The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 152

The day that I hoped would not arrive ended up arriving.

The written exam.

What did those who didn't study at all and those who studied very hard have in common?

They both wished for the exam to come quickly.

But, those who studied half-heartedly would wish for the exam not to come. It was because they hadn’t completely given up, but they also hadn’t studied enough to be satisfied. That was exactly how I felt. My anxiety didn't fade away even as I received the exam instructions and headed to the designated exam room.

Thump.

Someone hit me in the back of the head. I turned my head to confirm who it was, and I found In-Ah was looking at me with a mischievous smile.

"What are you doing?"

"The back of your head is just asking to be hit."

"..."

I was so utterly dumbfounded I couldn’t help but stare at her with my mouth closed. In-Ah smiled playfully and then said, "You look really nervous. Didn't study much, huh?"

"Nervous? Not at all."

"Pretending to be tough, huh? Anyone can see that you’re nervous!" In-Ah said while patting my back.

It seemed like I looked nervous.

Honestly, I was a little nervous. This exam was critical since my bet with Ha-Yeon was at stake. I still didn’t understand why I made such a bet.

In-Ah fixed her gaze on the notebook she held in her left hand.

“So, how was your studying? Did you study a lot?"

"I just... studied as much as the others did."

Honestly, I didn't think I studied as much as the others. I was short on time for this exam, and I also lacked motivation. In-Ah glanced at me as if she couldn't believe what I said.

"You always say that and do well."

"This time, I’m seriously screwed."

"Screw... Is it that bad?"

"Yeah. How about you?"

I felt crippling depression, so I decided to change the topic. In-Ah seemed to contemplate for a moment.

"...I studied hard, but I'm not sure. I hope I do well enough."

"It seems like you studied hard."

"Of course! I studied really hard."

In-Ah shrugged her shoulders. We continued talking a bit more on our way to the exam room. In-Ah said that she was taking the exam in the building for the second years.

For the record, I was taking the exam in the auditorium. The reason why they were scattering the students around like this was obvious despite the inconvenience. It was to prevent cheating. Many incidents and accidents occurred recently, but Florence Academy remained one of the most difficult clergy academies to get into in the country, and as such, the exams were equally difficult.

"Do well on the exam! Just don’t do better than me," In-Ah said while waving her hand just as we were about to part ways.

Despite the various incidents that occurred, she remained consistently cheerful. I smiled and nodded in response. Seeing my half-hearted response, In-Ah approached me with a stiff expression.

"Do it again."

"What?"

"Tell me to do well on the exam too!"

It was truly a surprising demand.

"...Do well on the exam."

"Okay!"

After finally seeming satisfied, she left. Her footsteps seemed as light as feathers as she headed toward the second-year building. After the school closure period, her personality had become more light-hearted, but I wondered if she was just trying to appear light-hearted. At the corners of her forced smile, there were slight tremors.

I arrived at the auditorium. It was the place where the entrance ceremony had taken place. The stained glass that adorned the central part of the building had a faint crack on it. The chaos that occurred at the school last time must have caused it. The reconstruction of the training center that collapsed back then was completed, but it seemed like they hadn't managed to fix all the minor flaws and imperfections.

"Oh my."

As I looked at the assigned seat ticket posted behind the auditorium and searched for my designated seat, an unwelcome voice reached my ears.

"Same exam room, huh?"

She was wearing nothing but white from head to toe. Ha-Yeon looked at me with a disdainful gaze. Her tone was always irritating, no matter when I heard it.

Ha-Yeon was intelligent yet foolish and foolish yet cunning. The reason for her unnecessary provocation was obvious. She wanted to get on my nerves and ultimately prevent me from focusing on the exam. There was no need for me to play along with her sinister machinations.

I casually ignored her words and tried to find a seat. However, in the very next moment, the words that came out of her mouth were difficult to ignore and brush off simply.

"I happen to be sitting next to you again. You’re not going to cheat, right?”

