SWNOVELXO Ch. 2
Genius (Physical) (2)
A world dominated by the sorcery assassination arts, where spirit entities and possessed beings wreak havoc, not only harming people as a matter of course but even destroying entire cities.
In such a world, the 'Sorcery Institute' was universally recognized, both East and West, as one of the world's top two academies for the training of sorcerers.
Because of that, it was said that as long as you avoided doing anything strange and simply graduated from the Sorcery Institute, your life would take flight; the place itself was considered a guarantee of success.
That is, if you could get in.
The Sorcery Institute was notoriously difficult to enter, as much as its reputation for ensuring a successful life upon admission.
The entrance exam alone was held in three rounds, with competition ratios easily surpassing a thousand to one.
In other words, getting in by luck was utterly impossible.
Still, despite this, almost everyone aspiring to be a sorcerer applied to the Sorcery Institute and sat for the admission exams.
Because of this, the selection process was painstakingly long, sometimes taking days to screen successful candidates.
And today was the day of the Sorcery Institute's third and final entrance exam.
"..."
The grand auditorium where the exam was being held.
Although it was called an 'auditorium', it was, in fact, as large as a domed stadium. Here, on the central stage, one of the Sorcery Institute's teachers and the third-round chief proctor, Gu Do-min, watched the hours-long exam unfold with a bored expression.
"So dull."
He muttered, staring at the examination currently in progress.
Yet among all the sorcerers serving as proctors for this round, not one disagreed with him.
It was partly because Gu Do-min was both the chief proctor for the third round and someone of considerable authority within the Sorcery Institute, but the real reason was that everyone present simply agreed with his sentiment.
"If they at least brawled a little, like in the first or second round, this would be fun."
In truth, the Sorcery Institute's first-round exam was a ranking battle, and the second round was a labyrinth challenge.
Put simply, there was at least something to see in those exams.
But what of the third round?
"..."
Gu Do-min's gaze dropped.
There, he saw a gigantic floating stone suspended in midair, and a test-taker grimacing and forcing out every bit of their spiritual power at it.
The third round at the Sorcery Institute was neither a battle for rankings nor a sorcery labyrinth—a pure, straightforward evaluation of the candidate's spiritual power.
Spiritual power was to sorcerers what magic power was to mages. No matter how skilled you were at sorcery, if you didn't have the spiritual power to sustain it, it meant nothing.
That was why the Sorcery Institute always included this spiritual power assessment as the third and final stage of its entrance exam.
Because for a sorcerer, spiritual power was critically important.
'Still, that doesn't make it any less boring.'
Important as it was, boredom was unavoidable. All they did was push their spiritual power into the floating stone: if it glowed blue, you passed; if not, you failed.
The only remotely interesting thing about the third round was...
【Candidate 771, Shin Se-yeon entering】
"One of the three great families."
"Yes, specifically, the second daughter of the Muryu family. In practice, she's essentially the eldest now."
"The second daughter of the Muryu family..."
Gu Do-min looked down to watch the girl approaching the floating stone.
A girl with long black hair, her lips curved in a confident smile.
Her expression might have seemed arrogant to some, but none of the proctors at the Sorcery Institute saw it that way.
That was because the girl now walking forward was the second daughter of the Muryu family, renowned among sorcerer clans for their mastery of martial sorcery.
And that wasn't all.
She was already widely recognized as a genius in the sorcery world, with her skills more than proven.
That was why none of the proctors saw Shin Se-yeon's confidence as arrogance.
【Candidate 771, begin.】
To the mechanical voice, Shin Se-yeon raised her hand lightly, placed it on the floating stone—several times larger than herself—and began to channel her spiritual power.
Wooooong—!
Instantly, the floating stone began to turn blue in response.
"Oh."
"As expected of the Muryu family's genius."
"She turned it blue the moment she touched it."
The proctors let out murmurs of admiration.
It was, after all, no easy feat—even for a genius—to turn the floating stone blue so instantly.
In fact, among the gathered proctors, only a handful could accomplish such a thing in such a short time; they marveled honestly at her talent.
Yet Shin Se-yeon, still holding the stone, only smiled as though this was nothing, steadily pouring in more spiritual power.
As time passed, the expressions of the proctors began to harden.
The reason was the color of the floating stone into which Shin Se-yeon was channeling her force.
"... Red...?"
"... Huh."
"True talent, indeed."
It had gone beyond blue and turned red.
"Amazing..."
Even Gu Do-min, who had only been watching quietly until now, found himself muttering unconsciously.
After all, everyone there knew it took an enormous amount of spiritual power to turn the floating stone red, not merely blue.
【Candidate 771, pass.】
Thus, the proctors, one after another, declared Shin Se-yeon passed for turning the stone red.
