Chapter 15  

After finishing the measurement exam, Lee Jin-Wook moved to his personal waiting room to wait for the combat exam. Clenching his fist, he sat down and glared ferociously at the name that appeared above the monitor.

“Choi Yu-Seong.”

He called out the name in a deep voice. Jin-Wook was a problem child when he was young. This could be blamed on his family’s background, as his father was a third-rate gangster while his mother was a prostitute.

Considering that, he was proud of himself for getting through elementary school through high school. However, he caused a lot of trouble throughout his school days. Elementary school was relatively okay. He’d just hit kids that he didn’t like or go wild if someone annoyed him. If he needed money, he took it from the kids weaker than himself.

But things changed completely when he was in middle school. His mother left home while his father abused him after getting drunk. That was when Jin-Wook decided to leave home. Obviously, he needed money, much more than what he had previously. Lunch money taken from kids was no longer the solution.

That was why he ordered a kid that he bullied since elementary school to steal from his parents’ wallets. The kid refused, but it was fine. After all, the defiance of a weak and scared bullied kid was a good outlet to take his suppressed violence out on. When violence didn’t work, he threatened the kid’s parents and little sister.

How could he explain the pleasure of watching someone his own age desperately begging him, hands clasped together as if he were praying? Jin-Wook felt as if he had become the king of a small world.

In the end, he had accumulated quite a lot of money. By the time he realized what it meant to be wealthy in a capitalistic society, he did favors for the kids who were rich and didn’t want to get their hands dirty in exchange for money.

Then, around his third year in middle school, one of the kids he beat up died. Jin-Wook had been ecstatic to be the king of his small world, but now, he was terrified. He went to the rich kid who requested that he beat up the kid who was now dead. Annoyed, the rich kid made a call and made sure the incident was swept under the rug, but from that day on, Jin-Wook became a servant instead of a king.

Then, when he entered high school and left to live alone, the kid who had basically been Jin-Wook’s piggy bank since elementary school committed suicide. His suicide note was full of accounts of Jin-Wook’s abuse, his own sorrow, and rage. That note was the spark. After that, students that suffered from Jin-Wook’s bullying started speaking up about his abuse.

Although it was a scary situation, Jin-Wook thought it was better than when he had actually killed a kid. But this time his king didn’t help him. The king was simply irritated and told him to take care of his problems himself. Jin-Wook eventually went to the juvenile reformatory that he hadn’t gone to even when he killed a person and wasn’t discharged until he was almost an adult.

It snowed that day. He wondered what he should do, after all, his school life was over.

After thinking about it, he naturally settled in the back streets and became quite famous. Then, a few years later, he became a player. During the time he was still excited about becoming a player, his king visited him.

‘Hey, you have work to do.’

King? Now that Jin-Wook was a player, he no longer thought of himself as a servant. He launched himself at his king; it was time he turned the tables.

But then, powerful players rushed out from beside his king and brought him to his knees. His head was forced to the rocky ground. It didn’t take long for Jin-Wook to realize how wrong he was.

‘It seems the dog forgot his owner just because it grew a little.’

Jin-Wook wasn’t even worthy of being his king’s servant. He was merely a hunting dog that followed its owner. After being psychologically tortured for several days, he understood his position perfectly and found out what he had to do—he had to destroy his king’s little brother.

“Choi Yu-Seong.”

He had to kill Yu-Seong or at least beat him up beyond recovery. Since the combat test of the hunter exam was the last test before actually entering the dungeon, it was so intense that serious injuries were commonplace. Broken legs and arms were normal, and the instructors didn’t interfere until they had to. This was because they thought it was better to be injured now than to be an unprepared player dying inside the dungeon.

Of course, it became a different story if one tried to intentionally harm another player or tried to take his life. Then, the instructors watching the situation would intervene immediately. So before the instructors intervened, Jin-Wook had to fatally injure Yu-Seong while pretending to attack him up to the unclear point that was allowed.

As Jin-Wook was pulling himself together and simulating the battle inside his head, the waiting room’s automatic door opened.

“Hey, Jin-Wook,” Swaggering, his owner Choi Min-Seok called him as if he was calling a neighborhood dog.

“Yes, sir.”

“As scheduled, you’re going to face Choi Yu-Seong. You know that, right?”

If his owner said so, then that was the truth. His owner had clearly demonstrated that there was nothing in this world that couldn’t be solved with money.

“It’s ok if you fail this petty hunter exam. You know what you must do, right?”

“I will not fail you, sir.”

