Special Evaluation (5)
Special Evaluation (5)
Sssssssss.
The floor that had turned into a marsh returned to its original state.
"How did that even happen?"
Aspiring alchemist Park Myeong-ho scratched his head.
Baek Ha-na, who had come with them this far, suddenly attacked Na Ju-hee, then knocked out Im Gyeong-su and another student in an instant. The three of them sank into the floor and vanished.
"Do whatever you want."
Baek Ha-na tidied up her team, then spoke as she passed Park Myeong-ho, who stood there dumbly.
"I was going to anyway, even without you saying it."
Park Myeong-ho shrugged, then turned and slowly began examining the rest area as if nothing had happened.
Baek Ha-na watched him for a moment, then walked over to the sofa where her two friends were waiting.
"H-Ha-na?"
Lee Na-young, who had been waiting quietly on the sofa, fidgeted with her fingers and carefully spoke up.
"I-is it... okay?"
"It's fine."
Baek Ha-na answered as she settled onto the arm of the sofa.
"If I just say they got caught in a mental-type trap, it'll work out."
"I-is... that so...?"
Lee Na-young's expression all but asked, 'Does it really work that way?' but she nodded anyway.
"I'll back up that story."
Nam Seo-hee seized the moment to chime in.
-Hey, I'll go along with it too.
Park Myeong-ho, still examining the bookshelf with his back to them, answered tactfully.
"Well then...."
After a short rest, Baek Ha-na got off the sofa. Nam Seo-hee, who had been carefully stroking the swaying tail next to her, made a very disappointed face.
"You're going?"
"......I'm just going to check on something and come right back."
"Okay. I'll hold down things here."
"Thanks."
Lee Na-young, who had been listening quietly to Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee's conversation, asked cautiously.
"I-is there anything I can help with?"
"It's fine. It's not like I'm going to fight. I'll be back soon, so you look around here too, Na-young. When I get back, you and Seo-hee go gather materials. You need points too."
"O-okay. Got it."
Lee Na-young quickly stood up and ran toward the bookshelf Park Myeong-ho was inspecting. Baek Ha-na scratched her head at the sight.
'If she wanted to look around, she could have just said so....'
"She seems to be overly mindful of you, Ha-na."
'...Is she still finding me intimidating?'
"It doesn't look like that kind of mindfulness."
"......Really?"
"Yeah."
Nam Seo-hee could tell intuitively that Lee Na-young, just like herself, was being extra careful to get on Baek Ha-na's good side just a little more.
"So go on ahead."
"...I'll make it quick."
Leaving Nam Seo-hee behind, Baek Ha-na approached the door leading to the Innermost Area. After taking a small breath, she opened it.
Fwooosh—
A bleak wind brushed past her cheek from nowhere. She stepped onto a red carpet that seemed meant to welcome her but walked down a corridor filled with an atmosphere that did anything but.
Tap, tap-tap, taptaptap—!!
The thought of soon seeing the face of the person she'd longed to see quickened her steps. That quickened pace soon became a sprint, and she dashed down the grim corridor.
Fwooosh—!!
As she passed, the flames on the wall-mounted candlesticks flickered precariously. Her charge only stopped before a massive door at the end of the long, long corridor. No, she was forced to stop.
A massive door.
And a suit of silver armor standing guard before it.
'Haah....'
A sigh, closer to a groan, escaped Baek Ha-na's lips.
She smiled bitterly, looking at the knight standing stiff as a statue. And she felt relieved—no one, herself included, would be able to reach the Innermost Area.
**
-Bbiang?!
When Baek Ha-na slammed into the floor, the small mischief-maker watching next to me shot up and pounded my arm repeatedly. I ignored it and scanned the scenes being projected by Vuar's power.
'It's over.'
As soon as it began, over half the students were eliminated by the professors I'd deployed. After that, Jaden and Yoon Do-sik's traps and monsters cut down another half.
'They were nastier than I expected.'
They'd placed annoying traps and monsters in every room, targeting students who tried to shortcut their way to the fruits of sleepless labor without actually putting in the work.
The funny thing was, even if you took the long way around, similar traps awaited you.
The difference was that the former path was nearly impossible to overcome without Baek Ha-na-level skills, while the latter could be cleared without casualties as long as everyone did their part, even if it took a while.
-Bbyak?!
The gatekeeper protecting me.
Caught right in the stomach by Claire's knee, Baek Ha-na was lifted into the air, slammed hard into the ceiling, and dropped to the floor.
She'd repeated the cycle of getting knocked down and rising again countless times, but now she lay sprawled out completely.
Confirming Baek Ha-na's elimination, I grabbed the radio on the table and gave the order.
"Clean it up."
The professors who had been killing time in the first room all kicked down their doors and began sprinting through the corridors. From now on, they would systematically hunt down the scattered students.
Creeeeak—
The massive door opened, and Claire, clad in silver armor, walked in carrying the unconscious Baek Ha-na.
-Bbiang!!
The Fairy standing on the table flapped its wings and flew toward Baek Ha-na.
-Bbyak?!
Of course, it was caught by the mana string I'd tied and plummeted.
"Put her down and go clean up the ones still left in the rooms."
"......Yes."
She carefully placed Baek Ha-na in my lap and then left the room.
'I meant put her on the floor....'
Her hair was disheveled, her cheek swollen, and her uniform covered in filth.
