ALL NOVEL Chapter 22
Chapter 22. Rank 4 (6)
“……”
“……”
The atmosphere froze in an instant.
Silence fell in the interview room, where numerous questions and answers had been exchanged.
In a situation where no one could easily speak, Yoo Ji-han quietly watched Lee Dong-ho.
Lee Dong-ho, with a hardened expression, glared back at him.
Between their exchanged gazes, invisible sparks were flying.
The first to break the silence was the interviewer, Lee Dong-ho.
“Yoo Ji-han. What did I just ask you?”
“I asked if Warriors conducts guild member training like this nowadays.”
“……I wasn’t mistaken. What exactly does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it says.”
At Yoo Ji-han’s words, Lee Dong-ho’s eye twitched.
To hear such cheeky remarks from a mere Rank 5 Hero!
Moreover, that steady gaze without the slightest tremor!
It was the kind of look that only those with confidence could display.
His composure was infuriating.
“Endure it, endure it…!”
Kuhng!
Lee Dong-ho exhaled sharply through his nose.
He was suppressing the rising anger inside him.
The other interviewers next to them fidgeted at his heavy breathing.
“Hyung, why are you acting like this all of a sudden…!”
Even the usually calm Kim Si-hu was taken aback, alternating glances between Yoo Ji-han and Lee Dong-ho.
While it was nice that Yoo Ji-han was stepping up, the situation was heading in a bad direction.
“Ji-han, can you ease up on the tension in your eyes?”
“……”
“So, what you’re implying is that I received inadequate training?”
“From what you said when Si-hu took off his hat and also the question about whose side you’d choose between intruders and humans, it doesn’t sound appropriate at all for this Rank 4 promotion assessment.”
“Not appropriate? ……Well, good.”
Lee Dong-ho shouted with a scowl at his response.
“That’s for me to decide as the interviewer, not you!”
“I may be the one being interviewed, but I have common sense for living in society. Isn’t it even more questionable for a remark like that to come from your mouth when it’s already out of the bounds of common sense? I have no choice but to doubt the common sense of the interviewer…”
“……You little brat!”
Finally, unable to hold his anger any longer, Lee Dong-ho slammed his fist hard on the desk.
Kwah—!
The desk, struck with considerable force, made a loud noise that echoed down to the lower floors and outside the interview room.
Objects like pens placed on the desk momentarily lifted into the air before falling back down again.
“What the…!”
“Scary!”
Fortunately, the sturdy desk didn’t break, but the hearts of the interviewers sitting right next to Lee Dong-ho raced in fear.
What if that enraged fist was aimed at them?
However, Yoo Ji-han, the cause of the anger, didn’t flinch even slightly.
Ssss—
A minuscule amount of magic power seeped out like mist from Lee Dong-ho’s body, pinned against the desk.
His magical power escaping due to a change in emotions indicated he had considerable innate talent.
Kim Si-hu, realizing this, prepared to use magic just in case.
It was unlikely they would try to fight in such a place.
“Your attitude is so cocky!”
Lee Dong-ho pointed his index finger straight at Yoo Ji-han.
“Do you even know what kind of place this is?!”
“The Rank 4 promotion assessment. I am well aware.”
“Then knowing that, how can you speak like that? It seems you truly don’t understand your position, huh? If you really wanted a promotion, you wouldn’t come out here like this in front of me!”
“As if I would be more arrogant than the interviewer!”
“Wow, wow! You really don’t think before you speak at all…!”
Every time their conversation continued, the situation only worsened.
Would it really escalate into an actual fight?
Not being able to stand it anymore, Yang Ji-cheol clapped his hands once more.
“Both of you! Let’s end it there! Did you come here to fight?!”
“No, that guy…”
“Dong-ho, please calm down. Even if we invited busy Dong-ho from the Hero Department, that doesn’t mean you can say anything to the interviewees. We also have our limits in just watching.”
“……”
“And Yoo Ji-han!”
“Yes.”
Yang Ji-cheol spoke to the interviewee, Yoo Ji-han, with a slightly angrier expression and tone.
“Ji-han, are you okay? You didn’t come here after drinking, did you?”
“……No.”
“Lee Dong-ho is responsible for today’s promotion assessment, just like the other interviewers. He’s taking time out of his busy schedule to assist in the evaluation! And yet, what kind of interviewee shows such an attitude towards the interviewer?!”
“……”
“A moment ago, what you said could escalate into a conflict between the Warriors and Sweet Fun guilds, Ji-han. If you intend to continue working in the Hero field, please pay more attention to your words and actions!”
At Yang Ji-cheol’s reprimand, Yoo Ji-han lowered his gaze to the floor and fell silent.
Lee Dong-ho didn’t appear particularly satisfied, but he refrained from continuing the argument.
Yang Ji-cheol’s intervention had somewhat worked.
“Let’s continue with the interview.”
The remaining interview time involved trivial questions that one might ask in an ordinary corporate interview.
“Si-hu, your father is around, right?”
“He’s conducting monster research in Kyoto, Japan.”
“Kim Geon-oh, a Korean researcher affiliated with the Kyoto Monster Research Institute! I read that article he contributed to a Korean newspaper a while back. It was about how more than half of the monsters reported in Korea’s MA and Japan’s MA are the same species, along with some hypotheses on the causes.”
