With the majority having chosen the villain role, there was no way the exam could proceed normally.
Su Hoguk, who had been muttering with a complicated expression, ultimately had to go back on his word.
“It seems I cannot leave this to your autonomy, even for the sake of distributing roles equally. I am sorry. It is my failing for failing to consider your thoughts. The roles will be decided by lottery.”
Tch, just when things were looking up.
Naturally, it was obvious that complaints would pour from the students’ mouths.
Gang Hanbyeol, Bak Sagun, Yong Haerang, the triplets, and I joined them in voicing our displeasure.
Even so, Su Hoguk remained unshaken and maintained a firm attitude.
“From now on, anyone who expresses dissatisfaction will be assigned the Hunter role regardless of the lottery.”
“….”
Having heard a warning bordering on a threat, we had no choice but to keep our mouths shut.
In the end, unable to defy Su Hoguk, we had to decide our roles by lottery.
The result?
“I wanted to be a villain, but I’m a Hunter….”
“Huh? Gyeonu, you too? Me too.”
“Do Gyeonu! You’re a Hunter too!? We got Hunter too!”
“We three are one! Even the luck of the draw can’t tear us apart!”
“If Gyeonu and Hanbyeol are on the same team, we don’t have to worry about the exam!”
I, Gang Hanbyeol, and the triplets were assigned the Hunter roles.
Yong Haerang and Bak Sagun were assigned the villain roles.
Having inwardly wished for the villain role, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
*Lucky them, Haerang and Sagun.*
I felt envious of the two, but it couldn’t be helped.
I resolved to take the exam, taking solace in the fact that I was on the same side as Gang Hanbyeol.
Gang Hanbyeol seemed to be thinking something similar. “Gyeonu, I’m counting on you,” he said, wishing me luck.
“Do Gyeonu! It’s okay! We’re here too!”
“If us childhood friends combine our strength, villains are nothing!”
“If you ask who we are! The Three-Headed Hound! Cerberus of Geumgang Academy!”
“What meaning is there in childhood friends who aren’t even blessed by the heavens? You lot just follow orders well.”
Meanwhile, I paid little attention to the triplets, who were showing enthusiasm while surveying the terrain that would serve as our stage.
I wasn’t sure if they would be of much help, but they wouldn’t be a hindrance.
Not expecting much from them, I soon threw myself into the exam.
*We’ve arrived at the base, but….*
Yellow Gate, City of Shigi I.
Entering the city where corpses roamed, we found clues scattered everywhere by Su Hoguk and finally discovered a building presumed to be the villains’ base.
Other than a few corpses with appearances suggesting considerable post-mortem time wandering around the entrance, there was nothing particularly unusual.
“Gyeonu, what should we do? Should we just enter like this?”
“Hmm….”
Perhaps, unlike what appeared on the surface, the villains might have further defenses prepared against intrusion.
Having approached stealthily and quietly, we couldn’t help but become cautious.
Gang Hanbyeol, the triplets, and the other students urged me, who had naturally become the leader as a member of the Singeom Doga, to make a decision.
I soon reached a conclusion.
“Send the minions, including a few Rangers, to approach the entrance first. Have them thoroughly investigate whether there are traps around the entrance. The rest of us will move after confirming that their path is safe.”
“…Eundong, what’s he saying?”
“Is he going to use us as guinea pigs?”
“You’re not really doing this, are you!”
“Stop yapping and get out there to scout like you’re told.”
Sending scouts before an assault was the most fundamental of basics, not even worth debating when it came to military strategy.
Above all, someone had to take the lead.
Judging the triplets to be perfect for that role, I sent them to the front, dispatching several students toward the entrance.
As expected, my intuition was not wrong.
KWA-KWANG!
The limping corpses discovered the students who had shown themselves and suddenly changed, rushing at them.
Then, they exploded without warning.
Those who had charged to the forefront were caught in the explosions before they could defend themselves.
The villains had set traps on the corpses in the vicinity.
I had been focused only on the area around the entrance, never imagining they would catch us off guard like this.
“Isn’t this desecration of the dead? They truly have no respect for life.”
“Right. They’re smart… no, their character is really just like villains.”
Corpses that had noticed the sound of the explosions were rushing in from elsewhere.
In an instant, they surrounded us.
Gang Hanbyeol and I stood back-to-back, surveying the battlefield.
[You have encountered monsters.]
