12 chapter - Party Formation (1)

{C-Class Hunter Promotion Exam First Announcement}

[Web Message]

You have passed the first evaluation (written & practical combined) of the C-Class Hunter Promotion Exam for Q2 of 2021.

Please prepare for the second interview evaluation according to the following instructions.

[Preparation for Second Interview Evaluation]

……

……

Three days after the exam ended, I received a text message announcing my first-round acceptance.

It arrived just as I was finishing a raid at a Gate with Lee Yuna and having a celebratory dinner.

Quick-witted Lee Yuna asked me.

"Did you pass?"

When I nodded in affirmation, Lee Yuna beamed like it was her own success and said.

"I knew it."

"How’d you know?"

"Because there aren’t many people who would contact you at this hour!"

She stabbed right where it hurt, all bright and cheerful.

"Yeah. I don’t have friends."

"Aw, that’s not true! You have me, don’t you? Anyway, congratulations, oppa."

"Thanks."

That’s when it happened.

Ding.

Another message arrived.

[Thank you for considering a scout offer. Are you really Hunter Choi Changshik who appeared in the C-Class exam? I'd like to meet and discuss a contract.]

‘Got one!’

The image-making worked perfectly.

Not only the performance I showed at the C-Class exam but also the Rapid Corrosion Gate incident from a few weeks ago had spread across the community.

It seemed like one of the party members I met back then had posted after seeing the C-Class Hunter exam broadcast.

After passing the certification test, diligently answering reporters' interviews had triggered a butterfly effect.

‘Good thing I made sure to get some airtime, no matter what.’

Thanks to that, public opinion about me in the Hunter community had split in half.

There were still people cursing and thinking negatively about me, and others raising suspicions that the rumors might have been exaggerated.

There were actually people who saw me in a positive light.

"Did something good happen?"

"Here."

I handed my phone to Lee Yuna and picked up a piece of perfectly grilled meat to eat.

As expected, beef is the best.

The tender texture and the way the juices exploded in my mouth were simply heavenly.

"Is it a contract? A new party member?"

"Yeah. I was worried because I couldn’t find anyone, but finally, someone contacted me."

Lee Yuna responded with a slightly indifferent expression.

"Do we really have to recruit more people?"

"We do. To enter a D-Class Gate, you need five people."

"I know, but……."

Seeing her face, like she still wasn’t happy about something, I asked.

"Is it too soon for D-Class?"

"No."

"Then why?"

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Yuna shook her head and answered.

"It’s nothing. So, when are you meeting this person?"

"Not sure yet. Haven’t set a time. Why?"

"Just curious. Can I come with you?"

"I don’t see why not."

We scheduled the meeting for tomorrow at lunchtime.

We clinked our glasses together and continued talking about the new Hunter who would be joining.

"So, what kind of person are they?"

"Really? Their abilities or Trait aren’t listed?"

"That’s private information. Want me to show you what’s available?"

"Yes!"

I fiddled with my phone and showed her the profile of the Hunter I was meeting tomorrow.

After seeing it, Lee Yuna somehow seemed to be in a better mood.

"Cheers!"

Her voice was even a little more lively than before.

"Yeah, yeah."

**

"Nice to meet you. I’m D-Class Hunter Seong Yohan."

He was a very big young man.

My current body—Choi Changshik's body—stood at 178 cm.

Yet I had to look up to see him.

‘He’s just over two meters tall, huh?’

His limbs were long and lanky—he had the classic build of a basketball player.

"You haven’t eaten yet, right?"

"No."

"Then let’s have a meal together and talk slowly. Is there anything you’d like to eat?"

"……There’s a really good pasta place nearby."

When we entered the restaurant he picked, I could feel the surrounding stares zoning in on us.

That’s how eye-catching his physique was.

"Order whatever you’d like."

"The rose pasta here is really good."

We sat at an empty table and were browsing the menu when a server approached and spoke up.

"Are you Hunter Choi Changshik?"

I had thought they came to take our order, but hearing my name caught me off guard.

