Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Survival Test
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Two hours had already passed since he entered the exam hall.
An announcement came from the speaker above the podium, the voice clear and distinct.
[Attention, please. All examinees, please put down your writing utensils immediately and place your hands below your desks. Afterward, please follow the proctor's instructions….]
"You've all worked very hard. I will remember the faces of those who will one day protect our nation, and I will always be cheering for your future. That is all."
After delivering the heartwarming words, the exam proctor gave a deep, ninety-degree bow and left.
A considerable number of the examinees seemed moved by his words and actions, remaining seated for a moment longer.
However, there was someone else who couldn't get up for a different reason.
*What was the answer to question 17?*
Do-jae hastily pulled a book from his packed bag and flipped through it.
He then checked if the year mentioned in the question matched the answer.
*It's correct. Good thing I stuck with my first choice.*
After double-checking a few more questions, he stood up with a look of relief.
It had been a short period, but he felt that studying his heart out hadn't been a waste.
*The results are out tomorrow, so just one day. Let's rest for just one day.*
Now that it was over, fatigue washed over him more than joy.
Tossing and turning last night, waking up intermittently to flip through his workbooks, had also taken its toll.
"Hey, how'd the test go?"
"I think I'm screwed. It was crazy hard."
"Me too. Ha, I should've studied at least a little yesterday. What about you, Young-jin?"
"You think I'm like you guys? It was a piece of cake."
"That's Young-jin for you."
"We should've studied with Young-jin instead of going to the PC bang."
The sound of their boisterous chatter came from over there.
*Huh, isn't that them?*
Among the people leaving the exam hall, three figures stood out.
Shim Young-jin, Kim Jun-soo, and Seong Min-ho.
The three of them walked along, chattering nonstop, clearly excited about something.
*I think Seong Min-ho was C-rank, and the other two were D-rank?*
Shim Young-jin and Kim Jun-soo's ranks had gone up.
And in a short amount of time, too.
Either they had immense potential, or they'd reawakened.
Or maybe there was something that could raise their abilities.
The most realistic possibility was that, like the employee at the Seoul Regional Hunter Administration, their mana scanning had been done incorrectly.
"Young-jin, you think what your uncle said is true?"
"What about it?"
"That we just have to last two years. He said he'd get us a spot in the guild if we just endure for two years."
"Hey, are you saying my uncle was lying? You son of a bitch?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant..."
His friends fumbled for words at Shim Young-jin's retort.
Watching them from a distance, Do-jae finally burst out laughing.
"Pfft."
He had wondered why they were taking the exam.
Especially Shim Young-jin, who had the solid backing of a Vice Guild Master of a major guild. Why would he want to join the Suppression Corps?
"Do you know why my uncle told me to join the Suppression Corps?"
"Isn't it just so you'd do something instead of lazing around?"
"Idiot, you think my uncle would say that for such a simple reason?"
"Then what is it?"
"I understood his meaning, that's why I told you guys to take the officer exam. Look, if we become officers, we'll have grunts under us, right? Then we can learn leadership by commanding them. When our uncle gets us into the guild, he won't bring us in as rookies, but as something like assistant team leaders, don't you think? Plus, with this experience, no one can complain."
"Whoa... that's amazing. Young-jin, you thought that far ahead."
"Ha, you guys. What would you do without me?"
"Thanks, Young-jin."
"Young-jin, let's stick together forever!"
Do-jae burst out laughing again.
If they had seen Song Deok-hoon's expression back then, they would have known he definitely didn't send them here with that in mind.
*The way I see it, your friend was right, buddy.*
After a good laugh, Do-jae watched Shim Young-jin and his friends walk away.
And unfortunately, a rather unpleasant thought crossed his mind.
*I hope I don't end up in the same unit as them.*
***
*Ah, why again?*
A sense of unease washed over him.
The second round of the Suppression Corps officer exam, the practical test.
And of all people, they were here again, in the clearing designated as the waiting area.
Shim Young-jin and his friends!
*Of all the test sites, it had to be this one.*
There were eight practical exam sites scattered across the country.
Do-jae was at Test Site 1, located in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province.
He'd gone through the trouble of starting at the crack of dawn to get to the edge of Cheorwon, only to find the trio sitting right there.
Seeing as the three of them were already sitting side by side, it looked like they had come from Seoul together.
*I should try to stay out of sight. I have a bad feeling about getting involved with them.*
Do-jae sat down as far away from the three as he could.
But when he thought about it, they hadn't really done anything wrong to him.
A bit of trash talk and some casual condescension?
In fact, compared to others in his past, they had actually been considerate.
To put it bluntly, whether they wanted to or not, they had included an F-rank in their raid and even paid him a decent amount.
So why was Do-jae trying to distance himself from them?
Just because they were childish?
Because they were pathetic?
But on second thought, weren't these the same things others used to think about him?
When that realization hit him, Do-jae suddenly felt a sense of self-loathing.
*Get a grip, Lee Do-jae. Who you are now is a product of luck. Never forget your past.*
He steeled his resolve.
There was nothing more unsightly than becoming the very people who had looked down on him.
Do-jae stood up.
He was going to greet them first.
*Tap, tap—*
"Examinees, please take your seats. We will now begin the briefing for the second evaluation."
