# Chapter 58
“Really… all sorts of things happen.”
Yu Jeongheon grumbled as he slowly stood up. He examined the floor. As a superpower veteran, he was quick to assess his opponent’s abilities. Ice formation. Not strong enough to be a direct attack, though. Yu Jeongheon looked at the two people with a contemplative expression. Iyeon was the first to suggest:
“Shall we part ways here, then?”
“What?”
“You’re going to leave after erasing someone else’s mark?”
Everyone except Iyeon had defiant expressions on their faces. “Come on,” Iyeon said with a good-natured smile.
“We could keep fighting, but then one of us would be eliminated. Yu Jeongheon-ssi, isn’t your shoulder still hurting? Will you be okay with that body?”
Iyeon wasn’t wrong. The shoulder that had taken a direct hit from the wooden staff burned more as time passed.
There was no need to risk it unnecessarily. Yu Jeongheon slumped his shoulder.
“I hope we meet again next time.”
“I’d rather not…”
Despite the lukewarm response, Yu Jeongheon smiled brightly before turning around and walking out of the open space. Young glared at his retreating figure as if she might follow him out any second, growling fiercely:
“Why end it here? Are you crazy?”
“Young-ssi, your attack just now only worked because they didn’t know our abilities and let their guard down.”
The resolute voice was stating an objective fact. Young flinched and shut her mouth.
“Didn’t you see how quickly they counterattacked? I can’t guarantee anything if we fought again. Yu Jeongheon-ssi is really excellent with superpowers.”
“I’m almost out of resources myself and couldn’t have supported you,” Iyeon added with a light laugh.
“The time is almost up anyway. At best, it would have been a draw.”
Iyeon said this as he walked toward the open space. It’s absolutely not because I’m concerned about what Yu Jeongheon-ssi said… Making this excuse to himself, Iyeon began picking up the papers from the ground and putting them in his bag. Most of the papers were blank, having been used during the fight with Yu Jeongheon.
Checking his bracelet, his score was more than sufficient—it was overflowing. Young had taken care of most of the mark eliminations, but Iyeon had also scored points here and there. Add the survival bonus points, and his initial goal of ranking was practically guaranteed.
It had been easier than usual thanks to Young doing her part well. Je Sano and Hyegang must be watching well too, right? Iyeon smiled with satisfaction.
“You worked hard.”
Iyeon said this as he turned his head toward Young. She was still standing in the same spot where she had eliminated Yu Jeongheon’s mark earlier. The atmosphere emanating from her back felt strangely chilling, making Iyeon look at her quizzically.
“Young-ssi?”
Suddenly, Young turned around. Her determined footsteps approached Iyeon. The distance between them closed quickly.
Iyeon sensed something was wrong when Young readjusted her grip on her staff.
“…Young-ssi?”
There was no answer.
In an instant, Young came right up to Iyeon’s face and swung her arm. The tip of the long staff was aimed precisely at his right instep. Even in his bewilderment, Iyeon reflexively stepped back to avoid it, and killing intent mixed into Young’s eyes.
“What, what are you doing?”
Iyeon asked again, but Young still didn’t answer. The staff sliced through the air menacingly once more.
It was obvious what would happen if he got hit by such a weapon. Iyeon gave up trying to talk to Young and focused on dodging her attacks.
However, Young was someone who had professionally trained in martial arts. No matter how good Iyeon’s athletic reflexes were, there was a limit to how much he could avoid her attacks. In a moment when Iyeon lost track of her movements during the relentless assault, an attack targeting the mark on his side came in with precision. Thwack. The mark disappeared in an instant.
“Ugh…”
The impact that struck his waist made Iyeon’s body stagger. Forget the mark—it hurt so much he nearly cried.
The woman didn’t miss his stumbling figure. One mark remained. Young spun elegantly as if dancing. The sound “whoosh” grew closer to Iyeon by the second. As Iyeon hesitated like a drunk person, unable to properly center himself, creating distance between them, Young took one step closer to him at that moment.
Swish!
