A Public Servant Hunter Who Exploits Skill Combinations – Chapter 18
Translated by: Hanzo
Chapter 18: Mock Exam (1)
The Mock Exam.
A test designed to assess how much one has grown before taking the official exam.
Since mock exam scores weren’t particularly important, I didn’t pay much attention to them.
Besides, I had heard that the first monsters we’d be facing were slimes.
Slimes, being slow in attack speed and having weak defense, were monsters that even ordinary people with a bit of agility could defeat.
That didn’t mean they could be killed with a single strike or anything…
It was possible to defeat them, but that didn’t mean they were easy to deal with.
Occasionally, there were slimes that carried poison, but such slimes wouldn’t appear in the mock exam.
So, it’s not particularly dangerous.
It was literally just a test.
If my memory serves me right, the record was catching about 200 slimes in 10 minutes.
“Basically, all we have to do is catch slimes well in this mock exam, right?”
I responded to Jun-hyuk’s remark.
“Yeah.”
“But why did your class get switched to goblins instead?”
“Exactly. Every year, it’s always been slimes…”
The difference between slimes and goblins was like comparing kindergarteners to college students—or rather, to well-trained soldiers.
In any case, the gap was clear.
“This is exciting. I picked a dagger. How many can I catch?”
About twenty…
“Stop talking nonsense about daggers and switch to a spear.”
“A spear? Why? That thing’s hard to handle… It’s heavy too.”
“You’re good with a spear.”
“How do you know that?”
I saw it in the future.
“With your size, a dagger doesn’t suit you. Trust me and fight with a spear.”
A guy who’s 190 centimeters tall…
“How should I use it?”
“Grab the spear and charge forward. Draw as much aggro as you can and cut down all the slimes that come at you.”
“Isn’t stabbing the main attack of a spear?”
“Yeah, but it’s not just for stabbing, right? Do you only slash with a sword? You stab with it too, don’t you? It’s the same with a spear. Tear them apart. With your current strength, if you swing it around a bit, you’ll be able to catch them better than you did during practice.”
“Really?”
“Anyway, whether you’re in Class 10 now or later, give my advice a try. Who knows? You might make it to Class 9.”
“…”
He started contemplating seriously with a determined expression.
Perhaps I had sped up his development.
If I remember correctly, it took him three years in the future to start using a spear.
***
-Son!
“Yes, Father.”
-I saw you on the news! What’s going on!?
“It’s nothing serious.”
-A building collapsed, and you call that nothing serious?
He saw it all.
“I didn’t get hurt. Don’t worry.”
-The employees at my company are asking for your autograph. When are you coming home?
He sounded more excited than I was…
-They said we should throw a neighborhood party, so I treated everyone to a round of drinks.
“Huh? Why have a party…?”
-They said your mana score set a new record. I was in a good mood, so I invited them for a round.”
“You did well.”
-Is my son going to become a great person now?
“Well, does one just become great like that? It’ll happen if I keep at it.”
-Alright. Don’t get too arrogant, and never do anything dangerous.
“Yes, say hi to Mom for m—”
Click.
He hung up before I finished speaking.
For a while, news stories about me didn’t die down.
Well, I didn’t mind it.
I even managed to get rid of annoying guild scouts.
***
After undergoing various training and education sessions, the day of the mock exam, when each person’s skills would be evaluated, finally arrived.
Even though our special class had switched from slimes to goblins, the situation was still boring for me.
Partly because goblins were too easy for me, and partly because the mock exam itself had no real significance in becoming a public hunter.
The mock exam takes place in a dungeon which is man-made.
The monsters are real field monsters that have been captured and confined.
This system had been in place even before the academy was established.
It was part of research to study how long monsters could survive—to learn about their ecosystem, the environment they thrive in, their lifespan, and so on.
Through this research, people discovered their habits, weaknesses, how monster corpses could benefit humans, and the potential roles of mana stones.
Of course, since stronger monsters couldn’t be handled, only F- to D-rank monsters were captured for experimentation.
Once research on these monsters concluded, they were used for hunter exam tests like this one.
In simple terms, it was like pre-caught prey.
Teacher Choi Jung-gang was in charge of our special class’s exam.
The test site was prepared on the 3rd basement level of the academy.
“This is a 10,000-pyeong maze-type dungeon. You may have explored various dungeons before, but even though this one is artificial, it’s no different from real ones.”
