Chapter 93: Final Exam (4)

Upon leaving the completely discolored forest, a vast plain unfolded before us.

At first glance, the grayish and monotonous landscape was not much different from the previous forest.

Even so, I felt like I could breathe better. There was something refreshing about the openness of the clear view.

“Haah, haah… We finally got out of that damn forest!”

“Yeah… It’s really a relief.”

Rachel and Senior Ha-na’s faces lit up, as if they were people who had just stepped off a ship after hours of seasickness.

I also let out a sigh of relief.

‘Thank goodness.’

I took a deep breath. The magical energy mixed in the air filled my lungs. Unlike before, when it itched and burned, now I barely noticed it.

I was surprised at how quickly I developed resistance. Was it because of the “Ma” in my name?

At the time, I had only thought it was an embarrassing name, but it seemed to have its advantages. Or maybe I just had a special constitution. Though the latter seemed unlikely.

For a moment, I recalled the parents who had given me the name Kang Geom-Ma in this world.

My father, with a beaming smile, proudly congratulated me.

“Hahaha! Geom-Ma, you are the pride of the Kang family. With a name like this, fate has blessed you. Well done, my son!”

I no longer remembered their faces clearly, but deep in my heart, that nostalgia lingered like a persistent mist.

I wrinkled my nose. There would be time to figure out more about it. For now, I needed to focus on the current situation.

I turned my head.

Choi Seol-ah was sniffing the air, detecting magical energy. At first glance, she looked human, but her behavior was that of a tracking dog.

Noticing my gaze, she seemed embarrassed and scratched her cheek. Then, shrinking slightly, she cautiously approached and whispered in a low voice, as if afraid someone else might hear.

“…I sense a high concentration of magical energy to the northwest, Geom-Ma-nim. If we walk in that direction for about ten minutes, I think we’ll find the first checkpoint…”

She extended her index finger and pointed in that direction.

I was surprised at how well she was fulfilling her role.

I stared at her for a moment before nodding.

“Well done.”

“Hehe, thanks.”

Despite how cold my words sounded, Choi Seol-ah scratched her head with a timid smile.

Her reaction was identical to that of a dog that had just brought back the frisbee its owner had thrown.

Considering she had spent her life under the subordination of the Fifth Commander of the Demon Army, her submissive attitude was understandable.

Even so, I didn’t let my guard down.

For now, she was behaving humbly, but villains were the kind of people who could stab you in the back at any moment.

They didn’t need a reason to kill, and they didn’t care about doing it.

She surely still harbored resentment toward me and was only wagging her tail out of convenience.

‘Even so, thanks to her, we didn’t get lost in the forest.’

I lifted my gaze and observed the plain.

Despite being inside a closed-off area, the horizon stretched endlessly into the distance.

It was as if the magical energy rippling over the ground had distorted space, making it seem larger than it actually was.

‘…Something about this place feels off.’

The more I looked at the horizon, the more unsettled I felt.

If only I had my sword, I could fully use my sensory perception, but for now, I could only rely on my intuition.

“Geom-Ma.”

While I was lost in thought, Senior Ha-na approached me in a low voice.

“Yes, Senior?”

“It’s just that… no matter how much I look at her, Rachel doesn’t seem to be in good shape. Could we rest for a bit? In the end, we found the way faster than expected, and we still have thirty minutes before the time limit. Could you talk to her?”

I turned my gaze toward Rachel.

She was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

Out of all of us, she was putting in the most effort.

Suddenly, I recalled a fragment of a news report I had read in my past life.

It said that, ironically, the healthiest people were more vulnerable to infections.

Their accelerated metabolism also caused viruses to spread faster in their bodies.

‘Could magical energy act like a virus in humans?’

If my hypothesis was correct, then it made sense that Rachel was struggling so much to breathe.

Within the academy, I didn’t know anyone physically stronger than her.

I thanked Senior Ha-na for letting me know and approached Rachel.

Despite her ragged breathing, she greeted me with a tired smile.

“Haah, haah… Sorry, sorry. Just when I finally get chosen as a leader, I end up showing you this pathetic sight, Geom-Ma. How embarrassing.”

She tried to add some firmness to her voice, as if she wanted to prove that everything was fine.

