In the silence, the first to speak were the applicants who had failed.
"Proctor.... Did I just hear that wrong?"
"Everyone except those three failed? What does that mean?!"
"I can understand the Hangeom Family and the Bakma Family, but why did he pass?!"
As the applicants' voices grew louder and louder, Seong-hyeon tousled his hair as if annoyed.
"None of you have the qualifications to become Hunters. That is why you failed."
"What exactly are these qualifications that you are failing all of us over?"
"Qualifications.... To think brats who do not even know that are trying to enter Pluton."
"Pardon?"
CLAP—!
When Seong-hyeon clapped loudly, the applicants closed their mouths.
"I will tell you. The qualifications of a Hunter."
As he said that, Seong-hyeon began walking past the applicants one by one and speaking.
"First, you. You thought of this as a simple exam and tried to kill as many magic beasts as possible."
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"Wrong? Hunters operate as teams. They form a single party and act as a group built on trust. But you abandoned your team for your personal score."
The applicant who heard Seong-hyeon's words stiffened and avoided his gaze.
"Next, you. What did you do inside the Gate? Was simply surviving the goal of a Gate raid?"
"But... if I did not survive, I would fail...."
Seong-hyeon then pointed at another person.
"You only waited for an opportunity to cut off the boss's head."
In that way, he continued pointing people out and identifying their problems.
The only ones he did not point out were the three who had passed.
"I monitored every action all of you took. Individualism is a sin in Hunter activity, and I cannot recognize people who do not even know that as Hunters."
"Then please tell us just one thing."
"What is it?"
The applicant pointed at Yohan.
"Why did he pass? He did not work as a team either, and entered the Gate alone. I do not think this fits what you just said."
"Do you truly not know the reason?"
"No."
Honestly, it was a part Seong-hyeon could not understand either.
No matter how much it was a magic beast created virtually, its pressure and abilities had been implemented exactly as they were.
And yet he suppressed it with only his Ego Weapon and arms, without using a Unique Ability?
Unable to know Yohan's true identity, Seong-hyeon had no choice but to think that he had been born with the most important thing for a Hunter.
Something Seong-hyeon lacked, yet hated to acknowledge most.
The most important thing for a Hunter was....
"‘Overwhelming power.’ That is the difference between Applicant Yohan and all of you."
"What does that...."
"A Hunter's role is to close Gates and protect the world. If one possesses overwhelming power, one can enter alone and resolve everything."
"That is completely different from the team activity you have spoken of until now!"
"I know. However, such exceptions beyond the standard always exist, and the world needs them."
Without realizing it, Seong-hyeon frowned.
That was because a person outside his common sense and ideals had surfaced in his mind.
"Do you mean... he is on the same level as Lord K, the Savior of the World?"
Seong-hyeon clicked his tongue when he heard the name "K."
It was a name he had not wanted to hear.
Seong-hyeon, who had become an S-grade Hunter at a young age and made a name for himself, had always been followed by the epithet genius.
He himself knew he was a genius, and he had worked to live up to people's expectations.
He believed there was no one better than him, that he understood Gates better than anyone else, and that he thought of his teammates.
But immediately after meeting K, Seong-hyeon felt a "wall" for the first time.
In an EX-grade Gate where he had formed a party and challenged a clear, Seong-hyeon tasted failure for the first time.
And immediately after that, he had to watch as K, who had been summoned late, closed the EX-grade Gate alone without so much as a single scratch.
After seeing him, Seong-hyeon had ended his Hunter career and entered the Academy.
"At least from what I saw, I could see K's shadow in him."
Because those were the words of none other than Seong-hyeon, who had been an S-grade Hunter, the people resigned themselves to it and accepted it.
Following Seong-hyeon's words, the people began leaving one by one.
The only ones left in the vast auditorium were Yohan, Seo-yun, Mi-yeong, and the proctor, Seong-hyeon.
"The entrance ceremony will be held here. At the same time, class assignments will also be completed. So please wait for a moment."
Leaving those words behind, Seong-hyeon went outside the auditorium to guide the other successful applicants.
When he left, Seo-yun approached Yohan.
"Hmph! I could have done that much too!"
"Then why didn't you? Because you weren't confident in your skill?"
"No! I just wanted to show her which one of us is stronger!"
"For that, you cooperated very hard."
"What? How do you know that?!"
"Because I saw it all, idiot."
"You, who are you calling an idiot?!"
Though Seo-yun snapped at Yohan, deep down, she acknowledged his skill.
More precisely, she had no choice but to.
If she had faced the S-grade magic beast Dullahan alone....
She absolutely could not have done it like Yohan.
But to keep that from showing, Seo-yun grumbled at Yohan even more.
"You."
Then Mi-yeong's voice called Yohan.
"What is your name?"
Seo-yun could not hide her shock at Mi-yeong's behavior.
Starting from their first year of middle school, it had taken three years to earn her interest.
Even though it had taken Seo-yun that long, Yohan had drawn her attention in a short amount of time.