Indeed, this place was fully equipped for goblins to live comfortably.
It had taken quite some time to build it to that level.
“I’ll now explain the precautions for this mock exam.
First,
Do not hesitate when hunting monsters. Make good use of what you’ve learned so far.
Second,
Don’t get lost. Use your mana to sense the monsters’ locations.
Third,
Everyone has the same amount of time.
With your current skills, you should be able to handle goblins well.
However, there will be differences in how many you can defeat within the same time frame.
Drones will follow you from above, recording your hunting process.
You can use any skills you’ve learned or mastered on your own.
Those who achieve outstanding results in this mock exam will receive a rare item as a reward.
Also, don’t forget that after the weekend, we’ll be going on an MT. Make sure not to miss it.”
(T/N: MT refers to Membership Training, trips taken by South Korean university students for the purpose of team building )
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Can we use pets too?”
“Oh ho, so you already have a pet?”
“Yes.”
“Sure. Whether it’s a pet or anything else, you can use everything you have. Think of this as real combat. It’s only natural to bet everything in a life-or-death fight.”
Such envy-inducing privilege.
He must have received it from his father, Ma Jung-seok, an S-rank hunter.
Someone else was busy trying to catch an octopus alone, putting on quite the show.
While everyone was absorbed in preparing for the test, I found myself staring off into the distance, yawning.
Maybe it was because I had stayed up late last night, working on mana refinement until I fell asleep. Or perhaps it was simply because I wasn’t interested in the mock exam.
At that moment, someone approached me.
When I looked up, I recognized the familiar face.
“Ma Tae-ho? What is it? Got something to say?”
Ma Tae-ho drew a sword with an ornate pattern engraved on it.
We hadn’t even started the test yet, so why go out of his way to draw his sword?
His gaze was fixed on me, and he pointed the tip of his blade in my direction.
Since I couldn’t sense any killing intent, I didn’t bother dodging and simply observed.
What’s he doing?
“Jung Tae-sung. No matter how good you think you are, you won’t be able to beat me.”
Out of nowhere?
Ma Tae-ho had always been at the top of the school, consistently ranked first.
He had never lost the class president position, and being number one was always a given for him.
He came from a dependable family, and, above all, he had innate genius and relentless effort to back him up.
All the attention was naturally his.
He had taken it for granted since he was young.
Thanks to that, he was able to get close to Seo Ye-rin and bask in the admiration of many female students.
He had assumed it would be the same when he entered the Hunter Academy.
But everything changed once Jung Tae-sung appeared.
From the moment Ma Tae-ho awakened, he had worked tirelessly to refine his mana.
He had entered the academy fully capable of sensing and controlling mana, expecting to achieve the highest score. Yet suddenly, someone had scored an unprecedented 1,004?
Is that even possible?
“I’ve been training mana for years, sleeping only five hours a day, and to get a score like that, he must have barely slept at all.”
From that point on, Ma Tae-ho reduced his sleep to three hours and devoted himself even more to training.
He intensified his physical conditioning and worked on controlling his mana as freely as possible.
But on the day they first toured a dungeon, when the giant spider appeared, he was utterly ashamed of himself for being unable to do anything.
Jung Tae-sung, even in that situation, had drawn his sword and fought.
“I’ve been to dungeons a few times with my father, and I still couldn’t do anything, but he...!”
As far as Ma Tae-ho knew, Jung Tae-sung’s parents were ordinary people.
That meant he wouldn’t have received any special training at home, nor would he have had prior dungeon experience.
But most importantly...
Seo Ye-rin.
He began to feel that she was gradually drifting away from him.
“Did he receive illegal tutoring or something...?”
Ma Tae-ho had fallen for Seo Ye-rin at first sight when he was young.
She, too, seemed interested in him.
They had awakened at the same time, been placed in the same class, and spent a lot of time together as he taught her various things.
But at some point, he began to notice something strange.
Whenever he looked at Seo Ye-rin, her gaze was often directed elsewhere.
At the end of her gaze was Jung Tae-sung.
That’s when Ma Tae-ho started feeling annoyed.
Just because his mana score is high, does he deserve this kind of attention?
“Even in the class president vote, I lost... I only got my own vote for vice president, too...”
He still hadn’t gotten over the humiliation of that incident and often found himself kicking his blanket in frustration at night.
He was desperate to outperform Jung Tae-sung and put him in his place as soon as possible.
