Today’s magic ability evaluation test became a small topic of discussion among mages.
It was only natural—just a few weeks ago, I was running out of mana and experiencing magical exhaustion. But now, I had achieved a top-ranking score with a completely different performance.
━━
[Mage Academy 2nd-Year Evaluation Ranking Last Place – Current Status]
▶ Comments
[What? That’s really the same guy?]
[Are you sure it’s not someone else? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
ㄴ [Seriously, he looks like a different person. How can someone change this much in just a few weeks?]
━━
[1,000 people have taken an interest in you.]
[You have received 5,000 points as a reward.]
“Heh.”
Thanks to that, my points were steadily increasing in real time.
Unlike last time, I hadn’t done anything to promote myself, yet my video was attracting a lot of attention.
[Current Points: 23,500]
As expected, the test had a strong effect.
I had reached my goal of 20,000 points in just one day.
Once you stood out in a place full of people, earning points became incredibly easy.
Now that I had saved up enough points, should I go ahead and purchase a spatial pocket?
━━
[Intermediate Spatial Pocket (A)]
Category: Special
Description: Allows you to store items in a subspace. Maximum storage capacity: 30 kg.
Price: 20,000 (50% discount)
━━
[Would you like to purchase the Intermediate Spatial Pocket (A)?]
‘Purchase.’
[Purchase complete.]
A radiant light enveloped my body.
The knowledge of how to use the spatial pocket was instantly imprinted in my mind.
Feeling intrigued, I opened the spatial pocket.
A small, dimensional portal appeared before me.
It seemed that I could store any item I wanted inside.
“Hmm, what should I put in here?”
A potion… and the clothes I’d wear when disguising myself as Kim Jinwoo…
Honestly, I didn’t have anything particularly valuable, so I couldn’t even fill 5 kg.
Well, as I went about my life, I’d eventually accumulate more things to store.
Ding!
At that moment, my smart student notebook chimed.
A message had arrived.
[Hello, Kim Sunwoo. This is the ‘Red Blade’ guild. After watching your test today, we believe we might have a good connection and wanted to reach out. While it may be a bit early, if you’re interested in our guild, please contact us at 0XX-5XXX-2XXX.]
“…What?”
Did I just get scouted?
The Red Blade guild was one of the top 20 guilds in the world.
I had performed well on today’s test, but I never expected to receive a recruitment message so soon—especially since I still carried the stigma of being last in the school rankings.
[You have achieved the ‘First Contact’ achievement.]
[You have received 1,000 points as a reward.]
“Oh…”
And I even got an achievement for it.
I had no intention of joining Red Blade, but it still felt good to be recognized.
Then, my smart student notebook chimed again.
Another recruitment message.
[Hello, Kim Sunwoo. This is the ‘Obeli’ guild. You may not have heard of us—we are a newly established guild founded last year by A-rank mage Jung Hyun-doo. You still have two years left before graduation, but we wanted to reach out early and build a good relationship. If you’re interested, please contact us at 0XX-8XXX-7XXX.]
I knew exactly who they were.
Obeli—a newly established guild.
They weren’t that famous now, but in about two years, they would become infamous for forcing rookie mages into slave-like contracts, earning widespread public hate.
“These guys too, huh?”
After that, more and more scouting messages kept pouring in.
At first, it felt good, but as the messages stacked up, it became annoying.
I ended up blocking all future messages.
I had no intention of joining a guild after graduation anyway.
Right now, I had a more important priority—hunting down the hidden villains in the original story.
I couldn’t afford to waste time making money in a guild.
“Hm…”
I looked out the window.
Even though it was late at night, some observers still lingered outside the academy.
They were busy checking documents, making phone calls—each engaged in their own tasks.
Among them, some were surely villains in disguise.
Dark mages, terrorists…
Their objective wasn’t all that different from the other observers.
They were also here to scout valuable talents.
However, the biggest threat in this episode was the dark mages.
In two days…
The dark mages’ raid on the Mage Academy was set to happen.
Their goal wasn’t simply to recruit talented individuals.
It was to find the ‘Child of Prophecy’—the one destined to bring about their downfall.
This was a prophecy spoken by the former King of the Dark Mages just before his death.
The dark mages had already identified the ‘Child of Prophecy’ as a second-year student at the Mage Academy, using the Altar of the Seer, a holy relic with prophetic powers.
For the record, Lee Seo-jun, the protagonist of this world, was not the Child of Prophecy.
In fact, I was probably the only person in this world who knew the true identity of the ‘Child of Prophecy.’
And that person was…
Bzzzt.
My smart student notebook chimed again.
A message had arrived.
The sender was Yoon Hayoung.
[Sunwoo, can you help me with my training the day after tomorrow?]
[Sure, let’s meet after the test at 4 PM.]
The second day of exams was the written test.
Students sat quietly at their desks, waiting for the test to begin.
As I idly waited, occasional noises came from outside the window.
Glancing out, I saw that the first-year students were undergoing a basic physical fitness test.
It wasn’t anything grand—just simple running and jumping exercises.
Of course, only first-years took this basic fitness test.
“All right, distributing the test papers now.”
Just as I was watching the first-years, the teacher began handing out the exams.
The sound of paper rustling filled the room as the test papers were placed on each student’s desk.