“I don’t believe that you’re going to lose to that pathetic Choi Yu-Seong but…” Smacking his lips, Min-Seok pulled out something shiny from his pocket.

“Is that…?” Jin-Wook doubted what he saw.

“If you think you’re going to fail, use this.”

“Um…” Jin-Wook was hesitant.

“What? You have a problem?”

“Would that be okay?” Jin-Wook mumbled as if speaking to himself, then he shook his head. “It’s nothing, sir.”

In the past, Jin-Wook had been the king of a small world, but unlike his younger self, Min-Seok was different. As far as Jin-Wook knew, Min-Seok was a true king that was powerful enough for this large world called society. “Stop worrying about useless things and just focus on what you have to do. What was your goal again?” Min-Seok scolded Jin-Wook

“Choi Yu-Seong’s death or a permanent injury, sir.”

“Don’t act absent-mindedly as you did before and nail it, Jin-Wook.”

After lightly patting Jin-Wook’s back, Min-Seok headed out through the automatic door.

‘What a fool.’

To Min-Seok, Jin-Wook was like an open book. Jin-Wook believed that he would bail him out regardless of how the incident turned out. That was what he hypnotized Jin-Wook to believe. As a result, Jin-Wook didn’t know how foolish he was.

‘Irregular or not, how could he possibly think that he would be safe after attacking a member of the Choi family? Tsk tsk.’?Min-Seok clicked his tongue.

Jin-Wook was still a child that didn’t know how society worked. If Yu-Seong was disabled, it was highly likely that Choi Woo-Jae himself would get involved. Then, Min-Seok would act as if he had never imagined that Jin-Wook would do such a thing.

A player that wandered around being a gangster in the backstreets? Getting rid of someone like him was child’s play. Although Min-Seok would be scolded lightly, if he pretended to be sorry by bursting into tears, Woo-Jae would just lightly punish him and consider the matter closed.

After making sure Yu-Seong was either dead or disabled, his next target was Jin Yu-Ri.

‘How dare she threaten me with my weakness? I’m going to make her never rise against me.’

After finishing Yu-Seong, a member of his own same family, he thought that getting rid of Yu-Ri would be easy if he just asked his sixth brother, Choi Byeong-Chan, for help. Since Yu-Ri seemed to know a lot of his weaknesses, there were too many risks. Min-Seok could actually get hurt if he tried to get rid of her.

‘But it’s a hundred times better than being humiliated by someone like Yu-Seong for the rest of my life!’

There was one thing Min-Seok was banking on. It was that by the time Yu-Seong was destroyed, he would clearly be more valuable to Woo-Jae since he would still be useful. Although it would be true that he had threatened Yu-Seong, it could be argued that it had been Yu-Seong’s fault for not being able to defend himself. Not only that but he would never be humiliated by Yu-Seong again.

Of course, if it ever came to light that he used Jin-Wook to kill Yu-Seong, he would be in even more trouble. But he was certain that it would never happen. As said before, killing an imprisoned Jin-Wook in the Player Prison?

‘Easier than a piece of cake. Ha ha.’

Having no clue about Min-Seok’s plans, who was walking out slowly, Jin-Wook was left alone in the waiting room as he glared at the monitor in front of him.

‘Choi Yu-Seong.’

The name was deeply printed on his brain.

* * *

Of the more than 30 applicants, only 22 remained until the end, the combat exam.

‘An even number. There won’t be any difficulties because of the number of applicants.’

Applicants that have passed both the written and measurement exams were told to wait in their personal waiting rooms before participating in the combat exam. Yu-Seong sat inside and nodded after looking at the monitor attached to the ceiling that displayed the name and number of the qualified applicants.

The combat exam, which was referred to as the main event of the hunter exam, was a sparring match between applicants. But since there were cases where one’s matchup could be an instructor if the number of applicants was an odd number, losing the sparring match didn’t necessarily mean failing the test.

‘After all, it’s to confirm whether an applicant is strong enough to survive inside a dungeon.’

Even if an applicant lost, he would receive a hunter license if he was considered to be capable of working as a hunter. Then why was the combat exam the main event of the hunter exam?

The applicants and the instructor were the only people in the room during the written and measurement exams. An outsider wouldn’t know about the results until the exam was finished.

However, the combat exam was different. The large stadium-like circular arena where the one-on-one combat exam took place had a high glass wall coated with mana that allowed people to watch the match. Outside that glass wall were many spectators: executives of the association, guild scouters, a select few reporters, and some renowned hunters that visited out of curiosity or for some other personal reasons.

