Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The S-Rank Proctor
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Ting-!
Finally, the last pin came loose.
The Giant Horn Ogre, now free, threw its head back and roared in triumph.
"Kraaaaaah!"
And its first target was, of course, Shim Young-jin.
Freed from its chains, the Giant Horn Ogre prepared to leisurely hunt the tiny human who barely reached its waist.
‘Damn it, a man’s got his pride. It’s do or die!’
Running away now would get him nowhere.
He never planned on hunting the Giant Horn Ogre in the first place, so he should be able to manage just dodging it.
He'd just hold out until the proctor arrived, then he could blindside him.
There’s no way the proctor would have released a Giant Horn Ogre onto the field without a plan, so he must be strong enough to handle it. And he could score points off the proctor with just a minor injury, not murder or serious harm.
In short.
‘When the Giant Horn Ogre has the proctor’s aggro, I’ll attack him and then bolt!’
For now, Shim Young-jin fled into the forest.
Even a creature with keen senses would have trouble finding him once he was out of sight.
But in his attempt to use the environment, focused only on hiding, he overlooked one crucial thing.
Pow-!
Swoooosh-!
The branches of the trees swayed violently from the force of the Giant Horn Ogre’s punch.
The wind pressure was immense.
"Gasp!"
And hiding in the forest proved to be a huge mistake.
The rustling leaves falling from the trees obscured his vision.
Not only that, but the tangled undergrowth and exposed tree roots hindered his movement.
‘Where should I run?’
They say that when a person panics, they can neither see nor hear anything.
That was exactly his state now.
Faced with this unexpected situation, his mind went blank.
And he made a choice he shouldn't have.
‘First, get to a place with a clear view.’
He committed the foolish act of returning to the clearing.
The Giant Horn Ogre, which had been standing still, couldn't believe its luck.
"Krararak!"
The Giant Horn Ogre threw a punch at Shim Young-jin, who was too slow to react.
But why does misfortune always strike in succession?
Just as Shim Young-jin, who had narrowly dodged the punch, landed, he lost his footing.
At that moment, the chain trailing from the Giant Horn Ogre’s fist ricocheted off a rock embedded in the ground.
Clang-.
The chain’s pin flew high into the air.
His eyes met the tip of the pin as it plummeted straight down from the sky.
"Shit, please, save me!"
Shwoook-.
Thud-!
***
‘Am I dead?’
His eyes were squeezed shut.
He’d clenched them so tightly he could almost see his own optic nerves.
And when he finally opened his tightly shut eyes, the sky was dark.
The sky, which should have been bright, was obscured by something.
"Mmph! Get ahay fom heah!"
Someone was there.
Standing in front of Shim Young-jin, speaking in a muffled voice.
Shockingly, the person was holding the end of the massive pin between their teeth!
"Haa… I’m alive!"
Shim Young-jin let out a sigh of relief.
He had been worried this would end up as a front-page headline.
His uncle wouldn't have let it go, but what good would that do if he were already dead or crippled?
"Hey! I said get lost!"
"What?"
Thud-!
"Hey! Get out of here, now!"
"Yes, sir!"
The proctor who had saved him spat the pin onto the ground next to him, clearly annoyed.
Finally understanding, Shim Young-jin scrambled away on all fours.
"Tsk, tsk. What a shame, what a waste."
The proctor clicked his tongue as he looked at the Giant Horn Ogre.
He kept hesitating, reluctant to attack.
"Giant Horn Ogre, what should I do with you? Huh? It’s a waste to kill you, but if I just let you go, you’ll cause trouble for the other examinees. Some worthless piece of trash had to go and stir up this mess."
Glaaare-.
Shim Young-jin flinched as the proctor glanced at him.
A cold sweat began to run down his back.
His eyes filled with terror at the thought that a human could radiate such an aura.
"Aigoo, my apologies. When I brought you here, I planned to raise you well for a long, long time. May you go to a better place."
Flash-.
In an instant, the proctor vanished.
"Huh?"
When Shim Young-jin saw the proctor again, he realized all his plans had come to nothing.
Drip-.
Drip, drip-.
In the proctor's mouth was the Giant Horn Ogre's head, held upside down. Blood dripped from its blue cheek, its wide-open eyes, and its smooth scalp onto the ground below.
"Ptooey."
Thump-.
As the proctor spat, the Giant Horn Ogre’s body collapsed.
‘No way. What about my score?’
Shim Young-jin’s greatest miscalculation was not considering the possibility that the proctor could completely overwhelm the Giant Horn Ogre.
How strong would someone have to be to overwhelm a Giant Horn Ogre?
The only person he could think of was his uncle.
In the end, it was all over before he could even lift a finger.
"Aaaaargh!"
Shim Young-jin tore at his hair, screaming at the top of his lungs.
The proctor frowned at Shim Young-jin before turning his head toward the deeper part of the forest.
But he quickly looked back at Shim Young-jin and crooked a finger.
"So noisy. Hey, you little bastard, get over here."
