At 7 PM, after all the classes at the Mage Academy had ended,
Choi Seo-yoon and Song Seung-ah were at the campus cafe studying for their second midterm exam.
Song Seung-ah was diligently studying with her glasses on, but Choi Seo-yoon had been sitting still with a troubled expression for a while.
“Ugh…”
“You’ve been groaning non-stop, it’s driving me crazy. Hey, are you even studying?”
Song Seung-ah glared sharply at Choi Seo-yoon as she spoke.
Choi Seo-yoon looked at her and replied shortly, “Sorry.”
She then picked up her pen again, as if she was about to start studying, but soon drifted off into thought once more.
“…Maybe I was too much.”
Choi Seo-yoon simply couldn’t concentrate.
Her mind was completely filled with thoughts of Kim Sunwoo.
The subtle change in Kim Sunwoo’s attitude towards her lately.
She could feel it.
Kim Sunwoo was distancing himself from her.
It had started after the Fireworks Festival.
She had probably said some foolish things, carried away by the mood.
Why did I do that?
I want to go back in time.
“Ugh…”
“Seriously. If you need to take a dump, just go to the bathroom already.”
Instead of replying, Choi Seo-yoon let out a sigh.
Song Seung-ah put down the pen she was holding and crossed her arms.
“What’s bothering you?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Is it because of Senior Kim Sunwoo?”
“Huh? N-No?”
At Choi Seo-yoon’s stuttering, Song Seung-ah narrowed her eyes.
Then, without much thought, she casually threw out a remark.
“Did you get rejected at the Fireworks Festival or something?”
Choi Seo-yoon flinched at that moment.
Rejected?
She hadn’t confessed, so technically she hadn’t been rejected.
To be rejected, you have to confess first.
But now that she thought about it, wasn’t this basically a rejection?
The infamous zero-confession, one-rejection.
When Choi Seo-yoon didn’t answer, it was Song Seung-ah who became flustered.
“Whoa. Seriously?”
“N-No. I wasn’t rejected. Why would I get rejected?”
“You totally were. I bet you said all kinds of weird stuff, swept up in the atmosphere.”
“…I said I wasn’t.”
Choi Seo-yoon muttered and buried her face into her book.
Song Seung-ah looked at the crown of her head with a pitying face.
“Sigh. Forget it. Everyone has days like that. Still, that senior must have really high standards. I mean, he’s passing up someone like Choi Seo-yoon.”
High standards, huh.
That might be true.
Just looking at the people close to him — Senior Yoo Ara, Senior Yoon Hayoung.
…And even though she was dead now, there was also Senior Park Minye, whom Kim Sunwoo had once liked.
Come to think of it, when it was revealed that Park Minye was a demon…
How must Kim Sunwoo have felt?
“Seung-ah.”
“Yeah?”
“…If someone you liked treated you well, but then you found out they were just using you, how would you feel?”
“What are you saying? Did someone use you?”
“No, just hypothetically.”
“Obviously, I’d stop trusting people.”
As expected.
I’d probably be the same.
I’d close my heart and doubt even the smallest kindness from others.
Then maybe Kim Sunwoo…
Wanting to escape from this grim reality, Choi Seo-yoon sank even deeper into her thoughts.
Late at night.
After finishing all the training, I was waiting under the park lights for someone.
“Sunwoo!”
At the sound of my name being called, I turned my head.
Yoon Hayoung was running towards me with a bright smile.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“Well, the exams are coming up soon, right? There’s something I wanted to tell you about that.”
At my words, Yoon Hayoung tilted her head in curiosity.
“You know that we can pair up for the next exam, right?”
“Of course I know. But why?”
“I’m saying, let’s team up for the exam.”
“Ah~.”
Yoon Hayoung nodded.
“I’m fine with that. But since the starting locations are random, we might not be able to meet even if we want to.”
While that was somewhat true, I shook my head.
“We can just set a meeting point beforehand.”
“A meeting point?”
I pulled out my smart student notebook and tapped the screen.
“It’s a map of the dungeon that’s been released for this exam.”
The dungeon map looked like a ant nest with countless branching paths.
If you wanted to, it was even possible for all students to gather in one place.
It was all part of the demon’s plan.
“If you look carefully, there are a few points where paths converge naturally.”
As she stared at the screen, Yoon Hayoung’s eyes widened slightly.
“Oh? You’re right!”
“Let’s meet here.”
I pointed to a spot on the map.
It was roughly in the center of the dungeon — a spot anyone could eventually reach no matter where they started.
Yoon Hayoung studied the screen and nodded.
“Okay, sounds good to me. But I’m a little worried I might arrive late. Wouldn’t that just be a loss for you if your progress gets delayed?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
After all, the scores from this exam wouldn’t be counted due to the upcoming terrorist attack.
“Oh, and this is a bit random, but… If you run into someone in the dungeon…”
Yoon Hayoung looked up at me, curiosity shining in her eyes.
“Unless it’s someone you can really trust — like Lee Seo-jun or Yoo Ara — you must be on guard.”
