Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Guild Contacts and Perfect Scores
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Price: 20,000 (50% discount)
[Would you like to purchase the Intermediate Subspace Pocket (A)?]
‘Purchase.’
[Purchase completed.]
A brilliant light enveloped my body. The usage instructions for the subspace pocket were automatically imprinted in my mind.
I felt a sense of wonder for a moment before opening the subspace pocket. A very small dimensional door appeared in front of me.
It seemed like I just needed to put objects I wanted to store inside.
“Hmm, what should I put in?”
Potions... and the clothes for disguising as Kim Jinwoo...
Truth be told, I didn’t have anything particularly impressive, so I didn’t even fill 5kg.
This would gradually fill up as I lived my life.
Ding!
At that moment, my smart student notebook chimed with an alert.
When I checked the screen, a message had arrived.
[Hello, Kim Sunwoo. This is the ‘Crimson Sword’ Guild. We watched your exam today and thought we might form a good connection. It might be early, but if you’re interested in our guild, please contact us. 0XX-5XXX-2XXX]
“......What’s this.”
Did I just get scouted?
Crimson Sword was a massive guild in the world top 20 rankings.
I had done well on today’s exam, but with the label of being the bottom of the entire school, I hadn’t expected preemptive contact like this.
[You have achieved the ‘First Contact’ accomplishment.]
[As a reward, you have obtained 1,000 points.]
“Oh......”
And even an accomplishment on top of that.
I had no intention of joining Crimson Sword Guild, but it felt good to be acknowledged somehow.
At that moment, my smart student notebook chimed again. This time, it was another scouting message.
[Hello, Kim Sunwoo. This is the ‘Oberly’ Guild. We think you might not know us well. We’re a new guild started last year, founded by A-Rank Wizard Jeong Hyundu. There are still two years until your graduation, but we wanted to build a good relationship early, so we’re reaching out. If you’re interested, please contact us at this number. 0XX-8XXX-7XXX]
These guys know their stuff too.
The new guild ‘Oberly’. They weren’t that famous right now, but about two years later, it would be revealed that they had forced slave contracts on rookie wizards, earning public backlash and condemnation.
“All kinds of people are coming out of the woodwork.”
After that, messages from guild scouts kept pouring in.
It felt good at first, but as they piled up, it started to get annoying.
I blocked all incoming messages from then on.
I had no plans to join a guild after graduation anyway.
I needed to find and take down the villains hiding in the original story right away—I couldn’t leisurely earn money through guild activities.
“Hmm......”
I looked out the window.
Even late at night, observers who hadn’t left the school grounds were visible. They were checking schedules or making calls, all looking busy. Among them, villains hiding their identities were surely lurking.
Demons, terrorists, and so on......
Their goals weren’t much different from the other observers. It was to find talent they needed.
However, the villain taking center stage in this episode was the demons.
The day after tomorrow.
The demons were planning to raid the wizard academy.
Their purpose wasn’t to scout talent like the other observers.
It was the prophecy left by the previous ‘Demon King’ just before his death.
To find the ‘Child of Prophecy’, the natural enemy of demons possessing the trait of Demon Exterminator (滅魔).
And they already knew through the holy relic with prophetic power, the ‘Altar of the Prophet’, that the Child of Prophecy was hiding among the second-year students at the wizard academy.
For reference, the ‘Child of Prophecy’ was not this world’s protagonist, Lee Seojun.
I was probably the only one in this world who knew the identity of the ‘Child of Prophecy’.
That identity was......
Bzzz.
My smart student notebook chimed with an alert.
When I turned on the screen, a message had arrived. The sender was Yoon Hayoung.
[Sunwoo. Can you help me train the day after tomorrow?]
[Sure, let’s meet at 4 after the exam ends.]
The second day of exams was the written test.
The students were sitting quietly at their desks, waiting for the exam to begin. It was boring waiting for it to start, and noisy sounds occasionally came from outside the window.
When I glanced out, the first-years were taking their basic physical fitness test.
It wasn’t anything grand. Just running and jumping.
Of course, this basic fitness test was only for first-years.
