ALL NOVEL Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Rank 4 (5)
Half-breed.
In Korean, it’s a derogatory term used for hybrid species that are part human and part other races.
There are even harsher terms like “mixed” or “mongrel” that carry a more negative connotation.
These expressions are treated so negatively that they’ve been considered for registration as discriminatory terms in Korea.
But to hear that come out of the mouth of the interviewer in charge of this Rank 4 promotion exam…
In an internet community where anonymity is guaranteed, maybe, but to use that word in reality?
Is that really possible?
A person with common decency wouldn’t use such language openly in a situation where courtesy is required.
‘What a bastard…!’
Numerous curse words rose to Yoo Ji-han’s throat at the insulting remark directed at the representative of his guild, but he managed to swallow them down.
Given the location, he had to control his emotions as much as possible.
Still, it was unavoidable that he was furious.
It seemed other interviewers felt the same way—they all reacted in shock and shouted.
“No, Dong-ho!”
“Your wording is a bit…!”
“Ah! I said that out of habit without realizing it.”
Lee Dong-ho made a show of hitting his own head with his fist.
Then he spread his palm toward Kim Si-hu and waved it dismissively.
“I’m really sorry?”
“…Yes.”
“Ahem! Just treat it as passing words. It slipped out because of some personal annoyance.”
Kim Si-hu forced a smile.
In Yoo Ji-han’s eyes, it looked like a rather bitter smile.
He couldn’t help but feel uneasy seeing Kim Si-hu acting as if he were accustomed to it.
Even if he were to explode in anger, the Hero Department wouldn’t have any words to say.
It was hard to guess what emotions he was feeling right now.
Clap, clap!
As the atmosphere in the interview room became chaotic,
Yang Ji-cheol clapped his hands loudly as if to break the tension and said,
“Now, this party is one that I personally requested to promote from the guild.”
“Oh… really?”
“Yes! They showed quite an impressive performance in the MA I was in charge of.”
Yang Ji-cheol didn’t hide the fact that he had requested the promotion.
This was rather close to being a bit unfair.
His words would greatly influence the thoughts of the other interviewers and the results of the evaluation.
When someone says a product’s quality is outstanding, everyone tends to show interest and want to buy it too.
And since Yang Ji-cheol was recognizing the talents of Sweet Fun rather than displaying personal friendship, it only raised its significance.
“Ji-cheol, you’ve really gone that far.”
“It seems you were quite impressed.”
Other interviewers were genuinely surprised.
It was very rare for someone to want a promotion so bluntly while conducting an interview together.
“And about an hour ago, according to Hero Bang Yoon-sik who was in charge of the sparring examination, Sweet Fun completely won during the sparring!”
“Completely won?”
“Bang Yoon-sik himself declared defeat during the sparring! It’s not just passing the exam, but a true ‘defeat’!”
“Oh wow!”
They knew about passing the sparring exam, but for the examiner to declare defeat directly?
Were these two really that talented?
The gazes of the interviewers looking at Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu changed slightly.
“Well… I will judge based on what I saw and heard today.”
However, Lee Dong-ho was different.
A member of the Rank 2 party in the large guild Warriors.
He was someone who didn’t blindly believe rumors and only trusted what he witnessed with his own eyes.
And being a Rank 2 Hero, he didn’t think much of the sparring included in the Rank 4 promotion.
‘Half-Elf…’
His sharp gaze slid over Kim Si-hu.
And that gaze mainly focused on his face and ears.
Yang Ji-cheol, worrying about what might come out of Lee Dong-ho’s mouth, jumped in and asked first.
“I’ll ask Kim Si-hu first. The guild name Sweet Fun was registered about four months ago, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“It says here that you graduated from Hero Academy at the end of last year, but the gap between graduation and setting up the guild is over a year, which is quite long? Generally, heroes start their activities right after graduation, don’t they?”
“After I graduated from the academy, I received offers here and there. The gap was a time of contemplating whether to join an existing guild or create a new one with those offers.”
“I see.”
Kim Si-hu had spent over a year without a job after graduating from Hero Academy.
And after much consideration, he established the guild approximately four months ago, rejecting all the proposals.
While it’s not common to have rejection from offers, the fact that he was a top graduate helped the interviewers understand it somewhat.
‘That’s not a lie.’
And from what the Hero Department had confirmed beforehand, it became more assured that he had received more offers than expected.
Guilds don’t offer recruitment proposals to just anyone.
It meant that Kim Si-hu was a hero with potential.
Now it was Lee Dong-ho’s turn to look over documents.
“Si-hu, you are a mage, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you fight well?”
“…Yes?”
“I asked if you fight well.”
At the direct question, Kim Si-hu hesitated to speak.
The other interviewers looked awkward, glancing at the walls, floor, or paperwork for a moment.
Unless they wanted absolute chaos, they didn’t have the power to stop Lee Dong-ho, who was being unreasonable.
After a few seconds to gather his thoughts, Kim Si-hu answered.
“I fight reasonably well.”
“How do you think you compare to mages in other Rank 5 parties?”
“To be honest, can I speak openly?”
“Go ahead.”
“I believe I’m the best among mages of the same rank.”
“Oh…”
Kim Si-hu’s voice was filled with confidence!
