Hunter License (1)

Ssswae-ae-aek!

Two wooden swords sliced through the air of the training ground in parallel.

At 6 AM on the day of the summer vacation ceremony.

There were two students training at dawn in the practice field until the very last day of the first semester.

They were Lee Dojin and Ryu Jia.

Ryu Jia swung her wooden sword silently with her eyes closed.

Lee Dojin stopped swinging his wooden sword first. Following that, Ryu Jia also stopped her arms a beat later.

“Looks like we won’t see each other for a while now.”

Ryu Jia smiled faintly at Lee Dojin’s words.

“I suppose so.”

“Have you decided what you’ll do during the break?”

“I’m thinking of trying some hunter work in advance. I need to figure out faster whether my movements and methods are suitable for dungeon raids or not.”

Blind.

Though she had an astonishing level of energy sense and five senses, she would inevitably have more difficulties than others in raids that are mostly done in teams.

“I’ll cheer for you.”

“I’ll cheer for Dojin too.”

The two started swinging their wooden swords again.

---

“The two students who became winners of the martial arts competition event match will be awarded a prize of 30 million won.”

Lee Dojin and Yeon Simun stood side by side on the stage.

“Congratulations.”

Vice Principal Cecilia handed trophies to each of them. The money seemed to be going into their bank accounts.

“Thank you.”

They both bowed and received the trophies.

Applause from the academy students could be heard.

This is awkwardly uncomfortable.

That was probably the common thought in both of their minds.

After the trophy presentation to Lee Dojin and Yeon Simun was completed, the next order of business was the summer vacation ceremony.

This time, Academy Principal Jin Un went up on the stage. And a brief speech began.

“Then, students. I’ll see you all safe and sound in three months.”

Jin Un, speaking formally as befitting an official occasion, quickly finished his speech.

The students cheered loudly. No matter how voluntarily they had entered the academy, after constantly being pressed by the intensity of competition, they couldn’t help but feel a deep resonance with the word ‘vacation’.

Lee Dojin planned to obtain his hunter license first.

Since there was no problem at all with staying in the dormitory even during vacation, many first-year students had the same thought as Lee Dojin.

Of course, there would be few students who would do it on the day of the vacation ceremony.

Lee Dojin had originally planned to take the hunter license test on the day of the summer vacation ceremony and had already registered for the exam.

Lee Dojin sat at the bus stop with a sword bag containing his wooden sword slung over his shoulder, like an art student with a paint box on their back. He slowly observed the scenery in front of the academy.

At that moment, someone poured out an energetic voice from beside him. It was a very familiar voice.

“Master!”

The only person in this world who would call Lee Dojin like that was Choi Bit-na. Choi Bit-na held out her hunter test registration slip to Lee Dojin.

“So you did the crazy thing of setting the hunter test for the vacation ceremony day too, master!”

Lee Dojin’s eyes were drawn to Choi Bit-na’s ID photo in the registration slip’s photo section without him even realizing it.

Huh, it’s a bit different?

Her eyes are slightly… and her cheeks are completely gone.

Of course, he didn’t voice those thoughts out loud.

“We can go together then.”

Choi Bit-na nodded her head vigorously at Lee Dojin’s words.

“Yeah! Let’s go together!”

Choi Bit-na seemed to have put her signature weapon, the spear, in her spatial pocket. The bus they boarded headed towards the Seoul branch of the Awakened Management Center.

“The awakened rank comes out on the same day, right?”

Choi Bit-na scrolled through her phone and then ultimately looked at Lee Dojin’s face.

“Yeah, probably.”

He had heard that while the issuance of the hunter certificate takes about a week, the rank itself comes out on the same day.

“Phew, I wonder if I can get A-rank. Master said I’d probably get around B-rank.”

It seemed Spear King Lee Jigwang had estimated his disciple’s rank to be B. Lee Dojin thought the same.

Choi Bit-na’s innate instinctive movements.

Her pure combat sense that comes with it was comparable to Lee Dojin’s, but since it was still unrefined, it was a double-edged sword. However, having become the Spear King’s disciple, there was no need to mention the completeness of her technical aspects.

“Want to watch a movie after the registration test is over?”

Clearly, when she left the dormitory, there was nothing in her mind but the hunter registration test, but as soon as she met Lee Dojin, what came after the test started to occupy a larger part of her mind.

‘Movie.’

When was the last time I watched one?

I think it was Director Jo Dong-pil’s horror movie at the end of last year.

“Sure.”

It didn’t seem like a bad idea. After all, it’s the start of vacation, so it should be okay to play a little.

