Hunter Interview (3)

I stayed wound tight the whole way to Hunter Association Headquarters, right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up until I reached the room where Team Hell was waiting. The moment I opened the door and stepped inside, though, the tension vanished clean.

Maybe it was because I had already survived interviews for factory work. Or maybe it was simply that the people interviewing me were around my own age. Whatever the reason, not being nervous felt like a blessing.

From the start, Team Hell was easy to talk to, and at their urging I even dropped the formal speech. I answered a few questions and then showed them, plainly, that I truly could not use my ability. After that the three of them moved to another room to talk among themselves.

The team's atmosphere was, to my mind, far too light, and that lightness sat on me like a weight. It was not unpleasant, though. If I only passed the test, I figured I could get along with them well enough.

But that was only if I passed.

Now that they had gone off to confer, I could not help tightening up again. Whether I could join the team would be decided here. They might weigh my skill as well, but there was no way to know yet.

"So, how'd you find Haseong?"

At the question, the other two sank into thought. I figured they were probably turning over the same things I was.

Whatever the reason, it was a fact that he could not use his ability right now, and nobody understood what a hunter like that was worth better than hunters themselves. Still, we had been told as much beforehand. We had agreed to meet him with our eyes open.

"Quit brooding and just say something."

"All right. Honestly, it's a shame he can't use his ability, but we already knew that when we met him. So let's decide off his skill."

"I think Dohyeon's right. But he's got to be above average... no. Sorry to Haseong, but it looks to me like we'll have to see him do better than we're expecting before we take him."

"That too. Yeah. If he can't use his ability, he at least has to be strong... Hey. That's basically you saying we're not taking him, isn't it?"

They both had a point. If he could not use his ability, we would be in trouble unless he was stronger than we were. The problem was that Haseong was a rookie who had only just earned his hunter license. It was hard to believe his skill could surpass ours.

"First, let's check his skill."

What Team Hell told me when they came back was that they wanted to confirm my skill. A check of my actual ability was something I had already expected. To do it, we went down to the fourth basement floor of Hunter Association Headquarters.

Back when I had gone through basic training, I had come to B4 often. I still did not understand the principle in any detail, but there was a virtual training room that ran on holograms, and inside it the monsters that appeared in dungeons were rendered in light.

At first I had dismissed them as mere holograms. A few sessions of training had taught me they were nothing to take lightly. From what I had heard, the Hunter Association Headquarters had gathered every scrap of behavioral data on dungeon monsters and used it to build holograms more real than the real thing.

You entered wearing special gear. If a hologram monster's attack landed, it counted as a real hit. Hurt your left arm, and that arm locked so you could not move it. Take a blow that killed you, and you were marked dead, and the session ended.

I had the special gear on and was already inside the virtual training room. All that remained was to show Team Hell how I handled hologram monsters whose skill surpassed the real thing.

"Yes. You can start."

A countdown started, and the instant it hit zero the world around me changed. Ahead of me stood a Rhinoceros Monster, the kind that came out of the first-floor dungeons.

Every formation had its own way of handling a monster, and in my case I was meant to fight as cover. The problem was that I was alone in the training room, so I had to face it by myself. Formation meant nothing here.

The virtual training had begun.

Watching it pulled up the days when I had gone through the same drills, but this was no time to savor old memories. I looked ahead. A monster was charging straight at Haseong, and he slipped aside with almost casual ease.

A Rhinoceros Monster carried a glaring weakness. Its bulk and its speed meant that once it started running, it could not change direction mid-charge, so dodging that rush was the most basic of basics. What should have come next was chasing the monster down fast.

"Huh?"

Haseong closed on it at a speed I could hardly believe and cut into its flank.

"Wh-what kind of speed is that?"

"I thought I'd seen it wrong. Guess I didn't?"

I could understand Dohyeon and Seonwoo being shocked. I was even more thrown than they were.

When I forced myself to settle and look closely, the strike that had opened the monster's side looked almost light. His feet were fast, and the attack itself was fast and light as well.

"Huh?"

