TRGBH 05

Chapter 5

The evaluation center was a huge dome owned by the Hunter Association, located near the National Assembly building. As far as I knew, before the dome was built, this place had been a large shopping complex. However, it had been turned into ruins after giant monsters poured out of a Stage that had failed to be cleared. Later, the Hunter Association bought the land at a very low price under the excuse of protecting the National Assembly and built the dome there. This story was widely known.

A huge crowd had gathered inside the dome. They were all nineteen-year-old Korean citizens, and they were awakened people who had gathered here with a firm determination to become hunters.

“Wow, how many people are there? Isn’t it like every nineteen-year-old in the country is here?”

Lee Hasol was from a remote island village where there were very few people. The moment he entered the building, he let out an amazed cry.

“Probably around five thousand?”

“Whoa! That’s a lot! So you’re saying all these people are going to become hunters now? As expected of the Republic of Korea, a hunter powerhouse!”

That’s true, but before even a year passed, less than a quarter of these people would remain.

Most of them would realize that living as a hunter wasn’t as enjoyable as they had expected and choose to tear up their Blue Tickets and return to being ordinary people.

“But how are all these people going to be evaluated? Are they going to have some kind of tournament? If so, how many times would you have to fight to come in first place?”

This guy really knew nothing.

Well, the recruitment notice posted by the Association did not specifically explain the evaluation categories or methods. It only stated that nineteen-year-old awakened people who had used a Red Ticket after March 1 of that year were eligible to participate.

He kept staring at the endless stream of people pouring into the dome and marveling at everything.

Then he suddenly looked at me and asked,

“But Kim Darum, why does the Association only recruit nineteen-year-olds? I know people can awaken from the age of nineteen, but there are also many people who awaken when they’re older.”

Oh.

What a good question.

“You see, it’s because of a Special Stage that Korea possesses.”

“A Special Stage?”

“Yeah. It’s a Stage that only a few countries, including Korea, possess. But you know what a Stage is, right?”

“I-I know at least that much!”

Lee Hasol shouted loudly.

The participants standing in line beside us looked over because of his shout, but the surroundings were so noisy that they quickly lost interest.

Anyway, I saw it.

Lee Hasol’s eyes were shaking wildly.

This guy didn’t know a damn thing. He obviously knew nothing.

“Yeah, yeah. As you know, the System interferes with this world and summons Stages in various forms or opens Gates. We hunters aim to clear them before they completely assimilate into the world, or close and seal them before they open completely. Today’s evaluation works the same way.”

“I-It assimilates after interfering? Wait, more importantly, we have to clear a Stage? Today? I don’t know anything yet!”

“Don’t worry. Once you enter the Stage, the System will explain everything properly. Surprisingly, the System is quite helpful in situations like this.”

“Okay. Got it.”

It’s nice that he listens so well.

Our Hasol.

“Anyway, the Stage we’re participating in today is a Condition-type Virtual-type Stage that opens once a year when certain conditions are met.”

“A Condition-type Virtual-type Stage?”

Lee Hasol looked troubled.

Hmm. I shouldn’t go any further than this…

“Just think of it as a rare Stage that only exists in a few places around the world.”

“Okay, okay.”

“The way this Stage works is through a Progressive Ascending Structure… No, to make it easier to understand, you can call it a Staircase-type structure. The higher the stage, the greater the difficulty and the rewards.”

“Ah… So there are things like that too. Then does it not end all at once? Do you have to keep going?”

“That’s right. You defeat enemies, receive rewards, and move on to the next stage. The process keeps repeating.”

“What… It’s completely like a game.”

“Yeah, it’s similar. The enemies get stronger and the rewards increase as you go higher, so it’s very much like a game. But in reality, most of the rewards from this Stage are useless. They’re just junk that high-ranking hunters wouldn’t even look at. However, there was an incredible Easter egg hidden here.”

“An… Easter egg?”

