Chapter 165: Promotion Exam (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 165: Promotion Exam (4)
"Are you okay? I'll tell the supervisor to push our turn back."
"I am fine. There is nothing wrong."
Even though Eom Soo-hyun asked with concern, Baek Seo-yeon spoke coldly, stopping her.
Oof, she must really be in pain.
After she had gone to the bathroom for a bit—where we actually enjoyed some sex—Baek Seo-yeon’s physical condition had suddenly plummeted.
She was fine just a moment ago, but now she looked so exhausted. Did she get poisoned or cursed or something?
"I heard you even fainted from the pain. It's too much to take the exam in that state."
"No. I am fine. After sleeping for a bit, I actually feel better."
"I'm telling you, it wasn't sleep, it was a blackout."
Eom Soo-hyun spoke as if she were frustrated, but Baek Seo-yeon remained stubborn.
I couldn't tell if her pale cheeks were flushed red because she was embarrassed about fainting or because she was in pain, but she looked strangely alluring.
Her usually cold eyes seemed to have softened, and honestly, when she was looking at me earlier while gasping for breath—though she had calmed down now—it was a real turn-on.
What kind of thoughts are you having about a sick person? Get it together, Jeong Yeon-woo.
Eom Soo-hyun, who was looking at me strangely as I slapped my own cheeks again, told Baek Seo-yeon that she would stop her no matter what if it looked like she was going to get hurt. Then, she approached me and whispered secretly.
"Hero Baek Seo-yeon is sick, so let's work harder to help her during the exam."
Aw, what a sweetheart.
As I patted the kind Eom Soo-hyun’s head, Baek Seo-yeon stared intently at us.
"Uh... my hands are 'healing hands,' so would it be okay if I patted your head too?"
"Yes, please."
She offered her white hair to me and bowed her head.
Somehow, I ended up with both hands raised, patting both of their heads.
I could feel the people nearby giving us strange looks.
Well—as long as we're happy, who cares?
I liked the soft texture of Eom Soo-hyun’s green hair as she rubbed it against my hand with every pat, and Baek Seo-yeon’s white hair as she stood there quietly.
After a brief rest, we followed the supervisor into the testing grounds, which were enclosed on all sides by reinforcement materials.
"Don't go breaking things just to show off your strength. If you break them, we'll judge that your accuracy has dropped and deduct points."
The supervisor, who seemed to be under a lot of stress, gave us a stern warning before heading out.
Since this was an exam involving combat robots, it seemed like a lot of them had been smashed so far.
The test was designed to see how well people who had just met could form a team and cooperate in battle.
The robots had small LED panels on various parts of their bodies displaying numbers. We just had to attack the areas that matched our assigned numbers.
"Please, do not touch the robots. I repeat, if they break, points will be deducted."
You've emphasized it once, isn't that enough?
Perhaps there were many people who didn't listen and kept breaking the robots, because the supervisor continued to warn us over the speakers from the second floor, where he had a clear view of us.
The walls opened, and three robots crawled out. They had four legs and moved similarly to spiders.
The LED panels on the robots' legs and torsos, which were smaller than a palm, were numbered 1 through 3. I only had to attack and destroy the panels with my number, 1.
But no matter how fast a robot is, it's not faster than a bullet.
Rat-tat-tat-tat—!
As soon as the robots appeared, I pulled out Astra for the first time in a while and destroyed all the number 1 panels with rapid fire. Eom Soo-hyun, who was preparing magic, and Baek Seo-yeon, who was about to dash forward, both stared at me blankly.
Uh, was I not supposed to do that?
"We will temporarily suspend the exam."
Guess not.
The supervisor stopped the robots and discussed something with the others.
"I guess the supervisors are flustered because no hero has taken the exam with a gun before?"
Eom Soo-hyun laughed as she twirled her wand, which had a heart-shaped head.
"Maybe I shouldn't have used it."
"Why? A gun is your weapon. You're taking the exam with your primary weapon; it's not your fault, it's the organizers' fault for not being prepared."
It seemed even the kind Eom Soo-hyun didn't have a high opinion of the Association.
She chuckled softly, stood on her tiptoes, and patted my head, telling me I did a good job.
