The Final Exam Begins
The second semester was incredibly busy and intense. Weekdays brought the professors' endless scrutiny and the sudden spike in difficulty for practical training sessions. On weekends I ran requests with Hye-ji, and in between we had the Academy festival and other trivial little events.
I coolly ignored the endless stream of curses coming from somewhere. Instead, I focused on Professor Park Miran, who was supervising this final exam.
"Everyone, as I explained before, the final exam will be conducted in groups of four. Please form teams with four of your close friends. For those who cannot, we will assign groups randomly. The test itself is simple. Your group of four must clear the dungeon by any means necessary. One of our professors will accompany each group to supervise. However, the professor will take no action whatsoever. We are strictly observers. In addition, for the sake of realism, monitoring will be done exclusively through drones."
Since I didn't have many close friends to begin with, our group naturally formed with me, Hye-ji, and Jung Ayeon. While we were still short one member and I was wondering who to recruit, Professor Park Miran approached our team and dropped a bombshell.
"Student Shinu, the Defensive Coat will not be permitted for this exam."
"Why not?"
"For the sake of fairness."
"...But the other students are wearing theirs."
"They are other students. If you wear it, Student Shinu, your exam will be invalidated."
Suddenly Professor Park Miran pointed directly at me and singled out my gear. Several other students were openly wearing their Defensive Coats, yet she specifically targeted me. The woman was a real piece of work.
'That damn spinster bitch is throwing a fit over something like this.'
'Park Miran, you fucking bitch. I won't kill you nicely.'
But Professor Park Miran's harassment didn't stop there.
"For student Hye-ji, certain abilities will be restricted during this final exam."
"Give me a proper reason."
Hye-ji was doing her best to maintain polite speech... while holding an incendiary grenade in her hand, of course. It was an excellent tool for communication.
"Well... Miss Hye-ji's combat prowess is simply too outstanding, so for the sake of balance..."
"Would everything being reduced to ashes make it fair?"
Hye-ji hooked her finger around the safety pin of the incendiary grenade. With dead eyes she answered, fully prepared to set the entire exam site on fire. Seeing this, Professor Park Miran spoke in a panic.
"Instead, student Hye-ji will receive a guaranteed perfect score! Please take your hand off the grenade!"
"That's all?"
"And I will grant you priority in selecting the final group member! So please spare me!"
In the end, Hye-ji, who carried most of our group's firepower, got nerfed. She was forbidden from manifesting firearms or any lethal weapons. The only things she could create were a single dagger and a sledgehammer.
Then Jung Ayeon looked at Professor Park Miran with sparkling eyes and asked.
"Ahem. May this one inquire what restrictions shall be placed upon me?"
"Student Ayeon? Is it necessary?"
"......"
Jung Ayeon was completely ignored. Watching her, I said.
"Hey, congratulations. You didn't get any penalty at all."
"......For some reason this one's heart only aches more."
In the middle of that, Hye-ji looked at me and Jung Ayeon.
"Who do we want for the last member?"
"This one does not care who joins."
"Shinu, why don't you choose?"
"I can pick?"
"Doesn't matter."
I already had someone in mind. That fucking bitch.
I pointed my finger straight at my intended target.
"Come out, gold-trash."
"Why me, you son of a bitch!"
Kim Yuna. The gold-trash who had thrown a tantrum at me last time. I picked her without the slightest hesitation. Luckily she hadn't been placed in any group and was drifting around without a team.
"Keep giving me shit and I'll make you produce lemonade down there again?"
"Hic!"
Kim Yuna shuddered, remembering the golden shower I had 'accidentally' created last time by dropping a weapon near her. A little more provocation and it looked like lemonade would flow once more.
As Kim Yuna hesitated before shuffling over, Hye-ji and Jung Ayeon quietly spoke to me.
"Shinu, why that bitch? Adding another heroine? I'm supposed to be the true heroine."
"She has zero intention of ever getting an illustration, so please don't go berserk."
"Young master, this one believes she will be of no use whatsoever."
Ayeon was right. She was useless. But I had to fuck her over. Absolutely.
Once Kim Yuna joined and the whole group was assembled, she immediately started picking a fight with me.
"Why'd you pick me? Did you fall for me? My type isn't you, so get over it."
"Please shut the fuck up, you damn bitch."
"Dog bitch, if you eye the heroine position I'll kill you."
"Eek!!"
Hye-ji was about to commit heroine murder. Seeing her look like a vengeful demon from hell, Kim Yuna fired up her lemonade factory once again.
Before the lemonade on Kim Yuna's skirt could even dry, it was our group's turn.
Before entering the gate we checked our equipment. Unlike before, I had nothing but a single longsword on my otherwise bare body. The situation was as pathetically empty as Hye-ji's chest.
"......Hye-ji, why are you suddenly shooting at me?"
"Felt like you were making an impure description."
'Fuck, I almost made lemonade come out.'
When Hye-ji dissipated the manifested gun, we prepared to enter the gate. Right before stepping inside I bumped shoulders with Kim Yuna.
"What, why are you clinging to me?"
"Ah, you stink so get lost, you fucking bitch."
"Gold-trash, are you wagging your tail at Shinu, you bitch?"
"I am not, Lady Hye-ji!"
When Hye-ji glared, Kim Yuna shook her head in a panic. Leaving her like that, we stepped through the gate. Professor Park Miran and the drone followed behind us, and finally Kim Yuna came running in at the last second. The entire group had entered.
It was the beginning of the final exam.
The first thought that crossed Professor Park Miran's mind the moment she saw Kim Shinu. From the position of someone who needed to exploit as many research students as possible, the appearance of the Kim Shinu Law had been a bolt from the blue. It hadn't reached the stage of pure terror yet, but it was only a matter of time.
'I won't let you die easily.'
On top of that, Director Jang Inhyuk's appearance and statements last time had made it difficult for the professors to stage any protests. She harbored resentment and hatred toward Jang Inhyuk, but he was still a genuine power holder within the Academy. Since she couldn't turn her blade against him, the tip naturally pointed toward the relatively easier target of Kim Shinu.
'Look forward to just how shitty this exam is going to be.'
While Kim Shinu's party was busy chatting, she secretly operated the control panel. She was adjusting the conditions of the dungeon where Kim Shinu's group would take their test. As difficult and filthy as possible. To a level that could never be cleared.
Even as she manipulated the control panel, Professor Park Miran ground her teeth. A thought had suddenly occurred to her.
'How dare that son of a bitch put bugs in my pocket?'
Previously she had thrown a trash can at Kim Shinu and ordered him to clean it up. He had obediently done so, but as he passed by he had bumped into her and slipped two cockroaches wrapped in trash into her pocket. She only realized it once she got home, and she had even lost one of them. Ever since, she had spent her nights in terror at the sound of skittering legs coming from somewhere.
'If you like bugs so much, meet plenty of them, you son of a bitch.'
The dungeon Professor Park Miran created was packed with her personal grudge. The monster count was set to maximum, and she had thrown in every gimmick she could think of without even checking them. After all, the one who would suffer wasn't Professor Park Miran, but Kim Shinu's party.
Following behind Kim Shinu's group, Professor Park Miran began to wear a vile smile. With Hye-ji also nerfed, nothing remained that could protect Kim Shinu. She felt a little sorry for the last student, but it was an unavoidable sacrifice if she wanted to crush Kim Shinu.
'I'll teach you what happens when you climb all over a professor.'
Professor Park Miran entered the gate with a heart swollen with anticipation, completely unaware of how the situation would unfold from here on.