Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: A Top Scorer Emerged from the Eon Family (4)
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The top scorer is Eon Yong-un.
Eon Yong-un, step forward.
At the words from the Chief Proctor's mouth, the first to speak among those by my side was Yin Ha-seong.
"...Hmm. So what the Chief Proctor means is that after the instructors huddled together in that tent over there and whispered among themselves, they decided not to hold a top scorer showdown and just name our Yong-un hyung as the top scorer, right?"
At Yin Ha-seong's words, Jeong Hyeon nodded vigorously and opened her mouth.
"Yes. That's how it seems. I secretly thought that even though the scores were tied, the face of this class should go to Young Master Eon, and it really turned out that way!"
She shifted her gaze to me, clasped her sleeves together, and beamed with a full smile.
"Congratulations, Young Master Eon!"
At Jeong Hyeon's words, Yin Ha-seong and Woo So-rung simultaneously lit up with joy and spoke.
"Congratulations, hyung!!"
"Congratulations, Eon hyung!"
"Yeah. Yeah."
I gave a perfunctory nod to their congratulations, then immediately headed toward the platform.
'The Chief Proctor calls, so I have to go.'
As I did, I furrowed my brow slightly while gauging the current situation, which differed from the original work.
'They're giving me the top spot without a showdown?'
In the original novel, Jeong Hyeon and Zhuge Seolji, who were tied at the time, held a top scorer battle.
The original Jeong Hyeon, unlike me, stubbornly pushed through the final gate despite overexerting herself.
'Of course, they competed with sword forms without using internal energy.'
Anyway, I'm in far better shape now than that Jeong Hyeon was then, yet they're just acknowledging it outright. My brow couldn't help but crease.
But upon second thought, there didn't seem to be anything bad about it.
'The moment I decided to claim the top spot, I expected to deviate from the original plot.'
It was only natural.
Under that expectation, I'd thought, 'Just secure these two things.'
'One is making sure Jeong Hyeon passes the entrance exam without drawing on her Pure Origin Energy, now that it's come to this.'
Well, that was a complete success.
The other was instilling a sense of defeat in Zhuge Seolji...
"The Chief Proctor just said the top scorer is Eon Yong-un, right? Not that we're having a showdown?!"
"He definitely said top scorer is Eon Yong-un. Our ears can't both be deaf at the same time, and even if so, our eyes are fine! Look at the blackboard the head supervisor corrected. Isn't Eon Yong-un at the very top?!"
"Hah, hahaha. A top scorer from a low-grade warrior? These days, prestigious sects openly claim there's no need to even accept applicants below elite grade, with their later-generation disciples hogging the top spots. I wonder what faces they'll make when this spreads across the world. I'm more curious about that than my own pass or fail."
"I'm more curious about that Zhuge young lady over there than those distant folks. We've brushed past her a few times, but her self-esteem is sky-high. Do you think Zhuge young lady ever imagined she'd be pushed to second place?!"
I looked around.
"......"
"...Seolji."
And there was Zhuge Seolji, chewing her lip with her eyebrows trembling, and beside her, the fidgety one I presumed was Dang Ok-gi.
'Hmm. She seems to feel plenty defeated.'
The second element seemed sufficiently met too.
With that, it suddenly hit me that we were in the middle of taking the exam.
'In this exam, I found a better answer than the original Jeong Hyeon, and the instructors acknowledged it.'
Then there was nothing to hesitate about...
...Ah. One thing does nag at me.
'Master, don't you think those bastards who called our Righteous Martial Academy rotten and decayed should take it back? They're just handing over the top spot.'
-We only confirmed what was obvious, so why should we?! If we hadn't made sure such thoughts wouldn't arise, would we have had them?!
'Oh. That makes sense when you put it that way? But Master, got nothing to say?'
-...What is there to say?!
'Come on. This disciple took the top spot! Beating out the descendants of those guys who strutted around before you a hundred years ago. Something like congrats, good job, well done—at least one of those?'
-Tsk. As a disciple of the Heaven-Splitting Sword Sect, you should handle such things as easily as swimming on land. And just because a sprout emerges first doesn't mean it'll become the thickest mighty tree. Until you grasp the ultimate essence of the Heaven-Splitting Sword, you're nothing—don't get arrogant and keep refining yourself.
Sheesh.
They invoke the founding ancestor when they're pleased, but always end up like this.
-When did I?!
Anyway.
I gathered my thoughts, smirked, and put strength into my steps.
Striding forward boldly, I soon reached the platform.
"Examinee number 79, Eon Yong-un?"
"Yes."
"Here, this is the student badge carved from ivory."
Standing before the Chief Proctor, Im Tae-ok pulled from his sleeve the insignia symbolizing a Righteous Martial Academy student and extended it toward me as he spoke.
