The Promotion Test

The Korea Hunter Association was pretty plain on the inside, aside from being packed wall-to-wall with people. No special decorations, just pure white walls everywhere, filled with countless hunters. The only real feature was the Ministry of Defense emblem plastered large on the wall next to the Hunter Association's symbol—probably because of their connection. The hunters inside gave off a somewhat intimidating vibe. Every single one looked fierce and battle-hardened. I worried we might accidentally pick a fight, but...

"Kinda underwhelming, isn't it?"

"Don't get scared. Even if everyone here jumped me at once, I'd still win."

It seemed Hye-ji's notoriety had spread all the way here. As we walked past, the crowd parted like they were avoiding a plague. No one dared make eye contact—they just stole sidelong glances. The only thing that followed us was the constant whispering from all directions.

"Eek, it's the devil... and three times faster, too."

"Don't look her in the eyes! You'll die!"

"It's the God of War! We're all gonna die today!"

"Save me. Save me. Save me."

Occasionally a hunter who hadn't noticed us would bump shoulders with me and glare, but...

"Avert your eyes or I'll sic Hye-ji on you."

"I'm sorry!!!"

It was that simple. When we reached the reception desk, the person whose turn it was took one look at Hye-ji and immediately yielded their spot. Thanks to that, we skipped straight to the front like VIPs.

The receptionist was a lieutenant with a tired expression, but the moment he saw Hye-ji his face snapped into perfect military form.

"L-loyalty!"

"At ease."

"Thank you!"

Hye-ji responded like it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the most natural thing in the world. Then she stated our business.

"We want to take the promotion test."

"Yes! Please select one from here!"

The officer handed over a tablet as if he'd been waiting for exactly that. We picked a subjugation request like we did every weekend, and the officer broke into a cold sweat as he asked Hye-ji,

"Have you... arranged for the Ministry of Defense personnel regarding the on-site judging for the promotion test?"

"Yes, they'll be down shortly."

"Understood... Wait, shortly?"

Before Hye-ji even finished speaking, someone started descending the stairs from the second floor. And it was someone I knew very well.

"Look at my promotion test for me."

"Sure."

Kim Baekhong. Hye-ji's father and a three-star general. He'd personally come down to the Hunter Association to oversee Hye-ji's on-site promotion test. With another three-star general who looked like he'd shown up for a casual visit in tow.

The hunters who overheard Hye-ji's words fell into complete chaos. Some immediately started bolting for the exit. The lieutenant at reception, having witnessed the descent of a total of six stars, naturally looked like he wanted to cry.

Meanwhile, Kim Baekhong had been smiling softly at Hye-ji, but the moment he saw me his face froze solid.

"Shinu... You're taking the promotion test as well?"

"Yes. We're doing it together."

"Together with Hye-ji, you say..."

Kim Baekhong's eyes lit up with fire as he stared at me. The general beside him playfully nudged him.

"Aha! So this young man is your son-in-law?"

"What! As long as I live and breathe, that will never happen!"

"What did you just say?"

When Hye-ji's gloomy voice cut through the air, the noisy Hunter Association fell deathly silent in an instant. Everyone lowered their heads and trembled like condemned prisoners before the execution block.

Kim Baekhong broke into a cold sweat and quickly changed the subject.

"Let's proceed with the promotion test immediately!"

"We'll talk after."

"R-right..."

Even the trembling lieutenant had some sense of self-preservation. He'd already finished preparing for the test. And so Hye-ji and I stepped through the gate prepared inside the association. Two three-star generals and two hunters to escort them followed behind us.

The promotion test had begun.

What greeted us after passing through the gate was an abandoned building. The test objective was to eliminate the monsters inside. The others said they'd observe from a distance and moved far away from us.

Once they were out of sight, Hye-ji's face melted into a bright, silly grin.

"It's been so long since we've been alone!"

