Chapter 379: A Clue (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 379: A Clue (6)
The test finally got back on track after the four people in charge started adjusting their power.
“Hyaah!”
Clang!
Crunch!
“Kegh…!”
Still, it only amounted to an exchange of one or two blows, a slight improvement from the previously one-sided beatdowns.
For me, this was enough.
I could see what kind of personality they had from the look in their eyes as they faced their opponent.
I could see how efficiently they used their attack opportunities, which were one or two at most.
The moment was so brief that my assessment might not be perfect, but that was also part of the plan.
After all, I'm looking for people with enough talent to make their presence clearly known, even in such a brief window.
The problem was, even as the recruitment test neared its end, no one with the level of talent I was looking for had appeared.
“Hoo…”
This one fails too.
As I stamped another application form with 'FAIL,' Ju-yeon, who was next to me, gave a bitter smile.
“Aren’t you setting the bar a little too high?”
“I suppose so,” I admitted.
My standards right now are excessively high.
So high that I couldn't find a single person I liked, even at a place like Korea University, which is filled with geniuses.
But what can I do?
“But if they’re not at least at this level, there’s no point.”
If they're not at this level, they'd be useless even if I accepted them as guild members.
Having more members doesn't necessarily increase our overall strength, and it inevitably weakens our solidarity.
People form cliques with those they get along with, and it's all too common for them to bicker and ruin the atmosphere.
I have no desire to repeat the mistakes I learned from running a guild in Son Si-woo's body.
To be precise, I don't have the time or mental energy for that.
To avoid the problems that come with numbers, I have no choice but to aim for a small, elite group.
But I also want us to have the firepower of a large guild. See the problem?
There's only one way to satisfy such a greedy ambition.
Each and every guild member must be a One Rider Against a Thousand.
“You’re so greedy,” Han Ju-yeon said with a bitter smile.
Well… calling me greedy is putting it mildly. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call me a shameless bastard.
“It’s okay.”
Suddenly, she wrapped her arm around my back.
…Isn't this usually something a guy does to a girl?
“I’ll help you, so you can be as greedy as you want.”
Moving her fingers sensually against my side, she leaned in and whispered in my ear.
“For the rest of our lives…♥”
“…Thanks.”
This is something to be thankful for, right…?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Around the time the sun began to set.
After the last group of applicants on the testing stage were miserably defeated, the recruitment test came to a close.
Out of a total of 183 applicants, 181 took the test, and unfortunately, none of them met my standards.
“…What do I do about this?”
At this point, I started to break out in a cold sweat.
I needed to pass at least one person to save face. After making such a big scene, announcing that not a single person passed would obviously turn the mood sour.
A good number of the applicants who finished the test were now looking up at us, their eyes shining with anticipation.
Most of them were people who had put up a decent fight against my members and probably thought they had a good shot at passing.
…Should I pass one or two of them and make them quit on their own later?
Just as that temptation crossed my mind.
Clank!
The door of the grand auditorium, which was reserved for us for the day, was suddenly thrown open, and a man and a woman, panting for breath, entered.
“Gasp, gasp…!”
“Haa, haa… A-are we too late?”
I think I know who they are.
The two people out of the 183 applicants who didn't participate in the test and were disqualified early on.
I knew the woman's name.
Jin Ha-rin.
A junior from the Magic Department, famous among the professors for having the most outstanding talent among the first-years.
Of course, I didn't know her for her talent, but because of her innocent beauty that would make any man turn his head for a second look… anyway.
Seeing her, I could also get a rough idea of who the guy was.
The childhood friend who's always sticking to our junior, Jin Ha-rin.
A junior from the Warrior Department who monopolized the attention of the female upperclassmen at the beginning of the semester with his sharp features, which weren't diminished at all by his short-cropped hair.
His name was… Yoon Si-hoo, I think.
The guy, who had been panting, straightened his back and shouted.
“S-sorry we’re late! Has the recruitment test ended by any chance?”
“……”
An anxious expression, but his eyes were unwavering.
