Skip to content 
Arietta seemed surprised that Ggong-sam-yi could breathe fire and hurriedly began to cast defensive spells to block it, but thanks to that, her back was completely exposed.
At that moment, I summoned the Black Bird from the shadows and told it to snatch Arietta’s token.
Bang!
『Kik!』
Thud.
“Huh?”
She must have been startled when the necklace string snapped, because her defensive spell wavered for a moment.
Seizing the opportunity, Ggong-sam-yi jumped and shot a small fireball.
Not at Arietta, but at me.
Whoosh!
Crackle!
“W-What are you doing!”
Arietta rushed over to try to put out the fire on me, but unfortunately, it was a futile effort.
As long as I had the Cleansing Fire trait, Ggong-sam-yi’s fire wouldn’t harm me. Instead, it would destroy the enemy’s spell.
After escaping from the binding spell, I used the Shadow Assimilation trait to call Elder Water Ghost and Sori-soe back into the shadows.
Then, I summoned Sori-soe again and got on its back.
Clatter.
“3 minutes are up.”
I shook the token as I left, taking Ggong-sam-yi with me, and she just watched me with a blank stare.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
𝙖𝔴𝔢𝔟𝐬𝘵𝙤𝙧𝚒𝐞𝚜.ċ̇𝙤ᴍ
Honestly, there weren’t any major obstacles after getting past Arietta.
The destination was on a mountain beyond the plains, and although I was attacked by other examinees who were after my token, they weren’t really much of a threat.
“. . .M-Man, what makes you so strong?”
“Oh, come on. Hey, didn’t you hear she’s in D-class? Are you kidding me?”
After easily defeating the attackers, I finally managed to climb the entire mountain and reach the finish line.
“1 hour and 17 minutes. You came in first and even got the token. Good job. Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.”
“. . .That’s excellent.”
Cheong Hae-in, the supervisor of this practical exam, looked at me intently with a meaningful expression before smiling in satisfaction.
About 5 minutes later, the second person reached the top of the mountain. It was Cheong Juhwa.
“. . .When did you get here?”
“Not too long ago.”
“I thought you’d definitely be first. How are you so fast?”
As I chatted with Cheong Juhwa, who was grumbling, the third person appeared.
It was Viola, one of the main characters in Chapter 2 of the story, an exchange student.
She looked at Cheong Juhwa and me, who had arrived before her, clicked her tongue in disappointment, and then completed the procedure and started to rest.
After that, the examinees came pouring out one after another. Seo Ji-an arrived in seventh place, looking quite relaxed as if she hadn’t exerted herself too much.
“I expected it, but you really did come in first.”
“I got lucky.”
“. . .And you even got the token?”
Finally, after the time limit was up and the test was over, we were able to join up with the disqualified examinees and leave the barrier.
“The results of the exam will be sent to your personal terminals tomorrow. Then, you can either join a new class or continue with your current life according to the schedule you’re given.”
The results aren’t out yet, but honestly, I don’t think any of us three will fail to move up a class.
According to the original story, Cheong Juhwa will join Class 1-A, and Seo Ji-an and I will also be placed in an A-class like Sophia and Hwang Ji-hak.
In a way, this was the real starting point.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 2 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚.」
There are events that really capture the atmosphere of the academy, such as presentations and festivals, but there are also times when players are suddenly thrown into high-intensity crises.
Even based on my experience so far, I can’t ignore the influence of Hell difficulty.
Ultimately, I had to be even more alert, knowing all of this.
As I walked along my usual walking path, reflecting on my mindset, I noticed a familiar face walking towards me. It was Seo-ah.
“Oppa? Is the test over?”
“I just finished and was on my way back.”
“How did you do? . . . . . .I guess I don’t need to ask.”
Seo-ah smiled faintly and congratulated me, seeing the relief on my face.
We sat down on a nearby bench and chatted for a while, and it was already starting to get dark.
“Oh, right, Oppa. There’s something I wanted to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I won’t be able to go because of training during this vacation, but I’m planning to visit the orphanage this weekend.”
In other words, Seo-ah was asking me to go with her.
「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙣 𝙆𝙖𝙣𝙜-𝙮𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙪𝙥.」
Since an incident would also happen there later on, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to familiarize myself with it.
I was also curious about Han Kang-yoon’s birth and past.
I didn’t have any memories of the previous Han Kang-yoon, so I was a little hesitant, but it was something I had to face eventually. I made up my mind and answered Seo-ah.
“Okay, let’s go this weekend without wasting any time.”
“Okay. I’ll call the director.”
The next day, I checked the results of the promotion exam that had been sent to my terminal first thing in the morning.
Of course, I passed. It seemed that Cheong Juhwa and Seo Ji-an, who had taken the test with me, had also been promoted.
「𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩.」
After skimming through the details, it said that we would join Class A right away after the weekend, starting next week.
Most of the subjects we were taking would be carried over, but in cases where there were separate classes for upperclassmen and underclassmen, like Comprehensive Combat Training, we would all be moved to the upperclassmen’s classes.
It was an impressive achievement in a way, but I couldn’t afford to rest on my laurels.
「𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝘼 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙.」
Without the Growth Acceleration trait or any extraordinary genius, I had no choice but to do everything I could to keep up with their rapid growth.
「𝙄𝙛 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙤-𝙖𝙝’𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩, 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩.」
Even now, I could feel the gap in talent between me and the main and supporting characters. It would definitely become even more apparent as I reached higher levels.
However, I had no intention of just sitting back and watching.
「𝙄’𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙥.」
As part of my plan, I first had to find out everything I could about 「𝙢𝙚」.
I stared intently at the location of a certain orphanage marked on my smartphone’s map app and closed my eyes to fall asleep.