Roughly 1,000 people entered the maze, each from a different direction.
“Good luck.”
With the proctor's dry words of encouragement, the doors closed, and darkness fell.
A profound darkness where you couldn't see an inch in front of you.
There was no exaggeration or falsehood in that statement.
Because the darkness before me was literally designed to prevent the very act of seeing.
“Not much has changed.”
Was it about ten years ago?
Shocking news had once been splashed across the headlines: all 400 applicants who had made it to the final stage of a newly introduced exam had declared their withdrawal.
Back then, I was still young enough that my curiosity about the unknown was piqued.
I wondered just what kind of test could make applicants, who so desperately wished to become Hunters, give up at the final hurdle.
“It was definitely… a test worth giving up on.”
When I came out after personally requesting to experience the ‘Maze of Darkness’ from the Association, I had only one thought.
This wasn't a test designed to be passed.
A vast maze of indeterminable size, filled with all sorts of traps.
If that were all, there might have been some applicants who could have made it through.
But there was a bigger problem.
“The problem is that you have to get through it all with your vision completely blocked.”
The darkness filling the maze narrowed one's field of view to an extreme degree.
The biggest issue was that you could literally only see an inch ahead, meaning a single misstep could lead to an irreversible mistake.
And one more thing.
“Aaargh…!”
The desperate screams of an applicant, echoing from somewhere far away.
Every time I heard one, my heart couldn't help but clench.
Because the vague fear that you might be the next one to scream would wash over you.
“But that just proves how effective it is at weeding people out.”
It's terrifying enough to make you feel like you're dying, and its difficulty makes it exceptionally good at determining who is superior.
Mental fortitude, physical strength, judgment, crisis management skills, and so on.
You need to demonstrate a balanced mix of all the elements required of a Hunter to pass this place.
“…Of course, that doesn't apply to me.”
Even in the body of Son Si-woo, an S-rank Hunter, I couldn't see through the darkness filling this maze.
I was so curious about what it was made of that I even asked.
Of course, I never got an answer.
The creator insisted it was a trade secret and refused to tell even the Association staff.
But this body could see that secret.
Both the principle behind the vision-blocking darkness and the landscape of the maze beyond it.
Goosebumps prickled all over my skin.
“Just what the hell kind of eyes are these?”
To see through a darkness that even an S-rank Hunter's eyes couldn't penetrate, as naturally as breathing.
The bleak landscape of the maze, which I couldn't see back then, now came into view.
It was like a recreation of a giant medieval maze; the crude and rough structures paradoxically made it feel more real.
“…Suddenly, all the excitement is gone. Damn it.”
Before I came in, my heart was pounding for the first time in a while.
Even though I'd passed it easily in Son Si-woo's body, it was undeniably an interesting place.
I thought that with a weaker body than before, I'd be able to enjoy this maze even more…
“I never imagined I'd solve the puzzle this easily.”
I'd even figured out the true nature of the darkness filling the maze.
It was artificial darkness created by a magic circle, just as I'd roughly guessed.
To be precise, a massive magic circle was drawn right on the ceiling—a modified version of the formula for ‘Blind,’ a curse that blocks a target's vision, but altered to target the entire space instead of a person.
Of course, everyone who enters here will have their vision blocked, so only the maze's creator and I would know this.
“Hmm.”
The test lasts for a total of three days.
Either you pass through the entire maze within three days, or the 100 people closest to the exit will earn their licenses.
The latter is a new condition for passing added for this exam, and frankly, it's the right way to do it.
As I said before, this test isn't something applicants are meant to pass.
The hope that they can become a Hunter just by being close to the exit will be a lifeline, preventing them from giving up as easily as the applicants from ten years ago.
“Can't be helped.”
I can't just stand here disappointed by the lack of a challenge.
But I also have no desire to breeze through this maze like drinking a flat soda.
If even the maze's darkness can't blind me, then there's only one thing to do.
“I'll have to blind myself.”
Even these cheat-level eyes can't see through their own eyelids.
As soon as I closed my eyes, I was finally on the same footing as the other applicants.
No, wait. The others can at least see an inch ahead, so am I at more of a disadvantage?
Not bad.
“A handicap like this is nothing.”
I sharpened all my senses and began to walk.
What was a terrifying ordeal for the applicants was nothing more than an interesting spectacle for the audience watching.
“Whoa… he dodged that?”
The scouters from the various guilds.
With captivated eyes, they were glued to the monitors that filled one entire wall.
The worst exam imaginable, reinstated after ten years.
Anyone who distinguished themselves here would be a hot commodity that the guilds would be desperate to recruit.
“How much time has passed?”
“23 hours and 42 minutes.”
“…You were counting all that?”
“You're probably the only one here who can't see the timer displayed at the bottom of the monitor.”
“Ahem! I'm just tired, that's all.”
Nearly 24 hours had passed since the applicants began wandering the dark maze.
300 had been eliminated, unable to overcome the traps that triggered without warning in the pitch-blackness, and another 200 had fled from the terror of the endless dark and the continuous screams.
Only a single day had passed, yet nearly half the participants had been disqualified.
“At this rate, no one's going to pass the maze.”
