Hunter Training: Practical Course (4)

The two of them had already gauged each other's speed, and the exchange of blows continued without pause.

Whenever the assassin thrust, the slightly slower Choi Yeon blocked or deflected the strike.

"Heh heh...!"

The assassin laughed. Even though every swing of his assassin's blade was being stopped, he remained completely at ease.

How he would carve up his opponent from here on out was entirely up to him—the faster of the two.

"So you killed a Jeokryeohui executive, huh? Must've been all thanks to those Nubyeok bastards, right?"

The question, not expecting an answer, flew in together with the blade.

Clang...!

The half-lidded eyes that barely managed to block it were only C-class hunter level. Even being generous, he was no higher than that....

"That settles it."

The assassin made his judgment. If he pressed even faster, the other man would no longer be able to keep up.

Or so he thought.

Thump—the mana inside the assassin's body accelerated in accordance with that decision.

Clang, clang, clang! Clang!

Naturally, the number of times the assassin's blade stabbed at Choi Yeon multiplied.

And yet—

"......?"

Even after increasing his speed, the blade never achieved its original purpose.

He thrust—and it was blocked. He thrust faster—and it was still blocked.

Only after nearly ten exchanges did he realize something had gone wrong.

What the hell? What on earth is going on...?!

Cold sweat now beading on his skin, the assassin saw Choi Yeon's face reflected in his eyes.

The hunter blocking the blade looked utterly calm.

I've been had. He played me!

With that realization, the acceleration of his mana came to an end. The frequency of his thrusts dropped noticeably as well.

Clang, clang! Clang!

But the ringing of metal on metal did not diminish.

As if they had switched offense and defense, the number of times the dagger sliced and stabbed in place of the assassin's blade only increased.

"Ugh, uugh...!"

A groan escaped the assassin's lips.

He desperately wanted to escape the storm of dagger strikes, but it was simply impossible.

He was already hard-pressed just to block the attacks that came like a tempest, and even when he tried to open distance by moving his feet, it was the same.

Somehow the other man always knew—Choi Yeon's foot planted first on the ground the assassin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meant to step on.

After that repeated over and over, he no longer dared even think of moving his feet.

Blocking the dagger was his only path to survival... and even that was growing difficult.

Bit by bit, the dagger drew closer.

At this rate, he would lose his life before they even reached ten more exchanges.

I can't let that happen...!

The assassin accelerated his mana once more.

Having already used it once, his mana circuits were near their limit, but he could not simply stand there and watch his own death unfold.

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He gathered the accelerated mana into both legs.

Just as anyone would when facing an enemy they could not defeat in a fight—he prepared to flee backward—

"Trying to run?"

He never got the chance to leap.

Choi Yeon's dagger had already slipped past the assassin and come to rest behind his neck. It could have severed his head right then and there, yet it did not.

Gulp....

The assassin swallowed hard and glanced back at the dagger.

Seeing the razor-sharp edge, he realized that if he had jumped backward just now, he would have cut his own throat.

"......Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you go all-out from the start?"

"If I had, you might've just run without even trying to fight."

"......!"

"I'm not exactly great at tracking people."

Monsters that left traces without realizing it were one thing, but chasing an assassin whose daily life consisted of erasing his tracks was another matter entirely.

Moreover, Choi Yeon possessed not a single detection skill. If he had, things would have been different.

"Huuuh...! Me, Baekmyeon...! Treated like a goblin today of all days!"

"Your name's Baekmyeon, is it?"

"That's right. I am none other than—"

"Never heard of you."

Bam!

Choi Yeon seized Baekmyeon's face and slammed it straight into the ground.

Whatever the man had been about to boast about, his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.

Once he was out cold, his mana scattered and the shape of his face changed. His original features were revealed.

"Oh...."

An assassin who used a skill to meticulously alter his face....

There was a high chance a bounty was on his head.

In other words, handing over a wanted criminal meant he could secure some precious vacation time.

"Next time I run into those Jeokryeohui bastards, I should thank them...."

Muttering to himself, Choi Yeon snapped ability-suppressing handcuffs onto Baekmyeon's wrists.

Just to be safe, he also bound him tightly with wire.

Vacation was a sacred thing, after all.

When Choi Yeon returned, the apprentices were already in the middle of hunting goblins.

