It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Test Prep Tip: Create the Same Environment as the Exam (2)

Even amidst all this disruptive chaos, to remain unfazed and persistently solve problems!

That was the very purpose of this exam simulation.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

Snore! Cough! Cough! Cough!

Sniffle, sniffle. Achoo!

Click! Click, click, click!

Cough! Cough, cough, cough!

Flap! Flap!

“Teacher, I’m sorry, but could I have a new OMR sheet?”

“Can you move the clock to the center?”

“I need to use the restroom.”

“Me too.”

“One person at a time, please. Please wait a moment.”

“I’m really, really sorry, but could I have another OMR sheet?”

Every being around seemed to be tormenting Kyung-joon.

Nevertheless, Kyung-joon gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate solely on his exam.

‘Focus, focus!’

He planned to repeat this agonizing routine today.

Until when?

Until all these distractions no longer felt like distractions!

…….

…….

How many times did they repeat it?

“The exam is over! Everyone, please hand in your OMR sheets and exam papers!”

“Wow! It’s finally over!”

“My nose hurts from blowing it for four hours straight.”

“It’s hard enough to snore for four hours when I’m not even sleepy.”

“I think I’ve gone deaf from all the sniffling.”

“Um…… everyone! Kyung-joon-nim wants to do it one more time!”

“Again?!”

All the residents looked crestfallen.

However, their high loyalty and satisfaction towards Kyung-joon,

and the effect of the territory skill 『By the Incarnation’s Command』, gave them the strength to continue the exam simulation.

“Alright! Let’s give it our all since we’re doing it anyway!”

“Blow those noses to death! Achoo!”

“I’ll keep sniffling even if my eardrums burst and bleed!”

“I’ll change the OMR sheet every 10 seconds! Haha!”

“Hey you, have you ever clicked a pen at the speed of light?”

“Everyone, take your seats! We will begin the exam shortly! First, turn your OMR sheets and exam papers over……”

And so, Kyung-joon and the residents spent the entire day repeating the exam simulation.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“That was both long and short.”

A self-talk that has become a bit of a habit because of Teemo.

Of course, this was the front gate of Sejong University in reality.

There was no reply as it was the real world.

Still, he could imagine it.

Perhaps Teemo would have encouraged him with a ^오^ emoticon, saying he could do it.

‘It’s just as you said.’

Two months and about three weeks.

That’s how long it took to learn about and prepare for the Science Certification Exam.

The level he was taking this time was Level 2.

It was the equivalent of the first year of university.

Originally, he had planned to steadily climb the ranks from Levels 3-4, which were high school levels, but he gained confidence while studying.

General Physics and General Chemistry.

He had read every single letter and reviewed it multiple times.

If there were parts that required a deeper understanding, he would briefly consult higher-level textbooks.

He even perfected the exam simulation yesterday.

Now was the time to reap the rewards.

As he entered the examination hall, several students were already chatting amongst themselves.

“Hey, do you think you’ll pass Level 2 this time?”

“Level 2 is a piece of cake, isn’t it? It’s just insurance. Honestly, anything less than the Olympiad is a joke.”

“What arrogance from the guy who messed up last winter semester.”

(※Winter Semester: Refers to the winter program of the International Physics Olympiad)

“Anyway, I’m roughly in the top 3% of my class, so KAIST and POSTECH shouldn’t be a problem. Our seniors did well in their GPA, so there should be quite a few openings, right?”

(※KAIST: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, POSTECH: Pohang University of Science and Technology)

“My grades are a bit shaky, so I need to build up my specs with things like this. I might end up at Yonsei or Korea University.”

“Go Seongdae, Seongdae. It’s totally booming because of the Seolha Group. I even heard people saying ‘SeolSeongKAPO’?”

(※Seongdae: Sungkyunkwan University, SeolSeongKAPO: Seoul National University>Sungkyunkwan University>KAIST>POSTECH)

“Come on, no matter how high Seongdae has risen, it doesn’t make sense that it’s higher than KAIST and POSTECH.”

