10. The New Authority for Class Assignment Evaluation? (3)

It was a fine morning.

Early March. Still cold, true, but the approach of spring hung thick in the air.

Choi Hana was the disguised maid of Scarlet, vice president of Theia Academy’s student council.

Most of the people in the mansion had no idea of that truth.

So she still had to perform her duties as a maid of the house. Yet she was also a university student, and the exclusive personal maid of the young lady of the mansion—Scarlet herself. Because of that, no one in the household made any real demands of her.

Thanks to that, she could focus on the work of her organization.

“Give it everything you’ve got in today’s class placement evaluation. Hana-yang~!!”

When she stepped down from the family’s private car, Scarlet had personally cheered her on. Choi Hana’s motivation was at its peak.

“And if you happen to run into ‘that man,’ do your best with him too! Hohohot~!!”

Watching Scarlet drop that little hint, Choi Hana’s cheeks flushed red.

Scarlet unnie. No—Lady Scarlet. You’re completely misunderstanding this.

As she stepped through the doors of the designated examination hall, she casually checked the messenger app on her smartphone.

A delayed reply had finally come from Lee Junwoo to the casual DM she had sent earlier.

A short, concise sentence.

Scarlet might have mistaken ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it for personal interest on Lee Junwoo’s part, but that was absolutely not the case.

Lee Junwoo is a pure and noble holy knight! He has zero interest in women.

Because of his Aegis activities, people often misunderstood him as some womanizing patient, but she had secretly followed him around often enough to know better.

She knew he had no romantic relationship of any kind with those three.

Of course, he could have been carrying on a secret affair somewhere she didn’t know about, but…

“Why are you late again?! Every time you’re late, the number of civilians we can save drops by that much!”

“Doesn’t the manager know she’s supposed to be on standby an hour before the broadcast? I’ve cut you slack once or twice already!!”

“You’ve been late a lot lately. Get it together. At this rate it’s hard to keep working with you.”

……Yeah, no. He definitely wasn’t in that kind of relationship with any of the three.

It’s a little rude to say, but… he looked more like the slave of all three of them.

After finally finishing Aegis work, Lee Junwoo would sneak off late at night to do his personal training in places like rooftops. Those three seemed completely unaware of it.

A man that busy could never have the time to date just any woman.

Including herself, of course.

But Scarlet, who knew none of the real circumstances, had been asking her increasingly awkward questions for a while now.

I showed Lee Junwoo’s profile picture to my girl friends from the same year! They said the reaction was really good. He’s handsome, they said!

She kept bringing it up like that, repeatedly asking Choi Hana what she thought of Lee Junwoo.

What do I think of him…

It was true she had secretly watched him since their high school academy days, but it had never been that kind of man-woman feeling.

From the beginning, Choi Hana’s top priority had always been the reconstruction of the organization her father had led—and revenge.

She had never once lived as an ordinary girl her age.

Even dressing neatly and going out like this was only possible because Scarlet’s other maids did her makeup for her.

Lee Junwoo…

But defining what kind of person he was to her was not difficult at all.

Lee Junwoo was someone she deeply respected. And someone she absolutely needed.

A man who possessed the pure hero mindset that was so hard to find in this era.

The reason she was trying to rebuild her father’s organization was revenge, yes—but also to end the chaos of the underworld that kept producing countless innocent victims.

She wanted to work with someone she could trust more than anyone else.

And she wanted to become someone useful to him as well.

Of course, that would start with party activities at Theia Academy.

But the moment Choi Hana stepped into the examination hall, she instinctively hid her body.

Hiiik!!

Right over there—Lee Junwoo was visible. The instant she actually saw him, her body locked up.

Huh…? Why am I like this?

She had been watching him for a long time, true, but they had only recently started speaking properly like this.

Right! It’s because I respect Lee Junwoo! That’s why I’m nervous for no reason!

She hurriedly pulled out a hand mirror and double-checked that her appearance was still neat.

For some reason, the thought of facing him and talking felt embarrassing.

Maybe it was because she had never really mixed proper conversation with a boy her own age before.

One… two…

She counted to three in her heart, then naturally walked over and greeted him with energy.

“Lee Junwoo-ssi, good to see you!”

His gaze turned toward her.

But in that same instant, instead of returning the greeting, he looked past her.

Huh? Is there something over there?

Choi Hana turned her head as well.

Standing right there was someone else she knew well.

An Yumin?

