After the final exam, in the waiting room.
Each team gathered together, exchanging light conversation and words of appreciation for each other’s efforts.
Naturally, the victorious Team B was in a celebratory mood.
“Wow. Seriously, Kim Sunwoo. What a twist.”
“I know, right? He was giving orders from the front, and I was wondering what he was doing, but turns out there was a reason for everything.”
And unsurprisingly, most of the conversations revolved around Kim Sunwoo.
It made sense. He had single-handedly covered Team B’s biggest weakness—the lack of area of effect magic.
With a display of such an overwhelming AOE spell that it was hard to believe even after witnessing it first hand.
While everyone was sharing their impressions of the exam,
Lee Seo-jun was scanning the area, looking for someone.
It didn’t take him long to find them.
In the corner of Team B’s waiting room, a noticeable crowd of students had gathered around someone.
Lee Seo-jun walked over immediately.
“Kim Sunwoo.”
“Oh, hey. You came?”
Kim Sunwoo looked up and responded.
Then, a female student to his right, shook his shoulder and said,
“So how did you learn that spell, anyway?”
“I’ve told you like five times already—it just kind of happened.”
Kim Sunwoo brushed her hand off his shoulder, clearly annoyed.
“Oh, come on! That’s not a real answer!”
“Seriously. Is it that hard to explain?”
This time, a male student to his left muttered with his arms crossed.
Lee Seo-jun gave a wry smile as he watched.
Seeing someone swarmed with endless questions like that didn’t feel so unfamiliar.
But he couldn’t blame the students either.
He himself had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask Kim Sunwoo.
Still, thanks to Sunwoo’s performance today, the attention that usually fell on Seo-jun had eased up a bit, which was admittedly a relief.
‘…But seriously, how did he pull off that AOE spell?’
Seo-jun recalled the torrential rain-like spell Kim Sunwoo had unleashed earlier.
Just thinking about it gave him chills.
That kind of AOE magic wasn’t something you could master with a few days of practice.
No matter how talented you were, it would take at least three years of dedicated training.
Just how much had he practiced…
No. This wasn’t something you could achieve with practice alone.
“…He’s a genius.”
“Hm? What did you just say?”
Kim Sunwoo responded to Seo-jun’s quiet murmur.
Seo-jun shook his head.
“Nothing. Forget it.”
“…Alright, then.”
Kim Sunwoo nodded. Then, once again, a barrage of questions came from the surrounding students.
With a deep sigh, Kim Sunwoo stood up from his chair.
“Huh? Hey, Kim Sunwoo, where are you going? You still haven’t answered us!”
“I’ve got something to think about right now, so leave me alone.”
“What do you need to think about?”
“You don’t need to know.”
With that curt reply, Kim Sunwoo walked off somewhere.
His mood at the end clearly wasn’t good, and the remaining students simply watched him leave in stunned silence.
After Sunwoo disappeared, Lee Seo-jun tilted his head slightly.
Did something bad happen?
It didn’t seem like it was just the crowd’s attention bothering him.
“Hm…”
Seo-jun started walking again and left the waiting room, stepping out into the hallway.
As he walked down the corridor, he spotted a familiar face sitting on a bench, looking dejected.
“Yoo Ara.”
At his call, Yoo Ara lifted her head and looked at him.
“…Lee Seo-jun.”
Her voice was weak. Not surprising.
She was one of the most competitive students in the entire academy and absolutely hated losing.
On top of that, this final match was widely considered to favour someone like Yoo Ara, who specialized in AOE magic.
Many had predicted she’d take first place in this exam—and she had been confident, too.
But she had lost.
And to make matters worse, she had been outdone in her own specialty—AOE magic—by none other than Kim Sunwoo.
Her pride must have taken a serious hit.
Seo-jun looked at her with sympathy before sitting beside her.
“You okay?”
“…Don’t try to comfort me. It doesn’t help. It just makes me feel worse.”
Seo-jun gave a small nod.
He hadn’t sat next to her to comfort her anyway.
There was something he wanted to ask.
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“…What is it?”
“I was hoping you could tell me what happened at the base.”
“The base?”
“Yeah.”
He had been curious ever since the base appeared. What kind of events took place inside?
Truthfully, from the moment he learned about the stronghold, Seo-jun had assumed he’d be the one entering it.
He was especially interested in base related strategies, and the strongest members from each team were chosen to enter—so it was only natural he’d want to go.
But Kim Sunwoo had held him back, and Seo-jun had remained outside.
It had been a bit disappointing, but for the sake of the team, he’d followed Sunwoo’s command.
“The base, huh…”
Yoo Ara fell into thought for a moment, then spoke.
“It was pretty typical. Escape the maze, dodge traps, defeat guardian monsters…”
That much, he expected. But there was something else he was curious about.
“Not that part. I heard there was an event inside the base too.”
“An event? Yeah, there was one. It happened right before we captured the base.”
At her words, Seo-jun’s interest piqued.
“What kind of event was it?”
“They gathered everyone inside a maze-like area. It was a survival event—the last one standing wins.”
A survival event.
Seo-jun had a rough idea of what it was.
It was probably a scenario where the participants tried to read each other until the end to survive, only to end up killing one another.
“What was the reward?”