“Oh, I’ve seen that too.”
In the past, Kim Si-hu’s father, Kim Geon-oh, had been an active Hero.
He had dedicated himself to monster research after retiring from active duty.
Having lost his wife, he now focused solely on his research in Japan.
“Well then, Yoo Ji-han…”
After several more exchanges of questions and answers, the interview for Sweet Fun concluded.
*
At the time Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu left the interview room.
The remaining interviewers were taking a break after conducting interviews for other parties.
“How many teams do we have left?”
“Just a bit over 10 teams, I think.”
“Not too many left.”
Slurping—
The interviewers sipped coffee or picked at snacks.
Both interviewees and interviewers are human, and if they didn’t take breaks, their judgment could significantly decline.
There could be serious consequences if an unqualified party was mistakenly promoted or a qualified party was eliminated due to the interviewer’s mistake.
“Hmmm…”
Amidst this, Lee Dong-ho, sitting with his arms crossed, was staring solemnly at the desk.
Yang Ji-cheol brought an apple pie with a sweet-and-sour scent right in front of him.
Since the other interviewers felt somewhat uncomfortable around Lee Dong-ho, he took the initiative.
“Please eat. You need to rest while taking a break.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“What are you staring at so intently?”
Yang Ji-cheol glanced over the papers that had been in front of Lee Dong-ho for the last few minutes.
[Sweet Fun – Party 1]
1. Kim Si-hu (Party Leader, Guild Master)
2. Yoo Ji-han
It was the document containing information about Sweet Fun.
‘What is he doing?’
What on earth was going through this man’s mind?
Cautiously glancing at Lee Dong-ho, Yang Ji-cheol spoke up.
“Is that their party?”
“Yes. A rather cheeky duo.”
“Haha…”
“Ji-cheol, earlier, you mentioned this party caught an unidentified mutation, right?”
“That’s right. It’ll probably be officially announced in a few days.”
The monster chicken hunted by Sweet Fun was nearly done with its internal investigation.
The Hero Department was coordinating the timing for an external announcement.
They needed to prepare to return what might be a valuable chicken carcass to them as well.
“Other parties suffered severe injuries, but fortunately, these guys joined in to succeed in the hunt.”
“Getting a bit friendly, huh.”
Lee Dong-ho picked up a pen sitting on the desk.
And with a click-clack, he began pressing the pen’s button.
A repetitive action devoid of meaning.
He fell deep into thought.
“……”
After a moment.
He stopped with the pen’s ink out and brought it to the document, where he drew a large circle around Sweet Fun’s name.
Yang Ji-cheol’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Dong-ho, don’t tell me…”
“Let’s promote these guys to Rank 4.”
“……!”
The other interviewers listening to the conversation looked at Lee Dong-ho with shocked expressions.
For the first time today, he had expressed a desire to promote a party, having eliminated most of the parties that interviewed today.
Even despite the major clash with Yoo Ji-han during the interview.
Yang Ji-cheol asked Lee Dong-ho, who was taking a bite of the apple pie.
“I’m pleased, but considering what happened, are you really sure about this?”
“They seem more than qualified. Besides, as that cheeky brat pointed out, I do have some faults of my own.”
“Hmm…”
“And I apologize for causing a ruckus earlier.”
He was a person who could acknowledge his mistakes and let things go.
He had thrown some rather harsh questions at the half-elf Kim Si-hu, which he wouldn’t have dared to ask if he were just a human.
“I’m personally a bit curious now.”
“About what?”
“How far this party can actually grow.”
Crisp!
Lee Dong-ho took a big bite out of the crunchy apple pie.
Small crumbs from the pie fell onto Sweet Fun’s documents.
‘Cheeky brats.’
If they could, he wanted to see how far they could keep climbing.
He’d be waiting at the top.
*
The next day.
Yoo Ji-han, who arrived at the office, accessed the Hero Department’s website with Kim Si-hu using the computer.
The announcement for the rank promotion assessment was scheduled for 11 a.m.
“I’m sure we failed…”
Kim Si-hu, speaking in a feeble voice, had little hope for the results.
Considering the chaos they caused during the interview yesterday, he thought promotion was out of the question.
“Why do you keep refreshing the page if you think that?”
“I just want to see who passed.”
At exactly 11 a.m.
When the assessment announcement didn’t pop up on time, Kim Si-hu kept refreshing the Hero Department’s website every 2 seconds.
Though he spoke negatively, he still wanted to see the outcome with his own eyes.
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter even if we fail.”
“That’s true.”
They were not overly concerned about the promotion.
After all, they would get another opportunity next time.
‘We can just try again.’
A party that fails to promote has to wait another 2 months to challenge again.
Yoo Ji-han could wait that long without any issue.
And next time, they would be interviewing someone other than Lee Dong-ho from Warriors, so he felt even more confident.
Unless Lee Dong-ho held onto some grudge from what happened during the interview…
“It’s here.”
Soon, a new announcement appeared on the website.
It was the awaited rank promotion assessment result.
Kim Si-hu quickly clicked on it.
And then.
“The parties that successfully promoted to Rank 4 are… uh?”
“……?”
With stunned expressions, the two checked the monitor.
Among the list of only three parties that were promoted, they found their names included.