Chapter 23: Applying for the test

Raydel slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the face of the person who was asleep next to him, Han.

He went from sleeping peacefully to stiffening up like a rock. Raydel was afraid that he might wake Han up from breathing too loudly. However, Han still woke up even though Raydel tensed his entire body. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a moment before looking at Raydel to see if he had already woken up.

The two of them looked each other in the eyes. Han whispered.

"Good morning."

Raydel was speechless. "..."

Then, he gradually remembered what happened last night.

Raydel could recall that he was extremely tired to the point he asked Han, 'could you give me a piggyback ride?' And the protagonist was so kind as to carry him on his back all the way to his home.

After they arrived home and Jinny explained Han's situation to their parents, the exhausted Raydel walked right up to his bedroom and fell asleep without even changing.

He remembered that Han followed him into the room and asked, 'why don't you change your clothes?' Raydel replied with a weary voice, 'no wayyy, I'm so tired.' Then, he realized that Han was changing his clothes for him. Raydel could only stand there like a cow, letting Han take his clothes off as he wished. Han was a bit slow in Raydel's perspective, but it was probably due to his fatigue.

When he was done, Raydel pointed to the bed and said, 'you sleep here.' Then, he fell asleep. As soon as his head touched the pillow, he dreamed of himself being in Cthulhu's realm and eventually woke up to the dawn of the new day.

"..."

Raydel slowly blushed as his memories from last night came back.

It seemed Han had already taken a bath and changed his clothes since last night. Jinny must have given him Raydel's clothes. He wanted to hide under the blanket when he realized that Han helped change his clothes as if he was too drunk to do so himself. That was so embarrassing.

"Are you okay?" Han asked, not fully awake.

Raydel swallowed hard.

"Yeah."

"You're making a weird face."

"I had a nightmare. About an octopus."

"A monster? Did you kill it?"

"It'll kill me because I called it takoyaki." Raydel sighed. "Uh, thank you so much for your help last night. I was so exhausted that I fainted. Did you sleep well? My bed is a bit small, so we had to squeeze in a bit."

Raydel sat up and softly slapped the pillows and blanket as if it would expand the bed's size. Han and he had to squeeze into the bed together, and it was so small that they could not turn freely. Their shoulders pressed against each other all night. Raydel was uncomfortable because Han was bigger than him. Still, it was better than having to sleep on top of each other.

Han sat up as well. He looked down, his white hair draping over his eyes and making his face look even younger in the sunlight of the late morning. Raydel sat there and stared at him speechless. He wondered if Han was really a nineteen-year-old kid. He did not want to think about the protagonist in the older version.

"I had a good sleep compared to when I slept in the dungeon," Han said.

"And why did you sleep in a dungeon?"

"Sometimes it takes several hours to clear a dungeon."

"So, you had to sleep in a dungeon? This is too much. Was the money worth it?"

"I get around five thousand to seven thousand del per dungeon. But sometimes I get more than ten thousand del."

That's quite a lot, Raydel thought.

Raydel stood up and stretched till his shirt lifted up. He noticed Han looking the other way.

"Let's go eat. Mom probably prepared us breakfast," he said.

They walked downstairs to the dining room. Jinny and their father were waiting at the table while their mother was putting breakfast on everyone's plate. The pleasant scent of pancakes and salad had Raydel's empty stomach rumbling. Everyone at the table was watching the television except Jinny who was on her phone smiling.

When she looked up and saw Raydel and Han, she pushed his chair out a little with her foot to tell him that his seat was here.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?" Raydel's mother asked happily.

"Yes," Han replied.

"Mom, I'm going to be a hunter," Raydel said.

Their parents were not that shocked since the old Raydel had always been so obvious about wanting to be a hunter.

"A hunter?" the father asked.

"Yeah."

"I know that a lot of people become hunters nowadays, but if it's you, you probably want to be the No.1 hunter or something like that, right?"

"The ranking doesn't really matter, but I'm going to go take the hunter test."

"Isn't it dangerous being a hunter?" Their mother asked.

"Yes, it sure is. But that's just the way it is," Jinny said. "I'm going to be a hunter too, but I'll wait until I graduate."

"You're going to be a hunter?!" She exclaimed.

"I'll definitely be the No.1 hunter."

"You?" the father laughed softly. "So ambitious."

Jinny pouted. "I really want to be a hunter, and I'm going to be a good one at that. I'm going to be one of the ten strongest hunters. Then, I'm going to clear lots of dungeons and make lots of money. See, I'm really ambitious! Ray may create a guild in the future, and we'll get to be in the same guild."