The only apprentice still at the campsite was Yu Ha-rin, who had apparently stayed behind because she could not shoot her bow at goblins.

If she had been able to shoot, she would have been out there with the others.

Yu Ha-rin carefully asked,

"Are you... angry?"

"No."

"......"

"I mean it. I expected you all would do something like this."

"You expected it?"

"Yes."

When he had left to deal with the assassin, Choi Yeon had not given a clear order.

If he had truly wanted the apprentices to wait quietly, he would have told them to stand by and then left.

That was also why he had added the instruction to fire a signal flare if anything dangerous happened.

"Whether you can do it or not. Whether you should do it or not. In a dungeon, every choice has to be made by yourselves."

"Ah...."

"As long as it wasn't a decision you were forced into, I don't mind. So I'll ask—there wasn't any of that, right?"

"No, there wasn't. Everyone moved based on their own judgment that they could handle it."

"Good enough, then."

With a satisfied expression, he watched the apprentices still hunting.

Paired up in twos, they were steadily reducing the number of goblins.

To the east of the campsite, Kang Woo-seok and Kim Yerin followed what they had been taught: they properly drew the goblins in before finishing them off.

When Kim Yerin killed one with a Magic Missile, Kang Woo-seok smashed the skull of any goblin that got close with his shield.

As fellow graduates of the same GYM, their coordination was flawless.

The party that had gone west of the campsite showed a slightly different pattern, thanks to Seo Yun-jae.

His casting speed was so fast that two goblins were no problem for him alone. Only when three or more appeared did Ko Sung-yoon's gauntlets come into play.

Having quickly cleaned up the area around the campsite, the apprentices returned.

"Good work. You did well."

"...What? Why are you just praising us?"

Kang Woo-seok replied with a flustered face.

His goal had been to massacre the goblins quickly and come back so that those half-lidded eyes would open wide in surprise.

But he had never expected actual praise. He had been bracing himself for a scolding about acting on their own....

Yu Ha-rin, who knew the reason, explained it to him and the other apprentices.

"Hehe, I knew it!"

"You're right. He never actually told us to wait...."

"Whoa.... You thought that far ahead in that short time? As expected of Squinty Eyes...!"

"...Grr."

Everyone else was impressed, but Kang Woo-seok alone clenched his fists and trembled with rage.

The fact that what he had thought was him doing as he pleased had actually been entirely within the palm of the other man's hand felt like an insult.

"...Well then, shall we go hunt the goblin shaman?"

Choi Yeon pretended not to notice Kang Woo-seok and walked past him. He had nothing particular to say anyway.

What was he supposed to say? That no matter what you do, you're in the palm of my hand, so stop acting up?

He would not be seeing this face for a while after today's report anyway, so there was no need for such words.

He stopped.

When they were roughly eighty meters from the campsite, Choi Yeon halted the apprentices and looked at Yu Ha-rin.

"Apprentice Yu Ha-rin. Want to try shooting your bow?"

"Huh? But I...."

"You're experiencing cognitive dissonance, right? What did I say the solution was?"

"That you have to adapt to the monsters... Ah. I see."

Yu Ha-rin nodded.

To adapt to monsters, you first had to look them straight in the face.

If she kept avoiding them because she could not shoot her bow, when would her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brain ever adjust?

"...I'll do it."

The young archer drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and pulled the string.

She stopped. The previously fluid motion froze.

Once again, her fingers would not leave the string.

"Hooo...."

That is a goblin. That is a goblin. That is a goblin....

She closed her eyes, exhaled steadily, and repeated the thought.

Normally when she drew and released the bowstring she cleared her mind of all distractions, but right now it was the opposite.

Having emptied every last bit of air from her lungs, the archer opened her eyes.

"......"

She saw the goblin shaman.

It was jabbering something at the subordinate goblins around it.

Twang.

Her fingers released the string.

A second arrow followed, launching itself from the string, and a third did the same.

As the hand holding the bow lowered, the arrows sank into its body.

With an arrow in its shoulder, it instantly recognized the enemy.

Thud!

An arrow buried itself in its eye. The following arrow punched through its brow.

And so the goblin shaman died.

"Wooow! Amazing!"

"Holy crap...."

"Not bad at all."

"......"

