Thirty!

Thirty!

 

It’s no exaggeration to say that almost all hunters in this world are members of the Hunter Association.

Unless they were criminals, most hunters belonged to the Hunter Association.

There were several reasons why hunters, who tend to be sensitive and independent, belonged to the association.

Among them, the two most influential factors were compulsion and benefits.

‘Compulsion refers to the legal requirement for hunters to join, and benefits mean things like tax reductions, request provisions, and convenience facilities.’

Anyway, the important part here was the benefits.

Han A-rin knew that if Ha-eun could make good use of these benefits, it could be a great help for her life going forward.

That’s why she was proposing Association membership to Ha-eun.

‘Of course, if Ha-eun doesn’t want to, we won’t do it.’

Ha-eun’s opinion was the most important, regardless of what it was.

If she showed even the slightest sign of dislike, I was going to cancel it immediately and look for another way.

“Yes…!”

It seemed Ha-eun wanted to join the Hunter Association.

She was wagging her tail vigorously and her eyes were sparkling.

Han A-rin, seeing Ha-eun like this, tried to hold back her laughter and nodded.

“Really? Then shall we go take the Hunter exam tomorrow with your sister?”

At the mention of the Hunter exam, Ha-eun was startled, then fidgeted with her fingers and said to herself.

“… I don’t know how to fight well.”

“Fight? Ah.”

It seemed she was mistaking the Hunter exam for a combat test.

Thinking it would be good to clear up the misunderstanding, I smiled brightly and picked up Ha-eun, explaining a few types of Hunter exams.

“Only Hunters focusing on combat take the combat test, support roles can pass the exam without needing to take a combat test.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. In Ha-eun’s case, I think showing your healing ability and the little black ones Chae-a summons would be enough.”

In fact, there’s no need to even show the little black ones.

The healing ability alone would be enough to easily pass the test… but if we did that, Chae-a’s position would become ambiguous.

It was a conclusion I came to thinking it would be better to have them take the test together as a pair.

“Hunter…”

I could see how excited she was, for whatever reason.

Ha-eun smiled contentedly while watching the cute wagging tail, when Chae-a grabbed the hem of her clothes and proudly held out something.

“It’s Chae-a’s treasure…!”

It seems she had found a golden bottle cap that she had hidden while making the playroom.

Thinking it was fortunate that she liked it, Ha-eun smiled.

Chae-a looked at her with outstretched arms, as if demanding something.

‘Does she want me to hug her?’

Finding it cute, Ha-eun unconsciously hugged Chae-a, who then giggled and started swaying her body from side to side.

‘How adorable.’

Thinking that the laughter wouldn’t stop.

She resolved to find the elixir for these children no matter what.

* * * * *

That evening.

For psychological stability, Ha-eun bit her tail and fell into deep thought.

‘Han A-rin said there’s no need to particularly prepare for the hunter exam, but.’

Still feeling uneasy no matter how much she thought about it, Ha-eun decided to make her own preparations and stood up.

Then she tried to practice something, but.

No matter how much she thought about it, she wasn’t sure what to practice, so she sat back down on the floor and nibbled on her tail again.

‘What should I do?’

Rationally thinking, training her ‘healing ability’ would be right, but.

The problem was that this ability could only be activated when there was an injury, so even if she wanted to practice, she couldn’t.

So she needed to practice something else… but as she was racking her brain trying to figure out what to do.

Suddenly, a good idea popped into my head.

‘… Physical training!’

I remember seeing it somewhere.

For hunters, physical strength is the most basic of abilities.

Thinking that physical training would be good, I got up and stretched.

‘There’s nothing better than running to increase stamina.’

Thinking that the key is to run fast enough to be a bit challenging.

While I was running around the hospital room energetically, Chae-a, who was watching me from the side, started chasing after me with a giggle.

“Ha-euni!”

It seems she just enjoys running with me.

As I was running for a while, hearing the laughter from behind.

Suddenly, I realized that this is what I used to do with Chae-a every day, and I had to stop.

‘… Oh.’

While this action might not be completely meaningless.

With the test right around the corner, I realized that doing something relatively less effective is an irrational choice, and I couldn’t help but hesitate.

So, after fidgeting for a moment, I decided to do a different kind of training and held my head.

‘Then what should I do…’

No matter how much I thought about it, nothing good came to mind, so I closed my eyes tightly.

Suddenly, a decent idea popped into my head.

‘Strength training!’

Come to think of it, there have been many times when my lack of physical strength was a problem.

Although Kkamang and others help me now, I knew there would come a time when I’d have to do things on my own.

I decided to do strength training and looked around for something like dumbbells, but of course, there was nothing like that.

‘Hmm, then I’ll have to use a pillow.’

The pillow was moderately heavy and big enough, so repeatedly lifting and putting it down would greatly help in building strength.

