Creator’s Favoritism

I swallowed hard, waiting for the next narration box to appear. And then…
「’Maeng Sun-woo’ is merely rolling up the sleeve of her right arm shirt, holding nothing else.”
I waited a bit longer, but no further narration boxes appeared.

It seemed I didn’t have any weapon with high resonance. This was information that crushed my hopes and washed away any lingering attachments.

Seeing the doodles made me think they weren’t completely ignoring me, but the disappointment of not being given a proper weapon washed over me like a tidal wave.

With confirmation from the creator, I saw no need to expend any more energy in the examination room. Without further ado, I headed to my room.

* * *

As soon as I opened the dormitory door, Hyun So-ra, who had been sitting on the bed, sprang to her feet.

“It was nothing special. Guess that’s unavoidable for an F-rank.”

I told her with a bitter smile, answering the question in her eyes. So-ra’s eyebrows drooped in sympathy.

“Don’t worry too much about it.”

How can I not worry when both of us might end up as cannon fodder for the webtoon plot?

My honest feelings swirled silently in my mouth.

Hunters are divided into S-rank, A-rank, B-rank, C-rank, D-rank, and the weakest F-rank based on their innate skill level.

The distribution ratio forms a normal curve shaped like a boa constrictor that has swallowed an elephant. In other words, S-rank and F-rank are the rarest.

The problem is that most underage Hunters are B-rank or higher. Generally, the younger one awakens, the stronger their innate power. All four S-rank Hunters active in the field had awakened by their early twenties at the latest.

But that rule didn’t apply to So-ra or me.

Seeing that I wasn’t cheering up at all, So-ra hesitantly spoke up.

“Oh, um… did you see the new student notice that was posted?”

“Notice?”

Confused by my response, So-ra pulled out her phone from her pocket. Soon, she showed me the screen displaying the official Ministry of National Defense website.

[Notice of New Students for Korea Ability Gifted School (new)
Kang Chagyeong (M), S-rank
Maeng Sun-woo (F), F-rank
Yeo Wook (M), A-rank
Lee Chan-yu (F), A-rank
Hyun So-ra (F), D-rank
Hong Ji-sang (M), D-rank
Total of 6 students. End.]

It was a list of new students’ names and genders. Unfortunately, the names were listed in alphabetical order. As a result, my rank, sandwiched between S and A ranks, looked even more pitiful.

Moreover, an S, A, A combination versus a D, D, F combination? My temples were already throbbing at the thought of divine realm readers potentially labeling us as the hopeless trio.

I didn’t even need to go to the divine realm; I could already vividly imagine internet trolls capturing the entrance list and tearing it apart.

I quickly turned on the internet to check the news. The news section was flooded with articles that simply regurgitated the number and names of this year’s new students.

[Highest Number of New Students at KAGS This Year… But Average Rank “Leveled Down”]
[First S-rank and F-rank Students Since School’s Founding… Korea Ability Gifted School in Chaos]
[S, A, D, F… Ministry of Defense on Extreme New Student Rankings: “Will Provide Best Education Regardless”]

The headlines of the most-viewed articles were scathing from the start. After a long hesitation about whether to read them, I closed the internet. It was for the sake of my mental health.

Pressing firmly on the edge of the band-aid on my palm, I spoke to So-ra.

“Aren’t you worried?”

“About what?”

“The entrance ceremony next week.”

At those words, So-ra’s face tensed up.

Unlike regular schools that hold modest entrance ceremonies and grand graduation ceremonies, KAGS was the opposite. The entrance ceremony was the most important event of the year.

The entrance ceremony was a crucial event where young hunters proved their abilities. Tito wouldn’t miss drawing this in the webtoon.

Never having imagined being involved in such a national event in my life, the tension and pressure were no joke.

The entrance ceremony of Korea Ability Gifted School lasts for 12 hours, from 9 AM to 9 PM. Moreover, it’s filmed and broadcast by a terrestrial station.

In fact, the entrance ceremony itself and the subsequent academic assessment aren’t much different from any other high school. What’s special comes after that.

The moment when viewer numbers and ratings skyrocket is during the afternoon ability assessment. The evaluation method is simple: a one-on-one match with a monster captured from a gate.

However, considering the students’ safety, all monsters are released at F-rank. The stronger the new student, the more easily they dispatch the monster without it even putting up a fight, giving the watching citizens a strong sense of catharsis.

The ability assessment is immediately halted if the new students forfeit or if the school judges it too dangerous to continue.

Fortunately, such tragedies haven’t occurred so far. Although it was quite challenging, I had managed to kill an F-rank monster before, so I thought there shouldn’t be any major issues.

