Chapter 30
"Heh..."
Kim Cha-hoon stroked my cheek, calling me cute.
His sickeningly greasy behavior, like butter smothered in cheese, left me frozen with the corners of my mouth raised.
I realized what Ribi had meant when she said, 'I'll protect you.'
"Mr. Cha-hoon, no matter how young you are, this is our first meeting. You should at least show us basic courtesy."
Ribi grabbed my arm and pulled me away from his touch.
After thanking her with a glance, I absently rubbed the spot Kim Cha-hoon had touched.
I wondered whether his greasy scent had rubbed off on me.
At Ribi's gentle but pointed rebuke, Kim Cha-hoon turned his gaze away.
"Our Miss Ribi is as aloof as ever today. What do you say? Shall we have a cup of tea together...?"
"Before that, you should go greet everyone first. They're all waiting for you."
"Ah!"
Realization dawned on Kim Cha-hoon's face.
"I've kept all these ladies and gentlemen waiting. All right, I'll be back, so j.u.s.t. w.a.i.t. a. m.o.m.e.n.t, okay?"
He winked at us and walked away.
Of course, he would be back soon, but I wanted to believe otherwise.
When I muttered, "He doesn't seem like a bad person..." Ribi said,
"That greasy behavior is precisely the unforgivable sin. Come on, we'll start drinking without him."
Unfortunately, an invitation from someone of a higher rank couldn't be refused without a specific reason.
Though he looked like that, he was undeniably from a family that represented Korea, so we waited for him like livestock awaiting slaughter.
But contrary to my expectations, he brought up a fairly serious matter as soon as he returned.
"A five-place rise in the rankings?"
"Mm. My father gave me a difficult task."
"That's more than difficult! We can barely hold on to twentieth place as it is!"
Kim Cha-hoon averted his gaze apologetically.
Even though the head of Asadal had given the task to Kim Cha-hoon, we, who would be leading the same team, were hardly exempt from it either.
If we failed to raise our ranking, it could even lead to friction between the families.
"Now, now, calm down, ladies, and hear me out first."
Kim Cha-hoon tried to persuade us using honorific speech he normally never used.
What I got was nothing substantial, just a stream of airy talk.
He made a serious effort to sell us on the idea, but in the end, all it amounted to was, 'If things go well, I'll reward you later.'
'Of course, that wasn't Kim Cha-hoon's intention...!'
For some reason, I couldn't help feeling bitter toward him.
I was just planning to take it easy and get my Hunter's license, so what kind of bolt from the blue was this?
After tea time ended, Ribi and I moved to the women's floor and put our heads together again.
"What should we do? If it's an order from the head of Asadal, then we've effectively received an indirect order too."
"I suppose so..."
"If we fail to raise our ranking, will our head of household get angry?"
"......Mm."
Ribi shook her head.
Unfortunately, it wasn't because Douglas never got angry.
It meant she had never encountered a situation like this herself, so she couldn't say.
She spoke with a complicated expression.
"He isn't someone who pays attention to rankings in the first place. We'd be lucky if he didn't try to persuade a lower-ranking family to manipulate the rankings in exchange for an expensive item."
'......The public and aristocratic society have exactly the same opinion of him.'
"Haha... So should we just do what we can here, then?"
"But... if a complaint comes from Asadal, it certainly won't make things pleasant."
Ribi added that it would almost certainly become an issue.
The reason was simple.
As far as anyone knew, Asadal had a temperament completely opposed to that of Douglas Kim.
While our side freely indulged in a YOLO lifestyle and pursued its own desires,
Asadal was a family that valued its convictions and took pride in its status as 'nobles.'
They readily stepped forward even for causes that seemed unlikely to make money, and were the most active family when it came to donations, volunteer work, and dealing with Gates.
Their reputation among the public was second to none.
The head of the family was so serious about honor that he personally searched through public opinion on the internet.
