Passing and the Top Two
‘Wow, did I really pass?’
Surprisingly, I had passed the Cheonjihae entrance exam with flying colors.
Honestly, the practical exam had felt like I was riding Cheok Jiyeon’s bus, but I had done something at the very last minute. So maybe I did have some qualifications after all?
‘In the end, the world is all about luck, right!’
Anyway, thinking about joining Cheonjihae made me feel both amazed and dazed.
A room-corner one-time instant death one-trick pony like me as a corporate employee?
Was my level real? My chest swelled with pride.
‘...Of course, this isn’t the end.’
Cheonjihae was hard to pass, but surviving there was even harder.
So many new employees quit that more left than stayed.
But that was a problem for later.
Right now, I was going to enjoy the corporate entry I hadn’t even been able to dream of before transmigration.
No matter how you looked at it, this was an entrance ceremony.
I could get lost in the feeling that I had done okay today.
‘But surprisingly, not many people passed.’
On the written exam, the number had been impossible to count.
Many had taken the practical too.
Yet when it came to the entrance ceremony, far fewer showed up.
Of course, it wasn’t a tiny number, but compared to the examinees, it was below average.
‘How had I really passed?’
First, I found my seat in the tense atmosphere.
But there was someone sitting in what was clearly my chair.
‘...What?’
I double-checked just in case, but the number matched.
Probably that person had mistaken the seat like in a movie theater.
‘Aah... Oh god, why such trials for me.’
Asking Cheok Jiyeon about seat mistakes would be embarrassing.
I couldn’t sit in someone else’s seat either.
It would only lead to more tragedy!
“Excuse me...”
When I spoke, the woman turned her head.
At the sight of her face, my eyes widened slightly.
‘Huh? Why are you here?’
Short black hair, petite build.
Her youthful face still retained a hint of cuteness.
One of the supporting characters in this game.
Even as supporting, if I remembered her, it meant she had quite a bit of screen time.
‘Since last time, I’ve been entangled with named characters a lot.’
Mi Nahye too, and Cheok Jiyeon too.
I kept seeing game characters.
“Excuse me, but this seems to be my seat.”
“Eh? Eh?”
I had to do something.
The woman quickly checked her number and seat.
Then her face flushed bright red.
“Ah... S-sorry! I mistook the adjacent seat!”
“Ah, it’s fine. People can make mistakes.”
Since it was an entrance ceremony, being nervous was understandable.
The woman moved her seat.
I sat in the woman’s former seat.
Then I realized a big problem I had forgotten.
‘This is awkward!’
Right next to me, I couldn’t distance myself and kept being together!
If I hadn’t pretended to know her from the start, maybe it would have been fine.
Because of the vague conversation, it became even more awkward.
“Hmm! Hmm! My name is Nam Dohyeong. I’ll be working at the same company from now on, so please take care of me.”
“Ah, I’m Yu Eunhye. Please take care of me too!”
Yu Eunhye.
That was the name of this character.
‘When playing the game, I kind of liked this character.’
Yu Eunhye’s character was a dirt-spoon.
Excellent exorcists were mostly from good families.
Cheok Jiyeon was like that, Yoo Yeonhwa too.
But Yu Eunhye was the ultimate dirt-spoon, with nothing, no money, no background.
‘But I couldn’t look down on her like that.’
As a named character active at Cheonjihae, her talent was outstanding.
Moreover, there was a possibility that if she fell, she would become extremely dangerous.
‘Whatever happened, it was a character that would cause big trouble if it went wrong.’
From my perspective wanting a peaceful life ahead, I guess I had to look after her.
Well, it wasn’t that hard.
As a dirt-spoon, she got emotional over small things easily.
“If you’re okay, would you like some taffy? My sister gave it to me, and there are too many.”
“Hah! Thank you!”
It seemed the setting where she liked taffy but couldn’t eat as much as she wanted because she was poor was intact.
She put a taffy finger-length in her mouth and chewed happily.
‘Like a hamster.’
Watching her was healing.
That was why I had liked Yu Eunhye.
In the harsh ghost story world, a character that provided a bit of rest.
“Chewing... Nam Dohyeong-ssi is kind, right!”
“Ah, is that so? Thank you.”
In Yu Eunhye’s heart, there was a formula: ‘Person who gives food = kind person’.
I didn’t have the status to say that, but I was worried if I could handle the harsh company life.