[Common Shigi (Rank 01) x 13]
[Special Shigi (Rank 02) x 5]
“Those Shigi swarming in now probably don’t have traps on them, right?”
“Only the ones at the entrance probably have traps. The others likely don’t.”
“Then we can fight without hesitation.”
“Our goal is to infiltrate the base anyway. There’s no need to exhaust ourselves subjugating them.”
“Then if we focus our attacks on their heads, legs, or their cores where the magic stones should be to keep them from moving—”
“Wait, Hanbyeol.”
“What? What is it?”
“They aren’t following the villains, are they? They just saw us and are attacking on instinct.”
“Right?”
“Then wouldn’t they react the same way if they saw the villains?”
“Right…?”
“They keep swarming in even now; when would we finish them all off? Wouldn’t it be better to infiltrate the secret base together with them? After all, the villains drew them here, so let them take responsibility.”
“…Gyeonu, are you a genius?”
Didn’t they say a crisis can become an opportunity?
Recalling that adage, I relayed to the students that we were modifying our strategy.
Having taken classes together for a semester, they all indicated their approval.
And so.
“We’ll send the monsters into the enemy camp. First, break down the base door.”
We pooled our strength to break through the encirclement, prioritizing the assault on the building entrance.
The triplets, who had been caught in the explosion earlier, and the Rangers showed the most enthusiasm, as if seeking vengeance.
* * *
[KUOOOOH!]
[Send the Shigi toward areas suspected of having traps! And keep an eye on the direction the Shigi move in groups. There’s a high probability that someone—whether villain or hostage—is there.]
As the strategy devised by Do Gyeonu was put into action, monsters were infiltrating the villains’ secret base.
Due to the interference of creatures that had been assumed not to significantly affect the exam, the situation inside the secret base was instantly plunged into chaos.
[W-what!? What are those things!?]
[Why are the Shigi here…!?]
Villains hiding to launch a counterattack against the Hunters had their presence exposed by the monsters, unable to erase the flustered expressions from their faces.
Their intentions came to naught.
Hunters who had by now grown adept at luring monsters did not miss this opening and engaged in combat.
“Now, seriously….”
From the temporary control room inside the base.
Su Hoguk, who had been watching the exam through the screens, was at a loss for words.
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
“Do they think this is what Hunters do?”
The younger generation really does seem quite different.
Su Hoguk, falling into the illusion that he had become an old fogey, clicked his tongue.
He then composed his bewildered emotions and decided to evaluate the exam according to his duty.
*Emotionally, it’s somewhat off-putting, but if I think objectively, the strategy itself isn’t bad at all.*
Monsters are humanity’s enemy.
They are beings that must be killed without fail.
Thus, their lives are not worth respecting.
Since they had used such creatures, it was difficult to consider it a violation of a Hunter’s duty.
For now, he couldn’t make a decision based solely on emotional factors.
However, if they caused harm to hostages, that would be a different story.
[Make sure the hostages don’t get hurt because of the Shigi. You might lose points otherwise.]
[Got it, Gyeonu! Guys, you heard Gyeonu, right!?]
[This won’t do. There are more hostages from here on, so let’s stop using the Shigi and clean them up.]
Of course, Do Gyeonu, annoyingly enough, knew how to read the flow appropriately.
As soon as it looked like the Shigi would become a hindrance, he boldly decided to subjugate them.
In this way, the creatures dropped magic stones and proved helpful to the Hunters until the very end.
*He rides the wave cleverly. There are indeed Hunters skilled in such opportunism.*
Whether to deduct points from Do Gyeonu, who was commanding the operation.
Su Hoguk, rubbing his chin, decided after some deliberation not to deduct points.
“However, attempting to use the twins as bait to identify the traps at the beginning warrants a point deduction.”
A character that treats comrades like consumables does not suit a Hunter.
Having deducted one point from Do Gyeonu, Su Hoguk soon turned his attention to the other students.
[If you ask who we are! It’s common courtesy to answer!]
[If you speak of us, we are the Guardians of Hell!]
[The Three-Headed Hound! Cerberus of Geumgang Academy!]
The triplets proudly declared their aliases to the villains without a hint of shame.
For easy distinction, they wore gold, silver, and copper brooches on their uniform jackets.
Su Hoguk looked at them striking bizarre poses and let out a bitter smile.
“Declaring one’s alias before a fight is exemplary conduct for a Hunter. Though the poses are a bit grotesque, they introduced themselves confidently unlike the others, so +1 point. However, the three of them ganging up on one person could damage a Hunter’s dignity, so -1 point.”
