𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑𝟕
Finally, the new semester has begun.
The protagonist and the main character of the 1st installment of this exorcism series, Yoo Ha-on and her party, are now in their 2nd year, and I am in my 3rd and final year.
「. . .𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮.」
Unlike games where you just skip through text and images, here you had to spend each day in real-time, but even so, time seemed to pass by very quickly.
And it probably won’t be much different in the future.
From now on, it’s going to get busier and busier, so there won’t be any time to relax and enjoy myself.
「𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧.」
So I should try to finish everything I need to do during that time as much as possible.
“Now, 2nd and 3rd years, move to your respective classes according to your ranks! Everyone must be gathered by 9:30!”
After finishing the opening ceremony at the same time as the freshmen’s entrance ceremony, we once again gathered together as a class to check on our classmates.
In fact, the members themselves haven’t changed much.
By the time you reach your 2nd or 3rd year, the growth gap between students has already been mostly sorted out, so the rankings don’t tend to change that much.
The only noticeable change is, of course, the addition of Laura, the princess of Spain.
“She will be joining us at Cheonghwa Academy this year. This is a great opportunity for exchange, so please share your knowledge freely.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m just an exchange student here, so there’s no need to treat me with any special regard. Please just treat me like a friend.”
Some of them had met her before, but most of them seemed to be looking at her with interest, as it was probably their first time seeing someone of royal status.
After our first meeting, it was time for the second round of curriculum planning.
The method itself wasn’t much different from last year, but there was one special requirement for 3rd-year students who were about to graduate.
Specifically, they had to join a club and leave behind a graduation project.
「𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. . . . . . .」
At the very least, I need to choose a club that I can fully commit to right now.
So after I finished selecting my elective subjects, I carefully looked at the screen of my student terminal and started looking for a club to join.
「𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩.」
I think Yoo Ha-on and her party also joined a club and did some stories, but none of them were that serious.
I probably won’t have to do anything.
With that in mind, I decided to simply choose a decent field and focus on my own work.
The place I chose was the Field Trip Club.
「𝘼 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙮.」
I wouldn’t have to worry about anything too much here, and I could relax and have some personal time at the same time.
Also, there was one more reason.
「𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤𝙤.」
The azure dragon’s Yeouiju, which Cheong Woon took from the azure dragon in the distant past and promised to return in their last contract. I planned to use the field trip activities to slowly search for it.
After filling out all the necessary information, I submitted it through the terminal, and unlike last year, the registration was completed without any major problems.
There weren’t many classes on the first day, so after finishing everything, I went to find someone who was at the academy, as I had planned in advance.
That person was none other than Yoo Ha-on.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
“How have you been lately?”
“I think I’m steadily getting better. I can use most of the techniques you taught me last time.”
As I’ve said many times before, the most important thing for the future is the growth of the original protagonist, Yoo Ha-on.
Fortunately, Yoo Ha-on seemed to be steadily learning the future spells that I had taught her, but I still didn’t think it was enough to overcome the difficult challenges of Hell difficulty.
So I shouldn’t slack off on finding a lower trait of the Anti-Demon trait.
After checking on Yoo Ha-on’s condition, I decided to help her acquire the other candidate trait that I had considered last time during the relatively free time at the beginning of the semester.
「𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼-𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙥𝙨𝙮𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽-𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩.」
It won’t be easy to get either of these two, but I think it’s worth trying the psychic power one for now.
After making an appointment with Yoo Ha-on, I took her somewhere as soon as the weekend started a few days later.
That place was a pseudo-gambling den near Incheon.
“This is. . . . . .?”
It wasn’t a very overt place, but people were unknowingly making semi-serious bets.
Yoo Ha-on finally asked me, full of questions.
“Why are we here. . . . . .?”
It was only natural. If someone from my country had brought me to a place like this to train, I would have wondered what was wrong with their head.
But it couldn’t be helped. This was the best place to aim for the activation conditions of the psychic power trait.
“. . .Can we really train here? No, is this even a place we’re allowed to be?”
Yoo Ha-on was confused and didn’t know what to do, as befitting a girl of her age.
But there’s no other way. If doing this can help protect the citizens in the future, then it’s worth it, right?
That’s why I decided to mix in some good medicine.
“I’m not bragging, but I used to come here a lot.”
“Why? Ah. . . . . . .”