"Haha..."

My anger exceeded a certain threshold, so I couldn’t help but subconsciously laugh. But if I got angry, I would end up doing exactly what Ha-Yeon wanted. I clenched my teeth, barely managing to suppress the swear words rising up my throat, and looked at Ha-Yeon with a smile on my face.

"Why would I look at your work? Even if I were to cheat, I wouldn’t even bother to look at yours.”

"How about honestly asking me to show it to you? If you beg while licking my shoes, I might consider it."

"Rather than looking at your work, hm... I'd rather look at Dae-Man’s work."

"What? Are you going a little too far here...?!"

Thud—!

As soon as she finished speaking, a massive figure forcefully pushed open the door and entered the auditorium. The students sitting in their designated seats while doing some extra studying shot sharp glances toward the figure. However, as soon as they confirmed the identity of the massive figure, they avoided looking at him.

Dae-Man stood before us, proudly displaying his bulky muscles and giant physique. Whenever I looked at him, I couldn’t help but think he was an overwhelmingly large man. Besides the fact that he was wearing some kind of protective belt around his waist, Dae-Man hadn't changed at all.

"Sun-Woo! We’re at the same examination site, huh? Isn’t this just a remarkable coincidence?"

"...Yeah, nice to see you. What's with the waist?"

"I injured it badly while evacuating patients at the hospital. As someone aspiring to be a paladin, I can proudly call it an honorable wound!"

It seemed like he was talking about the time when the Satanists broadcasted that they would detonate bombs in the hospital. At that time, a male student and a female student helped the paladins evacuate the patients from the hospital, and it seemed that the male student was Dae-Man. Fortunately, the hospital didn't end up exploding. It was revealed that there were no explosives hidden in the hospital.

"Yeah... It's truly an honorable wound..." I responded to Dae-Man's words and glanced at Ha-Yeon.

She had taken multiple steps back to avoid Dae-Man, and as a result, she had pushed herself into the corner of the auditorium. The playful and clueless attitude she had earlier was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, Ha-Yeon seemed particularly afraid of Dae-Man.

While this was happening, Dae-Man continued to speak in his characteristic deep voice.

"However, even this honor is less compared to you. I've heard the stories. Not only did you chase after Satanists alone, but you also fought battles─"

Bang!

At that moment, someone sitting in the auditorium pushed their desk and stood up abruptly. Then, with bloodshot eyes, they glared at me and Dae-Man for an extended period of time.

It seemed like we were making too much noise. Well, it was understandable that it would be hard to concentrate on studying with all this chatter. The problem was not me but Dae-Man. However, instead of getting angry, Dae-Man bent his waist ninety degrees toward the student and politely apologized.

"I'm sorry. We made a lot of noise."

It was an almost textbook apology, which was completely unexpected. The angry student scratched the back of his head as if feeling embarrassed and then sat back down in his seat.

Dae-Man lowered his voice and said, "Let's talk again after the exam is over... It doesn't seem like the right time now..."

"Okay."

Dae-Man moved his massive body and went to his designated seat.

I wandered around for a while, trying to find my name on the seating chart, and finally managed to find my designated seat just before the exam started. As I was taking out my stationery, the proctor teacher grabbed the microphone and began to speak.

—You probably heard it in the morning as well, but the following cases are those that the proctor determines as misconduct. Looking at another student's test paper, not following the proctor's instructions, continuing to write after the bell rings...

As soon as the proctor finished speaking, the teachers started distributing the test papers. The auditorium was filled with the sound of papers fluttering.

After a brief wait, the bell rang, signaling the start of the exam.

The subject for the written exam on the first day was sacred dynamics. It was my worst subject, and it was the subject that I had studied the least for. Honestly, it would be unconscionable for me to expect to do well on this subject. With the mentality of desperately hoping to get at least half the answers right, I looked at the first question.

"Huh..."

