"Haa, haa, haa..."
Cheonmu Hunter Academy practical exam. Somewhere in the forest deep within the dungeon.
A lone girl was running for her life, panting heavily with exhaustion.
'Keruk, kehhek!'
'Kkehheek!'
'Kek, keruk!'
And chasing after this girl was a pack of three goblins.
Assuming they didn't panic at the sight of monsters, a typical applicant to a hunter academy could handle up to two goblins without issue.
But the problem was that the girl currently being chased by this monster pack wasn't your typical applicant.
Kim Isabel, her face shrouded in a veil as she fled from the monsters, had applied for the Recovery Department—which meant she couldn't guarantee victory even against a single goblin.
That's why she'd teamed up with a combat-track student of appropriate skill for the practical exam. But right before entering the dungeon, an "accident" had caused her teammate to slip away. From the moment she entered the dungeon alone—unable to fight monsters on her own—fleeing from the monsters pursuing her had been her only choice.
'Keheek!'
"Haa, haa, haaa..."
Kim Isabel's breathing was so ragged that even through her veiled face, her exhaustion was plain to see.
She'd used quite a bit of holy power to restore her stamina, but the mental fatigue piling up relentlessly was something she couldn't address in time.
-Thud!
"Ah...!"
Because of that, she failed to watch her step, and her ankle caught on an old tree root. Her body pitched forward at the same time.
-Splat!
"Augh!"
She didn't even have time to worry about her pristine nun's habit getting caked in dirt. If she didn't get up fast, the goblin pack would swarm her.
No matter that being a hunter meant risking your life against monsters—she had no desire to die during a hunter academy practical exam.
-Wobble.
"Ahak!"
But she couldn't stand as quickly as she wanted and ended up collapsing back to the ground.
In the process of tripping over the root, she'd twisted her ankle. There was no way she could run now.
'O, Almighty Asclepius, grant me the miracle of healing...'
In a pinch, Kim Isabel channeled holy power into her ankle to heal the sprain.
True to her status as a "Saintess Candidate," she managed to recover in just a few seconds. But those few seconds spent falling and healing were more than enough time to threaten Kim Isabel, who had been barely evading pursuit.
'Keruuuuk!!'
"Kyaaack!!"
A goblin brandishing a club the size of its own forearm closed in on her. As Kim Isabel screamed and crawled backward in terror—that was the moment.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
Shadow Ball
'Kkehheek!!'
The goblin diving right at her was struck by a dark magic spell from somewhere and sent flying.
"...Huh?"
Kim Isabel blinked in confusion, unable to process what had just happened.
-Thwack!
'Kkehk!'
-Thwack!
'...Gek!'
Right after, two more dark magic spells flew in, taking out the remaining goblins one by one. She watched the scene in a daze.
"..."
'...Kkuk.'
'...'
The three goblins either died on the spot or trembled violently before going limp in their final moments.
Relief at escaping death washed over her only briefly. Cautiously turning to see who had saved her with that magic, she spotted a pair of man and woman with a noticeable height difference.
"Hey, you okay?"
"..."
A tall, slightly lean man reached out a hand to her as she lay fallen, asking after her wellbeing.
And peeking out from behind him, warily eyeing her, was a short woman with large breasts and purple hair.
Black mana unique to dark magic rippled at the tips of her purple locks, making it easy to guess she was the mage who'd saved her.
"Saw you getting attacked by monsters, so I helped out. Hope that wasn't a mistake?"
-Shake, shake.
Absolutely not. If anything, they'd saved her from near-certain death at the goblins' hands—they were her saviors.
Her life saved, basic human decency demanded she express her gratitude. She opened her mouth to thank the man before her, but...
"Th-tha... th-tha, n-tha...nk..."
She knew in her head she needed to give thanks, but the words wouldn't come out.
...Because this "man" reaching out to her was, to Kim Isabel, an object of terror no less frightening than the monsters.
"Ah, sorry. Must be shaken up from the monsters. Take a sec to calm down."
"..."
-...Nod.
Despite her rude behavior toward her rescuer, he brushed it off without a fuss, even stepping back considerately.
All she could manage by way of response was a cautious nod.
"..."
She felt ashamed for failing to even thank her benefactor properly.
If not for them, she might be the one lying here instead of those monsters right now.
Though her life was spared, another wave of self-loathing left her glum. That's when the purple-haired woman who'd been behind the man approached cautiously.
"Um, why are you alone...?"
"...There was an accident right before entering the labyrinth, so I got separated from my teammate."
"Oh, I see... Judging by your outfit, you're from Recovery Department, right...?"
"...Yes. Kim Isabel, Recovery Department applicant."
"R-really... I-I'm Cha Eun-ju, from the M-Magic Department..."
"..."
"..."
Cha Eun-ju seemed poised to keep the conversation going but trailed off, leaving an awkward silence.
The only sound was the knife slicing into goblin corpses from the man dismantling them a short distance away.
At least the person before her seemed to be a woman, so Kim Isabel cautiously voiced her thanks.
