Chapter 148

Chapter 148

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 148“Everyone, spread your desks apart, put your phones away, and you all know I'm a spatial mage, right? If you think you can cheat, go ahead and try. The moment you're caught, you fail.”

The morning of the midterms was extremely noisy from the sound of everyone spacing their desks apart.

Screeech─ Screeeech── Screech──Screeeeech──For me, it was the first school exam I'd taken in years.

Even though all I was doing was moving a desk, memories from back then came flooding back, and a nostalgic smile unconsciously appeared on my lips.Of the three days of midterms, there were a total of four subjects written on the board for today.[Korean][Mathematics][Ethics][Strategy]

Korean, mathematics, and ethics were conducted in the classroom with test papers handed out, just like at other schools, but...

The highlight of today was the final subject.[Strategy]

.

“I'll be supervising during Strategy, so greet the other instructors properly when they come in. Ah, and I'm only saying this just in case... if anyone fails, be prepared. This instructor will personally drag you around and put you through special training. Got it?”

Ji Su-hyeon left those murderous words behind before leaving the classroom.

Even though she was smiling, her cold words made the other students nod with stiff expressions as they diligently reviewed the summary notes they'd prepared.

And in my case...

I planned to use a power that defied the laws of the world.‘Smart Lens.’‘This alone should be enough.’To be honest, I felt guilty and conflicted over whether it was okay to use this ability during an exam, but being able to browse the internet in a way no one else knew about was basically a cheat code reserved for days like this.

As a veteran player, there was no way I'd ignore something like this and rely on effort instead of an ability.‘This is simply a method for being faster and more efficient.’All right, then...[Use of Smart Lens is temporarily suspended due to 「Limited Trait: Exam Start」.]

“You fucking──.”

______________

In the end, the exam went very. No, fortunately, very well.

I panicked when the Smart Lens I'd trusted from the start shut off, but the difficulty was easier than expected.

That made sense.

‘Seoul Hero Academy’ wasn't an ordinary high school, but a school for training heroes.

There was no way a school created for such a specialized purpose would give questions at the same difficulty level as an ordinary high school.

In the end, middle-school-level questions kept appearing one after another, so I practically achieved the feat of scoring full marks on my tentative grading.

“Why the hell are these questions so hard? What are we, some elite private school?”...

Though Jin-woo sitting beside me didn't seem to feel the same.

And so, the only subject left was the practical [Strategy].

Since this subject was considered important by the Academy, unlike during the other tests, the students could be seen diligently memorizing match records.The process of taking the [Strategy] exam was more difficult than expected, yet simple.

One historical battle would be recreated on the tablet placed at each seat, and the students had to use those units to compete for victory.

In other words, it was extremely similar to Ji Su-hyeon's class.

And until now, I had been the top first-year in this subject.

“All right, everyone's screens up? Timer showing?”

The students nodded at Ji Su-hyeon, who had entered as the exam supervisor.

“Right, you guys will probably do fine on your own. You're the class whose homeroom instructor is the one who wrote the exam, after all. Right?”The students correctly interpreted the meaning behind those words—‘If your scores are lower than the other classes, prepare to die’—and all swallowed hard as they watched the timer slowly approach zero.

“All right, everyone get ready.”

At last, when the timer reached zero and the screens began changing.

Ji Su-hyeon's voice rang out.

“Start.”

The pitch-black screen suddenly lit up, and an interface like that of a game unfolded before my eyes.

A world where everything was burning, as though we'd arrived in hell.

The first thing I did was inspect my surroundings and begin gathering information from the scenery one piece at a time.

Gray smoke constantly rising into the sky, flames and ash spread across the entire ground.

And in the distance, groups of kangaroos desperately running away from the fire.‘This is Australia, isn't it? Then... is this ‘Red Hell’?’Realizing the field at once, I inferred the incident.

Even among the randomly selected Strategy exam scenarios, it was considered a hell-difficulty problem of extreme difficulty.

But.‘This much is manageable. This could be fun.’To me, it was little more than brief entertainment.

I immediately manipulated the interface and checked the status of the party members currently assigned to me.

Four avatars appeared.

Every single one of them basically had the ‘Burn’ status ailment.

A classic party composition consisting of one warrior, one archer, one rogue, and one cleric.

The enemies were demonic forces positioned along the mountainside, composed of fifty low-level imps, thirty goblins, and one mid-level demon.‘So to summarize, the field is burning grassland. The terrain puts us at a disadvantage. All our party members are injured. That's about it?’A truly desperate situation.

But after confirming there was still plenty of time remaining on the tablet, I immediately moved my fingers and began positioning the party members.

I placed the rogue and cleric far away, then placed the warrior and archer in stealth directly in front of the demonic forces.

At the same time, I pressed the ‘Start Simulation’ button, and the words ‘START’ appeared as the demons began moving.

Their destination was east, where the cleric and rogue were.

I immediately ordered the rogue to carry the cleric on his back, then ordered the cleric to heal the rogue's legs.

-Kill the filthy servant of the gods!

With the mid-level demon's shout, the army's speed gradually increased.The enemies charged forward with extreme confidence, probably because of the overwhelming numerical difference of 4 versus 81.