As soon as Lee Dojin agreed, Choi Bit-na searched for currently showing movies on her phone.

“There’s no horror movie this week…”

In an era where superhumans wielding real superpowers, not CG, were abundant.

Unlike the old days when superhero movies dominated the box office, horror movies had taken the top spot in commercial films.

Even awakened ones who couldn’t possibly be afraid of ghosts could feel fear, at least for the moment they sat in the theater watching a horror movie.

The number of martial arts movies filmed with real awakened ones as actors was increasing every year, but the response to them was disastrous. It was because their acting skills were terrible.

“Ah, there’s an animated movie. ‘Homer’s Door Locking’. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, anything is fine.”

Lee Dojin organized his schedule while looking at the morning scenery visible through the bus window.

‘Take the hunter test. Get the black wood sword I asked Elder Choi Cheolhyeon for.’

He was planning to settle the most quickly resolvable grudges as soon as his hunter certificate came out next week.

---

Seoul Branch of the Awakened Management Center.

The female receptionist opened her eyes wide when she saw the young man bringing the hunter registration test application form.

“C-Could I get your autograph…”

She had been unsure when she saw Lee Dojin’s face in the line, but the three characters of the name written on the application form turned her guess into fact.

“Ah, yes.”

Lee Dojin, with a bewildered face, neatly wrote his three-character name on the white paper that the receptionist had placed on top of his application form on the desk.

He didn’t have a separate designated signature.

“Wow, thank you. The exam room is 304A on the 3rd floor.”

“I understand.”

Lee Dojin told Choi Bit-na, who was standing behind him, that they’d meet after it was over and went up to the 3rd floor.

There was a waiting line on the 3rd floor. About 30 people were lined up sitting in chairs.

The line was shrinking quite quickly.

“Examinee number 102. Please come in.”

It was Lee Dojin’s turn.

---

Exam Room No. 34.

There was a man in charge of supervising the exam room.

S-rank Hunter Ji Ganghyeon was downing an iced Americano with a bored face.

Ji Ganghyeon was one of the few S-rank hunters belonging to the Hunter Association, sometimes mockingly called a national hunter.

“Damn it.”

It was so boring he was about to yawn.

Today again, no rookie appeared to shake off this boredom.

“…I thought I’d see some fun since it’s the day Iroaz kids start their vacation.”

It seemed there were no crazy bastards who would come to take the hunter registration test from the first day of vacation after all.

“Hmm?”

Ji Ganghyeon, who received the documents of the examinee whose turn it was to enter the exam room now, opened his eyes wide.

“Is this the guy I know?”

Lee Dojin.

A supernova who was already being talked about in the hunter world despite being just a first-year academy student.

He confirmed the face of the guy who entered the mock combat arena through the screen door.

“It is him.”

It was indeed that guy.

The practical test for hunter registration is conducted through combat with virtual monsters.

From goblins to twin-headed ogres. The grades went up step by step.

Dealing with three twin-headed ogres alone was A-rank. Of course, the premise of “overwhelming” had to be attached.

No matter how realistically they were implemented, they were still virtual monsters after all.

Because such detailed judgment was needed, hunters active in the field were assigned as supervisors.

-Nice to meet you, Examinee Lee Dojin.

Lee Dojin raised his head at the voice echoing inside the combat arena that looked like a school gymnasium.

-When you’re ready for the test, please raise your hand and the test will begin.

Lee Dojin raised his right hand without hesitation.

Ji Ganghyeon smirked at that appearance without a hint of hesitation. And he pressed the button to summon the first-stage monster.

A single goblin appeared.

And in Lee Dojin’s right hand was a wooden sword.

---

It was enough to make one yawn.

Starting with one goblin, then two lizardmen. He killed three orcs. And now three twin-headed ogres appeared.

I swung my sword swiftly.

A total of six heads soared into the air.

It was embarrassing to the point of imagining the face of the supervisor who would be watching from beyond that transparent screen.

-…Good, Examinee Lee Dojin.

The supervisor’s voice came through the speaker attached to the ceiling.

-I’m obviously planning to judge you as A-rank. Unless you declare something like committing treason in the personality test, A-rank will be confirmed.

After a moment of silence, the supervisor’s words were heard again.

-However, it was overwhelming, but too overwhelming. All three twin-headed ogres died in an instant. This test video needs to be approved for official approval from the management bureau. It’s a problem because it’s too unrealistic.

Is it a problem that I killed them too quickly?

…Huh, I didn’t expect this.

-In cases like this… if I have a match with Student Lee Dojin and add my evaluation as a supervisor, it will help with getting official approval. Do you agree?

I raised my right hand without hesitation this time as well.