Chapter 23: Interview (4)

With a crackling sound, the blue current faded from the shock device shaped like a sword.

In front of me, four applicants from Group 8, who had just attempted a surprise attack, were lying unconscious.

And I was reading their information, comparing it to the fallen four.

“Let’s see…”

From a college graduate of a mysterious department called the Department of Anomalies, to a Japanese national who had won multiple sports tournaments, a famous exorcist, and even the child of a conglomerate family—Each and every one of them was far from ordinary. They were so-called “elite” applicants.

Maybe that’s why—they were too brave.

‘…It was a good attempt, but I need to teach them not to recklessly confront an anomaly.’

I looked down at them with a bitter expression.

Their trap and coordination were excellent.

But what if their opponent had been a real anomaly?

One with unpredictable powers?

Launching a preemptive attack without proper caution would have been suicidal.

This shock was meant to serve as a warning.

If they acted like this in a real field situation, they might lose their lives.

Of course, that was just my opinion as a supervisor.

‘…Those ropes and talismans, they seemed like items… They won’t ask me to pay for them, right?’

I started to worry as I recalled the broken ropes strewn across the floor and the talismans that had turned to ash.

They were probably destroyed due to my strength… but surely they won’t deduct it from my paycheck?

I shook my head to clear the unnecessary thoughts.

In any case, the test would continue.

Though their evaluation scores may have dropped from the shock warning, they weren’t disqualified.

The applicants didn’t know this, but according to Team 6’s leader, Being shocked unconscious three times results in automatic disqualification.

I decided to leave them where they were for now, putting some distance between us so I could observe them secretly.

How they recovered from this crisis would also be an important evaluation point.

Aside from this assessment, I also had to find and protect the quest targets named “Spy” and “Park Sun-ja.”

I silently backed away and hid myself in the shadows at a nearby hallway corner.

Before long, the four who had collapsed began to groan and wake up one by one.

“…We got hit.”

“Ugh… my head…”

“What the… what just happened?”

Shun and Bora were the first to come to their senses.

They wore expressions of frustration as they recalled what had just happened.

Hanbit and Park So-young soon followed, sitting up.

“That supervisor… he’s not ordinary. Even in our group, there are only one or two people who move like that…”

Hanbit said in a low voice.

“My talisman just burned away. This is the first time I’ve seen that. Even anomalies usually flinch and resist a little.”

Bora muttered in disbelief.

“It’s a first for me too. Losing in a contest of strength.”

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

The unexpected appearance of such a powerful supervisor seemed to have hurt their pride—but at the same time, a new fire of determination lit up in their eyes.

“I was going to go a little easy, but I’ve changed my mind. Next time, I’ll use my binding talisman…!”

“I didn’t want to use this item… but next time…!”

“…Anyway, let’s keep moving.”

Shun cut off Bora and Hanbit’s fiery remarks with a short reply.

“Our goal is escape. If we run into that supervisor again… we’ll need to approach more carefully.”

His Korean was slow and awkward, but perhaps because of that, it held a strange kind of weight.

“…Yeah, we need to explore more of this maze first.”

Hanbit agreed.

They began cautiously advancing into the maze again, keeping their guard up.

Their footsteps were more careful now after the failed ambush.

From the shadows, I watched their backs.

As expected, the applicants from Group 8 were no ordinary people.

They quickly regrouped and resumed exploring the maze as if nothing had happened.

Hanbit led the way using items to scout the path, Bora sensed the surrounding energy with her talismans, and Shun and Park So-young followed closely, covering each other’s backs.

Their movements showed a level of skill and teamwork hard to believe from newcomers.

I quietly followed from a reasonable distance.

While retracing the applicants’ profiles, I began matching up suspicious points.

Two people currently stood out as possible spies.

‘Shun… He’s from Japan, but his Korean is better than expected. All his submitted awards and activity records are from Japan, which makes verification difficult…’

I shifted my gaze to Park So-young, who moved too well for a mere college student.

‘Park So-young… she graduated from some department called the Department of Anomalies. I don’t know much about it, but her composure in that first fight wasn’t normal for a regular student…’

Ra-hee popped into my mind.

Ra-hee was bold and capable too, but Park So-young surpassed even her.

