Chapter 88 – Entrance Exam (2)

===================

Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

“From now on, the Hunter Exam begins.”

“Stop acting up and move aside.”

After chasing CornerHoney, who was trying to act cool and blathering weird things, off the platform.

…No, seriously, what is that bastard?

Anyway, I stood on the platform and looked down at the applicants.

There were a total of 309 applicants for this entrance exam.

Among them, 30% were sponsored by high-ranking executives, 70% were from boy soldier backgrounds, and there was also 1 applicant from another zone.

‘Among them, there are 3 players.’

CornerHoney of a boy soldier background, and Shin Eun-jo, the applicant from another zone.

For reference, Tae-jeong is on the side receiving sponsorship from high-ranking executives.

On paper, Tae-jeong’s guardian is listed as Meursault.

The real guardian is, of course, me.

‘Come to think of it, Tae-jeong didn’t seem to know about the dating sim.’

Although I had vaguely learned what Shin Eun-jo and CornerHoney did before possession, I hadn’t had a chance to talk about what kind of person Tae-jeong was before possession.

Because I had purposely made him keep his distance from me to get close to the other servants and didn’t call him separately to talk normally, I knew less about him than about CornerHoney, whom I didn’t meet that often.

‘Once the entrance exam is over, I should talk with Tae-jeong too.’

Anyway.

CornerHoney, Tae-jeong, and Shin Eun-jo all had different backgrounds.

The cadet proctors seemed to think I proposed this kind of exam because I excluded the sponsored children and favored those from boy soldier backgrounds, but in truth, I had no prejudice whatsoever regarding backgrounds, whether they were sponsored children, boy soldiers, or from another zone.

‘After all, they are all just the same NPCs to me.’

Even if they were players, I didn’t pay special attention to them.

For there was no way they would fail an entrance exam taken by mere eleven-year-olds in the first place.

In other words, this meant it was a fair exam for everyone.

And for good reason, because the content of the entrance exam was ‘tag,’ which any child must have played at least once.

“Tag?”

“Wasn’t it a monster hunt?”

At my declaration that the entrance exam was tag, the cadet proctors looked at me with hollow expressions.

Behind those guys, a whole pile of luggage was stacked up.

What with these guys and the sponsored applicants, it seemed the executives had packed them a bunch of things since they were told they were going on a monster hunt.

I wondered what use all of that would be since they would use military supplies uniformly once they enlisted anyway.

‘It should be seen that those among the executives who have been on a subjugation are rare.’

Indeed, the applicants sponsored by executives with subjugation experience carried only simple luggage.

But the ones in even more perfect attire were, of course, the boy soldiers.

Since what those kids had in the first place was entirely military supplies.

Although I didn’t know how on earth Shin Eun-jo was wearing our zone’s boy soldier uniform.

At the words that it was tag rather than a hunt, the boy soldiers also seemed to show regret.

The boy soldiers were not fools either, so they must have known who the monster hunt would have favored.

At that moment, CornerHoney, who was looking up at me from the front row, raised his hand high and asked.

“If it’s tag, what do we have to catch?”

“Ahem.”

Because CornerHoney’s words were informal, one of the proctors standing next to me cleared his throat and glared at CornerHoney.

CornerHoney added with an entirely displeased face.

“What do we have to catch… sir?”

As if others were also curious about what tag actually meant, they all looked at me simultaneously.

I answered shortly.

“Me.”

“Pardon?”

“The target of your subjugation is me.”

According to Meursault, the commander was worried sick about this tag, but…

‘It’s not like he expected me to quietly hand out exam papers when he dumped the entrance exam on me in the first place.’

Above all, I thought it would be better for the applicants to catch me rather than a monster, but…

Everyone’s expressions were not very good.

“It really is the Hunter Exam, what.”

CornerHoney was still talking nonsense.

Shin Eun-jo, standing around the middle, raised her hand and asked.

