Chapter 7
Chapter 7
A good idea came to mind.
So he acted on it immediately.
Lee Jeon-seok did not hesitate.
There was no need to.
Lee Jeon-seok suddenly approached Kim Man-jin.
As he did, he glanced sideways at Anya Ivanov.
She did not look like she intended to stop him.
Even at the sudden action, she simply remained silent.
“I don’t know the reason, but…”
From Lee Jeon-seok’s perspective, it was not a bad situation.
The one in front of him was practically a villain, and if he stopped someone like that, his merit would surely rise.
Lee Jeon-seok held the dagger in a reverse grip and stood in front of Kim Man-jin.
“W-what are you doing?”
A sudden situation.
He stuttered as if quite flustered.
It was completely different from before.
All the composure he had shown earlier had vanished.
If someone suddenly approached you during an exam while holding a knife, the reaction was understandable.
Lee Jeon-seok said nothing.
There was no need to.
He only wore a chilling smile.
“W-what are you trying to—”
While Kim Man-jin hesitated in confusion.
“Ghk…?!”
Lee Jeon-seok hooked his leg and broke his balance, then grabbed his head with one hand and slammed it into the ground.
Then he planted the dagger right beside his neck.
If he moved even slightly, the dagger would dig into his neck and sever the artery instantly.
“E-Examiner! Shouldn’t you stop this—?!”
One of the examinees shouted anxiously.
But Anya still kept her mouth tightly shut.
Seeing that, the examinees said nothing further.
The examiner was staying still.
There was no way the examinees would step in.
Rather, they assumed this situation was part of the test the examiner had intended.
For Lee Jeon-seok, it was the perfect situation.
He had no idea why.
“But I can ask about that later.”
Lee Jeon-seok looked down at Kim Man-jin.
“You…!”
“Don’t talk.”
“…!”
“If you speak, I’ll cut your artery immediately.”
Lee Jeon-seok whispered beside his ear.
With a smile on his face, whispering such words with lifeless eyes, Lee Jeon-seok truly looked like a vengeful spirit.
“You only need to answer my questions. Of course, if you try to forcefully use your ability and escape, that’s fine too. I’ll just slit your throat right away. In fact, I’d prefer that option.”
Lee Jeon-seok trailed off and stared at Kim Man-jin.
Had he become afraid?
His pupils trembled like the leaves of a trembling poplar.
His breathing was ragged, as if he were suffocating.
“What… what is this…?!”
Kim Man-jin trembled as if he might faint at any moment.
The strange pressure flowing from Lee Jeon-seok pressed down on him as though squeezing his heart.
“I didn’t think you’d be this much of a coward.”
What a shame.
If he had thrashed around, things would have been easier.
“Then the first question.”
Lee Jeon-seok continued with a savage smile.
“What is your trait?”
“….”
Kim Man-jin could not answer right away.
Was it because of the threat that he would cut his throat?
But that hesitation lasted only a moment.
He answered in a frightened voice.
“…T-The Mark of Maggots.”
“That’s a filthy name. What does it do?”
“It restricts… the movement… of anything I touch…”
Restriction.
“I see.”
That restriction must have been the reason the examinee on the screen had looked so sluggish.
But.
“You’re hiding something else, aren’t you? Surely you’re not going to say those horns grew because of the Mark of Maggots?”
Sliiide.
Lee Jeon-seok tilted the dagger slightly.
A drop of blood ran down the back of Kim Man-jin’s neck.
“…!”
Kim Man-jin’s eyes shook, unable even to scream.
“Speak.”
Pressure.
Oppression.
Those black pupils looked as if they might swallow you whole.
His faded, murky eyes looked like those of a ghost.
A demon.
Yes.
This was a demon.
A ghost stained with blood.
“…!”
In the end, Kim Man-jin rolled his eyes back and fainted.
“Huh.”
Lee Jeon-seok let out a hollow laugh.
He had not expected him to faint so suddenly.
At that moment.
“That will be enough, examinee Lee Jeon-seok.”
Anya finally intervened.
Lee Jeon-seok withdrew his hand along with the dagger and looked at her.
“I don’t particularly feel the need to stop.”
His tone sounded somewhat disgruntled.
Anya explained calmly.
“I had also been keeping an eye on examinee Kim Man-jin. If the interrogation continued any further, it would become torture. There is no need for you to dirty your hands.”
“Then why didn’t you stop it?”
It was a double-edged question.
Kim Man-jin interfering with other examinees.
Lee Jeon-seok pressuring Kim Man-jin.
Why had she not stopped either of them?
“Because I judged it necessary.”
“Necessary?”
“Yes. I wanted to see how the examinees would respond when their bodies suddenly stopped moving properly. Once you become a hunter, you will face countless unexpected situations caused by villains.”
In other words, Anya already considered Kim Man-jin a villain.
After all, he had interfered with others while they were clearing the dungeon.
That could easily be considered a form of terrorism.
“Considering the effect of his trait… he must have planned to hinder the other competitors and pass the exam in first place.”
If you passed the exam as the top candidate, you gained certain advantages once you became a hunter.
But.