The other two—Hanbit and Bora—had clear backgrounds: The child of the Jinmyeong Group and a well-known freelance exorcist.

The chances of them being spies seemed low.

Which meant the likely suspects were either Shun or Park So-young—or maybe both.

As I followed them, growing more suspicious, it happened.

Crackle!

Suddenly, all four of them stopped in unison and, as if on cue, hid behind a dark corner of the maze wall.

Their gazes were fixed not behind them—where I was—but forward, toward the hallway ahead.

‘What is this?’

I didn’t understand.

I was the only “anomaly” in this zone.

I was behind them—so why were they hiding from something ahead?

I quickly checked the mental map—and felt a chill run down my spine.

‘…A red dot?’

Where the hallway ahead should have been empty, a red dot was blinking.

A large, fast-moving one.

This wasn’t part of the test.

Something had gone wrong.

A real anomaly had appeared.

In the now-silent maze, a different sound began to echo.

Thump.

Thump.

Click-clack.

Heavy, rhythmic hoofbeats that shook the ground.

And rough breathing.

I hid even farther back than the four applicants, around the hallway corner, and stared toward the source of the sound.

Finally, it revealed itself from the darkness at the end of the hallway.

Shhhk, shhhk—harsh breathing, as if agitated, spilled from the creature’s nose, filling the corridor.

‘…A bull?’

It was a terrifying and imposing figure, perfectly suited to the labyrinth theme.

A massive monster with the body of a human and the head of a bull.

It looked just like a Minotaur out of Greek mythology.

It stood at least 2 meters tall.

With every breath, white steam billowed from its nostrils, and in its hand, it held a gigantic double-headed axe.

Its mere presence seemed to weigh down the surrounding air.

This was clearly not one of the “monsters” played by a test supervisor.

An uncontrolled, real monster had appeared inside the test labyrinth.

And it was… slowly approaching the wall where Team 8 was hiding.

“Damn…!”

I gripped my sword hilt tightly.

It was a bit disappointing that I didn’t have my Return Sword with me, but I was ready to charge out right now—however, before I could even move, the applicants from Team 8, hiding behind the wall, acted first.

They began setting traps against the real monster, using the exact same method they had tried on me earlier.

“Now!”

At Hanbit’s shout, ropes shot up from the ground and bound the approaching bull monster’s ankles and torso.

“UURRMMOOO!”

Thud!

Boom!

It roared like an enraged bull and struggled, but this time the ropes didn’t break.

Instead, they tightened even more, completely restraining the giant body.

“Now!”

At the same time, Bora threw a red talisman in her hand toward the Minotaur’s forehead.

The talismans stuck precisely to the center of the Minotaur’s brow.

The Minotaur, who had been thrashing wildly to free itself, suddenly started to slow down.

It staggered for a moment, then began staring blankly into space with unfocused eyes, even drooling slightly from its mouth.

It looked like someone who had completely lost their mind.

Snap!

In that state, Shun and Park Soyeong rushed at its legs.

They placed their hands on its ankles and inner thighs—

Thud!

—and brought it crashing to the ground with a joint-locking move.

‘…It worked?’

I widened my eyes and watched the scene unfold.

The ropes and talismans that had no effect on me worked perfectly on this clearly dangerous monster.

‘Were those items always that powerful?’

It occurred to me that my cheat ability might include not only physical enhancements but also resistance to those types of mental attacks.

At that moment, seeing the talismans work, Bora shouted with a confident voice:

“See? This is normal! The bindings work, the mental attacks work! That supervisor earlier was the weird one!”

With a satisfied smile, she looked down at the fallen bull monster and clenched both fists tightly.

“Phew… I thought it was the supervisor showing up again, but turns out it was a monster.”

“Let’s finish this quickly and move. The supervisor might come if they heard the noise.”

“A monster showing up during the test… those Frozen Wasteland bastards are out of their minds.”

(slightly sarcastic or critical tone)

At her words, Shun, Park Soyeong, and Hanbit all nodded.

While they were relieved that their tactics worked on the monster, they also began to regard me with more wariness than before.

And I just stared blankly into space.

Because—

[Quest Completed.]

The quest was cleared even before I had the chance to protect anyone.