“Yeah. An Easter egg is a special phenomenon that appears when certain conditions are met. And the Easter egg that appears in this Stage is that when an awakened person who is nineteen years old and has been awakened for less than forty-eight hours clears the Stage, the quality of the rewards becomes dramatically higher.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s incredible. You could call it a kind of butterfly effect. By the way, all the world’s greatest hunter powers possess Stages similar to this one. So you can think of this as both a selection evaluation and an early booster provided to promising Korean hunters. That’s why the participants are strictly limited to Korean citizens. That’s also why they checked everyone’s identity when we entered.”

Just then, the lights throughout the dome dimmed, and the face of a handsome man appeared on a large screen installed on one side of the ceiling.

“Oh! It’s Han Seojin!”

Most of the people gathered here knew that face.

Even Lee Hasol, who was standing beside me, recognized him.

Hunter Han Seojin.

At this time, he was an absolute idol to teenagers and young people who dreamed of becoming hunters.

The fact that he had already become an A-rank hunter at such a young age, in his late twenties, was more than enough to earn him that status.

On the screen, Han Seojin began speaking with a faint smile.

“Welcome, everyone who has gathered here to become hunters. In a little while, you will enter a special Stage prepared by the Hunter Association for today.”

The murmuring suddenly grew louder, quickly filling the entire dome.

There were more people than expected who, like Lee Hasol, had not known that today’s evaluation meant entering a Stage.

As if he had expected this reaction, Han Seojin continued with a gentle smile.

“There is nothing to worry about. This is a very safe Stage managed by the Association. As long as you follow the instructions, you will never get hurt.”

That was true.

However, there were casualties every year.

Of course, they were never made public or reported in the news.

The Association’s influence in Korea was simply too powerful.

The words that followed were not much different from what I had explained to Lee Hasol.

The applicants who already knew about the Easter egg nodded, while those who hadn’t known about it lit up with determination, as if they were determined to seize the opportunity in front of them.

“I hope you won’t think of today as merely an evaluation. Today could become a precious opportunity that will never come again in your life as a hunter. I sincerely hope that you will seize this opportunity and make the most of it. I wish every one of you the best of luck.”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

A passionate roar erupted in response to Han Seojin’s encouragement.

I looked to the side and saw Lee Hasol shouting while waving both hands in the air.

A precious opportunity that would never come again…

He was right.

When I explained the Easter egg to Hasol, hadn’t I called it a butterfly effect that had raised Korea into a hunter powerhouse?

Unfortunately, though, that only applied to a few talented people.

No matter how much the quality of the rewards increased, it was useless if you couldn’t clear the Stage.

Let’s think about this realistically.

The five thousand people gathered here were all beginners who had only been awakened for two days.

Most of them probably didn’t even know how to use their traits properly, let alone have any experience entering a Stage.

How many stages could people like that actually clear?

In the end, only a few people with natural talent like Sa Je-il, or those who happened to have extremely good luck when drawing their traits, would be able to fully enjoy the Easter egg hidden in the Stage.

And those people would grow and eventually lead Korea’s hunter world.

“I’m going to clear it all the way to the end!”

Hasol shouted.

Hmm.

I wonder how far this guy will make it.

“I’m here. You all worked hard.”

The spacious control room had its entire walls covered with CCTV monitors.

The door suddenly opened, and a strongly built old man with a full head of white hair entered.

The many people sitting down and handling the selection evaluation all stood up at once and bowed.

“Welcome, Chairman!”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep working. I just stopped by to show my face for a moment.”

The old man, who was called Chairman, looked around the control room once before leaving through the door he had entered.

A man in a black suit who appeared to be in charge hurriedly followed him outside.

“Chairman, I’ll escort you.”

The two walked down the hallway in silence for a while.

“When did you say the Stage opens?”

The old man suddenly asked.

“One hour from now, exactly at noon.”

The man in the suit answered.

The Chairman took something out of his pocket.

It was a small golden key that fit in the palm of his hand.

The Chairman casually threw the key at the man.

The man bowed respectfully and caught it.

“Can’t you keep this now? How long am I supposed to keep going back and forth? I’m old now. It’s tiring.”

The Hunter Association headquarters was located in Gangnam.

