Chapter 18
-Thwack!
“Hey, Seo Woojin! What kind of way is that to talk?!”
Seo Woojin had barely exchanged greetings with me before suddenly bringing up my department and picking a fight.
While I was flustered, not knowing what on earth I should say in response, the first person to react was his childhood friend, Han Sora.
“W-what….”
“How can you say something like that with someone right in front of you?! Are you out of your mind?”
“N-no. It’s honestly true. What can someone from the Combat Support Department even do alone….”
“Seo Woojin!!!”
Objectively speaking, the guy wasn’t exactly wrong.
It was true that the Combat Support students’ ability to fight monsters was pathetic compared to that of students from the other combat departments. That was why the department was called Combat Support in the first place: they were meant to support the other students in battle.
Since that was the reality, it was also true that Combat Support students were often looked down on more than students from the other combat departments…but bringing it up so bluntly right to my face was simply proof that this guy had no social skills.
‘I understand that he’s saying this as a sort of defense mechanism because he’s weak himself, but….’
That didn’t mean I had to let such rudeness slide.
Just as I was considering whether to provoke him in return by bringing up something that would get under his skin, or pretend to brush it off magnanimously and build a favorable image with Han Sora—
“Ah, no!”
“…Cha Eun-joo?”
Cha Eun-joo suddenly stood up beside me and began defending me to Seo Woojin.
“S-Seonho is an amazing person! He’s, he’s way stronger and kinder than someone like you, okay?! W-what do you even know about Seonho…!!”
“…….”
“A-and our Seonho is a hundred times cooler than some pathetic-looking loser like you, too?! Y-you stupid mutt…!!”
…I hadn’t known that timid Cha Eun-joo could get this angry for my sake.
To be honest, I was a little moved. The thought that the past week of coaching hadn’t been in vain also flashed through my mind.
Thanks to her, the situation had turned out much better than if I had merely pretended to endure it awkwardly while playing the good guy. By highlighting Seo Woojin’s rudeness through Cha Eun-joo, I could now appear magnanimous by letting it pass.
“A-and Seonho is a top scorer on the written exam, too?! A-and also….”
“It’s okay, Eun-joo. That’s enough.”
“B-but he said that to you!”
“I don’t care. The Combat Support Department is the sort of department people can’t help but see that way. I’m really not bothered, so you can stop.”
“Grrr….”
She looked frustrated, but when I stopped her, Cha Eun-joo couldn’t say anything more and sat back down.
Since things getting too tense could hurt my chance to interact with Han Sora, I eased the mood by putting a cookie in Cha Eun-joo’s mouth.
“Eat this, at least.”
“……Mmph.”
-Munch, munch, munch….
The moment Cha Eun-joo quieted down with a piece of cookie in her mouth, Han Sora immediately apologized for the rudeness of her childhood friend, Seo Woojin.
“I’m sorry. He’s really shy around strangers, so he sometimes says things that come out wrong.”
“It’s okay. That’s just how people see the Combat Support Department.”
“I-I don’t really think that way. He’s just the weird one, so don’t worry about it too much….”
“I said I’m not bothered. But he should be a little more careful elsewhere. Even if it’s not me, he could sour the mood when doing group assignments with other Combat Support students.”
“I’m really sorry. Hey, you apologize too, Seo Woojin.”
“……Sorry.”
His expression made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want to apologize, but I didn’t particularly care. The more openly he acted obnoxiously toward me, the more comfortable I felt.
Well, taking Sora from him had never been optional in the first place, so it was better if I could at least feel comfortable.
“It’s fine. I’m not bothered.”
“But Seonho, are you really a top scorer? That’s unexpected.”
“I was just lucky. And Eun-joo here is a top scorer too, you know.”
“Oh, really? You’re both top scorers?”
“If you’re here, doesn’t that mean you and Seo Woojin are top scorers too? Why are you acting like it’s such a surprise?”
“Ah, well…. I suppose so.”
“……”
I deliberately brought up something that would get under his skin, and Seo Woojin clamped his mouth shut and glared at me.
I could only hope that his timid, pathetic personality would remain intact all the way to the end.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
『We will now begin the first practical exam.』
“Ohhh, finally! I thought I was going to die waiting! Guys, they’re finally starting the practical exam!!”
“Ah, Park Cheon-ho! I’m embarrassed, so shut your damn mouth already!”
As soon as it was time for the practical exam, an announcement came from the speakers above the applicants’ waiting room.
The applicants, exhausted from the long wait, murmured for a moment. Then, as the announcement continued, every tense applicant pricked up their ears.
『The practical exam at Cheonmu Hunter Academy is monster subjugation.』
“What? So it’s just the same as last year.”
“They even had a separate waiting room, so I thought they’d be doing something new this year.”
It was already common knowledge that the practical exam at Cheonmu Hunter Academy consisted of monster subjugation.
It was the same assignment that had remained unchanged for years, and some of the applicants here were probably repeat applicants who had taken the entrance exam last year.
And as with most novel clichés, something like this was bound to change right when the protagonist enrolled.
『However, since subduing holographic monsters as before cannot properly measure the new students’ abilities, this year’s practical exam will be differentiated from all previous practical exams.』
“Huh?”