An honor student no one from Theia High Academy could possibly not know.

No—among the new cadets of Theia Academy, she was the most famous and popular student of all.

And the same An Yumin who had strangely often competed with Choi Hana in practical evaluations.

Why does her face look like that?

They weren’t close enough to call each other friends, but they had been in the same class before, so she at least knew what expression An Yumin normally wore.

An Yumin was always an excessively motivated, spirited Awakened.

But right now she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠different.

An Yumin’s eyes were trembling.

A thoroughly confused expression.

And a look as if she were terrified of something.

An Yumin approached Lee Junwoo and opened her mouth.

“Lee Junwoo. Are you by any chance…”

Right then, Choi Hana’s eyes met An Yumin’s.

No. Don’t tell me… she’s realized late that she needs Lee Junwoo again?

Wariness rose toward An Yumin. Probably instinct.

Being able to do party activities with Lee Junwoo had only become possible because he left Aegis.

She did not want to hand a talent like Lee Junwoo back over to Aegis—back to An Yumin.

That was, of course, the instinct of an organization boss who hated losing an outstanding talent to a rival company.

And I just don’t want to lose to that An Yumin.

Everyone has people whose codes simply don’t match.

The two of them were that for each other. During high academy training, the practical combat drills she had done as a duo with An Yumin had been the absolute worst.

Without thinking, Choi Hana stepped right up beside Lee Junwoo.

“Lee Junwoo-ssi is my party member!”

She ended up shouting it straight at An Yumin.

The atmosphere in the examination hall was thick with tension.

It had been the same during the re-test, but the pressure itself was different now.

Which class you entered became part of your personal specs.

High Class in particular was a direct highway to key positions in the hunter world after graduation.

Of course, right now the hunter world valued connections and family background more than raw skill, but even among those golden spoons there was still a pride contest.

Well, I wasn’t aiming for High Class anyway.

Middle Class, where I could snatch the early quests of the original An Yumin, was far better for me.

The problem is that even Middle Class isn’t easy.

Students who had to take the re-test usually ended up stuck in Low Class.

The hierarchy among cadets had already been decided back in high academy, after all.

An Yumin’s case—climbing from mid-tier all the way to the absolute top—was the extreme exception.

An Yumin, huh.

I had briefly run into her in the examination hall just a moment ago.

I had always been watching her expressions, so I noticed immediately that something was off.

She’s this shaken right before an evaluation?

An Yumin was fundamentally highly competitive.

So right before any evaluation she always burned with motivation. Her focus was high as well.

But right now her eyes looked restless, somehow.

An anxious expression. Something must have happened.

I knew Aegis was already unstable, but that face was definitely the one An Yumin made when her mental state had been seriously broken.

Like when she let a villain she had barely caught slip away, or when civilian casualties happened… or when she lost a practical evaluation to Choi Hana.

Maybe the recent hero activities hadn’t been going well and the stress had piled up.

Then, when our eyes finally met—

“Lee Junwoo. Are you by any chance…”

She tried to speak to me, but—

“Lee Junwoo-ssi is my party member!”

Choi Hana suddenly pressed right up against me and shouted, and An Yumin fled the spot as if running away.

If it had been the old me, I would have been so worried about that An Yumin that I would have thrown the evaluation aside and gone to soothe her.

In truth, I felt nothing at all.

Well, no matter how badly her evaluation scores turn out, she’ll still get into High Class.

She had completed her second awakening. On top of that, Aegis had recruited a new operator, so there was even less to worry about.

Right now was the time to focus on my own work.

That aside, Choi Hana…

Once An Yumin left like that, Choi Hana flinched in surprise.

She had pressed her body so close that our arms were almost touching.

Realizing it late, she bowed her head and said,

“I wish you success in getting into Middle Class, Lee Junwoo-ssi!”

With that she hurriedly fled the spot.

Truly a unique personality. Still, she seemed to rate me highly as a party member, so it didn’t feel bad.

Choi Hana will definitely make Middle Class.

Even as a re-test taker, Choi Hana’s practical skills were more than enough to pass High Class.

But her parents were ordinary people, and according to the high academy student records she came from a poor household and worked as Scarlet’s exclusive maid.

It’s only an identity disguise, of course.

On top of that her high academy attendance and theory grades weren’t good, so she would probably end up in Middle Class.

Just then the examiner called the next group. My turn.

Beyond them I could see Song Sia’s face.

An expressionless face that still gave away nothing of her emotions.

