Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Monster Hunter Exam
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"Hmm."
Jin fell into thought for a moment.
If Baek Eun-seong was right, that meant Kim Seon-woo's magic possessed strength at A-Rank or higher.
Bert, intrigued, approached Baek Eun-seong.
"Tell me more about that. Was that magic perhaps attribute-less?"
Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
Over 450 students had gathered in front of the portal gate.
One might wonder why the entire school was taking the exam at the same time, but the exam site—an uninhabited island—had a considerable area.
If they held exams separately by grade, only 150 students would remain on that vast island, which wouldn't align with the competitive purpose.
For that reason, they gathered as many people as possible by having all grades take the exam together.
Of course, the Monster Hunter exam wasn't the only one where all grades participated together.
It would appear again in other exams.
While waiting alone, Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-jun, and Choi Seo-yoon spotted me from afar and greeted me warmly.
"Seon-woo."
"Senior, hello!"
"Yeah, hi."
I gave them a casual greeting and scanned for Jang Ye's position—my goal for today.
Where could she be?
As I looked around, I spotted Jang Ye in the distance, laughing happily with other third-years.
She was undoubtedly targeting Lee Seo-jun today as well, but unlike me, she was putting on a very calm act.
Well, as a demon who had lived her whole life acting, that level of performance was probably easy for her.
Just to be sure, I used Character Insight on her again.
Name: Jang Ye
Age: 19
Race: Demon
Status: Extremely Tense
Mana Rank: A
Interest Level: 0
What?
Mana Rank A?
It had definitely been A- last time, but it had risen another level. This wasn't normal speed.
It seemed the Ten Demon Society had properly supported her.
This might be tougher than I thought...
Could I really handle it well?
"Senior?"
"Hm?"
At Choi Seo-yoon's call, I snapped out of it and turned to her.
She gave me a meaningful look, then smiled faintly.
"Why? What's up?"
"Nothing. The exam's about to start, so you should focus."
"...Yeah. Right."
As I waited for the exam to begin, a question for Lee Seo-jun suddenly came to mind.
"Lee Seo-jun."
"Yeah? What's up?"
"You teaming up with anyone for this exam?"
He shook his head at my question.
"Nah, solo. The rules don't really make teamwork necessary. Why? You wanna team up or something?"
Lee Seo-jun said with a playful grin.
"Just curious."
This was good news. If he teamed up with Jang Ye, it could mess up my plans.
"Attention, everyone!"
A teacher's shout came from the platform.
The noisy atmosphere instantly fell silent.
"We will now begin the 1-night, 2-day Monster Hunter exam. Teamwork is optional, and there are no separate teamwork scores. Points will be awarded based solely on the mana stones extracted from monster hearts—their size, contained mana, and quantity."
The students listened intently to the teacher.
Occasional murmurs rose from the crowd.
"What? If we have to extract mana stones, we gotta dissect them by hand?"
"Ugh, I skipped Monster Anatomy class. This sucks."
Worried voices emerged one by one among the students, but I didn't pay much attention.
To reiterate, my target wasn't monsters. In this exam, my sole goal was Jang Ye.
What I needed to worry about most was actually the special drones for video recording, not the monsters.
Each drone was filming the exam grounds in real time, so I could get caught targeting Jang Ye.
Of course, I'd prepared countermeasures for the drones in advance.
"Student-versus-student combat is strictly prohibited. Stealing or robbing mana stones is also forbidden. Offenders will receive the lowest score. The exam ends tomorrow at 10 a.m. That's all."
After arriving on the uninhabited island via portal gate, we were assigned to designated positions and given about a 20-minute wait.
When the time passed, a mechanical voice rang from the drone hovering beside me.
[Alright, the midterms—Monster Hunter exam—now begin!]
"It's starting now."
I pulled out my smart student handbook from my pocket to check the time. Communications were blocked due to the island's nature, but I could still confirm the time easily.
It was 10 a.m.
Way too much time left until the end.
I slowly looked around, checking the terrain first.
Towering trees surrounded me. It felt just like being deep in a massive forest.
Whirrr!
"Ah, so annoying."
I glared at the drone blaring next to me.
The camera on the drone whirred as it adjusted.
Of course, the camera moving didn't mean someone was watching me live.
It was just automatically shifting focus.
"Hmm..."
Anyway, I needed to find Jang Ye.
How was I supposed to find her in this huge place?
"Guess I have to use that after all."
Nothing solved problems as easily as this when I couldn't think of another way.
I opened the Point Shop and searched for 'compass' in the search bar.
[Demon Detection Compass (???)]
Category: Special Item
Description: A compass that detects the nearest demon for 2 hours.
[Continuous Effect]
► Demon Detection
Tracks the position of the nearest demon. The item loses effect automatically after 2 hours.
Price: 10,000
Just 2 hours, but a special item that could locate nearby demons.
The price was steep, but no choice. Finding Jang Ye was my top priority.
[Purchased Demon Detection Compass (???).]
Light flashed in the air, and it floated onto my hand.
Special items from the Point Shop were invisible to others, so the compass in my hand probably wouldn't show on the drone.
Time to find her.
5 p.m.
Jang Ye wandered the forest in search of monsters.
She was starting to tire a bit. Monsters weren't appearing as easily as expected, and the bugs around were just adding stress.
