Episode 37: Guild Admission Trial (2)Time passed.
The day of the guild admission trial arrived.
"Huuuuh."
Seol-hwa woke up and gave me a morning kiss.
A deep kiss with her tongue probing deeply.
"Pfft."
The kiss ended.
I used Clean Magic.
After finishing a quick shower, she got dressed.
"Let's go now."
We left the studio apartment.
Boarded the subway.
[Next stop is...]
We arrived at our destination.
Seol-hwa got off the subway.
A guild building stood one minute away from the station.
Cheonmaru.
A guild building recognized worldwide beyond just South Korea.
"Huu."
Seol-hwa took a deep breath and opened the interview room door.
"Huu. Huu."
"I can do this. I can do this."
The situation was dire. The other applicants were preparing for interviews while visibly tense.
The stiff atmosphere made Seol-hwa's body freeze up too. "You're joining another guild anyway. Relax."
"Yes!"
My single remark made her release her tension.
About 10 minutes passed.
The coordinator arrived.
Interviewers followed and took their seats.
Sword Queen and the guild executives.
Even externally invited personnel had taken their seats.
I paid special attention to the last interviewer who appeared.
Dark skin. Exotic features.
A famous ability user from South America.
Arondra.
A self-made woman who climbed from the bottom to become South America's representative ability user.
A familiar sensation emanated from her. Like meeting a hometown friend after ages.
'Could it be?'
I activated my Kin Detection Trait. Not a Doppelganger.
"Good afternoon..."
I tuned out the coordinator's formal greetings.
Focused entirely on Arondra.
If interpreting this sensation correctly, she was my kin.
But I couldn't be certain.
I needed prior experience meeting kin to make that judgment.
"South America's most famous Hunter. Arondra."
She stood up.
Gave a light greeting and sat back down.
Her voice sounded ordinary.
No particularly unusual traits visible either.
"Now only those called should follow the staff outside."
With her, the introductions concluded.
The interviewers disappeared.
The coordinator called several people.
Seol-hwa sat waiting her turn.
Eventually Seol-hwa's turn came. She entered the interview room.
But Arondra wasn't there.
Seol-hwa proceeded with an ordinary interview.
She answered questions with ease.
"Ms. Seol-hwa. Why do you want to become a Hunter?"
"I want to burn everything."
"You... mean you want to burn monsters?"
"Yes! I want to burn all monsters to ashes. Whoosh! Alive!"
Though she flustered the interviewer midway, she somehow finished the interview well.
"Now we'll measure your stats and have you demonstrate your personal skills."
Thus the interview concluded.
"Ah... Ms. Seol-hwa? We don't have your ability stat data... Could you come with us briefly?"
The coordinator called Seol-hwa separately.
Though Sword Queen had pushed for her participation, apparently she hadn't manipulated the data.
Seol-hwa stood up. Quietly left the interview room.
Other applicants were already finishing interviews and leaving.
Ding.
The elevator stopped.
The space was vast.
They'd converted an entire floor into a gymnasium.
"How did someone without measured stats get this far? Some VIP's kid?"
"Someone the Guild Master personally recommended."
"Well, can't argue with that."
Staff members complained about unexpected extra work.
But upon learning Sword Queen had recommended Seol-hwa, they immediately acquiesced.
"Ah, welcome. We'll start with stamina measurements."
A staff member belatedly noticed Seol-hwa.
Instantly changed expressions and greeted her warmly.
The test began.
I disabled all stat-related traits.
Set them to the same level as when she sparred with Isia.
"Muscle strength... D-Grade."
"Accurate? This is someone Master Sword Queen recommended."
The staff panicked.
Low stats for someone personally recommended by Sword Queen.
Most talents at least reached C-Grade.
"Stamina is D-Grade too."
"Agility... D-Grade."
"Mana is below F-Grade."
The following stats grew increasingly despairing.
"Are these readings correct?"
A skeptical ability user began retesting.
But the results remained identical.
"Maybe they recruited her for swordsmanship, not stats?"
"Right, that must be it. Master Sword Queen's eyes can't be wrong."
They ultimately resorted to mental gymnastics.
Seol-hwa remained serene despite their loud remarks.
She planned to join another guild anyway.
And she'd completed this without borrowing my cheat-level powers, relying solely on her own strength.
No reason to feel ashamed.
"W-well, we'll submit these for now."
The staff uploaded the examined records to superiors.
A short time passed.
A call came in.
The staff members' faces turned pale upon answering.