Thus, plus-minus zero.
Su Hoguk moved on to the next.
On the screen, Gang Hanbyeol was rescuing an elderly woman with limited mobility.
In truth, she was only acting.
The majority of those participating as hostages were professional actors hired on a daily contract basis under an agreement with Geumgang Academy.
“T-thank you, young man… You’re handsome, very much so. More handsome than my old man was in his youth… What a shame, if I were ten years younger, I would have made a pass at you….”
“Haha… Is that so?”
“But handsome young man, I’m sorry to ask, but could I make one request?”
“A request? Yes, please tell me.”
Separate from the basic questions in the exam, there existed problems that allowed one to earn additional points.
The grandmother’s request was one such.
“Please save our Nureongi, young man….”
“Nureongi? Is it a dog?”
“Yes… A child I raised like my own, but well, those bad guys took our Nureongi.”
“Oh no, you must be heartbroken.”
One who truly wishes to become a Hunter must not refuse the request of a person in distress.
Refusal results in a point deduction.
Su Hoguk waited for Gang Hanbyeol’s response.
Sympathizing with the grandmother’s plight, he immediately opened his mouth.
“Yes! Of course, I must help you! Don’t worry, Grandma! I will save Nureongi!”
“Thank you, handsome young man.”
Gang Hanbyeol reassured the grandmother with a refreshing smile.
Plus one point.
However, his subsequent action resulted in minus one point.
“But what will you give me when I bring back Nureongi?”
“Huh? It’s not for free?”
“My master always said that goodwill must be accompanied by compensation. Please give me something.”
“…Dear, don’t you want to pass the exam? If you do this…”
“Ah, does this mean I won’t get bonus points? Then I’ll help you pro bono as a special exception!”
“Hah, really….”
Kids these days are way too different.
Su Hoguk once again felt like he had become an old fogey.
And so, the exam concluded with a victory for the Hunters led by Do Gyeonu and Gang Hanbyeol.
* * *
Among the hostages was also Cha Eunsol.
According to her story, having been imprisoned in a cage on the floor guarded by Yong Haerang and Bak Sagun, she had somehow been lured by the smell of food and ended up participating as a hostage.
“The instructor suggested that I should at least serve as a hostage to atone for stealing food. And it just so happened that I was hungry at the time, so I decided to become a hostage in exchange for more food.”
“Does that even make sense?”
“But it’s the truth. Don’t ask for more details. It’s annoying to explain. Nom….”
“Ah, I see. Just get out of the cage. You need to help the other kids escape too.”
“How annoying… Just go without minding me.”
Cha Eunsol possessed the strength to escape on her own whenever she wished.
Stuffing her cheeks to bursting with food inside the cage, she was quite the problematic hostage.
That Yong Haerang had the detonation switch, and that we would soon have to fight Bak Sagun, made the situation nothing but difficult.
"You'll lose points if we leave you behind, you know? Stop lazing around and come out."
"But... it's more comfortable here. The world is scary. So I'm going to stay here."
"Gyeonu, could it be that Haerang and Sagun brainwashed Eunsol?"
"No, she's always been like this. Geum, Eun, Dong, you guys take responsibility and get her out."
Somehow managing to drag Cha Eunsol out like that.
Having entrusted her to the triplets, Gang Hanbyeol and I fought Bak Sagun and Yong Haerang.
The result, well....
It was our victory.
"Hahaha! Do Gyeonu! And Gang Hanbyeol! You've made it here! The detonation switch is hidden right here in the bathroom! If you want to take it, then face me!"
"Haerang... how could you say that...."
"Ah, was I not supposed to say that? It's fine, we just have to win in the end!"
Yong Haerang, who was terrible at lying, was completely unfit to be a villain.
Thanks to him spilling the secret, the Hunters were able to find the detonation switch with ease, and Gang Hanbyeol and I could focus solely on the fight.
And so, the exam ended.
I went out for a night walk with Yeon Haneul and told her this story.
"Hmm... just hearing about it, the exam sounds like it was a total quagmire. The instructor from Suho Kingdom must have been at a loss."
"Total quagmire... is putting it lightly. Besides them, the other students didn't really understand their roles either. When I saw the instructor's face after the exam, he looked exhausted."
"You know you're one of the causes too, right?"
"What? I acted like a Hunter should."
"Yeah, bullshit!"
"Rawr!"
"Yeah, a lion's roar!"