Even in that state, she tried to quicken her pace.

“……”

I had almost forgotten, but Rachel was the team leader.

Maybe that’s why, despite staggering, she kept forcing her body to move forward.

Her usual attitude was somewhat noisy and chaotic, but in the end, she was still a heroine destined to face demons alongside the hero, Leon.

Although that future was still far off, the weight of duty and mission was already pressing on her shoulders.

Whether by her own will or by fate, there was no escape.

‘In that sense, Rachel is impressive too.’

Fighting and risking her life for the sake of others was something worthy of respect.

For now, she didn’t seem aware of it, and in my case, she was just giving me a headache…

But seeing her like this, gasping so much, made me uncomfortable.

If I didn’t stop her, she could collapse, and then I would have to carry her for the rest of the exam.

And I wasn’t sure I could handle her weight.

“Wait a moment, Rachel.”

“Huh?”

I grabbed her arm. Rachel flinched in surprise.

I felt her firm biceps against my palm.

“Let’s rest here for a while.”

Rachel stammered awkwardly, looking embarrassed. Round, heart-shaped eyes.

She hadn’t expected me to be kind to her, but at the very least, I could offer her a short break.

After all, we were on the same team.

“Besides, we’re almost there. Nothing will happen if we stop for ten minutes.”

“How can you be so sure we’re close, Geom-Ma?”

Rachel looked at me suspiciously.

I hadn’t explained it well.

But I also couldn’t tell her that I had used Choi Seol-ah as a magical energy tracking dog.

Better to improvise. I scratched my eyebrow and answered.

“You know I have good instincts. In the midterm exam, I was the first to notice the demon’s appearance.”

“Hmm… Well, that’s true.”

“Besides, what does it matter if we’re a little late?”

“Huh?”

“They’re not going to fail us immediately if we mess up this exam. We just have to do well in the next one. Don’t pressure yourself too much about being the leader.”

“……”

Even if we failed the final exam, Rachel’s health was more important.

Either way, she is destined to become a great heroine, the right hand of the hero Leon.

If she were to get injured at an inopportune moment, the butterfly effect of that incident could have unpredictable consequences.

“Rachel, it’s not just you—Senior Ha-na also seems exhausted. As the leader, it’s your decision, but I vote for resting. You too, Senior Ha-na?”

When I asked, Senior Ha-na responded wordlessly, raising her hand in approval.

I looked back at Rachel.

She glanced between Senior Ha-na and me before finally lowering her gaze and nodding slightly.

“…Then, just three minutes.”

“Three minutes? What is this, instant noodles? If your stomach hurts, you need to rest properly. How about ten minutes?”

Rachel lifted her head. Her eyes were red.

Was she offended because I mentioned instant noodles to a blonde?

I remembered how she overreacted when Choi Seol-ah teased her by calling her “pickled radish.”

Rachel opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just let out a chuckle.

It was her usual laugh—bright and full of energy.

Soon after, she wiped the corners of her eyes and spoke with determination.

“Alright! Ten minutes, let’s go!”

I couldn’t help but smile slightly on the inside.

‘Now that’s more like Rachel.’

Senior Ha-na, seeing that the decision was made, plopped onto the ground with a sigh of relief.

I also sat down on the trunk of a grayish tree.

As I sat there doing nothing, Choi Seol-ah sneakily slid over and crouched beside me.

I thought about shooing her away with a wave of my hand, but she was quicker and had already planted herself on the ground.

Choi Seol-ah, hugging her knees to her chest, spoke in a low voice as if trying to block out any external noise.

“…Geom-Ma-nim, I have something to tell you.”

At some point, she had started using an extremely respectful tone with me.

She seemed to be waiting for my permission to speak, so with a distrustful expression, I asked,

“What is it?”

“…Well…”

Choi Seol-ah took a moment to organize her thoughts before opening her mouth.

“Geom-Ma-nim, I must say, you have an extraordinary talent for winning over women. I truly respect you!”

“……”

Her purple eyes sparkled with admiration, waiting for a response.

Given her lack of common sense, I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or if she had some ulterior motive, but to me, it sounded like mockery.

My expression immediately hardened.

