Chapter 42 : A Trick of Fate. (12)
Chapter 42: A Trick of Fate. (12)
Lee Ji-jun shook my hand and then let out a sigh.
“Jjeop. Then do I have to go home?”
Where there was a winner, there was bound to be a loser.
Since I had beaten Lee Ji-jun, his chances of passing the admission test had grown slim.
It couldn’t be helped in the cold world of ruthless competition, but.
‘It’d be nice if this guy could come along too.’
Lee Ji-jun was a national-treasure-class hunter who could grow all the way up to at least SS-rank in the future.
‘It’s a waste to just send him back like this.’
I turned toward Na Sang-min.
“Judge. Then does that mean Lee Ji-jun is eliminated?”
I’d said it because I wanted to help somehow, if I could.
However, unexpectedly, Na Sang-min shook his head.
“That’s not the case. The second test isn’t over yet.”
What was he talking about now?
Na Sang-min continued.
“Everyone here will be matched in pairs of two and face each other. It’s not a tournament, but a full league.”
At his words, everyone’s expressions stiffened all at once.
A 12-person full league.
One-on-one matches.
Just the time required alone would be enormous.
“You’re telling us to fight 11 times?”
“Does that even make sense?!”
“Are you trying to beat us into a pulp?”
“No! Why are you only telling us this now?!”
As complaints erupted from all around, Na Sang-min forced a smile.
“Ha. Ha. Ha. Well, this is awkward. Did I make a mistake? It’s my first time being a judge too, so please forgive my inexperience.”
Killing intent rose once more from Na Sang-min’s entire body.
As the wordless pressure washed over them, the crowd fell silent.
‘There’s no point blaming that guy.’
I was here to be evaluated.
If I couldn’t change the system, I had no choice but to adapt myself to it.
Just then, a Dio Guild agent ran over and whispered something into Na Sang-min’s ear.
It looked like he was urgently delivering some kind of message.
“Hmm.”
Na Sang-min looked displeased, but he nodded.
“An order just came down. This should be good news for you all.”
He pointed at the CCTV attached to the ceiling.
“For the sake of protecting the contestants, we’ll reduce it to exactly three rounds.”
When hunters clashed in rough matches, injuries were unavoidable.
Na Sang-min compromised with a realistic solution.
“Alright, that should do it, right?”
At his words, the hunters nodded.
“Stop complaining and let’s finish this quickly. Let’s see. Hunter Kim Hyun-seong, Hunter Lee Min-woo, come out!”
After that, they were called out two at a time as announced.
It seemed pairing them up was entirely Na Sang-min’s authority.
Those with the same expected rank could face each other.
Or they could be matched with a higher-ranked opponent, like me.
In other words—
‘It’s luck-based.’
The burly hunters faced each other and waved their hands.
“Rock, paper!”
“Scissors!”
The winner got to decide the game.
Among them were some things rather far removed from hunter exams, like mental arithmetic contests or memorizing pi to decimal places.
Yet no one raised any objections.
Because it was the only way a lower-tier hunter could defeat a higher-tier one.
A question suddenly occurred to me.
Why go through the trouble of running a test like this?
Wouldn’t it be enough to just select hunters with high expected ranks?
‘Well. If that were the case, I’d have been eliminated immediately.’
If the cutoff had been decided solely by expected rank, an F-rank like me wouldn’t even have been able to apply.
‘Then it really must be related to that.’
When I’d checked the Dio Guild notice, red letters had been written at the bottom.
Preferential conditions: Hunters with not only future growth potential, but also strong conditions to be active immediately in the field.
Not just mana utilization, but judgment, reflexes, strategy, and more.
The Dio Guild evaluated hunters from multiple angles.
Na Sang-min suddenly raised someone’s hand high.
“Hase-na Hunter wins!”
She was the only female hunter among those who had advanced to the second round.
With her hair tightly tied into a ponytail, she had a slim yet muscular, well-toned build.
The game she had just proposed was ‘sitting down and standing up while supporting yourself on the ground with only one foot’.
The man with the chubby build collapsed in no time.
“Yes!”
She clenched both fists tightly.
Her face looked youthful, but she seemed to have a strong competitive streak.
‘Pretty impressive.’
The matches continued one after another.
Had about 30 minutes passed?
Na Sang-min glanced at me and then opened his mouth.
“Choi Yong-gi Hunter, come out.”
So it was finally my turn.
Since each person had a total of three matches, I still had two left.
My opponent was—
“Bang Su-hwan Hunter as well.”
Was this a prank of fate?
Or was it Na Sang-min’s scheme?
Yesterday’s ally had become today’s enemy.
Following Lee Ji-jun, Bang Su-hwan—who had been on the same team as me in the first round—was called.
I faced Bang Su-hwan.
Bang Su-hwan scratched his head.
“I didn’t want to face you, hyung.”
He had vaguely grasped a measure of my strength.
However, it was only a guess—he had never actually fought me.
Was that why?
On the other hand, he also seemed relaxed.
“Heh. I’m sorry, hyung. I’ve got my own circumstances too, so I can’t go easy on you.”
With him smiling in front of me, we played rock-paper-scissors.
The result was Bang Su-hwan’s victory.
“Hehe. I can’t dare lay a hand on you, hyung, so let’s do this like gentlemen.”
Bang Su-hwan brought over a desk and two chairs, sat down, and placed his arm on the desk.
“What’s the event?”
“Arm wrestling.”
I sat across from him and grasped Bang Su-hwan’s hand.
At a glance, his arm was easily twice as thick as mine.
“For reference, I’ve even placed in arm wrestling competitions. I’ve trained specifically just for arm wrestling too. Hehe. In my own way, I’m practically a pro in the arm-wrestling world…….”
Bang!
It was over in the blink of an eye.
The back of Bang Su-hwan’s hand slammed onto the desk.
Because I had used <Judgment of the Superhuman>, I was able to end it instantly.
“Ah, sorry. We hadn’t started yet, right? Want to go again?”
“…….”
Bang Su-hwan lowered his head with a blank expression.
“I lost.”
“I will announce the results of the second round.”
Out of the twelve, a total of six people survived.
Exactly half.
Along with wins and losses, Na Sang-min’s subjective evaluations were added to calculate the total score.
“I’ll call them in order. First place, Hase-na. Second place, Bang Su-hwan. Third place, Lee Ji-jun…….”
My result barely scraped by.
“Fourth place, Choi Yong-gi.”
I had barely climbed onto the second test.
I had made a flashy declaration by facing Lee Ji-jun and Bang Su-hwan.
But in the third match, I lost in a ridiculous way.
My opponent was Hase-na.
The game she proposed after winning rock-paper-scissors was—
‘……Jacks.’
I had barely ever played it in my life, so I lost helplessly.
Anyway.
“The six people I called just need to take the aptitude and personality test tomorrow.”
Out of roughly a hundred applicants, twelve.
And then six again.
Unless someone suffered from a serious mental illness, most people passed the aptitude and personality test.
In other words, it was practically a final acceptance.
Bang Su-hwan raised his massive arm high.
“Hooray! Hyung! You worked really hard!”
Lee Ji-jun approached and held out his hand.
“Congratulations. F-rank hero.”
“You too.”
I grabbed his hand without thinking, but Lee Ji-jun groaned.
“Ugh.”
Lee Ji-jun had his hand wrapped in bandages from our earlier match.
The blood-soaked bandages were stained red once more.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. This 정도 will heal if I just pour in some potions.”
Just then, someone approached us.
She looked great with a ponytail.
It was Hase-na.
“Give me your hand.”
She said to Lee Ji-jun.
“No thanks.”
Lee Ji-jun stuck out his lips.
Since he had lost to Hase-na as well, it seemed he still had some lingering resentment.
The match had been about enduring spicy food.
Maybe Lee Ji-jun was bad with spice, because he took one bite of a Cheongyang chili pepper and immediately gave up.
‘Come to think of it.’
Hase-na had gone three matches, three wins.
A perfect sweep.
And she didn’t have a single injury.
‘I can see why she got first place.’
“Are you a kid? Sulking like that.”
Hase-na snatched Lee Ji-jun’s hand.