Since there was an exam tomorrow as well, we couldn't enjoy the walk for too long.
Deciding to head back to the dorms, we walked the night path giggling.
Just then, Yeon Haneul asked me, as if curious.
"But hey."
"Yeah, what?"
"If I get kidnapped by villains, what would you do?"
Yeon Haneul blinked her red eyes, waiting for my answer.
Her rabbit ears bounced up and down, showing just how curious she was.
I looked down at her and let out a short laugh.
"What do you mean, what would I do? I'd save you, obviously."
"Even if they demand a huge ransom?"
"Then I'd just rob a bank or something. Or barge into my family house and ask for money."
"Then if other people are held hostage too, who would you save first?"
"You, obviously."
"Then... between me and Eunbi?"
"Yeon Haneul, you first. If worst comes to worst, I'll throw Eunbi at the villains and run."
"Between me and Lisa? Lisa is the princess of the Grace Empire."
"Am I an imperial citizen? Lisa, well, the Empire's people will take care of saving her."
Clearly, visibly, the corners of Yeon Haneul's lips rose.
It seemed she liked my answer very much.
Still holding my hand and following me, she continued spouting what-if scenarios.
"Then what if... Hanbyeol and I are taken hostage together?"
"...Why are you two together?"
"Huh?"
"How does a situation occur where you two meet without me and get caught as hostages?"
"Th-that's... Then I take it back. ...Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Hey, you don't... with Hanbyeol... No, that can't be it."
"Could you please not misunderstand weirdly?"
Funny, really.
Yeon Haneul glared at me with a sulky gaze.
Soon, she put on a warm smile.
"Anyway, it means I'm more precious to you than others, right?"
"You already know the answer and you're still asking?"
"More than your family?"
"Honestly, isn't family cheating?"
"Fine, I'll concede the family point. Your family is precious to me too."
"Then it's my turn to ask."
"Yeah, ask away. I'll give you a sharp answer."
"If I get taken hostage, what would you do?"
"Hmm... wouldn't I come to save you? And I think I'd smash the villains' heads with a sledgehammer."
"...."
Haneul, isn't that a bit too specific?
I watched Yeon Haneul clear her throat and puff out her chest, feeling inwardly flustered.
'Well, still...'
Hearing that she'd come save me without hesitation felt good, even if only words.
Satisfied with Yeon Haneul's answer, I asked her the same question she had asked me earlier.
The answer was no different.
My heart was lightened by trivial talk.
I suspected she felt something similar.
"Hm? What is it?"
"What's wrong?"
It was then that a vibration rang from my pocket.
I checked my smartphone.
I had received a message from No Hyowon.
[No Hyowon]: I'll send additional photos of the students who recently visited the black magic Oga family's villa.
[No Hyowon]: And these are photos of students hovering around Lisa.
[No Hyowon]: Their personal details are here.
[No Hyowon]: (O Junsu Faction Recent Status(Final2).hwp)
[No Hyowon]: I couldn't get too close because there was a risk of being discovered... but from what I overheard them saying, it seems like they'll try to do something to Lisa before long.
[No Hyowon]: This is just my opinion. Filter it as you see fit.
[No Hyowon]: (Baby Phoenix emoji singing "Beep beep beep, ba ba ba, vroom vroom vroom!")
It was an update on O Junsu's gang that I had asked No Hyowon to look into previously.
I decided to commit the photos of the students keeping watch on Lisa to memory.
[Me]: Make sure to keep a close eye on them.
[Me]: I'm going to hit them in two days, so get whoever can move ready.
[No Hyowon]: So you're finally making your move. Understood, I'll live up to your expectations this time too.
[No Hyowon]: To think you're trying to dominate even the black magic faction, you're a scary guy.
[No Hyowon]: Could it be that you're laying the groundwork to aim for the student council president's seat?
[No Hyowon]: I'm very proud to have been conquered by you!
[Me]: Haneul is right next to me, so could you not say weird things? ;;
[No Hyowon]: I see! At this hour, you must be in the middle of your conquest activities in bed.
[No Hyowon]: Sorry for disturbing you. May you conquer Haneul like a man!
[Me]: ................
[Me]: We're on a walk, you know?
[No Hyowon]: (Winking baby phoenix emoji)
I had gathered enough information through No Hyowon's investigation.
So now, what I had to do was strike first before O Junsu could cause an incident.
In two days, I would raid the villa of the black magic Oga family.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss