Chapter 37. Intruders (1) (1/2)

Thursday. The sound of scribbling pencils rang out in the classroom. Almost all cadets were hard at work to prepare for the exam four days later.

“Argh… I want to go play soccer or something.”

Of course, there was bound to be at least one cadet who hated studying. Chae Nayun expressed her boredom with her entire body.

“My body’s healed but I can’t move my body…”

This week’s incident was reported across the entire world, and combat training was canceled due to Cube’s executives all being under investigation. As a result, there were only review and theory classes until the exams.

To Chae Nayun, it must be like hell.

“Exams are next week. Study hard, or you’re going to have regrets when the results come out.”

Next to her, Kim Suho spoke with a laugh. Being a diligent protagonist, Kim Suho was also good at written exams. But since he wasn’t good enough to contend for top ranks, he asked Yoo Yeonha who sat in front of him if he ever had any questions. Just like he was doing now.

“Um, Yeonha, can you tell me how to solve this?”

Yoo Yeonha glanced at the problem Kim Suho showed her.

“…Can you not forget my last name?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry.”

I yawned as I watched them interact.

At that moment, someone poked my shoulder. It was Rachel. When I tilted my head, she handed me a piece of paper.

Just like yesterday, it was another high difficulty problem.

Rachel has started to ask me for help on problems like these. In reality, I haven’t even heard her voice.

[Suppose the boss monster of a Dungeon is a high-intermediate rank grade 3 demi-devil. The Dungeon is a Stage Dungeon, and each stage consists of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 30 low rank to intermediate rank monsters. Assuming the size of this Dungeon is medium small, find the minimum and maximum mana density, and approximate the number of people needed to conquer the Dungeon.]

I had no clue where to start. Was this really going to be on the exam? I glanced at Rachel. She was tapping on the desk while staring at me.

I should probably answer the question.

I activated my Gift. With several abilities I added to Observation and Reading, it should be able to solve this problem as long as it followed the world design I created.

[A high-intermediate rank grade 3 demi-devil has a minimum magic power capacity of… medium small Stages have four to six floors… 878ppm~1133ppm. Nine people can use and recharge magic power without being overburdened.]

I wrote down the sentences that popped up in front of me on a piece of paper and gave it to Rachel. Immediately, her eyes widened. She buried her face on the paper and began to carefully scrutinize every step of the calculation.

Ding dong—

At that moment, the bell rang signaling the end of the class. The class was technically a review class, but in reality, it was just a self-study class. In any case, few cadets got up from their seats. They were all studying hard.

I, of course, planned on going back to the dorm. That’s just what smart students did.

When I began to stuff my writing utensils in my bag along with my laptop, a shadow was cast over my desk. I raised my head with a quizzical look. It was Chae Nayun.

“Hey, help me study.”

She spoke with a sweet smile.

I got up from my seat.

“…I don’t want to.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s too troublesome.”

Written exams began next Monday. That was less than four days. Even if she started studying now, her grades wouldn’t change much. Not to mention, I had no way of helping her study.

“H-Hey! Um, please! How about a study guide on Phenomenon Realm Analysis?”

She sounded more desperate than I imagined, but I still went on my way cold-heartedly.

**

The written exams went by like a breeze. From the first exam on Monday to the final exam on Friday, time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

I felt like I got everything correct. At first, I thought about aiming for an average score, but because I might end up scoring near the bottom on the combat exams, I did my best on the written exams so that I wouldn’t be held back.

Today was Saturday.

Combat exams would begin on Monday. During combat exam periods, Cube was open to cadets' family members, various Hero associates, and all institutions that hired Heroes. Naturally, Cube was bustling with people.

“Oh~ Cube’s rank 117, Kim Junha! I saw you on YouTube. My son is your fan. Can we take a photo?”

Because cadets’ families were present, the combat exam period was somewhat of a festival. It was a bit odd that teenagers fighting each other was considered a festival, but this was Cube’s tradition.

“We are in Cube, the world’s best Hero Academy…”

Reporters were also allowed in from approved broadcasting companies. Since becoming a Hero was akin to becoming a celebrity, the goal was to let cadets become used to being on camera.

“There sure is a lot of people.”

I was currently sitting in Hero Park, located in the center of Cube. Unlike how it was normally, the place was booming with people as though it was Disneyland.

“Ah! Hajin-ssi!”

At that moment, someone called my name.

Tap tap. I turned towards the direction of the footsteps.

It was Hazuki.

“Hajin-ssi, what are you doing here?”

“Oh… Just taking a break. Who are the two behind you?”

“My parents. This is my mom and this is my dad. Mom, Dad, this is my teammate.”

“H-Hello.”

I shook hands with Hazuki’s parents. They smiled and said something in Japanese. Since I couldn’t understand them, I just feigned a smile.

“Hajin. His name is Kim Hajin.”

Hazuki introduced me to her parents. It seemed they were asking for my name. After Hazuki told them my name, they grabbed my hands, saying “Hajin-san, Hajin-san”. I didn’t know what they were saying so I just replied with “hai, hai”.

In any case, after the greeting ended, Hazuki left with her parents.

Alone once again, I sat down on the bench. I couldn’t help but feel jealous of Hazuki, whose parents had come to see him.