The Hunter Exam (5)
Choi Jungwoo let out a small sigh as he flipped through the documents. They contained the examinees' information. The one currently sauntering toward the center was examinee number 31.
'Park Minsu. Notable details... He's the son of Hunter Park Taeho.'
Park Taeho. A Knight class hunter ranked in the upper tier of B-class. In the hunter industry, even a B-class hunter commanded respect wherever they went. Perhaps it was the bloodline. Park Minsu's class was also Swordsman—the most standard option, but one that allowed steady growth into higher tiers. What stood out most was his mana capacity. It was the highest among all the examinees gathered here.
Choi Jungwoo's gaze shifted to Park Minsu's hand. A faint blue glow emanated from the blade. It meant this wasn't an ordinary weapon.
'He brought an artifact.'
Artifacts—equipment infused with magic. Most examinees taking the hunter exam didn't bring them. Mass-produced metal weapons designed for hunters were the standard. Even those cost a pretty penny. Besides, these examinees were still beginners without licenses. Entering a gate without a hunter license was basically illegal, so they couldn't have gained any real combat experience. Naturally, they lacked the skill to handle high-end weapons properly.
'Did he borrow his father's weapon?'
Choi Jungwoo clicked his tongue inwardly. It was far too good a weapon for an examinee. It was probably one of the pieces his B-class hunter father used.
'He won't be able to handle it.'
Magical tools were powerful, but they consumed the user's mana at a ridiculous rate. Especially flashy, glowing weapons like that one.
“Hup!”
Park Minsu let out a short shout and charged at the golem. His blue-glowing sword sliced through the air. First strike. Then the second. The golem smoothly deflected both attacks. But Park Minsu didn't stop. He changed his trajectory and unleashed a third consecutive strike. This time, the golem couldn't dodge.
Boom—!
A fierce shockwave exploded outward with a violent roar. The artifact's power had detonated.
“Whoa!”
Gasps of admiration rose from the watching examinees. But Park Minsu's expression wasn't great.
“You bastard!”
He seemed upset that the first two attacks had missed. With a flushed, excited face, he swung his sword at the golem.
Bang!Boom!
Loud explosive sounds rang through the training hall one after another. The firepower was on a completely different level from the previous examinees. Under the brutal assault, the golem was gradually pushed back. It was a sight none of the examinees from number 1 to 30 had shown.
“Wow.”
“He's insanely strong.”
Astonished voices echoed from all around. Some examinees were so excited they even stood up from their seats. However, Choi Jungwoo simply shook his head quietly as he watched.
'It's over.'
“Huff! Huff!”
Before long, Park Minsu's movements slowed noticeably. His breathing had reached his throat. Thick beads of sweat poured down his forehead like rain. Less than a minute had passed. Just as Choi Jungwoo had predicted. He couldn't withstand the artifact's excessive mana consumption, and his stamina had bottomed out.
The golem slowly approached Park Minsu.
“You bastard!”
Park Minsu gritted his teeth and swung his sword.
Clang—!
But the blade no longer emitted any blue light. His mana was completely depleted. On top of that, his stamina was gone, so there was no real power behind the strike. The golem easily knocked the sword aside, then grabbed Park Minsu with both hands. It twisted his arm and snapped it.
“Aaaargh! S-surrender! I surrender!”
Park Minsu screamed desperately. Only then did the golem release his twisted arm. His face burning bright red, Park Minsu glared at the golem. He was ashamed of how pathetically he'd screamed at the end. But the crowd's reaction was different.
“Whoa~”
“That was awesome!”
A few examinees clapped and cheered. Hearing their applause, Park Minsu's expression softened considerably. Though he'd shown an embarrassing side at the end, he'd still displayed destructive power on a whole different level from the previous examinees. Feeling their envious gazes, his mood improved a bit.
“Wait, isn't this a system error? It twisted my arm way too hard.”
He deliberately raised his voice.
“There was no error. You're not injured, are you?” Choi Jungwoo replied. “We'll run a quick inspection and continue the exam.”
At those words, Park Minsu's lips twitched violently. He was desperately trying to suppress the corners of his mouth from curling upward. He thought the inspection was needed because of his incredible firepower.
Park Minsu puffed out his chest and declared, “Like I said earlier, if the golem breaks, it's not my responsibility. You know the indemnity contract is still valid, right?”
“It's not called a 'two-gu' contract... Yes. Don't worry and return to your seat.”
Choi Jungwoo answered half-heartedly and waved him off. After testing thirty-one people, it was simply time to replace the mana stone.
Before returning to his seat, Park Minsu glanced back at the golem.
'Holy shit, it's tough.'
He was inwardly impressed. He'd attacked with everything he had and thought he'd dealt plenty of damage. Yet the armor remained smooth and flawless, without even a scratch. Not a single dent on the golem's torso.
Park Minsu let out a deep sigh and trudged back to his seat. Meanwhile, the alchemists from the Hunter Association replaced the mana stone in the golem's back and performed a simple mechanical check.
While waiting for the inspection to finish, Choi Jungwoo skimmed the next examinee's profile.
'Examinee number 32 is...'
