Ant Ant

Ant Ant

 

“Ha-eun and Chae-a, please come this way.”

While we were talking with the Spirit User Uncle, a woman in formal attire approached us.

She looked at us with a expression of trying to hold back a smile, her lips twitching slightly.

Trying her best to maintain a calm voice, she pointed to a room on one side.

‘Is she sick somewhere?’

Thinking it might be good to heal her if she was sick, I carefully tugged at the woman’s clothes.

Suddenly, she collapsed to the floor, clutching her heart and making a strange sound like ‘Keuuk’.

‘……?’

Seeing this, I was genuinely flustered and kept blinking my eyes.

The Spirit User Uncle sighed and spoke to the woman lying on the floor.

“Hey, Ms. Min. Can you stop making a scene in front of the kids and get to work?”

“But senior, how can I help it when Ha-eun is so cute?”

“Still, you’re an adult…”

Listening to their conversation, I felt somewhat embarrassed and started to slowly back away.

But the more I distanced myself, the more dejected the woman’s expression became, so I had no choice but to approach her again.

As I stood next to her, her expression instantly brightened, and I awkwardly smiled.

Chae-a approached the woman with a confident expression, grabbed her hand, and said.

 

“My sister said that when we go far, we should hold an adult’s hand!”

Did I say something like that?

I must have said it while I was dozing off, since I can’t remember it well.

There’s no real need to do this indoors, but I think it’s best to follow Chae-a’s words, so I grab the woman’s hand.

“Senior, I’ll be leaving now.”

As she tries to ascend after leaving words that sound like a last will, I vigorously shake her hand to bring her back to her senses.

“… Ah. I’m sorry.”

It seems she’s finally coming to her senses.

Clearing her throat and composing herself, the woman gently holds our hands and continues speaking.

“I’m the exam supervisor in charge of Ha-eun and Chae-a’s test this time. Normally, an examiner shouldn’t have contact with the test-takers, but… Ha-eun and Chae-a are special cases, so we’re conducting it this way.”

Well, hunter exams are usually taken by high school students at the earliest.

I wondered if the association was being too accommodating towards me.

But after hearing what followed, I was able to resolve some of my doubts.

“However, as I mentioned earlier, since this is a special case, even if you pass the hunter exam, it’s been agreed that there will be some restrictions. For example, things like accepting combat requests or participating in official matches.”

Is it like being a half-baked hunter?

Still, I’m wagging my tail happily at the fact that I can become a hunter like Seo-rin.

Seeing this, the exam supervisor, unable to contain herself any longer, takes out her phone from her pocket to try and take a picture of my tail.

“What are you doing?”

Hearing the Spirit User Uncle’s voice, she comes back to her senses once again.

I find this somewhat funny and follow the exam supervisor inside with a grin.

* * *

“The entire process of the hunter exam will be broadcast to receive offers from guilds or companies. This is absolutely not due to my personal feelings, but an official decision from the association. So please stop glaring at me with those salty eyes, senior.”

As I watch the two bickering in front of me, I tilt my head in confusion at Chae-a lying face down on the floor.

Wondering why she’s doing that, I crouch down on the floor too and ask Chae-a for the reason.

“Looking for an ant…! Chae-a really really loves ants!”

I hear a story about someone lying down looking for ants in the exam hall.

Hearing that, I actually looked around the exam hall floor to see if there were any ants, but I couldn’t find even an insect-like shape, let alone an ant.

As I was tilting my head in confusion, Chae-a grabbed my hand and pointed to something inside her.

“Ant ant.”

A small ant crying “ant ant.”

Seeing this, I opened my eyes wide in surprise.

“Wow, it’s real.”

So there were ants here too.

The only thing I couldn’t understand was how ants could make such loud sounds in the first place.

Since the existence of hunters was unrealistic to begin with, I decided not to look for realism in these aspects as well.

‘It feels like I’ll lose if I think it’s strange.’

So I decided to accept it calmly without questioning it.

The exam supervisor approaches us with a smile.

“Ha-eun, Chae-a? Follow me…”

Just as he was about to reach out to take us to the broken golem.

“Ant ant.”

The ant starts growling again, crying out.

Startled by this, the exam supervisor exclaims loudly.

“Oh my goodness!”

Judging by the reaction, it seems that an ant making an “ant ant” sound is unusual.

While I was watching this, thinking it was interesting.

The ant climbs onto Chae-a’s hand and starts shouting ‘Ant-mi!’

I was staring at it, not understanding what it was saying.

Chae-a smiles brightly and tells me.

“A new friend!”

Ah, so this is how she’s been making friends.

I was clapping for Chae-a, impressed, when the test supervisor cleared his throat and said to us.

