Ch. 24

After sending Suhyeon off to her class, I headed to the exam area. I waited quietly for any new applicants, but not a single person appeared.

“This won’t do.”

There were crowds the day before, yet now it was a ghost town. Some students caught sight of me and immediately fled. I started wondering if Jung Yuhyeon had spread rumors.

It was still just a “Silver” exam. I admitted I was strict, maybe too strict, but I never held back someone who was truly ready to advance. The second I began testing them, I could sense how lacking they were. My trait told me. If they left now, they would be in real trouble someday.

They might like having Silver for the time being, but a catastrophe was coming, and many of them would regret skipping proper training.

“I can’t exactly say, ‘In less than a year, our world will be drowned in chaos.’”

I briefly considered explaining that my ability was to see the future. That would let me justify why I was so set on strengthening them, as well as how I knew about Suhyeon’s situation.

It took about two seconds to realize how foolish that was.

I didn’t actually know enough about the future for it to hold up. I hadn’t finished the novel, so I only had partial knowledge. Suhyeon becoming the Red Witch, looming disasters, a few scumbags in disguise, and some potential deaths. That was it.

If everyone believed I could read the future, my life would no longer be my own. An ability like that would attract everyone’s attention. Groups, individuals, entire nations would see me as a target.

It was priceless to see even fragments of the future. I’d become a prize for villains, too.

I confirmed how powerless I was against the truly strong when I faced Kwak Hyeok, also known as the Elder. The Gatekeeper trait might let me deal with Gold, maybe even Platinum if I pushed it, but Platinum in the Academy was roughly B to A rank out in the real world. Famous heroes and notorious villains were fully trained A-ranks, and the Elder was a former S-rank.

“I can’t afford to stand out any more than this. I’d be finished.”

Kwak Hyeok, that Elder, had nearly killed me in just two hits last time. I only survived his third attack because Ma Hakjun stepped in. If he hadn’t retreated at that moment, I’d be gone.

I had to get stronger to protect myself, and maybe to protect others. Except no one was coming to be tested today.

“Examiner!”

At least I got a bit of relief when I heard a booming voice. It was exactly who I expected.

“Here for your exam again? You’re determined to reach Silver today, right?”

It was none other than Lee Hyunwoo, the man who overcame any lack of talent with relentless effort.

“Hey there. Looks like no one else is here.”

“Not just today. It might stay like this for a while.”

“Pardon?”

“They say the students are avoiding me because I make the Silver exam too difficult.”

He blinked at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

Someone like Lee Hyunwoo wouldn’t get it. He was someone who believed in hard work, who sweated his way to mastery.

If it was tough, he thought you should just get stronger until it felt easier. If there was a wall you couldn’t climb, you put in more effort until you overcame it. Giving up didn’t register for him.

He was truly an extraordinary person, someone who wouldn’t break even under an extreme Gatekeeper test.

“You must think this is all pretty strange, right?”

“Yes, I do. Honestly, it makes no sense to me. Failing an exam means you keep training until you can pass. Why would anyone suddenly go looking for an easier test?”

I felt the same way, but not everyone saw it that way. Some dreaded the idea of staying in Bronze. Others had urgent personal reasons. They’d regret it one day, but it wasn’t my place to force them to test with me.

“I’ll never do that. I’m going to get my approval from you, Examiner Baek Seojin, and claim my Silver rank.”

“Lee Hyunwoo.”

I already had a guess, but I asked him anyway.

“Why insist on taking the exam from me? You could just go to another instructor and reach Silver with far less trouble.”

He was only a freshman and had no risk of academic warnings for being Bronze. I wondered if he simply felt safe enough to take a harder path, though I suspected otherwise.

“I hate half measures. If I’m going to do something, I want to do it properly, get myself in perfect shape, look awesome finishing it, then move to the next stage and do it all again.”

“It’ll be extremely hard.”

He agreed with a laugh.

“You’re right, but if I work that much harder now, won’t it benefit me down the road?”

He truly was the “hard work genius.” He had some innate talent too, and he added monstrous amounts of effort on top of that.

No wonder he could climb to Diamond in just one year.

“I remember they said that was only the second time in Academy history.”

The first person to do something that absurd was that “crazy blonde,” Irina.

Unlike Hyunwoo, she didn’t even need a full year. She reached Master by the end of the first semester, then graduated early, after which she destroyed Gates and villains alike as Korea’s strongest superhuman.

She was an officially recognized overpowered character.

If Hyunwoo was talent plus effort, Irina was simply born invincible. Still, watching him climb made my plan clearer.

In the original story, he reached Diamond in a year. I wanted him to go beyond that to Master, which was basically half a step from S rank in the outside world.

That required two things.

First, I had to keep him at Bronze as long as possible, stacking his potential. Hyunwoo wouldn’t despair about repeated failure. He would work even harder until he finally broke through.

That led to the second requirement. As he grew stronger, I had to keep pace so I could challenge him.

I was fine covering him up to about Gold, maybe Platinum, but after that, I wasn’t so sure.

He was practically a cheat character with insane growth.

“Examiner?”

“Yes? Did you call me?”

“Aren’t we starting the exam? I’ve been ready for a while.”

Of course. He could have attacked me when my guard was down, but he politely waited.

“Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought. You’re all set?”

“Yes. I look forward to it. By the way, Examiner, there’s nobody else in line today, right? Does that mean I can go for longer this time?”

I didn’t mind. It just meant he’d suffer more. Then again, that was no problem for this champion of effort.

“Oh, right, Examiner! Did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

“You know there’s a Student Council at the Academy, right?”

I sure did. I met two of its core members just yesterday. One of them was downright trash.

“I heard that all their key members were at least Gold, with some Platinum among them. But apparently there was an announcement on the bulletin board this morning that the Vice President got demoted to Bronze.”

So Kang Hana really did it. She had promised to handle it personally, and she sure did. Demoting someone from Gold to Bronze overnight was impressive. Perhaps Ma Hakjun had also signed off on it, given that he probably knew how awful the Vice President’s behavior was.

“Why does that concern examiners?”

“No matter the reason, won’t he try to climb back up fast? He’ll probably destroy the Silver examiners to get himself restored.”

I smiled inwardly. That wasn’t going to happen. He could never pass if I was the one testing him.

He was doomed to remain Bronze forever, stuck there until graduation, and maybe even beyond that. He was just that rotten.

“Let’s stop chatting and begin, shall we?”

“Yes! Examiner, I’m coming now! Hyaaaah!”

Lee Hyunwoo let out a fierce shout and charged like lightning. I activated my trait at the sight.

◎ No Pain, No Gain Trait activated

Target – Lee Hyunwoo

Stack 1

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