Chapter 7 : Academy Entrance Exam (2)

“A visually impaired person is taking the academy entrance exam?”

It’s nonsense.

Did we prepare braille test papers?

No, there’s no way.

Who in the world would have thought that a disabled person would try to become a hunter? There’s no way we’d provide accommodations.

!!!

This is the Korean Hunter Academy.

A place that boasts the strictest standards in the world.

It’s difficult to pass those standards, but in the first place, the environment here has never even considered the disabled.

Being a hunter is a dangerous and arduous job.

The moment you step into the tower, your life is always on the line.

You have to fight monstrous enemies, witness the death of your colleagues, and even face the threshold of death yourself.

Therefore, there are many people who hide their abilities and live ordinary lives, even if they have awakened.

Even if you have a power that others envy, choosing a reality where your mentality is shattered and your life is threatened is never a light decision, no matter how many rewards it entails.

Moreover.

A 12-year-old elementary school student.

“Yes. She even brought a guide dog. It was quite cute, with white fur and a short tail.”

“You idiot. You should have informed the examinee that dogs are not allowed in the test center, instead of going gaga over how cute it is?”

“No, it was already registered, and all the formal procedures were completed. The dog was quite smart, it just waited quietly when the girl told it to wait.”

“How did she even get to the written test when she’s going to fail the paperwork?”

“I looked it up, and it was a recommendation from Professor Park Hankyeol.”

“The Flame of Roar? Okay. Okay. Let’s say she registered normally, 100 times over. But how is she supposed to solve the test problems? If she can’t see, she can’t even read the problems, let alone solve them?”

“Maybe… some kind of caregiver skill or something? She can walk around even though she is probably visually impaired.”

“A truly unbelievable thing has happened. A disabled person. A 12-year-old elementary school student who can’t even see, coming to take the entrance exam for the Hunter Academy. I’ve been working here for 12 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen such a case.”

“That’s right. If she gets in, she will be the youngest academy student in the country.”

“But it’s impossible for her to pass. How could a disabled person study when there are no books in braille? Besides, this admission season, the professors were determined to make the problems difficult because there was an issue that the successor of Manheontap was entering the academy. How well can a 12-year-old study, even if she studies? She’ll fail immediately.”

Manheontap.

It was a supranational research institute established by a coalition of European hunter associations, royal families, and academia, and a huge symbol that Europe built to prove its status to the global hunter society.

The fact that the building was built in the shape of a tower was also intentional.

Since the successor of that place had been playing media for a while saying that he would come to Korea, the professors who were preparing the exam questions in time for the admission season naturally had to enter a state of hyper-concentration.

They poured all their nerves into each and every problem, and embarked on preparations with the honor of the academy on the line.

This was a matter of pride for the two institutions.

Manheontap will want their successor to achieve the top entrance to the Korean Academy, which is said to be the best academic background in the world.

That would be to announce to the world that Manheontap is the world’s best hunter institution, so it could be said that they established a landmark in the heart of the enemy.

On the other hand, the academy had to make it the hell mode by making the questions even more difficult.

Because they have to instill the perception that even Manheontap’s ultimate weapon is just an ordinary applicant in front of the academy.

“The successor of Manheontap…. Are you talking about Arkeus?”

“Yeah. I thought it was just a rumor, but who knew that Arkeus would really come here. Since the genius raised in Europe’s strongest research institute said he would enter the academy, the professors all gritted their teeth and set the exam questions. So how is that elementary school student going to solve the problems? It’s the most difficult exam ever.”

“Indeed. It seems that Professor Park Hankyeol made a mistake. What did he see in that kid to push for her entrance exam with the recommendation that only one professor can use per person?”

“I don’t know. But thanks to Professor Park’s recommendation, that elementary school student can at least take the written test. Otherwise, she wouldn’t even have been registered.”

Worry and concern.

Or, ignore.

No one expected anything from the visually impaired girl.

It’s not for nothing that the income levels of certified hunters and non-certified hunters are as different as heaven and earth.