“If you plan on living in Korea, start by learning to speak properly.”

Choi Seol-ah, startled, buried her face in her knees.

Her hands, wrapped around her shins, trembled slightly.

“…I-I’m so sorry. P-please, don’t kill me.”

“……”

…How the hell has Choi Seol-ah managed to stay in the academy without getting expelled until now?

***

After a brief rest, we set off again.

The vast, arid plain stretched out before us.

There was no trace of life.

Even as we looked around, we didn’t see any other teams.

Although the test included both first- and second-year students, it seemed that many had given up along the way.

‘We would have been eliminated too if it weren’t for this girl.’

Sticking close to my side, Choi Seol-ah confidently guided us in the right direction.

Even in such a desolate landscape, as long as we had our own “human navigation system,” there was no problem.

…But now that I thought about it, what happened to the teams that gave up in the middle of the exam?

We had Choi Seol-ah, but the others didn’t.

Suddenly, curiosity struck me, and I asked as we walked.

“Hey, how do the people who drop out of the test halfway get back?”

“Ah, that… Hold on a second, let me see… It should be around here somewhere.”

Choi Seol-ah ignored the annoyance in my voice.

She plunged her hand into her spatial storage bag, rummaging inside until she pulled out a small box.

It was a black box, about the size of a palm.

I had never seen anything like it, not even when I was a player.

“…What’s that?”

“It’s a magic communicator! If you open the lid, ta-da!”

Proudly, Choi Seol-ah lifted the lid of the box.

In the center was a large red button that looked like it had been pulled straight from an old arcade machine from the ‘80s.

“See this button? If you press it, the user’s location appears on the administrative office’s screen.”

“It works even in the special area? How?”

“…Huh, well, I don’t actually know how it works. It’s a device developed by the Hero Association’s laboratory and distributed to the academy for educational purposes… I’ve heard it’s based on an artifact, though it’s a downgraded version. Oh, by the way, these storage bags are also provided to teachers by the Association!”

Choi Seol-ah lifted her storage bag with her index finger, as if it were a trophy, and looked at me with a satisfied expression.

She seemed proud, as if she had invented it herself.

I completely ignored her and examined the black box and bag closely.

Seeing that I wasn’t paying attention to her, Choi Seol-ah slumped her shoulders and muttered in a low voice.

“…I put effort into explaining it, a word of praise would’ve been nice at least…”

“……”

I thought about saying something, but I just looked away.

‘So the Hero Association is already developing something like this?’

An artifact.

A relic created in the mythical era, when magic and blessings were not yet distinct. These are objects imbued with unknown power, their value immeasurable. It is said that fewer than a dozen remain in the world today.

They are relics that make even some S-rank weapons, considered national treasures, look like mere trinkets.

For that reason, possession of even one by a single country is prohibited by international law. Their management and regulation are entirely under the control of the Hero Association, an international organization.

The reason for this restriction is simple—to prevent the balance of power between nations from being disrupted.

‘And now they’re manufacturing and distributing downgraded versions of them…?’

Rather than seeing this as a good thing, all that came to mind were unsettling doubts.

Why? Because I didn’t remember obtaining any information about this.

It was probably something meant to be revealed at the final part of the main story.

‘How much would this be worth? Even if it’s a standard-issue item, its origin is an artifact. If I sell it, I could probably make a fortune.’

As I clicked my tongue in interest, Choi Seol-ah, who had been watching attentively, flinched and immediately hid the black box behind her back.

I frowned.

With fake tears welling in her eyes, she whimpered.

“T-this is a no-go. The compensation insurance is under my name, so if I lose it, I’ll have to pay for it out of my own pocket!”

Her voice sounded pitiful.

She had sold her humanity to the Demon Army, yet here she was, pretending to be a helpless victim.

On top of that, she was complaining about her insurance, her low salary, how she was being exploited, and how she was left with almost nothing.

It was ridiculous.

A villain worrying about things like that… truly absurd.

And besides, what am I, a thief? My last name may be “Kang,” which means demon, but I was only looking, nothing more.

While Choi Seol-ah kept whining like a mistreated office worker…

“I found it! The first checkpoint!”

From up ahead, Rachel shouted enthusiastically.