The instructor wore a red armband marked “Evaluator” around his left arm.
Those who entered behind the instructor wore green armbands printed with “Assistant.”
Judging by their uniforms, they seemed to be students.
They must have been selected from among the students of Geumgang Academy to help the evaluators and assist with the examination.
‘Is Noona Sieun wearing one of those armbands and assisting with the exam too?’
I recalled the messages I had exchanged with Do Sieun a little while ago.
She had said that she was busy even before her inauguration, taking over from the student council president. As one of the student council’s duties, she had also ended up serving as an assistant for this year’s practical examination.
Unfortunately, she did not seem to be here, but she was probably working somewhere like these assistants.
Just then, the evaluator opened his mouth.
“Bring that in.”
At his words,
several assistants went outside, then pushed in a cart loaded with something, grunting with effort.
‘A device?’
It was a small metal box.
Judging by the strained expressions on their faces, it seemed to have had its size compressed while retaining its mass, just like a device.
Soon, several more assistants joined them and laboriously unloaded it from the cart.
“...”
It was not as though they were performing a pantomime.
The sight of several people moving such a small box was rather comical.
But no one could openly burst out laughing at the scene.
‘Their eyes are vicious.’
The assistants standing behind them were glaring with their eyes wide open.
Those who appeared to hold higher ranks seemed to be saying with their gazes:
‘You know what happens if you laugh, right? You die.’
‘I’ll remember anyone who laughs.’
‘We’ll see you after you enroll, juniors.’
That was exactly the look in their eyes.
As a result, the examinees, who did not want to get on their seniors’ bad side even before being accepted, had to struggle desperately to suppress their emotions.
“Pfft!”
“...”
Just then, someone burst out laughing.
In that instant, the assistants’ threats, which had been directed at all the examinees, turned toward the one who had laughed.
And what happened next...?
Blub blub.
Unable to withstand the intimidation, the examinee foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
The evaluator clicked his tongue at the sight.
“Someone who claims to want to become a student of Geumgang Academy fainted from this much intimidation? You took us for complete pushovers. Disqualified. Assistants! Move him aside!”
“Yes!”
As though they had been waiting for that moment,
the assistants answered in booming voices and dragged the collapsed examinee away.
‘Would Noona Sieun do that too...?’
Do Sieun was the student council president, so she probably was not moving those boxes.
Instead, she might be acting like the assistants who were still glaring fiercely.
The idea of intimidation emanating from a student council president was difficult to imagine, but I suspected that examinees were dropping like flies at whatever testing ground she was overseeing.
“We will now activate the device, so everyone, step back.”
By then, the evaluator had begun pouring the mana within his body into the small box.
Whoosh!
The small box reacted.
Engulfed in light, it rapidly swelled in volume.
A moment later.
“...”
Where the small box had been, a gigantic iron gate now stood.
It was large enough to be the equivalent of a three-story building.
I lifted my head to examine the iron gate and noticed something unusual.
‘...The gate is divided.’
The enormous iron gate had visible seams at regular intervals.
Looking at the gate with that in mind, I could see that a gate larger than the small one was connected over it, and another gate larger than that was connected over the second one, all in a regular pattern.
In this way, the iron gate was composed of five gates.
That was when the evaluator explained.
“As you can see, this gate consists of five separate gates. Examinees will open them with their hands.”
“...”
“If you can open even one gate, you will pass the first examination. If you cannot open any of them, pack your belongings and go home. In that case, you may spend the time that Academic City allows you to stay sightseeing around the city. Travel agencies will be waiting for you at the main entrance.”
Was that supposed to be a joke?
No one laughed after hearing the evaluator’s explanation.
Meanwhile, the assistants continued installing additional iron gates.
“Choose whichever gate you like. The assistants assigned to each gate will evaluate you. The examination will continue until the second examination begins, so you may take it as many times as you wish. However, make sure to wait your turn properly.”
Then we will begin the examination.
At those words...
“Uwaaaaaah!”
