A moment of silence ensued.
Soon, everyone started looking at each other, trying to read each other’s expressions.
After all, there was a chance that the winner of the cross-dressing contest was among them.
‘Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.’
The winner of the cross-dressing contest was famous at the Royal Academy.
No one had ever cross-dressed so perfectly before.
As a result, rumors spread among the students, curious about the identity of the person behind the cross-dressing.
Of course, the identity was never revealed.
As I was feeling a bit anxious, I happened to make eye contact with William for a brief moment.
‘·····Fuck.’Apart from a few people involved, William was the only one who knew about the cross-dressing contest.
Was that why he looked at me like that?
He stared at me with a bewildered expression.
Do you have to look at me like that, Professor?
“The winner of the cross-dressing contest is free to not participate in this event.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because that contest was just an event.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with William’s explanation.
Especially Kim Soo-yong, who showed a strong reaction.
Now that I think about it, he also participated in the contest.
To change the topic quickly, I asked about the duties of the teaching assistants.
“Professor, what are we supposed to do?”
“Hmm. Well, before I explain that, let me first explain about the freshman exam.”
As William snapped his fingers, a small video appeared in the crystal ball.
The teaching assistants were a bit surprised by the video.
“Huh? There?”
“Isn’t that the location of the performance evaluation?”
“It seems like it.”
As the teaching assistants, including me, talked among themselves, William nodded.
“Yes, the freshman exam will take place there, and the students will earn points by hunting monsters. Of course, most of the monsters there are the lowest-ranked ones. There is also a boss monster, but it can only be challenged if the freshmen’s scores exceed a certain threshold. It’s almost impossible for ordinary students.”
“So, are we supposed to ensure the safety of the students there?”
William shook his head.
“No, the professors will take care of that. Your job is to play the role of the taggers.”
“Taggers?”
The teaching assistants tilted their heads in confusion.
William explained to them.
“Before the freshmen take the exam, they will wear a badge on their left arm. Your job is to touch that badge to prevent them from hunting monsters as much as possible. If you do that, they will be unable to move for 10 minutes.”
The teaching assistants nodded in understanding.
Until they heard this explanation, they probably thought the exam was too easy.
To be honest, even freshmen can easily kill the lowest-ranked monsters.
If the exam was that easy, it would be more like a game than a test.
So, it’s understandable that the teaching assistants were confused.
But it’s different when we step in.
The performance evaluation location is undoubtedly vast.
However, we, including me, are all tournament winners.
Although the number of winners is not that high, there are only five of us, including the winners of the first and second-year tournaments and the Royal Tournament.
However, with our level of skill, catching freshmen is as easy as eating cold porridge.
Especially for Kim Soo-yong, who won the tournament.
Therefore, we just need to demonstrate our overwhelming power against the freshmen.
This feels a bit trashy.
From the outside, it might seem like we are bullying the freshmen.
‘It seems that this exam includes detecting and concealing auras.’
I didn’t realize it when I played the game, but now that I’m experiencing it in reality, I can clearly see the Royal Academy’s intentions for holding this exam.
Detecting auras is essential for hunting monsters in that vast forest.
Additionally, concealing auras is necessary to avoid the teaching assistants.
‘I should definitely avoid Wily and Lisanna.’
I can guarantee that there will be freshmen who don’t know their place and act recklessly.
There’s no guarantee that those two won’t be among them.
‘No, Lisanna will probably go looking for the teaching assistants herself.’
In the original story, she finds fighting the weakest monsters boring and goes looking for stronger teaching assistants.
So, the best course of action is to avoid her.
‘There’s no need to waste my energy fighting her.’
My goal is to confirm the original story.
There’s no benefit in getting involved with her.
And anyway, Kim Soo-yong will take care of those reckless freshmen and the cult spies.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that time, Willy was on her way to the Royal Academy to take the exam.
She finally arrived at her destination and looked around.
“·····.”
Where’s Mark?
My dad said he would come on time.
He should be at the exam site by now.
Otherwise, he might really be late.
She looked around, searching for Mark.
“Hey.”
Lisanna approached Willy.
Willy looked at her for a moment and then…
-Swish!
She started looking for Mark again.
Lisanna was suddenly ignored.
“·····.”
Usually, she would have gotten angry, but…
[The Goddess of Battle wants you to befriend the woman in front of you.]
Because of this damn goddess, she held back her anger once.
“Hey, when someone talks to you, you should at least respond.”
“·····Why? Do you have something to say to me?”
Willy finally responded to Lisanna’s words.
She shook her head indifferently.
“Hmm. Well, it’s not that. I just thought you were the strongest among the freshmen, excluding me, so I wanted to talk to you.”
“····?”
Willy tilted her head in confusion.
‘She thinks I’m the strongest, excluding herself?’
I admit that she is strong, but I’m not sure if she’s strong enough to beat me.
Willy shook her head indifferently, disagreeing with Lisanna’s opinion.
“····I don’t think so.”
“What?”
Lisanna tilted her head in confusion.
Willy ignored her reaction and continued.
“I don’t think I’ll lose to you.”