"Hoo."
The good news was she'd already arranged to meet Lee Seo-jun at night, using lodging as an excuse.
Time and place: 9 p.m. at the peak of the massive mountain in the island's center.
Information about the uninhabited island for the Monster Hunter exam was somewhat known among the students, so they could set a meeting spot in advance.
She'd hunt monsters until then to kill time, meet Lee Seo-jun, and strike with a surprise attack at the moment he let his guard down.
"Perfect."
She was replaying her plan in her head when it happened.
Woooong...
Powerful mana emanated from nearby.
Mana this strong put it in the top ranks among students.
Hoping it might be Lee Seo-jun, she rushed toward the source.
"Haaah!"
But contrary to her expectations, a familiar face was there—not Lee Seo-jun, but his close friend Shin Young-jun.
He wielded a massive spear, clashing with a Giant Monster Bear.
As expected of the third-ranked second-year, he dispatched the C-Rank Giant Monster Bear with clean movements and emerged victorious.
"Whew."
Shin Young-jun wiped sweat from his forehead, catching his breath.
Seizing the moment, Jang Ye approached him.
"Young-jun, junior."
She smiled as she drew near.
Shin Young-jun spotted her and bowed politely.
"Ah, Senior. Hello."
"Your skills are impressive. Such a clean finish."
"Hahaha. Thank you."
He scratched his head with a bright laugh.
"Have you caught any monsters, Senior?"
"No. Unfortunately, I've only encountered four so far."
"Oh no."
At his sympathetic words, Jang Ye put on a wistful expression.
"But are you going solo, Young-jun junior?"
"Yes, for now. I think I can handle it alone. Hahaha."
She chatted with him for about three minutes, then casually asked what she was curious about.
"Do you remember the first midterm incident?"
"The first midterm? Why bring that up suddenly?"
"There was a big event then. The demon attack."
"Oh, right."
He nodded.
"I was trapped in the barrier then."
"Ah, as a third-year, that makes sense for you. I heard Lee Seo-jun was in there too."
At that, Jang Ye's eyes sparkled.
He might know about the other person inside the barrier besides Lee Seo-jun.
"Besides Lee Seo-jun, was there another second-year?"
She asked directly.
After all, Lee Seo-jun was fated to die by her hand today.
No need to drag it out.
Shin Young-jun seemed to ponder briefly, then nodded.
"Yes. There was."
Yes!
Jang Ye cheered inwardly.
"Who was it?"
"Kim Seon-woo."
"...Pardon?"
7 p.m.
After parting with Shin Young-jun, Jang Ye climbed the mountain—her meeting spot with Lee Seo-jun—with a grave expression.
His words before they parted echoed in her mind.
—Kim Seon-woo.
Kim Seon-woo.
It was completely unexpected.
But strangely, when she'd asked Kim Seon-woo before, he'd claimed he didn't know who else was in the barrier.
That meant Kim Seon-woo had lied.
"Why lie?"
A lie.
He wouldn't lie without reason. There had to be something else.
A reason to hide being in the barrier...
"...It was Kim Seon-woo."
Her voice trembled. The puzzle pieces were falling into place.
"He was the Child of Prophecy."
If he'd admitted being in the barrier that day, she might have dismissed it as coincidence, but lying outright proved he had something to hide.
And the source of that guilt was likely the demon-slaying power he possessed.
"Found you. Finally..."
She'd completed one mission. Finish assassinating Lee Seo-jun, and great rewards from the Ten Demon Society would follow.
Then she'd get her chance for revenge against Kim Jin-woo, her father's enemy.
Elated at completing one mission, suddenly—
Woooooong!
A special energy wave spread from somewhere nearby.
"...What?"
Stunned by the sudden mystery, Jang Ye looked around in shock.
The energy wave swept over the drones, making them wobble unstably before losing power and crashing to the ground.
She scanned her surroundings in confusion, unable to tell where the energy had come from.
Instinctively sensing the gravity, she quickly searched for changes around her.
At that moment.
A brilliant flash blinded her eyes.
The light sped toward her, pierced her body, and boomed with a massive roar.
6:30 p.m.
From a cliff atop the central rocky mountain on the uninhabited island, I watched Jang Ye.
After her talk with Shin Young-jun, she'd been steadily climbing the mountain.
I didn't know exactly what they'd discussed, but the seriousness on her face showed no sign of fading.
I looked up at the sky. The red sunset signaled night approaching.
"About time."
I checked the drones around. Fortunately, there weren't many up here on the mountain, and this spot was a blind angle.
I opened my subspace and pulled out a white stick.
This stick was called the 'Communication Jammer Kit.'
Also known as a small EMP, it was an S-Rank one-time-use special item I'd bought from the Point Shop for a whopping 20,000 points.
Pressing the red button at the end would release a wide electromagnetic pulse, temporarily disabling all communication devices.
"Hoo."
Time.
I took a deep breath and pressed the button on the Communication Jammer Kit.
Click.
As soon as I did, a special energy spread wide, sweeping the area.
Harmless to humans, so no issue for me.
Zzzt. Zzzzt.
True to its small EMP name, the effect was immediate.
Every visible drone around wobbled and began crashing to the ground.
The school side was probably panicking with the sudden comms blackout, but that was none of my concern.