The Hunter Ticketing War
I finished handling the paperwork for the magic mine and sent out the emails to the guilds and freelance hunters. Now, all that remained was to send an official request to the IT department regarding the server management for the ticketing page, and I’d be done.
Wait, what if the compensation is so low that nobody applies? What if they can’t manage the monsters and the magic mine becomes unusable? The thought alone made me giddy. If that happened, I’d surely be fired for losing a Grade 10 magic mine, right? Even if that didn’t happen, I had no major concerns. Since the selection process was based on a first-come, first-served ticketing system, there was no telling who would get in. It meant that precious mana stones could end up in the hands of A or B-class hunters first. Surely, I’d be flooded with massive complaints from the S-class hunters. My performance review was as good as dead, which was exactly what I wanted.
Sure enough, the phones started ringing off the hook a moment later.
“Yes, this is the Dungeon Management Team 3 of the Korea Hunter Association, Seocho Branch—”
—Hey! What the hell is this? What kind of nonsense is this first-come, first-served thing!
“It is exactly as stated. Only the hunters who secure a spot through the link opening at noon in two days will be granted dungeon management rights.”
—What? I thought you said you were going to sell the participation rights!
“That proposal has been scrapped.”
—What do you mean first-come, first-served? Do you have any idea how many people are going to swarm that site? Does that even make sense!
“There are no revisions.”
—Hey, hey—
Click.
I ignored the hunter screaming on the other end of the line and hung up. Similar calls continued to pour in, so I simply unplugged the phone line. Then, I sent another email to the guilds and freelance hunters.
How’s that? First time seeing an employee act this tough, right? I don’t know if I’ll get jumped in a dark alley tonight, but I can just take taxis everywhere. Fortunately, the protest calls stopped after I sent that email.
Hunters are, by nature, people at the very top of society. They’re wealthy and can get almost anything they want, so they’ve probably never had to deal with something like this. It’s definitely something that would make them angry. Once the ticketing ends, the hunters who couldn’t handle it will surely rise up in protest. Just like college students calling the department office when they fail to register for their classes.
“Hehehehe…”
The Association will surely blame me then. If hunters protest en masse, they might even cause a scene at the main headquarters, not just the branch. I was really looking forward to the day of the ticketing.
“…Yeo-won. What on earth is your son thinking?”
“I don’t know. He’s a child I can’t easily judge.”
“But Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo always does things with unknown meanings and produces shocking results. He must have a plan this time, too.”
“To say that, this just looks like he’s trying to screw over the hunters. The compensation is at the level of an E-class dungeon. Though, the mana stones alone are enough.”
“What do you think, Leon?”
“I do not know what ‘ticketing’ is.”
The guild building of the ‘Red Consortium.’ The guild members were gathered, discussing the official document that had come down from the Association. From the guild leader Leon to Jiwoo’s stepmother, Kim Yeo-won, no one could grasp the meaning of this action. If things went on like this, they were about to lose the chance to obtain mana stones because of a ‘ticketing’ process they had never even tried before.
The mana stones mined in earnest would surely be managed by the Association. And the Association would definitely restrict the sale of mana stones under the pretense of exports or balance between guilds. For the Association, and by extension the nation, the magic mine was a massive opportunity. Since they might have to compete with overseas hunters later, participating in the dungeon management and obtaining mana stones now was the easiest path.
Just then, Min Piya, an S-class hunter who had been playing games in the corner, spoke up.
“Isn’t it just a matter of doing the ticketing?”
“Piya. Have you done ticketing before?”
“I do it often. It’s not difficult.”
“Really? How do you do it?”
Min Piya liked participating in various concerts and events. Because she was interested in diverse cultures, she had plenty of experience with ticketing. Fundamentally, ticketing is just about getting onto the site and clicking faster than anyone else.
“The most important thing is to control the timing. At the exact moment it hits the hour, you have to click the access button on the site. A difference of 0.0000001 seconds divides the winner and the loser. If you click even a little too fast, a window pops up saying it’s not opening time yet, and you have to refresh. If that happens, the time has already passed, and the ticketing is a failure.”
“Hmm… so it’s a battle of pure reflexes.”
“Then it shouldn’t have been possible to fail against regular people. Hunters have vastly superior physical abilities.”
“That’s true. I’ve never failed a ticketing attempt since I awakened.”
“But this is a battle between hunters.”
“The fastest hunter wins… hunters with high agility will have the advantage.”
“Still, S-class hunters will likely have a higher chance of winning. There’s a fundamental difference in ability between ranks, such as dynamic visual acuity and reflexes.”
“Then it’s doable! It’s a fight to see who’s the strongest, right? At the very least, I should be in the top 43 among South Korean hunters!”
The hunters grasped the essence of what ticketing was. The dissatisfied atmosphere from just a moment ago vanished, and the mood ignited.
“This sounds fun! Where else would all the hunters in South Korea have a chance to compete?”
“You’ve stirred up something interesting, Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo. To think you had this intention.”
“I guess I’ll loosen up my fingers for the first time in a while.”