A dry laugh escaped my lips as soon as I saw it. In-Ah's blank study method was truly an incredible method. It felt like my mind was completely empty, like a blank sheet of paper.

Absolutely nothing came to mind.

So that was why it was called the blank study method! With a newfound realization, a sense of despair belatedly rushed over me. I expected the exam to be difficult since I didn't study, but I never imagined that the difficulty would be so ridiculously high that I wouldn’t even be able to solve the first question.

As I stared blankly at question number 1 for a minute, I heard Legba's voice.

[I really can't help with sacred dynamics either. It's not my area of expertise.]

Legba excelled in subjects like history and sacred science, but on the other hand, he was a complete novice in subjects like sacred dynamics or sacred material science.

I had no other choice. It was time to use my secret weapon...

I secretly took out Baron Samedi’s dice that I had inside my pocket.

***

Ha-Yeon quickly shifted through the test papers and checked the number of questions. The total number of questions for the sacred dynamics exam was 29. All of them were multiple-choice, and there were no written questions. Given that they had 60 minutes, it could be assumed that approximately 2 minutes were given for each question.

However, considering various factors, solving each question in about 1 minute and 30 seconds seemed more reasonable. This way, even after finishing all the questions, there would be about 20 minutes of spare time to review the answers.

Ha-Yeon immediately started solving the questions after deciding on her time allocation strategy. This exam was somewhat difficult, but it was not to the point of being unsolvable. No, it was actually easier than expected. Ha-Yeon was particularly confident in sacred dynamics and sacred material science.

While other students struggled to even turn the first page after 20 minutes, Ha-Yeon only had five questions left.

Approximately 25 minutes had passed since the exam started when a male student stood up from his seat and asked the proctor, "Excuse me, can I submit my answer sheet now?"

Ha-Yeon was startled. She stopped solving the problems and raised her head.

Submitting the answer sheet already? It had only been 25 minutes. There was no way someone could solve all 29 questions in such a short period of time.

Sure enough, the student who stood up was Dae-Man. Looking at his answer sheet, all the answers were shaded in a single column. It seemed like he gave up and just marked everything in a column. The proctor sighed as he looked at his answer sheet.

"...Didn't I tell you not to pick the answers in a column?"

"But if I mark the answers in a column, at least six of them will be correct!"

"Fine... go ahead."

At Florence Academy, students could leave early after submitting the answer sheet. However, unless someone completely gave up on the written exam like Dae-Man, it was rare for early dismissal to occur. It was because it was usually too difficult to solve all the problems within the given sixty minutes.

After submitting his answer sheet, Dae-Man left the auditorium. Ha-Yeon regained her composure and refocused on the exam.

There were about 30 minutes left and only five questions remaining. Even if she spent 6 minutes on each question, she would still have time left. The situation was going very smoothly. Just as she was thinking that if she didn't make any mistakes, she could aim for a perfect score...

Clatter.

A strange sound caught her ear. The sound came from the seat next to her, where Sun-Woo was sitting. She tried to ignore it and concentrate on the exam, but the sound continued to distract her. That annoying sound kept distracting her. Ha-Yeon clenched her lips and glanced at Sun-Woo.

"..."

Soon, she figured out the source of the sound. It was the sound of rolling dice. Sun-Woo was rolling the dice and marking the answers according to the value that he rolled...

She couldn't help but let out a snicker. Was she really studying so hard all this time just to beat such a fool? She felt pathetic for considering Sun-Woo her competitor in the past. Anyway, from now on, she didn't need to worry about losing a bet against Sun-Woo. She considered this a good thing. She decided to focus on the exam again.

‘Focus, focus...’

Clatter.

"..."

Clatter, clatter.

Clatter clatter clatter clatter.

Unable to bear it any longer, Ha-Yeon raised her hand and called the proctor. And to ensure that other students wouldn't be affected, she whispered to the proctor in a very small voice.

"I can't concentrate because of the sound of rolling dice."

"Dice?"