If someone saw this, they'd probably ask how the hell anyone was supposed to win on a field like this... but in this world, it was one of the relatively famous battles passed down as legend.

A story practically equivalent to a heroic tale, where a cleric who had once worked as a mage changed the direction of the flames through quick thinking and annihilated the enemy army.

So anyone who studied hard could probably clear it somehow by arranging their party according to the historical records and controlling them properly.‘But I wouldn't do it that way.’Because if you carefully examined the traits of each race and the surrounding environment, this problem could be finished without anyone getting hurt.

Demons fundamentally hated clerics.

If a cleric was right in front of them, demons were the kind of race that would want to tear them apart immediately.

That was why I ordered the warrior and archer to smear themselves in ash, lie flat, and wait.

As a result, only the rogue and cleric were exposed.

The cleric poured all his strength into healing the rogue, and with the stamina produced from that, the rogue carried the cleric across the field in every direction, naturally breaking apart the enemy formation.

And.

Kyaaaaaaak!!

While the demons were losing their minds over the cleric's holy power, the warrior and archer quietly began crawling forward.

There was no need to worry about the mid-level demon noticing them.

Because I was exploiting the field's advantages to the absolute limit.‘Visibility restricted by burning smoke. Sense of smell masked by the scent of burning. This battlefield is practically telling you to hide, isn't it?’A field full of flying sparks and piled-up ash could certainly be difficult for someone trying to escape through it, but if the cleric, who had learned magic in the past, manipulated the wind to move the smoke, the rogue's escape route wouldn't be blocked.

And as the warrior and archer gradually drew closer, they finally got completely behind the enemies and cut the throat of the careless mid-level demon...‘Done.’Not long after starting, I was able to finish the exam without anyone being injured.[Result][Try: 0][Severely Injured: 0][Deaths: 0][Time: 12: 11]‘Twelve minutes should be decent, right?’The best record I remembered for this scenario was definitely in the twenty-minute range, so probably.‘Back in my prime, I would've gotten under ten minutes too. Guess I really have been away for a while.’Though I felt a little disappointed.‘Well, this should be enough.’I submitted the result as it was, saw that plenty of time still remained, then rested my head on the desk and slowly closed my eyes.

Korean high school student trait.

Finish the exam early, sleep.

But...‘Why is that guy sleeping?’For some reason, earlier than me.

Jin-woo was already lying face-down asleep.

______________

After the exam ended.

Summoned by Kwak Chun-sik, I went to the sparring room and attended an Aura Style lesson for the first time in a while.

“Today's exam was Strategy, right? I heard you set the best record again this time.”

Before beginning my lesson with Kwak Chun-sik, he asked me with a smile while I was wearing Midas's Gloves.

“You mean the Strategy exam? Yes, well. I got lucky.”

“What? Lucky?”

He stared at me in disbelief after hearing that.

“You think it makes sense to break a world record through luck?”

“I can't exactly say with my own mouth that I possess both luck and skill, can I?”

A person should have some shame.

How could I go around bragging about myself all the time?

But Kwak Chun-sik crossed his arms and shook his head as though it were only natural.

“If you're exceptional, you're allowed to say so. I went around doing that too.”...

The Old Man definitely did go around like that.

“More importantly, I need to go around bragging that my disciple accomplished something like this, but if you act so humble, doesn't that make me look like I'm being ridiculous? So go around and brag to your heart's content!”

So that was his true motive after all.

Still, seeing how proudly he looked at me, I could only chuckle and nod.

“Right, I heard from that Gwang-su bastard. You learned his Tool Adornment this time?”

After I'd finished warming up and was lightly bouncing in place, Kwak Chun-sik apparently having received a report on what happened over the weekend, asked me first.

“Yes. A technique that uses the hands as a furnace and hammer. Depending on how it's used, it's quite lethal.”

“Indeed. It's better to smash something hard than cut it.”

Saying that, he naturally gathered aura into his hand and demonstrated the principles of Tool Adornment before my eyes.

“It was something like this, wasn't it?”

When Yoon Gwang-su taught me, he'd clearly explained that he'd never taught the Old Man either, yet it was perfectly reproduced in his hand in an instant.

“It certainly is a good technique. When one gains enlightenment while manipulating aura, sometimes it develops well in ways like this.”

At that moment, a question suddenly occurred to me.

“...

But why don't you use it, Old Man?”

“Use what? Ah, you mean this?”

Even though he could perform Tool Adornment so easily right now, for some reason I'd never seen him use it in the game.

I also thought Tool Adornment was a useful technique.

So I became curious why he didn't normally use it.

At that, Kwak Chun-sik chuckled and approached me.

“Do you remember what I just said?”

“Pardon? You said it was better to smash hard things than cut them...”

“Eugene.”

Tap. His hand landed on my shoulder.

“There is nothing that I cannot cut with aura, so why would I need to use it?”

An extremely arrogant yet confident statement possible only because he stood at the pinnacle

of a single field.

“And soon, during the exams ahead of you, you won't particularly need to use a sword either.”

For some reason, Kwak Chun-sik looked cooler than usual when he said that.‘...

Is it because he taught me a new technique?’“Well? Does this master look a little cool to you now? Hehehe.”

Hmm.

Probably.