Finals, a Contract, and an Invitation
The exam period was closing in on us.
Finals.
Midterms mattered too, but as always, the final evaluation carried the heaviest weight of the semester — so the students were throwing themselves into self-training with everything they had.
Not that the results were anything to write home about.
"I straight-up bombed the theory exam. For real."
"You're a combat-track kid, though. I'm theory-focused, and two of my majors got wrecked."
"Want to die?"
Rumors drifted through the halls — that someone had flubbed the written portion, that the practical exam was being replaced with something else entirely.
"Oh, thank god. This class has been going absolutely feral, so sparring them was getting rough."
"Are you an idiot? That just means the assignments will be that much harder."
Some students deflated the moment they heard what the practical would look like.
"You look pleased with yourself. Did the finals go well for you?"
Erciel asked in a flat, clipped voice.
What's gotten into her.
Ever since the weekend — ever since Hong Yuhwa had partially awakened her Usurper talent — Erciel had been like this.
"I always do well, of course."
Erciel shot me a look of pure distaste.
At the midterms, I'd paired up with Seo Gayeon, who'd ranked low, and racked up a monstrous pile of bonus points. For the practical, I'd hunted a monster entirely on my own — cost me some points, but Gayeon's growth rate had been so insane that I'd scraped by and held onto first place by a hair.
Can't afford to fumble it like that again.
"You seem to be getting along well with Hong Yuhwa these days."
"Yeah, I've been putting her through some training. Watch out for Yuhwa this time around? Her growth rate's steep."
"Hong Yuhwa...?"
Erciel asked, her tone strange. Her eyes glinting in a way I couldn't quite read.
"Aren't the two of you dating?"
"No."
Me and Hong Yuhwa, dating. I wouldn't be opposed, honestly. A girl like her was pretty, had a great figure, outstanding ability. Her competitive streak ran a little hot, but at her level that just worked as a charm point.
But still.
Now was not the time for romance.
"......Right. Of course."
Erciel nodded slowly.
I had too much to do.
Truly, an absurd amount.
Just how hellish the difficulty would get, I'd feel more and more as the story marched forward. We were still in the early stages, and already one of the Seven Evils — a fiend — had shown its face. The Apostle looming above it might accelerate ahead of schedule, too. I needed to gather forces, keep them in check, and draw talented people to my side. My activity as Veritas had been one part of exactly that.
Realistically, I probably wasn't going to spare a single glance for romance for a long while.
"How ambitious of you."
"......Is it?"
"Yes — ambition. I like it. I'll cheer you on. Oh, and about the reward from before — there's something I'd like to discuss. Do you have a moment?"
"The reward?"
"Yes."
Erciel drew a sheet of paper from inside her coat.
"And this is a contract."
"A contract?"
I stared at it. There was a trace of magic on the paper — right on the name line. Lee Seoha's name.
What is this.
Erciel had done it, so there had to be a reason.
Click.
The moment I opened my Divine Eye, I understood.
Lee Seoha (Veritas).
Erase the magic from the name field, and that was what it read.
"......You noticed, huh?"
"You lecture wonderfully, by the way. That's just how women are, you know. When a man interests us, we watch him very, very carefully."
Erciel's eyes curved into crescents as she gazed at me.
"Proposing an internship already? The recruitment window hasn't even opened yet?"
A sharp voice cut in. I turned my head — and there stood Hong Yuhwa.
"It's nothing like that. Seoha's alchemy is so exceptional that I came to extend an early recruitment offer, that's all."
"He's still a student, isn't he?"
"A student — yes. But he's hardly someone you can treat as one, is he?"
"Hmm."
Hong Yuhwa studied me with an odd expression, then handed me a scarlet envelope.
"This is a gift. My grandfather says he'd like to meet you at least once. Come if you feel like it."
"A party?"
"Mm. His birthday falls right after finals end."
With that, Hong Yuhwa turned on her heel and walked off toward her circle of followers.
"You're quite popular. The Red Tower Lord barely ever shows his face at social gatherings, and he's personally extending an invitation."
"Is he."
I sifted through what I knew about the Red Tower Lord. His interest probably wasn't in me so much as in the Heaven-Defying Qi — or in Hong Yuhwa herself. Besides, he and Paewang were a cut from the same cloth.
He dotes on Hong Yuhwa like crazy.
For a mage, madness flickered through him now and then — but he loved Hong Yuhwa every bit as fiercely as that madness ran deep, which was precisely the problem.
"You're going?"
"I have to. The Red Tower Lord mentioned me by name."
Even without an invitation, I'd have gone anyway.
Because the Wi-Cheon Brigade was after his head.
"Then how about you go with me?"
"With you?"
"Yes — we match the dress code, and I come as your partner."
Erciel rested her chin in her hand and looked up at me.
"...............That's the kind of thing couples usually do."
