Thursday, 9 AM.
More than 450 students gathered in front of the portal gate.
One might wonder why the entire student body is taking the same test at the same time, but the uninhabited island serving as the testing ground is vast. If the test were conducted separately by grade, only about 150 students would remain on the island, which wouldn’t align with the competitive nature of the exam.
For that reason, the test was designed to include as many participants as possible from all grades.
Of course, the Monster Hunter exam isn’t the only test taken by all grades together—it appears in other exams as well.
As I stood alone waiting, I spotted Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-joon, and Choi Seo-yoon approaching from a distance, waving at me.
“Sunwoo!”
“Senior, hello!”
“Oh, hey.”
I greeted them briefly before shifting my focus back to my main objective for today—finding Jang Ye.
Where could she be?
I scanned the surroundings and soon spotted Jang Ye laughing cheerfully with some third-year students in the distance.
She was undoubtedly targeting Lee Seo-jun today, just as I was targeting her. But unlike me, she was putting on a completely composed act.
Well, considering she’s a demon who has spent her entire life acting, pulling off something like this must be easy for her.
Just to be sure, I used Character Insight on her again.
━━
Name: Jang Ye
Age: 19
Race: Demon
Condition: Highly Tense
Magic Rank: A
Interest Level: 0
━━
What the…
Magic rank A?
The last time I checked, she was A-. Now she’s advanced another level? That’s not a normal growth rate. The Ten Demon Council must have provided her with major support.
This is going to be harder than I thought…
Can I really pull this off?
“Senior?”
“Huh?”
At Choi Seo-yoon’s voice, I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to her. She gave me a knowing look before smiling slightly.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing. The exam’s about to start, so you should focus.”
“…Right.”
As I waited for the exam to begin, something occurred to me.
I should check with Lee Seo-jun.
“Lee Seo-jun.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“Are you teaming up with anyone for this test?”
Lee Seojun shook his head.
“No, I’m going solo. After hearing the rules, I didn’t really see the need to team up. Why? Are you thinking of working with me after all?”
He asked with a playful grin.
“I’m just curious.”
This was good news. If Lee Seo-jun had teamed up with Jang Ye, it could have interfered with my plan.
“Alright! Everyone, please pay attention!”
Just then, a teacher standing on the podium called out.
The noisy crowd instantly fell silent.
“The Monster Hunter Exam will begin now and last for two days and one night. Collaboration is allowed, but no additional points will be awarded for it. Scores will be based solely on the magic stones extracted from the monsters’ hearts, evaluated by size, stored magic, and quantity.”
The students listened attentively to the teacher’s explanation.
Some murmured among themselves.
“So, we have to manually extract the stones? That means dissecting the monsters ourselves.”
“Ugh, I didn’t pay much attention in the monster anatomy class… This is going to be a pain.”
Many students expressed concerns, but I wasn’t worried.
I wasn’t here for the monsters.
My only target in this exam was Jang Ye.
In fact, the thing I needed to be most cautious about wasn’t the monsters—it was the special drones recording everything.
These drones were filming the exam area in real time, meaning there was a chance my actions against Jang Ye could be caught.
Of course, I had already prepared for that.
“Student combat is strictly prohibited. Stealing or forcibly taking magic stones is also forbidden. Anyone caught will receive the lowest possible score. The exam ends at 10 AM the next day. That is all.”
After passing through the portal gate, we arrived on the uninhabited island and were assigned designated starting locations.
A 20-minute waiting period followed.
As time passed, the drone hovering next to me emitted a mechanical sound.
[Now commencing the midterm exam—Monster Hunter Exam!]
“So it’s finally starting.”
I pulled out my Smart Student Notebook to check the time.
Due to the island’s nature, all communication signals were blocked, but checking the time was still possible.
It was 10 AM.
A long stretch of time remained before the exam’s conclusion.
I slowly surveyed my surroundings, taking in the landscape.
Enormous trees surrounded me, making it feel as though I were deep inside a vast forest.
Whiiirrrr!
“…Ugh, so annoying.”
I glare at the drone buzzing beside me.
The camera attached to it whirred as it shifted angles.
Of course, that didn’t mean someone was watching me in real time.
It was just adjusting its focus automatically.
“Hmm…”
Now, how was I going to find Jang Ye?
This island was huge—tracking her down would be difficult.
“Guess I’ll have to use that.”
When nothing else works, this is the easiest solution.
I opened the Point Shop and searched for “compass.”
━━
[Demon Detection Compass (???)]
Category: Special Item
Description: A compass that detects the nearest demon for 2 hours.
[Passive Effect]
▶ Demon Detection
Tracks the closest demon’s location. The item automatically loses effect after 2 hours.
Price: 10,000 points
━━
Only two hours of tracking time, but that was enough.
It was expensive, but finding Jang Ye was my top priority.
[You have purchased the Demon Detection Compass (???).]
A flash of light flickered in midair before the item materialized in my hand.