“Actually, I was worried a lot. If it’s a company like Cheonjihae, there would be many scary exorcists.”
“I feel the same.”
Not just many, but really many.
Excellent exorcists didn’t just kill ghosts well.
Apart from that, there were many humans whose existence itself was dangerous.
...If I had to pick, Yu Eunhye was included there too.
“Still, seeing people like Nam Dohyeong-ssi makes me feel relieved. This place must be a place where people live.”
“Somehow, I have to endure it. Since I got in, if I get fired, it’s a waste.”
“Yes! Let’s both work hard!”
Yu Eunhye clenched her fist and laughed with a grin.
Hmm, this familiar healing feeling. It was great.
“Everyone, please stop talking and sit down.”
At that time, a man came up on the stage.
This was Lee Jae-hak, who had been in charge of the practical exam last time.
‘...Is there no one else to do the work here.’
Well, I understood to some extent.
The chairman of this company wasn’t a normal person either.
“Don’t get too excited just because you passed Cheonjihae. You guys have only just reached the starting line.”
The examinees’ tension rose with Lee Jae-hak’s words.
Cold, but right.
“Originally, you aren’t even formal employees of Cheonjihae.”
With the next words, confusion spread.
Hmm, apparently most examinees didn’t know.
“Currently, you are all trainees. That means you are at the stage of learning various exorcism methods while belonging to Cheonjihae.”
Some examinees started talking with Lee Jae-hak’s words.
“What? Training?”
“What are we supposed to learn now?”
“Weren’t we supposed to be active as formal exorcists.”
These people here already had the ability to deal with youkai to some extent.
It seemed they were dissatisfied with returning to the student-like learning period.
‘Why did they hate that?’
It was an incomprehensible way of thinking to me.
No, the company didn’t give work and only taught study.
Rather, it was a honey deal because you could learn that much.
Just by working at the company, you could grow as an exorcist.
In fact, even if you got fired midway, being affiliated with Cheonjihae gave you a respectable profile in the exorcism industry.
‘Even as a trainee, they didn’t pay salary like employees. As expected, corporate slaves are better!’
Lee Jae-hak laughed with a smirk, seeing the reactions.
“Why? Do you think it’s unfair? But soon you’ll come to thank us. We can’t just kill talented people we hired at the same time as they pass.”
The examinees were starting to realize.
Cheonjihae was Korea’s top exorcism corporation.
The work there was never ordinary.
“You will be in trainee status here for now. Of the half that passes this, will become interns, and half of those will become regular employees in the intern period. And a significant number of those who become employees...die while dealing with anomalies.”
In front of the newly passed examinees, and at the entrance ceremony, this was the story.
Finally, after achieving the dream of passing Cheonjihae, in a state full of illusions, reality was shoved in front of them.
The atmosphere sank instantly.
“Uuu...”
Like Yu Eunhye, fragile types trembled with fear.
They were starting to face reality away from the Cheonjihae illusion.
“Dealing with anomalies is no joke. Exorcists including me are all working with our lives on the line. Honor? Fame? Those are spoils of the survivors. If you don’t want to die, research anomalies with the resolve to die at any time, and get stronger.”
Lee Jae-hak coldly looked at the frightened examinees and finished his words.
“The place where this is achieved is right here at Cheonjihae.”
The people’s eyes had changed.
The meaning of belonging to Cheonjihae.
They all felt they had realized it.
‘...This is big trouble. I came just to earn some money.’
Of course, there were people like me among them.
Well, I realized reality early.
Dullards like me couldn’t catch up with geniuses no matter how hard we tried.
Better to do my best within what I could do than to force myself and die.
“...Well, that’s enough with the sermon, and let’s announce the top two of this entrance exam.”
The examinees were subtly checking the atmosphere.
Some were overflowing with anticipation on their faces, and like Yoo Yeonhwa, they prepared with puffed chests.
‘Speaking of which, I think they said top passers get anomaly equipment.’
Since it was unrelated to me anyway, I didn’t listen carefully.
‘Originally, I know the results.’
This time’s top passer was Go Juyeong and Yoo Yeonhwa.
Elite individuals who would maintain the highest scores in Cheonjihae in the future.
People from the heavenly realm not connected to me.
Anyway, I sat comfortably without tension.
“Top: Nam Dohyeong, second: Cheok Jiyeon. Come forward to the stage right now.”
“……”
Wait a minute.
I got first place? Why?