Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Chapter 20. License Test

The forty-fifth floor of a building at 123 William Street in Manhattan's Financial District.

Inside a space so white it looked designed by someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kang Do-jun took a number and sat among the crowd of exorcists.

NEA, the National Exorcist Association.

He had arrived at the New York State branch of America's national exorcist association.

‘Huh. Interesting-looking place.’

While he waited.

At the counter across from Do-jun sat a female employee named Rose.

Reading glasses rested on the bridge of her nose as she loudly chewed gum and stared only at her monitor.

She was probably the person who would handle his licensing application.

“Next. Applicant D15.”

At Rose's dry voice, a huge white man wearing a tactical vest strode toward the counter.

The man pulled a heavy silver-bullet pistol from his waist and loudly set it on the desk.

“New Beretta custom loaded with silver rounds. Every bullet carries the blessing of Saint Michael. Hah!”

His voice overflowed with pride.

The other exorcists watching let out small exclamations, clearly impressed by the weapon.

But... Rose merely glanced at the handgun in annoyance before flipping through the regulations.

“The bullets contain more than ninety percent silver. That's a violation of New York safety regulations. Firearm denied. Register only the holy-water spray beside it.”

“What? Do you know how much money I spent getting this thing? This isn't just a gun, it's—”

“Those are the rules. Follow them.”

“You little—!”

BOOM!

The man scowled and slammed his fist down on the desk.

Rose let out an irritated sigh... then snapped her fingers.

At that moment.

“Guhhhk!”

The man's enormous body flew backward and rolled across the floor.

As though they'd been waiting for it, the security guards stepped forward and dragged him away.

“W-What the hell did she do?”

“That was... magic, right?”

Rose spoke without changing expression.

“Next.”

After that, the waiting room fell silent, and several suddenly much more polite applicants finished registering.

Eventually, Kang Do-jun's turn came.

He slid over the document envelope he'd prepared along with his forged identification.

“Mr. Terry Kang. We need to register the exorcist weapons you'll be using during the exam, so submit the relevant documents and show me your weapons.”

“Yes. Here.”

Do-jun pulled an old brush from inside his clothes and casually placed it on the desk.

Rose stopped chewing her gum.

Her eyes behind the reading glasses moved back and forth between Do-jun's face and the brush.

“...That's your only weapon?”

“Yes.”

“Are you here for a calligraphy contest? If you don't prepare properly, you're only going to waste the application fee.”

“Ah, yes. This is enough for me.”

Snickering laughter broke out from the seats behind him.

“Hey, planning to make the evil spirit sign a surrender document with that brush? Hahaha!”

“Is that some mystical Eastern thing? They'll let anyone in these days.”

Open mockery.

Rose pressed her fingers against her temples.

“Stop showing off and come back with a proper weapon. With whatever outdated method you've been using, you won't last a minute. Why not rent a proper silver weapon nearby while you still can?”

Rose was sick and tired of Asians like this.

Immigrants from other countries often came here thinking Eastern sorcery was superior, only to be crushed beneath America's uniquely vicious and powerful evil spirits.

“I'm fine. Please just continue.”

At his stubborn attitude, Rose sighed and stamped the approval on his documents.

“Fine. Just understand that if you die or get injured, the NEA bears no responsibility.”

“Of course.”

“The exam has two stages. Stage one measures spiritual sensitivity. Stage two evaluates combat ability through an evil-spirit suppression simulation. If you pass, you'll begin at F-rank, but exceptional scores can result in an Upscale.”

Do-jun smiled with interest and asked.

“Then is it possible to receive S-rank from the very beginning during the evaluation?”

Rose let out an incredulous laugh.

“Sorry, but that's only happened once since the NEA was founded. It was an extremely exceptional case, and I doubt you'll be the second.”

Rose continued stiffly.

“Even the S-rank exorcists active in New York today all started at F-rank, or E-rank at best, and spent years bleeding their way upward. Here are the papers. Sign the waiver for death and injury.”

Without hesitation, Do-jun moved the pen and wrote down the name ‘Terry Kang.’

He took the guidebook Rose handed him and gave a light bow.

“Thank you for the explanation, Ms. Rose.”

Rose clicked her tongue while watching Do-jun leisurely return to his seat.

‘Either he'll fail the first stage, or he'll humiliate himself and get thrown out.’

To her, Terry Kang was nothing more than a foolish Asian who had no idea of his own limits.

A short while later, Rose stood and addressed the people waiting in front of her.

“All right, Group D, follow me. We'll begin with the spiritual-power measurement.”