"Yeah. But if they're supposed to be judging, is it okay for them to be that far away? What if something dangerous happens?"

"The people who came with us will protect them!"

She grabbed my hand with a laugh and started running toward the abandoned building, as if urging me to hurry. Feeling her small, warm hand, I followed her inside. I thought I felt an unpleasant gaze from somewhere, but figured I must have imagined it.

Hmm. It's probably just my imagination.

"That little bastard!!"

Kim Baekhong had been watching Hye-ji from afar. The moment he saw Kim Shinu holding her hand, he ground his teeth audibly. His fists began to shake, and his face turned beet red. He looked like he'd explode if anyone so much as poked him.

"I haven't even held her hand lately, and he dares—!!!"

Of course, thanks to Kim Shinu, his relationship with his daughter had improved dramatically. She no longer treated him like he didn't exist. Now she was an adorable daughter who actually spoke to him with some warmth. But gratitude was one thing. This was something else entirely. As her father, the sight was enough to drive him insane.

The general who'd come with him started teasing him again.

"How does it feel to have your daughter stolen away?"

"Stolen?! What are you talking about!"

"I can tell just by looking. Your daughter has reached the age where she leaves her father's arms."

"Khuk..."

"Hasn't it already gone that far?"

At that moment, Kim Baekhong's mind went into overdrive. Gone that far? That they'd done everything? That while drunk they'd shown each other their shameful sides and done all sorts of things?

Of course, that part was technically true. They had shown each other their vomit-covered shameful sides. But since Kim Baekhong had no way of knowing the context, his thoughts spiraled in the worst possible direction.

"After quickly clearing the monsters in the abandoned building, they're going to do outdoor play?"

"...Kim Baekhong, are you feeling alright?"

"Absolutely not."

Suddenly Kim Baekhong requested a sniper rifle and anesthetic rounds from the accompanying hunter. One of the weapons he'd prepared just in case. He looked ready to use it immediately.

The general was shocked and tried to stop him.

"What are you doing?!"

"I can't let my daughter be taken!"

"Stop this! Isn't this during the promotion test?!"

"Give me back my daughter!!!"

Kim Baekhong had completely lost his mind. Naturally, he couldn't hear any of the voices trying to stop him.

"General Kim Baekhong! Get a hold of yourself!"

"No. Right now, for this particular matter, I'm not a general."

The ominous click of loading the anesthetic round rang out. Kim Baekhong pulled out a pair of worn sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

"From now on, I'm just a soldier blocking a villain."

"Still, passionate young people should be allowed to meet. Just make sure to take good care of contraception."

"How dare you violate premarital purity!!!"

Kim Baekhong broke into a sprint. The general and two hunters scrambled after him in panic.

"Yes. From now on, I am John Wick. No—Hong Wick."

"Stop right there!"

His movements were shockingly quick for his age. Just keeping up was difficult.

"At the same time, I am a soldier."

"Huff... huff... Then what exactly are you right now?!"

With a gloomy voice and glinting sunglasses, Kim Baekhong answered quietly.

"Call me HongWick Soldier."

The general, whose stamina couldn't keep up, eventually stopped and could only watch Kim Baekhong disappear into the distance. One hunter followed him while the other stayed with the general. Catching his breath, the three-star general muttered to himself.

"......If you're HongWick Soldier, you should go to China. Why the hell are you causing trouble in Korea?"

The moment we entered the abandoned building, we saw something in the center with tentacles stretching everywhere, pulsing regularly like a giant heart. Countless monsters were positioned around it as if guarding the thing. It was blatantly advertising itself as the boss, which I actually appreciated.

"We're in a hurry, so I'll clean this up quick."

"Yeah, go wild."

The monsters vanished in an instant as if answering 'Yeah, I'll get sliced' and 'Yep, I'll get diced.' The heart-shaped boss was pretty sturdy though—bullets were bouncing right off its surface. When Hye-ji tried to pull out another weapon, I stopped her and stepped forward.

