Academy Admission Exam
The young woman with vibrant green hair, evoking an elf, was dashing through the nearly empty streets as if the academy entrance exam had already ended in her nightmares. Her small stature and delicate pointed ears made her look more like a child than a true elf, but the urgency in her steps betrayed her panic.
“Aargh, I’m doomed! What on earth was I thinking, sleeping in so late yesterday?! The academy entrance exam—if I’m late even for that, what am I supposed to do?!”
She’d barely taken three steps when she collided with a burly man who blocked her path in the deserted alley. Her face twisted in shock.
“Shit! Watch where you’re going!”
“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! But I’m in a huge hurry right now!”
Thud.
“You little shit! What the hell are you running off to do?! Because of you, I just smashed my brand-new phone today!”
“T-that… how much is it?”
“Haa… since you look so young, I’ll cut you a break. One million won will cover everything—the debt I owe you plus the phone repair. That’s it.”
“O-one million won?! I-I don’t have that kind of money right now…”
“Hah. Listen here, kid. I’m trying to be nice—don’t make me laugh. No money? Then pay with your body!”
The man’s grip tightened on her shoulder, his voice dripping venom. The girl trembled violently, unable to do anything but shake as terror flooded her.
Someone… please help me…
But no one did. Passersby saw the hulking man and his vicious glare, and even though they heard her silent plea, they simply avoided her desperate eyes.
“No one’s coming to help? Then come quietly when I tell you to—smartly.”
Thump.
The man yanked her arm hard, but a hand shot out and seized his wrist.
“Let go.”
“Hah, who the hell are you to talk like that? Pissed me off. If you don’t want to get hurt, shut up.”
“One more time—let go.”
“You little—!”
The black-haired youth’s irritation peaked as he activated his unique ability—Steel Transformation—and slammed his fist down on the man’s head with a bone-crunching strike.
CLANG!
“Again—let go.”
“What… what the hell is this?!”
The man swung again, but the youth dodged effortlessly and repeated the warning.
“I’ve said it three times. I’m not holding back anymore.”
Whoosh!
The man’s fist flew toward the youth—he who was none other than Cheon Seong. At the last second, Seong caught the attacker’s wrist, then hurled him with brutal force. The man sailed through the air and crashed hard onto the pavement.
“Seong! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Yuna.”
The cold, winter-like expression on Seong’s face thawed into a gentle spring smile the instant he spotted Lee Yuna racing toward them.
“Seong, you could have dodged that easily—why did you take the hit? Let me see—anywhere hurt?”
“I wouldn’t get hurt that easily, Yuna. And you were supposed to handle this peacefully.”
“I know, but what if you kept getting hit?! I can’t stand seeing you like this!”
Slap! Slap!
Yuna’s small hand landed sharply on Seong’s back. Seong grinned through the pain. The green-haired girl stared at him, voice trembling.
“It hurts, Yuna… stop…”
“Hah. You didn’t even feel it hitting steel, yet you’re acting so delicate.”
“P-please… thank you for helping… but I… I did something wrong… is this really okay?”
The girl dropped to her knees, head bowed, pointing at the fallen man. Seong’s smile stayed perfectly polite, but his eyes turned icy.
“That man’s phone— I dropped it even before we collided. I was just annoyed.”
“R-really…?”
The green-haired girl’s eyes widened in alarm as she realized the exam had started. Seong shrugged indifferently.
“No need to worry about it. Just go.”
Yuna punched Seong’s back hard. “Seong, what are you saying? Are you okay? Where were you going?”
“Ah… uh…”
“Yuna, this kid isn’t a child. He looks the same age as us.”
Seong sent a burst of blue mana into the pain in his back, cooling it instantly. Yuna blinked in surprise.
“Y-you’re… twenty…?”
“Y-yes, twenty.”
Yuna apologized instantly. The girl smiled politely, still sneaking glances at Seong.
“U-um… are you two also heading to the academy?”
“Yes. We’re going to take the entrance exam.”
“Then you should hurry! The test… the time is already late!”
The girl looked genuinely shocked. Yuna tilted her head, glancing at Seong.
“Seong, how much time is left until the test starts?”
“About an hour. If we walk, we should arrive in forty or fifty minutes.”
“Really?”
Seong checked his watch. Yuna’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the girl, who flushed bright red.
***
I know this green-haired woman.
It was Dang Hwa-ran—the yoho, or the Nine-Tailed Fox, who betrayed humanity in the previous timeline.
In that world, she was the one who brought China to its knees.
Cloud Flame Flower.
