Final Exam (2)
Three weeks had passed since Kim Dojun had decided, in earnest, to train Shin Se-yeon.
Three weeks—if you counted in days, that was twenty-one days.
In that span, which could be long or short depending on perspective, he truly dedicated himself wholeheartedly to helping Shin Se-yeon's training. Around that ti, Kim Dojun had grown able to control the restraint on the stone at will.
... Of course, that didn't an the speed of the stones flying at Shin Se-yeon had decreased. In fact, if anything, it was about three weeks during which Kim Dojun also grew in certain ways.
Thud!
It had been a trendously beneficial ti for Shin Se-yeon.
"Hup!"
She moved.
Kim Dojun threw a stone.
Bang!
With a loud explosion as the stone thrown by Kim Dojun struck, she moved again.
Imdiately after, another stone thrown by Kim Dojun ca flying.
Bang!
At a glance, sothing seed odd.
Yes, the sequence of events was twisted.
Usually, this scene would go: Kim Dojun would throw a stone, and Shin Se-yeon would dodge it.
That was, originally, the main focus of their training.
But now?
"Hup...!"
She was already moving.
Yet, curiously, Kim Dojun was only now preparing to throw the stone.
In other words, Shin Se-yeon was moving her body even before he threw the stone.
So was he deliberately throwing off aim to miss her?
Of course not.
Since the start of this training, Kim Dojun had thrown stones at Shin Se-yeon with utmost clarity and precision.
And yet, the twisted sequence did not return to normal.
Shin Se-yeon would move, then Kim Dojun would throw the stone—a reversal in the usual order.
But even though Kim Dojun sensed this curious reversal, he did not question it.
Because he knew.
It was precisely this distorted order which ant Shin Se-yeon was truly using 'astrology'.
Crash!
"That's enough for today."
With those words—delivered right as the last stone Kim Dojun threw hit the tree beside Shin Se-yeon—she wiped away the stubborn look she'd held a mont ago.
"Haa—haa—"
And in that state, she flopped down flat on her back, worn out in an instant.
'Her talent is seriously insane.'
Watching her, Kim Dojun was reminded yet again that Shin Se-yeon's talent was far beyond the category of ordinary people.
'She was already climbing fast...'
Ever since he began seriously training her, her astrology progressed day after day, and by now, it had transford into sothing close to true 'precognition'.
'It's freaking amazing.'
Looking at her anew, Kim Dojun briefly imagined himself being able to use astrology—
'If I could predict any attack, that'd be freaking aweso.'
—but he knew that he was by no ans exceptionally smart, and almost certainly had no talent in that field, so he could only look at Shin Se-yeon with envy.
"So this is what it ans to exchange personality for genius."
"You want to keep talking nonsense?"
At so point, she seed to have caught her breath, and retorted with an annoyed face.
"Not wrong, is it?"
"Well, I am pretty talented, aren't I? You know, right? Today, not even a single stone brushed my clothes."
Instead of getting angry at Kim Dojun's next comnt, she seed to have gotten used to it and boasted overtly of herself.
Kim Dojun watched her for a mont and then said,
"So, it's finally ti to move on."
He imdiately took out a handgun.
"Whoa, put that away!"
"It's fine. You're a genius who's given up personality, so you can manage."
"Even a genius who gives up personality will die if they get shot!"
"You're always shrouded in sorcery anyway, aren't you?"
The reason Shin Se-yeon could survive even after being hit several tis by stones thrown by Kim Dojun was because only sorcerers above a certain grade could deploy defensive sorcery.
"Still, I don't like guns!"
"I told you last ti, if you get hit softly by a gun, it doesn't hur—"
"You try getting shot first!"
'No helping it, guess I'll postpone the handgun for the next training.'
With Shin Se-yeon frantically objecting, Kim Dojun reluctantly put away the handgun and said,
"That's it for today's training."
"We're heading down today, right?"
"Of course."
"Ugh~ Finally, we're leaving. I hate Manjang Mountain, it gives the creeps."
"It can't be helped. Last ti I threw a stone down there, the instructors made a huge fuss. Even if I slow down during weekdays, it's more convenient to co up here on weekends."
"That's true."
Sticking close as they naturally started down the mountain, Shin Se-yeon said,
"So, did you prepare for the finals?"
"Finals?"
"Yeah, you know tomorrow's the final assessnt, right?"
"It's already that ti?"
"Don't tell you didn't even realize? All week, the instructors gave us free ti for real combat practice since it's the final practical evaluation period."
"Did they?"
"... Are you sure we're in the sa class?"
"Probably."
"Then why don't you know?"
"I don't need to listen, so I sleep."
"...."
Shin Se-yeon looked at Kim Dojun with a withered expression, but he was dead serious.
'There's no point in listening when I can't understand the material anyway.'
He had no head for learning sorcery.
"What the hell do you do at night that you always sleep during the day?"
"Gas."
"... Gas?"
Kim Dojun nodded at Shin Se-yeon's question.