"On behalf of the Chancellor, I convey this. As of this moment, you shed your examinee status and become a candidate student. For your particularly outstanding performance in the entrance exam conducted by this academy, I bestow this badge upon you as the representative of all passing students."
It was then.
The moment I took the student badge from Chief Proctor Im Tae-ok.
"I can't accept this! I heard that guy pulled some trick dividing teams—is that allowed?!"
"That's right! Why are we failing and that bastard the top scorer?! We definitely obtained the beads! But that Eon Yong-un stole them!"
"If we fail because of that, then guys with lower scores than us pass! Does that make any sense?!"
"Exactly! Either acknowledge our scores, or at least disqualify that scoundrel! Please reconsider!"
A group—no, dozens of examinees—trembled with rage as they raised objections.
-Familiar faces, all of them.
'Yeah.'
Looking at them, they were the ones who'd lunged to snag the 5-point beads as fishermen, and I nearly let out a hollow laugh.
"Ahem."
Zhuge Min, who had been standing with hands behind his back before the blackboard, stepped forward and addressed me.
"They say that. Candidate Eon Yong-un, do you have anything to say about it?"
"Plenty to say. But can I say it all?"
"Of course. I'm personally curious about why you divided into teams and how you took other examinees' beads."
"Well, I might get heated and slip into rude speech while talking."
I'm no bodhisattva.
Seeing these fools, who lusted after others' beads and ended up like this due to their own lack of skill, now throwing tantrums shamelessly—it's stirring ripples in my lake-like calm mind, you know?
"Can you overlook that?"
"We'll take it in stride, so don't worry."
Well, if you insist.
"Mm. First, the reason I divided teams was because I thought that's how the exam was designed."
"Continue."
"Moving as one big group couldn't secure the 5-point bead route within the time limit. And seeing the 'cooperation' theme on this scroll, I judged accordingly."
"Good. Then why take other examinees' beads?"
"That was a desperate measure because these friends attacked our team after we secured the 5-point bead."
At my words, Zhuge Min tilted his head momentarily.
"A last-resort plan in dire straits... Yet you obtained fifty beads and stand here unscathed. Whether strategy or force, it proves your team's superiority—how is that 'dire'?"
"Mm. The dire straits I mean aren't just what my team or I faced."
"Then what else?"
"Before this gate began, the instructors said to treat it like real combat. The beads are elixirs not to be lost. The instructors guarding them are demons. So what are those guys?"
As the conversation reached this point,
the other examinees, who had merely dredged up some flimsy excuse, let out surprised gasps like "Huh?"
"Once they confirmed our team had the 5-point bead, they attacked. Isn't a 5-point bead guarded by the most dangerous demon? We mustered courage to seize the elixir from that demon, only for these guys' eyes to glaze over with greed and stab their comrades in the back. What are they?"
I continued without hiding my crooked smirk.
"Don't people call such types opportunists, traitors, or turncoats? Personally, I call them demon faction. If it were truly simulated real life, as the Chief Proctor said?"
I stared down each face of the ones barking like dogs in human voices.
"Shouldn't I have chopped off their weapon arms and stepping legs one by one?!"
With each deliberate word spat out, the complainers' faces paled to dirt, and they all clamped their mouths shut.
"If I'd done that, escaping the net of benevolence would've been easier. None among them seemed ready to stake their lives, so spilling blood early would've cleared the path quicker."
I consciously chuckled to loosen my stiff expression.
Then spat the rest.
"Of course, since it's hypothetical, I thought such methods weren't allowed, so excluding that, I found another way."
With that, I'd said my piece.
Zhuge Min, who had been stroking his chin, suddenly dropped his hand and opened his mouth.
"This gate was designed with multiple intents. The foremost was to glimpse the examinees' true character, which ordinary tasks can't easily reveal."
And with a pointing finger, he bellowed at the objectors.
"You're not failing because Eon Yong-un, top candidate, took your beads. The moment you thought to steal from fellow examinees, your failure was sealed. Yet shamelessly throwing fits like this—it's ugly even on reflection. Ordinary failure is too lenient for you. For the next five years, you're banned from taking the Righteous Martial Academy exam. If you're later-generation of the orthodox martial world, if you ever aspired here, accept failure and withdraw!"
He then fiddled with the tip of his mustache, shifted his gaze to me, and cleared his throat.
"A perfect solution."
"You're too kind."
"No, even as its designer, hearing you made me realize what I overlooked, and you grasped and resolved it perfectly on your own. My palms rarely meet, but today it's hard to resist."
And with clap! clap! clap! clap!, he began applauding.
The other instructors and examinees followed suit, entranced or reluctant, and
the applause swelled into a grand wave.