The Academy's First Test
The demon that invaded the academy auditorium descended from the sky and caused a tragedy by devouring five students.
“Haa… haa…”
Siwoo gasped for breath as he collapsed in front of the demon. It wasn’t a dangerous situation, though. The creature had already been hacked apart by several students’ personal weapons and was long dead.
Siwoo stared at the weapons embedded in the demon’s body and clenched his teeth hard. Three of those blades belonged to his friends—the ones who had followed him into battle and become the sacrificed students.
And one of those owners was a name Siwoo knew all too well.
‘Aria…’
A single tear slid from Siwoo’s eye. She had been the first comrade to follow him when he charged the demon. She was the benefactor who had thrown herself in front of the creature’s final desperate attack to save him.
After taking a brief moment of rest while collapsed before the demon, Siwoo forced himself up. He staggered over to the fallen monster and pulled two of the weapons free from its corpse. One was his own. The other was Aria’s. He intended to return it to her family. That was the least he could do—the proper courtesy owed to the girl who had sacrificed herself for him.
When Siwoo drew the two swords, the other comrades who had fought alongside him dragged their injured bodies over and retrieved their own weapons from the demon’s corpse. Soon, only a single blade remained embedded in the monster. Its owner had died from excessive blood loss while resting from the wounds sustained in the fight.
Siwoo gazed at the corpse with sorrowful eyes, then pulled the weapon free and planted it beside the fallen student.
“We won…”
One of the students who had battled the demon let out a victory cry, but no one present showed any sign of joy. The victory they had earned was soaked in too many wounds.
Everyone lowered their gazes to the floor and let out heavy sighs. Siwoo was slightly different. Instead of the ground, he stared up at the hole in the ceiling the demon had smashed through. He prayed toward the sky, hoping Aria would reach heaven.
As he slowly lowered his head, his eyes caught one particular student.
A girl with red hair on the auditorium’s second floor. Her ruby-like red eyes met Siwoo’s black ones.
Who is that girl…?
The question had barely formed when the girl flashed him a bright smile and waved.
But Siwoo couldn’t smile back awkwardly. He had no idea how long she had been watching him from up there. He didn’t know why she hadn’t helped them fight. But five students had just lost their lives in that battle against the demon.
And she was smiling and waving?
No matter how he thought about it, that wasn’t the kind of behavior you showed at a place where people had died.
“You…!”
Siwoo glared at her, about to shout something, when a scream-like cheer erupted from the students pounding on the auditorium’s exit doors.
“It’s broken! Mom!”
“Uwaaaaah! Somebody save us!!!”
The students were trampling over the completely destroyed main doors and rushing outside. The exterior was so blindingly bright that nothing could be seen from inside.
Watching the scene, Siwoo felt a faint sense of unease.
‘Even if it’s sunny outside… was it bright enough to look completely white?’
The moment that question crossed his mind, Siwoo’s vision blurred and wavered.
Ugh—
The sudden dizziness made him retch. He pressed hard on his eyelids to ease the strain. When he opened his eyes again, Siwoo witnessed an unbelievable sight.
“A…ria?”
It wasn’t just Aria. Every single student who had been devoured by the demons earlier was now collapsed on the floor, breathing faintly.
“How is this…?”
Siwoo turned to look at the suspicious female student he had seen moments ago. Maybe she knew something about this situation.
And his guess was correct.
She glanced around cautiously, then covered her mouth so no one else could hear. She mouthed words only he could see.
“I…diot…?”
At the same time, the professors who had vanished earlier reappeared.
The first test has ended. All illusion spells have been dispelled.
“Hehehe, with that, we shall conclude the new students’ first test. To all the freshmen who were startled by the sudden examination, we offer our sincerest apologies. Once again, we congratulate you on becoming true members of Kardi Academy.”
Even though the auditorium had been half-destroyed by the battle with the demon, the elderly chancellor calmly soothed the crowd and continued his speech as if nothing had happened. Seeing that, Siwoo thought the chancellor must be out of his mind too… What kind of crazy person used their own school auditorium as a sacrifice for a freshman test?
That aside, the entrance test the chancellor had conducted was actually pretty entertaining. There was nothing more fun than watching a madman do crazy things, and when that madness was scaled up to this degree, it was impossible not to be fascinated.
