For a Hunter, rank carried a tremendous amount of meaning.
To think that a person’s worth could be divided into ranks and expressed so easily—could anything be more brutally explicit?
For a very long time, I had been shackled to the rank of F.
In a way, perhaps even my divorce had happened because of it.
For twenty-five years, I had been F-rank.
Even so, I had never been ashamed of being F-rank.
What I was ashamed of was the entirety of my past, which had left me with no choice but to remain F-rank.
And so.
Today, I would finally cast off the wretched shackles of F-rank that had bound me for the past twenty-five years.
“Examinee number 31, please enter.”
At last, my turn came, and I entered the examination room.
A vast white chamber stretched out before me.
This was the simulation room where the Promotion Exam would take place.
“Any damage you suffer within the virtual-reality environment will not cause actual physical harm. However, it will be accumulated separately and recorded, so please treat this as though it were a real battle. You will be disqualified if your damage score exceeds the permitted threshold.”
“Yes.”
“Then we will begin immediately.”
After finishing the explanation, the Agency employee left the simulation room.
Not long afterward, a mechanical voice sounded from the ceiling.
[Beginning the D-Rank Promotion Exam simulation.]
The scenery around me gradually began to change.
It was not merely the visuals.
Sound and every other sensation seemed to be reproduced as well.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE─
The sound of branches brushing against one another echoed with remarkable realism. When I raised my gaze, faint moonlight could be seen filtering through intermittently.
The bizarre shapes created by the unstable interplay of light and shadow began to surround me.
Moss-covered rocks and rotting tree trunks stood silently here and there, as though time itself had stopped.
It was a familiar sight to me.
Yes.
This was the scenery of Tower Floor 10.
As I moved forward, a gigantic figure stood with its back to me before a towering pile of skulls.
The Kobold King.
The boss monster of Tower Floor 10, which I had personally hunted not long ago, had now appeared before me in a virtual form.
-Grrrr…….
It was an opponent I had already hunted once.
Perhaps because I knew it was merely a simulation as well, the Kobold King’s massive body seemed unusually small.
“Hmm.”
Hunting the Kobold King would not be difficult.
I had already done it once, and I was stronger now than I had been then.
Even so, I hesitated for a moment.
No matter how well this place had been constructed, it was still a simulation room rather than the Tower.
In other words, someone was watching me.
‘How much should I reveal?’
If I displayed my strength here, it would inevitably attract attention.
Of course, the Awakened Management Agency would probably make a thorough effort to restrict the information, but even that would have its limits.
If I wanted to avoid attention, it would be better to carefully restrain my strength and clear the exam while pretending to struggle.
After all, the only condition for promotion to D-rank was defeating the Kobold King.
But…….
‘Do I really need to go that far?’
My encounter with the A-rank Hunter today had made something clear to me.
Until now, I had been somewhat reluctant to reveal myself to the world.
But perhaps there was no real need to be.
The reason I had hesitated to reveal myself was because I feared that the malice of the world might eventually turn toward me, just as it had with the Flame King.
And it was not only the Flame King.
Over the years, I had watched countless promising rookies disappear without a trace.
But I decided to set all those concerns aside for the time being.
If you could not move forward, you stagnated.
Over the past twenty-five years, I had learned that truth down to my bones.
“Hey.”
At my call, the Kobold King, which had appeared to be performing some kind of ritual before the tower of skulls, turned toward me.
-Gru?
Rather than charging at me, the Kobold King slowly began backing away.
Almost as though it were afraid.
‘Pretty good instincts for a simulation.’
If even fear had been reproduced, then the simulation really was exceptionally detailed.
I clenched my fist.
I still had no intention of openly revealing myself to the world.
But I would not hide anymore, either.
BOOOOM───!!!
***
Deputy Director Park Gi-yong watched Choi Kang Hyuk through the recording cameras installed in the simulation room.
“Hmm…….”
At last, the moment had arrived.
Just what kind of Traits and Skills did Choi Kang Hyuk possess?
What could he possibly have that allowed him to achieve SSS-rank, something no one in history had ever accomplished?
Now, they would finally find out.
Even after the exam officially began, Choi Kang Hyuk did not make any significant movements.
According to the records, he had already cleared Tower Floor 10 before.
“Is there something wrong with the simulation?”
“No. We have confirmed that there are no problems with the simulation. It is proceeding normally.”
“Then why is he standing still like that?”
“I am not sure…….”
How much time had passed since the exam began?
At last, Choi Kang Hyuk, who had remained motionless until then, began to move in earnest.
‘Now then, what are you going to show us……?’
The moment Choi Kang Hyuk finally encountered the Kobold King—
For some reason, the Kobold King inside the simulation did not charge at him.
“What is that? Why is it behaving like that? Is it a malfunction?”
“N-no. It does not appear to be a malfunction. It seems the Kobold King is afraid of the examinee.”
“…The simulation is afraid of him? Is that even possible?”
Watching the scene through the monitor, Park Gi-yong could not hide his bewilderment.
“I heard that the newer simulations also reproduce the monsters’ emotions to account for intimidation-type Traits.”
“Really?”
It had already been several years since Park Gi-yong had left active field duty, so naturally, he was not familiar with how advanced the latest simulations had become.
In the meantime, Choi Kang Hyuk moved.
Facing the Kobold King, Choi Kang Hyuk took a stance with an utterly indifferent expression.
He clenched his fist.
Then thrust it forward.
That was all.
A simple motion.
What happened afterward, however, was anything but simple.
BOOOOM!!!!
A tremendous blast of wind reminiscent of a storm erupted, and static briefly filled the screen.
“What is going on?”
“Uh… it seems there was a temporary error. Ah, it has recovered.”
When the static disappeared, nothing remained.
Nothing except Choi Kang Hyuk, standing there casually.
“What happened? Where is the Kobold King?”
“…It appears the examination has already been registered as complete.”
“What?”
Park Gi-yong blinked.
If that were true, did it not mean that the Kobold King had been killed instantly by the blast from a moment ago?
“…It did not even look as though his fist made contact.”
Then had it been a Skill?
But the measuring equipment had detected no Magic Power reaction whatsoever.
In other words, the phenomenon that had just occurred had been caused entirely by raw physical strength.
“Ha…….”
After understanding what had happened, Park Gi-yong let out a hollow laugh.
He had expected Choi Kang Hyuk’s Strength Stat to be extraordinary since he could wield Ogre’s Giant Hammer, but the conclusion had been almost absurdly anticlimactic.
‘Was Floor 10 simply too low-level to even force Choi Kang Hyuk to reveal his true strength……?’
It made sense.
Whatever Trait Choi Kang Hyuk possessed, one fact was already certain.
His Strength was at least 50.
‘In any case…….’
This confirmed it.
Choi Kang Hyuk was the SSS-rank record holder.
Until now, they had possessed strong suspicions and circumstantial evidence, but no definitive proof.
That was no longer the case.
‘I do not know what Traits and Skills he possesses, but we have to recruit him no matter what.’
Perhaps—
No.
Without a doubt.
Choi Kang Hyuk might become the hope that South Korea desperately needed in its current crisis.
Park Gi-yong had no doubt about it.