Episode 15 Placement Test (5)
After the last one has completed the placement test, we move out of the circular arena.
The stage was empty as before.
“It’s settled. Everyone gather together.”
Lee Soo-dok called the first grade class 3 around him.
“There may be cases where the odds of winning are lower than expected due to bad luck in the draw. The placement test is only conducted to provide a minimum level of discrimination, so do not attach too much significance to it.”
Some of the students’ expressions were not good.
Even though his skills are mid-level, he has suffered consecutive losses against opponents like Matap and Myeongmun.
They express dissatisfaction with the placement test system, thinking, ‘This score is not reflective of my ability.’
‘But this is more fair than you think.’
Starting off with a score different from your actual skill level may seem unfair at first, but
If you consistently compete against others throughout the semester, you will eventually find a position that suits your skills.
If you improve your skills in the meantime, you can naturally go up even higher.
“I also lost all the first-year placement exams and started with a score of 0. They really laughed at me a lot. I gradually improved my skills and stabbed them one by one, so by the second year, everyone became quiet. By the time I was a third-year student, there were only a handful of people who were better than me in interpersonal matches. Now? Everyone else is dead.”
As the story of Lee Soo-dok’s past continued, the students’ faces became increasingly pale.
Especially the last line, ‘Everyone died except me’, sounded like ‘I killed everyone’, maybe because of the feeling.
Lee Soo-dok showed his teeth and laughed sinisterly.
“So, if you lose to someone stronger than you, instead of discussing the fairness of the placement test, think about getting stronger and getting revenge. That’s the mindset of a student of Yongsal Academy. After lunch, we’ll finish the strategy placement test. Don’t be late and gather at the dungeon building. Then, let’s disperse.”
The footsteps heading to the student cafeteria were quick.
Everyone must have been quite tired physically and mentally, and must have been hungry.
Besides, there is a strategy placement test after lunch, so you need to eat well and stock up on energy to get good results.
“Hey, Byeong-cheol! Aren’t you going to eat?”
One of Shin Byeong-cheol’s gang called him.
Shin Byeong-cheol answered, placing his hand on my shoulder.
“You guys eat amongst yourselves. I need to talk business with this guy.”
“Business? Okay, I got it.”
The gang left, reacting as if they were doing whatever they wanted.
The ‘business’ that Shin Byeong-cheol is talking about is handing over the information investigated in this interpersonal battle.
As much as the 5 silver owed in the bet.
Shin Byeong-cheol lamented, half-jokingly.
“Oh dear, I made a bad bet. Let’s go. They said lunch today was sandwiches.”
“Okay, sandwich.”
I turned around to take Ko Hyun-woo and Seo Ye-in with me.
Perhaps because the aftereffects of defeat had not completely subsided, both of them were in poor condition.
In particular, Go Hyun-woo’s condition was more serious, as his pale complexion looked like he might collapse at any moment.
It was a natural result, as he had poured out a lot of his meager experience in the confrontation with Jo Byeok.
Besides, the technique I used at the end, [Cheongryu], looks like a monster that eats up your stats.
Even if the iron sword hadn’t broken, he would have reached his limit first.
“hey.”
“… … Hmm. Brother Kim, what’s going on?”
“Aren’t you going? To eat.”
“I was just thinking about something else. Let’s go.”
Only then did I stop the guy who was starting to move creakingly.
“No. You should go to the dorm and rest for a while. Your condition is terrible.”
“It’s still bearable.”
“You can’t just endure it. The next battle is coming up. Go and recover a little. I’ll make you a sandwich.”
“… … Will you do that? I owe you a favor, Brother Kim.”
“Okay, then go. Don’t be late.”
“Thank you.”
Go Hyun-woo expressed his brief thanks and left.
If you eat the Lucky Breakfast during lunchtime, you will be able to recover your depleted [Core] to the point where you can fight a battle.
I spoke to Shin Byeong-cheol and Seo Ye-in.
“Let’s go eat lunch together.”
* * *
As Shin Byeong-cheol said, the lunch menu was sandwiches.
Ham, cheese, and egg sandwich and crab meat salad sandwich.
The spring weather was nice and sunny, so I thought there was no need to sit down at a restaurant and eat a sandwich.
So we laid out on the lawn.
Besides us, there were quite a few students gathered on the lawn in groups of three or five.
