Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: End-of-Month Evaluation (1)
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Around dawn, when everyone was deep in slumber.
Under a small lantern, a pair of pale white hands moved busily, composing a letter.
Scratch- scratch-.
The sound of the pen nib scraping against the paper echoed stimulatingly through the silence.
Click-.
The pale white hands, having finished the letter, picked up a small vial nearby.
Inside it was a yellow liquid.
Without a hint of hesitation, the white hands sprinkled the yellow liquid evenly over the freshly written letter.
Then, incredibly, they held the letter up to the lantern.
And then something astonishing happened.
Sss-.
As the yellow liquid dried, the words on the paper vanished one by one.
[…Please review the enclosed item.]
Even the very last line disappeared completely.
Rustle-.
The pale white hands placed another sheet of paper on top and began rolling them together tightly.
The slender roll fit neatly into a cylinder no bigger than a pinky finger.
The busy hands meticulously sealed the cylinder with wax.
Checking for even the tiniest gap.
They applied and hardened the wax over and over for a good while.
Finally, having completed all the work, the white hands picked up what was now unrecognizable as either a cylinder or a lump of wax.
The owner of those white hands left the lantern behind and stepped out the door.
After just a few steps,
she ran into someone who had rubbed their eyes and come out.
“Ugh… where are you going?”
“For some fresh air.”
With those words, the owner of the white hands set off down the path with light steps.
Exiting the building, she walked through the woods and arrived at the lakeside.
Rustle-.
She strolled silently along the white sandy beach.
Under the faint moonlight, her leisurely pace looked for all the world like someone enjoying a nighttime walk.
Her footsteps eventually led her to a small pond hidden behind a large rock.
A pond formed where the lake water had carved into the island.
The white hands patted the surface of the pond, making strange noises with her mouth.
“Pew pew pew.”
As if calling something.
And soon enough, a small head poked up above the pond.
-Kurung?
Pitch-black eyes and a round head like a puppy's.
Covered in light brown fur.
The creature was none other than a seal.
-Kwoong!
The seal that had surfaced blinked happily at the owner of the white hands.
The white hands gently stroked the seal's head.
-Gurung gurung.
The seal relished the touch with a pleased expression.
After petting it for quite some time, the white hands pulled out the wax lump she had prepared.
She tied it securely to the seal's chest so it wouldn't come loose.
“I'm counting on you again this time.”
With a light tap on its nose, the seal winked and dove back under the pond.
The seal swam through the passage connecting to the lake.
Splash-.
It leaped once above the lake surface in greeting before diving deep and not resurfacing.
Confirming the seal had definitely left, the owner of the white hands departed the pond as well.
Crunch- crunch-.
Instead of turning back, she continued strolling along the beach.
Like someone deep in thought.
Like someone who had taken a very long walk.
She spent the time that way and finally left the lake just as dawn broke.
This happened on January 30th.
* * *
The day after Goetz had visited.
After having a meal with Teresa for the first time in a while, Yuri headed out to the arena.
The circular arena housed most of Yoram's facilities.
Which was why the point registration for the end-of-month evaluation was also inside the arena.
According to Teresa, it was called the [Ability Evaluation Center], and the one for first- and second-years was by the north gate.
By the time he arrived at the Ability Evaluation Center, quite a crowd had already gathered.
Among them, the 50th Cohort was clustered thickest around the bulletin board.
Yuri's footsteps naturally led him there as well.
There hung a large, yellowed poster that looked like it had been there for ages.
Yuri squeezed into the crowd and read the poster from top to bottom.
It was all rules regarding the end-of-month evaluation.
* * *
1. Points used for the end-of-month evaluation are not refunded.
*However, ranks 1 through 10 receive an additional 1% to 10% of their registered points, depending on ranking.
2. Points for evaluation can only be registered from the 1st to the day before the end of each month.
*Unregistered points are treated as 0.
3. Evaluations are based on cumulative points over the month, confirmable only through the final rankings announced on the last day.
*Others' cumulative points cannot be viewed, and disclosing them between cohorts is forbidden. Violators will face punishment.
*Those attempting or leading point registration collusion will face severe punishment.
*Final rankings are announced on the last day at the north central bulletin board.
*Announcement times: 12 PM for first-years, 5 PM for second-years.
*Failure to attend the announcement means bearing any resulting disadvantages yourself.
5. Low-ranking cohorts in the end-of-month evaluation face disadvantages, which may vary depending on Yoram's circumstances.
* * *
It was a surprisingly courteous notice for Yoram.
