Chapter 3

Chapter 3
## Chapter 3: The Evaluation Matches

Thirty days had passed since my return, and the morning of the Hunter license examination had finally arrived. The suffocating hopelessness that had gripped me back at the Seongnam Memorial was mostly pushed aside, buried under a layer of focus.

While the fury I felt toward the rift-born monsters still pulsed hot in my chest, I wasn’t some green recruit who would let raw emotion sabotage my performance.

“Time to inflate my market value.”

In my previous life, I had a singular purpose: prevent the apocalypse so I could return to my own world. Fame was a distraction because I didn’t plan on staying.

But things were different now. I had two objectives.

First, I would eradicate every last Erosion Core on the planet. Second, I would claim every bit of wealth and status that came with doing so. If I had to live here, I might as well live in luxury.

To achieve that, I needed to treat this state-sponsored tournament as my personal highlight reel.

“Yoo Chan-seok, candidate.”

Lee Hyun-seok was gone; only Yoo Chan-seok remained. A new body required a new identity.

“Present.”

I stood up and followed the official toward the primary combat ring, feeling the weight of a thousand gazes from the spectator stands.

—Fatalities and permanent crippling are strictly prohibited. In the event of a stalemate, the veteran Hunters representing the major guilds will determine the victor.

Resources were scarce, and these lives were considered too precious to waste in a preliminary bout. I picked up the standard-issue spear provided for the match.

—Begin!

I used the tip of my boot to flick the spear into my palm. My adversary was also armed with a polearm.

“Don’t blink!”

He slid his hand down the wooden shaft, and a trail of flickering orange flames ignited along the weapon.

It was an amusing coincidence. My own signature technique looked remarkably similar to the untrained eye. I watched his flames, settled into a relaxed stance, and took a deep, controlled breath.

As I inhaled, I gathered the thin traces of mana from the air, circulating them through my limbs and into the spear. My opponent gave a mocking snort.

“What’s this? The records said you didn’t attend the Academy, but you’re a complete novice.”

“I heard they have a daycare center for training kids these days,” I countered.

I’d briefly thought about signing up, but my physical age didn’t quite fit the demographic.

“Daycare?”

He repeated the word, his face contorting with disbelief.

“Try not to cry when a ‘toddler’ breaks your ribs.”

“Or maybe you’ll run back to your teacher once I’ve thrashed you.”

With a final taunt, the distance between us vanished.

“What kind of pathetic spearwork is—?”

I slipped past his straight thrust with a tilt of my head. I sighed softly, letting my own spear clatter to the floor mid-movement, and stepped into his guard to bury a series of rapid punches into his solar plexus.

“Gah… h-ack!”

Frankly, it felt insulting to even use a weapon against him.

The mana density in his system was roughly equivalent to a junior squire from the world I’d left behind. However, his technical execution and efficiency were non-existent.

Fifteen years of history. It made sense that their mastery couldn’t compare to warriors who had spent millennia refining a single drop of energy.

“Just pretend you walked in front of a semi-truck.”

To wrap things up cleanly, I hammered two more strikes into his sternum and jaw. I turned my back and exited the ring before his body even hit the mats.

—

The tobacco in Lee Se-eun’s pipe had long since gone cold. Usually, she was meticulous about keeping the embers glowing, but she had been distracted.

She watched the paramedics tend to the coughing loser in the arena for a moment before turning her attention to the digital clipboard.

“Yoo Chan-seok. Registered a month ago. No formal Academy background.”

She tapped out the ash from her pipe.

“Previous employment… an intern at a shipping firm? Where did this freak come from?”

How could someone of that caliber simply appear out of thin air?

“His internal mana reserves are almost non-existent. Yet, those reflexes…”

An aide nearby started to comment, but she cut him off by flicking a hard piece of traditional taffy at him.

Sweets were for rewards. Taffy was for silence. The aide caught it and immediately clamped his jaw shut.

“He’s either intentionally suppressing his growth, or… well, is that even possible?”

The word ‘prodigy’ didn’t seem quite strong enough. Lee Se-eun’s voice was sharp with certainty.

“I wanted to see him use that spear.”

He had walked in with it, meaning it was his preferred tool. Dispatching an opponent with bare fists simply meant the poor kid wasn’t worth the effort of an actual technique.

“Won’t Han Sang-ah—the girl the 1st Team Leader is scouting—be using a spear as well?”

Lee Se-eun shook her head dismissively. She had already evaluated Han Sang-ah’s potential.

“Not a chance. That guy is going to keep winning with his hands.”

They weren’t even playing the same sport. She stood up, brushed the dust off her trousers, and adjusted her coat.

“I’m going to have a word with the Association President.”

The representatives from the other guilds were likely still crunching numbers and debating his stats.

“While they’re busy with their spreadsheets…”

Lee Se-eun was a woman who valued instinct and immediate action.

“President.”

“Ah, Director Lee. What brings you to my box?”

An older, broad-shouldered man noticed her approach. He tipped his hat, revealing a polished scalp that shone under the stadium lights, and gave her a polite smile.

“I have a request.”

“That depends on the nature of it…”

She kept her tone breezy, as if she were asking for a coffee.

“The recruitment drive. I want the right to offer personal instruction to the final victor.”

The President raised an eyebrow, studied her face for a beat, and then let out a hearty laugh.