"Sir!"
Shim Young-jin, who had been wailing, shot to his feet and scurried over.
He’d probably never run that fast even if his mother—no, his uncle—had called him.
And then the punishment began.
"Alright, down."
"Uh… Down!"
"Up."
"Up!"
"Down. Roll left, roll right."
"Down! Roll left, roll right!"
…
***
For nearly an hour, the cycle of down and up continued.
Only after he was drenched in sweat and covered in mud did the grueling punishment finally end.
"You little punk, you’ve got some grit, I’ll give you that."
"Yes, sir!"
Shim Young-jin answered in a loud voice.
He was afraid he’d be ordered to do it again otherwise.
"You won’t pull any more stupid stunts, will you?"
"No, sir! Absolutely not!"
He answered obediently.
But inwardly, he was thinking something else.
‘Son of a bitch, who does he think he is?’
At first, the oppressive aura that enveloped him had filled him with fear, making him instinctively obey the proctor’s orders.
But as it went on, he started to find it strange.
He was an examinee, so why should he have to endure this kind of punishment?
Besides, fear be damned, the physical exhaustion was starting to make him angry.
Shim Young-jin, with his immense pride.
He shot to his feet and confronted the proctor.
However.
‘How can that cheerful expression and that devilish face belong to the same person?’
Unfortunately, the result of his spirited defiance was an even harsher punishment.
He was disciplined so severely he couldn't even squeak, and squat jumps and jumping jacks were added to the rolling left and right.
Even someone as prideful as Shim Young-jin couldn't hold onto his ego forever.
"Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself, have I?"
The proctor said, reaching into his clothes.
‘About damn time.’
Shim Young-jin was dumbfounded but pretended otherwise, answering in a loud voice.
"Not at all, sir! May I ask for your esteemed name?"
"Hahaha, you punk… I like your style. My name is Kang Young-chan."
Kang Young-chan held out his ID tag.
It wasn't a Hunter License, but an ID exclusive to the Suppression Corps.
Shim Young-jin stared at it, and upon seeing a particular letter written there, he began to stutter.
"A-… a-… an S?"
No matter how he looked at it, the ‘S’ was clearly written there.
Knowing what S-Rank signified, Shim Young-jin could only be flabbergasted.
"Ah, it’s no big deal."
Kang Young-chan, calling S-Rank no big deal.
Who in the entire world could speak of S-Rank so casually?
No one but an S-Rank themselves.
Once, Shim Young-jin had asked Song Deok-hoon, an A-Rank.
‘Uncle, what would happen if you fought an S-Rank?’
‘Well, it depends on who it is, but I might stand a chance.’
What Song Deok-hoon meant was that it would only be possible if he used all his strength and his opponent went easy on him.
But Shim Young-jin, failing to grasp the true meaning, came to believe that while his uncle was A-Rank, he wasn't far from S-Rank and would soon reach that level.
However, a vast chasm exists between A-Rank and S-Rank.
It wasn't like the difference between a child and an adult.
The gap was far greater, like the difference between a Paleolithic man hunting animals with a hand axe and a modern human launching a rocket to explore the moon.
‘No way. Why is an S-Rank in a place like this?’
S-Ranks aren't just strong individuals.
They are beings capable of changing the world, categorized as S, a class above A.
In the past, each one was equivalent to a nuclear missile.
‘But why haven’t I seen him before?’
Our country has a total of three S-Rank Hunters.
It's not a small number compared to other countries.
The United States has seven, Japan has four, Russia has three, China has six, and the European Union has nine.
Other countries like India, Canada, and Brazil also have at least one S-Rank Hunter each.
However, these are just the publicly known numbers.
It was an obvious fact that there were hidden S-Rank Hunters.
And Kang Young-chan was one of them.
"What, you don’t believe me?"
Kang Young-chan said with a sly grin.
"Not at all! I believe you!"
"Doesn’t look like it."
"It’s true! You showed me your ID, and I saw it with my own two eyes. How could I not believe you?"
"Heh. Just kidding. What am I gonna do if you don’t believe me?"
"Yes…"
Shim Young-jin replied in a dejected voice.
He then stared blankly at Kang Young-chan.
"What, is there a problem?"
"No. I was just wondering why you aren’t leaving…"
The situation with the Giant Horn Ogre was over.
As a proctor, he had successfully saved the examinee, and the examinee needed to continue with the test.
Besides, it wasn't a one-to-one match between proctor and examinee; one proctor had to manage multiple examinees.
So why.
Why wasn't Kang Young-chan leaving?
"Hm? Go where?"
"I have to take my test now, are you going to stay here?"
"Yep. I am. I’m gonna watch you."
"Huh? Why?"
"Why not? Don’t worry about me and just do your thing."
With that, Kang Young-chan climbed a nearby tree.
When Shim Young-jin looked up, Kang Young-chan grinned at him.
‘I’m screwed. This test is ruined.’
Shim Young-jin tore at his hair once again.