I could have fixed it all with a single touch, but I didn't. To deal with the impulsive thing Baek Ha-na did before coming here, it was better for her to be transported to the waiting room looking exactly like this to add credibility to the excuse we'd make up.
For that reason, I carefully set her down on the floor.
-Bbi....
The Fairy looked at the unconscious Baek Ha-na with worry and tugged at my sleeve. Probably asking me to do something.
Sssssss.
-Bbiik?!
Just like Kang Han-na, the only student to be defeated, Baek Ha-na too began to sink beneath the floor and soon vanished completely.
As I stuffed chocolate into the mouth of the noisily chirping Fairy, I gazed at the rapidly tidying Rift.
'Not quite the result I wanted....'
The picture I'd had in mind was Baek Ha-na and her gathered group staging a raid against Claire.
Limited abilities and a fixed amount of stamina.
I had meant to teach them the importance of team composition and that, when necessary, you have to join forces even with hostile people. But when Baek Ha-na eliminated Na Ju-hee, my plan ended before it even began.
I also hadn't set a specific time limit for this exam to show them that some Rifts require a minimum number of people to clear.
[ (｀∀´)Ψ The hint I put in made the students self-destruct!! My contribution is the greatest!! ]
I ignored the sentence that floated up on the screen and spoke into the radio in my hand.
"Everyone retreat."
That was how I declared the end of the exam to the professors.
**
......Two days had passed since the Grade Evaluation ended.
It takes about two weeks for the overall results to come out, so the Top Seat and Second Seat would be announced during the week of the closing ceremony.
Also, I'd confirmed that the issue of Baek Ha-na's impulsive action had been smoothed over as her falling victim to a hallucination-type trap.
Finally, there was heated discussion among the first-years who'd taken the exam about whether the final test, which had been implemented with incredible realism, was actually a real Rift.
The reaction was much the same not just among the first-years, but also among the professors who'd assisted with the exam and those who saw the footage Vuar had broadcast for evaluation.
"So...."
The Innermost Area of the Rift I'd created.
Sitting across from me, Sean Connery asked with a haggard face.
"What is it I must do.... Please, for god's sake, tell me quickly....... I will do anything......!!"
It seemed Jaden had properly relayed my warning. From that day until now, when I'd called him here, he'd been holed up in Jaden's lab. Thanks to that, his Madness was hitting maximum levels by the second.
To make it worse, the two who came with his disciple Jaden were out investigating the Rift with Yoon Do-sik, so he must be even more frantic.
"Take it."
I took a small notebook from my pocket and tossed it at him.
He snatched it out of the air and began quickly scanning its contents.
"Just carry out what's written on the first page until I contact you separately."
There was quite a bit written on the first page, but the core part was one thing.
Package all of my current achievements under the Clock Tower's name.
Announce publicly that everything—from the content used in the first lecture to this whole Rift used as the exam stage—is a manmade structure implemented by the Clock Tower.
"I-If I do just this, it's over?"
"One more thing."
I spoke to the man, who was starting to foam at the mouth.
"If anyone contacts you seeking talks about a Rift-related commission, or about stories of successfully controlling a Rift, you are to report it to me."
"R-report... just report, that's all...?"
"That's right. Just alert me."
"Understood... understood......!! I promise to report it!!"
He stared at me with bloodshot eyes and swallowed.
"One day."
"O-ooooh——!!"
Whether satisfied or not, he let out an animalistic howl and bolted from the room.
'Now all that's left is to wait again.'
I'd done all I could in the current situation.
Although the developments had warped bit by bit, creating small and large variables, they were all within a range I could resolve. I'd actually corrected them to avoid disrupting the plan.
'But now that's over.'
Everything up to now had been incidents within the academy. Since I knew the elements and figures involved perfectly, dealing with them had held no great difficulty. But from next year on, predicting how things might change was tough even for me.
In the original flow, I completely disappear next year, and the Barrier protecting the academy vanishes as well. Because of that, outside factions begin infiltrating the academy, and the story grows heavy in earnest.
One of the quickest incidents to occur, for example, is one where underworld forces brazenly use students as sacrifices for human offerings inside the academy.
'All of that could now be happening outside.'
Just as I, who should have disappeared, was still breathing, the Barrier protecting the academy would likely stay firm.
'...I didn't plan it, but I resolved that part too.'
From second year on, field training is extremely frequent. So I have to pay even more attention to Baek Ha-na's safety. Originally, I'd have had to ask Claire, but by a stroke of luck, I'd gotten my hands on a good card that could replace her.
-Shwaaaaaah!!
As I approached the mansion's front door, the sound of water spraying came from the yard. Instead of going straight in, I turned the corner and headed for the yard.
-Shwaaaaaah!!
-Bbirurururu~!!
On the lawn.
A stream of water tracing an elegant curve down onto a wide, spread-out blue plastic sheet. And a small mischief-maker on the sheet, splashing her limbs and playing around.
Claire had pulled the hose out through the study window and was cleaning the pool sheet that had been used several times before.
-Ppurururu~!!
"Hm hm."
Claire was earnestly capturing the Fairy's antics on her smartphone: the creature put her face right into the spraying water and made strange noises.
I watched the two of them for a moment, then quietly turned around.
Eighth summer.
'It'd probably be easier if I'm not home.'
The season I found most awkward was just around the corner.