The employee repeatedly confirmed they'd done it properly before approaching Seol-hwa.
"Um... Ms. Seol-hwa, Master Sword Queen requests your presence."
Sword Queen had summoned Seol-hwa.
"Just go up to the rooftop."
They kindly informed her of Sword Queen's floor.
"Are you hiding your power?"
The question came immediately upon entering the guild master's office.
She still harbored suspicions about Seol-hwa.
"..Yes, I only awakened recently and discovered my true ability just a while ago! My current stats aren't strange at all!"
Seol-hwa froze completely.
She stood before a living legend. Alone.
Not being nervous would've been stranger.
"Hunters Kim Jeong-su and Hwaran are skilled fighters I personally acknowledge. Yet you defeated them plus another Doppelganger, and now claim to be barely upper C-Grade?"
Seol-hwa's excuses didn't work.
Her experience wasn't for nothing.
"Th-they let their guard down."
We switched to Plan B.
Duo had cleared the Orc Colony alone, apparently trusting the sleeping pills.
So they were exhausted.
We succeeded by attacking when their guard was down.
First cutting off Kim Jeong-su's arm, then killing the panicked Doppelgangers.
Coincidentally awakening my ability made killing them even easier.
Blood manipulation and blood-to-flame conversion abilities.
Medium-activated abilities had constraints but immense power.
I repeatedly explained how overlapping coincidences of luck made it possible.
"...Understood. I'll believe you."
Only after wounding her own hand to demonstrate her ability could we deceive her.
'Phew.'
She sighed in relief. Felt like returning alive from hell.
"Because your words are all I can trust in this situation."
Her following words made me tense up.
Her lifetime of betrayals made her extremely suspicious.
"Huh? Huh!? Ah...but I'm telling the truth..."
"The final interview is over. You may leave now. Ah, if you're joining my daughter's guild, know this one thing. If anything happens, I'll suspect you first."
A deadly warning.
Seol-hwa broke into cold sweat at her words.
So did I.
The pressure made breathing difficult.
"Ah, yes. No. Nothing like that will happen."
She fled the guild master's office.
"That was terrifying."
Trembling, she took the elevator down.
Even after reaching her studio apartment, Seol-hwa shook with fear for a while.
Then the next day.
Two acceptance letters arrived.
From Cheonmaru and Myohaengseong Guild.
True to being a new guild, Myohaengseong skipped interviews and Isia arbitrarily accepted her.
Her destination was already decided.
Seol-hwa submitted documents to Myohaengseong Guild.
Shortly after texting, a call came.
"Uh...they say they'll grant any one request?"
Apparently happy about not losing Seol-hwa to her mother.
They offered a blank check.
"A house. Ask for a private house with a basement."
I stated my desire.
A house. A basement would be convenient for training someone.
No complaints from neighbors either.
Seol-hwa conveyed the requirements.
A private house. Specifically one with a basement.
Location didn't matter.
Just needed to be a private house.
Though demanding, Isia readily agreed.
One week later.
Isia called saying she'd found a house.
Seol-hwa moved to the acquired house.
And on the very day she moved in.
Ding-dong.
The South American ability user from the interview had come visiting.
* * *
'Strange. I clearly sense a non-human monster, but she's undoubtedly human.'
Sword Queen set down the paper.
It contained Seol-hwa's personal information.
'If she were a monster mimicking humans, she couldn't evade my eyes.'
She touched them.
Siman.
An ability to see through targets.
Not even Doppelgangers-who devour brains and perfectly replicate behavior and personality-could evade her power.
Her eyes showed her.
Seol-hwa was definitely human.
But her intuition warned that a monster resided within her.
"Phew... I wish I could at least warn my daughter..."
She released a frustrated sigh.
Giving Isia even a hint to be cautious would ease her worries, but she couldn't.
"I didn't raise her to be a fool who gets cocky over one victory."
Her daughter had taken a liking to Seol-hwa.
Whether dropping hints or outright warnings, she ignored them all.
Her reasoning was that she could defeat Seol-hwa with her original strength even if betrayed.
But she couldn't share information about Doppelgangers
or mention that Seol-hwa might be an undiscovered type of monster.
Doppelganger information was top secret.
Directly ordered by the UN to remain silent.
If society learned about monsters that eat human brains and impersonate them, chaos would ensue.
No vaccine exists, nor any testing method to detect Doppelgangers.
If their existence became known, worst-case scenario, modern witch hunts could occur.
"Haa..."
Sword Queen's worries deepened.
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