Chapter 255 – Turnover (2)

Four days have passed since the day I met Sihee and Eunbyul.

On the morning of the interview, I woke up with a mixture of excitement and nervousness, took a quick shower and started preparing for the interview.

After dozens of minutes combing my hair and tidying up my clothes in front of the mirror, inadvertently, self-talk came out of my mouth.

“… That should be enough.”

After checking my clothes several times, I was sure there was nothing wrong.

Normally, I don’t pay much attention to how I dress, but on an important day like today, I do care.

However, it was not possible to focus only on the clothes and hair style all the time, so after I had organized my mind to some extent, I reflected on the expected questions and answers to them several times during the interview.

“Seong Tae-kyung? How long has he been a hunter?”

“It has been about 5 months since I used my awakening ability to live a full-fledged hunter life. During the activity period, I lived as a hunter at the Hunter Autonomous Association using the pseudonym Kim Seong-cheol. Although the period of activity as a hunter is short, the period of learning to acquire the knowledge to become a hunter and deal with awakening abilities has been invested for nearly 10 years. Because there was a lot of foundation built up over the years, I was able to demonstrate the ability to use it in practice as soon as I manifested my awakening ability, and thanks to that, it became the driving force for me to rise from a combination to a B-class hunter in a short period of time.”

“If you are a hunter, there must be many things you need to do besides hunting. How do you usually dispose of monster corpses after hunting?”

“Basically, dismantling the corpse of a monster is no problem as I mainly use my sword-handling awakening ability. I tend to collect materials such as white slime’s bodily fluids and skeleton’s femur bones whenever possible, but monsters like Treralodon that are too large don’t be greedy and just collect magic stones.”

“What do you think differentiates you from other hunters? Rather than simply being a male hunter, I hope you give a meaningful answer.”

“I basically have a knack for dealing with monsters using various awakening abilities. As much as he can handle both spear and cold magic, he can create an ice spear to use attribute attacks, and heal minor injuries sustained in battle quickly with his recovery ability. As I have the ability to shine more when I use it as a team resource rather than using it for individual activities, I want to make a party with colleagues who share my will and grow further in the company.”

… In addition to these, I picked various expected questions and practiced appropriate answers throughout the three days, so I probably wouldn’t fall for the wrong answer at the interview.

Even so, the tension that squeezed my chest didn’t go away.

“… Just do what you practiced, just do what you practiced.”

It was the first time I had been so nervous since my one-on-one confrontation with the Kraken two months ago. At that time, I worked with the mindset that there was no turning back the moment I collapsed.

Compared to that time, it shouldn’t be that important, but…

… No, on second thought, it was that important. At least in order for my future plans to go smoothly.

Considering how few cases belonged to the company as a male hunter, he had to have at least that much tension.

In addition, if you fail to enter the company as a B-class hunter, you will not have the face to see Min-ah or Eun-young noona’s face. Hye-eun or Cha Yu-ri, who were waiting for my job change, would be a little embarrassed.

Of course, the reason why there were almost no male hunters in the company until now was due to the very simple reason that there were no awakened male hunters, so if I was an awakened person, I had to overcome that much wall.

It would be nice if the CEO of the company, Seo Ok-hee, had the ability of insight, and recognized my ability even though I was a male hunter.

She probably needs to leave room for self-appeal when things don’t work out. If anything, she thought to ask for an on-site inspection, and proudly carried my greatsword on her back and moved on.

With that thought, she calmed herself down several times and as soon as she stepped out the front door, the familiar smile of her childhood friend greeted me immediately.

“Ah, Tae Kyung!”

“… Okay.”

As soon as I saw her face, I approached her with her greeting to Hye-eun, who called her name and waved her hand.

“Did you wait?”

“Yep! Because it’s the first time I go to work with Taekyung!”

“You can go first. In the first place, today isn’t even my day to go to work, I’m just on my way to an interview.”

“Taekyung, of course you will pass, so today is your first day at work!”

“I haven’t even had an interview yet, so are you giving me the burden first? If you fall, you will be so embarrassed that you will not be able to carry your face.”

“Oh no! I didn’t mean to burden you… He, Tae, Taekyung thought that if it were you, you would be able to pass…”

“I’m just kidding. There is no need to overreact like that.”

I don’t think Hye-eun really wants me to fail the interview. Of course, saying that it will pass is not an empty word.

“Is the boss such a scary person? I keep thinking about what you said last time.”

“Rather than scary… Should I just say that I’m a person who can’t help but be naturally nervous… You have that kind of charisma that makes you babble in front of me for no reason.”

“Hmm…”

“Ah, that, but I’m not the kind of person who particularly cares about that, so it’s okay! In the first place, the boss knows that he has charisma, so he doesn’t say anything out of nervousness! As long as you can speak properly in front of the boss, there is no particular problem!”

