WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Returned as a God ◈
Chapter 80: Why Me! Why! (1)
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"Today?"
I'd known I had to take the aptitude test, but nobody had ever told me when.
"Yeah."
"Can I come whenever?"
"Just tell me your schedule. Also, why are you acting so high and mighty when you don't even have anything going on?"
"I'm pretty high and mighty."
"You want to die? What time are you coming?"
"Um, would around two work?"
"Yeah. I've got an important meeting, but it should be mostly done by two, so come then."
If I ate first and left at a leisurely pace, I'd probably arrive sometime past lunch.
Choi Suhyun said he'd book the appointment, and I said okay and hung up.
Noona Eunyoung, hope nothing's wrong.
I checked the community board, still no comments, ate lunch, and left the hotel without rushing.
The Association felt strange, since it had been a while since I'd last visited.
"The customer you are trying to reach is unable to take your call right now..."
"He's the one who said to call when I get here."
Choi Suhyun didn't pick up, probably busy with work.
I showed my ID at the lobby and took the elevator up to the tenth floor, where the aptitude test room was.
Walking through the lobby without much thought, following the signs on the wall, I stopped mid-step.
Feels like I've already been here...
I distinctly remembered being told to turn right earlier too.
Only after circling the same spot a few times did I realize I was lost.
"What kind of Association makes its building this complicated!"
Is this a maze?
This isn't my fault. It's the Association's fault for having such a ridiculous layout.
I don't have a bad sense of direction!
Back when I first possessed him, Kang Hangyeol had already finished his aptitude test.
Which meant I had no memory of it at all.
Not that it was supposed to be a big deal, from what I'd heard.
"Is this it?"
I gave a gentle push to a door that looked, for some reason, like it led to a gym.
Not the aptitude test room.
Instead, about twenty Hunter trainees were gathered inside.
Each dressed in comfortable clothes, running through a mock battle.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I stood there watching the Hunters spar.
A man in his mid-twenties and a woman who'd only just shed her teens stood facing each other.
The woman, still looking young, caught my eye.
"Huh, isn't that..."
One of the trainees who'd gone into the dungeon with Noona Eunyoung.
I'd never actually seen her face before, but she looked exactly like her photo, so I recognized her instantly.
Why's she taking the class again?
Clearing a dungeon was the final step of trainee education.
Unless I was seeing things, there was no reason this woman should be back in trainee class.
Chae Seolha, was it?
A Hunter who served Servia, the god Choi Suhyun used to follow.
The man opposite her openly needled her.
"Pathetic. A retake? What did you even manage to do to end up here?"
"This is why kids these days are no good. No clue how the world works."
"Servia, huh? If you were really all that, you wouldn't be stuck retaking this."
The crowd watching laughed at his words.
Chae Seolha's face twisted, plain for anyone to see.
The Association staff member in the middle blew a whistle.
Since it was a mock battle, Chae Seolha was using practice mana rounds.
The man opposite her held a wooden sword.
He lunged at Chae Seolha.
He drove her back one-sidedly.
Even accounting for it being a mock battle, it felt excessive.
Chae Seolha barely managed to block his attack and looked for her opening to strike back.
The instant she aimed the gun at him, her fingertips trembled.
A kid who'd already been through a dungeon had no reason to be shaking like that.
A moment's carelessness turns into a big mistake.
When Chae Seolha failed to pull the trigger, the man swung his wooden sword down hard on her wrist.
"Aaagh!"
She screamed and dropped the gun she'd been holding.
The match was decided.
But something about the man's movement looked off.
He raised the wooden sword high.
Aimed it straight at Chae Seolha's shoulder.
That lunatic!
I caught his wooden sword with one hand.
"Wha, what?"
"Who are you?"
"You just used a skill, didn't you?"
I held onto the wooden sword and glared at him.
Even with the match already decided, he'd swung the sword anyway.
And using a skill on top of that made it obvious this had been intentional.
If that blow had actually landed, Chae Seolha would've had at least one shoulder or arm broken.
"Even in a mock battle, there's a limit."
"Wha, what the hell are you! You're not even a trainee! Who are you to butt in?"
I ignored him and turned to the Association staff member who'd been refereeing.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
"Just passing through... no, a lost Hunter."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interfere. You might want to pay closer attention next time."
The staff member refereeing wasn't a Hunter.
This sorry excuse for an Association. Who puts a regular civilian in charge of refereeing a mock battle between Hunters?
Being Association staff, he wasn't a total civilian, I supposed.
But it didn't change the fact that he wasn't Awakened.
Jeez.
I'd heard the taxes guilds paid every time they cleared a Dungeon were no joke.
Where does all that tax money disappear to, anyway?
I let go of the wooden sword and turned around.
Held out a hand to Chae Seolha, who'd sunk to the ground.
"Th, thank you."
"That wrist's gonna need treatment."
Chae Seolha hid her reddened wrist behind her back.
The Association staff member called a break.
The staffer came over.
"You said you got lost?"
"Yeah, what kind of layout is this complicated."
He gave an awkward laugh at my muttering.
So he does admit it's a maze.
"Can I ask what brought you here today?"
Facilities for regular Hunters were mostly on the lower floors.
Unless you were a trainee, there was no reason to come up to the higher floors of Association headquarters, except for guild business or special expeditions the Association oversaw.
"Nothing that fancy. Just here for my aptitude test."
"Ah, you're here for the aptitude test. The test room's to the right, straight down, then left, across the skybridge, and it's at the end of the hallway on the left."
In other words, I'd come to completely the wrong place.
"Sorry for interrupting your class."
"No, it's fine. And we'll take care of the Hunter who used a skill."
"I'd appreciate that. And her wrist too, if you could."
I pointed at Chae Seolha, who stood there looking blank.