“That’s true. But looking at the recent QS rankings, Seongdae has definitely risen a lot. Their engineering school is higher than Yonsei and Korea, right?”

(※Yonsei and Korea: Yonsei University and Korea University)

Judging by their conversation, they were most likely students from science high schools or gifted schools.

Or they could be students from autonomous private high schools like Sangsan High School or Minsa High School.

It was absurd for students from ordinary high schools with grades in the bottom 30-40% to even think about attending such prestigious universities.

Moreover, the way they casually talked about renowned universities…

‘Wow… They talk about universities like they’re choosing clothes. Amazing. They must be the top students……’

It was a conversation Kyung-joon couldn’t even fathom.

As such, the students gathered here were all, unlike Kyung-joon, from specialized high schools.

They were all smart, from well-off families, and had excelled since childhood.

If you were good at studying, you went to Seoul National University.

If you were moderately good, you went to KAIST or POSTECH.

If you were average, you went to Yonsei or Korea, and if you weren’t, you went to Sogang, Sungkyunkwan, or Hanyang. This was a gathering of such terrifying individuals.

(※Sogang, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang: Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University)

Kyung-joon had to compete with these formidable students.

Nevertheless, Kyung-joon showed no signs of nervousness.

‘Just like I practiced in the simulation.’

Kyung-joon found his seat by checking the seating chart on the board and sat down.

Some students were busy chatting with their friends, while others were flipping through their General Physics textbooks, reviewing formulas.

Kyung-joon did neither.

“Hoo.”

He simply closed his eyes and recalled the feeling he had during yesterday’s simulation.

No, not just yesterday.

The past two months.

Or perhaps the past half year.

The feeling of studying he had experienced every single day since becoming an Infinite Knowledge Seeker.

That was enough.

Ring-ding-dong. Ring-ding-dong.

The bell rang.

“Please turn your exam papers over and start immediately. If you have any questions or need to use the restroom, please raise your hand quietly.”

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of exam papers being turned over.

The moment the student in front of him turned over their paper,

Kyung-joon opened his eyes.

He passed the papers back in succession and placed the one he had pulled out beforehand in front of him.

Flip, flip, flip.

He quickly scanned the pages from front to back.

Question 1, 2, 3… 28, 29, 30.

‘Easy.’

It was too easy.

The moment he saw the questions, the answers formed in his mind.

He immediately picked up his mechanical pencil.

It wasn’t a graceful, cultured grip like that of a calligrapher.

He gripped the pencil tightly, as if he were about to break it,

and lowered his head as if he were about to dive into the desk.

Scratch, scratch.

The pencil left black marks on the answer sheet.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

The second hand ticked by, marking the passage of time.

“Cough, cough.”

“Sniff, sniff, sniff.”

“Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle.”

“Excuse me, I think I filled out my OMR sheet incorrectly. Can I get a new one?”

“I need to use the restroom too.”

“I…… I’m really, really sorry, but could I have another OMR sheet……?”

The five villains of the examination hall, whose absence had been curious, finally made their appearance.

‘Oh, man……’

‘So noisy.’

‘Just raise your hand quietly.’

‘Seriously, does he have Parkinson’s? How many times is he going to change his OMR sheet?’

The surrounding students were unable to concentrate on the exam due to the five villains.

But Kyung-joon was different.

‘A problem combining a moving inclined plane with a cylindrical rotating object. This is definitely solved by……’

Kyung-joon was completely oblivious to the surrounding commotion and focused solely on his own problems.

No, it wasn’t that he wasn’t paying attention.

He couldn’t hear them.

Whether people were coughing, sniffling, or chattering, he couldn’t hear any of it.

It was as if he were in a pure white space with only his desk, the exam paper, and himself.

Kyung-joon had experienced this state many times before.

When he was calculating acid-base reactions to defeat the boss monster Vitriol Acid in the Contaminated Underground Basement.

When he was memorizing English vocabulary words, completely oblivious to the fact that bandits from the Black Secret Village were raiding the carriage.

Every single moment he spent studying in Study Villa, he would unknowingly enter this state.

It was the state of 『Trance』.