“What does it mean that Master Haydam is the target of the subjugation?”

Unlike CornerHoney, her mimicry of a well-behaved child is quite plausible.

Shin Eun-jo asked with a serious face.

“Does it mean we have to attack Master Haydam?”

“Of course, it doesn’t mean you should actually subjugate me.”

“Then?”

“Literally tag. Just catch me by any means and methods.”

Despite saying they could use any means and methods, the applicants were visibly bewildered.

Since something like my birth myth had already spread widely in the zone, the cadet proctors all looked at me with expressions that asked, ‘Do you really think that is possible for eleven-year-olds right now?’

Shin Eun-jo glanced at those proctors and asked me again.

“Is there a reason… you are doing this in particular?”

“It’s fun.”

At my extremely light answer, both the applicants and the proctors looked dumbfounded.

Only Shin Eun-jo asked calmly next.

“What if… no one catches you?”

“I am fickle and arbitrary, you see. If I like what you do, I might ‘let myself be caught’.”

“You might let yourself be caught?”

“And I like people who use any means and methods.”

“Does that mean… we are allowed to cause harm to Master Haydam?”

“Judge for yourself.”

As Shin Eun-jo’s brows knitted and questions seemed to be about to come from the cadet proctors rather than the applicants, I raised my hand to the cadets and continued.

“The search zone is limited to the area marked with red lines. Keep in mind that leaving the search zone results in immediate disqualification. Leaving the search zone is not included in ‘using any means and methods.’ Understood?”

Hearing that the search zone was defined at least, the applicants and cadet proctors seemed relieved.

If I ran away using this entire vast snowfield, they wouldn’t even dare to try catching me.

“The tag… begins when the sun sets. In the meantime, you may form teams, devise strategies, or make plans. Submit those plans to the proctors before sunset.”

“Does that mean it starts after sunset? Then what is the time limit…?”

“The time limit is until sunrise tomorrow morning.”

I smiled gently.

“I pray that at least until you catch me, no dropouts will occur.”

* * *

Doing something like tag for the entrance exam was naturally not just for fun.

For now, starting from next year, I intended to revert to a boring written exam.

The reason I went out of my way to conduct this kind of exam for this year’s entrants was simple.

Since we learned there are no boundaries between zones, we will clash with players of other zones starting from now, not ten years later when the Second Apocalypse occurs.

I didn’t know how many players there were in other zones, but we all had the appearance of peers.

‘Except for the Unicorn Zone player, that is.’

But what if the children of our age in our zone…

Eleven-year-old children, who were of the players’ age, all acted similarly to players?

A player who opened the system wouldn’t mistake it.

But wouldn’t players who couldn’t view Character Info make a mistake?

Thinking that there were multiple players in the Cola Zone…

‘It’s bluffing, so to speak.’

Shin Eun-jo also didn’t seem to believe that the players of our zone were only me, CornerHoney, and Tae-jeong.

Since she seemed anxious, actually unable to figure out how Daphne could be a player.

Perhaps she asked to take this military academy entrance exam because of that too.

Perhaps by now, she was checking whether they were players by opening their Status Windows one by one.

Without knowing it was all in vain.

‘Originally, the quota for military academy entrants was about 30.’

But as promised in my graduation speech, I intended to pick 100 Haydams.

One might say it would be better to accept and teach all the applicants for the future, but that was not the case.

Because not everyone can become an officer.

Since failing the academy did not mean they couldn’t become soldiers.

There is no army without soldiers.

Thus, in this exam, I intended to screen for children who would become ‘officers,’ children who would become ‘soldiers,’ and children who would become ‘players.’

I plan to select the ones who stand out in this entrance exam and educate them separately to raise them as ‘players.’

‘Well, they can’t become real players, though.’

I could make their way of thinking similar, at least.

Although Shin Eun-jo also looked dumbfounded when I answered that the reason I went this far was because it was fun, she probably wouldn’t think I really did this just for fun.

