Chapter 10
Chapter 10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Uncovering Cheaters
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Well, well?’
It hadn’t been long since he’d thought about skill doping, and now he was already spotting a skill doping user.
Su-ho was certain that the woman in front of him was using skill doping.
All the examinees here had surrendered their belongings before entering and changed into the standard exam uniforms.
‘Plus, all the test-takers are unregistered 1-level hunters, so there’s no way a 1-level could emit a mana wave like that.’
Unless they were a special case like Su-ho.
On top of that, unlike a driver’s license, a hunter license could not be retaken if revoked even once, which made him even more certain.
Su-ho decided to check everyone around him while he was at it.
It wasn’t difficult.
All he had to do was sense mana waves.
Su-ho focused his mind and began to feel the mana emanating from the people around him.
He could sense the mana waves from the woman in front of him as well as the others nearby.
That was when it happened.
[Your ability to distinguish mana is exceptionally sensitive compared to others.]
[The system is evaluating your talent.]
[Congratulations! You have acquired Mana Detection (B).]
He’d only concentrated a little, and a skill appeared.
Well, still.
If just focusing could distinguish mana in the air that clearly, it was definitely in the realm of talent.
Perhaps because of that.
The mana, which he had only felt through his senses, now became more precisely distinguishable due to the skill effect.
‘As expected, that woman is using a skill.’
With the Mana Detection skill, he could clearly distinguish the difference between mana waves from item effects and skill effects.
Besides the woman in the front seat, Su-ho sensed several other abnormal mana waves around him and sighed inwardly.
‘Even if it’s the old days, things were really a mess back then.’
But there was nothing Su-ho could do right now.
He was an examinee himself, and this was in the middle of the exam.
Moreover, with more than just one or two cheaters, he couldn’t report them all individually.
Of course, that didn’t mean there were no solutions at all.
Su-ho looked at the glass observation tower on the second floor of the exam hall.
It was a place to monitor examinees from the second floor to prevent any possible cheating, and there was a familiar face watching him from inside.
Jeong Cheol-min.
‘He came to watch after all.’
There was no way he wouldn’t come after Su-ho had dangled the bait so openly.
So Su-ho grinned and waved to Jeong Cheol-min.
Jeong Cheol-min quietly waved back.
That should be enough for him to come say hello later.
Soon, the written exam began.
***
‘Good, he showed up.’
Jeong Cheol-min had checked the list of written exam participants and confirmed Su-ho’s name, even verifying his attendance in person.
After all, Su-ho was a highly desirable talent he hadn’t seen in ages.
So, even though it was a ridiculous hope, he wished Su-ho would pass this exam.
But what was this?
In the midst of it, Su-ho spotted him and even waved.
‘He really is an interesting guy the more I see him.’
With Su-ho acting so friendly, Jeong Cheol-min thought he should at least go cheer him on.
No, he planned to make one more impression to somehow get Su-ho into the National Hunter Association.
As the written exam ended and people moved to the practical exam hall, Jeong Cheol-min quickly approached Su-ho.
“How was the exam?”
“Yeah, it was fine. I think I did decently. But what brings you here, Team Leader?”
“I’m here on support duty. The association is always short-staffed. So on big event days like this, everyone from all departments comes to help out.”
“I see. That must be tough.”
“Haha, no, it’s nothing new. By the way, with only a day to prepare, time must have been really tight, but you seem pretty confident? I heard this time’s questions were brutally hard.”
Su-ho chuckled at that.
“It was manageable. More importantly, Team Leader, can I ask you something?”
“Anything, as long as it’s not about the exam.”
“It’s not entirely unrelated... I noticed you’re not doing skill checks here. Is there a reason for that?”
“Skill checks?”
“Yeah, you do urine and blood tests, but no skill checks.”
At the mention of skill checks, Jeong Cheol-min looked puzzled.
As expected.
This was still a time when the concept of skill checks didn’t exist yet.
But he wasn’t completely oblivious, as he furrowed his brow and lowered his voice.
“What’s up?”
“Just think about it. You confiscate belongings and make everyone change into exam uniforms to prevent item cheating, so why not prevent skill-based cheating?”
Jeong Cheol-min’s eyes widened at that.
Then he lowered his voice even more.
“...You saw something, didn’t you?”
Su-ho grinned, and Jeong Cheol-min’s expression hardened further.
Jeong Cheol-min said.
“Please report who it is. We’ll take immediate action.”
“Haha, I’m not certain enough to report... That’s why I mentioned skill checks.”