“Ugh, I don’t understand a thing.”
A quiet murmur came from Yoon Hayoung in front of me.
A little farther away, Shin Young-joon was yawning, while Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo were reading the test paper with serious expressions.
Yoo Ara, maintaining perfect posture, stared straight ahead at the clock, waiting for the test to start.
I observed them for a moment before skimming over the questions on my own test.
At the same time, the Outsider’s Privilege activated, and the answers surfaced in my mind.
Seeing that, a smile naturally formed on my lips.
— Ding-ding-ding~
The alarm signaling the start of the exam rang throughout the classroom.
“Begin.”
All the students bent over their desks and started their tests.
I also picked up my pen and began answering.
Following the answers provided by the Outsider’s Privilege, I swiftly wrote them down.
After the first written exam ended, we had a 15-minute break.
Park Chan-oh, the magic history teacher in charge of proctoring Class 2-A’s exam, returned to the faculty office.
“Mr. Park, good work.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
He acknowledged the greetings from his fellow teachers and placed the stack of collected test papers on his desk.
Then, with a slightly sullen expression, he looked down at the exams.
“Hmmm…”
“Something wrong?”
A colleague noticed his unusual behaviour and asked.
“No, not really.”
“Really? Your expression doesn’t look good.”
“There was a student who didn’t take the written test seriously.”
“Oh… You mean the ones who just mark answers randomly and then doze off?”
“Yes. Even though the written exam doesn’t weigh heavily on the overall grade, as a written test instructor, it’s still a bit disheartening. Haha.”
Park Chan-oh recalled the scene from Class 2-A’s exam earlier.
At first, all the students had serious expressions as they worked through their tests.
Especially Kim Sun-woo, a student widely regarded as a model student among the faculty.
For about ten minutes, he seemed to be solving problems seriously—until he suddenly rested his head on the desk and fell asleep.
It turned out he hadn’t actually been solving problems but merely marking random answers.
“Tsk. People kept calling him an exemplary student, but in the end, he’s no different.”
No, maybe if he were just on the same level as the others, it wouldn’t have been as disappointing.
The problem was that he wasn’t even at their level.
Among the 50 students in Class 2-A, Kim Sun-woo had been the fastest to finish and go to sleep.
Just how little must he have thought of the written test to finish so quickly and doze off…
“Sigh.”
I wonder how much of a mess he made of his answers.
Park Chan-oh pulled out Kim Sun-woo’s test paper from the stack.
He scanned through it.
“…Huh?”
His mouth fell open.
Thinking he had misread, he rubbed his eyes and looked again.
The test was filled with neatly written answers.
Even on closer inspection, there wasn’t a single incorrect response.
Even the essay questions—tough enough to challenge even teachers—were answered flawlessly.
On top of that, he even included his personal opinions, demonstrating what a true model answer should look like.
“…Is this really Kim Sun-woo’s?”
It was impossible to complete this in just ten minutes.
Park Chan-oh flipped back to the first page.
He checked the name at the top.
And there, written clearly, was Kim Sun-woo.
His pupils trembled.
“…What is this kid?”
He really finished all this in ten minutes?
Jung Hyunsoo was reviewing documents on Kim Sun-woo under orders from Kim Deokhyun.
Name, age, physical details, address, family…
It contained all of Kim Sun-woo’s personal information—or rather, it should have.
“Senior, this kid has an unusual lack of records.”
“What do you mean? Lack of records?”
“I mean exactly that. Take a look.”
Jung Hyunsoo handed the file to Kim Deokhyun.
Setting his phone game aside, Kim Deokhyun checked the documents.
“Huh? You’re right.”
Just as Jung Hyunsoo had said, most of Kim Sun-woo’s personal information fields were blank.
Only the most basic details—name, age, and physical attributes—were filled in.
Even the family section was left completely empty.
It was as if he had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“Look at the family section—it’s blank. Was he abandoned somewhere?”
“Who knows? Damn, this kid’s a mystery. You don’t see this kind of thing often these days.”
“Well, it’s not that surprising. Even Lee Seo-jun’s records have a blank family section.”
“Hey! That’s different. Lee Seo-jun is… Ugh, never mind.”
Kim Deokhyun started to say something but then shut his mouth.
Seeing him keep a secret, Jung Hyunsoo frowned.
“What? Why are you stopping mid-sentence?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Ugh. You always do this. If you’re not gonna tell me, don’t bring it up at all.”
Jung Hyunsoo clicked his tongue in frustration.
Ignoring him, Kim Deokhyun examined the file again.
“But looking at this makes me even more interested. With no background info, he’s got this whole mysterious aura.”
“That’s unusual for you, senior. You’re actually speaking positively about someone?”
“His character is unique. He’s supposedly the lowest-ranked student, yet he’s weirdly skilled. His past is also shrouded in mystery.
That’s interesting, don’t you think?”
“Senior, if you want a character like that, go read a comic or novel.”
Just then, something occurred to Kim Deokhyun.
“Oh, right. That guy—Kim Jinwoo. Did you find anything on him? Like family details?”
“Nope. I checked his records with the association, and strangely enough, he doesn’t have much info either.”
“Seriously? So even their lack of records is the same? And they look exactly alike, too…”
Kim Deokhyun narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he flipped through the documents again.