The countless examinees in the testing grounds ran toward the iron gates installed throughout the area, trying to claim the earliest possible positions.
* * *
An examination to open an iron gate.
The gates were not merely tall; they were also quite thick.
As a result, even opening a single gate appeared to be extremely difficult.
“Gnnnnngh!”
As soon as the examination began, the examinees who had rushed forward to claim the gates were all struggling.
Even when they tried to open them with flushed faces, the iron gates did not budge.
“One minute has passed. Please step aside for the examinees waiting behind you.”
“Ghk...”
Ten minutes had passed since the examination began.
Not a single person had opened a gate yet.
“Why won’t it open!?”
Those who failed to open a gate and lost their places in line often shouted in frustration.
The next person, and the one after that, were hardly any different in their complaints.
“It doesn’t look like it opens easily.”
The lines were too long.
So I did not join one yet, and simply watched the other examinees take the test from the back.
‘Well, it makes sense.’
Even the smallest gate looked to be at least two meters tall.
Unless someone was exceptionally strong, they would need to enhance their physical abilities with the mana inside their bodies to open it.
“Open, pleeeeease!”
But the examinees trying to open the gates were not very good at that.
The mana they manifested to increase their strength was not remaining within their bodies, but scattering into the air, and the mana applied to their two arms was not distributed evenly at all.
From that, I could infer that...
“Is this a test of how well we can use the mana within our bodies?”
I muttered the thought as it came to me.
Yeon Haneul picked up on it.
“I don’t think that’s all they’re testing. If they were only testing one’s ability to control their internal mana, wouldn’t a single gate have been enough? Five seems excessive.”
“Then what?”
“I think they’re trying to evaluate our overall mana capabilities. I watched the changes that occurred in the gate the moment that person touched it, and it seemed to be measuring the amount of mana in his body. The gate might be measuring various other factors as well.”
When it came to interpreting mana, Yeon Haneul was more capable than I was.
I nodded at her words and continued watching the situation.
Then, for the first time, an examinee opened an iron gate.
Rumble.
“Examinee number 6321, one gate. Pass.”
“Yes!”
The examinee wearing a gray admission tag was overjoyed.
He had only opened the first gate, but since no one had managed to open one until then, all eyes were inevitably drawn to him.
After that, more successful examinees appeared.
“Examinee number 282, one gate. Pass.”
“Examinee number 4389, two gates. Pass.”
“Examinee number 3256, one gate. Pass.”
“Examinee number 1875, two gates...”
Unlike the examinees who had failed while hurriedly trying to open the gates, those who calmly waited for their turn opened them one after another with faces that seemed to say it was not difficult at all.
“Opening a gate first isn’t everything! I knew it would turn out this way from the beginning. Well, I’ll be off too!”
The lines began shrinking rapidly.
Only then did Yong Haerang excitedly run off to join one.
“I’ve figured out some of the tricks by watching the others open the gates, and I can’t keep waiting forever, so I’d better go too. Gyeonu, Haneul! See you later!”
“We’ll go too!”
Go Eunbi and the triplets also moved.
“Should we start lining up too?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Yeon Haneul and I watched the situation a little longer, then decided to wait our turn in a line that looked as though it would clear out soon.
‘For now, opening the third gate is the highest record, I suppose.’
Thinking that,
I looked for Yong Haerang.
He had joined a line before us and was now almost at the front.
Before long,
“Next! Examinee number 6666.”
“Yes!”
Yong Haerang’s turn arrived.
As though his body had grown restless from waiting, he rolled his joints with a series of cracking sounds and walked toward the gate.
“...”
Perhaps because he came from the Righteous Hero Yong clan, and perhaps because he wore a black admission tag,
the examinees’ gazes turned toward Yong Haerang.
Even the assistants showed interest in him, and the evaluator went so far as to step forward to assess his abilities.
“Hoo.”
Yong Haerang placed both palms against the iron gate and concentrated, paying no attention to those gazes.
A moment later,
“Ha!”