"Do you have the head of a goldfish too?"
Mi-yeong did not react in the slightest to Yohan's words and spoke once more.
"What is your name?"
"I'm sure I told you earlier."
Mi-yeong placed a finger on her lips and thought carefully.
However, as if she could not possibly remember it, she looked at him.
"I'll tell you one last time. My name is Yohan. Carve it clearly into that little head of yours."
"Yohan. Understood."
As if she had obtained all the information she wanted, Mi-yeong returned to her place and glanced at him from time to time.
"Mm. That's how it should be. Hey, little kid, what do you think?"
"What? Ah, Mi-yeong asking your name? Hm.... One thing is certain. She has become interested in your power."
"Mere interest isn't enough. She'll come under me."
"I really do not know where that confidence of yours comes from."
"Try going through every kind of hardship. See if you don't get it. And it isn't confidence. It's certainty."
Behind them as they were in the middle of talking, Seong-hyeon and the faculty entered the auditorium, leading the successful applicants.
Two hundred in total.
That number included the 197 successful applicants from the other areas.
The faculty placed Yohan at the very front, then called names behind him and lined everyone up.
A formation with proper rows and columns was created.
Then, from inside the auditorium stage, the Chairman and a person with blond hair and blue eyes came out.
It was K.
"It's K...."
"To think I would see the Savior...."
"It's my first time seeing him in person...."
The people showed more interest in K than in Lee Seong-tae, the President of the Hunter Academy Association and Chairman of Pluton.
SCREEEE.
When Chairman Lee Seong-tae touched the microphone, noise flowed from the speakers.
Because of that sound, the people finally looked at Seong-tae.
He had a dignified-looking face, and his white beard was neatly trimmed into angles.
He adjusted his suit once and brought his mouth to the microphone.
[Congratulations, new students of Pluton.]
His low, resonant voice rang through the auditorium.
Even though it was merely the sound of his voice, the people felt an unknowable pressure.
'Look at him trying to seem dignified.'
Because Yohan had always felt that from Do-cheol, he knew that Seong-tae was letting mana flow outside his body.
As he did so, Seong-tae observed the students' reactions.
Looking at Yohan, who was yawning calmly, he raised one corner of his mouth.
'To think he can withstand this level of mana.... Is that student the one who cleared the S-grade Gate alone? It makes sense.'
Then he began speaking about the entrance ceremony.
[From now on, you will be raised into excellent Hunters through fierce competition. I hope you remain until the end and become Hunters who will save the world.]
The new students swallowed at Seong-tae's words.
[Well, a single word of encouragement from a young man will touch your hearts more than a boring speech from an old man. K.]
When Seong-tae called K, the blond man beside him took the microphone.
At that, the people began murmuring again.
K looked at the people with haggard eyes and opened his mouth.
[No matter how you grow, it is a clear fact that you will remain beneath my feet. Struggle hard and clean up after me.]
Unlike his epithet, "Savior," his cold attitude toward people made the new students fall silent.
'Bastard. His actions and his shitty personality are still the same.'
Only Yohan, who had faced K in his previous life, knew about him.
Because of that, the students looked at K with expressions of disbelief.
After saying everything he had to say, K sat on a chair placed on the stage with Seong-tae.
Then K looked at Seong-tae and said one thing.
"I came to repay a debt, and you are making me deal with brats. What are you doing?"
"Think of it as an extension of that debt. Considering what you have done, can you not do this much?"
The others could not hear this conversation, but Yohan, whose hearing had improved after bone-deep rebirth, could.
'Looks like there is something between those two. Well, if it's that bastard, I can see it. He has probably already killed several people.'
When his eyes briefly met K's, Yohan smiled.
As if he had no interest in that, K closed his eyes.
Next, an instructor went up and took the microphone.
[Next, we will proceed with class assignments. In keeping with Pluton's principle of merit, class assignments will be decided by allowing students to choose their desired class according to their entrance exam results.]
The instructor operated his device and displayed a map of the Academy grounds in the auditorium.
[Before class assignments begin, everything here is operated under a differential system. Rewards are given differently according to grades and results as Hunters—in other words, according to skill.]
The students began murmuring at the words that rewards would be given differently.
[Class S students will live alone in the finest dormitories, and they will also receive the highest quality education. But Class F students will all live together in a shabby shantytown, and of course, the education they can receive will be only the basics.]
Put simply, it meant they would be placed into classes according to rank.
If this was a place operated under a differential system, naturally, first place would enter Class S, and last place would enter Class F.
That was how it had always been, so this was an immutable law.
When the instructor operated his device, a ranking table appeared on the wall of the auditorium.
[Now, first in order. Yohan, who took the top position, come forward.]
Yohan understood the meaning behind lining everyone up based on him and went up onto the stage.
[Please state the class you wish to enter.]
Yohan had already thought about which class he would enter before coming to Pluton.
Because of that, he spoke without a moment of hesitation.
"I will enter Class F."