.....A promise was something Asadal absolutely had to keep.
"So it would be in our own best interest to accomplish it if possible. Mr. Cha-hoon may act like that on the surface, but he takes his family very seriously too."
"......How cruel. They're merciless when it comes to nobles."
And by this point, it went without saying that Asadal didn't particularly like Douglas Kim.
Our family was one that threw aside even the duties it was supposed to handle, never mind donations or good deeds.
Asadal was always pointing out one problem or another and demanding reforms, while Douglas repeatedly picked at one ear with a finger and let it all go in the other.
Asadal was already especially harsh toward powerful people, so if we failed to raise our ranking this time...
'This is going to be difficult.'
We gathered everyone on the women's floor.
There were exactly fifteen of us, making the gender balance feel perfectly even.
We told them about the head of Asadal's demand while they looked annoyed at being summoned and wondered what was going on.
"The written exam is one thing, but the practical exam is the problem."
Everyone was dumbstruck until someone finally spoke up. It was the girl at the very front, with brown goddess-style hair and glasses.
Ribi looked at her.
"Hmm... Your name was Kim Gaeul, right? Is there some way to deal with the written exam?"
Then Kim Gaeul crossed her arms. "You remembered my name."
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
"I came here with government support. To meet the requirements, I had to pass several tests, and what I studied included past Hunter Academy exam questions."
The students began looking at Kim Gaeul with 'Ooh' expressions.
Ribi and I exchanged glances as though we had found a ray of hope.
Fortunately.
Since this was a 'Hunter' academy, a culture had formed that prioritized practical skills over written exams, and in reality, few people went out of their way to chase the highest possible score.
Only people obsessed with studying, those whose pride had been stoked, or those facing a mission like this one would bother looking up old exam questions.
"That's welcome news. How difficult were they, by the way? I heard it wasn't too hard to pass."
"You don't have to worry about failing. But getting a high score is another matter. It's quite difficult."
I'd hoped, at least a little, to hear that it was easy, but of course it wasn't.
Considering that the ranking system itself required the exam to distinguish between students, it would make no sense for it to contain only easy questions.
After that, at our request, Kim Gaeul said she would prepare the past exam materials.
Fortunately, she apparently had a high correct-answer rate of around ninety-six percent.
She seemed like a fairly intelligent girl.
We told everyone, essentially, 'Let's at least give it a try,' and they nodded reluctantly.
They seemed worried about being singled out by both Douglas Kim and Asadal.
"It could be an opportunity. Mr. Cha-hoon will be pleased."
At my words, several people's expressions relaxed a little.
No one would ever know that my hypocrisy sprang from wanting someone else to take plenty of that greasy praise off my hands.
We dispersed and headed to the entrance ceremony hall at the appointed time.
***
"Oh~ There you are. I was wondering where my little ladies had gone."
My brow furrowed at the voice from behind us.
After conspiring with Ribi, we'd quietly slipped away, but he'd caught us.
He wedged himself between us and draped an arm over each of our shoulders, as though he intended to keep us from running away.
In the end, we had no choice but to make the tearful journey with him.
"Is that the place over there? It's golden, just like our Raebi's eyes?"
Eight City (eight city) was an artificial island shaped like the number eight, just as its name suggested.
It consisted of two connected rings, with a gigantic pyramid-shaped structure standing at the end of the second ring from the ground.
The island was white overall, but part of its summit was painted gold. That was what Kim Cha-hoon was looking at.
That was the entrance ceremony hall, as well as the place where we would be taking classes from then on.
"Wow... It's a spectacular sight, even though it was made by humans."
"Just like the mademoiselle here..."
"There are plenty of other sights besides the ones visible here. You'll come with me later, right, Raebi?"
I ignored Kim Cha-hoon for the most part and continued taking in the scenery.
The surroundings were too grand and beautiful to waste energy on his ridiculous gentlemanly manner of speaking.
If Douglas Kim had the air of a refined medieval aristocratic family, this place was a full-fledged futuristic city.
Judging solely by its design, it could rival any artificial island in the world.
"Then I'll be going. You ladies, enjoy my voice to your heart's content!"
"Oh? Aren't you Mr. Kim Cha-hoon? I'm a fan. Could I get your autograph...?"
"Sorry, but I'm busy."
When a man thrust a piece of paper and a pen at him, Kim Cha-hoon's expression hardened and he walked away.
Seeing the man awkwardly wave at his retreating back made a hollow laugh escape me.
"Where on earth did he learn that hodgepodge way of speaking? It's part historical drama and part Western gentleman..."
"I... don't know. I did ask him once because I was curious, but he said he still hadn't decided which style of speaking sounded coolest."
Unbelievable.
Punching someone wasn't the only thing that counted as assault. Didn't inflicting mental damage like that qualify as a form of violence too?
I clicked my tongue and headed to my seat.
People began filtering into the entrance ceremony auditorium.
At first, the space had seemed unnecessarily large, but once students from China, India, and elsewhere appeared, it was nearly full.
China in particular had a high proportion of nobles, so there were many attendants as well.
That was when I realized why Eight City had to be so enormous.
"Wow... Can someone really change that much?"
"Pfft...! It's fascinating for me too, since this is my first time seeing it."
Surprisingly, Kim Cha-hoon's entrance ceremony speech was perfectly normal. His relaxed expression and overall demeanor exuded a dignified charm.
Interpreters with translation abilities and related items positioned throughout the venue made his fluent English sound natural to everyone.
It was magic that let people understand any language as one familiar to them.
That was what made this kind of worldwide integrated education system possible.
After the entrance ceremony, we moved to the banquet hall.
Commoners and nobles had separate seating areas, but the spaces were still connected.
".....Or so I thought, but the doors just closed."
"They're separating the people who need to get acquainted. They'll open them again once the socializing has gotten underway."
The banquet hall was enormous.
Around a hundred tables had been arranged, and it still felt quite spacious despite the division of the room.
With some unidentified live classical music playing, the social gathering began.
Rather than eating the food laid out in front of them, everyone circulated from table to table, approaching influential figures.
And one person was attracting the attention of all the highest-ranking countries, including the United States, China, and Germany.
"That person is Aiden Cavendish..."
"Lady Bella Cecil is beside him too. They say she's his fiancée, so it's good to remember that. Only one representative needs to make introductions, so let's approach another team."
Leaving that league of its own behind, we made contact with other families.
The United Kingdom was simply so exceptional that it made us look less impressive, but our side was actually a fairly high-ranking one as well.
Many lower-ranking countries from South America and Southeast Asia came looking for us.
People from China also came, but because its population was so enormous despite its high ranking, only representative figures such as Wei Rui remained to make the rounds themselves.
Among them was a family April had mentioned.
"I'm Liqin Haiyan. I heard you had some connection to this place last year."
Her tone seemed to be probing us about what had happened with April.
She quietly sized us up, but the trace of a smile on her face faded when she noticed the ring Ribi was wearing.
Then she wrapped up the greeting so perfunctorily that I wondered whether she could get away with it, and turned away.
Ribi, the person involved, didn't seem to care at all. Still, something unsettling and peculiar seemed to emanate from Liqin Haiyan.
After everyone had made the rounds, we gathered in small groups and enjoyed the food.
The groups weren't limited by nationality; people simply gathered with those they got along with.
But then I spotted an unexpected person approaching us.
"Ugh... Mr. Cha-hoon? Weren't you talking with Cavendish?"
"Who knows? By this point, I suppose we'd said everything there was to say."
Even Ribi wore a puzzled expression as Kim Cha-hoon, who had stopped in front of us, opened his mouth.
"Come on, little friend. Lord Aiden would like to see the silver-haired, golden-eyed beauty."