With a loud battle cry,
Yong Haerang opened his eyes and finally began pushing against the iron gate.
Rumble...
But contrary to everyone’s expectations, even opening the first gate was far from smooth.
‘That’s not it.’
But I realized only belatedly.
Yong Haerang was currently...
“Crazy...”
“Is he pushing it with nothing but strength?”
He was opening the gate with pure physical strength, without even showing any sign of manifesting the mana within his body.
Sounds of astonishment erupted from all around at the bizarre feat Yong Haerang was performing.
Rumble...
Then the veins in his arms, exposed beyond his black martial-arts uniform, visibly writhed and bulged.
And the second gate shook.
At that sight,
“...”
I saw the evaluator, who seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say, standing with his mouth hanging open.
“Ghk!”
But Yong Haerang encountered an obstacle at the third iron gate.
The third gate did not budge.
Only then did Yong Haerang finally explode with mana.
“Ha!”
Wind swept outward from Yong Haerang.
The mana he had manifested through sheer force of will exerted an equivalent physical force.
That mana altered the air currents.
Rumble.
“...”
The third gate trembled, making a smoother sound than before.
No, it was not only the third gate...
“Uh, it’s moving...”
“...”
The fourth iron gate was reacting as well.
At someone’s astonished mutter, everyone’s eyes widened.
‘Impressive.’
I was no exception.
As expected of someone from the Righteous Hero Yong clan.
Yong Haerang’s strength was peerless.
And so,
“Examinee number 6666... four gates. Pass.”
Yong Haerang became the first person at this testing ground to open the fourth iron gate.
Even as he praised Yong Haerang’s abilities, the evaluator wore an expression of disbelief.
“Hoo... Ha.”
Yong Haerang wiped the sweat gathered at the tip of his chin with the back of his hand, then looked up at the iron gates he had opened.
He looked refreshed, as though unleashing his strength to the fullest had left him invigorated.
Then he abruptly turned around.
The direction in which he was walking...
‘Huh?’
For some reason, it was toward me.
Yong Haerang was smiling at me.
He approached.
“You can do at least this much too, right?”
“...”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
With those words,
Yong Haerang lightly patted me on the shoulder and walked past.
‘Does he consider me a rival? I could do without becoming his sparring partner...’
This was a situation I found anything but welcome.
All I could do was earnestly hope that Kang Hanbyeol would appear soon and divert Yong Haerang’s attention.
After that, there were indeed other examinees who opened the fourth gate.
They were few and far between.
All of them came from prestigious families, and had likely trained relentlessly since childhood in order to become hunters.
It was only natural that they would display that level of ability compared to the other examinees.
‘They say talent is important to a hunter, but the environment and effort that support it cannot be ignored either.’
Moreover, those from prestigious families were highly likely to possess talent in the first place.
No matter how talented someone born outside such a family was, barring exceptional circumstances, it was impossible to surpass the talent, time, environment, and effort available to those people.
That was how the difference between people from prestigious families and everyone else came about.
‘In a way... it means that difference is decided from the moment they are born.’
Unfortunately, that was simply the way the world was.
Unfair and unjust.
Some were blessed even when they did not want it, while others could not receive blessings no matter how desperately they wished for them.
Talents and circumstances that came naturally to some were anything but natural to others.
Those born into prestigious families continued to enjoy lives of authority and dominance, while those who were not lived like hamsters on a wheel beneath them, supporting them and being exploited by them in turn.
Especially in this world, which sought to produce superior Hunters.
‘Now it’s Go Eunbi’s turn.’
That was not to say the world was completely closed off in that way.
Even if it was incredibly narrow.
There was a path upward.
Those with exceptionally special talents could make up the difference, as could those with firm determination and sufficient effort.
The skills of people from prestigious families might stand out now, but three years from now, when they graduated from Geumgang Academy, the results could be entirely different.
“Whew!”
The most representative example of that was Go Eunbi.