He also wanted to regain Seo Ye-rin’s attention.
And earn recognition from his father, who acknowledged only the best.
Today, finally, was the day of reckoning.
He intended to crush Jung Tae-sung with his performance in the mock exam.
No matter how high Jung Tae-sung’s mana score was, Ma Tae-ho believed his hunting skills were superior.
Jung Tae-sung might have had high mana, was fearless, and admired as a kind Hunter who even saved people from a collapsing building...
But in the end, wasn’t he aiming to be a civil servant Hunter because he was scared of real monsters?
I’m different from you. I’ll show you what a true Hunter is.
Thus, he declared his challenge to Jung Tae-sung.
“Jung Tae-sung. No matter how good you think you are, you won’t be able to beat me.”
***
Out of nowhere?
I was dumbfounded by Ma Tae-ho’s sudden declaration.
“Hmph. I’ll show you that my hunting skills are a cut above yours.”
“....”
He looked angry.
This was a man-made maze-like dungeon, with goblins scattered throughout.
We needed to quickly locate the goblins, eliminate them, and move on to the next ones.
How many goblins could we kill in ten minutes?
Since even the special class used to hunt slimes in the past, I wasn’t sure how many goblins would be considered a good score.
How many would it take to come in first place?
I hadn’t planned to try too hard since it was just a mock exam, but looking at Ma Tae-ho’s face made me unwilling to lose.
As long as I maintain decent scores, becoming a civil servant Hunter shouldn’t be a problem anyway...
Everyone had drawn their weapons and was heading toward the dungeon entrance.
Most of them were visibly tense, though a few appeared oddly composed.
Mun Jung-ho, Ma Tae-ho, and Seo Ye-rin.
Lately, I had been making eye contact with Seo Ye-rin frequently. Was it just my imagination?
“Jung-ho.”
“Huh?”
“How many are you planning to take down?”
“Hmm, when I went goblin hunting with my dad over the weekend, it took about ten seconds per goblin, give or take...”
“Got it.”
If Jung-ho could take down one goblin every ten seconds, that meant he could kill about sixty in ten minutes.
Since it was a maze and finding the goblins would take time, maybe he’d manage fifty in total.
Who knows? He might come across a clustered group of goblins and take them all out at once with a skill.
Plus, Ma Tae-ho was currently more skilled than Jung-ho...
If he wanted to come in first, he’d probably need to take down at least 60-70 goblins.
Fine. Seventy goblins it is.
Ma Tae-ho will likely get around sixty, right?
In that case...
Just then, the instructor’s voice rang out.
“Everyone, get ready.”
Four drones for each person rose into the air to record the test.
At the same time, strategies for the mock exam began forming in my mind.
***
In the control room, the principal watched the footage captured by the drones.
Seeing the principal nervously tapping his knee with his elbow resting on it, anyone could guess how much was riding on the bet he made.
Beep!
With a system alert, the dungeon doors opened.
But for some reason, Jung Tae-sung didn’t move.
Based on his past behavior, he should have dashed off immediately, killing the nearest goblin in less than twenty seconds. So why...?!
The principal frowned as he continued to watch Jung Tae-sung standing still.
“No, my Tae-sung...!”
Hong pal-gwang, who had quit smoking ten years ago, suddenly found himself craving a cigarette.
He began nervously biting his nails, unable to sit still.
It wasn’t about the money; it was a matter of pride.
He still hadn’t forgotten last year and the year before, when Chun-seop had shown off smugly.
This was supposed to be the year he finally got his revenge...
But at least the he had a backup plan.
“Well... Tae-ho is still there, so it should be fine, right?”
His gaze shifted to the footage of Ma Tae-ho.
The sword Ma Tae-ho wielded was clearly of high quality.
But without proper mana control, it would merely be a more durable and sharper weapon.
Still, Ma Tae-ho looked reasonably skilled as he fought the goblins.
“His movements show that he’s put in serious effort.”
Since the special class had only hunted slimes before, this was their first time facing goblins.
There was no prior record to gauge how many they could kill.
Other academies were likely conducting their mock exams simultaneously.
Hong pal-gwang sighed deeply as he watched Jung Tae-sung standing still.
“Jung Tae-sung... Why are you just standing there...? Is Tae-ho my only hope? Someone, anyone, please protect the pride of Gyeonggi Academy!”
....
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