“How foolish.”
That shallow scheme had turned Kim Man-jin into a villain himself.
Once you became a villain, you could never become a hunter.
Even if you paid for your crimes, it would not matter.
The Association would never issue a hunter license to someone with a red mark on their record.
“Since this was not originally part of the test, there will be no deductions…”
Anya Ivanov turned to the screen behind her.
“I had planned to pass anyone who responded calmly.”
Three goblin corpses lay scattered on the ground.
The examinee stood there, gasping for breath.
Judging by his expression, he had heard their entire conversation.
“S-so then…?”
“You have passed, examinee Lee Yong-jun. Please have your injuries treated by the safety staff and wait in the first-floor waiting room. Once the exam concludes, your hunter license will be issued.”
“Thank you!”
The examinee bowed his head.
A safety officer approached him.
Perhaps they had been waiting inside the dungeon.
Meanwhile.
“So it wasn’t an additional test?”
“Then how did that guy know…?”
“I shook hands with that horned guy earlier…”
“I’ll pass for sure, right? …Lucky him.”
The other examinees watching began murmuring among themselves.
And then.
“Indeed.”
Anya glanced at Lee Jeon-seok after overhearing one of them.
“You are at a level where it would not be strange to hand you a hunter license immediately, examinee Lee Jeon-seok.”
He had detected the villain Kim Man-jin’s sabotage faster than anyone.
He had dealt with the villain calmly without panicking.
Moreover, he had caused no collateral damage in the process.
“However.”
Anya continued slowly.
“Formally, to grant you a passing result, you will still need to clear one dungeon. Would that be acceptable?”
She asked Lee Jeon-seok in a cautious tone.
Lee Jeon-seok merely shrugged.
If it were not acceptable, what could he do?
Here, the examiner held absolute authority.
Besides, Lee Jeon-seok also had something he wanted to test inside a dungeon.
There was no reason to refuse.
“I have no objections.”
“Thank you.”
She bowed her head slightly.
Soon, safety staff appeared from somewhere and carried away the unconscious Kim Man-jin. Under Anya’s direction, the exam resumed.
As successful and failed candidates continued to emerge.
Lee Jeon-seok was observing Anya.
“She’s quite capable.”
Even just judging by her position.
An examiner had to be at least A-rank.
Her judgment and response to the situation had not been bad.
In fact, it had been rather good.
Which made him wonder even more.
Why had someone like her never appeared during the time when Lee Jeon-seok had been active?
“There was a major incident around this time where the Association wiped out a notorious villain organization.”
It was not the Dawn Society.
But it was a villain group of comparable scale.
Kidnapping.
Imprisonment.
And human experimentation.
Many hunters had died in that incident.
There had also been significant civilian casualties.
Perhaps Anya had died there.
Or perhaps she had been crippled and forced to retire.
Lee Jeon-seok wondered.
If he saved her then.
Would his merit increase?
You have stopped a malicious act of interference.
Merit increases by 800.
“Oh.”
A system window suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Just as expected, his merit had increased.
But only 800.
Roughly equivalent to saving about eighty people.
Was subduing Kim Man-jin worth that much?
But that was not the only change.
Congratulations.
Your merit has exceeded 10,000.
As a reward, the Karma Shop has been opened.
Something he had never even imagined appeared before his eyes.
After about an hour had passed.
Most of the examinees had finished the exam.
Eight people had passed.
The rest had all failed.
Considering that the total number of applicants had been thirty-four, it was an extremely brutal passing rate.
Not even half.
Of course, one person still remained.
The top scorer of the written exam, Lee Jeon-seok.
An examinee Anya had been watching closely.
“Calmness, analysis, judgment. Everything is outstanding. His behavior and impression make him seem like a villain, yet in the morality essays he was closer to a saint.”
He had thoughts so pure they were almost ridiculous.
But was his combat ability lacking?
Not at all.
The way he subdued Kim Man-jin.
“A seasoned fighter.”
Not a warrior, not a soldier.
Lee Jeon-seok moved like someone obsessed with fighting.
“That impression must come from his trait.”
Anya watched as Lee Jeon-seok entered the dungeon.
The dungeon he had chosen was an undead type.
An F-rank dungeon where skeletons appeared frequently.
Because of their defensive durability, skeleton dungeons were extremely unpopular among examinees.
But.
“He didn’t hesitate.”
It was as if he had already decided beforehand.
Was his trait specialized against undead?
Certainly, those ominous eyes made it seem as if his trait was related to the undead.
“Once the exam results are revealed, the scouts will come running with their eyes on fire.”
Suddenly.
Someone approached Anya.
It was the safety officer who had taken Kim Man-jin away.
A man from the same department.
“Yoon Jin. What do you think?”
Anya asked him.
“There’s nothing to criticize. If possible, I’d like to recruit him into our department.”
“I agree.”
Anya nodded.
Anyone who saw him would have no choice but to acknowledge it.
Lee Jeon-seok’s talent was that brilliant.
And so Anya watched the screen with anticipation, curious to see what else he would show.
But.
“What is that…?”
What Anya witnessed was an utterly bizarre sight.