He frowned slightly as he looked at the document. Twelve years old. A young girl. Her class was Murim Practitioner. She'd learned demonic sect martial arts. The name of the technique was listed as unknown—even she didn't know it. And her internal energy level was at the lowest value the machine could measure.
'A kid who learned some weird martial art.'
Choi Jungwoo clicked his tongue inwardly. He felt a pang of pity. It would have been better if she'd learned orthodox sect techniques. They had solid foundations and allowed stable growth as one mastered higher-level arts. Demonic sect techniques, on the other hand, were avoided even among Murim practitioners. Stability was the most important factor in life-or-death battles, but demonic arts usually had severely distorted balance.
Of course, some exceptional demonic techniques existed. Still, compared to orthodox arts that were reliably average, they had a poor reputation in many ways.
“Inspection complete.”
At the alchemist's report, Choi Jungwoo nodded.
“We'll continue the exam. Next examinee, please step forward.”
At his voice, a small girl walked into the center of the training hall. She dragged a long weapon behind her with a scraping sound. It was an elongated weapon wrapped tightly in cloth.
“Oh.”
“Wow, she's cute.”
“Dude, she's just a kid...”
“I just meant she's cute, that's all.”
“She looks like a little doll.”
Soft murmurs of admiration spread through the crowd. Ignoring them, the girl stood boldly in front of the massive golem and stared up at its face with wide, innocent eyes.
“Examinee. You need to draw your weapon.”
“Ah.”
The girl finally let out a short sound of realization and fumbled to touch her weapon.
“Pfft.”
“Hahaha.”
Light laughter erupted among the watching examinees at her clumsy appearance. The girl's pale face turned bright red. Looking embarrassed, she lowered her head and hurriedly tried to untie the cloth knot.
At that moment—
Creak.
The golem, which had been still, suddenly lifted its head with a jerk.
Thud!Thud!
It strode heavily toward the girl. An overwhelming sense of pressure. Then it clenched its iron fist and swung at her.
“Eek!”
The girl let out a short scream and ducked her head. Whoosh—! The fist barely grazed over her head. But the golem's attack wasn't over. If anything, its movements grew even faster.
Whoosh!Whoooosh!
Heavy fists sliced through the air in rapid succession. Now the wind itself sounded chilling.
“Huh?”
“What's going on?”
Confused reactions burst from the surrounding examinees. The golem had never taken the initiative before. It only reacted according to the level of the examinee's first strike. A sudden preemptive attack like this was unheard of. And more than that—
Whoosh—!Whoooosh—!
The attacks were abnormally fierce. The golem swung both arms, striking with lethal intent.
“Isn't... isn't that dangerous?”
The watching examinees frowned. The examiners were just as flustered.
“Hunter Choi, something seems off with that thing, doesn't it?”
It was extremely rare for a hunter exam golem to malfunction. Even when problems occurred, it usually just resulted in reduced performance. But this golem was attacking the examinee as if it wanted to kill her.
One of the examinees watching the girl muttered quietly, “...But she's dodging it really well.”
“Eek!”
“This is weird...!”
“Give me time to draw my weapon!”
The girl shouted desperately, but every attack was missing her completely.
'Footwork?'
Choi Jungwoo was slightly impressed. The girl was using elegant footwork to perfectly deflect every strike. He couldn't identify the exact technique, but it was slightly unstable yet flowed like water. The imbalance actually created unpredictable movements. On top of that, faint afterimages lingered with every step, further disrupting the golem's attack system.
Boom—!
The golem brought both hands together and slammed them down from above.
“Whoa!”
For a moment it looked like it would hit, but it only struck the afterimage left by her footwork. She'd shifted slightly to the side and dodged perfectly. Instead, the training hall floor where she'd been standing caved in with a deep crater.
“I'm stopping this for now.”
Choi Jungwoo stood up. She was dodging well so far, but one mistake could lead to a serious accident. This situation clearly wasn't normal. He couldn't just keep watching.
“The weapon...”
“It's fine.”
Since he'd come in his capacity as an examiner, he didn't have a weapon on him. But Choi Jungwoo was an A-class hunter. He could easily subdue a hunter exam golem with his bare hands. Besides, there was no time to go get one.
Just as Choi Jungwoo was about to kick off the ground—
Booom!
The golem was one step faster. Its foot crushed the ground as it charged forward with terrifying speed. Choi Jungwoo's eyes widened. That was the golem's maximum velocity. Its internal limiter had been completely released. Even he hadn't expected this.
'Damn it. What kind of inspection did they even do?'
The golem charged like a mad beast. The two-meter-tall mass of iron barreled toward the girl, who was still frantically unwrapping her weapon.
“Whoa!?”
“Eek!”
The examinees, sensing the gruesome scene about to unfold, squeezed their eyes shut.
At that moment—
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiing—!
A metallic screech loud enough to rupture eardrums shook the entire testing hall. What followed was silence.
“W-what just happened?”
The examinees cautiously opened their tightly shut eyes. The two-meter iron mass that had charged past the girl now stood frozen in place. Shifting their gaze, they saw a long, black sword mark left where the golem had charged. Torn, fluttering cloth. A red-hot blade now revealed. And...
The golem, its center perfectly sliced in half.
Thuuuuud—!
The golem collapsed to both sides.