The apprentices let out sounds of admiration.

It was possible because goblins died even to kitchen knives, but that did not diminish the fact that she had taken down a dungeon boss with only three arrows.

Even Kang Woo-seok stared fixedly at Yu Ha-rin. To possess skill like that and still mistake goblins for humans... he simply could not understand it.

Yu Ha-rin offered a shy smile and turned toward Choi Yeon, intending to thank him for the opportunity, but—

"Everyone, will you be all right?"

Choi Yeon's question came a beat faster, so she never got to deliver her thanks.

All right? About what?

"Those."

Poke.

Choi Yeon's index finger pointed at the campsite.

Having lost their leader in an instant, the goblins were scattering in panic and fleeing in every direction.

These were the same creatures that ran even when a comrade was killed. When their boss died, the result was obvious.

As a mage, Kim Yerin quickly grasped the situation and asked,

"Don't tell me we have to catch all of them too?"

"Yes. That's how a full sweep is completed."

"Knowing that, why did you have us kill the goblin shaman first?"

"Hmm.... Because experiencing something firsthand is the best way to make it stick in your memory?"

"Wow, wow...! Look at how sneaky he is—no wonder they call him Squinty Eyes!"

Kim Yerin's mouth fell open in shock.

She even clutched her own arms and shuddered.

What did having half-lidded eyes have to do with being sneaky?

Choi Yeon, who had no intention of trying to understand her words, simply shrugged.

"If we don't catch all of them, the program doesn't end, right?"

"Come on, you're joking."

"Haha."

"...It is a joke, right?"

"Ahaha."

"Ch-chase them! We can't let any get away!"

Seo Yun-jae shouted.

Just as Kim Yerin had a moment earlier, he—as the party's other mage—had seen straight through Choi Yeon's true intentions.

Choi Yeon was serious. They would have to hunt down every last goblin that had fled before the program would end....

"I'll wait at the gate. Oh, and bring their noses as proof!"

Choi Yeon sent words of encouragement after the apprentices as they chased the goblins.

It was encouragement filled with genuine sincerity, but—

"Over there! One o'clock, one of them!"

"Magic Mis—ack! I bit my tongue!"

"Caught the one that ran toward nine o'clock!"

"All three of them?"

"Huh? Wasn't it two?"

—it never reached the apprentices' ears.

Ahh, it's nice seeing them work so hard.

After nodding a few times in satisfaction, Choi Yeon briefly stepped outside the dungeon and came back in. He needed to move Baekmyeon, whom he had left dumped at the rest area.

In the meantime, the apprentices returned to the gate.

"Twelve, thirteen, fourteen.... Oh. You really caught them all?"

They had been faster than he expected, so he had thought some goblins might have gotten away... but no.

The apprentices had killed every last one of the fourteen goblins that had been at the campsite.

Poke!

Kim Yerin jabbed Kang Woo-seok in the side. He had been the one who suggested they just hunt roughly and leave, claiming there was no way anyone had counted the fleeing goblins.

If they had followed his suggestion... the apprentices would have had to turn around and thoroughly search the entire area around the campsite all over again.

"All right. With this, the Jung-gu Office Hunter Apprenticeship Program Practical Course is complete."

"Yes! Finally...!"

"You all did well."

"Thank you for your hard work!"

"You can receive your certificates of completion from the manager over there."

Choi Yeon pointed to the manager standing in front of the management office. The apprentices offered brief farewells and headed over.

Only Ko Sung-yoon and Yu Ha-rin stayed behind a moment longer to express their thanks separately.

...Oh, right.

"Everyone, don't forget—the program rating is out of five points! Give it a perfect score!"

"Yeah, yeah."

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The replies came half-heartedly.

Only Ko Sung-yoon, who already knew him, grinned and gave a double thumbs-up.

Watching the apprentices receive their certificates one by one, Choi Yeon left Solbat Park with Baekmyeon slung over his shoulder.

He planned to turn this guy in and secure some vacation time. While he was at it, he would also collect the bounty and whatever information came with it.

"I'm back...!"

Choi Yeon returned to the Dongdae office without the slightest thought of detouring anywhere else.

Come to me, vacation!

—or so he foolishly thought.

However—

"Huh? You're...."

A face that was not one of the usual ones was sitting in the Dongdae office.