"Create a guild? Why me?" Raydel protested.

"Don't hunters normally want to have their own guilds?"

"If I create a guild, I'll have to manage people. I can't do that."

"You may be able to do that. We don't know for sure. We could become stronger in the future. I heard that if you officially get an A from the hunter test, you'll be granted the right to create your own guild."

"And why do I need to have my own guild?"

"So, your friends can be together? Me, Han, and you."

"Then, let's make Han the guild master."

"I can be a co-guild master with you," Han said.

Raydel sighed. Why the conversation shifted to this topic?

"We'll need insurance I think," their mother said, giving in to the kids' dreams even though she was so worried inside. "There's insurance for a hunter, right?"

"I have enough money to buy the insurance," Jinny said. "But please wait till I finish my grade 11 first. I have to go to school."

Raydel glanced at the calendar on the wall. It was already June.

"And what about your study?" the mother asked Raydel.

"I'll prepare for the university exam as well. In case I'm not good at being a hunter, I'll still be able to go to university."

He said that just to prevent his parents from worrying about him. But he might actually pursue both being a hunter and a university student.

Still, being a university student and a hunter at the same time…. He could clearly picture himself reading books for some final exams in dungeons.

"Another thing, I'll return to the capital city today."

"What, you're going back today?" Their mother asked.

"I have an exam coming up next week. I'll complete it first before coming back home."

"What? You've just got here," Jinny complained.

However, she knew she could not ask him to stay here any longer. There really was a hunter test next week. After finishing breakfast, Raydel packed his clothes and the other essentials for his stay in the capital city. Most of them were clothes, appliances, and books that were so heavy he had to ask Han for help.

First, Raydel had to find a place to stay.

Han and he rode a bus into the city and took the almost completely empty underground train since it was a weekday. During their ride, Han stared at his face for several minutes before asking.

"Would you like to stay with me at my condo?"

Raydel blinked.

He never imagined that the protagonist would ask him outright, but Raydel knew that he was not a lucky person. He remembered that Han's condo was located in the urban area. It was quite luxurious because he made a lot of money working as a hunter. Still, Raydel knew that the rent in the area must be high. Han probably was looking for a roommate to help pay the rent.

"How much do I have to pay?"

Han raised his brows.

"Like the rent per month?"

"...Thirty thousand?"

"That's too expensive. I can't afford that. I'll find somewhere cheap."

"..."

The protagonist seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't.

Raydel spent the whole day searching for the right place to stay. They walked several kilometers to look at each of the places that still had some rooms left. When the evening arrived, Raydel eventually decided to rent a shabby apartment located in an alley so narrow that no more than one car could get through at a time. It was about ten minutes of walking from an office district and an underground train station

The apartment owner rented it out for eight thousand del a month. Raydel calculated and felt relieved when he realized he could afford it if he collected the crystals and artifacts from dungeons and sold them for money.

After Raydel signed the contract and paid the deposit, Han helped him move in. They turned on the air conditioner and rested as they watched the evening view of the busy capital city packed with skyscrapers.

Raydel ordered a pizza for dinner. Then, he asked Han.

"You won't really take the hunter test?"

In fact, everyone could become a hunter. If they downloaded the government application, they could always look up the whereabouts of any current dungeons on it. But the hunter test was a way to officially get a rank. The people who wanted to be in the hunter system to compete for the top ten spots or participate in the hunter tournament for a massive prize needed to complete the hunter test.

And if asked about the difficulty level of the hunter test, Raydel would say it was as hard as the entrance exams for high-ranking universities.

"It doesn't really matter," Han replied.

In the novel, Han did not take the test until the middle of the book. Even though Raydel already knew the answer, he still asked Han.

"You don't want to be in the hunter system?"

Han shook his head.

In fact, if Raydel was as strong as Han, the hunter test would be insignificant for him as well.

"But I'll be looking after you from afar. If you need anything, just tell me," Han said.

"Looking after me? What do you mean?"

"I'll go with you when you take the hunter test."

"Thanks…? Are you going to be my bodyguard? It's just a hunter test. Nothing dangerous, I think."

The protagonist did not say anything back. The light in his eyes flickered. He smiled a little.

"I too hope that nothing dangerous ever happens to you, Ray."

On the other side, Jinny was watching the television and kicking her feet back and forth. She looked at the back of her mother washing the dishes in the kitchen. Several hours had passed since her brother and his friend traveled back to the capital city. Jinny admitted that their house was so quiet without him. She missed Raydel so much and still wanted to go exploring dungeons with him, but she probably needed to wait until he finished taking the hunter test.