“I assume your eyes are glued to that Yoo Chan-seok boy.”

“Precisely.”

A man in his position wouldn’t have missed the shockwave the newcomer had sent through the brackets.

“There was another candidate generating a lot of hype before the matches started.”

“She’s talented, sure. She just had the misfortune of being compared to a monster.”

The President rubbed his chin, contemplating the political fallout.

“The other organizations will likely protest such favoritism.”

“Let them whine. A scout who hesitates doesn’t deserve the prize.”

It was their own fault for being slow on the draw. Her offer was fair game.

Furthermore, the old man wasn’t so weak-willed that he couldn’t handle a bit of corporate grumbling.

“Very well. I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Much appreciated.”

Her mission accomplished, Lee Se-eun walked away.

—

One after another, my opponents fell.

I began to wonder what the hell they were actually teaching at the Academy.

“They’re trying to grow flowers without planting any roots.”

It was like trying to prepare a gourmet feast when you haven’t mastered boiling water. It was painful to watch.

These kids had barely learned to sense mana, yet they relied on it as a crutch for every movement.

“You’re next.”

Finally, only one challenger remained. The woman standing across from me held a sword, her eyes simmering with a quiet grudge.

“Did I offend you somehow?” I asked.

She remained silent, though her gaze betrayed an intense curiosity.

I looked her over and felt a pang of genuine disappointment.

“You’ve actually managed to store a respectable amount of energy.”

A thick, steady pulse of mana radiated from her. She looked quite young—it was impressive she’d gathered that much so early. She spoke with cold composure.

“In contrast, you are practically empty. You’ve relied on luck to reach the finals, but that ends here.”

“Who writes your dialogue? It’s incredibly cliché.”

I hadn’t failed to gather mana. I was simply holding it back.

“I see you haven’t even triggered your Unique Trait.”

“Unique Trait.”

Once a person’s attunement to mana reaches a threshold, a specific power tied to their soul manifests. Fire, space-warping—the usual suspects.

I possessed one, of course. But I limited myself to basic physical reinforcement for a reason. Utilizing my true signature style would cause collateral damage that couldn’t be fixed.

I wasn’t a sadist. Ruining a girl’s life just because she was a bit overconfident was the mark of a sociopath.

—Begin!

At the signal, she dropped into a low, coiled stance. One hand gripped the scabbard, the other hovered over the hilt.

I looked at her with pity.

“Of all the disciplines to master, you chose Iaidō?”

Quick-draw techniques were great for assassinations in dark alleys. In a sanctioned duel where your opponent is staring right at you? It was a tactical disaster.

“Hah.”

Her internal energy flooded into the scabbard. I heard a sharp, electric hum as blue sparks began to dance along the metal.

Lightning. My combat-trained brain mapped out her strategy instantly.

“Okay, that’s actually clever.”

She was using an electrical current to magnetize the sheath and the blade.

She intended to use the magnetic repulsion to launch the sword forward like a railgun projectile.

“You clearly worked hard on that. You’re the first one today worth my time.”

She had definitely put in the hours.

“I’ll try not to kill you,” she said.

Then, she lunged, a blur of motion locked in her drawing stance.

A stroke of lightning. It was exceptionally fast and carried enough force to cleave a man in two.

“What…?”

It didn’t matter. The blade hissed through the air, inches from my chest.

“Velocity is useless if you miss. You’re far too arrogant for your actual skill level.”

She had committed every drop of mana and her entire body weight into that single draw.

A miss of that magnitude left her completely vulnerable. She had never even entertained the possibility that I could evade it.

The penalty for such a reckless, prideful strike was my fist slamming into her midsection.

“Gah…!”

She managed to pull together a desperate mana shield, but the impact still sent her skidding across the floor.

“That strike… it shouldn’t be possible to dodge.”

“You focused on being faster and stronger, right?”

I hopped back, keeping my weight on the balls of my feet and my hands loose.

“You got tunnel vision.”

To increase the draw speed, she had laid invisible ‘rails’ of mana through the air.

To me, it was like she had drawn a giant neon arrow showing exactly where the sword was going to go before she even moved.

Speed doesn’t matter if you telegraph your move like a rank amateur.

“…”

She tightened her grip on the now-drawn sword and reset her center of gravity.

She wasn’t stupid enough to try and re-sheath it for a second attempt.

“I can still beat you in a fair exchange.”

“Keep dreaming. That’s the only place you’ll win.”

She closed the gap with a flurry of strikes. Her years of dedicated training were evident in the fluidity of her slashes.

I gave her credit for that. Her raw physical output exceeded mine. I unclenched my fists slightly.

I let my body fall into the rhythm of her steel.

I deflected her momentum, hijacked her timing, and broke her posture. Her desperate cuts found only the air I had occupied a millisecond before.

“Stop moving!”

Her form was crumbling. Frustration was leading her to drain her remaining energy in a panicked rush.

If this went on, she’d seriously injure herself. It was time to close the curtain.

“…”

I stopped watching the sword tip and focused on her shoulders and hips. The body moves the blade. If you read the frame, you know the path.

Now.

I brought my hand up and slapped the flat of her blade during a downward arc. The sword was forced upward, leaving her entire torso exposed.

“Raise your left hand if it hurts too much.”

Not that it would stop me from finishing this.