"Thank you for saving me earlier."
"Uh, y-yeah...?"
"Without Eun-ju's magic, I definitely would've fallen to the goblins' attack. Someone like me with only recovery skills could never beat them."
"Th-the thanks should go to Seon-ho... If not for him, I probably wouldn't have even spotted you running..."
"...'Kim' is my family name, and 'Isabel' is my given name."
"Ah, s-sorry... I-I thought Kim was a two-syllable surname..."
Seeing Cha Eun-ju clutch her face in embarrassment, Kim Isabel found her a bit cute.
She seemed far too fragile-hearted for the owner of magic that had felled three goblins in one go.
"Is that man over there named Seon-ho?"
"Yeah. The reason I can even use magic like this now is thanks to Seon-ho... If not for him, I probably wouldn't have dared enter the practical exam..."
"...I see."
Even judging by the dark magic Cha Eun-ju had just displayed, she was highly skilled. For someone like her to rely on him, just how strong was he?
To Kim Isabel, who already feared men, a "strong man" was that much more dangerous. Her wariness of Lee Seon-ho ticked up a notch.
"Could you pass on my thanks to him too? I'd like to tell him myself if possible, but I'm not used to... m-men, people who aren't women."
"Ah, sure... B-but aren't we the same age...? Why've you been so formal since earlier...?"
"Sorry. I grew up in a church orphanage, so it became a habit. Does it bother you...?"
"N-no, it's not that, so no need to apologize..."
This Cha Eun-ju seemed like a good person.
That must be why she'd cast her spell without hesitation to save someone in peril.
'I'd like to be friends, if possible.'
...Though for someone like her, who had to give up on the practical exam already, it was probably a bit too much to hope for.
The thought that this time she'd spent teetering on death's door would end up meaningless only deepened her gloom.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
...Who would've thought the one being chased was Kim Isabel.
I'd spotted a white figure darting through the trees ahead and hurried to check it out, but I hadn't expected it to really be her.
In the original story, Kim Isabel didn't show up until near the end of the practical exam, and what chased her wasn't some puny goblins but a massive owlbear.
'Was there a scene like this in the original that got cut? Or has the story diverged a bit?'
Maybe because Cha Eun-ju and I entered the dungeon at a different time than in the original, it caused a slight snowball effect.
Since it's a transfer-type dungeon, changes in entry time or order could easily lead to different transfer locations from the original.
This much was an unavoidable variable. Even I couldn't perfectly control every random element in Surviving Hunter Academy.
'The issue is this might throw off the event where Kim Isabel meets Han Sora.'
In the original, Kim Isabel—helpless against the owlbear—runs until she encounters Han Sora and Seo Woo-jin.
Han Sora, facing the huge monster, loses focus and fails to land a solid hit. Seo Woo-jin drops his sword and bolts alone.
But then Woo-jin steels himself, returns to buy time against the owlbear. Han Sora feels a spark of rational attraction to his resolve, and with Kim Isabel's help, they barely win the fight—that was the original plot.
My plan was to slay the owlbear with Cha Eun-ju and Han Sora before Woo-jin could return, branding him a cowardly loser...
'But with these variables, it might not play out exactly like the original.'
She might not meet Han Sora and the protagonist at all, or she could run into other applicants.
In that case, Cha Eun-ju would have to face the owlbear alone, which is risky at this point. Han Sora was key for landing effective physical hits, since magic wouldn't cut it.
If that happened, we'd have no choice but to run full tilt. I had no intention of sticking to the plan if it put my girl in danger.
'Even if it's diverged a little, the owlbear should still show up properly.'
The owlbear was sent after Kim Isabel by shadowy forces targeting her, not the academy.
Since we've run into her like this, I'll stick with her until the practical exam ends. With her androphobia, no direct talk—just relay through Cha Eun-ju.
It might put Cha Eun-ju and me at risk, but ditching Kim Isabel now is out of the question.
Abandoning an isolated recovery hunter is morally bankrupt anyway—and Kim Isabel is one of my targets from the start.
But there's one more issue: dealing with these three goblin corpses I'm butchering right now.
'Three means awkward material distribution.'
If it were just two, Cha Eun-ju and I could each take a heart, prepping for the final monster. But three? One of us would have to fill two pouch slots.
No point wasting prey we've already hunted, and if I stuff Cha Eun-ju's pouch full, she can't carry owlbear materials later. These academy-issued pouches let you put stuff in freely but lock it until retrieval time.
Having her dump her kills into my pouch blatantly looks off. She'd probably not mind, but showing consideration in these little things builds trust.
[9/10]
[9/10]
We'll each take one for now. The last one...
"...S-so don't worry. Seon-ho's a good guy even though he's a boy, and he's, um, pure too..."
"Eun-ju, come here a sec?"
"...Ah, sure!"
Pretend to discuss with Cha Eun-ju, then suggest putting the spare in Kim Isabel's pouch. She won't turn down free points. Probably.