The second-year duel exam on Wednesday starts at 2 p.m.
Until then, it’s free time.
Since it’s currently 12:05, about two hours of free time remain.
After pondering what to do, I decided to watch the third-year group cooperative beast subjugation exam that had been going on since the morning.
“Wow, there are a lot of people.”
Upon arriving at the exam site, I saw a massive crowd bustling at the entrance.
Since the third-years would start working as active mages next year, there seemed to be an unusually high number of scouts present.
At that moment, I spotted a familiar male student in the distance.
A large group of people surrounded him, and he looked quite troubled.
“Lee Seo-jun, here’s my business card. Please take it.”
“We’re from the Martial God Guild. If you join us after graduation, we’ll offer you the best conditions.”
That male student was none other than Lee Seo-jun.
He had likely come to watch the third-year exam without much thought but ended up catching the attention of the scouts.
‘He’s got it rough too.’
I decided to ignore him and head inside, thinking that getting involved would only make things uncomfortable for me as well.
Then—
“Oh? Hey! Kim Sun-woo!”
Lee Seo-jun spotted me and called my name loudly.
Immediately, the scouts’ attention shifted toward me.
Some recognized me, while others seemed to wonder, ‘Who’s that?’
“Wow! Fancy meeting you here. Let’s go together.”
Seizing the opportunity, Lee Seo-jun pushed through the surrounding people and made his way toward me.
“Lee Seo-jun, just a moment, please—”
“Sorry, my friend is waiting for me.”
“Huh? It’ll only take a moment!”
“My apologies!”
When Lee Seo-jun responded firmly, the scouts looked at him with disappointment.
Then, they turned to me with resentment in their eyes.
“……”
Why are you looking at me like that?
Unbothered, Lee Seo-jun smiled brightly and approached me.
“Whew. You saved me.”
“…What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to watch the third-year exam, but people suddenly swarmed me. Heh.”
He gave an awkward laugh.
“Oh, right. You came to watch too, didn’t you? If you don’t have anyone to watch with, want to sit together?”
I didn’t particularly mind, so I nodded.
“Sure.”
And just like that, I ended up accompanying Lee Seo-jun.
[Group 9 has finished.]
“Looks like Group 9 just ended.”
“Yeah.”
After entering the exam venue, Lee Seo-jun and I found a suitable spot and sat down together.
The exam site resembled the underground colosseum-style arena I had seen before.
I scanned the audience seats.
Numerous guild scouts were watching intently, jotting things down with sharp eyes.
There were even some foreigners among the crowd, suggesting that international guilds had also shown up.
I wonder if there are any villains disguised as scouts.
“Hm…”
“Looking for someone?”
Noticing me scanning the area, Lee Seo-jun asked.
“No, I was just wondering if there were any famous mages from the news.”
“Ah.”
He nodded, seemingly not thinking much of it.
“Oh, right. You must have gotten some calls too, huh?”
“What calls?”
“Guild contacts. You did well on the exam, so I figured some reached out to you.”
“They did.”
Hearing my answer, Lee Seo-jun nodded, muttering, “I knew it.”
“So, have you decided where you’ll go?”
“No, there are still two years until graduation. No rush.”
“That’s true.”
He chuckled.
At the same time.
Yoon Hayoung was lightly warming up in the mage training hall in preparation for the duel exam happening in two hours.
After about an hour of training, she gulped down water.
She wiped the sweat off her forehead and let out a breath.
“Hoo.”
With her rapid magical growth lately, training had become enjoyable.
Whenever she had free time, heading to the training hall had become part of her daily routine.
Kwaaaang!
Just as she was taking a short break, a massive magical explosion erupted beside her.
Next to her, Yoo Ara was launching enormous fireballs, obliterating the targets.
“Wow…”
Yoon Hayoung quietly admired her magic.
Overwhelming talent.
It was hard to believe an 18-year-old student was casting such powerful magic.
Watching her, Yoon Hayoung suddenly realized that Yoo Ara was always in the training hall.
‘It’s not just talent that got her here.’
Of course, she was naturally gifted, but the reason for her skill was clear—she trained relentlessly without taking a single day off.
‘I need to work hard too.’
Determined, Yoon Hayoung prepared to resume training.
—Kyaaah!
At that moment, a small scream rang out from outside.
Both Yoon Hayoung and Yoo Ara turned their eyes toward the source.
Inside the colosseum, the microphone announced the start of the next test.
[Group 10: Shin Myung-seok, Jung Hyung-joon, Yoo Jae-myung, Shin Ah-seok, Kim Han.]
Five students, each holding their weapons, entered the arena.
I didn’t recognize any of them.
They were probably extras like me.
[Summoning a giant beast.]
A massive summoning circle glowed on the arena floor.
Then, a colossal beast materialized.
It had a giant horn on its forehead.
Its grotesque form looked like a fusion of a rhinoceros and a lion.
—Kruoooh!
The beast’s roar echoed through the arena, drawing murmurs of awe from the audience.
“Wow, it’s huge.”
Even Lee Seo-jun quietly gasped beside me.
