty to stop villains."
Hold up.
Why bring that up now?
"That's why this exam is about stopping a villain. And by the way."
Kung.
The training ground lights went out in a flash, leaving only me in the spotlight.
I'd been under eyes already, but now even more so—I blinked blankly up at Seong Yu-mi.
"The villain is Black Dragon over there."
Knew it.
I let out a hollow laugh at Seong Yu-mi's voice laced with amusement and shook my head.
"Cooperate as hunters to stop the villain-role Black Dragon. That's the exam. Beginning now."
Beep-!
The bell rang.
And then.
"Die!"
The hunters charged.
Screaming "die" right as the exam started?
Did that really come from hunters' mouths?
I shook my head and muttered inwardly as they rushed me.
If you're gonna do this, at least explain first.
I let out a long sigh and stomped, exhaling mist.
Smoke
Black mist spread from my feet.
It reached even the frontrunners' soles.
"What the hell is this?!"
The gray-hoodie guy in the lead kicked irritably.
But it was just mist for now.
It scattered at his kick.
I waited for more to step in, figuring they'd think it ordinary fog.
Once plenty had, I clenched my fist tight.
Mist Shadow
Whoosh!
The mist ballooned instantly, wrapping around them.
The harmless fog from moments ago now had physical force, binding them tight.
I slowly lowered my raised hand, dragging the trapped ones to the ground.
"Next."
Whatever, I'd been assigned the role.
To promote, I'd play it properly.
No half-assing it.
I narrowed my eyes low at the hesitating hunters.
"Wow... totally overwhelming."
Seong Yu-mi leaned on the railing, looking down.
Her patrol zone covered Gangnam and Seoul's key districts.
As an Association S-rank, the workload was expected, but she'd handled it all with just Jeong Chan-woo.
"Makes sense. Black Dragon's the only one who's kept up with our schedule."
"I figured he'd quit after a few days too."
Her department hadn't lacked people before.
They just fled the killer schedule to other teams.
They thought Han Mir would do the same.
Bail soon, say he wanted a break.
They'd even secretly picked teams where he could shine on TV.
To nudge him toward if he quit.
But he didn't.
Grumbled plenty, but always tagged along on calls.
And over time, racked up more feats.
"One week left till Black Dragon's time on our team ends?"
"About that."
"Really sucks. Such a shame."
Talent she didn't want to lose.
Wanted him by her side.
Perfect in every way, from work ethic to tenacity.
Plus.
"...Aren't you curious how far Black Dragon will grow?"
"Honestly, yes."
Jeong Chan-woo already knew.
If they fought like in the F-rank review now, he'd lose.
His power had been overwhelming from the start.
He just hadn't mastered wielding it yet.
But look now.
Han Mir was learning fast.
So Jeong Chan-woo felt the same regret.
"Ah. Another one's flying."
Han Mir's base skill was a mutation type.
Alters the body for immense power.
Right now, he wasn't mutating.
Purely manipulating black mist to fight.
"Funny how he's not even serious."
Not serious.
Just messing around.
Yet the promotion hopefuls charged like mad.
Seong Yu-mi noted numbers on her chest, watching faces between despair at the gap, self-fury, gritted teeth.
"These kids are plenty for B-rank..."
She never expected them to take down Han Mir anyway.
She ran this exam to prove promotions weren't just connections.
And.
"To show everyone how strong our Black Dragon is."
To spread the word wider about the already buzzing Han Mir.
"He's already plenty for S-rank."
Hunter ranks went F to S.
The higher, the wider the gap.
Simply put, B-to-A gap dwarfed F-to-D.
Then what about A-to-S?
Simple answer.
"Black Dragon's already beyond specs."
S-rank hunters.
Or rather, "special" hunters whose strength couldn't be easily gauged.
They had off-the-charts power.
Couldn't judge casually, so kept separate.
Surprisingly, the biggest gap wasn't A-to-S.
It was within S-rank itself.
"If he grows properly, he might touch top S-ranks."
Lower S-ranks could never beat upper ones.
Insiders knew this truth instantly.
Seong Yu-mi wasn't top S-rank.
Jeong Chan-woo was still A-rank, sans off-spec power.
To her, Han Mir already had it.
Better lay groundwork now for his S-rank debut.
That was her conclusion.
"...Isn't this a bit too much?"
"Huh? Too much what?"
"Making fellow hunters despair like that."
"Oh, that? No worries."
She hummed, fanning herself.
"Every one here has baggage."
"Ah..."
No subject needed—Jeong Chan-woo got it.
Hunters with big and small incidents in their pasts.
Fine then.
He nodded and joined her in watching the flying hunters carefree.
"Ooh. Direct hit."
"Whoa... that one's gonna hurt."
Having a blast.