To The Academy (1)

Swish!

Along with the brilliant starlight that broke out, intense magic burst forth.

The source was none other than the old shrine installed at the ‘Shrine of the Dancer.’

The Shrine, once filled with dust, now emitted a bright light, blooming beautiful trees as if it were a living creature.

“Wow…”

An exclamation escaped from Ma Hana’s mouth as she watched this unfold.

Ma Hana gazed at the fluttering petals with a mysterious look in her eyes.

As the words ended, one black star of Ma Hana’s grade was filled in.

The blinking indicator informed her that she had completed all the trials to rise to 3★.

“……”

Ma Hana stood still for a moment, like a stone.

Sob.

Tears welled up in her eyes.
Lately, it seemed like she had become a crybaby, but she couldn’t help it.
Because she didn’t believe such a happy and joyous event would come to her so often.

‘Ah, no.’

She shouldn’t cry again.

Now, she wanted to smile at happy events.

Of course, it’s nice when Seha looks at her with pity and strokes her hair, but it’s even better when he smiles brightly and hugs her.

Now was the time to offer joy rather than tears.

And so she turned her body.

As always, the man who had silently watched her from beginning to end was standing there.

A handsome young man with a tall stature and beautiful appearance.

But to Ma Hana, such external things were no longer that important.

Because he had something even more brilliant.

‘Heart.’

A person who warmed up her heart more than anything else shone on Ma Hana like the sun.

She ran. Vigorously, more vigorously.

“Seha~~~!”
“Meowi!!!”

Ma Hana threw herself into Yu Seha’s arms, showing a wide smile.
And more than that, Yu Seha, with an even happier face, looked at her.
The two, holding each other, spun around for a long time.

“Congratulations, Meowi! I knew you could do it!”
“Yes! It’s all thanks to you, Seha!”

So, on the faces of the two, smiles as beautiful as the trees bloomed like flowers.

“Congratulations from the bottom of my heart, Miss Hana.”

The female staff, covering her mouth with both hands, choked up.

Arirang.

The one who usually took care of us was overwhelmed by the two ★s Meowi had given her.

“Mehehe…”
“Please wait a moment.”

The female staff sent her information somewhere.
It would probably be sent to the religious Order.

And true to the Order that regarded [Class] and rank as ‘Doctrine,’ a congratulatory message came back in less than a minute.

Hwaaak!

A holy light gently swirled around Meowi’s body and then disappeared.

It was the unique impact of a rank-up.

I also admired it quietly, as it was my first time witnessing it in this world.

“You are now a proper 3★.”
“Mehehe…”

Meowi felt joy and embarrassment, rubbing her cheeks vigorously.

The soft and chewy cheeks moving around were irresistibly adorable.

However, now was the time to take things a bit more seriously.

“Now then… I will report on the unfortunate incident that occurred today. Do you both have time?”

Nodding our heads, Arirang continued with the long explanation.

Hmm, the content flowed like Vienna sausages, but to summarize, it went like this.

First. The handling and aftermath of the attack by Pyo Dok-ju and the duo were smoothly managed.

Second, currently, Guild Leader Su Ok-bin was overseas on an association mission, so the Vice Guild Leader was running around handling the incident.

He couldn’t come because he was being harshly reprimanded by the higher-ups, so he asked us to please forgive him.

“The Vice Guild Leader said that he is truly sorry for letting such unfortunate incidents happen twice to you.”
“No, it’s not the Vice Guild Leader’s fault in the first place.”

The ‘Break Out’ incident and the recent ‘Class Hunter’ attack were like natural disasters.

An ordinary man couldn’t do anything about it.

I was just grateful for the concern and help shown.

Lastly, regarding the third compensation.

“This is the reward money we can give you right now.”

Approximately 100 million won in cash.
They seemed apologetic that they couldn’t increase the amount further, but I didn’t mind.

Meowi and I had already gained more than just money from this adventure.

‘It’s more than enough.’

The next words were unexpected.

“And we have promoted both of you to D-rank hunters.”
“Oh…”
“Wow…”

The smiling staff handed over two copper badges from the drawer.

Under the rank D, each badge had a name and affiliation inscribed.

‘This is good.’

A hunter’s rank not only affects one’s social background, but is also an important factor that must be raised in terms of practicality.

As mentioned in the message, some dungeons require the hunters’ ranks as well as their star ratings.

Also, in the case of the <Raid Boss>, which was commonly considered as ‘S-class’.
One had to achieve at least a C rank to be eligible to participate.

In addition, there were many other benefits.

Tax reductions, greater profit sharing for the by-products, equipment rental, provision of special information, etc.

When considering each one, raising the rank was definitely beneficial.

“Actually, considering your achievements, including the <Trials>… we can even offer you a C rank. The lack of abilities can be resolved through future growth. However, rapid rank increases within the Guild are legally prohibited… So, we had to give you a D.”

Huh? This is the first time I’ve heard this information.
They’ve blocked rapid rank increases?

“…Ah, could it be because of that incident…?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Miss Hana.”

That incident…?

“Ah, Seha doesn’t seem to know. You see, 10 years ago, there was a hunter with the nickname <Wings of Destruction> who committed a large-scale terror attack.”
“Ter… ror…?”

According to the explanation, in the past, a female hunter rapidly rose in skill rank and gained attention everywhere.

However, this woman was a spy from the <Villain, Demon> Clan, who aimed to increase her rank for terrorism purposes from the beginning.