"Hye-ji! I'll take care of that one!"

-Thwack!

"Ah, what the hell."

Something had smacked me in the head and flown past. I wondered if a monster was hiding behind me, but nothing was visible. I couldn't even tell where the shot had come from. The area was too loud from all the gunfire.

"Shinu, why are you spacing out?!"

"Something just hit me in the head."

"It was probably a pebble! If you're going to break that thing, hurry up. I'm getting itchy over here."

"If you do it, I won't have any contribution at all, so no."

I set my doubts aside and charged forward again.

"...What the fuck."

Kim Baekhong was a general, so he usually watched his language and actions carefully. He rarely swore and always chose his words with caution. Yet the current situation was something he simply could not accept. It was the very definition of irrational.

"...Why won't the bullet stick?"

It was an anesthetic round meant for emergency use against monsters, but right now the target wasn't a monster—it was the bastard who'd stolen his beloved daughter. Either way, he was trying to hit Kim Shinu so he wouldn't be able to make any notable contributions during the promotion test.

Hye-ji's auto head-aim must have been genetic. The bullet flew straight for Kim Shinu's head, but...

"Is that thing even human?"

The bullet didn't embed at all. It just bounced off his skull. Kim Shinu merely scratched his head a couple times. But he couldn't give up here. His lovely daughter. And that son of a bitch who'd defiled her pure white snowfield. He wouldn't kill the boy, but he'd make sure only Hye-ji passed this promotion test. A rather petty revenge. Of course, the moment his daughter found out, he'd be beaten to death. But the fact that he hadn't used a shotgun was already quite humane. Scatter, Widow Maker.

From a window in the abandoned building, the HongWick Soldier waited for another chance.

I started climbing the mountain of monster corpses. A jaguar-shaped monster tried to throw a cat punch at me with its right front paw. The moment I considered whether to deflect it, a number appeared above the monster's head and a mirror fragment formed. Through the fragment, I saw a future where 'I' parried the cat punch. The instant I returned to reality, I manifested a shield at the 9 o'clock position on my left hand tattoo.

The monster pretended to swing its right paw, planted its feet, and quickly swung its left. I matched the movement and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swung the shield diagonally upward—after transferring it from my left hand to my right, of course.

-Clang!

"You fucking cat bastard, where do you get off using your head?"

After parrying the cat punch, I stepped on the monster's head, leaped high, and landed on the boss. The moment I touched down, I condensed mana in both palms and made contact.

Cheonma Repulsor fired from both hands at once. The monster's outer shell burst instantly, revealing the red interior. Right on cue, Hye-ji tossed me a bundle of grenades.

"Shinu, blow it up!!!"

"Roger that."

I roughly pulled the pins and stuffed the bundle inside. The squishy sensation against my fingertips felt disturbingly like touching intestines, so I yanked my hand out and ran like hell.

-BOOOOM!!!!

A moment later, an explosion erupted from inside the heart-shaped boss. Chunks of flesh flew everywhere. Since it wasn't moving at all, it had to be instant death. Whether the boss was alive or not, I would've wiped out the monsters easily anyway, but it felt like their aggression had weakened after the boss died.

After thoroughly cleaning up even the very last monster, Hye-ji—absolutely covered in blood—walked over to me.

"Shinu, now we're both Bronze Rank!"

"Aah... Those were the days of the Virgin God's humiliation and oppression."

At that moment, Hye-ji looked around a few times, cleared her throat, and grabbed both my hands tightly.

"Shinu, even though this is the kind of place it is, there's something I really need to say."

"Can you wipe off some of that blood first? You're seriously terrifying right now."

"Just listen."

"Yes..."

The sight of Hye-ji staring at me while drenched in blood was genuinely frightening. Maybe that was why my hands started trembling and sweating. Noticing it, Hye-ji gave a small laugh.

"You're nervous too, huh."