"Uh……, yes, that’s me."

"Wow. I saw your certification! You were amazing!"

"……Thank you."

"I became a fan after watching that. Could I get your autograph?"

I nodded blankly, and the server quickly brought over paper and a pen.

"Here you go!"

"……."

I stood there holding the paper and pen, not doing anything for a moment.

I didn’t even have a proper signature prepared yet.

But it was too awkward now to say I couldn’t do it after agreeing.

‘Guess I’ll just scribble my name?’

I wrote Choi Changshik’s name as stylishly as I could and handed it over.

"Thank you so much!"

Fortunately, it seemed the server was happy with it.

"Oh, right! The order! Would you like to order now?"

"Three rose pastas and one ade for each of us, please."

"For ade, we have strawberry, grapefruit, orange, and lemon."

Seong Yohan spoke first.

"I’ll have strawberry."

"I’ll take lemon. What about you, oppa?"

"Me too, lemon."

"Let me confirm your order: three rose pastas, one strawberry ade, and two lemon ades, correct?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

"Thank you! Please wait just a moment!"

The server left, practically skipping away.

Lee Yuna nudged my waist with her elbow and asked.

"How does it feel to be famous? Everyone’s looking at you, oppa."

Now that she mentioned it, it did seem like people’s gazes were more focused on me than on Seong Yohan.

‘The power of broadcasting really is insane.’

Even though I only appeared for a few minutes, I didn’t expect to become this famous.

"It feels kind of surreal."

It was my first time being asked for an autograph, and the feeling was strange.

That’s when Seong Yohan, sitting across from me, opened his mouth.

"Excuse me."

"Oh, sorry. About the contract——"

"That’s not it. Could I get an autograph too?"

"Oh."

"I’m a fan."

As he said that, he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his jacket.

It seemed he had come today planning to get my autograph from the start.

"……Here you go."

"Thank you."

As I handed over another slip with Choi Changshik’s scribbled name, I thought.

‘Should I actually make a proper signature?’

I never thought there’d come a day when I’d worry about something like that.

Just as Seong Yohan had promised, the rose pasta at this place was fantastic.

It was seriously delicious.

"My ability is just simple physical enhancement. As you saw during the certification, the reason I could show that level of performance was thanks to my mana growing past three thousand."

"I want to become like Hunter Choi Changshik someday."

"Are you also in the physical enhancement category, Seong Yohan?"

"Yes."

Hunters could be broadly divided into two categories.

The physical enhancement type and the magic type.

It was determined based on whether the body was enhanced during Trait growth.

Of course, even magic types experienced some physical improvement.

It was just that the changes were negligible compared to physical enhancement types.

From there, depending on skills, dozens of subcategories would form, called specialization branches.

In Lee Yuna’s case, she was magic type, with a specialization in the healing branch.

I asked carefully.

"If you don't mind me asking, what’s your specialization?"

It was basically the same as asking whether he could use skills.

"Yes. I’m in the special ability branch."

"Special ability?"

The special ability branch.

In short, it meant having a skill so unique it was hard to categorize.

‘Like my skill.’

Not Choi Changshik’s skill, but "Park Jihoon’s" skill.

Like the ability to possess corpses and revive, using both their body and powers after becoming a slime.

"What exactly is your ability?"

Since we were about to form a party, Seong Yohan had no reason to hold back and explained his skill openly.

"It’s a skill that transfers wounds."

"Transfers wounds?"

"Yes. I can transfer wounds I receive to monsters. Conversely, I can also take on wounds that party members receive."

It was a pretty solid ability.

Just from what immediately came to mind, the ways to use it were endless.

Of course, a skill valuable like that would surely have drawbacks too.

"The skill sounds great, but it must consume a lot of mana. How many times can you use it at maximum?"

"Uh…… It depends on the severity, but if you take a severed carotid artery or a pierced heart as the standard, right now, I can use it once."

Hearing that, I blanked out for a moment before speaking.

