Perfect Scores and an A-Rank License

After Kang Yujun trained Examiner Lee Jihun, every awakened participant in the exam kept stealing glances at him.

They understood.

Yujun hadn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply solved the problems created for this practical test.

He had truly corrected Examiner Lee Jihun's flaws.

Everyone present knew Lee Jihun's awakening ability well.

They also knew that its overwhelming power came with obvious weaknesses.

Yet those weaknesses had vanished in a single moment.

Even after unleashing such tremendous force, there wasn't the slightest trace of the usual mana residue.

When mana lingers, its density clumps together and prevents consecutive ability use.

But Lee Jihun had used his power back-to-back without issue.

The examiners met one another's eyes.

Then nodded simultaneously.

It was a silent acknowledgment that Kang Yujun had accomplished something absurd.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't you be focusing on my training?"

"Ah, my apologies, examinee."

"Honestly, I understand. Still... how do you train someone like that with nothing but a staff? Examiner Lee Jihun had so many flaws and quirks. You seemed to have straightened every last one of them out."

The examinee was at a loss for words.

"I simply trained them all away."

"That's not all," another examiner added.

"He even resolved roughly half of the problems the man originally carried."

"...Pardon?"

The examinee asked again, visibly flustered.

"By original problems... you mean the inherent issues with his ability? You're saying you trained him based on his native power?"

The examiner nodded, then shook his head as if apologetic.

"Please focus on the test. I'm sorry, examinee."

"..."

The other examinees were thrown off by the situation, but they couldn't help understanding.

After hearing the story and turning it over in their minds, it only made sense that the examiners couldn't concentrate properly right now.

The performance Yujun had shown was beyond anything they could have imagined.

"This is no time to stand around gawking."

"Let's start again!"

Perhaps spurred on by what they'd witnessed, the remaining examinees threw themselves back into their training.

Tick. Tick.

Time passed in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a flash.

"The exam is now over!"

At the announcement the examiners gestured.

"Training terminated."

"We will now calculate the scores."

"Thank you for your hard work."

The examinees let out heavy sighs.

Thanks to Yujun they'd seen something incredible, but at the same time they had lost even more confidence in their own training.

"Ah, damn it."

"What the hell is this?"

"I shouldn't be a trainer."

"Isn't the difficulty a little too brutal?"

"This doesn't make sense. Both the written and the practical."

"You can't blame us."

"We followed government directives to the letter."

"Ha."

They wanted to complain further, but the words wouldn't come.

Because Kang Yujun had perfectly trained a veteran examiner.

"Now that's a real trainer."

"I thought I was fairly talented."

Despite the brutal difficulty, he had done it.

That was why they couldn't voice any complaints.

They should have been saying the test was impossible, yet Kang Yujun had pulled it off anyway.

"He's definitely getting a top score."

"Top score? Giving him a perfect score wouldn't raise any eyebrows."

"Examiner Lee Jihun still doesn't look happy, though?"

"No, after their conversation earlier I saw him grinning. I think he's arranged for more training."

The examinees kept talking about what they'd seen as they left the training ground.

"Huu..."

"Just who is that guy?"

"Why did the Promise Guild expel Kang Yujun in the first place?"

Each of them muttered something before filing out.

The moment the test ended, scoring began immediately.

In the scoring room, dedicated Certification Institute staff handled the grading.

"...Isn't the balance of this exam completely broken?"

"The written test was way too hard."

"What? I thought the practical was harder. The examiners were clearly determined to secure their performance evaluations."

The scorers chatted among themselves.

They still hadn't heard the full story from the examiners.

Like the previous test, this one had been kept at an extremely high difficulty, so the room was filled with talk about that.

Then another scorer walked in.

"Haven't you heard?"

One scorer clicked his tongue.

"I heard there's an examinee who posted an overwhelming score on the written test."

"On this written test? Even I struggled to solve it."

"Wow, that's no joke."

Another scorer entered right after.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Have you all heard? There was an examinee who completely dominated the practical."

"Deja vu? You literally just said the same thing."

"Huh?"

"There was one in the practical too?"

"And in the written as well?"

Learning that outstanding examinees had appeared in both sections, the scorers' interest surged.

"Does this mean the difficulty adjustment worked?"