“Shall we proceed then?”

At those words, we nodded and approached the broken golem.

*

“Ha-eun, you’ll heal, and Chae-a, you’ll draw to create a living being.”

With those words, the test supervisor stepped back.

It seemed to be a gesture indicating that he wouldn’t interfere during the test.

I turned my head and stared at the broken golem.

‘It looks pitiful.’

Although it’s called a golem, it looks like a living animal, so I feel sympathy for it.

As I looked at the golem, pondering for a moment, I stroked the wounded area to indicate that I would heal it quickly.

‘Huh?’

Even though I didn’t blow air, the wounded area heals rapidly.

It seemed that healing occurred just by touching, whether with hands or anything else, without necessarily blowing air, so I felt the need to experiment in various ways.

‘How amazing.’

I gently pat the healed golem and stand up from my seat.

I notice the astonished expression on the exam supervisor’s face.

As I blink, wondering if I did something wrong, I see Chae-a next to me exclaiming ‘It worked!’ while creating new little black ones.

‘Is it because of the little black ones?’

I’m chuckling to myself, thinking about how surprised I was when I first saw them too.

The exam supervisor looks at us and starts to say something.

“As expected of the children most cherished by the Association Master.”

“That’s right, and with the Magicians’ Association and Perseus all supporting Ha-eun and Chae-a. Anyone who messes with them won’t even have bones left to pick up.”

The tone was somewhat out of place and awkward.

Although it felt a bit strange, I knew these words were meant to support us, so I just smiled without saying anything.

As we were waiting for the exam to end.

The exam supervisor approached us, patted our heads, and said.

“It’s a perfect score without a doubt. Good job, everyone.”

“… Thank you!”

“Chae-a wants thirty points!”

“Alright, then let’s say a perfect score is thirty points.”

“Wow. That’s amazing.”

As I stare at the smiling Chae-a, busily fixing her messy hair.

A tremendously loud cheer is heard from one side.

Ha-eun glanced to the side curiously and noticed bright blue ice bursting out in all directions across the exam site.

‘It seems Seo-rin is taking the test.’

After all, this world setting was a novel world where everything happened according to Seo-rin’s wishes.

Her innate talents were unmatched by anyone else.

Probably, overwhelming others in comparative tests like this was a common occurrence for her.

As I was staring at this, thinking how amazing Seo-rin was,

The Spirit User Uncle chuckled and said to me,

“Now that it’s over, shall we go see Seo-rin?”

I had been curious about how strong Seo-rin was.

I quickly nodded and grabbed the Spirit User Uncle’s hand, signaling to go right away.

“Hyun-ah, I’m leaving now.”

He showed the same reaction as the test supervisor and collapsed to the ground.

Surprised by this reaction, I stepped back, and the Spirit User Uncle gave me an awkward smile and extended his hand.

“Sorry, sorry, I just felt playful.”

“Oh, senior, I told you to stop joking around.”

“But you started it earlier… Never mind.”

Judging by their bickering, they seemed to be very close.

I thought it would be nice if I could become close enough with Seo-rin to bicker like that someday, and I grabbed the Spirit User Uncle’s hand.

* * *

As we came out of the exam site, I noticed quite a lot of people standing around.

There were many who looked like hunters, and seeing that there were also many civilians in suits,

The hunter exam doesn’t seem to be just for hunters, I thought as I looked around. Suddenly, Seo-rin’s face appeared on the large screen.

“Wow.”

When I read about it in the novel, I didn’t feel much, but seeing it with my own eyes is amazing.

I was blankly admiring the message next to it stating that she achieved a perfect score for the first time.

Chae-a, holding a piece of plastic she found somewhere, brings it to her face and says to me.

“I’m going to click.”

Click? Does she want to take a picture?

Looking at the plastic in Chae-a’s hand, I thought she might be imitating a phone, so I handed her my phone.

Chae-a shook her head proudly and told me.

“Chae-a has one too!”

Then she lifted the transparent plastic she was holding and repeatedly made clicking sounds with her mouth.

‘Then I should take a picture too.’

As I followed Chae-a’s lead and pretended to take pictures, planning to tell her later that the photos were transferred here.

The Spirit User Uncle looked at us and laughed, saying.

“Kids, do you want Uncle to buy you something delicious? How about churros?”

At those words, Chae-a seemed to remember something and told the Spirit User Uncle with a very confident expression.

“I was told not to follow people who offer to buy delicious things! Chae-a is smart, so I won’t follow!”

Wasn’t it supposed to be strangers, not people who offer to buy delicious things?

I became a bit flustered, hugging my tail and starting to worry about what to do.