Indeed, its sheer size made it entertaining to watch.
The group battle began.
As expected of third-years, their combat prowess far exceeded that of the second-years, their movements dazzling in comparison.
While I was watching, something caught my eye.
‘Huh?’
Among the audience, a man walking toward the entrance drew my attention.
I stared at him intently.
Something about him seemed oddly familiar.
Where have I seen him before…?
As I pondered, I finally recognized him.
Cheonhae.
The man who would orchestrate the upcoming demon attack on the Mage Academy.
A mage of A-rank—And a henchman of the Demon Council’s Ten Magis (demon).
—Kwaaaang!
At that moment, a massive explosion echoed from somewhere outside.
Everyone inside the exam hall reacted with shock at the sudden sound.
“What was that?!”
“Did something explode?”
“Didn’t you feel an enormous surge of mana just now?”
While people were still confused by the unexpected noise, another massive explosion roared outside.
—Kwaaaaang!
Even those unsure at first now realized something was happening outside. One by one, people began standing up, attempting to leave the hall.
[Attention, please. An unidentified dark mage has summoned a monster army inside the Mage Academy. Students, please evacuate to a safe location.]
…The academy is already under attack?
I quickly lifted my head, searching for Cheonhae. He had been visible just moments ago, but now he was nowhere to be seen.
“Damn it!”
I jumped up from my seat.
In the original story, the dark mage attack was supposed to happen at 4 PM, after the second-year duel class. But now, it was only 12:30 PM—over three hours earlier than expected.
The timeline had changed again.
“Kim Sun-woo! Where are you going?”
Ignoring Lee Seo-jun calling me from behind, I sprinted toward the entrance.
I had to do something about this attack immediately.
If the timeline had shifted this much, I couldn’t predict what might happen to him—the one who would one day awaken the Demon Slayer trait and become the curse of dark mages.
If something happened to him now, the entire future could spiral out of control.
“What the hell?”
After rushing to the entrance, I was met with a crowd of people gathered in confusion, unable to leave.
“Damn it! Someone put up a barrier!”
“Who did this?!”
“This is at least an A-rank barrier! How do we break it?”
…A barrier?
“Crazy.”
This had to be Cheonhae’s doing.
His specialty was support magic, and he was one of the world’s top ten barrier mages.
So he had trapped all the scouting guild members—the ones most likely to interfere—in one place?
What was originally supposed to be a minor dark mage incident had transformed into a highly organized, intelligent attack.
“Everyone, please step aside. I’m an A-rank support mage. I’ll take care of it.”
A woman with a sharp expression raised her hand and stepped forward.
Hearing she was a support mage, people naturally made way for her.
“You’re a support mage?”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
The woman approached the entrance, examined the barrier briefly, then placed her hand on the ground, infusing it with mana. The barrier instantly lit up.
“Wow, good thing we have an A-rank support mage here.”
“She must be famous, but I’ve never seen her before.”
As people watched her work, I felt a growing sense of unease.
This was a trap.
And I was likely the only one who knew.
That woman pretending to break the barrier? She was actually a dark mage.
She was Yang Hyun, Cheonhae’s direct subordinate.
Right now, she was just stalling for time, keeping others from interfering.
But there was nothing I could do.
No one would believe a mere student if I tried to expose her.
And yet, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
If that was the case…
I turned away from the entrance and sprinted back into the circular exam hall. Seeing Lee Seo-jun approaching, I shouted at him.
“Hey! Follow me!”
“What?”
“No time to argue, just come!”
Lee Seo-jun frowned in confusion but followed behind me.
“What’s going on?”
“The entrance is blocked by a barrier.”
“A barrier?”
“Yeah, and it looks like it’s covering this entire space.”
“That doesn’t make any sense…”
Lee Seo-jun trailed off, struggling to grasp the situation.
“So where are we going now?”
“The emergency exit in the waiting room. The main entrance is being ‘handled’ by someone else.”
“And?”
“The problem is, the person trying to ‘break’ the barrier is actually just pretending. She’s a dark mage.”
Lee Seo-jun furrowed his brows.
Even though my claim sounded absurd, he took it seriously.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing my firm response, he shut his mouth.
Thankfully, he didn’t press further.
We quickly reached the waiting area.
If my pre-regression memory was correct, there should be an emergency exit around here…
“Found it!”
At the far corner, a door marked as an emergency exit came into view.
If we could get through this door, I could break the barrier myself.
But there was one last problem.
One that Lee Seo-jun would have to solve.
“Lee Seojun, draw your sword.”
“Huh? Why?”
“The door’s locked with a magic-sealed padlock. You need to break it.”
Lee Seojun narrowed his eyes, looking at the lock on the door handle.
“…Hey. This is made of magisteel. How am I supposed to break this?”
“You can do it.”
I knew the extent of Lee Seo-jun’s potential better than anyone.
Right now, he was more than capable of breaking a magisteel lock.
He stared at me for a moment before nodding and drawing his sword.
As he gathered his mana, a brilliant white light flared around his hand.
Soon, his blade shimmered with light-element magic.
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