The Shrinking Veil
It had been roughly six hours since the exam began. Almost every student who still hadn’t grasped the situation had already been eliminated. Those with sharper instincts were either hiding or forming groups, staring one another down in tense standoffs. Though “standoff” sounded dramatic, it was really just a stalemate. Everyone had eased their guard a fraction and begun taking turns resting when it happened.
“……What’s that?”
“What is it?”
“Letters just appeared in the sky……?”
Six hours since exam start. The veil is shrinking!
Remember: you cannot hide forever!
“Shrinking?”
“Look—over there! The veil is……!”
The blue veil that had covered all of Romance Academy—the one no one had paid much attention to—suddenly began to move. It wasn’t fast. Slower, in fact, than even these superhumans could jog. Touching it caused neither pain nor obstruction. A handful of students experimentally stuck an arm or leg through; it simply passed through without resistance.
But then—
Crack!
“My……my ball……”
“It……broke?”
“Travis, you are eliminated.”
“No……this can’t be……”
The balls were different. The blue veil let everything else pass, but it refused to tolerate the orbs given to the students. Whether by accidental drops, failure to react in time, or simply sleeping through the change, the news that the veil destroyed any ball it touched spread like wildfire. It was early dawn, not the middle of the night, so many students outside the shrinking perimeter had witnessed the eliminations firsthand.
“Run! Get to the center, now!”
“It shrinks every six hours, doesn’t it……?”
“The academy is the only safe place!”
And so a massive wave of students began converging on the heart of the floating city—Romance Academy itself. Those who had fled near the veil, those still inside the current safe zone, and those already nearby all hurried toward the one place that seemed truly secure, all while keeping nervous eyes on the slowly contracting barrier.
Because of that—
Kwaaaaaang!
“Damn it, what the hell is that now.”
“……Liu, we’re pulling back. Looks like a big group coming from the north.”
“Shit!”
Twelve hours after the exam began—right as the veil shrank for the second time—a savage battle erupted between students trying to keep others out of the academy and those desperately trying to break in. Groups and lone fighters alike charged from every direction, attempting to scale the walls and force their way through the doors.
“Hold the line! We can’t let them all inside!”
“If we just endure, the veil will eliminate them for us!”
The academy’s walls and gates were high and sturdy to keep outsiders out, but they weren’t built like a fortress for prolonged defense. What allowed the students inside to hold was the barricades they had hastily constructed using furniture and debris dragged from their own bases.
How had the students inside managed to unite so perfectly?
“Your Highness! The mages and the wealthy faction are retreating!”
“Excellent. Then the psychics should fall back soon as well. Please inform my brother.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Just as the students had banded together for survival, the academy had a clear rallying point: the prince and princess. Though this was a survival test, plenty of time remained, and enemies were literally at the gates. The royal twins possessed both charisma and a trustworthy image; gathering the students hadn’t taken long at all. And so the current situation had been born.
……So far, no major problems.
Princess Kim Eun-ha sat briefly in a chair and murmured to herself. With the students led by Lucas Arthur and Liu Yen now withdrawn, she could finally relax her body a little. In exchange, far larger groups had arrived—but since they lacked a central leader and had simply swarmed together in confusion, there was little to fear.
Still, she couldn’t completely let her guard down. Lucas commanded a large number of mage-class students, and if not for the barricades, Liu Yen’s dagger would have nearly torn through their defenses. The exhausted princess suddenly glanced in a certain direction.
Namgung Min.
Thanks to his advice, she and her brother had been able to respond calmly when the exam began without warning. His ability was so outstanding that she had personally raced all the way to his distant base, yet—
Who would have thought the hero would act like that……
His fortune-teller’s shop and base had already been reduced to rubble by Abel Legion. It was only because the Hero refused to leave that place that she had survived. Had he fought seriously, she would have been eliminated without resistance.
“I’ll leave this sector to you all.”
“Yes! Please rest, Your Highness!”
“You’ve worked hard!”
Having made up her mind, she hurried toward the imperial dormitory. Students dashed everywhere carrying furniture and supplies. Shouts and clamor echoed from every direction. On top of the towering walls, mages maintained barriers while non-combat classes moved supplies and relayed information. Combat classes continuously repelled the onslaught.
The scene felt strangely familiar. The princess unconsciously let out a soft chuckle.
“The maze experience really is paying off.”
She had only joined at the very end, but she had heard how the freshmen led by Namgung Min during the entrance ceremony maze had moved with perfect coordination. Thanks to that precedent, assigning roles by class had been surprisingly easy. Not every freshman had participated back then, but those who had shared their experience with the rest.
Time remaining……roughly eleven hours.
It was long if you considered it one way, short if you considered it another. If they could hold like this, it would be enough. But she had to remember—this exam was a survival.
A catastrophe will arrive within a few hours.
The ball. The object that symbolized life in this survival test. Most students had hidden their name-engraved orbs somewhere rather than carrying them. After all, there was no rule requiring them to keep the balls on their person at all times. In fact, many orbs had been accidentally crushed when students bumped into one another or tripped.
“Your Highness! His Highness the Prince is calling for you.”
“Thank you. I’ll go immediately.”
The prince, having noticed the danger, had ordered everyone to hide their own balls separately. Since this was survival rather than cooperation, gathering them in one place would only invite someone to destroy them all. Even now, as the princess walked, she spotted several poorly concealed orbs.
It’s fine for now.
With the fighting this fierce, most students were focused on the enemies in front of them and wouldn’t spare much thought for hidden balls. But once the time limit shrank and the external pressure eased, internal conflict would erupt. The princess knew this perfectly well—and had no intention of stopping it.
Crack.
She checked the name on a visible orb and eliminated an unimportant student. No one would know who had done it, and losing a few people wouldn’t seem strange. Too many eliminations would cause a panic, but a small number would only motivate the others to fight harder to keep enemies out.