“I think you'd have to be at least an active B-rank Hunter to get through that maze safely.”
“It's definitely… a vicious place.”
In the top-left corner, a lone monitor displayed the area around the maze's exit.
But no one even glanced at it.
They were certain no applicant would ever reach it.
That's what they thought.
But as one scouter tilted his head back to take a drink of water, his gaze inadvertently fell upon that very screen.
“Pfft—!?”
The water he'd been about to swallow sprayed out, drenching those around him.
“What the hell are you doing!”
“I don't have a change of clothes…!”
Ignoring the protests, the man stared blankly at the monitor and pointed with his index finger.
“Look…”
The other scouters' gazes, now piqued, all turned in the direction he was pointing.
“What's there to see…? Huh? Huh?!”
There was something there.
A long, dark shadow stretched into the area covered by the CCTV camera.
Just as they were staring at the monitor like dazed fools at the suddenly appeared silhouette…
A man abruptly appeared, making them doubt their own eyes.
It was a familiar face.
The man who had been trending on social media, the one who had displayed unbelievable skill throughout the Hunter Qualification Exam and had firmly caught the scouters' attention.
“K-Kim Dojin…?”
23 hours and 48 minutes after the fourth test began.
Shattering the scouters' confident declarations that no applicant would ever pass through the exit.
Clank!
Kim Dojin pushed open the exit door.
Sight plays a huge role in combat.
Well, it's not like any of the five senses are unimportant, but it's an undeniable fact that the less skilled you are, the more you rely on your sight.
However, when clearing dungeons, moments often arise when you have to doubt your own eyes.
Like now, when your vision is completely blocked, or when the truth is buried under illusions.
When you find yourself in a situation where what you see isn't the truth, how are you supposed to find the answer?
The answer is simple.
If you can't see, you have no choice but to listen, smell, taste, and feel.
To be precise, you have to mobilize all your remaining senses to overcome the situation.
“Whoa.”
By reading the turbulent flow of mana around me, I avoided a magic trap that would have shot up flames the moment I stepped on it.
I used the acrid smell to avoid a swamp that would have swallowed me whole the instant I stepped in.
CRASH!
I dodged the golem's fist as it rushed toward me, guided by the sound of it tearing through the air, and counterattacked.
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to get through this maze.
You can do what I'm doing now: rely on your other senses instead of sight to disable traps and find your way.
Or, you can rely on that single inch of vision and move slowly but cautiously.
“Either way is difficult, especially for aspiring Hunters.”
Neither path is easy.
Mastering all five senses is an incredibly complex skill—even I only managed to learn it when I was on the verge of reaching A-rank from B-rank. There's no way these chicks could do it.
As for advancing by relying on that inch of sight… well.
In the silent darkness, one second feels like ten.
Can they really maintain their concentration for three whole days while time feels like it's crawling by?
I think it'll be difficult.
“I wonder how my kids are doing.”
For my kids, this test is the worst possible matchup.
Why?
Because despite their outstanding abilities, their bodies and minds are still those of fresh-faced twenty-year-olds.
They may be legal adults, but they're still a bit immature to be considered full-fledged adults. It's a brilliant and beautiful age, but also one of great mental volatility.
I wonder if they'll be able to show their true skills in a test that requires such strong mental fortitude.
“…They'll probably be fine.”
For a brief moment.
I considered helping them, but I decided against it.
Since they've been chosen as my team members, they have to become the best in the business. I can't let them step into the world of Hunters without being able to overcome something like this on their own.
If they fail, they'll just have to train harder and aim for the next chance.
“Ah.”
Lost in thought as I walked, I reached the end before I knew it.
How much time had passed?
“About a day, maybe?”
I don't know for sure, but that seems about right.
I finally opened my eyes and took hold of the doorknob hanging on the crude wall.
Clank!
A stream of light poured in from beyond the stiffly opening door.
“Whoa.”
My vision flashed as if I'd been hit by a flashbang, then gradually recovered.
A small waiting room.
Two proctors stared blankly in my direction, their mouths agape in disbelief.
“This is the exit, right?”
My playful question finally snapped the proctors out of it, and they quickly composed their slack-jawed expressions.
“…Ahem! Yes, it is.”
“Congratulations on passing the exam, Applicant Kim Dojin.”
The proctors hurriedly whispered into the radios in their ears.
Well, I can't blame them for acting like that.
They probably never imagined an applicant would actually make it through this door.
“I'd like to go to my room and get some rest. Is that alright?”
“Yes.”
I walked past the flustered proctors and through the waiting room where we had received our emergency rescue devices before entering.
While waiting for the elevator to go up, I heard a commotion coming from the maze entrance.
Wondering what was going on, I turned my head and saw an applicant being carried out on a stretcher.
“Must have gotten caught in a trap…”
The proctors holding the stretcher approached.
My gaze naturally shifted to the stretcher as it came to a stop beside me.
Beyond the transparent oxygen mask covering her face, her features were contorted in agony.
At the sight of that incredibly familiar face, my heart, which hadn't beaten fast even once inside the maze, began to pound.
In disbelief, my trembling lips called out her name on their own.
“…Seo-yeon?”