I held back the laughter threatening to spill out and eavesdropped on the conversations of the freshmen whose faces had turned bright red.
“If I’d known it was an illusion spell, I would’ve fought too…”
“Actually, I knew the whole time. I fell back to secure an escape route just in case.”
Students regretting their past actions and students desperately trying to embellish their pasts all had one thing in common: every single one of their faces was flushed crimson.
It made sense. Outside the auditorium they had burst out of with shining eyes, the academy’s upperclassmen—who had been waiting with nothing but mischievous intent to tease the new students—were clapping and playfully congratulating them.
The students who had smashed through the auditorium doors and run outside needed a little time to regain their senses, but eventually they understood the situation. They returned to the auditorium with thoroughly reddened faces.
Of course, watching their reactions was fun, but the real highlight was the scene of the supporting cast—including Siwoo—fighting the demon.
Students driven mad, desperately trying to break down the door to escape. A few freshmen who threw themselves into danger to fulfill their duty as heroes. The budding camaraderie born in that battle, the deaths of comrades, the sacrifice of a beloved lover, and rising above it all to finally defeat the demon.
Kgh— Even thinking about it again, it was a situation overflowing with hero syndrome.
Especially that final line.
It was definitely…
“Aria…”
The protagonist shedding tears while calling his lover’s name. This was true pure love…
—Flinch.
While I was lost in strange delusions, I suddenly felt a faint killing intent from the seat to my left. The source was none other than Siwoo.
Why is he like this all of a sudden…?
Then I noticed Siwoo’s face was just as red as Aria’s, who was blushing on his left. That’s when I realized I had spoken my thoughts out loud.
“My bad.”
“You…!”
When Siwoo, his face burning scarlet, tried to say something, the chancellor suddenly raised his voice and spread both arms wide.
“Therefore, wishing for the boundless development and glory of all our students in the future, I shall conclude my speech here!”
With those final words, the chancellor set down the microphone. Applause rang out as students began leaving the auditorium one by one.
Of course, I didn’t want to stick around any longer and get an earful from Siwoo, so I quickly slipped out and headed toward the dormitory.
Entrance Test Complete.
Calculating results…
In the conference room attached to Kardi Academy’s faculty office, a heated debate about the students’ entrance evaluations was currently underway.
Since the Kardi Academy entrance evaluation served as the very first test among the many assessments students would face during their time at the academy, the professors were exchanging opinions on which students possessed the most solid foundations.
“I believe Aria should be selected as the top rank in the entrance evaluation. The most important quality of a hero is their spirit of sacrifice! I highly value the nobility of offering one’s own life for others.”
“I think Siwoo is the most outstanding. The reason is…”
Naturally, the students being considered for first place in the entrance evaluation were the ten who had stepped forward to subjugate the demon. There was no need to argue which was superior between a hero who gave up on facing the demon and heroes who fought despite the risk of death.
However, deciding who among them would take first place was a separate issue. If one person had grabbed a few comrades by the collar and dragged them along, it might have been different. But every single one of the ten students who confronted the demon during this entrance evaluation had accomplished a splendid feat.
While the professors were hesitating over whom to choose as first among those ten, one of the new professors cautiously raised his hand.
“Um… how should we rank Plea…?”
At his words, the other professors each offered their opinions.
“Since she didn’t fight the demon, she’s definitely outside the top ten… and she didn’t break down the door to create an escape route either, so there’s no way to assign points. Probably… last place?”
“It deviates from the scoring criteria of the entrance evaluation, but shouldn’t we consider that our own immaturity? The test was about how to respond to an illusion demon’s invasion, yet the fact that the demon was an illusion went unnoticed until she climbed to the second floor. Isn’t it fair to say that was the academy’s mistake…?”
“Wait, are you saying I’m incompetent?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
As the discussion grew heated because of Plea’s case, the chancellor, seated at the head of the table, lightly tapped the desk to gather everyone’s attention.
“Both professors make valid points… It is true she did not take actions that fit the scoring criteria, and it is also our academy’s responsibility for failing to make it clear that the demon was an illusion… How about we do it this way?”