"I don't mind~"
"Going by your expression, you don't exactly seem opposed to it either."
Hee — Erciel giggled and produced yet another sheet of paper.
"I told you back then, didn't I? When the Villains invaded, you stepped in on my family's behalf and helped drive them off — and that I would repay you, without fail. If there's anything you need, just say the word. I'll provide all of it."
With those words, Erciel headed for the door.
"Ah — and what I said just now, I meant it. Feel free to keep it in your heart."
"A formidable opponent, that one."
"Formidable indeed~"
Erciel left those words behind and walked out of the classroom.
The written portion of the finals came to a close.
Then, on the first day of the practical exams, Instructor Seo Wooju gathered the students and spoke.
"I know there's been a lot of talk about this practical. Under normal circumstances, you'd have been notified a month in advance — but this time, given the incident during the midterms, we kept it from you in order to evaluate your 'adaptability.'"
Seo Wooju continued from behind the lectern.
"This practical exam will be held in the Tower of Trials. However, this exam will run long. Because it is a survival exercise."
"................Survival?"
"Don't tell me — five whole days?"
The students erupted in a chorus of groans.
"And as you all know, broadcasting from within Korea Hero Academy is permitted to the outside. Every single thing you do in the Tower of Trials becomes a factor by which you'll be judged — so behave accordingly."
With that, Seo Wooju's gaze swept over us.
"Questions?"
"Is that even possible inside the Tower?"
"The Tower is a space containing an entire world. By sheer area alone, it's larger than Korea — so don't worry about it."
The "Korea" in question referred to a unified peninsula that had annexed a chunk of Chinese territory. China, after all, had been assaulted from every direction in the opening days of the dimensional collapse.
"In a survival format, will supplies or tools be provided?"
"Nothing brought in from outside is permitted. However — items you craft yourself through alchemy, smithing, cooking, and the like, weapons obtained during weapon selection, and a special gift bestowed personally by the headmaster are all allowed."
Instructor Seo Wooju said that last part while looking directly at me.
"How will the survival portion be conducted?"
At his words, the students glanced around at one another.
"How will teams be assigned?"
"Will there be any supply drops?"
"None. Wild animals live there too. You'll forage, hunt, and survive on your own."
"Good grief."
At Seo Wooju's closing words, every face in the room went ashen. Most of these students had been raised coddled and pampered from the cradle, after all. The genuinely talented among them managed to keep their composure, but Hong Yuhwa and Erciel wore expressions of open disbelief.
Watching them, Instructor Seo Wooju allowed himself a satisfied smile.
He was, after all, a firm believer in the old maxim that students bloom their true potential precisely when the environment turns against them.
"It seems there are no more questions. Then proceed to the auditorium, everyone."
The students trudged toward the auditorium, faces dark as storm clouds.
"Shall we go together?"
On the way, Erciel sidled up alongside me, Kim Ara in tow.
"Honestly, in a survival exam you should move as a group. Someone has to stand watch at night, and even you can't stay awake for five straight nights, Seoha."
"True."
After all, the students might end up 'hunting' one another, too.
"As it happens, I've already picked my team."
"And who would that be?"
"That one."
I pointed at Hong Yuhwa. She stared back at me with wide, round eyes.
"Hong Yuhwa?"
"Yeah. Gayeon, you're fine with it?"
"If it's who Seoha chose, I don't mind."
Seo Gayeon nodded quietly.
"Yuhwa?"
"Why me?"
Hong Yuhwa asked, her expression betraying genuine curiosity about why I'd chosen her.
"Because it's you."
There was no doubt about it — a 'boss' was hiding somewhere on that survival island. And the odds were overwhelming that it would take the form of a tree.
Hong Yuhwa, wielder of the Usurper and a mage of fire-attribute mana, could unleash staggering offensive power against it.
"Oh my. Oh my, oh my."
Hong Yuhwa's Follower A — the one I'd seen just last night — blushed to the ears as she looked at me.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I have a feeling I'll need you for this exam. And for what it's worth, I've done my share of cooking and camping — I can make life out there comfortable enough."
I'd played through hundreds of survival scenarios.
Give me a decent head start, and I could throw up a full villa.
Talent and craftsmanship — my stats carried more than enough potential for that. And with cooking, the ingredients are half the battle anyway.
"Fine."
Hong Yuhwa extended her hand to me, a smile on her lips.
That smile was somehow different from before.
How should I put it — as if she were thinking, so you're finally looking at me. So you finally acknowledge me. That kind of expression.
I shook her hand with an awkward laugh.
"......I just got burned for the second time."
The first had been when the partners were chosen. She had named him first — and Lee Seoha had picked Seo Gayeon anyway.
Kim Ara silently fixed Lee Seoha with eyes that burned like embers.
"Ara."
"Mm."
"We are absolutely taking that team down."
"Okay."
Erciel and Kim Ara quietly steeled their resolve.