Then she untied the bandages wrapped around it and poured mana into his hand.
Paat.
Along with a bright light, a warm, soothing heat spread out.
Fresh skin quickly grew over the hole in Lee Ji-jun’s palm.
That speed was fast.
‘To think her healing ability was this strong.’
< Hase-na >
Expected rank : C
It was astonishing power for a C-rank.
Lee Ji-jun clenched and unclenched his hand.
“Hmph. Not bad.”
“I’ll take that as thanks.”
Hase-na caught her breath and wiped the sweat flowing down her forehead.
As expected, recovery-type abilities seemed to consume a large amount of mana.
Why had Hase-na suddenly stepped in and shown goodwill?
“Lee Ji-jun. You were recently demoted after crippling a civilian at a monster subjugation site, right?”
Property damage and assault incidents at the scene were often glossed over.
But Lee Ji-jun’s case had been severe.
‘It was fortunate it ended with disciplinary action.’
He was probably able to reach a settlement because he had belonged to a major guild.
Of course, Lee Ji-jun must have been expelled because of that incident.
In any case, I now knew why Lee Ji-jun had been demoted.
“So?”
Lee Ji-jun frowned.
At a glance, it wasn’t much different from Seo Gwang-pal.
I was curious why Lee Ji-jun had acted that way.
“That civilian was the building owner, and he blocked the road and told you to go around because his building would get damaged. Right?”
Lee Ji-jun snorted.
“That’s right. Cerberus grabbed a kid’s foot and ran off. If things went wrong, the kid’s foot could’ve been torn off, but the building owner blocked the road and made a fuss, so I dealt with him a bit. And he’s not crippled. That bastard’s a total fake patient. I even saw him running around recently.”
Hase-na spoke with an expressionless face.
“You did well. In the direction the monster ran, there was a kindergarten my younger sister attends. If it hadn’t been you, something much worse might have happened.”
Lee Ji-jun closed his mouth for a moment, then spoke again.
“That’s a relief. Be good to your sister. Don’t end up regretting it like me.”
He patted Hase-na on the shoulder and started walking away.
“See you next time.”
Hase-na glanced at me briefly, then turned away without a word.
All that was left were Bang Su-hwan and me.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Hyung. My stomach’s practically stuck to my back.”
When we exited the Dio Guild building, it was already dark outside.
A luxurious signboard in gold came into view at the building entrance.
<< Dikaiosyne Guild >>
The Dikaiosyne Guild, which meant justice.
Following my gaze, Bang Su-hwan opened his mouth.
“Hyung. But why did you apply here of all places?”
Bang Su-hwan wrinkled his nose.
“I get that I have my circumstances, but you could’ve gone somewhere better, hyung.”
“I’m F-rank. There’s nowhere else that would take me.”
“Well, that’s true, but…….”
Bang Su-hwan trailed off.
He still seemed unconvinced.
I pointed at the sign.
“Su-hwan. What do you think justice is?”
“Justice? Well. I’m not very smart, so I’m not sure.”
I was the same.
Bang Su-hwan had been bullied, punished his abusers, and ended up in juvenile detention.
Lee Ji-jun had harmed a building owner to save a child.
Were they villains, unjust?
Was I a villain, unjust?
A hero, by definition, had to have their own convictions.
Just like Jin Shark did.
After reincarnating, I’d been able to purchase hero abilities with the money I’d saved my entire life.
After that, I’d vowed to become the world’s strongest hero.
To kill Seo Gwang-pal, a Dio Guild member who committed evil acts, and his leader, Go Ju-hoon.
Before I knew it, fate had led me back here again.
Up until now, the Dio Guild had been a group synonymous with disgrace.
But now that I had joined—
‘I’ll change this place completely.’
Not fake justice.
I would transform it into a group that pursued true justice.
As I secretly solidified my resolve—
Grrrkk!
A loud noise came from Bang Su-hwan’s stomach.
“Hyung. Looks like we’ll be eating from the same pot now.”
“Yeah. You and me. Starting today, we’re family.”
“Hehe. Hyung. How about braised short ribs with pot rice? I’m suddenly really craving it.”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Under the moonlight, I and the large-built man crossed through the city.