'No matter how hard I train her, it's not like I can neglect what I have to do.'
Obviously, even as he worked hard to train Shin Se-yeon, Kim Dojun continued to play Lantiarval.
To build relationships with Tia, of course (?).
Not only that, but over the past three weeks, he also frequently discussed with Han Soyeon what more she could do to tornt the remaining underlings who once bothered her.
'Co to think of it, lately we talked about other things too. Did she warn to be careful?'
Kim Dojun didn't really know why Han Soyeon kept saying that these days, but still, the warning stuck in his mind.
'Aside from that, Dan told about the eting schedule in the outer sector.'
If he recalled right, that was to be after the finals...
Thinking about that, Kim Dojun glanced at Shin Se-yeon, who was giving him a puzzled look for saying he played gas at dawn.
'After I wrap up the finals and the eting, maybe I'll really start using the gun.'
With that thought, he returned with her to the Sorcery Institute.
####
That night, at dawn.
As usual, Kim Dojun logged into Lantiarval and was chatting hard with Iron-Blood in the newbie village.
[Iron-Blood: I really want to kill you.]
[Iron-Blood: I really, really, REALLY want to kill you.]
[Iron-Blood: Hey]
[Iron-Blood: Do you know who I am?]
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: lol]
[Iron-Blood: If I really find out who you are, I'm seriously going to kill you.]
Well, there wasn't much to chat about.
Conversations between Kim Dojun and Tia had been like this from the beginning.
Tia always raged about how she'd find and kill Kim Dojun no matter what.
Kim Dojun would just reply with a lol or sothing similar.
[Iron-Blood: Just you wait, asshole. I'm tracking you down right now, you jerk.]
[Iron-Blood: We're going to et soon. Really soon!]
Looking at Tia's ssages, Kim Dojun thought,
'I had no idea she'd handle this work so well.'
Honestly, he hadn't expected Tia to handle things so cleanly.
She had enough brains that she wouldn't fall for it so easily—or so he'd thought.
But after entering the Inoemakyung, Tia was biting down hard on the fake information given by Kim Dojun.
'Not sure why she's smashed every Scarab but the one I nad, Feradus...'
In the two weeks after he gave her the IP, Avalanche had destroyed more than forty Scarab organizations.
Sure, Tia tackled this because she was furious, figuring Kim Dojun was using her to remove his enemy, and decided to at least act on the information.
'No matter how much she's a mafia boss modeled in a ga, isn't it a problem if she's that gullible? ... Well, it's convenient for .'
Kim Dojun tilted his head slightly as he watched Iron-Blood's character.
'Guess it's ti to develop our relationship, huh.'
The thought was taking shape.
'For Tia to awaken, she needs to feel all four emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure... She's felt anger, so there are three left. What should I do next?'
Kim Dojun tapped on his desk, pondering.
So might ask whether he was provoking Tia without a plan, but Kim Dojun did have his own sche. Or, to be more precise, he only had a plan to make her mad.
He truly was first-rate at making soone angry in a ga.
'Hmm, so that much worked. Now, joy, pleasure, and affection...'
He mulled over how to spark the other emotions, realizing it wasn't easy.
'Let's put affection and joy aside, but I think I can handle fun, at least.'
After dwelling on it a long while, he finally put both hands on the keyboard, which he'd spent whole days typing nothing but "ㅋ" with one finger.
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: Hey.]
[Iron-Blood: What, you bastard.]
Noticing that cursing now ca automatically to Tia in chat, Kim Dojun continued.
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: What if the king doesn't want to go to the palace?]
[Iron-Blood: ??]
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: Royal grumbling, royal grumbling.]
[Iron-Blood: ????]
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: lol. m-t-c?]
Iron-Blood suddenly stopped typing.
'Did it work?'
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: What if the king falls down?]
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: King Kong]
[18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: ㅋㅋㅋ]
Kim Dojun, thinking he'd landed a killer joke, prepared the next one.
Right afterward,
[Iron-Blood: lol]
[Iron-Blood: lololololol]
[Iron-Blood: llllllllllooooooolllllll]
'It worked!'
Kim Dojun couldn't help but smack his head in delight at having made his joke stick, and even wondered, do I maybe have a knack for this?
[Iron-Blood: You think you're funny, you little shit?]
"... Huh?"
[Iron-Blood: You think I'm a joke, huh?]
[Iron-Blood: If I ever find you, I'll seriously kill you!!!!]
[Iron-Blood: !@%@EFGWET@#%^@#^#$^&#$Y^#$Y#$HWG]
[Iron-Blood: Aaargh, you bastard!!!!!!!!!!!]
...
...
..
.
As he watched Tia typing at a breakneck speed, easily passing a thousand keystrokes in pure rage,
"...."
He made a slightly dejected face and, leaving behind the chat window filled with swearing, logged out of Lantiarval.
Then, the next day.
"The final evaluation survival test will begin now."
The first practical exam at the Sorcery Institute had begun.
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