A certified hunter who graduated from the academy is a being who guarantees tremendous power and fame just by their name. They become elites who utilize their major and play an active role in the tower.

On the other hand, most non-certified hunters end up wandering the bottom, taking on only danger.

They fall on the lower floors of the tower and lose their lives in worthless fights.

They become a group that takes risks because they need money, and the name hunter becomes too much for them.

The highest and narrowest door in the world.

Historically, only those who crossed that door survived in the tower, and they soon became symbols of power and authority.

In such a place.

A young girl with black glasses was an easy target for ridicule and pity.

But they didn’t know.

That the visually impaired person is a master of cheating.

The age range was diverse.

People of different ages filled the test center.

Expressions that could be guessed at their respective circumstances and purposes.

A middle-aged man with a determined face holding a pen, a young man with trembling fingertips due to tension, and a middle-aged woman looking at the test paper with a furrowed brow.

Honestly, it was surprising that even people this old came here to become hunters.

How dangerous it is to enter the tower and fight.

It was also surprising, and perhaps desperate, that people who would have already been in society for a long time returned to this place.

By the way, I think-

Why did an elementary school student come to take the academy entrance exam?

They didn’t say it, but their eyes were already speaking for them.

‘What’s she doing?’

‘Is she joking? She wants to be a hunter?’

‘She’s younger than my daughter?’

In fact, the gazes around me, felt through Ideation, were mixed with curiosity, wonder, and a bit of discomfort.

I slightly lowered my head and adjusted my sunglasses.

As if to avoid the gazes around me, so that they wouldn’t scan my face anymore.

Discrimination is always unpleasant, and the disabled are good at catching such subtle atmospheres.

As soon as the test began, the air became tense.

The sound of turning the answer sheet was faint, and the sound of the pen tip scratching the paper was intermittent.

But most of them sighed heavily with their foreheads in their hands.

The problems seem to be difficult.

Everyone’s faces were filled with bewilderment and tension that they couldn’t grasp.

-What is the correct analysis of the operating principle and thermodynamic mechanism of the magically activated Arcane Flame…?

-What is the most appropriate effect of Claviorax’s antigenic protein on the human nervous system?

-The following is an excerpt from the Tower Crisis Response Treaty (TCRT) signed in 2032. What is not true?

I don’t understand any of it.

I just lowered my gaze and spun the pencil with my fingertips.

Whirr.

The pencil spun around my fingertips like a hip-hop idol.

As a visually impaired person, studying was never my thing.

I never imagined that I would be entering the academy.

So it was natural that sitting in this test center felt awkward.

All I had prepared were sunglasses and an eye that could see through.

‘Well, this is enough.’

Unlike me, who was sitting without even flipping through the problems, the surrounding examinees were frantically moving their pens.

There was a student who stared at the text and grabbed his head, and there was a guy whose ears turned red every time he turned the paper over.

Oh, dear.

I don’t have much faith in those students.

But, even in such an atmosphere, one person was creating a completely different landscape.

Neat clothes and shaggy hair.

A student who even wore perfect nerd glasses was solving the problems smoothly without any blockage.

‘Oh. He looks like he studies really well.’

Target found.

I used my x-ray vision to my heart’s content inside the sunglasses.

I could see the test paper clearly.

A neat handwriting that seemed to be printed on a textbook, without any trace of hesitation, was calmly filling the paper.

‘Perfect.’

I smiled inwardly and started writing down the answers.

‘Should I get one wrong?’

My conscience pricked slightly.

Something, if I copy too much, it’s too obvious that I cheated.

So I deliberately wrote a different answer than the one I copied.

I decided to keep my own conscience.

‘This should be enough to pass.’

After the written test.

Go straight to the practical exam location.

[I heard from the stories around me that these days, the technology is so good that the results of the exam come out immediately. It is said that the practical exam in the afternoon will have a significant impact on the admission results, are you prepared?]

“Well…….”

I trailed off my answer and flinched at the rumbling sound from my stomach.

It’s loud.