“····Hmm. Really? Then why don’t we fight right now? If you’re scared, you can back out.”
“······.”
Willy looked at Lisanna with cold eyes and slowly raised her aura.
-Argh!
Lisanna also summoned her divinity, not wanting to be outdone.
The two of them clashed, their divinity and aura colliding.
-Crackle!
[The Goddess of Battle is asking what you’re doing.]
Lisanna, upon receiving the goddess’s message, raised her middle finger to the sky and glared at Willy.
‘She’s definitely strong.’
As the two of them glared at each other, the freshmen watching the fight swallowed their dry saliva.
They all had the same thought.
‘Are they really freshmen like us?’
They were confident that they weren’t weak, but the power displayed by the two in front of them was on a whole different level.
And what surprised the students wasn’t just that.
They were shocked by something else.
‘Who is that guy?’
Yes, that’s right.
Among the freshmen, Willy was known to be overwhelmingly powerful.
Yet, Lisanna was not intimidated by her.
The freshmen were shocked by Lisanna’s strength.
They thought that everyone, except Willy, would be on the same level.
Lisanna and Willy shattered the freshmen’s arrogance.
As the two of them were about to unleash more of their power, someone appeared between them.
“That’s enough.”
Kim Soo-yong had somehow appeared between them, and their powers disappeared.
“Huh?”
“·····.”
Lisanna looked a bit flustered, while Willy remained indifferent.
She had already heard about Kim Soo-yong from Kaine.
Willy briefly recalled her conversation with Kaine.
‘····Oppa, who is the strongest at the Royal Academy?’
‘Hmm. It depends on their condition, but it’s probably Kim Soo-yong.’
‘Is he really strong?’
‘Yeah, you’ll know as soon as you see him.’
Kaine’s words were spot on.
Even without knowing Kim Soo-yong’s face or information, she could tell that the man in front of her was the one Kaine was talking about.
As silence fell between them, Kim Soo-yong spoke.
“Hey, Kim Soo-yong, don’t intimidate the freshmen. Come over here.”
“Okay. Kaine, if you two fight again, you’ll lose points.”
As Kim Soo-yong said this, he disappeared from in front of them.
Lisanna muttered to herself.
“Wow, fuck. I want to fight that guy.”
“····You’ll lose.”
Willy’s blunt response made Lisanna’s excitement fade.
“I know. It’s just that fighting against someone like him is how you improve.”
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that time, someone else was thinking.
‘Why are they fighting?’
The reason Kim Soo-yong intervened was because of me.
I knew that if I went there, I would only feel embarrassed.
I wasn’t sure how strong Lisanna was, but I assumed she wouldn’t be far behind Willy.
So, even if I tried to intervene, Willy might listen to me, but Lisanna would definitely ignore me.
As expected, Kim Soo-yong is my personal Pokémon.
He’s so obedient.
“How were the freshmen’s levels?”
Kim Soo-yong thought for a moment before answering calmly.
“They were just average, except for the two I stopped from fighting earlier.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, compared to our year, they’re pretty weak.”
“It’s because your year is abnormal.”
As Charles, a senior from the year above us, suddenly joined the conversation, we turned our attention to him.
He crossed his muscular arms and glared at us with sharp eyes.
“There are too many monsters in your year. Starting with Kim Soo-yong, there’s Eileen and Skaya, who don’t even need to be mentioned. And then there’s Lady Rain, who awakened as a saint, and Burke. It’s abnormal to have five people who only appear once every hundred years.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
Indeed, that’s right.
I realized that I had set my standards too high.
When I think about it, the top students in my class are not just geniuses with exceptional talent on the Leiston continent.
They are monsters.
Monsters that are too amazing to be called geniuses.
That’s the word that suits them.
As I nodded in agreement, Charles continued.
“To begin with, if Kaine or Jenny were in a different year, they would definitely be the top students. It’s just that your generation, including Kim Soo-yong, is completely abnormal. Of course, the two freshmen who just fought are also abnormal.”
“Ah····· That’s right.”
Kim Soo-yong nodded with a slightly dazed expression.
Well, it’s understandable for him to react like that.
After all, it’s only been about a year and a half since he came to this world.
So, it would be difficult for him to objectively assess his own strength.
Especially since he has seen many people stronger than himself, including some from the cult.
He probably didn’t think he was that strong.
“Anyway, let’s check if all the freshmen have arrived.”
The two of them nodded in response to my suggestion.
We went to our respective groups to check attendance.
‘Hmm. I wonder if Mark made it on time.’
I felt a bit worried as I called out the names for attendance. Finally, only one name was left.
And that last name was none other than…
“David von Mark.”
“······.”
Instead of a response, silence filled the air.
Damn it. Is he really late?
I started to feel uneasy.
I have a feeling my dad is going to be angry.
“David von Mark.”
“·····.”
Again, silence.
I checked the time on my watch once more.
“Teaching Assistant! A student is coming this way!”
A freshman at the back shouted loudly.
I turned my head in the direction he was pointing.
Mark was walking towards the entrance of the Royal Academy with an air of importance, as if he were the protagonist of a story.
I marked him as late.
1 point deduction.
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