"It’s Sun-Woo from the seat next to me. He keeps rolling dice. Please warn him, please...."

The proctor nodded and went to Sun-Woo. Ha-Yeon internally cheered and smiled as she looked toward Sun-Woo. He would face disciplinary action after the exam for bringing impure objects such as dice into the exam room. If caught, he could even receive a score of zero for cheating.

"Dice? No, what..."

At that moment, an unbelievable sight unfolded before Ha-Yeon's eyes. Sun-Woo skillfully deceived the proctor's gaze and hid the dice in his hand. His hand movements were literally like magic. Then, he claimed he was innocent with an expression as if he was experiencing the most unjust treatment in the world.

In the end, Sun-Woo not only escaped disciplinary action, but he also didn’t receive any reprimands. Afterward, Sun-Woo and the proctor briefly whispered a conversation. The proctor furrowed his brow, seemingly perplexed, and then approached Ha-Yeon.

"...Ha-Yeon, Sun-Woo says it's uncomfortable because you keep glancing at him. Please don't turn your head in that direction anymore."

"What...? No, that person has dice in his hands—"

"Continuing to do this will be considered misconduct," the proctor firmly stated.

The attention of the surrounding students focused on Ha-Yeon. Unable to respond, Ha-Yeon bowed her head deeply. She realized that engaging in a confrontation with the proctor would only waste her time.

"Yes... I'm sorry..." Ha-Yeon said in a subdued voice.

After the proctor left, Ha-Yeon glared at Sun-Woo with eyes filled with wrath. Sun-Woo also looked at her with his middle finger held up toward her. On Sun-Woo's face, a smile that was clearer and brighter than any other smile she had seen before appeared.

When the proctor looked in his direction, Sun-Woo quickly changed his expression and pretended to focus on the test. Ha-Yeon felt the urge to kill for the first time in her life.

"...Phew."

No, she shouldn’t get distracted. There was no reason to indulge in such childish provocations. She decided to solve the problems instead. Although she wasted time due to Sun-Woo, she still had plenty of time. The remaining five problems were more difficult than she imagined, but they were not impossible to solve if she concentrated.

‘Let’s focus, focus...’

Clatter.

‘Ignore it.’

Problem 26. The blessing array shown in Figures (a) and (b) respectively... Clatter.

‘Ignore it.’

Problem 26 was easier to solve than expected.

She quickly moved on to problem 27.

Problem 27, in the figure shown... Clatter. Clatter.

That cursed clattering noise! Just when was it going to end? Was he actually going to pick the answers based on the dice roll?

No, she had to focus. There was not much time left. Number 27 was too difficult, so she marked it with a star and moved on.

Number 28, clatter.

Number 29, clatter.

No, number 30, clatter, clatter.

Number 30...

"Sigh...."

With only five minutes left until the end of the exam, Seongha Ha-Yeon barely finished all the problems. The sound of rolling dice was so distracting that it almost broke her concentration, but she stubbornly maintained her focus. Now, it was time to mark the answer sheet.

Ha-Yeon marked carefully, making sure not to make any mistakes.

She marked number 4 for question 9, number 2 for question 10, as for question 11, clatter...? No, number 5 for question 12. Finally, as she finished marking up to question 30, the bell rang.

—The exam is over. Well done, everyone. Please raise your hands above your head. Any actions that do not comply with instructions or marking after the end of the exam will be considered as misconduct...

With the announcement, the sacred dynamics exam that was filled with twists and turns came to an end. Although she had difficulty concentrating properly because of the dice, she believed that she did well.

She was truly impressed with herself for maintaining focus until the end without being distracted by Sun-Woo's interference. A sense of pride filled her heart. Getting a perfect score would definitely be difficult, but considering the level of difficulty, she felt confident about getting first place.

She noticed something strange when the supervising teacher took away her test paper.

"Huh...?"

The total number of questions for this sacred dynamics exam was 29.

Why did the markings on her answer sheet go up to 30?