An Unexpectedly Important Test
Even though my opponent had let his guard down, it was still an overwhelming victory snatched in an instant through flawless offense and defense. On top of that, he had been the one to throw out the first flirtatious glance only to get utterly crushed like a dog. There was no way he could look any more pathetic than this.
The greasy-looking examiner clearly wanted to flee the testing grounds right then and there, but unfortunately for him, there were still many more candidates left in line. He wasn’t allowed to leave. In the end, he had no choice but to continue the so-called “friendly spar” under the watchful eyes of every examinee until the very last moment, when he finally slunk away like he was running for his life. It was an absolute humiliation.
With the second test finally over, roughly three hundred candidates remained. Given that around ten thousand people had shown up this year, only an extremely small fraction had passed the second round.
“Hmm, this should be about the right number of new students for this year,” the Sword Empress said as she scanned the faces of those who had survived up to the second test. She then clapped her hands and announced, “Congratulations, everyone. If you’ve made it through the second test, you’re almost there. Before we begin the final exam, you’ll have one hour to rest.”
After saying that, she ordered the staff to tend to the injured and clean up the testing area. The academy employees immediately sprang into action with military precision.
“Candidates, please follow me this way.”
One of the staff members took the lead, and we quietly fell in behind him as he guided us to a new location.
“What could the final test possibly be?”
“Beats me. I can’t think of anything.”
Since every test we’d seen so far had been combat-related, I figured the last one would be too. As I sat with Tang Soso, brainstorming what the final exam might involve, a stranger suddenly approached us.
“Heh heh, looks like you two are worrying because you don’t know what the final test is about.”
The man looked incredibly suspicious, mostly because he was wearing pitch-black sunglasses that completely hid his eyes.
“I could give you a little hint if you want. How about it?”
“No thanks, we’re fine.”
“Heh heh, I figured you’d say that. Of course someone like me would never turn down premium information like this… Wait, you’re actually refusing?!”
It seemed he had assumed we would desperately want the information. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly and replied, “Honestly, we’ll find out when the time comes. Is there really any need to know ahead of time?”
“To think someone trying to enter the Heavenly Martial Academy doesn’t understand the importance of securing information first… How tragic.”
The shady man pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and continued, “Even now, if you change your mind, I can give you information about the final test at a very reasonable price.”
“No, really, we’re okay. And if it costs money, I want to hear it even less.”
“Tsk. You’ll regret this.”
With that, the suspicious man walked away.
“What the hell was that about?” I muttered, tilting my head. Tang Soso shrugged.
“Looked like a beggar from the Beggars’ Sect.”
“How could you tell?”
“He had a knot on his waistband. Three knots means he’s at the level of a branch head, yet here he is running some shady business.”
Now that she mentioned it, I took another look at the man. Sure enough, his clothes were much shabbier than everyone else’s. But between his sharp-looking demeanor and those distinctive black glasses, I hadn’t noticed.
Thinking about how many oddballs there were in the world, I turned my head and accidentally made eye contact with Dokgo Rin, who was sitting by herself playing cat’s cradle.
“What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking you play really well by yourself.”
“Really? I think this is pretty normal.”
Dokgo Rin said that while shaping the string into a flower. I watched her face quietly for a moment before asking, “Isn’t it uncomfortable always wearing that veil?”
She kept her eyes fixed on the string as she answered, “It is uncomfortable, but if I don’t wear it, people’s stares bother me.”
“Hmm.”
It would be nice if there was a design that was easier to put on and take off. After thinking about it for a second, an idea popped into my head. What if I made her a modern-style mask that hooks over the ears? The structure was simple, so if I had the materials, I could probably make one quickly.
As I was pondering a mask design that would suit Dokgo Rin’s face, an academy staff member approached the waiting candidates and announced, “We will now proceed to the final test! Everyone, please follow me!”
The candidates began standing up one by one. Wondering what the final test could possibly be, we followed the guide toward the last examination hall.
The long-awaited final test.
Its format was…
You have 60 minutes to solve all the questions provided.
It was a basic academic proficiency test.
I really didn’t see this coming.
It was true that the Heavenly Martial Academy was famous for its excellent instructors teaching martial arts, but an academy was still an academy. Of course they would require a baseline level of education.
I felt a little deflated by how different this was from what I’d expected, but I decided to give it my all until the end. The questions were so easy that even an elementary school student could probably finish them quickly.
…Or so I thought. Apparently not everyone was good at studying.
Unlike me, who finished all the questions and even reviewed them in less than twenty minutes, some people were using every finger and toe to count while trying to solve simple arithmetic problems. I knew martial artists tended to neglect their studies, but this seemed a bit extreme.
Tang Soso, who usually seemed pretty sharp, finished the test quickly as well. And Dokgo Rin, who had been tutored privately and studied the Four Books and Three Classics as part of her general education, naturally had no trouble with this level of difficulty.
After finishing everything, I flipped my answer sheet over on the desk and looked around. The proctor who had been supervising approached me.
“Are you already done?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t just randomly guess because the questions were too hard, right?”
“Of course not.”
When I answered with a light chuckle, the proctor gave me a suspicious look, then let out a small sigh.
“If you make too much noise, you’ll disturb the other candidates. Please stay face-down on your desk until the test is over.”
“Yes. Sorry about that.”
I immediately laid my head down on the desk. Doing this reminded me of all the mock exams I had taken back in high school. If I had actually studied back then, would my life have turned out differently?
As I reminisced about the past with my eyes closed, drowsiness crept over me, and I blacked out completely.
“…Excuse me. Hey!”
“Huk.”
Someone shook my shoulder, and I jolted awake, lifting my head.
“They’re collecting the answer sheets. Please pass yours forward.”
The person sitting behind me handed me a stack of papers. Oh right, I was in the middle of a test.
The realization hit me late. I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth with my sleeve, quickly added my own sheet to the pile, and handed it to the proctor at the front.
The one-hour time limit had passed faster than I expected. When we finally stepped out of the examination hall after finishing the last test, the sun was already setting.
It felt like we had only just arrived at dawn, yet an entire day had already slipped away.
“How did the test go?”
“It was alright.”
After answering Tang Soso’s question, I turned to Dokgo Rin, who seemed lost in thought.
“What about you, Rin?”
“I did fine.”
With a slightly pouty expression, she added, “I probably won’t fail.”
…Probably? I wasn’t sure why she added that qualifier, but she wasn’t the type to say things lightly, so it should be fine.
With optimistic thoughts spinning in my head, we decided that since the tests were over, it was time to go eat something delicious.
“Is there anything you want to eat? Just say the word. I’ll buy everything.”
Tang Soso puffed out her chest proudly as she spoke. She had been covering all our expenses from the start, but today her back seemed to shine with an even brighter halo.
“Then let’s go eat chicken.”
“Chicken?”
“In my hometown, there’s a custom of eating fried chicken when you win something.”
Dokgo Rin blinked as if she had never heard of such a thing.
“There was a custom like that in Sangam?”
Whoops. Right, Dokgo Rin and I were from the same hometown.
“To be precise, it seems the people of Balhae had that custom.”
My mom is a descendant of Balhae, after all.
“Ah, I see.”
When I lied without even batting an eye, the two of them nodded as if they completely believed me.
Anyway, with dinner decided, we went to eat chicken to celebrate safely passing the exams.
The next day.
The long-awaited announcement of the test results.
When I checked the large notice posted at the entrance of the Heavenly Martial Academy early in the morning, I almost screamed without realizing it.
Because right at the very top, it clearly said: