Becoming Famous - 4
The news of my regaining consciousness and being discharged must have already spread. By now, it had become quite an attractive news item, and the power of the mass media was truly great. But even so, this was excessive. I hadn't even decided when I'd return to work, yet there he was, sitting and staging a one-man protest. What kind of thinking produced that?
"Lee Hyunwoo."
"Oh! Examiner! You're back at work?"
"As you can see. But what exactly are you doing, Lee Hyunwoo?"
"I'm protesting, just as you see!"
So why the protest, you bastard?
"I heard you were discharged. And I figured that if it was you, Examiner, you wouldn't take a long break and would return to the Academy right away. So I've been protesting like this to ask you to handle all the exams I missed while you were in the hospital!"
What was so impressive about that that he was grinning so proudly? Looking at Lee Hyunwoo, a genuine question crossed my mind. Did this guy actually know about my Sweet After Bitter trait?
...No. That couldn't be. It was impossible. In the first place, traits could only be seen by me, who possessed the Third Eye. No one else could see them. They didn't even know such things existed.
"Why are you so desperate to take the exam?"
Since there was always the possibility of an "if," I asked the question in a probing manner. Lee Hyunwoo was a protagonist, not a villain. And characters like that usually showed it clearly when they lied. Especially those with a martial artist concept like him.
"Uh... it's nothing special. If I had to give a reason, I've been putting in an enormous amount of effort lately and made some progress. I just wanted to show you the results, Examiner."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. And because it's you, Examiner, not anyone else."
Since he kept emphasizing "Examiner," I asked again what he meant by that.
"Didn't you fight an Elder?"
At my question, Lee Hyunwoo gave me a look that said I was asking something obvious.
"That's incredible. Even I saw an Elder from a distance back then, and my legs went weak—I couldn't move properly. And you fought that thing in a bloody battle, Examiner."
"...Technically, Professor Han Jiyun arrived right before I died."
"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you're a strong and excellent person, Examiner."
Since the Examiner was strong, he could see more of my shortcomings. If I received feedback on those shortcomings and improved them, I could become much stronger. Plus, since he was a strong opponent, I could fight without any worries and learn even more as a result. Wasn't that a huge benefit? That was the reason Lee Hyunwoo gave for his request.
"So right now! Please examine me!"
At Lee Hyunwoo's words, I pressed a hand to my forehead. I was already tired from coming to work twenty minutes earlier than usual, and now the protagonist was whining for an exam the moment I arrived.
"If I examine you now, that's it for today's exams. You know that, right?"
"Huh? No, there's no such rule!"
"There is. Academy regulations. A student may only be examined once per day, based on the start of the Academy's schedule."
"...Since I came early, couldn't you make an exception just this once?"
"If a civil servant living off taxpayer money isn't fair, that's a big problem. Are you going to cover for me if something goes wrong later? Or just stay quiet. The most exhausting thing among civil servants is overstepping authority."
"What are you going to do? Lee Hyunwoo's class starts soon. Unauthorized tardiness or absence without special circumstances is a sure way to lose points. If you want to avoid forced expulsion from the Academy you worked so hard to get into..."
"Uh, ah! Aaaah!"
Suddenly, Lee Hyunwoo began letting out exclamations. Like Archimedes shouting "Eureka!" in the bath.
"Lee Hyunwoo?"
"That's right! Exactly!"
"What are you suddenly saying?"
"Just like you said, Examiner! Only one exam per day! And that day is based on the Academy's schedule start time! So what time is it now?"
What time? Right now it was 7:43 a.m....
"Oh."
"The Academy's day starts at 8 a.m., right? So there's no problem if I take the exam now! I can do the one I missed yesterday right now, then come back in the afternoon for today's!"
It was nonsense, but such creative nonsense that I didn't even feel like refuting it. When someone exploited a loophole like that, a civil servant had no choice but to give in. And thinking about it, it wasn't entirely wrong. In fact, it was correct. Since it wasn't 8 a.m. yet, there was no problem with examining him. And the exam we did now could count as the one he missed yesterday. If that was all he was asking, I had no reason to refuse.
"...Fine."
"Oh! You'll examine me?"
"But I don't have much time, so we'll do it quickly. No complaints?"
Doing it quickly didn't mean going through everything like before. It meant charging straight in from the start—so he'd better be prepared. That was a kind of threat. Yet Lee Hyunwoo was beaming, as if it were the best news he'd heard all day.
"I'll be counting on you again this time!"
My commute was already twenty minutes earlier than usual, which was depressing enough. And this guy didn't even notice how I felt—he was just smiling happily. This crossed the line. It was an unforgivable sin against someone who came in early!
"Lee Hyunwoo."
"Yes, Examiner!"
"This might hurt a bit."
"Huh? What do you..."
I didn't bother listening to the rest. The moment the exam began, I slammed Lee Hyunwoo straight into the floor.
*
'And so, after tasting the spicy flavor, Lee Hyunwoo got to skip today's exam!'
If it had ended like that, it might have been fine. But the protagonist possessed an indomitable will. The damn protagonist who wouldn't yield no matter what trials came his way appeared before me again in the afternoon, insisting on taking the exam.
So what did I do? What else could I do? He came for an exam, so I had to give him one. That was my job. Earlier, it wasn't even official work hours, so bringing me more work was annoying and irritating. But I didn't carry that feeling into official work hours.
"This time, please take it slow!"
"I was planning to anyway."
Earlier, I'd been checking his hand-to-hand combat. Now it was swordsmanship's turn. When I drew my sword, Lee Hyunwoo happily drew his as well. Then he leaped forward as if the first strike was naturally his...
'What the hell, this guy.'
He was faster than the last time I'd examined him. Even though I hadn't been able to conduct exams while unconscious, it had only been a few days—not weeks or months. Yet our insane protagonist had grown again in those few days.
'He's actually lost it. Isn't this cheating?'
Even though I had no right to say that, the words came naturally. At this rate, he'd reach Gold—no, Platinum—before the semester ended. And by the middle of next semester, he'd be aiming for Diamond. Faster than the original story. Stronger than the original story. If he maintained this pace, there was nothing more I could ask for.
'Thanks to that, my worries on this side are only getting deeper.'
Whether to let him go or hold him back a little longer. A simple yet extremely difficult dilemma lay before me. The guy who was already strong had advanced much further thanks to my exams. At his current level, it was enough to let him go and handle things himself. I could guarantee that once the second semester started, he'd head straight for Diamond. But at the same time, the thought that it was a shame was also reality. He was already like this—what if I pushed him a little more with Sweet After Bitter? What would happen if I passed on, knowingly or not, the things I'd gained while fighting Kang Minsung and the Elder?
The difference might not be that big. It could be an incredibly tiny gap. But I didn't know what kind of influence that small difference would have later.
Chaeng—!
Once again, blade met blade with a clear sound. Thanks to that, I finally shook off my worries and decided to proceed as planned for today.
"Let's stop here. I think Lee Hyunwoo has felt enough for today."
"Yes. If we'd gone any further, I really might have lost something important."
Shoulder, thigh, and even the side. I'd struck him with the flat of the blade each time. Lee Hyunwoo must have felt it. That was why he'd gritted his teeth even harder. But right now, I was still above him.
"Today's exam was enjoyable as well! Thank you!"
"Don't mention it. It's my job."
After retrieving his sword, Lee Hyunwoo lightly loosened up. He'd probably run straight to the training ground in that state and start swinging his sword immediately. Normally, I would have sent him off with a "good luck," but today I wanted to talk.
"Lee Hyunwoo. There's something I want to ask you."
"Huh? Oh, if it's something I can answer, anything!"
"How's the atmosphere among the students these days? More precisely, the Bronze students challenging for Silver and the existing Silver students after hearing about me."
My recent activities had shot the civil servant named Baek Seojin straight into stardom. While that could be good, it clearly had negative effects as well.
"Uh, um. I was actually planning to mention it anyway."
Look at that. Even Lee Hyunwoo was showing a genuinely serious expression. This wasn't good. Yeah. Very not good. For my gatekeeper lifestyle.
"As it became known that the Examiner was strong enough to fight an Elder, student opinions have split into two major groups. Those two are..."
"The negative opinion of how we're supposed to take an exam against someone like that. And the opinion that because it's someone like that, we want to take the exam even more and earn recognition. Those two, right? Am I correct?"
"Exactly."
At my answer, Lee Hyunwoo nodded, saying I was right.
"Ugh."
I understood. Yeah, I couldn't say I didn't understand the students. If I were one of them, I would've said the same thing. Someone who could fight an Elder and even injure them. How the hell were we supposed to satisfy that guy enough to hear "Pass!"? What were we supposed to do against someone who couldn't possibly feel satisfied just by looking at us?
'Even if I told them not to aim to win, just to show their effort, they wouldn't believe it.'
My head was throbbing. I never thought my achievements so far would come back to bite me like this.
'The solution is...'
There was one. In fact, the solution was very simple. It was to unlock the solid gate and show that passage was possible. Then the students would see the possibility and have a reason to run again. But there was one problem...
'Come only after reaching a level where even if I unlock the gate, I won't feel any regret!'