Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 271

271. A Unique Participant

[That I am a very talented and amazing person?]

The examiners exchanged bewildered glances at the inner thoughts revealed by the dazzlingly handsome man on the monitor. They had seen many secrets from aspiring Hunters, but no one had ever said that their talent was a secret.

“Well, it’s surprising, but it’s not a problematic secret.”

“That’s right.”

The question about secrets was to prevent monsters disguised as humans, people on the side of those monsters, or people with bad intentions from entering. An answer boasting about being talented was… amusing, but not an answer that needed to be blocked.

Meanwhile, the examiner asked the second question.

“What is your weakness?”

Usually, participants who receive this question pause to think. Even if they answer honestly, it’s a matter that requires caution.

It’s not just that no one wants to reveal their weaknesses, but also because many people haven’t seriously considered what their weaknesses are.

Therefore, when asked this question, most people—those who entered normally without bad intentions—would think about things like:

‘What is my weakness? Bugs? Speed? Accuracy? Should I talk about interpersonal relationships? Does it show if I lie? But if I have multiple weaknesses, will they consider it truthful if I only mention one?’

…exceeding the 150-character limit. However, Rembrary answered quickly in under 0.5 seconds, keeping it under 150 characters.

[I also want to find out what my weakness is. Since I’m so talented.]

The examiners were doubly bewildered as they watched the screen. Could there be someone so full of confidence? As if thinking the same thing, the second examiner asked the third question with a slightly strange expression.

“Are you perhaps a monster?”

[People call beings that are too talented monsters. In that sense, I might be a monster too.]

“……”

“……”

“Wow.”

“His self-esteem is amazing.”

“He’s so consistent.”

The examiners stared blankly at the number of characters, then lightly laughed and made comments. By this point, everyone thought, ‘That participant must think very highly of himself.’

It was amusing but not a harmful answer, and in this chaotic world, having that much conviction was interesting in itself, so the examiners developed a slight liking for Rembrary.

“What do you want to do as a Hunter?”

[First, Jo Kyung needs to buy me food, and I need to find my parents so I can do something…….]

Then, when the fourth question and answer came out, the examiners felt a bit touched. They thought, ‘He’s arrogant, but not a bad kid.’

“Last question. Who is your enemy?”

When the second examiner asked the fifth question in this situation, the examiners’ eyes lit up, and they leaned forward slightly to look at the screen more closely. They were all curious about what answer would come out this time and how much he would praise himself.

“Examiners…… this is an exam, not a spectacle.”

The supervisor, who was watching this, pressed his forehead and tried to stop them, but no one listened. The supervisor sighed and shook his head. But even he was curious about what the next answer would be, staring intently at the monitor.

But……

“Huh?”

“Why isn’t he answering?”

“How many minutes has it been?”

No matter how long they waited, no answer came. No, not even a thought appeared in his mind. It was a complete blank.

“Applicant Rembrary?”

The second examiner, unable to watch any longer, asked, and Rembrary tilted his head and answered.

“Not really? I don’t think I have any.”

“!”

* * *

After Rembrary finished answering and went back to the waiting room, the next successful first-stage applicant came up to the ring. The same questions were repeated, but the examiners were not in the same playful mood as before.

After the interviews for the first-stage applicants were about one-third complete, the examiners gathered to discuss the applicants. Most of the discussion was about Rembrary.

“No enemies? Isn’t that a bit strange?”

“If someone has a good personality and is positive, they might not have any.”

“No, think about it. Having no enemies means he doesn’t have hostility towards monsters either.”

“That’s right. Who on Earth doesn’t have hostility towards monsters right now?”

“Hasn’t there been someone who said they had no enemies before?”

“That person also answered ‘no,’ but they were thinking, ‘Can I call monsters enemies? Is it too obvious?’ But this participant didn’t think anything at all.”

“There’s something a bit unsettling about it…….”

“Hey, but it’d be a bit much to disqualify him just for this.”

The examiners were sharply divided between those who thought Rembrary should be accepted anyway and those who felt uneasy. However, even those who felt uneasy agreed that his performance in the first test was too good to disqualify him based on this alone, so they ultimately decided to accept Rembrary.

* * *

How long had he been waiting in the waiting room? Someone knocked, and the person who had guided him to the third floor for the second test appeared again.

“Congratulations.”

The person greeted him as he entered and handed Rembrary a box that looked like a watch case.

“You have passed the final selection, Mr. Rembrary. You are now officially able to receive training at this training center. The training center fees will be billed in installments that won’t be burdensome once you leave the training center and get settled, so feel free to use the facilities until then.”