One useful thing about the Point Shop was that special items like this were invisible to others.
Even the drones wouldn’t be able to see it.
Alright, time to find her.
5:00 PM.
Jang Ye roamed the forest in search of monsters.
She was beginning to feel a little tired. Not only were monsters harder to find than expected, but the sheer number of bugs around was adding to her stress.
“Haa.”
The one relief was that she had already arranged to meet Lee Seo-jun that night under the pretext of food and lodging.
The time and place were set—9:00 PM, at the peak of the massive mountain in the center of the island.
Since the entire student body had been given some level of information about the uninhabited island where the Monster Hunter Exam was taking place, they had been able to set up the meeting location in advance.
Until then, she would pass the time hunting monsters. Then, when she met Lee Seo-jun, she would wait for him to let his guard down before launching a surprise attack to kill him.
“Alright.”
She was going over her plan in her head when—
Woooom…
A surge of powerful mana spread from nearby.
At this level, the user had to be among the top students.
She wondered if it might be Lee Seo-jun and quickly ran toward the source of the mana.
“Hyahhh!”
But contrary to her expectations, the person there was a different familiar face—a male student.
It was none other than Lee Seo-jun’s close friend, Shin Young-joon.
Wielding a massive spear, he was locked in battle with a giant monster bear.
As expected from the third-ranked second-year student, he displayed clean, precise movements, swiftly dispatching the C-rank monster without breaking a sweat.
“Whew.”
Shin Young-joon wiped the sweat from his forehead and caught his breath.
Jang Ye took the chance to step closer to him.
“Young-joon.”
She smiled as she approached.
Shin Young-joon recognized her and bowed his head in greeting.
“Oh, senior! Hello.”
“Your skills are impressive. That was a flawless takedown.”
“Haha, thank you.”
Shin Young-joon scratched his head and grinned brightly.
“Have you caught any monsters, senior?”
“No. Unfortunately, I’ve only run into four so far.”
“Oh dear.”
At his sympathetic words, Jang Ye feigned a look of disappointment.
“Are you moving around alone?” she asked.
“Yeah, for now. I’m confident I can handle everything on my own. Haha.”
They continued chatting for about three more minutes before Jang Ye casually slipped in a question she had been curious about.
“Do you remember the first midterm exam?”
“The first midterm? Why do you ask?”
“There was a big incident, right? The demon attack.”
“Oh, right.”
Shin Young-joon nodded.
“I was trapped inside the barrier at the time.”
“Oh, that makes sense, since you’re a third-year. I heard Seo-jun was in there too.”
At his words, Jang Ye’s eyes gleamed.
If someone besides Lee Seo-jun had been inside the barrier, Shin Young-joon might know something about them.
“Was there anyone else in there besides Lee Seo-jun?” she asked directly.
After all, Lee Seo-jun was already fated to die by her hand tonight.
There was no need to beat around the bush.
Shin Young-joon hesitated briefly before nodding.
“Yeah, there was.”
I knew it!
Jang Ye cheered inwardly.
“Who was it?”
“Kim Sunwoo.”
“…What?”
7:00 PM.
Having parted ways with Shin Young-joon, Jang Ye climbed the mountain toward her rendezvous point with Lee Seo-jun, her expression grim.
Shin Young-joon’s words kept replaying in her mind.
—Kim Sunwoo.
Kim Sunwoo?
That was a name she had never considered.
The strange thing was, when she had asked Kim Sunwoo about it before, he had claimed not to know who was inside the barrier.
Which meant—he had lied.
“Why would he lie?”
A lie.
He wouldn’t have lied for no reason. There had to be something he was trying to hide.
A reason to conceal the fact that he had been inside the barrier…
“…It was Kim Sunwoo.”
Jang Ye’s voice trembled. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
“He’s the Child of Prophecy.”
If Kim Sunwoo had simply admitted to being inside the barrier, she could have dismissed it as a coincidence.
But the fact that he had lied about it—that was proof that he had something to hide.
And that secret had to be his power—the power of the Demon Slayer.
“I’ve found him. At last…”
She had completed one of her missions.
Now, all that remained was to assassinate Lee Seo-jun. Once she accomplished that, the Ten Demon Council would reward her handsomely.
Then, she would finally have the opportunity to take revenge on Kim Jinwoo, her father’s murderer.
As she enjoyed in the satisfaction of having completed her mission—
A strange energy wave suddenly swept through the area.
Woooooooong!
“…What?”
Startled, Jang Ye’s eyes darted around.
The energy pulse engulfed the surveillance drones.
The drones shuddered violently, lost control, and crashed to the ground.
“…”
She warily scanned her surroundings, trying to determine the source of the disturbance.
Her instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong.
And then—
A brilliant flash of light exploded before her eyes.
A blinding, intense radiance.
The light surged toward her with terrifying speed—
And in the next instant, it pierced through her body with a thunderous roar.
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