It wasn’t just because it was the first day of the semester, there was something about the weather today that made people feel good.
However, the calligrapher was still eating his sandwich in the depressed atmosphere.
Watching ladybugs crawl across the grass.
On the other hand, Shin Byeong-cheol stuffed sandwiches into his mouth one after another greedily, as if he had a beggar in his stomach.
I opened my mouth, my mouth full of something that was a mixture of ham, cheese, egg, and crab meat salad.
“Choo-ae-huo, Mo-gwa, Gum-gum-ho-shin—”
“Can’t you swallow everything in your mouth before you speak?”
After gulping down the orange juice in my mouth,
He puts the empty bottle down on the floor and says what he said again.
“Sorry. So what are you curious about? Since you said 1 win and 2 losses, can you give me some information on the 300-point players?”
“No. If I put my mind to it, it’ll happen in no time.”
The thing that you can increase is your score whenever you want.
Besides, this score range is so low that it makes no sense to analyze the opponent.
“Two-year… … . Are you confident? Then?”
“Top tier.”
“It’s the top tier… … I was also looking at it from that perspective, but this is really.”
Shin Byeong-cheol turned the pages of the notebook one by one with a slightly embarrassed look.
“There are so many talented kids out there, I don’t know where to start. I said it on the train too. This year’s first-year students are the greatest generation ever.”
“Only the four major powers, and only the promising ones.”
“Oh, then the scope is narrowed down a bit. Let’s see… … .”
The four major powers.
In addition to official organizations such as the student council and student council, Yongsal Academy has numerous clubs established to share students’ common interests or goals.
These clubs, when viewed broadly, mostly belong to one of the four forces.
And that’s the
Even in the golden generation full of capable people, if you take the four major powers as a standard, you can pick out one or two of the most outstanding people from each power.
Shin Byeong-cheol quickly flipped through his notepad and organized the contents.
“Let’s take a look first… … According to our understanding, the strongest card in the
“3% is almost nothing.”
“That’s right. If the rules were different, I wouldn’t have known about this.”
[5 minute limit] If it had been a long-term battle instead of a rule, the result might have been different.
In fact, it is safe to say that their skills are equal.
“We heard that there was another one on the Heukdo side, but he didn’t show up in this duel. Either he was hiding his skills while fighting, or it’s just a rumor. We’ll investigate this further, but for now, just assume that Mo Yong-jun is the best.”
“Okay, what about
Shin Byeong-cheol turned over a few pages of his notepad.
“
“I just got lucky. What next?”
In fact, it was impossible for me to boast that I had S-class [Elemental Resistance].
When I intentionally changed the subject, Shin Byeong-cheol continued his explanation without taking his suspicious gaze away.
Next is
As expected, it is also the force that Shin Byeong-cheol’s club belongs to.
“Have you seen that kid carrying a cat on his shoulder?”
“Coming and going a few times.”
“Actually, that’s not a cat, it’s a tiger.”
“I thought so.”
“… … I’m not surprised. It’s not fun.”
Shin Byeong-cheol seemed disappointed that my response was so dry.
It’s hard to imagine that Yongsal Academy would carry a simple pet cat on their shoulders.
Normally, they would use shrinking skills or something to reduce their size and move around.
I asked.
“Are you a Beast Tamer or a Druid?”
“Druid. He can also use earth magic.”
“It must have something to do with the Emerald Tower.”
“That’s what I heard. Magic is just a side thing though.”
“Is that the end for the guild?”
“This is not the end….”
Shin Byeong-cheol glanced at the calligrapher before answering.
The calligrapher was sipping iced green tea and watching squirrels climbing up and down a nearby tree.
When I nod my head to indicate that I’m okay, he lowers his voice so that others can hear.
“… … I’ll tell you guys only because it costs 5 silver. There’s another guy on our side who’s really good at using a bow. He only uses a dagger in the duel to hide his skills, but he still has 2 wins and 1 loss.”
“You’re not overestimating me just because I’m from the same family?”
“No, no. He’s not inferior to other promising players.”
If he’s making such boasts, it must be somewhat true.
“Let’s just remember that. Who are the promising candidates for the
“Lee Seong-hyeon. He is almost the same as Mo Yong-jun. He trained diligently under his father, the Sword Master. Well, I think these guys are the only ones who are exceptionally strong. If you want, I can let you go even lower.”