“Here we go, distributing the exam papers.”
While I was watching the first-years, the proctor teacher began handing out the exam papers.
The rustling of paper filled the room as exam papers were placed on every student’s desk.
“Ugh. I don’t understand any of this.”
I heard Yoon Hayoung muttering quietly from the front.
In the distance, Shin Youngjun was yawning, while Lee Seojun and Lee Hyunju were seriously reading their papers. Yua was sitting upright, staring intently at the clock in front, waiting for the exam to start.
I watched them for a bit before roughly scanning the questions on my paper.
At the same time, the Outsider’s Blessing activated, and the answers popped into my head.
Seeing them, a smile naturally formed.
—Ding-a-ling~
The alarm signaling the start of the exam rang through the classroom.
“Begin.”
All the students hunched over and started the exam.
I picked up my pen and did the same.
Just as the Outsider’s Blessing indicated, I scribbled down the answers.
After the first written exam section ended, there was a 15-minute break.
Park Chano, the magic history teacher assigned to proctor the second-year Class A written exam, returned to the staff room.
“Teacher Park, good work.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
Park Chano returned the greetings from the teachers who greeted him and placed the bundle of collected exam papers on his desk.
He stared down at them with a sullen expression for a moment.
“Hmm......”
“Something wrong?”
His fellow teachers spoke up at his unusual behavior.
“No, nothing much.”
“Really? Your face looks off.”
“There was a student taking the written exam too lightly.”
“Ah...... You mean the ones who just guess and nap?”
“Yes. Even though the written exam has low weight, as the written test teacher, it bothers me a bit. Haha.”
Park Chano recalled the scene from Class A’s written exam earlier.
At first, all the students started solving seriously.
Especially Kim Sunwoo, who had a reputation among teachers as a model student.
After about 10 minutes of seeming to work on problems, he suddenly slumped over his desk and fell asleep.
It turned out he hadn’t been solving but guessing.
“Tsk. Everyone hyped him as a model student and top of the class, but they’re all the same.”
No, if he was just the same level, he might not have been this disappointed.
The problem was he wasn’t even that. Kim Sunwoo had guessed the fastest among the 50 students in Class A and fallen asleep.
How little must he think of written exams to guess that quickly and sleep......
“Sigh.”
Might as well see how badly he did.
Park Chano pulled Kim Sunwoo’s exam paper from the bundle.
He scanned through it.
“......Huh?”
Park Chano’s mouth fell open. Thinking he saw wrong, he rubbed his eyes and looked again.
The densely filled answers on Kim Sunwoo’s paper.
Even reading them carefully one by one, he couldn’t spot a single wrong answer.
Even the essay questions that stumped teachers had perfect correct answers and explanations. And personal opinions that weren’t student-like, showing exactly what a model answer should be.
“......Is this really Kim Sunwoo’s?”
No one could do this in 10 minutes.
Park Chano flipped back to the first page.
He checked the name field at the top. Contrary to his expectation, ‘Kim Sunwoo’ was neatly written there.
Park Chano’s pupils trembled.
“What is this kid?”
Jeong Hyeonsu was reviewing documents on Kim Sunwoo under Kim Deokhyeon’s orders. Name, age, physical stats, address, family...... It was supposed to contain all of Kim Sunwoo’s personal information. Or rather, it should have.
“Senior, this Kim Sunwoo student has almost no info. It’s weird.”
“What do you mean no info?”
“Just that. There’s barely any. Take a look.”
Jeong Hyeonsu handed the documents to Kim Deokhyeon. Kim Deokhyeon, who had been playing a phone game, set it down and checked the papers.
“Huh? For real?”
Just as Jeong Hyeonsu said, Kim Sunwoo’s personal info was completely blank. Only the bare basics: name, age, physical condition. Not even simple family relations.
It was as if someone who didn’t exist in this world had suddenly appeared.
“You see the family section is blank? Maybe an abandoned kid?”
“Who knows. What a weird guy. Do people like this even exist these days?”
“But it’s not that shocking. Just look at Lee Seojun’s info—the family section is empty too.”