Thinking I should do my best even though it would be tough, I gritted my teeth and started lifting it up like weightlifting, grunting with effort.

“Mmmm?”

The Kkamang in front of me tilted their heads, watching my actions.

Then they got excited and started lifting nearby dolls or snacks with their heads, making ‘meung meung’ sounds.

‘Do they think I’m playing?’

Thinking that might be the case, I grunted again and put down the pillow.

The Kkamang laughed and mimicked my actions exactly, making ‘meung meung’ sounds.

Feeling happy that my friends seemed to be trying to help me by copying my actions.

I felt my motivation increase greatly at the sight and continued the pillow weightlifting all night long.

*

When I woke up in the morning, feeling somewhat stronger, I raised my arms.

I could feel my arms trembling and tingling slightly.

Thinking it must be the aftermath of overdoing it last night, I was feeling proud when.

“Oh my, Ha-eun is already awake?”

The counselor, who had somehow entered the room, waved at me with a chuckle.

Happy that she had returned from her business trip, I scurried over to her.

The teacher lifts me up, carefully hugs me, and starts rubbing her face against mine vigorously.

“It must be so hard without Ha-eun’s essence, right? Ah, this is healing.”

I wonder what Ha-eun’s essence is… Is it something like MSG?

I’m not sure, but I think it’s enough that my benefactor, the counselor teacher, is happy, as I remain in her embrace.

The counselor teacher hands me a small puppy doll and says.

“This is a gift.”

As I’m thinking that I seem to be accumulating more dolls lately, I look at it.

The counselor teacher, seemingly in a playful mood, grabs the doll again and places it on top of my head.

“Ta-da, cute on top of cute, complete.”

“……?”

I’m not sure, but I think I shouldn’t let the doll fall, so I’m trying hard to keep my balance.

The counselor teacher pokes my cheek and continues speaking.

“Do well on your Hunter exam today, okay?”

“Yes…!”

“That’s right, our beautiful Ha-eun can definitely do it.”

I show off my biceps (invisible) that I worked hard to build during last night’s training to demonstrate my confidence.

But the counselor teacher just smiles as if I’m cute and rubs my cheeks randomly.

* * *

While I’m talking with the counselor teacher for a while.

Seo-rin peeks her face into the hospital room and calls out to me.

 

“Did our Ha-eun sleep well?”

It seems that Seo-rin will also be taking the Hunter exam with me.

Ha-eun notices Seo-rin, not Han A-rin, coming to pick her up with a bright smile

I wave at Seo-rin, my eyes sparkling with the meaning of “let’s do our best today”

Seo-rin takes me from the counselor, hugging me as if receiving custody, and continues speaking

“Teacher, we’ll be going now.”

“Alright, take care.”

“Yes. Ha-eun, you should also say goodbye to the teacher.”

I bow as much as I can, then point to Chae-a, who is still sleeping, and say

“Chae-a has to go too.”

“Ah.”

It seems she had forgotten about Chae-a for a moment

Seo-rin momentarily fumbles, laughing awkwardly, then picks up Chae-a in her other arm and says

“Th-then shall we get going?”

“Mm-hmm.”

I wipe the drool flowing from Chae-a’s mouth as we head towards the hunter exam site

*

To summarize the hunter exam site in one phrase, it would be ‘there’s everything here’

Apparently, due to the different abilities and characteristics of each individual, there were many devices to consider these factors

Among these, I was crouching near the healing device that tests healing abilities, chatting with Chae-a

“Wooow, there are sooo many people here.”

“Right?”

“Yeah! The black ones are also super excited because there are so many people!”

Chae-a was excited by the crowd and giggled as she told me these stories.

I nodded and agreed with everything Chae-a said while watching her.

“Does Ha-eun like it too?”

“Yeah.”

“How much? By the way, Chae-a likes it more than thirty!”

More than 30? I wasn’t sure how big that number was.

It seemed like 30 was the biggest number Chae-a knew, so she used it.

I nodded and agreed with her words.

“I like it thirty much too.”

“Thirdy?”

It seems my pronunciation was off and it became a strange word.

I thought I should be more careful with pronunciation next time, while looking at small plastic pieces rolling on the ground.

The Spirit User Uncle approached us with a warm smile.

“Oh, are our little ladies waiting to take the test?”

At those words, Chae-a and I simultaneously looked up and nodded.

The Spirit User Uncle laughed heartily at something and then told us.

“Then let’s get ready now. It’s Ha-eun and Chae-a’s turn.”

At those words, I stood up and tried to lift Chae-a to show off the strength I greatly increased last night.

“Are you taking care of your little sister? Chae-a is lucky to have a sister like Ha-eun.”

I felt a bit dejected because my effort wasn’t appreciated at all.