Only Gunjin's request not to make a scene kept Kai in his seat. Once everyone was dismissed, he shot up and marched to the front of the room. The clan heads were speaking to one another, apparently in a wonderful mood, until he arrived.
"Why was I disqualified?" Kai demanded. He glared across all the clan heads. "Why?"
"Rewards are granted at the discretion of the judges," Hannagan Lantrian said. "You have skill, boy, but it seems being a monster hunter isn't your fate. The city cannot afford to invest resources on someone so weak."
"Did I look weak at the end?" He didn't want to admit it, but there were tears in the corners of his eyes. "I fought as hard as anyone, against the hunters you just praised as the best! I deserve to be given the same chances they have."
"You fought warriors who had been training in their Classes for a few days. Do you truly believe that you can keep up with them for months and years? Over that time, the gap will only grow. It's best for everyone if you find a new life for yourself now. I'm sure you can turn that determination toward a more productive end."
Hannagan spoke in soothing, confident tones and stroked his beard with one hand. It was infuriating. Kai clenched his fists and stepped forward, without any idea what he was going to do.
Something slammed into his face and the next thing he knew he was lying on the ground. As he struggled to sit up, he saw Hannagan straighten and realize that the old man had headbutted him. Hannagan kept up that soft smile, but his eyes were like flint.
"I'll speak to the boy." Gunjin stepped in and drew Kai to his feet. "Please excuse us."
Part of Kai wanted to fight, but the blow had knocked most of the anger out of him. He didn't want to believe that it was true, but he had to admit that Monskon City and all Goralia were built on strength. No matter how unfair it was, he had no recourse if he couldn't prove his point.
Gunjin pulled him into a side hallway and then finally turned to him. "I'm sorry, Kai. Though it seems unfair, the judges will never change their decision. There are records of several promising candidates receiving a Class similar to yours, and none of them uncovered any hidden potential. It's no fault of your own, but you would not have been able to make good use of the rewards."
"How can they act like I don't have any potential? You can all see my Levels, can't you? I've advanced beyond most of the other candidates there!"
"A demonstration of your willpower, to be sure, but unfortunately many are inclined to dismiss it. Some theorized that your Class may slightly increase physical growth, and thus they believe this is already your full potential." For the first time Gunjin's eyes wandered, and he frowned at nothing. "In this, I disagree with them. Just as some Classes are stronger than others, some are barely Classes at all. This is rare, but... I'm afraid you need to face the truth."
"The truth?" Kai grabbed his mentor's shirt and forced him to meet his gaze. "They rejected all my accomplishments so they could give the rewards to Fhazi and-"
Gunjin raised a hand in front of his face and cut him off as surely as a blow. The grim sorrow in his mentor's eyes broke Kai's growing rage.
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"Listen to me: Fhazi Lantrian received almost nothing. Yes, he'll live life with a silver spoon in his mouth. But he'll never be able to buy his way to true strength, and even Hannagan can't bestow treasures on him. Our survival is too precarious to give away power to fools."
"Shut up and listen. That same logic is why we can't afford to give you anything." Gunjin took a step toward him, his eyes flashing. "You still think of this as a game because you have no idea of the threats we face. Do you even know why monsters exist, or what this city was built to protect? You're a child throwing a tantrum because life isn't fair while people are dying."
The lecture from his mentor took even more wind out of Kai's sails. He took a slow breath and forced himself to look into Gunjin's eyes directly before he spoke. "Tell me one thing: is this my fault? Could I have trained harder.... done something different... why did this happen?"
"I... truly am sorry." The brutal look in Gunjin's eyes faded and he touched Kai on the shoulder almost gently. "You did everything right, my boy. I've never had a student apply himself with such dedication. But we don't live in a fair world, and it seems you've been given a cruel fate."
With that, his mentor turned away as if to leave him. Kai felt as though his chest had been caved in, and he could have just stood there. But he couldn't let it end, not like that. Before Gunjin could leave the corridor, Kai ran after him.
"Wait!" Kai opened the door and thrust a finger toward the table filled with monster cores. "My cores were given to the Hunters Guild, but I received nothing in return. You promised a reward for the Direboar. If you take what I earned with my own hands, you're nothing but thieves!"
His wild declaration drew everyone's attention. Some elders looked puzzled, the assistants looked nervous, and Hannagan looked like he wanted to headbutt him again.
"You little-" Hannagan was cut off when Gunjin gave a low chuckle.
"He's right about that," Gunjin said, then gestured to one of the assistants. "Do as he says. It might be your prerogative to distribute bonuses, but he earned that core by defeating the Direboar."
Kai shifted nervously while cores were placed into a sack. He counted each and every one, and it seemed they really had kept track of his total. They hesitated but eventually gave him the Direboar core, still throbbing a day later. Judging from the way the others turned away, they seemed to have accepted his logic. Though he didn't have a real plan, Kai knew that cores could be traded for money, so at least he wouldn't be left with nothing, and the Direboar could probably be converted into some sort of power.
When he finally had his sack, the assistants made it clear that he should depart soon. Kai had been hoping to return with Gunjin, but his mentor - his former mentor - slightly shook his head. All of Kai's anger was cold and dead now, so he couldn't rage again. The best he could do was gesture for Gunjin to talk one last time.
"Let me prove myself," Kai said. He gripped the sack so tightly that the canvas burned his fingers. "If I'm wrong and I can't keep up, I'll accept what you said. But you have to give me a chance."
"You'll get an entire year of chances, on one condition." Gunjin raised a finger. "You can pursue your own training as before, and the Granfian clan will continue to house and feed you. But this stunt has branded you as a troublemaker, so others may try to use you against the clan. No senseless fights, no trouble-making, no attacking other clans. Understand?"
"Thank you!" Kai felt pathetically grateful, but he needed to cling to any advantage he had.
"In a little over one year, the next monster incursion will threaten us all. Perhaps even more so than usual. If you are capable of holding your own at that time, then I'll throw all the resources of the Granfian clan behind you. Everyone would reconsider their judgments, because you'll have done something considered impossible."
"I'll just have to do the impossible, then." Kai grinned at him and turned to leave the Hunters Guild.
He managed to keep up his smile until he made it all the way out the door and was engulfed in the bustle of Monskon City. Then Kai forced himself to breathe slowly. He did have options. They might have taken all the direct rewards from him, but they couldn't remove his more intangible accomplishments from the Hunter Trials. After just a few minutes, he already had a few plans for how he could train to be ready for the monster incursion.
But right at that moment, he just felt like an idiot carrying a sack of monster guts.