The Academy Entrance Exam

I was rescued exactly one month after the torture began. Yoo Han-jin — Shin-yeom, the Divine Flame, one of Korea's Transcendents — personally stormed the hideout where the Dang Family remnants had been holding me.

I still don't know why Yoo Han-jin went out of his way to save me himself, but thanks to him I made it back into my comrades' arms.

The problem was that he burst in while the torture was still underway. Every one of my fingers had been cut off and both ankles severed, and the sight of me like that sent my comrades into a fury. Deok-bae, who had always treated me like a son, raged that he would slaughter every last Dang remnant on the spot — Kim Cheol and Ga-eun barely managed to hold him back.

Watching my comrades clench their fists so hard they shook, biting down on their lips until they bled, I almost wished I had simply died under the torture. Still, with Yoo Han-jin's support I was able to regenerate every severed part of my body.

By the time I finished rehabilitation and could move properly again, Yoo Han-jin had already mustered a force and wiped out every high-ranking inspector, branch lord, and other key figure among the Dang remnants.

When I asked about Dang Hwa-ran, my comrades' faces went dark. What they told me of her end was, in every sense, a death worthy of the Dang Family.

Those were Dang Hwa-ran's final words as she detonated herself, trading her life for a suicide blast.

True to the Dang Family creed — repay kindness twofold, repay grudges ten-thousandfold — her self-destruction scattered a cloud of incurable, highly contagious lethal poison. Of the ten Highest-rank, twenty Upper-rank, and forty Mid-rank ability users who had gone to purge the Dang remnants, more than half failed to escape the toxin. Their bodies melted where they stood, bones and all, until nothing remained but black sludge. And worse — she left humanity with a wound that cut bone-deep: she reduced Shin-yeom, Yoo Han-jin, one of Korea's Transcendents and the man who had rescued me, to a vegetative state.

Yoo Han-jin had already surpassed human limits and reached the realm of a Transcendent, so even poisoned by Dang Hwa-ran's toxin he did not die and his body held its shape. But though he had taken every possible countermeasure the instant she detonated, those measures only stopped the poison from spreading outward from him. They could not keep his own body from being contaminated. He lived — and yet he did not live. He became a living corpse. A vegetable.

The day the news of Yoo Han-jin reached her, Yoo Hwa-young — who had never once shed a tear in front of anyone — broke down sobbing, clutching her father's body as he lay plantlike on the hospital bed, wailing loud enough to shake the walls of the ward. Heroes and villains, good and evil, every nation without distinction — all who stood against the Celestials mourned Yoo Han-jin's fate and wept.

And the very next day, Yoo Hwa-young became the first human in history to kill a Celestial — and in doing so, rose to the same realm beyond humanity that her father Shin-yeom Yoo Han-jin had reached. Korea's third Transcendent.

Yuna, Dang Hwa-ran — who had insisted on coming along — and I arrived at Saenal Island, the artificial island in Korea where the Academy entrance exams were held.

"Let's go register first."

"Yeah, let's. I'll head over to the recovery-type registration, so how about we meet back here when we're done, Cheon-seong?"

"Sure. Sounds good."

Yuna was a recovery-type ability user, so she had to register with the other supporters — a different line from mine. We agreed to meet here again once we were finished and parted ways for a short while.

Left alone with Dang Hwa-ran, a combat-type ability user like myself, I walked toward registration in silence until she finally spoke up.

"Um… m-my name is Dang Hwa-ran. Thank you so much for saving me earlier."

"Lee Cheon-seong. And don't thank me — thank Yuna later. I only saved you because she asked me to."

In other words: if Yuna hadn't asked, I wouldn't have bothered. But Dang Hwa-ran didn't seem the least bit offended. She just answered, "Oh, right," and giggled to herself.

After that she chattered on about things I had zero interest in — what she liked, what she hated — while I let her words go in one ear and out the other, finished my entrance registration, and headed back to the spot I'd promised to meet Yuna.

And there she was — with some bastard glued to her side, yammering away. My face twisted.

"That son of a bitch…"

Yuna looked like she was refusing him, yet the bastard kept clinging. The situation was obvious.

I clamped down on the killing intent that tried to leak out and strode toward her. The moment I saw Yuna's lovely face contort and the bastard's hand close around her wrist, the thread of my reason nearly snapped — I barely held it, and picked up speed.

"…Just try it. It's not a bad offer for you either."

"I already have a boyfriend."

"So? Whoever he is, you'd be better off with m—"

"Get your damn hand off her, you bastard."

I seized the wrist clamped around Yuna's, wrenched it free, and pulled her shoulder into my chest, wrapping an arm around her.

"So you're this woman's lover?"

"That's right, you bastard."

"Such vulgar speech. Well, fine — this works out perfectly. Here. Take it."

The bastard pulled something from his coat and held it out.

"A blank check. Write whatever amount you want and I'll pay it. Just break up with her."

He looked at me with the smug certainty that I'd take the deal, so I answered him in kind.

I tore the check to shreds right in his face, then set every scrap ablaze with magic.

"Fuck off, you piece of shit."

"Y-you lowborn mongrel dare mock me?!"

Enraged, he flooded the air with mana, flaring his aura to intimidate me — but no matter how hard a piece of low-grade trash like him tried, it barely registered as more than an ant's bite.

"Nngh…"

Unfortunately, that was true only for me. Several people nearby, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Yuna in my arms, all looked unwell.

This idiot bastard, seriously…

I cursed myself for not shielding Yuna sooner and cut off the killing intent directed her way. Relief washed through me as her color improved, and I fixed the bastard with a cold stare.