Thus,

Unaware that what he had experienced in the game was being replicated in reality,

‘This can be solved by considering energy, formulating the Lagrangian, and applying the calculus of variations.’

Kyung-joon continued to solve the problems with greater focus than anyone else present.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

‘Whew, this is the tenth proctor I’ve seen today.’

Kim Kyung-il.

He was a physics major at Sejong University and the chief proctor for the ‘Physics Certification Exam Level 2’ being held at the university today.

Unlike the assistant proctors, who monitored students for cheating and were responsible for exchanging OMR sheets and guiding students to the restroom, the chief proctor was in charge of the overall exam proceedings.

One of his most important duties was to check for and immediately correct any errors in the exam questions that were brought to his attention.

‘This is the tenth time I’ve done this. I already thoroughly checked the exam papers before the exam.’

Kyung-il was confident that he had caught all the errors in the exam after reviewing it multiple times.

Subtly.

Just then, a male student raised his hand.

Kyung-il assumed he was raising his hand because of his OMR sheet.

But then…

‘Hmm? Where’s the assistant proctor? Ah, he went to the restroom with a student earlier.’

Kyung-il nodded, acknowledging the student’s raised hand, and got up from his seat.

He approached the male student’s seat and asked quietly so as not to disturb the other students.

“How can I help you? Is it about your OMR sheet?”

“No, it’s not about the OMR sheet.”

The male student whispered back to Kyung-il.

“I think there’s an error in question 23.”

On the student’s desk was his exam identification slip.

It read: 『112045 Lee Kyung-joon』.

‘An error in question 23?’

Kyung-il, the chief proctor, frowned slightly, thinking that couldn’t be possible.

He had been proctoring the Physics Certification Exam for ten years.

Through his experience, he had honed his reviewing skills to perfection, and he had reviewed this particular exam more than five times.

He was confident that it was flawless.

“Yes, please tell me where the error is.”

Kyung-il whispered quietly so as not to disturb the other students.

‘There are always a few students like this. Students from science high schools or gifted schools have quite the pride.’

Perhaps it was because they knew they were smart.

It was not uncommon for students to raise questions like this, claiming there were errors in the exam.

He may not be able to match their intelligence, but Kyung-il was a proud fourth-year physics major.

His GPA was a respectable 4.23 out of 4.5.

He was confident that he wouldn’t be outdone in terms of knowledge, no matter how smart they were.

“Well…… you see the explanation for choice C in question 23? It wouldn’t be a problem if it were within the framework of classical mechanics, but if not……”

Kyung-joon explained.

About 30 seconds passed.

Kyung-il couldn’t help but make a surprised expression.

“You’re absolutely right. It could be overlooked at the level of general physics, but…… hmm.”

To his surprise, Kyung-joon’s point was valid.

It was something that could be glossed over if one were to follow a general physics textbook, but it definitely posed a problem if one were to consider the subsequent concepts.

‘I overlooked it because I wasn’t thinking in terms of modern physics.’

If this were a regular high school exam, Kyung-joon’s point would have been dismissed as irrelevant to the curriculum.

However, this was a physics exam hosted by the Korean Physical Society.

They couldn’t simply ignore such inconsistencies, unlike in regular schools.

“I understand. We’ll have to make a separate announcement about this. For now, please solve the problem by disregarding the quantum mechanical and relativistic frameworks. Think of it within the framework of classical mechanics.”

“Okay.”

Kyung-il addressed the issue and concluded the question.

Then, a sudden thought crossed his mind.

‘……To be able to point out such an error, he must have at least skimmed through undergraduate-level quantum mechanics or relativity textbooks…… Which school is he from?’

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Naruto Runners Storming Area 51: A Weeb’s Perspective
• Wakana Gojou: The Ultimate Husbando? Is This Anime Romance Even Real?
• What if Disney Princesses Were Real? (Spoiler: Not So Magical)
• Are You Lowkey an Emo Kid, But Like, in a Good Way?
• Will My Cat Eat Me When I Die? (The Truth Might Hurt… Your Feelings)