I caught Baek Seo-yeon watching us out of the corner of her eye. When I nodded to her, she also approached and patted my head.
A moment later, the supervisor came down and spoke.
"This is a first for us, so could we ask for your understanding?"
"What are you referring to?"
"I heard you are skilled with a sword from the first exam. Would it be alright if you took the test with a sword instead of a gun?"
What a ridiculous situation.
However, since I needed to stay in the Association's good graces, I readily nodded.
"Yes, this exam is about teamwork and reflexes anyway, so that's fine."
"Thank you."
The supervisor bowed to me and went back up to the second floor.
"Are you okay? You should have asked for extra points since you're taking a penalty."
"It's fine. It's not a combat power test anyway."
"Oh, you're so sweet."
Feeling Eom Soo-hyun patting my butt, I went to borrow a practice sword.
Baek Seo-yeon, having already seen me use a sword, looked relieved and picked up a mace.
Eh, a mace?
It didn't quite seem to suit her tall, slender frame, but I figured she knew what she was doing.
It was terrifying to see her swinging a mace with a head so heavy it was half the size of a human head through the air.
The exam resumed, and the spider-like robots crawled out from the walls again.
Skitter-skitter-skitter—
Watching the robots rush in with that unpleasant sound, I took my position while keeping an eye on the other two.
Baek Seo-yeon moved to the front to engage the robots, while Eom Soo-hyun stepped back to cast her magic.
I aimed for the number 1 panels from behind Baek Seo-yeon with a thrust.
Korean Sword - Furrow Poking
Damn, what kind of name is 'Furrow Poking'?
I wanted to smack the sense into whoever named these techniques.
There are so many beautiful Korean words, yet I suspected they just picked names at random like they were drawing lottery numbers.
Regardless of the higher-ups' naming sense, the technique itself was excellent, as it was a forced adaptation of famous Spanish rapier swordsmanship.
The sword, held level at chest height, snapped forward as fast as an arrow, cleanly destroying only the number 1 panels before returning.
Seeing the continuous thrusts coming from behind her, Baek Seo-yeon intentionally lured the robots to make it easier for me to target the panels.
Expressing my gratitude for her help, I destroyed a few more and then hooked a spider's leg with my sword to flip it into the air.
When the panels on the belly, which were hard to aim for, were exposed, Baek Seo-yeon unleashed a full swing.
Hey, I told you breaking them is a penalty.
However, with perfect control over her strength, Baek Seo-yeon stopped her mace exactly after destroying only the number 3 panel.
Wow, she's surprisingly skillful.
Admiring Baek Seo-yeon for stopping the mace with technique rather than just brute force, I hooked and lifted another spider's leg.
Having already seen me flip the spider, Eom Soo-hyun’s mana orb struck the number 2 panel.
"Thanks, Yeon-woo!"
She thanked me brightly and began destroying the other number 2 panels.
As the number plates were nearly all destroyed in an instant, the difficulty level increased, and the numbers began to change randomly.
Watching the robots change their numbers as colorfully as an electronic billboard, Baek Seo-yeon used her quick reflexes to check her number and swing her mace.
"... ..."
However, the number changed immediately, and Baek Seo-yeon had to stop her mace right in front of it and step back to avoid the attacking robot.
Didn't that number just change weirdly?
Even if they changed randomly, there was supposed to be a brief delay.
But just now, as soon as a 3 appeared and Baek Seo-yeon swung, it changed to a 1 as if it had reacted to her attack.
Since destroying someone else's number resulted in a penalty, if this was intentional, it was quite malicious.
To test this, I also used Furrow Poking, repeatedly bringing my sword tip close to a panel and then pulling back.
It's not changing?
The duration varied for each, but it was definitely fixed for at least one second.
What is it? Was it just my imagination?
Eom Soo-hyun must have seen what I saw, as she didn't attack recklessly.
Since she was attacking with magic from a distance, this random switching made things even harder for her.
Crack—
I destroyed a number 1 panel as a test.
Yeah, that broke properly.
Baek Seo-yeon managed to destroy some number 3 panels, but there were many instances where she had to hurriedly stop her attack because the panel changed suddenly.