People around us were collapsing one by one, but the only person I needed to protect was Yuna. I had no reason to look after anyone else. He'd already leaked killing intent — the Academy staff who sensed it would handle the rest.

"Cheon… seong. The others… not just me… help the others too…"

"…Fine."

I'd been about to knock the bastard out with a rough burst of killing intent and be done with it, but Yuna wanted me to look after the people around us.

Annoying — but if Yuna ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asks, I do it.

I gathered the killing intent pouring in every direction and funneled it so it struck only him.

He crumpled.

"Urgh!… Ghk! Gah!! Hrk… koff!"

His own killing intent scattered under mine. His face went deathly pale as he hit the ground, choking and gasping — the face of a man who couldn't breathe.

Of course. He was here for the Academy entrance exam, which meant he was twenty, same as I was now. A green brat who'd just shown up to take a test. There was no way someone like that could endure killing intent honed razor-sharp through war against the Celestials.

A few onlookers stirred at the sight of him choking and thrashing, but as far as I was concerned this was mercy.

My killing intent had been forged through life-or-death battles day after day, through hundreds of brushes with death. If a bug like him took the full brunt of it, he wouldn't just stop breathing — he'd die on the spot.

What I was putting out now was barely a tenth of what I could do.

"Let's go, Yuna."

"Okay… but Cheon-seong, is he going to be all right? He looks like he's in so much pain…"

Even after the bastard had harassed her, Yuna looked at him with worry written all over her face.

Tsk. Yuna's too kind for her own good.

I'd briefly considered slipping a curse of agony onto him and decided against it. To me, a little suffocation was already generous. Apparently even this was too much for her.

"All right, Yuna. I'll leave it at this."

What else was I supposed to do? If Yuna wanted it, that was that.

"Hah! Hah… hah!… Haah… haah… cough! Cough!"

The moment I withdrew the killing intent, his blocked airways opened and he gasped like a landed fish.

"Thank you, Cheon-seong."

Yuna smiled at me in gratitude. I told her it was nothing and, still holding her close, started to lead her away — when something shot toward my back at high speed.

BOOM!!

Humiliating.

It was the first time he'd felt this… no. The second. The first humiliation since that bitch Yoo Hwa-young two years ago.

Because of that bastard…

Because of that lowborn mongrel walking away with his back turned, and the whore nestled in his arms.

When he'd first spotted the whore, her face and figure had been exactly his type. He'd planned to drug her, use her as a toy for a while, then toss her aside whenever he got bored.

But the whore had dared refuse him. Rejected him.

She had dared turn down a personal offer from him — Shin Go-won, heir to the Mist Guild.

Money, jewels, luxury goods, elixirs — he'd told her she could have anything she wanted. The whore still refused.

And then there was the lowborn mongrel, her lover, the one who'd dealt him the greatest shame and humiliation of all.

That mongrel had dared tear up the blank check Shin Go-won himself had offered, thrown the scraps in his face, and burned them. Then, by some trick, forced him to his knees — and strolled off as if nothing had happened.

A lowly commoner, daring to do that to one of the chosen.

Unforgivable. That whore and that mongrel — both of them. Unforgivable!!

He would never forgive this.

A commoner defying one of the chosen was something he would never, ever forgive.

Shin Go-won ground his teeth and aimed the ruby ring on his finger at Cheon-seong, channeling mana into it.

Whatever he pulled just now was clearly some artifact or underhanded trick. Time to make him pay for mocking me.

Flame flickered to life from the mana-fed ring.

An artifact that let him cast the three-star flame spell Fire Lance twice a day with nothing but a mana injection — no chant required. A high-end piece worth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thirty million won, given to him by his father specifically for the entrance exam.

Let's see you block this one with your little tricks!

The Fire Lance streaked toward Cheon-seong.

Starting a fight before the entrance exam could mean penalties — worst case, disqualification without even taking the test. But all I have to do is pin every charge on that mongrel and his whore.

Witnesses? Commoners who would look the other way the moment you stuffed cash in their hands. And money was something he had rotting in piles.

Besides — who would dare touch the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heir of the Mist Guild?

Without a thought for the consequences that might fall on him, Shin Go-won fired the Fire Lance, utterly certain it would punch straight through Cheon-seong and Yuna.

He had no idea that what he had just provoked was a dragon coiled and waiting.

—CRASH!!

The Fire Lance slammed into Cheon-seong and Yuna. Shin Go-won's face lit with triumph as he pushed himself up and hurried toward the impact.

But as the dust cleared, what he saw was nothing like what he'd imagined.

"H-how…"

Instead of lying broken and defeated under the Fire Lance, Cheon-seong and Yuna stood completely unharmed. Behind them shimmered a transparent barrier — the four-star defensive spell Protect, cast by Cheon-seong.

"H-how the hell can you cast Protect…?"

Shin Go-won asked, unable to trust his own eyes. Cheon-seong answered not with words, but with action.

Without a word, Cheon-seong stretched a hand toward Shin Go-won and slowly closed his fingers into a fist.

"Ghk! Grk… kaff!"

Shin Go-won's body lifted into the air, thrashing in agony.

Cheon-seong's telekinetic magic had seized him by the throat and hoisted him off the ground.

With every tightening of Cheon-seong's fist, the telekinesis clamped harder around Shin Go-won's neck. Just as the fist was about to close completely, someone interfered with the spell and shattered it.

"Whoa, whoa! That was fun to watch, but the fight ends here! Keep going and you'll both be disqualified before you even take the exam!"