"So you're saying that Hunter Seong Yohan has had his carotid artery severed or his heart pierced before?"

Seong Yohan answered with an embarrassed smile.

"I tested various things to check my ability’s limits. Things like broken bones or simple bruises heal pretty easily! Torn ligaments surprisingly consume a lot of mana though."

He was out of his mind.

He had actually tested all of that on himself.

"That must have been incredibly dangerous."

"I tried to do it as safely as possible. Since my skill activates through eye contact, I’d stare down monsters and cut my throat in front of them, things like that."

The moment I heard that, I instinctively lowered my gaze.

Realizing that during all the time we'd been making eye contact, he could have killed me if he wanted to, gave me the chills.

"Ahem. As for things like your Signature, it’s best not to reveal them so easily."

Just making eye contact.

The activation condition was absurdly easy.

‘Sometimes you just get lucky like that.’

The high mana cost wasn't even much of a drawback.

After finishing our meal, we moved to a café to start the real discussion.

We each ordered an iced Americano and began talking.

"Shall we start discussing the contract now?"

"Yes."

"As you know, I’m still a D-Class Hunter. I'll officially get my C-Class qualification about a week from now."

Although I still had the interview left, there was no need to worry.

Failing at the interview almost never happened.

Plus, I had made a strong impression during the certification test.

Even if I botched the interview a little, the result wouldn’t change.

"Therefore, we’ll start raiding D-Class Gates in earnest only after that."

"I see."

"We’ll probably raid D-Class Gates about once a week. Pay will basically be ten percent of the net profit. There will also be performance incentives depending on your contribution during raids."

"Okay."

"……Any questions?"

After some thought, Seong Yohan spoke.

"Are we signing the contract right away?"

"No. We’re planning to raid an F-Class Gate together first to see your skills. We’ll sign the contract afterward."

It was basically a skill test.

The reason I could act so boldly now was because my position had changed.

‘Broadcasting really is powerful.’

A party led by a Hunter capable of solo-clearing D-Class Gates.

Whether people spoke well of me or badly, everyone agreed on that one fact.

It was thanks to clearing the certification so easily.

Just from that one broadcast, my situation had turned 180 degrees.

Starting with Seong Yohan, five people had messaged saying they wanted to sign contracts.

One of them hadn’t even received a scout offer from me.

"On that day, besides Hunter Seong Yohan, two more people will be joining."

I planned to select good candidates from the applicants and test them together.

Seong Yohan was the first one I chose.

His experience was good, his skill was excellent, and I liked his personality too.

"I’ll contact you once we finalize the schedule."

"I’ll be waiting for your call!"

Seong Yohan bowed low at the waist and left.

After that, we met two more candidates, which meant we were forced to eat two more meals.

Thanks to that, I felt like my stomach was going to burst.

On the way to dropping Lee Yuna off at her house, she grumbled.

"Oppa, do we really have to meet each one like this? Can’t we just call them, ask about their abilities over the phone, and test everyone together at the F-Class Gate?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"How do you think they’d feel if we just gathered them all at once for a test? Wouldn’t it seem like we don’t respect them? We’re picking people who will be with us for a long time. People we’re entrusting our lives to. We have to treat it seriously."

"……That makes sense."

I parked the car in front of her house and said.

"You worked hard today. Are you really coming tomorrow too?"

"Of course. But oppa, isn’t it annoying to come pick me up early in the morning?"

"It is."

Since Lee Yuna had gotten so comfortable with me, it was easy to speak casually now.

"Then, oppa, want to come up and have some ramen at my place?"

When I looked at her with a slightly surprised expression, Lee Yuna hurriedly added.

"Jeez. I’m kidding, just kidding. Why are you taking it so seriously? Drive safe, bye-bye."

She quickly said her piece, closed the car door, and disappeared into the building.

Watching her, I muttered to myself.

"She’s incredible too. After eating that much, she still wants ramen? How does she not gain any weight?"

They say weight gain is determined by genetics.

Seriously, it was a mystery.