There was no way the Chairman, who had even brought an escort, could actually be tired.

It was simply an old man’s annual habit of showing off his importance.

Koo Baeksan, the Association’s Operations Director and the person in charge of the entire Hunter Selection Evaluation, knew this very well.

Koo Baeksan politely handed the key back to the Chairman.

“This key is a treasure of the Korean hunter world. Of course, it is only right that you personally take care of it. What would happen if enemies invaded and tried to steal it from you?”

“Tsk, tsk. How long are you planning to make this old man work?”

“We are always grateful to be under the Chairman’s protection.”

“Enough. Someone might hear you and curse me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“By the way, where did that Han Seojin fellow go? I don’t care about the others, but I wanted to at least receive a greeting from him.”

Koo Baeksan gave a bitter smile.

“He left immediately after completing his scheduled appearance.”

“Tsk. That money-grubbing bastard. He barely does anything when he comes here, yet he takes so much money from the Association?”

“He is very popular among young people. Since he gave the applicants a lot of encouragement, I don’t think we need to worry about the appearance fee.”

The Chairman still looked unhappy despite Koo Baeksan’s explanation.

Then he suddenly asked,

“Do you think there are any smart kids among them?”

“There are so many applicants that we’ll have to wait for the evaluation results. The top-ranked guilds in the country sent their hunters without missing a single one. And this time, Sa Heedo’s son also applied.”

“Sa Heedo? Has that bastard’s son already turned nineteen? So, how is he?”

“I took a quick look at him. Hmm… He seems a little slow, so we’ll have to watch him a bit longer.”

“Slow? There’s no way that snake’s son could be like that…”

Sa Je-il was standing at the very front of the line of participants.

With a wide smile on his face, he stared straight ahead.

Then, suddenly, he came to his senses as if waking up from a deep sleep.

‘What the fuck happened to me?’

His memories were intact.

During the fight, he had felt a slight sting around his neck, and immediately afterward, he had felt an intense and uncontrollable affection toward Kim Darum.

A firm determination had taken root in his heart to obey anything Kim Darum said, and he had actually acted accordingly.

Meanwhile, Sa Je-il’s original self, buried deep inside his mind, watched all of this and screamed.

But as if trapped inside a dream, his body moved against his will.

His words, actions, expressions, and even his emotions were no longer under his control.

‘Kim Darum, was it? Darum… What a cute name. No, no, no! That’s not right, fuuuuuck!’

When he repeated the man’s name in his mind, the faint affection that remained began to rise again.

It was as if he had awakened from a deep dream but still could not completely escape its lingering traces.

‘These are false feelings. I don’t know what trick that bastard used on me, but I won’t let him play with me anymore. Get a grip, Sa Je-il!’

Sa Je-il covered his entire body with killing intent.

He gathered his mind, trying to return to his usual cold self.

As the killing intent he released spread around him, the participants stepped backward to avoid him, and the line unconsciously became disorganized.

Seeing the instructors rushing over after noticing something was wrong, Sa Je-il withdrew his killing intent.

He completely erased the disgusting feelings he had felt toward Kim Darum.

Only hatred and murderous intent remained.

‘You bastard. I will definitely kill you.’

Sa Je-il looked around.

But he couldn’t find Kim Darum.

‘There’s no way I can find him in this chaos. I’ll run into him soon enough anyway. For now, I need to focus on the evaluation.’

Sa Je-il deliberately turned his attention elsewhere.

He remembered Han Seojin acting so arrogantly on the screen a moment ago.

As far as he knew, when Han Seojin was nineteen, he had cleared the special evaluation Stage up to the 13th stage.

‘Even I can easily do that much.’

Sa Je-il’s eyes burned with determination.

Just then, an announcement came over the speakers.

“Then, we will begin the evaluation now. All participants must keep the number tag attached to their chest and remain where they are currently standing. Entry into the Stage will happen automatically, and you will receive further detailed instructions inside the Stage.”

Then, blue lights began flashing beneath the participants’ feet.

It seemed they would enter the Stage right from where they were standing.

“I wish you all the best of luck.”