“What does that mean?”
“They don’t actually expect us to fight real monsters, do they?”
In South Korea, for safety reasons, ordinary people who were neither licensed hunters nor students at a Hunter Academy were prohibited from fighting monsters.
Fighting out of necessity to protect oneself was one thing, but deliberately entering a Gate when one was not even a hunter was practically illegal.
That was why the applicants here were taking it easy, assuming they would merely be facing ‘more realistic holographic monsters’ or something similar.
『This year’s practical exam will be live combat.』
“What?”
“Live combat…?”
『Applicants must enter a ‘dungeon’ directly with their partners and prove their abilities by subduing actual monsters.』
“W-what did you say?”
“No way…. Even Cheonmu Academy wouldn’t go that far….”
Inside the waiting room, roughly half the applicants murmured in shock and the other half in disbelief.
In the meantime, the entire wall opposite the entrance rose up, revealing a ‘Gate,’ and every student’s attention was drawn to it.
-Screeeech….
“W-whoa…?”
“Isn’t that a Gate…?”
“No way…do we really have to fight monsters?”
Some of the applicants here had probably never seen an actual dungeon Gate before.
In this world, where the concept of hunters was already firmly established, hunters were normally dispatched to eliminate a dungeon Gate as soon as it appeared.
In other words, even though this was a group made up entirely of top scorers, most of the applicants couldn’t help being at least a little frightened by seeing a real Gate.
“S-Seonho…. Th-that’s not really a dungeon Gate, is it…?”
“…Yeah, it is.”
Just like Cha Eun-joo, who was openly trembling beside me right now.
I pulled her into my arms and quietly stroked her head to reassure her while waiting for the announcement from the speakers to end.
『If there are any applicants who do not have the confidence to take this practical exam,』
“……”
“……”
『you may leave the waiting room right now.』
-Creak!
“……”
“……”
The announcement continued at the same time as the waiting-room door that had kept the applicants inside swung open.
It meant that anyone without the confidence to fight real monsters should give up. In fact, a few students stood up in fright after hearing that they would be fighting actual monsters.
“I-I don’t want to! How are we supposed to fight real monsters?!”
“Isn’t this illegal…? Entering a dungeon Gate before we’ve even been admitted….”
“……”
There were those fleeing simply because they were afraid of monsters, those leaving because they thought the exam would be invalid anyway since it involved something illegal, and those who quietly exited without saying anything in particular.
Thinking there might be someone I recognized, I checked the faces of the applicants going outside one by one, but there were no characters I knew.
Well, that was only natural, since the ones leaving now would not appear on the main stage of 『Surviving at the Hunter Academy』 in the first place.
…Of course, while some people were afraid or doubtful about fighting monsters like that, there were bound to be others itching to fight real monsters.
“Students who wish to enter may line up and enter the dungeon Gate one by one. This is a transfer-type dungeon that moves you to a random coordinate inside the dungeon as soon as you enter. Since no more than two people can be transferred at once, make sure you keep a firm hold of your partner….”
“Ooooooh! If we go in now, can we fight monsters right away?! Me! Me! I’ll be the first one in!!”
“Damn it, shut up, Park Cheon-ho! Everyone’s staring at me because of you!”
“Let’s go in already! This is my first time fighting monsters for real! Hurry!! Park Hana, hurry!!”
“Ah, I know, so be quiet for a second! …C-can we go in first?”
“If you wish to, you may enter. To avoid losing your partner during the dungeon’s transfer, enter while holding hands tightly.”
“She said we can go in! Hurry!! Park Hana, hurry!!”
“You don’t have to shout at the top of your lungs for us to understa—”
-Whoosh!
After one noisy exchange of banter, the Park siblings were sucked into the Gate.
Seeing Park Cheon-ho and Park Hana exactly as they had appeared in the novel made me smile despite myself. Their resemblance to the original characters made me instinctively realize that I had truly entered the world of the novel.
“Well, I guess it’ll work out somehow!”
-Whoosh!
“Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous….”
-Whoosh!
“Excuse me, my partner ran away.”
“In that case, you may find another partner and take the second-round exam.”
“No…I’d rather go in and take it alone. Is that not allowed?”
“…If that is what you wish, it’s fine.”
“Okay.”
-Whoosh!
After the Park siblings entered, perhaps their example had made people more willing to try, because applicants began passing through the Gate one by one.
Seeing that neither Kim Isabel’s group nor Han Sora’s group had entered yet, I decided it was about time and stood up with Cha Eun-joo.
-Scrrrape.
“Let’s go in too, Eun-joo.”
“…Are you really going through with this?”
“What, are you getting scared now?”
“……No.”
“……”
“I think I can manage somehow if I’m with you, Seonho.”
“Yeah.”
When we first met, she had trembled even at holographic monsters, but now she was mustering the courage to face real monsters on her own.
‘You’ve grown a lot.’
Realizing that the past week of training hadn’t been in vain brought a satisfied smile to my heart. …Though, to be honest, that week had been mainly instruction rather than training.
To make sure I wouldn’t lose Cha Eun-joo inside the dungeon, I entered the dungeon Gate for the practical exam while holding her hand tightly.