The next day after school, after finishing 1:1 training with Choi Ilhyeon, I sprawled out on the floor catching my breath.
The intensity of the training seemed to be getting worse each day.
And instead of magical training, he kept focusing on physical techniques, which made it even more exhausting.
I had a ridiculously high stamina stat, to the point that I rarely ever got tired — yet even I was exhausted.
That says it all.
[‘Basic Enhancement Martial Arts (C)’ proficiency has greatly increased.]
[Due to the influence of ‘Teaching,’ Basic Enhancement Martial Arts has evolved into ‘Choi Ilhyeon Style Martial Arts.’]
[Senses become sharper and more sensitive!]
[Achievement ‘Martial Arts Acquired’ unlocked.]
[You gain 2,000 points as a reward.]
[Stamina increases by 1!]
While lying there, mysterious system messages popped up.
I blinked and stared at them.
…What now.
My trait had evolved.
Choi Ilhyeon Style Martial Arts.
It had changed from Basic Enhancement Martial Arts to a much less impressive-sounding name.
From what I could tell, there wasn’t much change except for the slight sharpening of my senses, as noted in the message.
Maybe because I learned it gradually, I couldn’t really feel the difference?
Tsk.
A bit disappointing, but points are points.
I glanced over at Choi Ilhyeon.
Despite the intense physical training, his expression remained as calm as ever.
Then our eyes met.
Choi Ilhyeon stared straight into my eyes and stroked his beard thoughtfully.
“Hmm. Strange.”
“…What is?”
“Your skills and sense aren’t bad, but how should I put this. You’re surprisingly lacking in talent.”
“…”
He’s right.
That’s why I’m so obsessed with collecting points.
“But I like that about you. I don’t like kids who are overflowing with talent.”
“Ah, okay…”
Not knowing what to say, I just kept my mouth shut.
After a moment, I nonchalantly got up.
“Phew. Anyway, training’s over for today, right?”
“Yeah, it’s over.
You can leave if you want.”
I nodded and packed up my things.
“Then I’ll be heading out first.”
I left the training hall and headed straight for the dorms.
Beep.
Time passed, and I finally arrived at the dorm.
When I opened the door, Gretel ran up to me with a bright face.
“Did you wait for me, Gretel?”
Gretel nodded.
I picked her up.
She felt heavier than before — maybe she had gained some weight?
Maybe she had grown bigger?
Upon closer inspection, she really had grown a little.
Even the little twig on her head, which used to have barely any leaves, was now lush and green.
“Gretel, you’ve become a flourishing one, huh?”
Gretel tilted her head, not understanding my words.
“It means you were born blessed.”
“Mmm.”
Hearing that she was blessed, she smiled brightly in delight. I smiled along and set Gretel down.
Then I went into the shower room and washed myself clean.
“Hoo.”
After finishing my shower, I took a can of beer from the fridge and chugged it down. At the same time, a sense of happiness filled me.
“Ugh. So refreshing.”
I threw myself onto the sofa.
Gretel looked at the beer can with curious eyes.
“This is not for you.”
When I spoke firmly, Gretel nodded.
Wondering what to do with the remaining time, I turned on the smart student notebook.
There weren’t any particular messages or notifications.
Just absentmindedly, I checked the message profiles of the major characters.
Everyone had confidently put up pictures of their own faces.
Lee Seo-jun had posted a photo of himself training, and Lee Hyun-joo had put up a picture taken with Lee Seo-jun on the Ghost Island.
Without any edits, they still looked ridiculously handsome and pretty.
I kept scrolling through the profiles until my hand stopped at Choi Seo-yoon’s profile.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard from Choi Seo-yoon recently.
She used to send at least one message every day.
As sharp as she was, she must have noticed my attempts to put some distance between us.
“……Hmm.”
Something felt strange.
Since Choi Seo-yoon was one of the main characters, I hadn’t wanted things to get uncomfortable like this.
Maybe it was all just my misunderstanding. Maybe it wasn’t even a big deal, and I was the one overreacting. Such thoughts started creeping in.
Perhaps it was selfish rationalization. But my hand moved on its own and selected her messenger profile.
When I opened it, the usual selfie with Song Seung-ah had been taken down.
There had been no conversation in the chat since five days ago when I left her on read.
Going through the chat history, most of it was me leaving her on read or giving short replies.
Yet she had kept sending messages consistently.
“……Maybe I should send a message.”
This would probably be the first time I ever initiated a message to Choi Seo-yoon.
[Tomorrow’s the Special Class. Let’s do well.]
A short and simple phrase. That should be enough. I pressed send.
“Huh?”
But the number ‘1’ didn’t appear next to the message. Meaning, she read it immediately.
“What the.”
Was she keeping the chat open?
[Character ‘Choi Seo-yoon’ is greatly flustered by your action.]
[You have earned 500 points as a reward.]
At that moment, a message from Choi Seo-yoon arrived.