Not born into a prestigious family, she was currently no more than a Ranger who performed a little better than average, but depending on the story’s progression and the player’s abilities, she was a character who displayed remarkable growth.
‘That’s why she was so satisfying to raise.’
That same girl was opening the iron doors.
She enhanced her physical abilities with the mana within her body and threw all her strength into opening the iron door.
And so—
“Ah, I’m out of breath….”
Go Eunbi, wearing a green admission ticket, managed to open the third iron door.
Considering that she had not been born into a prestigious family, it was quite a respectable result.
‘Well done.’
I praised Go Eunbi inwardly.
Then I looked for the triplets, who were opening the iron doors one after another.
“If the three of us could just combine our strength, opening all the doors would be a piece of cake….”
The triplets achieved the same result as Go Eunbi, side by side.
I roughly read their lips and clicked my tongue.
‘Yeah, that’s cheating.’
Anyone could open them all if they joined forces in threes.
Still, considering their teamwork, three of them were much stronger than one.
It would have been nice if they had opened the fourth, but judging the triplets as a group, it wasn’t a bad result for each of them to have made it to the third.
Meanwhile, before I knew it—
“Next examinee! Please step forward.”
Everyone ahead of us had disappeared, and it was now my turn and Yeon Haneul’s.
The assistant examiner called out to us, unable to tell the order in which we stood.
I said to Yeon Haneul,
“Go, Yeon Haneul.”
“…Um, why are you telling me to go first? And am I your Pokémon or something? Why are you treating me like a Pokémon….”
“Yeon Haneul, I choose you.”
“Good grief….”
I did not accept refusals.
I gave Yeon Haneul a light tap on the back.
In the end, she gave up on arguing and trudged toward the iron door.
“…”
Just as Yong Haeryang had done a moment ago.
The sounds in the examination hall died down.
The examinees were too busy turning their eyes toward Yeon Haneul to remember to take their tests, and even the assistant examiners kept sneaking glances at her.
The evaluator also quickly turned around and walked toward her.
“Ugh….”
“Haneul, do your best.”
Yeon Haneul seemed burdened by all the attention she was receiving.
Unable to hide behind me, she kept looking back at me or taking deep breaths over and over.
I cheered her on.
Not long after—
“I’ll take the test now.”
Having finished taking deep breaths, Yeon Haneul reached out and placed her hand against the iron door.
“Whoo.”
Yeon Haneul exhaled evenly.
In response, the mana within her body manifested and began to swirl around her.
The mana that spread from the center of her palm eventually enveloped the entire iron door.
“…”
The density of her mana was evident even to the naked eye.
The people seemed astonished by its density.
I could hear those around us gasp.
“Heave-ho.”
Then Yeon Haneul pushed against the iron door.
Rumble.
The first iron door slid open with ease, without so much as a creak.
Rumble.
The second iron door was no different.
Though she did not seem to be exerting much strength, it moved smoothly.
Rumble.
“…”
The third iron door was the same.
The people’s eyes widened.
Even the evaluator stood there with his mouth agape.
Rumble.
Then, when the fourth iron door was pushed open—
The people’s faces hardened.
“Whoo.”
Only then did Yeon Haneul exhale the breath she had been holding and stop pushing the iron door.
But it did not end there.
“Whoo.”
“…”
After steadying her breathing, Yeon Haneul began opening the iron doors once more.
The iron door, which had been halfway open, creaked and trembled.
The fifth iron door had responded.
Rumble….
It was less smooth than before.
But the fifth iron door moved as well.
From that point on, she pushed the iron door one step at a time, putting her strength into each movement.
And so—
“Haaah.”
“…”
Yeon Haneul succeeded in opening all five iron doors.
Having stepped beyond them, she turned around.
“I opened the doors.”
“…”
With a shy expression,
Yeon Haneul spoke to the evaluator.
The evaluator, who had been unable to come to his senses for some time, answered in a trembling voice.
“Examinee number 5,5784… Five doors. Passed.”
Became the Mid-Boss’s Childhood Friend