I Became a Goblin Ancestor

The one-sided fight called the hunter exam ended in an instant.

The exam time was less than 1 minute if measured.

It’s not that Seo-hyun, who faced me, was particularly weak. It’s just that my power became too dramatically stronger after becoming the Great Chief.

“It’s certainly incomparable to before.”

『Well, you’re the Great Chief after all.』

Fire, water, and the wind and earth I used before. Whichever it was, the power had become incomparably stronger than when I handled them in the past.

To put it simply, I could easily exert my full power from the past with just 10% of my current strength.

However, not only this, but the reason I could win so easily also included the fact that Seo-hyun didn’t give her all.

“You seemed to be moving quite leisurely. Were you going easy on me?”
“Hmm, it’s true that I didn’t use my full power, but I wasn’t going easy. What you just saw was undoubtedly my sincere effort within the limits of what I can do now.”
“Does that mean you reduced your power because it was a test?”
“That’s exactly right.”

Sure enough, Seo-hyun nodded with a short sigh at my question.

Then, Seo-hyun emphasized that she didn’t disrespect me and pointed to her greatsword and heart area.

“This greatsword is of good quality, but it’s just a mass-produced item after all. And I came with a slightly lower-grade one, not the original gene mana stone bestowed by the ancestor. In terms of quality, it’s about the level given to low-ranking exclusive hunters.”
“That sounds like you drastically lowered your power.”
“Honestly… I can’t say that’s wrong. If I offended you, I apologize.”
“No, it’s not to that extent. As you said, this was just a test after all.”

Certainly, the head of one pillar can’t carelessly show their full power.

Moreover, if it was a woman called a hero, it was quite understandable that she would hide her full power.

‘Of course, it’s a shame that I couldn’t fight properly with the sincere hero…’

『Yeon-ah said that person only gives her all when fighting evil. It can’t be helped, I suppose.』

I nodded once at Hwa-gon’s telepathic message.

Forcing my stubbornness on her, who has firm values, would just be a simple child’s tantrum.

Therefore, I shook my head at Seo-hyun’s apology, and then Seo-hyun smiled and continued speaking.

“However, although my power was considerably reduced, it was still enough to surpass an A-rank hunter. And you, who easily took my life three times, are undoubtedly qualified to receive an A-rank hunter certificate.”
“Oh ho, then finally the hunter certificate?”
“Of course. I said I’d give it right away if you passed the test. However, the prepared hunter certificate is currently in my office as I was concerned it might be damaged during the test… Would you like to come along to get it? Or would you prefer to wait somewhere else?”

Seo-hyun’s words that she had left the hunter certificate in her office, worried it might be damaged during the test.

“Of course…”

I was about to say without hesitation that I would go along to receive it in response to her question about accompanying or waiting, but I suddenly closed my mouth with a snap as a memory came to mind.

The memory that suddenly made me close my mouth. It was none other than about the ‘helper’ I had looked up yesterday.

The existence of helpers that I had learned about while looking up information about hunters.

For hunters, helpers were indispensable and more important than anything else.

No matter how strong a hunter was, they could only be called a half-baked hunter without a helper.

Therefore, I, who was going to follow Seo-hyun to receive the hunter certificate and return right away, quickly changed my answer after recalling that, and then opened my mouth again.

“By the way, can I choose my assigned helper first now?”
“Ah, of course. Helpers are certainly important. You can choose any one of the employees you see at the desk on the first floor. Then I’ll stop by my office and bring your hunter certificate.”
“…You’re saying I can choose anyone?”

I frowned for a moment at Seo-hyun’s words.

As far as I knew, since helpers were very important to hunters as well, I had heard that a helper could only form a relationship if both sides wanted it, not just because a hunter wanted their desired helper.

If there was a hunter who forced it, that hunter would immediately have their hunter qualification revoked, whether they were B-rank or A-rank.

So how could she tell me to choose as I please?

Therefore, I frowned with a puzzled expression, but as soon as she saw my expression, Seo-hyun laughed as if she had read my thoughts and gave me an answer.

“Well, normally even an S-rank couldn’t arbitrarily get a helper unless they were S-rank or higher, but… aren’t you the General Management Team’s exclusive hunter?”
“…Because of that?”
“You’re asking the obvious. As the only exclusive hunter of the General Management Team, which hasn’t had an exclusive hunter until now, your value goes without saying, and your status is beyond words. Unless our Punishment Team employees want to say goodbye to their lives, they’ll accept even if they have to swallow bitter medicine.”
“I don’t want to go that far…”
“With that level of position, it’s already unavoidable, so give up.”

To think I would receive such treatment even though I came with just the status of a simple exclusive hunter.

I thought the behavior I had seen today was already enough of an overreaction, but I was truly curious how the Punishment Team people would have reacted if I had come with the status of ancestor without hiding anything.

‘Ah, I wouldn’t have had to come to the Hunter Association in the first place if that were the case.’

Of course, the question that disappeared with the fact I realized the next moment.

And I swallowed a groan filled with various thoughts and worries at Seo-hyun’s words and turned my body first.