Looking at those eyes reminded me of the first time I saw them.
The junior from the Warrior Department who had greeted the upperclassmen with confidence.
Back then, he looked so insignificant that I wondered how he even got into Korea University, yet he had a strange way of catching one's eye.
“Not bad.”
I noticed things that had changed since then.
His slender body now had some solid muscle, and his gaze had deepened.
It seems he hasn't been slacking off for the past year.
I found their application forms, which I had set aside earlier, and checked the basic information.
The names were what I remembered…
“Hm?”
The grades section caught my eye.
Jin Ha-rin was the top student of the first-year Magic Department.
In contrast, the guy named Yoon Si-hoo had grades in the bottom 10% on his first midterm.
Looking only at this, he seemed unimpressive… but his first-semester final exam grades had risen to the mid-tier.
That wasn't all.
“Second-semester midterm, top 30%… and the final exam, top 10%…?”
Hoho, look at this.
He pulled his grades from the bottom to the top tier in just one year?
This seems to be beyond what one can achieve through simple effort…
I'm curious.
I looked away from the papers and down at the two, who were waiting for an answer with anxious faces.
A handsome man and a beautiful woman, looking like they came straight out of a fresh, first-love romance movie.
They look really good together.
It's making me want to be mean for no reason.
“Unfortunately, the test ended exactly one minute before you two arrived.”
“Ah…!”
“No…”
The two were greatly flustered.
Yoon Si-hoo wore a guilty expression, while Jin Ha-rin looked devastated.
Judging by their expressions, it seems the guy was the reason they were late…
Well, I guess that's enough joking around.
“I’m kidding. It would be too cruel to fail you for being just one minute late… and our members haven't left the stage yet, so let's have a quick look.”
Color started to return to their gloomy faces.
“Ah…! Thank you so much, Senior!”
“Thank you, Senior.”
Don't mention it.
To be honest, this isn't a bad thing for me either.
I was already trembling at the thought of announcing the results, so this buys me some time. It's all good.
“Yoon Si-hoo, head to Test Area B. Jin Ha-rin… you go to C.”
“Yes!”
“Okay.”
Before leaving, the two exchanged a look of encouragement.
Their examiners were Seo-yeon and Na-eun, respectively.
“We'll start right away.”
As soon as the start was announced, Yoon Si-hoo, holding a wooden sword, rushed toward Seo-yeon.
Unhesitating eyes and movements.
As if he had been preparing for this moment while rushing all the way here, he swung his sword without restraint, the strike drawing an arc as it aimed for Seo-yeon's waist.
Tack!
But that was as far as it went.
Seo-yeon, having easily blocked his attack, followed up with a sharp counterattack.
A speed on a completely different level from the first-years she had faced so far.
Unable to come up with a countermeasure, Yoon Si-hoo found Seo-yeon's wooden sword aimed at his neck.
Finally, his head drooped.
“…I lost.”
“Good work.”
That one was over.
I turned my gaze and saw Na-eun and Jin Ha-rin's fight.
An intermediate magic spell, ‘Ice Spear,’ cast at a considerable speed, shot toward Na-eun.
“Hah.”
Na-eun easily blocked it with a Fire Ball.
In that time, another ice spell appeared before Jin Ha-rin.
“…That’s incredibly fast.”
An astonishing casting speed.
Eight heavy spheres of ice created through this scattered around Na-eun.
It seemed she planned to attack from multiple directions at once to prevent it from being easily blocked.
But even that wasn't easy.
“Fire Wall.”
Na-eun surrounded herself with a curtain of fire, blocking all directions of attack.
The battle was over.
There was no way her ice spheres could break through that wall of fire, a perfect elemental counter.
Unable to bring herself to launch the ice spheres, a flustered Jin Ha-rin bit her lip.
Then, she sent the hovering ice spheres flying toward the wall of flames.
Sizzzle!
The ice spheres melted in an instant upon touching the high-temperature wall of fire.
But it didn't end there.
“Ah…?”