***

The spiritual-power testing room had a completely different atmosphere from the waiting area.

Beyond transparent reinforced glass stood cutting-edge barrier devices packed with complex circuits, while monitors in the central control center analyzed the applicants' spiritual waves and converted them into data in real time.

It felt like a cold, mechanical ‘lab.’

With Rose watching, the applicants placed their hands on the measuring device one after another.

“Edward Miller. Score: 810. Passed at upper E-rank.”

“Oh! My God, thank you!”

The applicant who received E-rank cheered like he'd won the lottery and exchanged high fives with his companions.

For the exorcists here, rank directly determined their market value, so the reaction was understandable.

Of course...

“Spiritual power: 130. Failed.”

“What? But I'm confident in combat!”

“You failed. Go home.”

Usually, roughly half the applicants couldn't even qualify for F-rank.

Even among those who passed, most received F-rank, with only the slightly exceptional ones reaching E-rank.

Do-jun tilted his head.

‘Why is everyone... so weak?’

They'd come here wanting to become exorcists, yet he couldn't understand how they could be this feeble.

Just as he found himself puzzled by the unexpectedly low standard, his turn finally arrived.

“Mr. Terry Kang, come forward.”

“Yes!”

When Do-jun stepped forward, anticipation appeared on the other applicants' faces.

‘That guy's definitely going to humiliate himself.’

‘How much spiritual power could he possibly have? About as much as an ant's booger?’

An Asian aspiring exorcist who knew nothing about the real world.

Everyone wanted to see just how badly he'd embarrass himself.

Do-jun pulled his hand from his pocket and lightly placed it on the cold metal plate.

The machine emitted a low operating hum as the measurement began.

Beep!

The numbers at the bottom of the monitor began moving.

10, 50, 100, 300... it casually passed 500, the usual limit for ordinary exorcists, and then the rate of increase began accelerating exponentially.

“W-Wait? What the...”

The researcher's eyes widened as he checked the data.

The number passed 2,000 without slowing and broke through 5,000.

Then it shot past 15,000, commonly regarded as the benchmark for S-rank exorcists, as if mocking the number... In an instant, it reached five digits.

BZZZT!

Unable to withstand the overload, the measuring device began giving off acrid smoke.

Rose stopped chewing her gum and shot to her feet.

A red ‘Error’ message flashed across the monitor, indicating that the result couldn't be measured.

“What is this?

“Didn't that number just say... 50,000?”

“That's impossible.”

Everyone's faces filled with confusion.

Do-jun let out a heavy sigh.

‘This is bad.’

His goal for this licensing exam had been clear.

Barely qualify for ‘D-rank,’ the minimum grade necessary to open a private agency.

Receiving an excessively high rank before he'd even built his organization would only make him a target for Cheongwa and evil spirits back in Korea.

That was why he'd been suppressing his spiritual power, yet the reading had suddenly spiked.

The reason was obvious.

《How about that, Kang Do-jun! Behold my majesty! I showed those long-noses who dared treat this great one like a fool! Ahaha!》

Inside the shadows, Seolhwi stood with his tail held high and shouted triumphantly.

The prideful White Tiger Spirit had been unable to tolerate the foreigners' mockery and had released his power on his own.

‘Why would you do something like that without asking? You're attracting attention for no reason.’

《So now you're saying I did something wrong? All I did was show them the power I actually have!》

Right. Our Spirit was always the type who couldn't stand losing.

Do-jun sighed, wondering how he was supposed to clean up this mess.

《Stop making such a racket and come here.》

《Aagh! Aagh! B-Big brother! Stoooop!》

Perhaps the noise had annoyed him.

Or perhaps he was trying to help Do-jun.

Wakan Tanka's hand stretched out and simply dragged Seolhwi back inside.

Then...

“Th-The error disappeared.”

The measuring device that had been blaring moments earlier returned to normal.

Rose sighed and spoke.

“Try again, Mr. Terry Kang.”

“Yes.”

This time the number rose very slowly before settling.

【SEP (Spirit Energy Point): 1320】

【Rank: D+】

And so the grade was confirmed again.

“What? D-rank?”

“That's... way higher than I expected.”

The exorcists and Rose looked genuinely surprised.

After repeating the test several times, Rose entered the result into her tablet and spoke.

“Congratulations, Mr. Terry Kang. D-rank. Spiritual power isn't everything, but your potential is quite respectable.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“All right, everyone. Let's move to the second testing area.”

They immediately moved to an area lined with enormous simulation rooms.

Beyond the translucent reinforced glass, exorcists who had gone ahead of them were sweating as they fought combat robots.