"Yeah... In a lot of ways, it's fucking nerve-wracking."

In a very bad way. Scary. I want to live.

Hye-ji took a moment to steady her breathing, then began.

"Shinu... I, you..."

"Me what?"

"Jo..."

"Jo?"

Huh?

The moment Hye-ji gathered her courage to speak again—

"Jo—"

"STOP!!!!!!!"

Someone suddenly shouted from a window in the abandoned building and leaped down. It was none other than Kim Baekhong. His eyes were bloodshot as he aimed a sniper rifle he'd gotten from somewhere directly at me.

"I can never allow it!!!"

"You fucking bastard!!!!!!"

"Ah, shit."

Hye-ji gripped both my hands tightly and hurled me like a throwing weapon at Kim Baekhong. But as if he'd anticipated it, he rolled sideways in a rather undignified manner to dodge. I slammed into the wall with a loud crash.

"Haha! Daughter! Your father has grown too, hasn't he?"

"You're really dead now."

"......I think I'm already dead. It hurts like hell."

She was already terrifying covered in blood, but an extremely enraged Hye-ji was the very image of a blood demon. Their confrontation didn't last long, though. When I hit the wall and fell, a creaking sound came from somewhere in the building. Then the sound started repeating from multiple spots.

The building, already extremely weakened from the previous battle, was shaking violently from the impact. I quickly tucked both Kim Baekhong and Hye-ji under my arms and sprinted outside.

Just then, the three-star general who'd been with Kim Baekhong earlier was leisurely walking toward us.

"Oh! The promotion test must be finished. Congratulations."

"That's not important! Run! The building's collapsing!!!"

Instead of answering, the three-star general instantly read the situation and turned to run. As expected of a three-star general.

After running for quite a while, we finally made it back to the gate where we'd first arrived.

"Let's head back quickly."

"......What about those two behind us?"

I pointed behind me. Specifically at Kim Baekhong, who was having a friendly spar with Hye-ji.

"I!! When the hell!! Am I!! Going to be able to say it properly!! It's already!! The 90th chapter!!!"

"Hye-ji! It's still only the 89th chapter!"

"That's not the point!!!!"

Kim Baekhong had managed to dodge Hye-ji's fierce attacks a few times. But Hye-ji, with her incredible footwork and switching, was unilaterally beating him down while pressuring him from all directions. The only mercy was that she was using her bare hands.

"......A father and daughter must have a lot to talk about."

"......I suppose so."

The three-star general, the two hunters who had joined us, and I politely went through the gate and returned to the association. Hye-ji and Kim Baekhong returned about fifteen minutes later.

"The promotion of both individuals has been completed. The certificates will be sent to the Academy at a later date."

In the end, both Hye-ji's and my promotion were safely completed. Even though the building had collapsed, there was no need to reveal the truth, so we kept silent.

Meanwhile, Kim Baekhong had initially insisted I had made no contribution. But after Hye-ji said they needed to talk and took him to the second floor of the building for a bit, he suddenly changed his tune and acknowledged my contribution.

And right now, he was clapping and congratulating us. With his left cheek massively swollen.

In the middle of it all, the clueless lieutenant spoke to Kim Baekhong.

"General, sir. Your left cheek..."

"I got stung by a bee."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"But why is there blood coming from your mouth..."

"It's ketchup."

"...Yes, understood."

When Kim Baekhong suppressed him with rank, the lieutenant couldn't say anything more and simply shrank back. It really was a rank-based society.

On the other hand, Hye-ji refused to accept any more greetings. She immediately turned around and headed for the gate leading back to the Academy. She seemed quite angry.

Watching his daughter like that, Kim Baekhong became rapidly depressed. It was a father's pitiful sorrow.

Stop saying things like the author has no father.

Ah, shit. I forgot about the immunity again.

And so I returned to the Academy with Hye-ji. Our promotion to Bronze Rank was complete. All in a single day.