After taking quiet, measured action, the princess reached the top floor of the dormitory and opened the door.
“I’m back.”
“Good. How is the main gate?”
“Lucas and Liu Yen have withdrawn. Lane Arthur is probably doing the same.”
“I see……”
Alone on the top floor of the imperial dormitory, the prince had spread out a detailed map of Romance Academy and was marking it with countless symbols. Four large entrances, eight smaller ones. He drew a circle around the largest main gate and set down his pen.
“……Eun-ha, how long do you think we can last?”
“Five hours at most. It’ll end when the veil shrinks for the third time.”
“After that we’ll have to worry about our own survival first.”
The princess wasn’t the only one thinking about internal betrayal. In fact, it was Prince Kim Seong-il who had noticed it first and chosen to exploit it.
“In a survival game, groups are destined to collapse.”
“But we need groups to survive, don’t we?”
“Exactly. So it becomes a question of who betrays first.”
Only one person could take first place in a survival exam—not a team. Yet the students had formed groups anyway. The prince who had created that very contradiction smiled.
“We move in four hours.”
“What are the precise details?”
“We don’t need the other students. Just the two of us will be enough. We’ll open all the southern gates at once and throw the academy into chaos. While everyone’s distracted, we hide and strike at the perfect moment.”
“I like it.”
If the group was going to fall apart anyway, they might as well use it as efficiently as possible. The princess watched her brother as he murmured and returned his focus to the map.
If my brother takes first and I take second, it will be perfect.
The two imperial siblings, whose succession was already decided, had entered Romance Academy for two reasons. First, the title of graduate would be enormously helpful in governing the empire later. Second, because the Unified Korean Empire was the academy’s largest sponsor. To maintain and expand that influence, the empire had sent both the crown prince and his sister.
That should be enough to elevate the empire’s prestige.
It was the same logic as the entrance exam. If the outstanding prince and princess displayed their abilities at Romance Academy, that glory would belong to the empire. Making connections with the highest echelons of every nation was an added bonus.
Of course, without sufficient ability they would only invite ridicule—but as holders of the Imperial Family class, they had absolute confidence. Confidence that no motivation could surpass their own.
……Namgung Min.
Perhaps that was why she felt even stronger interest in the young man who had taken second place ahead of her. Having already proven his worth during the assassination attempt, the princess found herself coveting him even more. If such a capable fortune teller served the imperial family, the empire’s future would be even brighter.
“……Brother, what happened to the Mediator the imperial family requested?”
“Ah, I was told he’ll arrive next week. He mentioned wanting to speak with Namgung Min.”
“I see.”
She had originally summoned the Mediator to protect her secret, but Namgung Min had already earned her complete trust. In that case, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to bend the agreement slightly and have him work directly for the palace.
“Hmm, now that I think about it, Namgung Min was eliminated.”
“The hero struck first.”
“A shame……but also fortunate. A fortune teller of that caliber would have been an extremely dangerous enemy if he had survived.”
“True.”
The prince spoke with genuine regret for the lost talent, yet relief that such a threat had been removed. The princess, quietly agreeing, was about to say more when the sky covered by the blue veil suddenly began to glow.
“What is……?”
300 survivors remaining. From this moment, the number of remaining participants will be displayed.
From this moment, the names of eliminated participants will appear in the sky!
“Three hundred……There were about three thousand freshmen. We’ve lost a lot.”
“Wait—more importantly, the eliminated are being displayed……?”
Until now, when a ball was destroyed an academy staff member would simply approach and announce the elimination. Now they were broadcasting it across the sky? What was the meaning of—
Leonardo Dunamis (12h 48m survived)
Sato Kenichi (12h 48m survived)
Lee Sang-cheol (12h 48m survived)
Charlie Junior (12h 48m survived)
Raphael Martina (12h 48m survived)
……
Kim Seong-il (12h 49m survived)
“Raphael……Martina?”
Among dozens of names, the all-too-familiar Saint appeared. And then—
“……What?”
Creak.
“Prince Kim Seong-il, you are eliminated.”
“……Whoever you are, you got me good.”
“Brother.”
“I leave the victory to you, Eun-ha.”
The academy staff who had opened the door escorted the prince away. Suddenly left alone in the room, the princess stared blankly at the door he had exited through before her eyes widened.
“……W-wait. If that announcement reached every student—”
Realizing the gravity of the situation, she rushed to the window and looked outside.
“The prince……was eliminated?”
“Dunamis is my friend! He’s still inside the academy—why is he eliminated?!”
“I-I have to go. My ball!”
The sudden elimination of the prince, who had been the central pillar of the defense, along with dozens of students removed in a single stroke, was more than enough to shatter the front line.
“The defense is weakening! Everyone charge!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
Students sprinted to find their hidden balls. Those who had been waiting for an opening moved at once. With the barricade guards gone, the outside students broke through the defensive line in moments. Everyone began eliminating everyone else. Groups collapsed instantly. In the blink of an eye, every person became an enemy.
The princess, having witnessed the entire spectacle, let out a hollow laugh.
“……Ha, haha.”
*
“Very good.”
“………Is this………enough……?”
“More than enough. You even managed to secure the prince’s ball. Impressive.”
“The location……was provided………The guards……were weak.”
“They were supposed to be the prince’s closest aides. Then again, they were recently replaced—maybe they couldn’t coordinate properly.”
“……But………why………”
“Why collect the balls and destroy them all at once instead of eliminating people immediately? Isn’t it obvious?”
“………Obvious?”
“It maximizes the chaos. The impact is completely different from picking them off one by one.”
“I see………”
“Exactly.”
“Then………why did the saint……ambush……?”
“Personal revenge.”
“………….”