By Zephyria After Eui-jae started preparing for the Hunter Qualification Exam, the Hunters took care of Eui-jae in every way, as if repaying him for the Hangover Soup.
There were many cases where they gave him chocolates and caffeinated drinks to eat while studying. Eui-jae didn’t refuse these small gifts. The regulars at the Hanover Soup Restaurant, who usually acted like hippos eating Hangover Soup, were quite helpful at times like these.
In addition, the 30-hour offline Hunter basic training could now be taken online by submitting documents to the Management Bureau. This was because Yang Hye-jin, a civil servant Hunter from the Rift Management Bureau, wholeheartedly helped with the paperwork.
As soon as Yang Hye-jin heard the situation, she took out a laptop with a Rift Management Bureau logo sticker on the lid from her Inventory. And with the skill of a pro who writes official documents every day, she began to write Eui-jae’s documents. She mumbled, toothpick in her mouth, while pounding on the keyboard at an incredible speed.
“We all know that the part-timer works at the Hanover Soup Restaurant all day. How would someone like that go to the center and take 30 hours of training?”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
“Honestly, they need to ease up on the training hours.”
“Anyway, these days, Hunters have seen and heard a lot, so their discipline is well-established. There’s no need to set the training hours so strictly… Even if we say to ease up, they don’t listen.”
The words that worried about Eui-jae gradually turned into cursing the higher-ups. It seemed that she, who was in a fairly high position in the Rift Management Bureau, had a lot piled up. Well, people with power are tired in their own way. After a while, Yang Hye-jin roughly hit the enter key and took her hand off the laptop.
“I’ve written it all! Part-timer, do you happen to have a laptop?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then I’ll send it to the Bureau of Rift Management email right away. With this one sheet, you can switch all 60 hours to online lectures. Just turn it on with the sound off, and fighting!”
“Thank you.”
Hye-jin, who showed the aspect of a pro civil servant, left the Hanover Soup Restaurant coolly. Is this affection growing from a sense of solidarity? It felt like a corner of my heart was warming up.
As the education problem was solved, this time Bae Won-woo slammed a new laptop and cell phone box on the counter. The trend of celebrating Awakening gifts had already swept through the Hanover Soup Restaurant once, but the no-gift rule should still be alive and well.
It was when Eui-jae’s gaze reached the A4 paper with the no-gift notice written on it.
“This is not a gift from me, part-timer.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s a gift from our Guild Leader, who is very close to Eui-jae.”
Eui-jae’s face changed awkwardly. Bae Won-woo had been misunderstanding that Lee Sa-young and Cha Eui-jae were quite close since the day they unintentionally had a three-way meeting in the elevator. There were too many things that happened that day to explain one by one, so he lost his energy before he could even start talking.
Bae Won-woo urged him subtly in a solemn voice.
“It’s cheap because I bought it at an employee discount, so please just accept it.”
Let’s just say the cell phone with the broken screen from Incheon Port is what it is. What about the laptop? An absurd look was directed at Bae Won-woo, but whether he did or not, the heavy Hanover Soup mania appealed to his innocence with a strong will not to lose his second job.
“For reference, I’m just a delivery man. Spaceship Delivery. Something like that.”
“…….”
“So! If you’re going to ban someone from entering, it’s right to ban Lee Sa-young, not me.”
In the end, he was saying to leave him out of it. Honeybee and other Hunters who were sitting with their legs crossed and watching booed.
“Pathetic, Shield Guy.”
“Don’t call me by my Hunter name!”
Eui-jae, who was watching Honeybee and Bae Won-woo bickering, slyly pushed the box away.
“I’m sorry, but the price range is too high, so it’s a bit burdensome to receive it. I’ll just take your heart.”
“Then just use it while you’re preparing for the exam and sell it at Tomato Market. Like new, used.”
“…….”
Eui-jae’s shoulders trembled at the terrible memories he had at Tomato Market. Bae Won-woo was smugly wiping under his nose.
“Sa-young recommended the method. That crazy brat, he’s so smart.”
Wasn’t that just an added remark to mess with Eui-jae? The clueless Bae Won-woo would have filtered out the sarcastic tone on his own. Honeybee, who was twisting her hair with her fingers, suddenly thought of something and asked.
“Come to think of it, what’s Lee Sa-young doing these days? I haven’t seen him around.”
Eui-jae was also starting to wonder about his news. Lee Sa-young hadn’t come to the Hanover Soup Restaurant since the day they put their arms around each other’s shoulders in the elevator. He just thought that he must be busy because of the drugs that Eui-jae brought and the drug movers.
Had he grown fond of him in the meantime? He missed his face just a little bit. Really just a little bit. Eui-jae unconsciously listened to Bae Won-woo’s next words.
“I don’t know, he’s been really busy these days. He caught a lot of strange guys. I can’t even see his face.”
“Catching strange guys is the Bureau of Rift Management’s job, why did Lee Sa-young do it?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“That guy, too….”
In the end, Eui-jae received the laptop and cell phone on the condition that he would return the laptop later. While working, he turned on the basic lectures with the sound muted, and days passed memorizing past questions while boiling Hangover Soup….
With the full support of the Hanover Soup Restaurant regulars, Eui-jae memorized three past question books. He had never studied so hard before, so he couldn’t really feel whether time was passing slowly or quickly.
And on the day of the Hunter Qualification Exam.
Eui-jae entered the middle school assigned as the test site and took his seat. The facilities were much better than the classrooms he vaguely remembered.
Perhaps because the test takers were Awakened, the number of people per classroom was small. The test supervisor was a Hunter from the Awakened Management Bureau. The test papers were distributed, and Eui-jae took a deep breath.
Ring— The bell rang to signal the start of the exam. The supervisor checked the clock with lifeless eyes and muttered.
“Yes, please start the exam.”
The moment he turned over the cover of the test paper, Cha Eui-jae’s eyes shook violently. He could feel the Awakened sitting around him making silent screams close to death throes, “Huh,” “Heok,” “Heueok.” That was because.
‘The questions are completely different from the past question books?’
Most of the pedigree questions in the past question books were memorization questions related to the Awakened Special Act. To the point where it felt like they were brainwashing you to always obey the law. He thought that the questioner was possessed by a ghost who died because he didn’t know the Special Act.
But what was this, the legal questions in the past question books that the Hunters told them to memorize didn’t even show their faces in this exam. Even from number 1, it was a completely different type! Judging from the sounds of people around him gasping for breath, it wasn’t just Eui-jae’s problem.
Whoever the examiner was, they had turned the qualification exam question type for this month upside down like a pancake. Eui-jae gritted his teeth.
‘Damn it, I even memorized the Awakened Special Act cases.’
Eui-jae’s painstaking efforts had gone to waste. But since he came to take the exam, he had to solve the problems. Eui-jae read the questions with a half-abandoned state.
And….
‘Why… is it easy?’
He was embarrassed by the questions that were being solved more easily than he thought.
The other examinees were rolling the computer sign pen to pick the multiple-choice options with dead faces, but Eui-jae’s hands were happily jumping on the test paper.
The questions on this exam were mainly about the characteristics and behavior patterns of each Monster. In other words, it was J’s specialty! Former J, current Cha Eui-jae was a master of field knowledge that people who only studied theory and memorization could not know. Eui-jae smiled and marked the OMR card after reviewing it.
‘The crazy brat who made the questions is not normal either….’
When he looked at the clock, there were 30 minutes left until the end of the exam. Eui-jae decided to lie down and enjoy his leisure for the first time in a while.
Some time later, the Hanover Soup Restaurant, which was usually crowded, was even more crowded that day. That’s because it was the day the results of the Hanover Soup Restaurant part-timer’s qualification exam came out. The regulars glanced at the part-timer who was chopping garlic so fast that his hands couldn’t be seen and whispered.
“I heard that this Hunter exam was the most hellish difficulty ever, do you think he passed?”
“Hey, our Guild’s new recruit went to take the exam and came back crying. None of the past questions came out. They said there were a lot of questions about Monsters they had never seen before.”
“What? How can kids who haven’t even been in a Dungeon answer Monster questions?”
“Ah, that’s what I mean. Our kid was a talent who was so knowledgeable about the law that he could even have a trial with the Special Act….”
Poor our new recruit. When a Hunter pretended to wipe his eyes with his sleeve, someone asked slyly.
“Who is the examiner for this exam?”
“Rank 5. Gyu-Gyu.”
“Wow… that crazy brat. He’s not even in Korea, when did he go and make the questions?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, I think we should prepare to comfort the part-timer.”
It was a strange situation where the regulars were more depressed than Cha Eui-jae, who took the exam.
At that time, the cell phone vibrated. The Hunters with good ears immediately found the source of the vibration. It was inside the part-timer’s apron pocket. It seemed that the exam results had arrived! Cha Eui-jae put down the knife that was chopping garlic in a trance and took out his cell phone.
Gulp. The Hunters watched Eui-jae, pretending not to.
“…….”
A soft, gentle smile bloomed on his neat face. Could it be that he passed the Hunter exam with the most hellish difficulty ever at once? The Hunters exchanged glances. Honeybee, who was impatient, asked urgently.
“What is it, Cha Eui-jae? Did you pass?”
Eui-jae scratched his cheek and nodded.
“Yes, I passed.”
“You passed? In one go?”
The murmuring grew louder and louder.
“Wow… our part-timer is really a talent who shouldn’t be in the Hanover Soup Restaurant.”
“Congratulations!”
“Congratulations! The pride of the Hanover Soup Restaurant!”
At someone’s shout, the gentle smile on Eui-jae’s face cracked slightly.
‘That crazy brat decided on the banner phrase.’
The Hunters rushed around and congratulated him on his passing. He passed the exam and found the crazy brat who took charge of the banner. Eui-jae smiled contentedly and bowed to each word that was handed over.
And, the cell phone rang again. Eui-jae checked the text message.
Sa-young: Congratulations
It was a very long time since he had heard from him.