At last, Shin Se-yeon withdrew her hand from the stone with a satisfied look.
Simultaneously, the scoreboard atop the floating stone updated.
----
1. 192 points. Shin Se-yeon
2. 134 points. Kim Ha-min
3. 131 points. Oh Yu-ryeon
4. –
...
..
.
19. 102 points. Nakagawa Asumi
20. 101 points. Do Jin-seong
----
"192 points?"
"Unbelievable..."
"I figured when it turned red, but still..."
"This is better than last year's valedictorian, isn't it?"
"Last year's top score was about 160, so she's more than 30 points ahead."
"Unbelievable."
"I expected a lot from the Muryu family, but this... really exceeds expectations."
The proctors kept exclaiming as they gazed at Shin Se-yeon's staggeringly high score.
Gu Do-min, too, couldn't suppress his admiration as he looked at Shin Se-yeon, smiling contentedly at her results.
It had been ages since he'd seen such promise.
'I didn't watch the first or second rounds, but from this score alone, the valedictorian's decided.'
With that, Gu Do-min reflected inwardly, committing Shin Se-yeon's face to memory before turning away and asking,
"How many are left?"
"Just the final candidate."
A proctor replied immediately to Gu Do-min's question.
Hearing this, Gu Do-min looked down.
【Candidate 772. Kim Do-jun entering】
He watched as a man strode forward.
A man who, for some reason, looked extremely angry.
But the proctors did not even bother to examine the man; one by one, they began to stand up from their seats.
"What's going on? Why's everyone getting up?"
Gu Do-min asked, puzzled.
The proctor who had been speaking with him shook his head and replied.
"I took a peek at the last candidate's first and second-round scores, hoping to get off work even a little earlier."
"And?"
"I've no idea how he even made it to the third round."
At Gu Do-min's query, the proctor snickered and handed him a tablet.
After reading the file on the device, Gu Do-min nodded in understanding.
'... How did he get this far?'
Indeed, candidate 772's scores in rounds one and two, as listed on the tablet, were hardly those of someone who belonged in the third round.
'In the first round, he barely passed at the skin of his teeth. In fact, he only made it through because some people forfeited. In the second round too, he exceeded the time limit but advanced because others quit.'
The very fact he was even taking the third exam was remarkable.
'No, more than that... his first and second round scores are rock-bottom.'
So Gu Do-min's face twisted into a look of disbelief.
The other proctors were already on their feet, hands hovering over the fail button.
Candidate 772 was, by all accounts, a clear case for failure; some wondered how he'd made it here at all.
【Candidate 772. Begin.】
Regardless of what the proctors did, the mechanical voice signaling the start of the test remained unchanged.
The fixed time began ticking down.
But even as the exam began, candidate 772 stood there unmoving.
"What's he doing?"
The proctors frowned, one after another.
"Hurry it up, we all want to go home."
"Should we just fail him now?"
"No—if we do, he'll just complain about unfair treatment; better not give him the excuse."
The proctors' exchange.
Gu Do-min, agreeing silently, turned his eyes from the tablet to look at 772 in front of the floating stone.
At that moment—
"All right. Let's get this over with."
Candidate 772 moved.
For reasons unknown, face still twisted in fury, he didn't place his hand on the floating stone.
"What—is he trying to punch the stone?"
"Maybe he just wants attention since he knows he'll fail anyway?"
He drew his fist back as if preparing to punch the floating stone.
The proctors, all now sneering, stared at 772.
"Here we—"
And then.
"Goddamn it!!!"
With a tremendous curse, Kim Do-jun's fist shot forward.
CRAAACK—!
The floating stone—
KWAANGGGGG—!!!!
Shattered.
BANG! KWAGAGAK! BANG!
Fragments of the floating stone exploded outward, utterly demolishing it in an instant.
At the same time, the sneering expressions of the proctors and Gu Do-min turned to blank shock.
"..."
Silence engulfed the proctors' booth.
"... What?"
That silence was soon broken by a single proctor's voice.
Gu Do-min and the others turned their eyes to where the proctor's gaze had halted.
And—
----
1. 999 points. Kim Do-jun
2. 192 points. Shin Se-yeon
3. 134 points. Kim Ha-min
4. 131 points. Oh Yu-ryeon
-
...
..
.
19. 102 points. Nakagawa Asumi
20. 101 points. Do Jin-seong
----
"... Insane."
In the proctors' booth, Gu Do-min's low mutter marked a return to stunned silence.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
His score increased with his cursing.
I will translate 주력(ju-ryeok) as spiritual power for now as it is more neutral translation. Will adjust the term when more info is provided.
Also, I'm assuming Shin Se-yeon will be interested in him, since he surpassed her score.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】