A shard of ice, melted by the high heat down to the size of a fingertip, pierced the flame wall and reached Na-eun.
“…Shield.”
Of course, Na-eun immediately put up a shield that blocked them all, causing them to fall to the floor, but this was unexpected.
For a first-year junior's ice sphere to pierce Na-eun's flame wall, however weakly.
I had a feeling when I saw her fast casting speed, but her proficiency with ice magic must be considerable.
“I lost.”
“…You did well.”
Afterward, the expressions of the two as they concluded the test were quite strange.
The loser wore a look of relief, while the winner looked somewhat uncomfortable.
I guess that makes sense. Even if it was only the size of a fingertip, her magic was pierced by a junior's, and with a spell that was at an elemental disadvantage. It's understandable her pride would be hurt.
She's going to need some comforting after the test.
I picked up the microphone with a bitter smile.
“This concludes the test. I'd like to thank all the students who participated without complaint until this late hour. Now… I will announce the successful candidates.”
I mercilessly spoke to the crowd, who were focused solely on my lips with tense expressions.
“The successful candidates are Yoon Si-hoo… and Jin Ha-rin. That is all.”
I had succeeded in finding two pretty decent raw gems at the very end of the test.
* * *
After finishing her seasonal semester classes, Baek Hyeon-a immediately left the school and arrived at a café in Gangnam.
A private room in the café was her designated meeting spot.
As she was waiting while sipping a bitter cup of coffee, a man entered.
A man in his mid-thirties, dressed in a neat suit, his hair firmly fixed with hairspray as if it were his pride.
“It's been a while.”
As the man who sat across from her greeted her, she quietly stood up and bowed.
“It has been a while. Have you been well?”
“Haha, I’m always the same.” His eyes narrowed as he answered with a bright laugh.
“As long as unexpected situations like today don't happen, that is.” His tone seemed to be reprimanding her.
Then, as if that had never happened, he continued.
“So… you said it was about the organization's security. What is it exactly?”
Feeling the heavy emotion hidden within his light tone, her heartbeat began to quicken.
She still wasn't sure.
Which side would be more beneficial to her? Was the choice she was making now the wrong one?
After some hesitation, she slowly parted her lips.
“…Kim Do-jin contacted me.”
“Kim Do-jin… Ah, that kid who was Professor Baek's recruitment target?”
“Yes. He knows I'm a member of Hexagram… He's been blackmailing me.”
At her answer, the man's gaze turned sharp.
“It wasn't because you acted carelessly and let him find out, was it?”
“Not at all.”
When she answered firmly, the man's narrowed eyes returned to their normal shape.
“Well… I suppose our Professor Baek isn't that sloppy.”
At his tone, Baek Hyeon-a clenched the fists she had placed neatly on her lap.
Meanwhile, his questioning continued.
“So, what did he demand?”
“He told me to hand over the organization's information. When I said it was impossible due to restrictions, he told me to arrange a natural meeting with a member instead. He said he would take care of the rest.”
“Seeing as nothing has happened yet, I assume you accepted, Professor Baek.”
“If I hadn't, I'd already be dead.”
The man's eyes widened slightly at her response.
“…Is he that strong? To the point that our Professor Baek couldn't win in a fight?”
Baek Hyeon-a nodded.
“In terms of magic skill alone, we might be similar… but there was a difference in physical ability.”
“Ahh… now that you mention it, I heard he was quite agile for a mage.”
“Yes. He was faster than I thought.”
Only then did the man retract his suspicious gaze.
“If that's the case… then a one-on-one fight would certainly have been difficult.”
The man thought for a moment before speaking again.
“You said he told you to arrange a natural meeting with a member, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then… you can just kill him then. I'll give you a few decent guys. Use them as meat shields and kill him.”
“……”
A sudden proposal.
Seeing her pupils tremble, the man grinned and asked again.
“Why, you don't think you can do it?”
To this, Baek Hyeon-a shook her head with a heavy expression and replied, “…I can do it.”
With that answer, she had made her choice.