"Or did an absolute monster of a talent show up at the perfect time?"

"Now I'm curious. The written is one thing, but what exactly did they do in the practical to be called overwhelming?"

"Exactly. It shouldn't even be possible. Weren't all the examiners dead set after the guidelines came down?"

"They were. Which means an examinee surpassed even that level of determination."

"But how?"

"Give us the details already."

"So..."

The scorer recounted everything that had happened earlier.

"What!? Examiner Lee Jihun? But he's a veteran! That shouldn't be possible!"

"They say he was completely seen through. From beginning to end he was led by the nose so there was nothing left for him to do."

The scorer who'd heard the story could only shake his head in disbelief.

"Check the examiner's score here."

The examiner score used a maximum of ten points per category.

It was pure praise from start to finish.

"Examiner Lee Jihun rarely hands out compliments like this."

"It's truly astonishing."

Who would have thought he would praise someone this highly?

"It's because the score ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is so much higher than the others."

"But we still have the written test results."

"Since the practical score is excellent, passing is already secured."

In the training license exam, whether you passed wasn't the most important factor.

If you wanted to become an outstanding trainer, obtaining the license was the bare minimum.

What truly mattered was the grade.

"The evaluation changes completely depending on the grade you receive in your first test."

The benefits of a training license varied according to the starting rank.

Most began at D-class, but simply reaching C-class provided a support fund of ten million won.

"I heard the support fund for B-class was increased this time."

"It was fifty million, right?"

"For A-class it's one hundred million, as far as I know."

An enormous support fund.

On top of that, the Certification Institute offered employment connections. The benefits were undeniable.

"But there are almost no trainers who start at B-class, aren't there?"

"It's not almost— even back when licenses were easy to get, starting at B-class on the first try was rare."

Now that the test had become even harder, B-class was essentially a rank that didn't appear.

"With the license test this difficult, B-class is impossible. It basically means the fifty million won support fund won't be given out."

"Ten million won for reaching C-class is probably the highest support they'll offer."

The scorers immediately began grading the written test.

"The difficulty really was high."

"Hmm, the average is going to drop drastically."

"The directive was to aim for an average around sixty points if possible."

"Looks like we adjusted the difficulty a bit too extremely."

The scorers wore troubled expressions as they worked.

This written test contained a large number of subjective questions.

As a result, there were many sections where the scorers had to judge for themselves.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

While every scorer was frowning...

One man was rapidly checking an answer sheet.

"Scorer Kim Shingu?"

At the call, Kim Shingu looked up in surprise.

"Whose paper are you grading?"

"Examinee Kang Yujun's."

It was the same examinee who had received a perfect score in the practical.

"What's the written score? Since he performed well in the practical, if he also does well here..."

"...It's a perfect score."

"?"

"?"

Perfect scores in both the practical and written exams.

Scorer Kim Shingu circled the final subjective question.

"Could the overwhelmingly dominant person be..."

"Kang Yujun...?"

They had assumed there was one standout in each section.

But it turned out...

"It was the same person for both?"

"...The first perfect scorer has appeared!"

It really was one person?

The scorers cried out in shock.

This was the first time anyone had achieved perfect scores in both written and practical tests.

"Wow, this is insane..."

"This is seriously crazy."

Excited, the scorers immediately fed the scores into the AI verification system.

When the scores and detailed training data were entered, the system would output the examinee's evaluation, pass or fail status, and the grade to be assigned.

Everyone waited with great anticipation.

"At this level..."

There was a high chance it would be at least B-class.

But it might not appear.

With a soft click, Yujun's data was entered and the evaluation appeared at once.

"..."

A-class.

"This is insane..."

They had surpassed even the B-class that was supposed to be impossible.

"A-class...?"

Kang Yujun had reached A-class.

"Shouldn't we run a cross-check?"

"The system doesn't usually glitch, but..."

Even with perfect scores, they wondered if A-class was a little high.

At that moment the examiners in charge of the practical and written tests entered the room.

"A-class?"

Examiner Lee Jihun frowned as he read the result.

"Isn't that too high? Could this be an error..."

"No, it's accurate. It wouldn't have been strange if the system had given S-class."

"..."

Examiner Lee Jihun spoke calmly.

"The grade assignment is correct."