As if she had been reminded of the day care center incident, Yoo Ha-on suddenly stopped talking and looked at me with a pitiful expression.
And now, for the main event.
“The stronger the opponent you face, the more your quick judgment and ability to respond will determine the outcome.”
“. . . . . .”
“To gain an advantage in such a fight, you first need to practice understanding a wide range of opponents.”
It sounded like nonsense, but depending on how you heard it, it wasn’t that unconvincing.
To the hesitant Yoo Ha-on, I gave one last word.
“As you said before, the reason I can always fight skillfully no matter when or where is because I have this kind of experience to back me up. At least I think it helped me a lot.”
“. . .Then I’ll give it a try.”
The process of acquiring the psychic power trait is nothing special.
You just have to make countless choices in various situations and get the correct answer.
In some ways, it’s a trait that borders on intuition.
Just as there are people in reality who are unusually good at everything they do and have good luck, to be honest, you need aptitude more than anything else to acquire it.
But I was confident. If Yoo Ha-on, who had the Blue Beacon trait, could have that aptitude as well.
So after a whole Saturday had passed, Yoo Ha-on returned to the academy with me, her face pale.
Like someone who can’t hold their liquor after their first drink, there weren’t any noticeable results.
To such a Yoo Ha-on, I gave my final greeting before we parted ways.
“We’ll go again tomorrow.”
“. . .Can’t we take a day off?”
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Two weekends later, the following week, classes started in earnest again, and programs related to our future careers were often held, befitting the name of our graduating class.
And in the midst of such events, there was one piece of news that attracted a lot of attention from many students.
It was the announcement of early applications for the exorcist qualification exam.
“Why bother? The pass rate is super low anyway, and there’s no real use for it right now,”
In fact, that was the opinion of most of the students. They thought it would be better to focus on self-development for their future rather than taking a difficult exam and getting exhausted.
However, they also knew one thing. What it meant to pass the exorcist qualification exam early.
If they passed, they would be scouted by numerous prestigious families, and any organization or company would want to hire them.
However, despite knowing this, the difficulty of the exam was so high that most people couldn’t even think about it.
Unless they were truly exceptional talents, it was difficult for students at this age level to even come close to passing.
That’s why only students in Class A or B usually took the exam seriously.
“Are you going to take it?”
Jung Han-sol asked, sipping on a drink. I paused for a moment before answering.
“For now.”
“Really? That’s surprising. I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
I don’t know why he thought that, but considering what was going to happen in the future, it would be better to get an exorcist qualification officially.
That’s why I was determined to pass this exam in one go.
“I heard it’s really hard. Are you confident?”
“I can’t fail. There were two people who passed last year too.”
“Well, those two were both seniors who were always in the top 5 of Class A. But come to think of it, if you put it that way, it might actually be possible?”
The exam was certainly difficult, but it wasn’t impossible for those who were among the best students at Cheonghwa Academy.
Jung Han-sol, who was right next to me, was also a genius who could defeat even a 3rd-grade exorcist with his abilities.
“Then I guess I’ll give it a try too. I don’t have anything else planned anyway.”
That would be fine with me. Someone like Jung Han-sol would be a great practice opponent.
“Are there any others? I heard there’s a cooperative exam, so it would be good to train together.”
“I’ll ask around later.”
As I asked my classmates for their opinions while taking classes, there were a total of three students who expressed their intention to take the exam, excluding Jung Han-sol and me.
They were Sophia, the top student, Hwang Ji-hak, the second-best student, and, surprisingly, Guilford Fisher.
“Why are you guys doing this? Is it really that big of a deal?”
“No, weren’t you going to go back to your home country?”
“I recently decided to stay. I’m not going to inherit the family business anyway. It’s the right choice for me to be where I want to be.”
Leaving the surprised Jung Han-sol behind, Sophia and Hwang Ji-hak also explained their reasons.
“I plan on going straight into the field, so I need the qualifications first, right?”
“I also need to build up my qualifications and experience in order to secure my position as the next elder.”
Their reasons were certainly understandable.
Anyway, that made a total of 5 applicants, which was a good number for training for the exam.
After setting a regular time to meet, we each focused on preparing for the exam.
「𝙄𝙩 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.」
Even if I had to compete with skilled adult exorcists who had surpassed the student level, I had nothing to be afraid of.
As I organized the information about the exorcist qualification exam that had appeared in the original work in my head, I quietly curled my lips into a smile.