Red mana bloomed with heat within the ‘Red Consortium’ guild. The ‘Red Consortium’ was a group composed only of hunters with red mana, which appeared in only a fraction of awakened beings. That blood-red mana was different from an Unbound awakening. However, those with red mana were all powerful. Thus, most members of the ‘Red Consortium’ were S-class hunters, or at least those with the potential to reach S-class.
“Our guild will take most of the spots in this one.”
The small, elite ‘Red Consortium’ composed only of the strongest. The guild members’ blood boiled at the thought of proving their power.
Meanwhile, the situation was similar in other guilds.
“This is a complete battle of physicals. To think victory or defeat is decided in a split second.”
“You’ve stirred up something interesting, Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo. You never handle things simply, do you?”
“The amount of mana stones is quite significant for something he called ‘a small amount.’ This is an amount you can’t easily get from mining other dungeons.”
The hunters realized Jiwoo’s intent late. At first, they had protested because the system suddenly seemed strange. But after grasping the essence of the ‘ticketing’ system, they were all looking forward to it. It was a very simple method, but one that could easily gauge a hunter’s level. Moreover, if you won and proved your strength, you could even get mana stones as a reward. It was the perfect material to stimulate hunters.
And on the day of the ticketing.
The ticketing page opened exactly at noon. The hunters sat down, each equipped with the highest-end computers and internet connections.
“Victory or defeat is decided in a split second. It’s a shorter interval than when facing an S-class dungeon boss.”
“I will focus.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen Leon focus like this. Well, it’s a situation that could be decided by a 0.000000001-second difference. Sorry, but I don’t intend to go easy on you either.”
Leon, the guild leader of the ‘Red Consortium,’ was the same. Since this was his first time doing something like this, he configured his environment with Piya’s help. And for this moment, he practiced tens of thousands of times. As the moment of the decisive battle approached, Leon focused more than he ever had for any raid.
‘You must use the Nobelpia clock. The server opens exactly to that time.’
‘You must never click in a rush before it hits noon. If you do, it’s over.’
‘It’s a split second. If you lose focus for even a moment, countless people will pass you by in an instant.’
Piya’s advice swirled in his head. Leon kept running his long, red curly hair back like a lion, focusing on the clock moving by the second.
‘The time from when my finger moves to click the mouse is 0.0000000918 seconds. The reaction time of the mouse and computer is 0.00041 seconds. Then, I start the action exactly 0.0004100918 seconds before.’
Precise calculation. All that remained was to focus all his power into his dynamic visual acuity and concentrate for that split second.
“10 seconds left!”
Piya’s shout. The guild members who were with him also focused all their mana into their pupils and fingers. A seat to determine the strongest in reflexes among hunters. The thought that he absolutely could not lose on a national stage. 10 seconds that felt like 10 years passed.
And finally, the moment it turned to noon.
‘0.2 seconds, 0.1 seconds…’
Everything in the world stopped, as if time had slowed down. No, it was as if time was expanding, and the hunters’ time began to move slowly. The effect of immense focus. Hunters had the ability to control their muscles in nanosecond units, and the higher the rank, the more delicate that control was.
And the moment it turned to noon, the fingers of the S-class hunters, who had been focused as if frozen, moved in unison.
Click.
Leon clicked at the precisely calculated time. At the same time, the screen changed, and a page to enter hunter information appeared. For this part, he pasted the text he had copied in advance, just as Piya had advised. The time it took to get there was about 0.004 seconds.
A message appeared on Leon’s computer screen: [Application completed.]
“Hoo, hoo… hoo-ooh…!”
Leon, having poured all his energy into a split second of less than a second, collapsed while gasping for air. The other hunters of the ‘Red Consortium’ were the same.
“Did this work?”
“Yes. You succeeded, Leon!”
“Hoo… hoo… that was an incredible battle.”
“I, I already have a message saying the application is closed? Did I fail? Nooooooo!”
“Uwaaaaaah, I can’t believe I lost to Leon!!”
Most of the hunters in the ‘Red Consortium’ succeeded in the ticketing. But some of them had failed.
“Hmm. It was definitely cut off according to skill. If you consider the other hunters, it was likely done almost according to ranking.”
If you looked closely, the winners were divided exactly according to skill. That was how suitable the method Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo had chosen was for distinguishing the strong.
“Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo… he’s a scary person.”
Even Piya couldn’t help but feel fear at Shin Jiwoo’s amazing foresight. To think he would use a system like ticketing. It was clear he was a person who would definitely draw attention, even as a non-awakened.
And at that time, in the computer room of the Hunter Association headquarters.
“…Wait. Is this right?”
“What is it?”
“The magic mine that Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo is in charge of. There was a lot of talk about him doing it through ticketing or whatever. But… the list of people who successfully applied is strange…”
“Yes? Oh, oh? These are all S-class hunters… and 43 people were decided almost according to their rankings.”
“How on earth did a result like this come out? And wasn’t the compensation terrible, at the level of an E-class dungeon? Though, mana stones would be more important to hunters.”
“Wait, then does that mean Assistant Manager Shin Jiwoo hired 43 S-class hunters with only E-class dungeon compensation?”
“That’s…!”
Shin Jiwoo had managed to pull off another feat that would turn the Association upside down.