The contagious venom she unleashed to destroy the entire nation.
Only those of the highest rank could survive it, and even they eventually succumbed unless they built resistance. China, with its vast population and few top-tier ability users, fell first. The entire region became a wasteland choked with poisonous flowers and beasts.
When I first discovered her… I almost killed her on the spot.
Even now, with my strength, fighting the entire Dang Clan alone is impossible.
The Dang Clan’s surname was Dang.
Their only daughter—the sole female heir of the most prestigious poison family in the world—stood before me now.
If it were only raw physical strength, I could handle them. I could also amplify white mana to weaken their poisons and build resistance. But that was assuming they used standard toxins.
The Dang Clan’s arsenal included three types: impossible-to-treat poisons that only death could end; poisons that required resistance to defeat; and poisons that had antidotes. Cloud Flame Flower fell into the second category.
Even in the previous timeline, I had built resistance… but barely. I survived by the skin of my teeth. If I killed her now, the Dang Clan—masters of poison and assassination—would hunt me down no matter how well I hid. They would come for my precious people.
And the Dang Clan…
…was the family famous for its torture techniques. They would never stop.
…
…
“You… why did you betray us…? Why did the entire Dang Clan betray humanity…?”
“Still got strength left to talk? You really are something, aren’t you? Luckily, so am I.”
CRACK!
The man’s fingers snapped off, rolling across the floor.
“If you’ve suffered enough, why not give up already? Where’s Yuna, that annoying woman?”
“Fuck… even if I die… I’ll never tell you…!”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll grant your wish. Let’s see how long your determination lasts… one month.”
One month.
That was the duration of the torture I endured in the Dang Clan’s clutches.
Each severed finger was pierced by the clan’s venomous needle, scraping my bones and nerves raw. The needles gnawed deeper into my marrow, severing nerves one by one. A month of unrelenting torment. Yet I did not die.
Poisons were death, but also the miracle that sustained life.
The Dang Clan had spent centuries perfecting their toxins. How many of their poisons had actually killed their own members? Countless, of course.
Among them were untreatable poisons that offered only one escape: death. The clan had created and refined dozens of them, developed antidotes, and studied medicine itself. Their body-modification martial arts—poison arts—were second nature to every member.
They kept me alive long enough to heal, then tortured me again and again. One month of continuous agony should have shattered any normal person. But I was not normal.
Spirit Barrier.
My innate ability—Five Colors’ side effect—also allowed me to conquer countless mental dungeons. It was the blessing that kept me sane… and the curse that would never let me lose my mind.
With the Spirit Barrier active, I never went mad. My mind stayed clear, and I endured every torture without breaking, without fainting, without even losing consciousness.
Venom needles slipped between my fingernails, chewing on nerves. My fingers swelled from poison, filling my mouth. What exactly had I eaten during that month?
Bread? Water? Rice? Grass? Or worms?
None of the above. I didn’t even have something edible. At best, I had poison insects or poisonous plants—things no living being could consume.
Or perhaps there was nothing at all. That would have been better.
While being tortured, my regenerating fingers were repeatedly cut, poisoned, and swallowed. I sustained my life that way.
Eating human flesh causes Kuru disease—an incurable condition that leads only to muscle spasms, paralysis, and mental collapse. Normally, one doesn’t get it from their own flesh. But my regenerated fingers—could they be considered truly part of my body?
And the poison that had twisted my nerves—could the prion proteins it created be identical to my own?
Obviously not. Regeneration required hours of adaptation. I had none. The cycle repeated: cut, poison, swallow, repeat.
Yet Kuru disease never struck me. White mana acted as an automatic defense system, purifying my brain.
Torture? It was far worse than just severed fingers.
Neural toxins heightened every sensation in my body. Needles plunged into pressure points, freezing, burning, slicing, crushing bone, and carving flesh. Through my nose, writhing insects entered. My plucked eyes were filled with tiny poison creatures and sealed shut, turning my body into a living jar for gudu (worm poison).
That poison was injected into my groin and sealed. The clan didn’t stop there. They tortured my head—my actual brain.
Venom seeped between my hollowed eyes and pierced my brain. The feeling of it threading through my neural tissue was the most horrific pain I had ever endured.
I felt every wrinkle, every fold. Tiny worms wriggled, their sharp claws and teeth digging in. But I did not die.
I did not faint.
Each time, the number of needles increased.
I did not die.
The needles kept coming.
I did not die.
They grew more numerous.
I did not die.
My pain faded.
I did not die.
Then the pain vanished entirely.
I did not die.
I felt nothing.
I smiled.