But it was not only his feet that were quick. Before the monster could even thrash, Haseong put in a follow-up and slipped back out in an instant.

"W-Woojin? How do you read that? From where I'm standing, his speed and his attacks are both insanely fast."

"I don't know yet either, but he's definitely fast. Then again, maybe he has to land that many hits just to equal one solid blow?"

"It... does look that way. But if he attacks like that, won't the aggro fall off way too fast?"

"...Right?"

Just as Dohyeon said, if the one on cover kept landing hit after hit, the front line could fuss over holding a monster's aggro all it wanted and still fail. A single heavy blow looked better.

I looked forward again. The monster had shaken off the pain and turned its attention back to Haseong.

Normally, when you fought one, the front-line formation had to slam a shield into its face so its gaze could not wander. Haseong, though—what would he do?

The monster ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠locked onto him and charged again. Once more he stepped lightly aside and let the attack pass, then followed it in just as before, drove his sword into its flank, and carved downward.

"...Bold."

"We're hunters too, but damn, that's scary."

"It's just brutal..."

Even with a hologram, acting that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boldly was not easy, and Haseong did it with perfect composure. All I could do was stare.

Ordinarily, hunting a monster alone meant you had to break off before it charged again. This one, its flank split halfway open, could only collapse where it stood and flail. Haseong put in one more attack and finished it.

I had been a hunter for two years. If someone asked whether, with everything I had built in that time, I could do what Haseong had just done in that training room, the answer was no. That was how far the level he had reached really went.

"Woojin!"

"...Yeah. Yeah, what?"

"The staff's asking you something."

"S-sorry. I spaced out."

"...I get it. I'm a little shocked myself."

"...Right. So what were they saying?"

"Yes. Would you like us to generate more holograms so you can confirm further?"

No matter how many times we watched, I figured the result would be the same. Haseong's skill was that far ahead.

"No. Please tell him we're finished, and that he should come out and rest a little. Dohyeon, Seonwoo, let's talk over there."

We moved to a room by ourselves, so we could talk about Haseong.

"So. What did you two think?"

"Whew. That was brutal. His skill was good, too. No—it was past what I thought."

"Agreed with Dohyeon. He just crushed that monster, didn't he? And without even using an ability."

Seonwoo's last line was the heart of it. He had shown that much on raw physical ability alone. What if an ability were added on top?

"Hearing the two of you, I can be sure of it. Haseong is out of our league."

At my words, both of them nodded.

Set against the skill of people like us, who barely made a living on the first floor, Haseong's was enough to settle the decision.

Something I had only ever imagined.

At first the monster charged me, and I slipped aside with ease. I turned at once, chased it down, and struck in a chain. I fell back, then watched it come again and dodged. This time I pursued, drove the sword in deep, and cut the flank clean through. The monster collapsed, and I finished it with a follow-up.

For the first time, I had done a thing that until now had lived only in my head.

I had worried I might slip, but I could not drag the fight out the way I had in basic training and show them some dull, drawn-out subjugation. Team Hell was watching every step of how I took the monster down, and whether I could join them hung on this. Thanks to that resolve, I could say I had hunted it without a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠single mistake—cleanly, even by my own measure.

Up to there, it had gone well.

"...It went really well, though..."

The virtual training ended after a single monster.

Afterward a staff member told me to rest. When I stepped outside, I heard from them that all of Team Hell had moved to another room and were talking. Honestly, the news that they had gone off to confer made me tense. I had expected to walk out of the virtual training room and get an answer on the spot.

After all that waiting, what I heard from Team Hell's leader, Lee Woojin, was this.

That was all of it.

I do not even remember how I got home after that.

"...Nngh. Ha! Aaagh!"

Maybe I really did not fit the team. But a better team than Hell? Rooting for me?

Honestly, it was hard to accept. I did not know what level other hunters' real skill sat at, but judging by the hunter videos on UTube, I did not think mine was bad. And yet I had failed the test.

"I can't accept this!"

Worse, a full week had already passed since the rejection, and there had not been a single word from Hunter Association Headquarters. It did not take more than a moment's thought to understand what that meant.

"I'm screwed."