“I get what you mean by skill checks... But we can’t implement countermeasures right now. The concept is too new, and solving this would require forming a team to discuss prevention, which we can’t do on the spot. So please just report it instead.”
Hm.
He thought he’d given enough hints, but he needed to spell it out more.
No helping it.
Su-ho said.
“You’re overthinking it. Do you really need to form a team just to discuss countermeasures?”
“Huh?”
“There’s a skill called Mana Detection, right? You could use that to easily identify cheaters.”
“Mana Detection?”
“Yeah. Specifically, use Mana Detection to check the amount of mana emanating from their bodies. You’ve been in gates, Team Leader, so you know players emit different amounts of mana depending on the skills or items they use. But here, everyone’s a 1-level player, so just inspect anyone emitting above-average mana.”
“Ah!”
Jeong Cheol-min’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
Su-ho had practically spoon-fed it to him, so even an idiot would get it now.
Su-ho added.
“Of course, my mana output might be a bit high. Unlike other players, I soloed a gate recently...”
“Oh, we know that, of course. Anyway, thank you so much. This is advice we never would have thought of. And Mana Detection isn’t a rare skill, so we can gather people quickly.”
“So you’ll apply it starting this exam?”
“We’ll try it from the practical exam. Between your Sudden Gate solo clear and this advice, Su-ho, you might as well be a pro hunter already.”
“Haha, no.”
“No, I mean it. Actually, there was talk internally about special recruitment, but you showed up for the exam the very next day... Haha, don’t worry. Even if you fail this time, I’ll somehow arrange a special recruitment process.”
Special recruitment for the hunter exam.
Su-ho laughed at that.
“No, if we’re doing it, better to pass legitimately. Same for the National Hunter Association public recruitment. That way, there’s no controversy.”
Jeong Cheol-min’s eyes filled with admiration once more.
“As expected of you, Su-ho...”
“Then I’ll head to the practical exam.”
“Yes, thank you. Oh, and Su-ho.”
“Yeah?”
“Personally, I really hope you pass. And if possible, I’d love to work with you.”
Su-ho smiled in response and headed to the practical exam hall.
***
While Jeong Cheol-min urgently gathered the supervisors based on Su-ho’s tip, Su-ho, who had moved to the practical exam hall, reminisced while looking at the ‘Dive Capsules’ set up around the venue.
‘Man, that’s an old version. It’s been forever.’
The Dive Capsule was a virtual reality device developed by major domestic corporations’ research labs. By entering the capsule and linking consciousness, one could send their mind into a virtual world—like something out of a ‘game fantasy novel.’
‘People used to say the world would turn upside down once VR capsules came out...’
But the world flipped over even faster for other reasons.
Still, VR remained popular and was widely used as training devices for players like now.
Unawakened people even played VR games.
At that moment, the supervisor who had introduced the exam process earlier suddenly announced an emergency notice.
“Attention, examinees! Due to a Dive Capsule issue, the exam will be delayed by 2 hours. Please use the lounges or training areas in the exam hall and wait!”
A sudden delay announcement.
Wondering why, Su-ho looked around and immediately understood.
The capsule issue was an excuse.
He could see Jeong Cheol-min taking various measures based on his tip.
‘They’re planning to do Mana Detection before entering the capsules. As expected of Cheol-min hyung—he gets things done.’
The practical exam was delayed, but only by 2 hours.
Gathering personnel to catch cheaters in that short time was proof of his competence.
With time to kill, Su-ho decided to leisurely check out the examinees.
From this exam on, with skill detection applied, a ton of cheaters would be caught, dropping the pass rate even lower than before—that much was obvious.
‘I think there were 1,200 applicants this round?’
A lot.
And with an average pass rate under 20%, Su-ho recalled this round’s was under 10%.
That’s why they adjusted the difficulty down a bit next year.
‘In other words, those who pass this exam are the real top-tier talents.’
That made it even more necessary to scout the examinees.
If there was anyone useful among them, he needed to recruit them to the National Hunter Association somehow... exactly under his command, like Guardian Strong Power.
As he wandered the training hall, Su-ho spotted someone completely unexpected.
‘Huh? That guy... no, that bastard?’
Thinking he might be wrong, he approached closer. The practice weapon he held and everything confirmed it.
‘Park Yong. This guy was in this round?’
A man with droopy eyes, hugging his sword and dozing against the wall.
His name was Park Yong.
Contrary to his sloppy appearance, he was a future major criminal... no, a super-class criminal who became the notorious serial killer targeting only hunters.