Chapter 131
Chapter 131. Rank 3 (11)
“Is that an aura?”
“Yes.”
“Yoo Ji-han here is indeed an aura user.”
Ji Gang-seok couldn’t believe that Yoo Ji-han was using an aura. However, Yang Ji-cheol, the other interviewer, already knew this.
“Could that sword be an artifact?”
“If you suspect it, feel free to check it yourself.”
This time, Ji Gang-seok was suspecting the sword as an artifact. Yoo Ji-han, who stood up from his seat, presented the sword he had brought for such a suspicion.
Ji Gang-seok unsheathed the sword and carefully examined it, running his fingers over the blade.
“…It’s an ordinary sword.”
Not a special artifact, just an utterly normal sword. With a look of disappointment, he returned the sword to its sheath.
“You’ve passed the 2nd Exam excellently.”
“You were the first to escape from the dungeon, right? Impressive.”
“Next is the 3rd Exam.”
The final video showed the sparring matches of the candidates for promotion, with clips of Yoo Ji-han’s party members sparring appearing one by one on the screen…
The interviewers raised no objections regarding their contributions to the sparring because they all achieved clean victories.
“That was clever.”
The battle of Yoo Ji-han on the ice, in a combo with Jung Young-wook! The interviewers’ eyes sparkled as they watched.
Then Ji Gang-seok spoke up.
“Isn’t it unfair to have cast a spell on your shoes before the sparring started?”
“There was no such rule. This level of strategy is perfectly acceptable.”
“Kugh…”
Each of Ji Gang-seok’s comments was countered by Yang Ji-cheol’s spirited rebuttals.
Although this might seem a bit biased towards the interviewees, Yang Ji-cheol was striving for a fair evaluation.
Yoo Ji-han was not the only one to learn a lesson from the incident with Lee Dong-ho.
“That’s it for the test video.”
“Honestly speaking, among the parties we’ve seen today, you stand out as the top tier! What does everyone else think?”
“I feel the same way.”
“Hard to believe Yoo Ji-han’s party has only been Rank 4 for a few months!”
Usually, praises for interviewees are rare at interviews, but applause was abundant for Yoo Ji-han’s party.
At that moment, Ji Gang-seok, who had remained silent, spoke.
“By the way, I heard you shot a hero movie with your party recently.”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it a bit too flashy to start making movies from Rank 4?”
“It was merely a proposal that came our way; we just went ahead with it.”
“A hero is just a hero, not a celebrity! It doesn’t look good for an inexperienced party to film a movie for fame from the perspective of a senior hero.”
Ji Gang-seok was uncomfortable with Yoo Ji-han’s party making a movie. Quickly, Yoo Ji-han responded.
“Excuse me for interrupting, but if memory serves, didn’t the Rank 5 party of Knife also make a hero movie?”
“Well…”
Ji Gang-seok was momentarily thrown off by Yoo Ji-han’s pointed remark. He had no particular interest in movies and didn’t even realize that another party from his guild had filmed one.
“I’d like to ask a different question…”
Soon, other interviewers followed up with their questions.
Questions unrelated to the video of the exam.
Since there were interviewers here who had not participated in Yoo Ji-han’s Rank 4 interview, many similar questions from that time came up.
“Ah, huh!”
With arms crossed, Ji Gang-seok had been quietly listening to the back-and-forth until he unexpectedly waved his hand in front of his face.
And right after Kim Si-hu finished his answer.
He looked up at Chilla and said, “I’ve been smelling a really foul odor coming from that monster since earlier.”
“That’s not a monster; that’s Chilla.”
“Same difference. Did that friend get a bath?”
“We do it regularly.”
Chilla, who had just bathed cleanly the day before the interview, was the one he was critiquing. The remark about the smell seemed mere nitpicking.
“That guy’s a tanker, right?”
“Yes.”
“Can a dumb beast like that even fight properly?”
“Of course! Just watch.”
Min Yu-ri gave Chilla simple commands to step back or roll forward.
“Step! Step! Step! Step!”
Chilla moved like a well-trained soldier. When asked to bring out the shield, it behaved as if it was protecting Min Yu-ri with the shield up.
“Haha…”
“What a well-trained pet; it’s been a while since I saw one.”
“Tsk.”
Unlike the interviewers who were pleased with cute Chilla, Ji Gang-seok clicked his tongue in disappointment. What was meant as an attack ended up raising evaluation points instead.
Then he looked hungrily at Kim Si-hu.
“Kim Si-hu, you’re a half-elf, right?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t there opposition among citizens to an elf-like intruder acting as a hero? Especially as a Guild Master… what a world we live in.”
Ji Gang-seok was taking a jab at Kim Si-hu’s race this time.
Yang Ji-cheol gripped his pen tightly. ‘Is this guy serious…!’
Before the interview began, Yang Ji-cheol had asked Ji Gang-seok not to mention anything related to the interviewees’ race, as a consideration for Kim Si-hu participating in this interview, yet Ji Gang-seok brought it up anyway.
But then, Kim Si-hu said, “Before I answer, I need to correct one point regarding the interviewer’s question.”