“It was a really good one. You get a ticket to go straight to the next floor.”
“The next floor?”
A ticket that lets you skip to the next floor—it certainly was a huge reward, considering the nature of these bases, where you had to climb up floor by floor.
Since the final floor of a base was the 5th, whoever won the event would most likely take control of the base.
“So Kim Sunwoo must’ve won the event, then.”
“Seems like it. He did take the base after all.”
“Hm.”
If it was a survival event, then he would’ve been at a major disadvantage in a 1:2 situation, but he still managed to survive until the end.
“Kim Sunwoo’s pretty impressive. He was alone and still survived. Did he face both of them by himself?”
“That’s not how it went.”
“Then?”
Yoo Ara fell silent for a moment. Then, after a short pause to gather her thoughts, she spoke again.
“Kim Sunwoo showed up at the end. At first, it was just me and senior Kim Chang-hyun fighting.”
“Really?”
A showdown between Yoo Ara and Kim Chang-hyun, the top manifestation-type mages of each grade.
Lee Seo-jun found himself wondering what kind of fierce battle that must have been. He’d have to watch it once he got back to the dorm.
“So you were fighting one-on-one, and then Kim Sunwoo jumped in and won?”
“That’s right. And I was already a bit worn out from fighting senior Kim Chang-hyun. So as soon as Kim Sunwoo intervened, I was eliminated right away.”
11 p.m., late at night.
After finishing all his scheduled tasks, Lee Seo-jun returned to his dorm.
Maybe it was the fatigue built up over the past two days, but his steps lacked their usual energy.
He threw himself onto the bed.
And recalled what had happened during today’s exam.
“…Kim Sunwoo.”
Just how strong was he really?
Lee Seo-jun had been uncertain about Kim Sunwoo’s true capabilities, but this event gave him clarity.
At the Mage Academy, Kim Sunwoo had never shown his full strength.
And unless it was an important moment, he never revealed his abilities at all.
“…Why is that?”
It couldn’t simply be humility, or a dislike for showing off—there were too many oddities for that to be the reason.
Especially the fact that he only started revealing his strength starting in his second year—that was telling.
If Kim Sunwoo had truly wanted to avoid standing out, he would’ve tried to keep a low profile during this exam too.
“He hid it in his first year, but had a reason to reveal it in his second…”
Lee Seo-jun sank deep into thought. Then it suddenly occurred to him what Kim Sunwoo had been so focused on.
“Sacred Martial Festival…”
Kim Sunwoo had been strongly set on participating in the Sacred Martial Festival.
The reason he showcased such remarkable skill in this second-year exam must’ve been to secure his spot in the competition.
“Does he want something from the Sacred Martial Festival?”
What could he hope to gain from competing in it…?
Lee Seo-jun kept pondering, but no answer came to mind.
Information about the Sacred Martial Festival was kept under strict security measures to ensure fairness.
What little was known amounted to the fact that it would begin next spring and only the top five students from each school could participate.
There was one more thing—the Sacred Martial Festival always offered a “special prize” each year.
“A prize, huh…”
But they never announced what the prize would be.
“Hm.”
Lee Seo-jun let out a deep sigh.
There just wasn’t enough to go on.
Trying to piece together a theory with such little information would be no better than writing fiction.
Clearing his thoughts, he opened his smart student notebook.
When he accessed a portal site, countless articles about “Kim Sunwoo” instantly popped up.
He skimmed through them briefly, then clicked on the “base exam footage” from this final exam.
A deep darkness covered the night.
A lone man walked with quiet dignity through the silent park within the Mage Academy.
It was so late that not a single trace of life stirred within the park.
The man checked the watch on his wrist.
11:30 p.m.
It was quite late.
Lowering his hand again, he turned his gaze toward the direction of the boys’ dormitory.
Just as he was about to head that way—
Pew!
A blue flash sparked behind him. An unidentified, mana-infused projectile shot swiftly toward his back.
The man reacted instantly.
He turned around and swung his hand, deploying a barrier.
A thunderous sound followed, and smoke rose from the area.
Boom!
It had been a potentially fatal attack, but the man calmly dissolved the barrier he’d created.
Then he looked toward the darkness behind him—the source of the ambush.
Something hidden in the shadows began walking slowly toward him.
Step. Step.
As the distance closed, the dim park lights gradually revealed the face of the one hidden in the darkness.
A young man who looked around 18 or 19.
With jet-black hair.
Upon seeing the face before him, the man showed no sign of surprise.
He simply stared with emotionless eyes.
Then the figure asked him,
“…What are you?”
His voice was mixed with confusion, fear, and anger—a mix of emotions.
But the man didn’t answer. He simply stared in silence, as if studying the face before him.
“Answer me!”
The figure shouted again and fired a blue magic spell with an outstretched hand.
But the man once again calmly deployed a barrier to block it.
After dispersing the barrier, he looked straight at the figure and finally spoke.
“Kim Sunwoo.”
At the mention of his name, the figure—no, Kim Sunwoo—gritted his teeth.
“Kim Chang-hyun. What the hell are you?”
In response, Kim Chang-hyun dropped his emotionless façade and grinned.
“So the mystery of the base must’ve whispered something useless to you.”
Read advance chapter on Patreon. Click here.
Leave a Reply