Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: After the Final Exam
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After the final exams ended, in the waiting room.
Each team gathered, exchanging words of "good job" and chatting idly.
As expected, the winning Team B was in a festive mood.
"Wow, Kim Sun-woo, really. What a twist."
"Yeah, I thought he was just barking orders up front, but it all had a reason."
And most of the chatter was about Kim Sun-woo.
It was only natural, in a way. Kim Sun-woo had single-handedly covered Team B's critical weakness: the lack of area-of-effect magic.
He had demonstrated an unbelievably massive area-of-effect spell that was hard to believe even after seeing it.
While they shared their impressions of the exam like that.
Lee Seo-jun looked around, searching for someone.
It didn't take long to find them.
In the corner of Team B's waiting room. A noticeably large crowd of students had gathered around someone.
Lee Seo-jun headed straight there.
"Kim Sun-woo."
"Yeah, you're here."
Kim Sun-woo looked up and replied.
Then, a female student to his right shook his shoulder as she spoke.
"Hey, so how did you learn that spell?"
"I've told you a bunch of times already—it just happened by accident."
Kim Sun-woo shook off the hand on his shoulder like it was annoying.
"Ah! That doesn't make any sense!"
"Yeah, isn't it hard to just tell us?"
This time, a male student on his left crossed his arms and muttered.
Lee Seo-jun gave a wry smile as he watched Kim Sun-woo like that.
It didn't feel like someone else's story, seeing him bombarded with questions from the crowd.
That said, he could understand the students asking.
He himself had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask Kim Sun-woo.
Still, thanks to Kim Sun-woo's performance today, the usual attention on him had lessened a bit, which felt somewhat relieving.
'......But how the hell did he pull off that area-of-effect spell?'
Lee Seo-jun recalled the rainstorm-like magic Kim Sun-woo had unleashed today.
Just thinking about it gave him chills.
A spell of that form couldn't be perfected with just a day or two of practice.
Even with exceptional talent, it would take at least three years.
How much practice had he even......
No, this wasn't something practice alone could achieve.
"......A genius."
"Huh? What'd you just say?"
Kim Sun-woo reacted to Lee Seo-jun's quiet mutter.
Lee Seo-jun shook his head.
"Nothing."
"......Yeah, okay."
Kim Sun-woo nodded. And the questions from the surrounding students poured down on him again.
Kim Sun-woo let out a deep sigh and stood up from his chair.
"Huh? Hey, Kim Sun-woo, where are you going? At least answer our questions!"
"I've got something to think about right now, so leave me alone for a bit."
"What's there to think about?"
"Doesn't matter."
Kim Sun-woo tossed that out curtly and vanished somewhere.
His mood had looked genuinely bad at the end, so the remaining students just stared blankly at his retreating back.
After Kim Sun-woo left. Lee Seo-jun tilted his head.
Did something bad happen to put him in a bad mood?
It didn't seem like it was because of all the attention.
"Hmm......"
Lee Seo-jun moved to another location.
He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway outside the waiting room.
As he walked down the hall, he spotted a familiar face sitting on a bench, looking depressed.
"Yoo Ah-ra."
At Lee Seo-jun's call, Yoo Ah-ra looked up at him.
"......Lee Seo-jun."
There was no strength in Yoo Ah-ra's voice. It was only natural, in a way.
She had the strongest competitive spirit of anyone at the Wizardry Academy and absolutely hated losing.
On top of that, this captain battle was seen as advantageous for Yoo Ah-ra, who specialized in area-of-effect magic.
Countless people had predicted she'd take first place in this exam, and she had confidence too.
But she'd lost decisively.
Even in her specialty of 'area-of-effect magic,' she'd been outdone by Kim Sun-woo, so her pride must have taken a hit.
Lee Seo-jun looked at her pitifully and sat down beside her.
"You okay?"
"......Don't try to comfort me. It doesn't help at all—it just makes me feel more pathetic."
Lee Seo-jun nodded slightly.
He hadn't sat next to her to comfort her in the first place.
There was something he wanted to ask her.
"I've got a question."
"......What?"
"I want to hear what happened at the outpost."
"The outpost?"
"Yeah."
He'd been curious ever since the outpost spawned. What kind of events were inside?
In fact, from the moment he learned about the outpost, Lee Seo-jun had assumed he'd enter it.
He was interested in outpost strategies, and since it involved selecting each team's top fighter, he was even more eager.
But at Kim Sun-woo's insistence, he'd stayed outside.
It was a bit regrettable, but for the team, he'd followed Kim Sun-woo's orders.
"The outpost, huh......"
Yoo Ah-ra fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
"It was just what you'd expect. Escape the maze, dodge traps, defeat guardian monsters......"
He'd anticipated as much. But he was curious about something else.
"Aside from that. I heard there are events inside the outpost too."
"Events? There was one. Right before the outpost was captured."
Lee Seo-jun's curiosity piqued at Yoo Ah-ra's words.
"What kind of event?"
"It gathers all the outpost participants in a maze-like place, and the last one surviving wins."
A survival event.
Lee Seo-jun could picture it roughly in his head.