She hadn't been penalized yet thanks to her good reflexes, but it felt like Baek Seo-yeon was being unfairly targeted.
Watching Baek Seo-yeon attack tentatively, I turned around and met Eom Soo-hyun’s eyes.
After exchanging a look, I moved ahead of Baek Seo-yeon and spoke.
"I'll take the frontline."
"Understood."
Baek Seo-yeon frowned as if disappointed and took a step back.
"How many can you destroy at once if you use a rapid-fire attack?"
When I asked while keeping the robots at bay, Baek Seo-yeon thought for a moment and said.
"...Six."
"That's enough."
While we were talking, Eom Soo-hyun ran up and stood near Baek Seo-yeon.
As the two of them made eye contact, I twirled my sword over my hand and spoke.
"I'll put them between the frontline and the second line. Let's handle them all at once."
As soon as she heard me, Baek Seo-yeon stopped her attacks and took a stance.
Eom Soo-hyun also gathered mana orbs, waiting for me to lure the robots. I gripped the sword I had been spinning across the back of my hand and palm like a pencil and lowered my stance.
Korean Sword - Whirlwind
This was one of the few techniques I thought was well-named.
As the sword in my hand bent fluidly and I swung it as if sweeping the floor, a sudden gust of wind blew, lifting the robots into the air.
Passing between the airborne robots, I turned around, held my sword horizontally, and prepared for Furrow Poking.
Matching the timing with the two who had made eye contact with me, we attacked simultaneously.
Clatter-clatter-clatter! Crack!
Baek Seo-yeon swung her mace in a rapid zigzag as if defying physics, Eom Soo-hyun fired all the magic she had gathered at once, and my continuous thrusts unfolded simultaneously. With a grating sound, all the LED panels shattered.
The robots that had been in the air landed, and the shattered panels fell to the floor in pieces.
Once all the panels were gone, the robots stopped moving, presumably deactivated. A moment later, the supervisor's voice came over the speaker.
"Hero Jeong Yeon-woo and Hero Eom Soo-hyun, 1 point penalty each. We will conclude the exam here."
It couldn't be helped.
The timing was bad; a 1 and a 2 had suddenly swapped, so Eom Soo-hyun and I had attacked each other's numbers.
"I'm sorry... because of me..."
"What's one point? Wasn't it fun to coordinate like that? Our hearts were in sync with just a look, and then bam! It was so exciting."
Baek Seo-yeon bowed her head, thinking we were penalized because of her, but Eom Soo-hyun didn't mind and spoke brightly.
"I'm sorry."
"Like Soo-hyun Noona said, it's only one point."
I gave a small smile.
Actually, I saw the number change, but Eom Soo-hyun had already unleashed her attack, so I had no choice but to strike.
Strictly speaking, it was Eom Soo-hyun’s fault.
But one point wouldn't have a big impact.
It was only because this team's skills were so good; even getting only a 1-point penalty was considered top-tier.
They said people usually get 4 or 5 points deducted, so we just had to keep doing well.
The problem, however, was Baek Seo-yeon.
The Association was so blatantly discriminating against her that even Eom Soo-hyun could feel it.
It was as if they wanted her to fail the exam.
No, it wasn't 'as if'—they definitely wanted her to fail.
"Are you on bad terms with the Association?"
When I asked, Baek Seo-yeon kept her mouth shut and said nothing.
Her silence was answer enough.
There aren't many heroes who like the Association, but there aren't many who are on outright bad terms with them either.
Even if they take a lot of heat, the Association is strictly an organization belonging to the state and is linked with Hero Associations in other countries, so few heroes ever cross them.
"It's okay, I don't like the Association either."
Hey, don't say that so proudly while you're taking an exam.
As Eom Soo-hyun spoke boldly to comfort Baek Seo-yeon, I could feel the supervisor's gaze on my back.
Mr. Supervisor, I didn't say anything.
It'll be a disaster if I fail this.
I sighed inwardly and looked at the silent Baek Seo-yeon.
I didn't know what her story was, but surely the Association wouldn't do something so blatant in the next exam too, would they?