[?Sunbae-nim]
[I was about to message you]
[What a coincidence]
As if flustered, she kept sending messages one after another.
Time passed quickly. It was a series of ordinary, uneventful days.
If there was anything different from usual, it was that I attended the Special Class gathering, visited the special training facility with Yoon Hayoung, and trained the Power of Eradication against demon-type monsters.
Another notable event was, as I had feared, that articles about the relationship between Kim Jinwoo and Han Se-yeon had started popping up.
It wasn’t a dating scandal, but articles titled “Close Friends,” “Drinking Buddies” began appearing.
At the same time, a fair number of malicious comments about me surfaced.
[Doesn’t look like they’re dating, haha. The girl’s way too good for him]
[Honestly, the guy’s seriously whatever, haha. No way Han Se-yeon would go for Kim Jinwoo if she had a shred of sense, lol ]
[Ugh. Drinking buddy with Han Se-yeon. Kim Jinwoo, seriously makes me curse]
[World’s Worst Mage, Kim Jinwoo]
Thanks to that, I racked up quite a few points.
I earned even more points than when I caught a bunch of villains or solved major incidents.
Just from the article involving Han Se-yeon, I made a whopping 8,000 points. The public’s interest in Han Se-yeon exceeded my imagination.
[I’m sorry for dragging you into this annoying situation.]
Han Se-yeon repeatedly apologized, feeling bad about the situation.
Of course, from my perspective, it was only a good thing since I earned points.
I even considered spreading the article further myself, but remembering the old “exposure” incident, I decided against it.
Besides, I didn’t want to cause trouble for Han Se-yeon.
Anyway, time passed, and the day of the second midterm exam arrived.
The theory exam was completed yesterday, and now only the practical exam remained.
“Alright, we’ll now begin the main part of the second midterm, the ‘Group Dungeon Raid.’”
A hundred and fifty students gathered in front of the newly built “Artificial Dungeon” at the academy.
I looked around at the students and turned my gaze to the key figure of this event, Won Hyuk.
He stood there expressionless, listening to the instructor’s explanation.
“Ugh~ Dungeon exams are such a pain.”
Next to me, Shin Young-joon stretched and muttered.
Lee Seo-jun, standing beside him, replied with a laugh.
“Seriously. Why did it have to be a dungeon raid exam?”
“Huh? What, getting cold feet?”
“Hey, there’s a dungeon raid expert right over there.”
Lee Seo-jun glanced at me and muttered.
When our eyes met, I felt awkward and decided to speak.
“Hey. Don’t cling to the idea of first place. Just focus on clearing it safely.”
I said it, thinking about the danger looming ahead, but Lee Seo-jun seemed to interpret it differently and chuckled.
“What’s this? You trying to psych me out?”
“……Psych out, my ass.”
Muttering, I scanned the surroundings.
It was about time to identify this event’s villains.
I used Character Insight on each of the 150 students to uncover the demons hiding their identities with Impersonation.
The number was three.
Aside from Won Hyuk, the others were ranked B and A.
It might seem like a small number, but considering their grades, it wasn’t small at all.
“Seems everyone is ready. Then we’ll begin the dungeon entry. Class A will go first!”
At Jang Ancheol’s command, the students stepped into the pure white portal and entered the dungeon.
I followed them and stepped into the portal.
Flash!
Upon entering, I was greeted by a dark space.
I created a magic orb to light up the darkness around me.
Then I activated the dungeon map function on the smart student notebook.
My real-time location was displayed as soon as I turned it on.
While call and message functions were disabled, the map function was working fine.
Let’s see. The distance to the meeting point with Yoon Hayoung is…
“……Pretty far.”
It might take longer than I thought.
I hurried down the path.
Fifteen minutes into the exam.
Won Hyuk was moving forward through the dark dungeon interior.
Even though he didn’t use magic to light up the surroundings, due to his demon traits, he could see clearly in the dark.
“……Shit, what is this? Why are the monsters so strong?”
As he moved forward, a student’s voice came from somewhere.
Following the direction of the voice, he found a student standing tensely before a fallen, bloodied monster.
When Won Hyuk approached, the student noticed him and smiled in relief.
“Oh? Kim Hyechan? Hey, come here. I seriously almost died just now.”
Won-hyuk approached the student silently.
“The thing suddenly ambushed me—it was crazy fast. Thank God I managed to react in time. Phew. I really thought I was dead.”
Still trembling, the student kept rambling.
Won Hyuk stepped right up to the student and swung his arm.
Slash!
Red blood splattered across the dungeon floor. Some part of the student’s body rolled on the ground.
“Huh? H-Huh? W-What? What’s going on? W-What the h-hell…….”
Slash!
Won Hyuk swung his arm again. That was the end of the student’s life.
With an emotionless face, Won Hyuk wiped the blood off his hand.
“Pathetic.”
With those words, he resumed his steps toward his objective.
The plan to eliminate the Child of Prophecy—
No, the plan to annihilate the entire second-year class of the Korean Mage Academy—had begun.
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