He didn’t hesitate even a bit in delivering his answer.
Lee Dong-ho smiled faintly at that response.
In situations like this, people usually downplay their abilities or speak ambiguously, so this confident demeanor pleased him.
Since he said he had won during the last sparring, those words couldn’t just be empty boast.
“I will ask Yoo Ji-han.”
“Yeah.”
“According to the documents… you were previously in Keroes.”
“I spent about seven years in Keroes.”
“But there’s no record of activity? What’s the story here?”
“Exactly! I’d like to know that reason too.”
Yoo Ji-han thought.
Finally, the moment had come!
His unusual background as an unofficial party member was something rarely found among other heroes.
“…”
“…”
Besides the interviewer who asked the question, the other interviewers were also curious about the reason and kept their eyes on him.
Yoo Ji-han slowly opened his mouth.
“I didn’t belong to a specific party in Keroes. I participated in various parties in a supporter role, so there were no official records in the MA or combat records against other racial invaders. This was agreed upon with Guild Master Park Joong-seob of Keroes.”
He gave the answer that included the contents in the contract he had pre-arranged with Park Joong-seob.
Here, he didn’t clarify the specifics regarding the unofficial party member system to the interviewers.
‘I might get punished too.’
If the unofficial party member system became public, he might get lucky and just get by.
But if he was unlucky, he thought that he could be punished due to the Hero Protection Act along with Keroes and anyone who agreed to such a contract.
“If it’s agreed, there shouldn’t be any problems then.”
“I still don’t understand…”
One interviewer reacted as if they were convinced.
However, others showed they didn’t understand.
Yang Ji-cheol was among those who didn’t grasp it either.
“Ji-han, why did you make such a contract? Excuse me, but you don’t seem like the kind of person who would agree to such an unfavorable contract without a good reason.”
“Couldn’t you have just left the guild in between?”
“I saw a hidden potential in Keroes and chose to stay in the guild, hoping for it. In fact, Keroes has grown wonderfully from a weak guild seven years ago to a mid-sized guild.”
“Then why did you leave Keroes?”
“…”
Yoo Ji-han hesitated for a moment at the question of why he left the guild.
A guild he joined at the early stage and had been with until recently.
And a promising guild with a 60% chance of growth to become a large guild due to a sampling result!
Why would he leave Keroes, which had such high potential?
The exact reason was that it was the intention of the members of Kim Hyun-tae’s party and Guild Master Park Joong-seob of Keroes.
Until he heard the story from them, he hadn’t even thought about leaving the guild.
“Um, that is…”
But he couldn’t say that straightforwardly in this interview.
He reluctantly thought up another excuse.
“To be honest, it’s the salary issue.”
“The money issue?”
“Yes.”
The first thing Yoo Ji-han thought of was the money problem.
“There was a point during salary negotiations with the guild where we didn’t match up. It ultimately led to a failure to reach an agreement. So unfortunately, I had no choice but to leave the guild.”
“Are you satisfied with the salary in Sweet Fun now?”
“Of course! The guild master Kim Si-hu here is very considerate of me, so I’m very satisfied.”
Without blaming his previous guild Keroes much and even praising the current guild’s master!
That was the best answer Yoo Ji-han could come up with.
Since the interviewers couldn’t ask specific questions about a hero’s salary, they could easily let the remaining related questions go.
Indeed, financial issues are a great excuse to use.
“…Then let’s go back to Guild Master Kim Si-hu.”
“Yes.”
As Lee Dong-ho laid down the documents he was holding, he said.
“I’ve been active as a hero for about ten years, but I’ve never heard of a Half-Elf creating a guild in Korea. Sweet Fun might be the world’s first, right?”
“…”
Once again, Kim Si-hu’s race was brought up by his mouth.
Yoo Ji-han narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lee Dong-ho.
“Will you be wearing a hat like that going forward, Si-hu?”
“I think I will for a while.”
“For a while, how long is that?”
“Uh… I’m not sure about the exact period. It may be off depending on my mood.”
“Are you planning to hide your race from other parties you meet on the field?”
Kim Si-hu responded with a puzzled expression.
“Is there really a need to let nearby parties know about my race?”
“I’m just asking out of curiosity as an interviewer participating in today’s interview.”
“As you know, there are still negative perceptions regarding other races that have settled on Earth rather than being invaders. I don’t see a need to reveal my race unless someone directly asks me. Anyway, once I become famous someday, people will naturally come to know.”
“Then let me ask one more question. Suppose your party encounters an invading group of elves in Korea.”
“…?”
“In that case, which side would you help, humans or elves?”
The question of which side he would take between humans and invaders had nothing to do with the Rank 4 promotion.
And it was as inappropriate as the earlier term ‘half-breed’ he had uttered.
It was a highly unsuitable question to ask a hero whose basic objective is to protect humanity.
‘What on earth does this mean?’
Kim Si-hu, dumbfounded, could only laugh helplessly and was left speechless.
Meanwhile, Yoo Ji-han, who had been quietly listening to the story, looked at the nameplate in front of Lee Dong-ho and said,
“Is this how Warriors educates their guild members nowadays?”
“…What did you just say?”
A soundless bomb dropped in the interview room.