“Check these standards carefully... then enter one at a time and fight the simulation robot.”

The sheet Rose handed out contained the scoring criteria for the second exam.

The standards were divided strictly into categories such as spell precision, hit allowance, and effective damage.

‘I just need to roughly match D-rank according to these standards.’

Standing in line, Do-jun carefully observed the applicants ahead of him.

He needed to judge how far he should lower his ability to receive D-rank.

But the more he watched, the more absurd it became.

‘...Someone like that wants to become an exorcist?’

They wore flashy tactical vests, sprayed holy water, and swung weapons...

But their movements were clumsy and lacked any clear intent.

If they belonged to Cheongwa, they'd have become food for wandering ghosts.

And yet...

“Pass. Mr. Smith, your final rank is E.”

“Niiiiiice!”

People like that were celebrating after receiving E- and F-rank judgments.

Apparently, America's chronic shortage of personnel was reflected in its standards.

‘Looks like I'll have to... hold back a lot more than I thought.’

Just as Do-jun grew nervous for an entirely different reason.

“Come in, Mr. Terry Kang.”

“Yes!”

At last, it was Do-jun's turn.

When he entered the room, a metal simulation robot approached with glowing eyes.

Matching the speed of the D-ranks he'd memorized, he slowly drew his brush.

He narrowly dodged the robot's swinging arm and placed a talisman containing a moderate amount of spiritual power against its chest.

Bzzt, pop!

With a small burst of flame, the robot was pushed backward.

Not too clean, not too crude—an exchange perfectly suited to ‘D-rank.’ He deliberately shaved points off his score while moving strictly according to the evaluation criteria.

But Rose, watching from beyond the glass, narrowed her eyes.

‘Strange.’

Her grip tightened around the controller.

Terry Kang's movements looked crude, yet not a single one was unnecessary.

There was an unnatural precision to them, almost as though he were copying directly from a prepared answer sheet.

‘Is he... deliberately adjusting his score?’

Rose subtly manipulated the controller and increased the difficulty.

The robot moved faster. This time, Terry Kang kept his sorcery at the same level while using light footwork and physical ability to deflect its attacks.

‘He looks Korean or Chinese. Is he not merely an exorcist, but also a trained martial artist?’

It was fascinating.

She had seen countless exorcists, but never anyone who could handle a simulation robot this smoothly using such simple movements alone.

And that stirred Rose's curiosity.

Click!

She turned the difficulty dial all the way to its limit.

Steam burst from the robot's engine as it charged forward at a crazed speed, and Do-jun immediately realized.

‘Hmm. Is she testing me?’

It seemed his opponent had noticed something strange about his movements.

But if he held back too much now, he wouldn't maintain a D-rank score, while fighting too seriously would reveal that he'd been deliberately restraining himself.

In the end, he made his decision.

‘Sorry, but you're going to have to break.’

The instant the robot charged toward him.

He rotated the brush handle inside his sleeve, creating a vibration too subtle for anyone else to notice.

When the spell seeped into the robot's joints.

GRRRRK!

A mechanical malfunction suddenly occurred.

The instant the cylinders acting as the robot's leg muscles tangled, Do-jun lightly extended a foot and tripped it.

CLAAAAANG!

The massive robot lost its balance and slammed into the floor.

Do-jun didn't miss the opening and stabbed the brush tip into the robot's central drive shaft, shutting it down.

Then...

“W-What the hell... Did that guy actually take down the robot?”

“That was possible?”

The other applicants waiting nearby began murmuring in shock.

Rose, who had watched the entire scene closely, narrowed her eyes.

The administrator waiting beside her approached and spoke.

“Maybe the robot overheated from too many applicants. Should we restart the test?”

“...No. I think that's enough. I've gotten a rough idea of Mr. Terry Kang's ability.”

Rose's intense gaze shot toward Kang Do-jun.

But there was something strangely sticky about that look.

It was filled with curiosity... and somehow just a little unsettling.

‘This feels slightly ominous.’

At that moment, Rose extended a hand.

“Congratulations, Mr. Terry Kang. You passed.”

“Thank you. May I ask... what rank I received?”

“Hmmm, well, about that.”

The moment Rose opened her mouth, Do-jun's jaw dropped.

The Catastrophe-Class Exorcist Is Too Strong in America

Author

: Gisigami

Production Date

: September 15, 2026

Publisher

: ACES Media Co., Ltd.

Editor

: ACES Media Editorial Team

Address

: 12F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Email

: acesmedia9@gmail.com

※ This work was published by ACES Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,

and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.

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UCI

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