Rembrary opened the box. Inside was a small object about half the length of a finger joint. A long, rectangular object with rounded ends.

“What is this?”

“It’s a room key. Please return it when you leave the center later.”

As Rembrary put the key in his pocket, the person told him to follow and continued explaining as he led the way. There were a total of fifteen successful applicants this time, and the first applicants to enter would share a room with the existing trainees as a rule. The mandatory schedule was already in the room, so he should check the elective classes and submit them to the front desk on the first floor, and so on.

“Here it is.”

The place the person guided Rembrary to was one of the rooms on the 7th floor. Around the 7th-floor elevator was a circular hall with four cloud bridges leading in all directions. Rembrary’s room was in the hallway that you reach after crossing the first bridge.

“If you don’t know something, ask your roommate. That’s why we deliberately made it a two-person room.”

After finishing the explanation, the guide left for another place. Rembrary put the key to the door and looked around. Even at a glance, there were three or four people who had been guided to this floor like Rembrary.

They were also looking around while listening to the explanations, and when they saw Rembrary, they all whispered and gestured to each other. But no one came to talk to him, so Rembrary went straight inside as soon as he heard the click of the door opening.

‘When can I go to Jo Kyung?’

Just as Rembrary was looking around the room, there was another click, and someone came into the room.

‘It must be my roommate.’ Rembrary recalled the guide’s explanation and compared the length of the bathtub to the length of his legs before quickly going outside.

“Huh?”

The person who came in was someone he already knew.

“Mori?”

Mori was wondering, ‘Who is my roommate? Haven’t they arrived yet?’ He looked around and was surprised to find Rembrary.

“You……!”

“Why are you here? Did you get in through additional admissions?”

Mori stammered, then realized that the examiners had deliberately put him and Rembrary together, and he gritted his teeth. Not because he disliked Rembrary, but because he was annoyed by the examiners’ intentions.

“They made fun of me for the 5-second cut, those bastards…….”

Rembrary looked at him with a ‘What are you talking about?’ expression, and Mori shook his head and held out his hand.

“Sorry for deceiving you. I already passed the admissions here last time.”

“What?”

“How could they immediately reject someone when they don’t know what kind of talent they have? So the seniors decided to play the role of opponents to a certain extent.”

“Then the siblings I have to support……”

“I have them. But they’re all able to eat and live safely because I came here.”

Mori watched Rembrary carefully, worried that he would be angry about being deceived, but Rembrary just said, “Ah. I see,” and immediately went back into the bathroom to continue what he was doing.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m measuring whether I can sit comfortably in this bathtub or not.”

Instead of being angry about being deceived, he didn’t seem to care at all. Was that a good thing? Mori thought awkwardly, then realized something as he watched Rembrary mutter, “The bathtub is short,” and continued.

“Ask me anything you don’t know. In return, when I graduate next year and a junior comes under you, you have to take care of them like I took care of you.”

Rembrary raised his eyebrows as he came out of the bathtub.

“Graduate next year?”

“You usually train for two years and then graduate. Some people stay even after two years, though.”

“Two years. So I have to stay here for two years too?”

“I guess so?”

Rembrary frowned.

“Can’t I leave sooner?”

“Why?”

“I don’t have that much time.”

“Some people graduate in their first year…….”

“That’s still too long. Can’t I leave even sooner?”

Mori’s mouth dropped open at Rembrary’s words.

“Hey, it’s not always good to graduate quickly. There are no additional benefits for graduating early.”

“I have someone to find.”

“You can find them here too. And don’t think that staying here is a waste of time. It’s not at all. This is a matter of life and death.”

No matter what Mori said, Rembrary’s expression didn’t change. Mori clicked his tongue. He didn’t seem like it, but he was surprisingly ambitious.

* * *

Information about the fifteen new recruits who entered the SKO-B area training center was immediately sent to each Hunter company. World Boom, where Shin Jo-woon was, also received the information.

Hunter companies are always suffering from a shortage of manpower, so the appearance of talented recruits is a welcome thing. Shin Jo-woon, who had heard about the training center recruits from his secretary, asked immediately, though casually.

“Are there any decent recruits this time?”

The secretary looked at the list in his hand and replied.

“I don’t know if they’re decent, but it seems a rather unique participant has entered.”

“Unique?”

“Yes.”

Since it was the first time the secretary had evaluated a participant as unique, Shin Jo-woon stopped typing something on the computer and held out a hand.

“Who is it?”

“It’s a participant named ‘Rembrary.’ He’s participant number 1, so he’ll be on the second page.”