Young’s vision suddenly turned black. She instinctively swung her staff to defend herself, but the trap was faster.
The bird snare that had enveloped Yu Jeongheon captured Young.
The net tightened more inescapably the more she struggled. Young only stopped moving when she was in a position as if wearing a straitjacket. A low voice flowed out from inside the net.
“…What is this.”
When she had checked before attacking Iyeon, there was no drawing of a bird trap nearby. Only blank papers were scattered around him.
“So this was your trump card.”
Since the bird snare had sprung from such a floor, there was only one possibility.
“Did you deliberately flip the papers over?”
“It’s not really a trump card. I had no intention of using it.”
Iyeon sighed as he approached. The pain in his side hadn’t subsided, so he walked with his waist slightly hunched. It was obvious that his waist would be covered in dark bruises by tomorrow. He’d have to walk around with them for days. Would a healing superpower user treat something like this? Did they even treat things that weren’t life-threatening?
“Why did you do that? Your score was already excellent without doing this…”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Young’s demeanor turned rough.
“Hunters like you who were born lucky…”
Because he was only Mugunghwa Tier 1, Young’s father couldn’t become a hunter. When Young’s father confronted low-level variants appearing in the neighborhood, hunters who arrived after being contacted would draw a line, saying what was a mere Tier 1 doing, and that variants weren’t creatures to be dealt with using such petty skills. Young had seen her father return home several times after being chased away like that, dejectedly polishing his staff with a gloomy expression.
‘When you become a hunter, you’ll surely soar.’
Her father said that whenever he had the chance. He was overjoyed when Young showed him frost forming on the surface of water in a cup she was holding, and until she turned 20, the age when she could officially take the superpower ranking test, he contemplated daily how to effectively combine Young’s ability with martial arts skills.
However, the rank stamped on Young’s notice was Mugunghwa Tier 1.
Well, that was still fine. Young thought lightly. There wasn’t much difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 anyway. In fact, it was better being Tier 1 like her father. They could patrol the neighborhood together, and maybe even drive away low-level variants before hunters arrived. If that happened, they’d have to go to a chicken restaurant with her father to celebrate. Clearly imagining her father getting excited, Young smiled faintly as she entered the front door.
She was the only one who thought that way.
Her father’s expression instantly cooled as he read the paper Young had brought. He didn’t say anything. Not congratulations, not that she worked hard, not any kind of words.
He simply handed the paper back to Young and turned around to enter his room.
Young blankly stared at the door her father had gone through. The notification felt oddly unfamiliar despite having held it all the way home.
What her father wanted was a strong hunter. Not a mere Tier 1 superpower user.
It felt as if a very cold needle pierced a corner of her heart. Young would never forget that sensation for the rest of her life.
“So now, Young-ssi can become a Tier 2, a hunter, right?”
“That’s not enough.”
“What?”
Iyeon’s eyes widened in confusion. While it was possible to compete somewhat equally in superpowers from Tier 1 to Tier 2, it was impossible from Tier 3. Even natural-born Tier 2 users rarely advanced to Tier 3 based solely on superpower test results. Without needing lengthy explanations, the proportion of Tier 3 and above users among all superpower users spoke to the difficulty of the rank assessment.
Unless she was a special case like Hyegang, Young’s ability characteristic of ice formation was a type that received decent evaluation as a combat ability. The reason she was Tier 1 was most likely because her gi-ryeok quantity was too small.
That was just an innate issue. Not something that could be changed through effort.
Though Iyeon frowned at the incomprehensible answer, Young paid no attention to whatever he was doing in front of her. She kept muttering like someone in a trance. Her voice resembled a scream.
“If I just had a little, just a little more points…”
It was then.
Beep. A small notification sound rang from both of their bracelets. Then an announcement followed.
[The morning second test of Zone 5 has ended. Please exit the test site according to the instructions. We repeat. The morning second test of Zone 5 has ended.]
Along with the clear voice, the terrain features nearby began to crumble like sand and fly away. Beyond the gradually disappearing background, people who had survived until the end could be seen one by one.
The superpower test was over.