But to Yuri, that courtesy looked like the last meal given to a condemned prisoner.
Because he knew "disadvantages" included "expulsion."
On the other hand, the majority of cohorts unaware of the exact disadvantages didn't seem overly tense.
Leaving them behind, what caught Yuri's eye was the item starting with "Others' cumulative points cannot be viewed."
Yuri smiled as he read it.
‘Interesting.’
Its meaning was simple.
Until the final end-of-month evaluation announcement on the last day, no one knew who had registered how many points.
Yuri put it this way:
“It's not an end-of-month evaluation—it's an end-of-month mind-reading contest.”
If you could guess how many points others were registering, you could enter the rankings with far fewer points.
A single point could flip the rankings if played right.
Yuri had a rough idea why Yoram used this system.
‘To recover points.’
The sharp ones would surely twist the rules to their advantage.
But even then, it wasn't easy.
It was less a mind game and more a high-level information war.
Figuring out how many points other cohorts had.
Their tendencies.
Predicting competitors' registrations based on all that.
How many could pull it off?
And far simpler than that headache was to crush them with sheer points.
Keep others from climbing above you.
Or smash anyone trying with a massive bet.
If you had enough points, first place was a breeze.
Especially for Yuri, who held more points than the entire 50th Cohort combined.
But that method didn't appeal to him.
‘Because that's exactly what Yoram wants.’
Yoram didn't want cohorts mind-gaming each other for razor-thin victories.
They wanted competition to drive everyone to register massive points.
Hence the strict secrecy on registrations.
And if competition overheated into point-spamming...
‘The upcoming special sale shop would leave them pointless.’
Yuri thought that as he glanced around.
The 50th Cohort faces pondering their bets looked far too calm.
‘They don't know about the special sale yet.’
To them, the most valuable point buys were still 1,000-point preserved rations or basic necessities.
That's why.
Because they didn't know how to maximize point value.
Because they didn't realize they needed to conserve points for this evaluation.
They looked so serene.
Probably different from next month on.
Register points to climb rankings and avoid expulsion disadvantages?
Or save for precious special sale items?
They'd be tearing their hair out over it.
Of course, none of that applied to Yuri, flush with points.
By points alone, he was already an overwhelming first.
With that a given, Yuri had only one dilemma.
‘How many to register for first with minimal points?’
Pondering that, Yuri wandered idly.
‘Second place is definitely Poppy and Arin, no question.’
Predict their bets, and he could take first with the bare minimum.
‘They not here?’
He scanned around for Arin and Poppy.
But as the saying goes, even dog shit is medicine if you need it—wait, no.
The ones who popped up out of nowhere every other day were nowhere in sight today.
As he looked around, Yuri spotted something else instead of them.
‘What’s that…?’
Yuri walked over.
He'd arrived at the [Hall of Fame] set up in one corner of the Ability Evaluation Center.
His eyes went wide at the sight.
‘Is that… gold?’
A massive gold plaque engraved with names and numbers.
Yuri skimmed the explanation below.
‘Let’s see—so they tally five years of end-of-month evaluations from graduates and rank the top 100 all-time scorers?’
Above it, cohort, name, number of first-place wins, and final five-year cumulative points were elegantly engraved.
Yuri read the names from the bottom up.
Every name from 100th was famous, but none Yuri recognized.
After climbing quite a way, he finally spotted a familiar one.
10th / 6th Cohort / Ralph Schnell / Cumulative 1sts: 60 / 98,193,954
“Oh? Bear-old-man did pretty well.”
Muichi's grandfather.
Yuri grinned happily at the so-called bear-old-man's name.
His eyes traveled further up.
Only after much more did he find another vaguely familiar surname.
3rd / 15th Cohort / May Winchester / Cumulative 1sts: 60 / 230,000,000
‘Winchester? That Winchester?’
Yuri recalled Johan's words.
[Her aunt consulted me about that issue. On how to lift her niece's curse.]
Maybe the aunt Johan mentioned was this May Winchester?
He pushed the thought aside, eyes moving higher.
At the very top of the Hall of Fame.
A familiar name claimed first place.
1st / 2nd Cohort / Johan Redner / Cumulative 1sts: 60
Johan’s name sat there as if it owned the spot.
But Yuri's gaze said he'd half-expected it.
‘No old-timers from 100th to 2nd, so obviously first…’
What even Yuri hadn't anticipated was Johan's score.
Yuri stared at the points Johan had racked up over five years for a long moment before muttering one thing.
“Ha… you perverted old geezer.”