When I saw him on TV before, I didn’t feel that he was so charismatic. According to Hye-eun, when she actually met her, the feeling was quite different.

Or maybe it’s because the last time I saw her on her TV was her 10 years ago.

Watching at a young age and watching at a certain age can have a different feel, so it must be a part that cannot be known unless you face it in person.

While I was walking slowly toward the company while talking about various things with Hye-eun, this time, someone with a familiar face started approaching from the right side of the intersection.

“Ah, it’s Minah!”

“Hyeeun Hi~! … Goodbye to him and Seong Tae-kyung.”

“…”

Clearly, I got grumpy at the different greetings and tried to rhyme.

“Don’t you say ‘Taekyung Hi~!’ To me?”

“Uh, what the heck… With nothing…”

“Why? Hye-eun is my only friend and I am not? No matter how much I haven’t seen you in two years, I’m so sad.”

“That, because it was in heat, she had no choice but to meet… If he and I accidentally attacked you because of heat, Hye-eun would probably kill me…”

“… What am i?”

“… Ugh, huh?!”

… It’s a surprise.

I wondered what the identity of the sudden low voice was, and it was Hye-eun’s voice, who had been listening to Mina’s conversation with me.

Han Min-ah rolled her eyes here and there as if taken aback by the voice that couldn’t help but make even me nervous, so she hurriedly continued her words.

“… Me, I’m saying that Hyeeun and I have no face to face! What did Hye-eun tell me… Of course I’m not talking about doing anything or anything like that!!”

“That’s right. What would I do to you, my friend Min-ah?”

“… Yes, it is.”

Suddenly, it looked like they were having a strangely tense conversation, so I hurriedly intervened between the two and changed the subject.

“That’s right, Hanmin. Did you bring it properly?”

“Huh? Oh, that? Of course I took good care of it.”

After saying that, Han Min-ah took out a piece of paper from behind and pushed it towards me.

By the way, I didn’t see anything like a bag or pocket on the back. It’s something I’ve been thinking about since I was in school, but it’s a hand technique that I don’t know how to get things out of sight.

“It’s amazing to see you after a long time. Where are you hiding it?”

“It’s a unique skill, but if you tell me, how can you understand the principle? Stop wondering about useless things and just take this.”

But. There is nothing more foolish than coveting someone else’s unique skill.

Instead of paying attention to meaningless things, she took the piece of paper she handed her and properly checked its contents.

A cute letter of recommendation written with sincere handwriting, enough to fill a sheet of A4 paper.

“Hey, did you write all of this by hand? It’s impressive, really.”

“… I’m sorry I don’t have a computer or printer at home. I can only write this much.”

“I rather like this one. Mina, didn’t you carefully write down by hand how much you think of me?”

“Go, you sound like a special farewell! I just wrote it because I was asked to write it. I am endowing it with some strange meaning…”

“Can’t I just keep this without submitting it to the company? It’s too cute to just write, but this.”

“Go back, fuck. If you’re going to talk nonsense, give me the road.”

“It’s a joke, a joke. You put in the effort, but no matter how much you put in, I won’t do that.”

It was undoubtedly true that I thought it would be a waste to submit it apart from that.

After that, Hye-eun and Min-ah were talking about this and that and moving forward, so the three of us came to the front gate of Eun and Ok Co., Ltd. Before we knew it.

It was a long time since I stood in front of the company building, and I felt new in many ways.

… Is it the first time since the last apprentice hunter experience in the third year of high school?

I never thought I would visit this place again as a Hunter. With that thought in mind, she stepped into the building with them, her A-rank hunters.

“Hello, Kang Hye-eun and Han Min-ah.”

“Yes.”

“Hello~.”

“… Excuse me, but if you came with me…”

“Ah, this is my friend, but I brought him along because today is the day I have a job interview at the company.”

“Ah, yes…”

In the gaze of the staff who greeted Hyeeun and Mina, the gaze with a strange lingering feeling was felt without filtering.

I know. To the extent that the existence of me in this place is a bit heterogeneous.

“As you think, you are a man.”

“… Excuse me.”

“It’s okay. You’ll have to get used to it anyway.”

It wasn’t just this employee who looked at me with questions and curiosity.

Seeing him carrying a greatsword on his back, he must have been a hunter, not an office worker.

… It will take some time to get used to this gaze.

This was also my choice in the end, so there was no other way but to accept it.

It was enough for the hunter who was hiding behind the ‘unidentified mask’ to be ‘Kim Seong-cheol’.

From now on, it was time to proudly act as a male hunter without hiding behind a mask.

As the world’s only male B-class hunter, Seong Tae-kyung.