Although the applicants fought on display as if they were caged monkeys inside a zoo, it wasn’t necessarily bad for them.

‘From an applicant’s point of view, they have no reason to refuse a recruitment from the Association or a renowned guild that could help him grow as a player.’

Players wished to be in a similar situation like Kim Do-Jin and be noticed by a top ranker in the audience. After all, once he had been recognized by the Sword master, his fame skyrocketed overnight. Everyone in Korea knew that Do-Jin only played solo and wasn’t affiliated with any guild, but his potential salary easily exceeded the level of a simple super-rookie.

‘China would give anything and everything to Do-Jin if he just immigrated to China.’ Knowing this, any applicant would naturally want to be recognized during the combat exam and increase their value. After all, one normally risked their life to become a player for money and fame.

In the end, this combat exam was beneficial to all parties: guilds were given the opportunity to spot talented players and scout them right away, the Association was paid by various organizations and individuals who were willing to watch the event, and the reporters who were always looking for a scoop were able to get a new headline.

Since this was the most popular event and everyone wanted a ticket to attend, the combat exam became the main event of the hunter exam. The combat exam applicants were given individual waiting rooms so that the guilds could easily contact a player that they were interested in before the combat exam started. Everyone was well aware that the guild that reached out to the player before and after the sparring matches had a higher possibility of recruiting them than those who didn’t.

Nevertheless, nobody attempted to speak to Yu-Seong. Was it because they thought he was lacking? Of course not.

‘Of course they want me. Once I join a guild, that guild would be supported by the massive wealth of the Comet Group.’

The Comet Group was one of the corporations that didn’t add a hunter guild to its affiliates even though it had quite many powerful players. So acquiring Yu-Seong, the ninth of the Choi family, in this situation meant a lot. Although he might be extremely lacking as a hunter, a guild, especially a guild hungry for money, would want him badly.

However, they also knew that beautiful flowers with a delicate scent were actually more dangerous.

‘It’ll hurt badly if they get themselves pricked by a thorn when they recklessly try to pick it.’

Also, if Woo-Jae got involved directly, the degree of risk would be much higher than being pricked by a thorn. Since a massive monster, like Woo-Jae, could swallow the guild entirely, nobody would bother to reach out to him. That was why nobody visited Yu-Seong’s waiting room.

‘I even told Jin Do-Yoon and Jin Yu-Ri not to come here.’

He thought that it was unnecessary to meet them here when they were going to meet after the exam. But while he was feeling slightly anxious, the door of his waiting room opened.

“Huh?”

Yu-Seong reacted strangely when he turned to face the door.

“Kim Do-Jin?”

“Why are you so shocked? Am I not allowed to be here?” Do-Jin responded somewhat curtly.

“No, it’s just… You have no reason to be here.”

Listening to Yu-Seong’s blunt words, the usually indifferent Do-Jin frowned deeply.

“I came to see if I could help, but I wasted my time.”

The moment Do-Jin turned away without hesitation, Yu-Seong called him.

“Oh, could you show me another skill?”

“...It seems you think of me as some sort of fool.”

“That’s not true.”

Although Do-Jin might’ve been offended since he didn’t know Yu-Seong’s skills, that wasn’t the case.

“Or do you have some skill that copies abilities?” Do-Jin questioned Yu-Seong.

“No.”

“You do.”

“No, I really don’t.”

“It seems like you do.”

“I said, no.”

“You d… No, whatever. I can just believe what I want to believe.” As if he thought arguing like this was somewhat embarrassing, Do-Jin sighed and drew a conclusion.

‘You keen asshole.’?Yu-Seong thought to himself.

What just happened was frightening for Yu-Seong. Do-Jin deduced that just by a few of Yu-Seong’s words.

‘He gives me goosebumps to the extent that it’s terrifying. You damn main character.’

Complaining inwardly about how Do-Jin could figure out everything without a foreseeing skill despite being a main character, Yu-Seong pouted.

“We decided to meet after this exam is over. Why are you here?”

Yu-Seong didn’t completely ghost Do-Jin after their previous encounter.

Not only did Yu-Seong promise to respond to Do-Jin’s messages, but he also realized that he couldn’t break away from Do-Jin just by not seeing him. Do-Jin was a stubborn returner that survived in another universe and didn’t give up on his prey easily. So it was impossible to break ties just by staying away from him.

Looking somewhat curt, Do-Jin pursed his lips as if he was thinking deeply and then spoke.