Jinny rested her chin on one hand while the other was busy tapping on her phone screen. She texted Raydel.

'Good luck with your test.'

"Han seemed like a nice guy," her mother said. "I won't be so worried if he's with Ray."

Jinny nodded in agreement. "You like Han?"

"Yes, I trust him."

"Why so fast?"

"I trust all your friends."

Jinny smiled. "Brother really likes Han. They fought once and he had been begging for forgiveness from him for a long time now."

"Huh, why did they fight? They're good now, right?"

"Yeah." Jinny pressed her face against the table and let her mind wander.

Actually, she tried to make Han and Raydel talk this morning. She knew that even though Han had already forgiven her brother, Raydel still needed to keep pampering him. It was a shame that Raydel kept talking to their parents. Jinny could only sneak a glance at Han to see if he was uncomfortable for not being included in the conversation or not.

Han seemed fine, like he enjoyed listening to them.

Jinny noticed that he always looked at Raydel.

When Raydel talked about the hunter test, Han's eyes grew dimmer as if he was concerned that his friend was about to embark on a dangerous journey. It was just a second, but Jinny saw a flicker of something that Han tried to hide. She was stunned and thought that this person had not really revealed his true self to anyone at all.

He seemed like those who suppressed his emotion. We could only wait for the inevitable explosion…

"..." Jinny tightened her lips.

She thought, let's hope the day never comes.

The week was over in a blink of an eye.

On the test application date, the overly-excited Raydel woke up early in the morning. He slept with books in his arms all night. He rubbed his eyes, feeling surprised that the day he felt excited about something related to the hunter's world had finally arrived. Raydel looked at the view outside the window before picking up his phone. He searched for the place he needed to go to apply for the hunter test. After remembering all the details, he hastily jumped out of bed and started getting ready for the day.

His destination was the building of the Hunter's Guild. The number of people there shocked Raydel when he arrived at the place.

So many people came to apply for the test!

In the novel, there were only a few people when Han applied for the test. Raydel was confused. It was almost impossible to get through the packed-like-sardines crowd to the registration table. When he eventually managed to do so, he realized that this test had a special prize.

The prize of a hundred thousand del!

Raydel was even more confused. These tests normally did not have anything special about them. If one passed, one passed. If one failed, one failed. There was never a prize, and this confused Raydel. He never read about these situations in the novel. When he tried to think about the early parts of the novel, he realized it was even harder to find anything like this.

"Excuse me, why is there a prize this time?" Raydel asked the member from the Hunter Guild that was sitting at the table.

"Because the Wangs sponsored the test this time."

The Wangs? Raydel frowned.

Ah… so that meant the 'person' was about to appear now.

The true reason for Han's success. The golden legs of the real protagonist.

Raydel wondered if Han would still find him significant after the appearance of the person.

He filled in the application form and thought about what would happen in the future. If Raydel was lucky, he would probably get to live on Han's mountains of money together with him. But if he was not, he would become a side character that was left behind. Still, that was the role of the protagonist's friend anyway. He had to survive on his own. The protagonist could only do so much to help him.

Well, his lonely struggle for survival started today. The first test was the test of physical fitness.

Running and Push-up!

This felt more like a military conscription, but Raydel knew that being a hunter required strength and power. Still, hunters that did not rely on pure physical strength such as ranged mages or summoning hunters like him existed. Raydel complained silently as he changed into his workout uniform. He started his running and push-up session, knowing full well that he seldom worked out. It took only five minutes before he panted like a dog.

Around a hundred people came to take the test. They all looked just like him. Even though this was the first test, some people had already failed. Raydel used everything he had in this first test. He ran for about ten minutes and did almost thirty push-ups before he collapsed from exhaustion.

After the physical fitness test, Raydel had to take the magical power test.

Twenty tables, each with a crystal ball on it, were situated in the field.

The hunters had to attack it with their power till it glowed up. Then, their names would appear on the real-time scoreboard that showed how many scores one made and their rankings. Only the first seventy people on the board passed the test.

They could attack the crystal ball any way they wanted. And the shouting and screaming to summon some motivation was allowed as well.

Raydel watched as the others courageously screamed, "arrrghhh!" and "for victory!" He turned back to look at the crystal ball and took out the coin before pressing it on the crystal ball. Warmth and coldness began to creep out of it. Raydel now knew how he should attack the ball.

He took a deep breath and whispered.

"The Plague Doctor…"

Rumble!

A surge of power hit the crystal ball!

It brightly shone with power. Raydel's name appeared on the top of the scoreboard. He was shocked and started to smile awkwardly.

Takoyaki is really helpful.