“…?”
“I’m not an intruder.”
Intruders from another world and foreign races settled on Earth should be classified differently. Kim Si-hu stared at Ji Gang-seok with clear eyes.
‘I had a feeling he’d say something like this.’
With the experience from the Rank 4 interview that Lee Dong-ho participated in, Kim Si-hu had not handled jabs about his race skillfully back then. But now, he was different from the inexperienced version of himself.
“If I’m to answer honestly, people might feel quite uncomfortable! However, I believe it’s my role to instill the perception that even a foreign race can become a hero who protects peace.”
“Ha, that’s quite a grand answer.”
“Please take it as my confidence!”
Despite mentioning his race, Kim Si-hu did not back down at all.
As Ji Gang-seok was about to mention the subject of Kim Si-hu’s race again, he found himself in deep thought at Kim Si-hu’s challenging expression that seemed to say, “Go ahead, say something.”
‘These guys are not to be underestimated.’
His initial evaluation of Yoo Ji-han’s party began to shift due to their unexpectedly agile responses.
They were different from the shabby Rank 4 party Moon Kyung-jin had described.
Putting aside personal feelings, a cold assessment indicated that they would easily pass this interview.
‘There was one more.’
Ji Gang-seok shot his gaze at the one who looked the most vulnerable: Min Yu-ri.
Feeling the gaze, Min Yu-ri became slightly tense.
“You mentioned having an ill family member, right?”
“I have a younger brother in the hospital.”
“I have a question related to that sibling.”
“…?”
Min Yu-ri tilted her head at Ji Gang-seok randomly bringing up her brother.
“Let’s imagine one day a horde of monsters escapes outside the barrier, and at that moment, you, Yu-ri, are in the process of protecting 20 citizens nearby.”
A question that requires a response based on a specific scenario. This was a common question asked during hero interviews.
“However, while you’re escorting the citizens, you learn that the hospital where your brother is staying has been attacked by monsters.”
“…!”
“The distance from your current location to the hospital is 30 minutes on foot. If you run really fast, you could reach it in about 10 minutes. But doing so means you’d have to abandon the safety of the 20 people in front of you.”
“….”
“What choice will you make in this scenario?”
This was a question that forced a choice from the interviewee in extreme circumstances. Ji Gang-seok threw her a question that might come off as cruel.
“I…”
Min Yu-ri hesitated, unable to make an easy decision. If this were an actual situation, her mind would likely go blank.
“Will you ignore the people pleading for their lives in front of you and rush to the hospital? Or will you abandon your brother to save the 20 lives?”
As Min Yu-ri continued to stutter, Kim Si-hu raised his hand cautiously.
“Excuse me for interrupting, but I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Is there a definite answer to this problem?”
If she chooses to save her brother, one could argue that the other citizens’ lives are equally precious. Conversely, if she chooses to save the citizens, would that mean she would abandon her only brother?
It was a question without a right answer, no matter how one approached it.
‘Another day without peace during my interview.’
Yoo Ji-han, who had been silent, finally spoke.
“I’ll present a new option.”
“…?”
“Yu-ri will continue to be in my party. So, I either go to the hospital or we could ask another hero to take care of the citizens.”
“That’s utterly ridiculous…”
“Such a choice is entirely possible in reality.”
Ji Gang-seok had tolerated as much rudeness as he could endure.
Yoo Ji-han shot him a fierce glare and continued speaking.
“Honestly, I don’t see how presenting such extreme conditions and offering a binary choice relates to the promotion.”
“This question is to assess a hero’s judgment.”
“Then please provide the correct answer! I, as a ‘junior hero,’ will take careful notes.”
His brazen attitude was too bold for an interviewee. Yet, the interviewers, including Yang Ji-cheol, remained silent.
Because they shared similar sentiments.
Thud!
Ji Gang-seok, who had been keeping his mouth tight, slammed his pen down on the desk.
“Ugh… Do the other interviewers agree with Yoo Ji-han’s party’s promotion?”
“Yes?”
“We’re all aware.”
Ji Gang-seok understood that given the performance Yoo Ji-han’s party had shown in this exam, they couldn’t help but earn passing marks.
Then he turned to Yoo Ji-han.
“But if today I oppose it, they’ll fail the promotion.”
“That…”
The Hero Department could not ignore the authority of the hero dispatched for the interview.
As Yang Ji-cheol reacted sharply to the irrationality brought by the bad habit, Ji Gang-seok spoke arrogantly.
“Hey, Yoo Ji-han. How about we make a bet?”
“Excuse me?”
“If I win the bet, I’ll fully agree to your party’s promotion.”
Ji Gang-seok’s unexpected suggestion to wager the party’s promotion caught Yoo Ji-han’s attention, who glanced at Yang Ji-cheol beside him.
“What kind of bet are you talking about?”
“We’ll have Ji-han and me go head-to-head 1:1.”
The Rank 2 hero Ji Gang-seok wickedly smiled at Yoo Ji-han.
In reality, how this interview unfolded had little consequence for Ji Gang-seok. He had intended to approach it this way from the beginning.