***
The second evaluation was a three-day, two-night survival test.
Due to the nature of the Suppression Corps, battles often turned into long-term engagements rather than short skirmishes.
Thus, this second evaluation was introduced to determine whether candidates could survive when dropped into the middle of nowhere.
"Pant, pant."
A man was running through a dense forest, pushing past weeds that came up to his thighs.
His pants were stained dark green from the crushed weeds, a testament to how long he had been pushing through the woods.
"We have to do this for three days? This is insane."
The man muttered quietly as he hid his body inside a narrow cave that only came up to his waist.
About six hours had passed since the test began.
He hadn't rested once, constantly running through the mountains.
Even for a physical-type hunter like him, it was no easy task.
*Rustle—*
"Damn it..."
The man shot out of the cave like an arrow, his sword held in both hands.
An ambush.
A cowardly ambush, you ask?
Perhaps, if they were on equal footing, but it wasn't a fitting word for the one being hunted.
*Clang!*
Bright sparks flew.
But the place where the man's sword struck was odd.
Because it wasn't his opponent's weapon, but their mouth.
To be more precise, the sword was lodged between their front teeth.
"Hey now, I went pretty easy on you, didn't I?"
*Crunch—*
*Crunch— crunch— crunch!*
The man's hard, sharp sword was being chewed to pieces.
The precious sword he'd spent a fortune on was being ground to bits.
"Aaargh! My sword!"
"Told you, you should've picked your fights better. You didn't do your homework, did you? Rule one of the Suppression Corps' second evaluation: never attack the proctors! Especially the proctors in Cheorwon—don't even make eye contact!"
The man began to regret his actions.
He'd thought he was skilled enough, but that was just arrogance.
He was about to declare his forfeit to end this grueling game of tag.
"Ugh. I'm sorry. I for... Mmph!"
Just as he was about to continue.
A large palm was suddenly covering his mouth.
"What? You want to forfeit? Already? It was just getting fun. Let's play some more. You wanna be 'it' this time? I'll even hop on one foot. So, what do you say?"
The palm was removed.
The man tried once again to declare his forfeit.
But unfortunately, he couldn't get any sound out past the "for-" this time either.
"No, that's not... I for... Mmph..."
"Tsk, no. You can do it! Alright, I'm hiding now. You know what happens if you don't find me in an hour, right?"
*Poof—.*
*Swoosh—.*
The man was left alone in the empty forest, despairing.
What would happen if he couldn't find him within the hour?
***
*Slice!*
Do-jae's sword severed the worman's arm.
With both arms already severed, the worman collapsed to the ground from blood loss.
"Ugh... they really gathered a bunch of these things."
Thick, green blood oozed from the stump of the worman's arm, soaking the ground.
The thick hair covering its body, which had been standing on end, now went limp.
The insectoid monster, the worman.
It was one of the monsters that always made Forbes' Top Five Most Disgusting Monsters list.
*A worman is definitely an easy opponent for a C-rank. Is that why I only got this many points?*
The small electronic device they were given before the evaluation started.
It could be worn like a necklace, and the screen displayed a score in red LEDs.
[280]
The passing score was 1,000 points.
Six hours in, acquiring points at this pace wasn't slow.
However, aside from the initial 150 points, he had only encountered 5- or 10-point monsters like the worman.
At this rate, he'd have to kill dozens of them to reach 1,000 points.
*This could be cutting it close.*
Do-jae felt the pressure of the score.
It wasn't because 1,000 points felt like a huge number.
He had been moving relatively slowly until now, reading the flow of the evaluation and observing the situation at a leisurely pace.
But what if he went all out hunting monsters?
He could get 1,000 points in a single day.
But 1,000 points wasn't the end.
It was possible to score higher, and the rankings would be announced at the end of the evaluation.
The written, practical, and interview scores would then be combined to determine the final overall ranking.
In other words, unlike the written test and interview, which had fixed maximum scores, the practical test allowed one to earn points based on their ability.
*The current commander of the Suppression Corps' 2nd Division got the highest score, didn't he?*
A super-elite who had become a division commander just three years after enlisting in the Suppression Corps.
Rumor had it that he scored 116,000 points on the second practical evaluation.
The highest in history.
No one had scored that high since, but someone would break the ten-thousand-point mark every year or two.
*There's a clear limit to what I can get from wandering mobs. To get a massive number of points, I need to find boss monsters or hidden score items.*
There were various ways to earn points.
Monster hunting, survival, finding treasure, rescues, and so on.
But the wicked proctors never explained any of this.
They only ever called it a three-day, two-night survival test.
There were a lot of complaints at first, but over time, information got out, and now people just accepted it and took the test.
Thanks to that, the number of people passing the practical test increased each year, and the average score was also on the rise.
Which meant Do-jae also needed to score at least ten thousand points.
Only then could he list the headquarters as his first choice.
*And I'd rather not try this, but... if I'm short on points, I might have to go after a proctor.*
*Trudge, trudge—.*
*Stomp, stomp—.*
*Thud, thud!*
Do-jae gradually picked up his walking pace.
Now that he had made a decision, it was time for immediate action.
"Aaaargh!"
Just then, a scream rang out.
The voice sounded distinctly familiar.