“I’m worried, but… what can we do?”

So-ra mumbled with a gloomy expression. Although her situation was much better than mine, she seemed anxious too, given her low rank.

“It’ll work out fine.”

I patted So-ra’s shoulder, trying to reassure her. She’s at least three times stronger than me.

Right on cue, a narration box appeared.

“Tito meticulously writes the reactions of the internet community ‘Hunter Masters’ a week before the entrance ceremony broadcast.”

‘What now?’

I sighed, careful not to let So-ra hear. Making an excuse about getting some fresh air, I left the dormitory and took out my phone. When I typed just “hunter” in the internet search bar, “Hunter Masters” popped up as an auto-complete suggestion.

[Korea’s Largest Hunter Information: Hunter Masters]

[Popular] Biggest event of this entrance ceremony (34)
[General] Isn’t this the first-ever F-rank vs. F-rank die-die? (6)
[General] Just thinking about Sun-woo makes me want to faint and wake up at next week’s entrance ceremony (3)
[General] Saw MSW’s classmate’s testimony; seems the kid is nice?? (7)
[General] From the monster’s perspective, fighting MSW would be the easiest, right? (2)
[General] No lie, I’m more excited about this than the S-rank kid
[General] The underdog fight is always the most fun lolㅋㅋㅋ (4)

Holy crap. Whether Tito had accurately captured the flow or not, people were all talking about me.

No matter how many times I refreshed, only posts with similar titles came up. I even felt a bit betrayed by Tito.

[Info] Choi Eu-ddeum’s New Photoshoot

I clicked on the only post talking about something else. It was a photo of Choi Eu-ddeum looking straight ahead expressionlessly, her elbow resting on a glass table. On her wrist was a watch that looked expensive at first glance.

Only after Hunter Choi Eu-ddeum’s watch photoshoot was timely released did people shift their attention.

Choi Eu-ddeum was popular as Korea’s only female S-rank hunter, and her visuals were quite impressive too. It seemed she often did photoshoots due to the combination of these two factors.

There was a special reason why hunters, who should be busy catching monsters and conquering gates, ended up doing photoshoots like celebrities.

Whether hunters did advertisements frequently or received sponsorships, people, instead of criticizing, would nonchalantly say:

“Leave them be. More sponsors for them means it’s good for us too.”

This happened just a few months after hunters and gates appeared in the world. A gate opened at a certain historic site.

And after the gate was closed, the site was literally devastated.

A bigger problem was revealed when undamaged CCTV footage was released.

It showed one of the dispatched hunters casually blowing up a royal tomb, even though there were no monsters around.

The site officials sued the hunter for unnecessarily damaging the historic site in the process of clearing the gate.

As a result of that incident, hunters were required to wear body cameras while on duty, and if it was revealed that they intentionally damaged others’ property, they couldn’t avoid paying compensation.

However, the boundary of intentionality was vague, and hunters, afraid of being sued, couldn’t properly kill monsters.

Eventually, the government took special measures: the Hunter Sponsorship System.

Hunters who entered into sponsorships could be exempted from compensation for damage through their sponsors.

In fact, even before that, high-ranking hunters of A-rank and above had been receiving explosive attention. Advertisers wanted to recruit hunters more than celebrities.

However, until then, they couldn’t accept advertisements due to the prohibition on holding concurrent positions as public officials.

But after the Hunter Sponsorship was legalized, hunters no longer had to worry about legal issues. Moreover, the incoming advertising fees were no joke.

The cost of sponsoring a single hunter was enormous, but if the strategy was well-planned, it had an even greater advertising effect.

And what’s giving me a headache now is the fact that the highlight of the KAGS entrance ceremony is the ‘First Sponsorship.’

People’s interest in the new student ability assessment isn’t simply due to curiosity about potential hunters.

Although KAGS students are potential hunters, they receive hunter treatment upon entrance and can also enter into sponsorship requests.

That’s why the true climax of the entrance ceremony is the ‘First Sponsorship’ time arranged immediately after the ability assessment.

At that event, Kang Chagyeong, the youngest S-rank hunter, will receive sponsorship requests from numerous companies. Even an idiot could predict this development.

From the perspective of readers empathizing with the protagonist, this would be an exhilarating moment, but for me, who might struggle just to kill a monster, let alone get a sponsor, it’s nothing short of a public execution.

Is there any way to leave even a slightly positive impression?

I carefully recalled the entrance ceremony process again: written test, then ability assessment, and finally, First Sponsorship.

First Sponsorship is when companies confirm the written test and ability assessment scores from the entrance ceremony day, and based on those results…

“Ah.”

My eyes snapped open in the darkness.