"Don't worry about it."
"I'll get going then."
The man who'd been listening to me and the staffer from a short distance away had gone red in the face.
I gave a quick bow and turned to leave.
"I told you I didn't use a skill! What's your problem?"
"Hold on, what are you—!!"
The man with the wooden sword charged at me like he meant it.
I twisted my body slightly, knocked the wooden sword aside, and threw him in a light hip throw.
"Hey, you know why trainees are called trainees? Because they can't manage themselves, just like you. If you'd heard I was a Hunter, you should've just let it go. Where do you get off jumping me? If this had been a Dungeon, you'd have a knife in your gut right now."
The punch he threw grazed past my cheek.
The staffer's face went pale white.
I lifted my chin slightly and looked down at the man.
Did you just hit me, punk?
Sitting in a small meeting room next to the aptitude test room, I looked at Choi Suhyun.
"It was self-defense."
"Cut the crap."
"Hyung, you know I got bullied as a trainee. That trauma left its mark on me, and now whenever I see malicious bullying, I just can't stand injustice, it's kind of a habit..."
"I said cut the crap!"
Choi Suhyun, out of patience, punched the wall.
The big TV mounted on it shook.
One more hit like that and it's coming down.
That thing looks expensive.
"So you go and beat a guy half to death in front of a bunch of kids?"
"I know, right. Why'd he mess with me when I was trying to just walk away quietly. But he hit me first, you know."
"You mean you let him hit you?"
I looked away and whistled. Choi Suhyun muttered, sounding half-resigned.
"Never mind. Forget I asked."
"If you think about it, this is really your fault for not picking up the phone."
"Didn't I tell you I had an important meeting and to just go take your test? I said I'd be right there! If you didn't know the way, you should've just waited quietly. And instead you go cause a scene? I'm begging you, just behave yourself at the Association!"
"Ugh, such a nag."
Even my own mom probably nags less than Choi Suhyun.
No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend.
Chae Seolha, who'd been listening to us talk, raised a hand carefully.
She looked unsure why she was even still in the room.
"Um, why am I...?"
"Oh, right. Here."
Choi Suhyun rummaged through his pocket and tossed a tube that looked like toothpaste at Chae Seolha.
"Neosporin, I mean... recovery ointment."
"An Association employee calling it Neosporin?"
"Yep."
Chae Seolha fiddled with the tube of recovery ointment Choi Suhyun had handed her.
"Hyung, why was she taking that class again anyway?"
Chae Seolha only had one Dungeon expedition left. The theory and sparring practice should've been done a long time ago.
Choi Suhyun answered my question like it was nothing.
"Heard she talked back to Song Eunyoung in the Dungeon."
"That was her fault first...!!"
"Sounds like you earned that retake."
Chae Seolha shut her mouth at my words.
She clearly thought it was unfair, her face going red.
Noona Eunyoung had a strong personality.
Guess it matches how she looks, too.
Chae Seolha's eyes welled up, insisting it wasn't fair.
"I know I made a mistake, but... it's not like it should've cost me a whole retake!"
"You made a mistake."
"Right, a mistake is a mistake, but people go through life and..."
"A mistake only counts as a mistake if there's a next time to prove it. You'd have died there without Song Eunyoung. And after you're dead, are you gonna go up to the monster and say, oh, sorry, I got careless, mind fighting me one more time? You think the monster's gonna go, oh, sure thing, let's do it again?"
Chae Seolha shut her mouth at Choi Suhyun's lecture.
She looked unfairly treated but unable to argue back, since he wasn't wrong.
"Everyone else just has to clear the Dungeon again and they graduate... but I'm getting delayed."
"It's only two months."
"It's not just two months!"
"It is. Two months, that's nothing. You'll catch up in no time. And what's wrong with a retake anyway?"
"I'm not an idiot, who retakes a class like this."
"Well, sorry for being an idiot then."
Choi Suhyun crossed his arms and looked down at Chae Seolha.
She looked flustered, like that wasn't what she'd meant at all.
"I took it three times myself, you know. And did the Hunters who got out into the field before me end up doing better?"
Guess he always has to work in a little self-promotion to feel satisfied.
Clearly, working in education and affiliation, he'd gotten skilled at handling young Hunters.
Choi Suhyun gently soothed Chae Seolha.
"Two months is nothing. Not sure what's got you so anxious, but there's no need for it."
Not sure if that was self-praise or comfort, honestly.
"Do you think I could become like you someday, oppa Suhyun, I mean... like you! As a Hunter!"
"Being like me might be a bit much."
"If you work hard, you might reach my toenails."
"I'll work hard!"
Don't work hard!
He's trash!
What kind of comfort is that supposed to be!
Chae Seolha bowed her head and left the meeting room.
Choi Suhyun's gaze turned back to me.
"Hyung, were you an idiot?"
"You want to die? There were circumstances!"
"Circumstances?"
"Got into a real-life fistfight with an Association Hunter during training."
Choi Suhyun shrugged lightly.
Jeez, a real-life fistfight.
And this guy's supposed to be my ally.
Once we got out into the hallway, I found myself curious about Choi Suhyun's story of throwing hands with an Association employee.
"Why'd you go after an Association employee?"
"I don't listen to anyone weaker than me."
"Kidding, punk."
Choi Suhyun told me not to take it seriously and gave my shoulder a couple pats.
That was a joke, right?
After the aptitude test wrapped up, Choi Suhyun left work a little early, and we headed down to the lobby to grab dinner together.
The Association lobby was louder than usual.
Before I could even ask what was going on, a man in a blue cape came striding straight toward me.
"You're Kang Hangyeol?"
"Real-life... no, I challenge you to a duel."
"Nah, I'll pass."
Is this guy out of his mind?
Footnotes:
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