“No, this is enough. It’s definitely a contender.”
“I told you so. The competition for the top ranks of our jockeys is going to be really bloody.”
Even as someone who has visited
At this point, the speculation that this is due to the influence of EX-class quests is gaining a lot of weight, but I don’t know how many powerful enemies will appear in the future.
Shin Byeong-cheol asked, closing the notepad.
“Hey, let me ask you one thing. Why are you curious about this?”
“It’s like market research.”
“Market research? What are you going to sell?”
“Similar.”
If you have figured out who from the four major powers will be the focus of your future push and what hidden pieces they will need.
‘Trading is not possible.’
After they have secured the hidden piece they want, they trade it.
Whether it’s relics of the same class or the vested interests they have.
After the placement test, a rough idea of how the board will be divided is drawn.
“Hey, stop it. Tell me a little more. You’re making people curious.”
“Hey, you have a message.”
“uh?”
Shin Byeong-cheol, who had been harassing me, lowered his gaze.
The pockets were shining brightly.
I put my hand in and fumbled around for a moment, then took out my student ID card and read the letters that appeared on the back out loud, one by one.
“You… … Where are you… … Right now… … If you don’t… … come out… … to the… … house… … I’ll cut off your… … hair. Oh, that’s right. I forgot.”
“You look very angry. Who is it?”
“Our club president. He’s a very… very scary person.”
Just thinking about it makes me shiver.
The problem is that I feel like I’ve offended that scary guy, but that’s up to him to decide.
Shin Byeong-cheol immediately cleaned up his seat and stood up.
“I have to go. If I don’t go quickly, something might happen to me.”
“Okay, see you later.”
And then he ran out at full speed.
Meanwhile, when Shin Byeong-cheol left, Seo Ye-in was quietly eating a sandwich by herself.
Still, I managed to eat almost everything little by little.
“… … .”
Gray eyes stare at me.
It’s still hard to know what’s going on, but now it feels particularly subdued.
Go Hyun-woo, Seo Ye-in, and Shin Byeong-cheol.
Aside from my ultimate goal of raising EX-class heroes, these guys were special.
Because this is the first connection I made after receiving the reincarnation quest and entering the game world.
I feel uneasy about leaving it like that.
So, if you want to liven things up, there’s a simple but effective way.
“You know, I dropped a cookie on the train yesterday.”
“… … ?”
There was an incident where the cookies given by the calligrapher fell on the floor due to friction between the student council and Shin Byeong-cheol.
A look came back as if asking, “Why?”
“Song Cheon-hye sent me a dessert coupon as an apology.”
Song Cheon-hye was the type of person who was sure about making and breaking relationships.
Because I gave up on the big match, my perception of myself plummeted to almost the same level as Shin Byeong-cheol, but I guess I thought that a promise was a promise and I had to keep it.
As soon as lunchtime started, a dessert coupon arrived.
A coupon that can be redeemed for any dessert served in the student cafeteria, regardless of price.
That’s what I chose to write about,
“Ta-da.”
I took out a neatly wrapped paper box from my inventory.
When I opened the box, there was a piece of whipped cream cake with fruit sprinkled on it.
I didn’t know when I ordered it, but when I saw it in person, it was extraordinary.
It was not just a cake, it was a work of art.
If you pay for it, it’s expensive, like having a meal at a top restaurant for one piece.
There was even a premium attached to the limited quantity, so if I had been even one step late, I would not have been able to buy it even with a dessert coupon.
The calligrapher’s eyes were drawn to the cake, as it seemed extraordinary to him.
When I handed him a disposable fork, he accepted it absentmindedly.
“If you think about it, it was the cookie you gave me, so you have a share too. Let’s eat it together.”
“……thank you.”
The calligrapher’s eyes widened slightly as he gave a brief thank you and carefully took a corner with his fork and put it in his mouth.
I too could not help but nod after tasting the opposite corner.
‘It’s worth the price.’
The harmony of the sponge, whipped cream, and fruit that made up the cake was almost perfect.
Especially in the case of whipped cream, it felt like eating clouds rather than cream.
The sweetness was not too much and was just right, which seemed to appeal to calligraphers who prefer bland flavors.
For a while we just took turns forking in silence.
When the cake was almost reduced to crumbs.
“You know.”
The calligrapher opened his mouth.
The supporters ate it all