In the end, it was said to have concluded with the worst possible outcome.

She attended the meeting room where the executives of the [Clan] who came to scout her were gathered.
There, most of those present were killed, and she escaped.

“Thanks to that, sudden rises are now legally prohibited.”

“……”

Huh, this sounds like a story about someone I know.

‘Although I’m not sure.’

Well, it shouldn’t matter much to us, so I didn’t dwell on it.

Anyway, now it’s time to talk about the important matter.

Ahem. Clearing my throat, I gently started to speak.

“Excuse me, staff member.”
“Yes, Mr. Seha.”
“I wanted to inform you in advance that I might not be able to visit the Guild for a while.”
“Oh, really? What’s the matter…?”

Meowi and I looked at each other and smiled bashfully.

“Academy.”

“…Ah!”

We were going to enter the [Gonis Hunter Academy].

About a week later.

At the same time, a total of 10 hours.

It was the time we spent crammed on the bus.

Meowi and I chatted comfortably with each other.
Sometimes, we would lean on each other’s shoulders and sleep together.

We spent a peaceful time unrelated to battles after a long time.

The place we arrived at had a wide open playground and a huge complex building in the distance, the size of a castle.

“Wow. Seha. Is that…?”
“That’s right.”

[Gonis Hunter Academy].

The main stage of ‘GAL’.
The place all the supervisors see endlessly through re-rolling.

That very place was now unfolding before my eyes.

My first impression was…

‘Um, it’s big?’

That was all.

I had seen it too much on the internet to be impressed.

To me, how big or grand the [Academy] was didn’t matter.

The academy was nothing but a decoration.

The most important thing, after all, was the characters.

I raised my hand above the most precious treasure in this world.

Swish, swish.

“Meow?”
“Shall we go in?”
“Yes!”

The further we went inside, the more the test takers revealed themselves.

They formed groups or came alone, showing differences, but they all had one major thing in common.

‘Equipment.’

Everyone was equipped with gear prepared to slay monsters.

Among them, the most eye-catching were the warrior types.

Naturally, as they were the tankers and bruisers who blocked enemy attacks on the front lines.
The sturdy and gleaming armor was impressive.

“Wow… everyone is shining.”
“Don’t worry. Meowi, you shine the most.”
“…Wh-why are you suddenly saying something like that?”

Although Meowi was embarrassed, there was nothing particularly wrong with what I said.
The grade of the beast armor she was wearing was none other than Hero.

It looked plain, so most just took it as is.

But some, with keen eyes, seemed surprised by the armor she was wearing.

Furthermore, some even gauged Meowi’s skills and became wary.

‘Of course.’

What could our Meowi possibly lack?
Her stats had grown robustly.
She even had the [Taunt] skill with her now.
In addition to possessing the [Rune] of a rare boss, wasn’t she also adorably cute?

There was no reason for her to be discouraged.

‘But even considering that, there are too many eyes on us.’

Every time we took a step, everyone looked this way.

―……What? Did she pass because of her looks?
―Looks like a dealer, right? Must be a [Melee] class. Wow, really handsome.
―Are there any Myoin Tribe people around? She looks cute.
―But no matter how you look at it, she doesn’t seem to be on the same level as that guy, right?

Clench.

I stopped in my tracks when I heard those words.

What?

‘Level?!’

Th-Those damned things!
Were they really talking about the level of Meowi now?!

“Those dogs…”
“S-Seha! Calm down! Calm Down!!”

Meowi grabbed me, startled.
The women disappeared in the meantime.

I temporarily tried to calm myself.

And soon, we arrived at the main auditorium, where all the test takers gathered.

There was a crowd of people inside, easily over a thousand people at best.

‘So many…’

The numbers looked impressive to me, but what was even more surprising was that all of them were Awakened people who could use the ‘Status Window’.

Most of them were probably those who had accumulated practical experience as hunters.

At the same time, from the basic personal information and the fact that they passed the first exam, one could see the prestige of the Academy.

At that moment, while I was looking around like a country bumpkin…

“…Huh?”

I turned my head at the gaze directed this way.

Then, whoosh! A woman pretended not to look.

She was wearing a hat and a mask, but those distinctive features and hair color.

Lastly, the familiarity I felt from the size of her chest, summed up in one word: ‘bun.’

‘This is…’

I thought about approaching her and striking up a conversation, but decided against it.

It still seemed awkward.

To be precise, meeting her was awkward for Meowi.

“…Gulp.”
“Nervous?”

At my question, the stiff Meowi slightly nodded her head.

“…I-I never imagined…there would be this many.”
“I didn’t expect this much either.”
“C-Can we… pass?”

I understood Meowi’s worries.
After all, if we only considered experience points, we were the most lacking.

“It’s okay. Meowi.”
“Meow?”

One month.
It was only that short amount of time.
But I was confident about this.

“The things we’ve built up are worth years of effort from others, no, even more than that. So we can do it. Have confidence.”

“…Okay!”

Just as we were smiling at each other.
A sudden murderous intent was felt behind my back.

‘…What?’

I turned my head, wondering who was interrupting my precious time with my favorite character.

Since who knows when, a group of rough-looking women has been glaring at us.

Among them, a woman presumed to be the leader.

Wearing a baseball jacket, she approached with a crooked face and looked me up and down.

And then she suddenly said.

“Hey, you guys…”

What did you just say?