So I focused as well.

Even if we know each other, she’s not the type to go easy. Song Sia.

No—if anything, she seemed more focused than usual.

As a half-vampire, her gaze was so cold and ruthless that it felt eerie.

Wait. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Why is she taking me this seriously?

Honestly, a Song Sia who got serious was the scariest of the three in Aegis. That was not good.

I can’t let my guard down. If I drop to Low Class, every plan falls apart.

I casually checked the three examiners.

I remembered their faces.

A middle-aged female professor with a pale face.

A mage affiliated with the Magic Tower, so a professor rather than an instructor.

Another was an instructor from the Holy Knight Department. A holy knight whose name was famous even in the hunter world.

They matched them to the two of us’s main classes.

Song Sia was a pure mage class all the way through her second awakening.

According to high academy records my first awakening had been holy knight, so of course those two class professors were present.

And the face of the remaining one was even more familiar.

The young instructor I had seen during the re-test.

Lee Suyeon, instructor of the Liberal Arts Department. Dressed in office attire, she looked exactly like an interviewee herself.

I need to make a good impression on Instructor Lee Suyeon.

The department I actually wanted to enter wasn’t the Holy Knight Department—it was the Liberal Arts Department.

Precisely because of that Instructor Lee Suyeon.

The various class authorities I possessed.

Even the new authority I had created this time was a Rogue class.

From now on I would keep acquiring and combining various authorities.

Naturally, Instructor Lee Suyeon—who taught multiple classes together—was the best possible fit for me.

Authorities aren’t independent, after all.

The current authority I had created from a suitcase bomb.

And with this authority I had expanded a skill belonging to another authority.

Namely, my first authority.

The skill that belonged to the peacefully glittering mirror authority.

All preparations are complete.

I could see the examiners checking both of our profiles and past grades.

Soon the Holy Knight Department examiner spoke.

“Then Song Sia, and Lee Junwoo. Both of you, step forward in front of the examiners.”

The two of us stood side by side.

Even though we had been in the same examination hall, Song Sia had not even glanced at me until now. Only then did our eyes meet.

Song Sia’s red eyes were gleaming.

In that instant a chill ran through my entire body. It wasn’t my imagination. It was the pressure pouring out from Song Sia’s mana.

My authority attributes… I’m at a disadvantage on both sides.

Light and darkness attributes of authorities were mutual counters.

Our first authority attributes were light and darkness respectively. Naturally I was overwhelmingly inferior to Song Sia.

At least my second authority is darkness, but…

I could recover some of the compatibility effect with the darkness-attribute authority—the Throne of the Shadow Mirror—but fundamentally my stats were far too inferior compared to Song Sia. Even in elemental resistance stats I was naturally much lower.

But if there was one thing where I overwhelmingly surpassed her, it was mental strength.

“How have you been? You look tired again today.”

To hide the tension, I casually spoke first.

Huh?

But Song Sia’s red pupils trembled for an instant. She hurriedly opened her mouth.

“……Don’t act familiar with me. And the way you look at An Yumin like that…”

I had naturally expected zero reaction, so I was puzzled.

Why suddenly bring up An Yumin?

Maybe when An Yumin tried to speak to me earlier, she saw that and mistakenly thought I was still clinging to Aegis.

“……”

But looking again, her expression was still cold. She fell silent without another word.

Well, me leaving Aegis probably means nothing to that Song Sia.

Now that they had recruited a new operator, she might not want to get involved with me any further.

It was just like the emotionless her.

In the meantime only the ominous killing intent unique to vampires had grown thicker.

She’s become… much scarier than before.

Truly an opponent I could not lower my guard against.

I had already prepared for exactly that, so all preparations were done.

“The abbreviated spar is one minute. Rather than deciding victory or defeat, this is a place to show the proficiency and skills of the authorities you each possess. Focus on showing yourselves.”

At that moment the Holy Knight Department instructor spoke.

Then the female professor of the Magic Department glanced at me.

“Hmm. There’s no need to force yourself beyond your limits! Knowing your place… no, calmly knowing your own skill is also ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a virtue of an Awakened. If your opponent is Sia-yang, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Even if you give up from the start.”

Her tone made it sound as if declaring retirement right this moment was the correct choice.

But even under that sarcasm I remained calm. Instead, Instructor Lee Suyeon beside her muttered,

“Is that really so?”

A moment later, the abbreviated spar between the two of us began.