‘By now, she must be busy finding out if there is another player among the applicants, or if there is some special NPC.’

The reason I went out of my way to hold the entrance exam in the snowfield.

That was because the place I wanted to check was in the snowfield.

The cave where I had fainted after absorbing the frost giant’s gem.

I also wanted to know exactly what happened in that cave afterward.

Although CornerHoney said he told them so they could find me because it was a cave he knew.

How on earth did he know I would be in that cave and claim that they had to go rescue me?

If someone fell from a cliff, they would normally search the bottom, not think of a cave in the middle of the cliff.

‘And no matter how much I think about it, it’s strange that he knows things I don’t know.’

For that reason, I thought I should check that cave.

I was also curious as to why a cave was in such a place.

In a manner of speaking, I bought time to move freely under the pretext of tag.

After telling the proctors that I would hide to avoid the applicants and would keep my location a secret to prevent potential cheating, I immediately left the search zone and headed toward the crevasse.

Finding that cave in a state of not being chased by the frost giant was not difficult.

Because the traces remained intact, as if they had installed various things to rescue me before.

The entrance of the cave I went down using a rope was fine, despite the mess that had occurred.

‘I was worried that it might have collapsed from the impact back then or been closed after the rescue, but this is good.’

At that time, I felt the path leading inside was very long because I was running in a hurry, but when I walked in without any threat, the cave was not as deep as I thought.

Entering the cave, the first thing I saw was a pile of icicles stacked high.

‘That’s the spot where the frost giant died.’

Since the trace of icicles falling off the ceiling remained intact, it was not hard to recognize.

It seemed they didn’t clear the icicles separately after recovering the frost giant’s carcass…

‘…What is that?’

A strange pattern was engraved on the inner wall.

A pattern I had not seen when I came before.

That thing, which looked like a magic circle at first glance, had traces of someone intentionally damaging it in places.

“Ah.”

Approaching that pattern, I found a Star Candy rolling by my foot and suddenly realized.

‘Is this… the spot where I fainted?’

It seemed this was the spot where I was struck by the frost giant, flew back, and collapsed.

Roughly tracing my memory, when I went to the spot where I had been lying and lay down, it strangely resulted in being positioned right in the center of the pattern.

‘Then did this pattern… appear after I fainted?’

Since I had no memory of seeing such a pattern before collapsing, it must have been right after I fainted.

I should assume it appeared after I accepted the frost giant’s power.

While wondering if it appeared as an aftermath of absorbing the gem.

There was a part that made even less sense than the strange pattern I had never seen before.

‘Why has there been no mention whatsoever until now when such strange traces remain?’

Did the commander or Meursault hear anything about this pattern?

What was the reason they didn’t tell me, even if they heard?

‘I should ask when I return.’

I couldn’t go to ask until the entrance exam was over anyway.

Deciding to think about the headache later, I clasped my hands over my stomach and closed my eyes for a moment.

I intended to wait here until sunset and then return to the applicants.

‘Will this pattern remain as it is when I come back?’

Should I memorize the pattern drawn here before returning?

While closing my eyes for a moment with such thoughts.

The sound of a flying insect’s wings flapping heard from somewhere.

Buzz…

Although it was a very small sound, I, who was guarding the surroundings, quickly noticed that the sound was unusual.

‘What is it?’

The sound gradually drew closer.

It was too large to be the sound of a small insect’s wings, and it was clearly entering the cave.

Buzzzz—

And when the incoming sound became clear.

I finally realized.

‘This is…’

The sound of a hoverboard engine.

‘…No way.’

Opening my eyes and sitting up, I looked toward the entrance.

A white-haired man, all too familiar to me, showed himself in front of me as if it were nothing.

Still riding on the hoverboard and looking down at me with indifferent eyes.

‘Dopamine Addict’ spoke.

“I sent you back with effort, yet you are here again.”