Probably, they'd eye each other warily to survive until the end, then start killing one another.
"What was the reward?"
"The reward's insane. You get a ticket that lets you skip straight to the next floor."
"Next floor?"
A ticket to the next floor. Given the outpost's nature of ascending floors, it was an enormous reward.
Since the outpost's final floor was the 5th, the event winner would have a high chance of capturing the outpost.
"So Kim Sun-woo must've won the event."
"Probably. Since he ended up capturing the outpost."
"Hmm."
A survival event in a 1:2 situation would've been seriously disadvantageous, but he'd survived to the end.
"Kim Sun-woo's impressive. All alone and he makes it. Did he take on two by himself?"
"No."
"Then?"
Yoo Ah-ra closed her mouth for a moment. Then, after thinking, she spoke again.
"Kim Sun-woo showed up at the end. At first, it was me fighting Senior Kim Chang-hyun."
"Oh?"
A matchup between Yoo Ah-ra, the top manifestation wizard of her year, and Kim Chang-hyun.
Lee Seo-jun felt curious about what brutal exchange must have taken place. He'd have to check the footage when he got back to the dorm.
"So you two were fighting 1v1, and then Kim Sun-woo jumped in and he won?"
"Yeah. And I was a bit worn out from fighting Senior Kim Chang-hyun. So the moment Kim Sun-woo joined, I was out."
Late at night, 11 PM.
Lee Seo-jun returned to the dorm after finishing all his schedules.
With two days of fatigue accumulated, his steps felt heavier than usual.
Lee Seo-jun flopped onto his bed.
And he recalled what had happened during today's exam.
"......Kim Sun-woo."
Just how strong was he really?
He'd had some doubts about Kim Sun-woo's strength before, but this captain battle had solidified his certainty.
At the Wizardry Academy, Kim Sun-woo had never shown his true abilities.
And unless it was a crucial moment, he never revealed his capabilities.
"......Why's that?"
It was too much to chalk up to simple humility or not wanting to show off.
Especially since he'd suddenly started showing his strength from second year onward—that was key evidence.
If Kim Sun-woo just didn't want to flaunt his power, he would've stayed low-key even in this exam.
"He hid it in first year but had to reveal it in second year for some reason......"
Lee Seo-jun fell deep into thought. Then, it suddenly hit him what Kim Sun-woo had been intensely focused on.
"Seongmu Games......"
Kim Sun-woo strongly wanted to participate in the Seongmu Games.
He'd shown tremendous power in this second-year exam for the sake of entering the Seongmu Games too.
"Does he want something from the Seongmu Games?"
Something to gain from participating in the Seongmu Games......
Lee Seo-jun's pondering continued, but he couldn't find an answer.
Information related to the Seongmu Games was under strict secrecy to maintain fairness.
The known details were just that it started next spring and only top-5 students from each school could participate.
One other thing: every year, the Seongmu Games featured a 'special prize.'
"A prize......"
But what the prize was remained unknown.
"Hmm."
Lee Seo-jun sighed deeply.
There weren't enough clues.
Forcing deductions with scant clues was no different from writing fiction.
Lee Seo-jun organized his thoughts and opened his smart student handbook.
As soon as he accessed the portal site, countless articles about 'Kim Sun-woo' popped up.
Lee Seo-jun skimmed them roughly, then clicked on the 'outpost exam footage' from this final exam.
A thick darkness blanketed the night.
A man walked alone through the silent park inside the Wizardry Academy, striding proudly.
It was late at night, so there wasn't a single sign of life in the park.
The man checked the watch on his wrist.
11:30 PM.
It was quite late.
The man lowered his hand from the watch and turned his gaze toward the men's dormitory.
That was when he was about to head that way.
Pew!
A blue flash erupted behind the man's back. Soon, a mysterious projectile infused with mana shot rapidly toward his back.
The man reacted immediately.
He spun around, swinging his hand to deploy a barrier.
At the same time, a loud boom rang out, and a small puff of smoke rose around them.
Boom!
It was a dangerous situation that could have cost him his life, but the man calmly dispelled the barrier.
Then, he stared at the 'something' hidden in the darkness that had ambushed him from behind.
That something slowly walked toward the man from the shadows.
Step, step.
As the distance closed, the park's dim lighting gradually illuminated the face hidden in the darkness.
Appearance of someone around 18-19 years old.
Black hair.
The man showed no surprise at seeing the bare face before him.
He simply gazed at his face with impassive eyes.
That's when the something asked the man.
"......Who the hell are you?"
The voice mixed doubt, fear, anger—various emotions.
But the man didn't answer. He quietly kept his mouth shut, staring intently at the other's face as if observing him.
"Answer me!"
The something reached out again, firing a blue magical blast.
But the man calmly deployed another barrier to block the spell.
The man dispelled the barrier once more and finally spoke as he looked at the something before him.
"Kim Sun-woo."
At the call of his name, the something—no, Kim Sun-woo—ground his teeth.
"Kim Chang-hyun. What the hell are you doing?"
At Kim Sun-woo's question, Kim Chang-hyun dropped the impassive expression he'd maintained until now and grinned.
"The outpost's mystery must have told you, huh."