“Still, well, I’ll go down to the first floor for now. It would be better to get a helper in advance. Of course, I don’t intend to be oppressive.”
“Do your best. Then I’ll gather your hunter certificate and come down soon.”
“Alright, then I’ll go first.”

I came out into the corridor right after opening the door of the 4th Exam Hall.

Immediately after, I gave a short greeting to Seo-hyun by nodding my head and then stepped onto the central staircase leading to the first floor.

‘I absolutely must not put power first.’

A helper was literally half of a hunter. Only when their hearts matched from the start could they be called a true helper.

A helper forcibly connected through power wouldn’t be able to properly communicate heart to heart.

Therefore, I decided to first look for a helper who openly wanted me and.

Thump– Thump–

“Hey, I’m looking for a helper right now. Is there anyone who wants to be my helper?”

The moment I spoke like that on the bustling stairs going down to the first floor.

A cold silence, truly surprisingly cold, heavily fell over everyone on the first floor.

Ah, damn it.

What is a helper?

People commonly call helpers the other half of hunters. They say they are soul mates.

The relationship of hunter & helper is formed when ‘Punishment Team Hunter Association employees’ and ‘hunters’ of various ranks become partners.

And the work that these helpers do for hunters was truly sufficient to be called the other half of hunters.

They not only handle mana stone exchanges and quest assignments that seem natural in everyday life, but also transmit real-time information on gates, changes in rankings, and promptly convey numerous incidents occurring within the defense city.

This is why helpers are more important than anything else to hunters.

It’s literally having someone who can make you move efficiently as a hunter always by your side, so it can’t help but be important.

Therefore, the hierarchy between hunters and association employees was always in a state where association employees were in the superior position and hunters were in the inferior position.

If you wanted to get a helper, you had to make a good impression on the employees from usual, and even if a hunter acted coercively, they couldn’t get the helper they wanted, and rather, they would only get cursed at and often be beaten up and driven out by surrounding hunters.

Hence, this superior-inferior relationship in this situation was like an immutable law that would never change in the future.

…or so.

Na-rang had thought so until today.

The lobby on the first floor of the Hunter Association, where the atmosphere had become unsettled due to the sudden appearance of the General Management Team.

The atmosphere in the lobby was truly a place of great debate, and people were discussing with serious expressions what exactly that girl, who had briefly appeared on the way to the exam hall, was to the General Management Team.

Even if they knew that the girl’s identity was the exclusive hunter of the General Management Team, questions like ‘how did such a girl become an exclusive hunter’, ‘why did the General Management Team suddenly take in an exclusive hunter’, etc., didn’t disappear.

Therefore, hunters were having discussions to resolve such questions, sitting around tables in their respective teams, but… in an instant.

Thump–

“…!”
“…!”

At the sound of footsteps from the stairs and an undeniable presence, the gazes of the hunters who were conversing and the employees who were working all gathered in one place.

And the person standing where everyone’s gaze gathered was none other than a single girl coming down the stairs.

Of course, the girl on the stairs was that very girl from the General Management Team who had just been the subject of hunters’ discussions.

“Oh, humans… no, there are quite a lot of people?”

The girl who awkwardly paused her words, looked around the first floor, and let out an exclamation.

Some people might curse her as a country bumpkin at that appearance that truly seemed to know nothing about the ways of the world, but at least everyone gathered here could only swallow their saliva.

That’s because the girl in front of their eyes was none other than the exclusive hunter of the General Management Team.

They knew that if they moved their mouths wrongly even once, not only their hunter qualifications might be cut off, but their necks might be cut off as well, so they couldn’t even speak carelessly.

Therefore, only a heavy silence hung over the first-floor lobby.

The girl continued to come down the stairs while still looking around the lobby with an impressed look, and when she had almost reached the first floor.

Suddenly, the girl stopped her feet and opened her mouth.

“Hey, I’m looking for a helper right now. Is there anyone who wants to be my helper?”

It was truly a shocking statement.

And what followed after those words ended was silence. The coldest silence itself.

On top of the already heavy silent atmosphere, an even colder silence overlapped, making things worse.

An air where even breathing once couldn’t be done comfortably.

At this, the girl who had spoken let out a small sigh, as if she hadn’t wanted this atmosphere.

After all, who would want to create such an atmosphere? Moreover, if she was certainly looking for a helper for the first time, she might make such a mistake as a public announcement out of nervousness.

Although they couldn’t open their mouths, all the hunters on the first floor inwardly sympathized like that and didn’t take their eyes off the girl’s every move, and.

“””…?!”””

At what happened the next moment, every single hunter opened their mouths with a snap.

“Oh, you are…”

The girl who had let out a small sigh after the silence suddenly met someone’s eyes and let out an exclamation.

Thump– Thump–

Then she came down completely to the first floor and headed towards the desk where the employees were sitting.

Eventually, the girl stopped her steps in front of someone sitting at the desk, and looking at the person sitting across from her, she spoke a word with an indifferent face.

“Would you like to be my helper?”
“…Pardon?”

Probably the most devilish words for an employee.

And beyond those words that made every hunter’s mouth open.

An association employee called Na-rang was sitting with a dumbfounded expression.