“Hey! That’s different. Lee Seojun is...... Sigh, never mind.”
Kim Deokhyeon started to say something but shut his mouth. Seeing him hide a secret, Jeong Hyeonsu frowned.
“What? Why stop mid-sentence?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Tch. Doing this again. If you’re not gonna tell me, don’t start.”
Jeong Hyeonsu snapped in irritation.
Kim Deokhyeon ignored him and flipped through the documents again.
“But looking at this, something draws me in. No info gives it a mysterious vibe.”
“Since when do you give good reviews, senior?”
“The character’s unique. Bottom of the school, but skills are oddly good. Past shrouded in mystery. How fun is that?”
“Go find characters in comics or novels.”
At that moment, Kim Deokhyeon seemed to remember something.
“Right. That guy...... Kim Jinwoo. No other info on him? Family relations or whatever.”
“Nope. Checked the association records on Kim Jinwoo, and he’s mysteriously lacking info too.”
“Really? Faces look alike, and even the lack of info matches.”
Kim Deokhyeon eyed the documents suspiciously again.
The Wednesday second-year sparring exam for third-years started at 2 p.m.
Until then, it was free time.
With it being 12:05 now, about two hours of free time.
After pondering what to do, I decided to watch the third-years’ ongoing team monster subjugation exam.
“Wow. Lots of people.”
Upon arriving at the exam venue, a crowd swarmed the entrance.
Maybe because they were third-years starting active wizard duty next year, but it felt like even more scouts were gathered.
Then, in the distance, a familiar male student’s face appeared. A ton of people surrounded him, and he looked quite troubled.
“Lee Seojun, here’s my card. Please take it.”
“This is the God of War Guild. Come to us after graduation, and we’ll offer the best terms.”
That male student was none other than Lee Seojun. He’d come to watch the third-year exam casually and caught the scouts’ eyes, ending up like this.
‘He’s got it rough too.’
If I got involved, it’d be inconvenient for me too, so I tried to ignore and enter the venue.
That was when.
“Hey? Hey! Kim Sunwoo!”
Lee Seojun spotted me and called my name loudly.
At the same time, the scouts’ gazes turned to me. Some recognized me, while others wondered who I was.
“Wow! Meeting here. Let’s go together.”
Lee Seojun seized the chance to push through the crowd around him and approach me.
“Lee Seojun, just a moment to talk...”
“Sorry, my friend’s waiting.”
“What? Just a quick sec!”
“Sorry!”
The scouts looked at Lee Seojun with regret at his firm response.
Then they shot resentful glares at me.
Why me?
Oblivious, Lee Seojun smiled brightly and came to my side.
“Whew. Saved thanks to you.”
“......What.”
“Went to watch the third-year exam, and suddenly people swarmed. Heh.”
Lee Seojun laughed awkwardly.
“Oh, right. You here to watch the exam too? Wanna watch together if you don’t have anyone?”
Not a big deal, so I nodded.
“Sure.”
And so, my sudden companionship with Lee Seojun began.
[Group 9 ended]
“Looks like Group 9 just finished.”
“Yeah.”
Lee Seojun and I entered the venue and found seats together.
The exam area resembled the underground arena in the circular stadium we’d seen before.
I looked around the spectator seats.
Numerous guild scouts were glaring sharply, scribbling notes furiously.
Seeing foreign faces here and there, it seemed overseas guilds had come in force too.
I wonder if any villains are disguised as scouts.
“Hmm......”
“Looking for someone?”
Lee Seojun asked as I kept glancing around.
“Nah, just a lot of famous wizards I’ve seen on the news. Checking for familiar faces.”
“Ah.”
Lee Seojun nodded. Fortunately, he didn’t seem suspicious.
“Oh, right. You must’ve gotten some contacts too?”
“What contacts?”
“Guild scouting. You did great on the exam, so probably.”
“A few, yeah.”
Lee Seojun nodded at my answer, muttering, “As expected.”
“So, decided where to go?”
“Nah, still two years till graduation. What’s the rush.”
“True.”
Lee Seojun chuckled.