North of Dolsan.
The cadets who had been ordered by Lee Jae-hak from Class 2-2 were running like mad.
"Damn it, damn it! I shouldn't have agreed to this!"
"Shut up and run! If we hide up ahead, even that bastard won't be able to find us!"
Cadet Park Yoo-cheon, No. 3 of Class 2-2, gritted his teeth and ran as if his feet were on fire.
He was the second son of a subcontracting company that dealt with Sungmuiga.
He was more talented in martial arts than in commerce, which allowed him to maintain a decent standing among the cadets—almost on par with those from Sungmuiga's branch families.
'Damn it! He's just an illegitimate child! Just from Class 5!'
He resented his father, who had hastily agreed to the job in exchange for doubling their usual order volume.
No, in truth, even Park Yoo-cheon had thought it wouldn't be too bad—at least until things turned out like this.
A mere first-year from Class 5, and an illegitimate child at that.
He was sure they would be the hunters in this situation.
But Park Yoo-cheon changed his mind the moment Lee Cheol ambushed them—just 15 minutes ago.
A towering rock cover had been sliced clean through by his sword strike, and out of his five teammates, two had suffered serious fractures in their limbs.
'We're running! We even begged! Why does he keep chasing us?!'
No matter what they tried, Lee Cheol relentlessly inflicted serious injuries, and that terrified Park Yoo-cheon even more.
"Huff, huff…"
"We—we should be good now. He won't chase us this far, right?"
Park Yoo-cheon and the remaining cadets hid deep inside a cave, panting heavily.
Holding their breath, they stared intently at the cave entrance.
At that moment—
Whoosh! Boom!
Something shot down like a meteor and crashed into the entrance.
A cloud of dry dust rose, and through it, a steel sword suddenly thrust forward.
"W-We're—"
Crack!
Before he could even scream, Park Yoo-cheon felt his arm twist into an unnatural angle.
"Gaaahhhh!"
"He's here. It's Lee Cheol."
The faces of the cadets with Park Yoo-cheon turned deathly pale.
"You hid well. It was a pain to find you."
I smirked as I confirmed Park Yoo-cheon's face.
"D-Damn it! Just because you're from the main family, does that make everything okay?! Why are you oppressing us?!"
"Shut up, you bastard. Y-Young master! We were wrong! We'll forget all about the order we received! Please, just forgive us this once! If I get held back this year…"
Some cadets fell to their knees and begged, while others clutched their swords in desperation, and some simply stared at me in shock.
No matter their reaction, I had no intention of letting them go.
"If you dared to raise your sword against a direct descendant, you should be ready to pay the price."
"Ugh, uaaahhh!"
Boom!
It took less than a few minutes to subdue all three cadets.
I checked the list and locked eyes with the trembling survivors.
"If you had worked together instead of running, you might have had a better chance. But you gave up from the start."
Their cowardice left me disappointed.
The reason the cadets from Class 5, and I, managed to resolve this so easily was simple.
'They have strength but don't know how to fight.'
They were no different from hollow shells.
The moment they started losing, or when overwhelmed by sheer momentum, they ran.
At some point, it had become nothing more than a hunt.
"You're acting all high and mighty just because you were born with everything… You're only strong because you have superior blood! You were just lucky to be born into a good lineage!"
One cadet, his arm grotesquely bent, gritted his teeth and shouted.
A strange sense of déjà vu hit me.
It was the same kind of thing I had heard from Class 5 cadets when I first entered the academy.
"Cadet No. 13 from Class 2-2, Lee Seok-young. A branch family descendant, right?"
I approached the cadet who had spoken.
He flinched.
"W-What? Are you going to attack someone who's already unable to fight?"
"Tsk. Acting tough while shaking like a leaf."
"…Tch!"
Lee Seok-young clenched his teeth.
"If you're from a branch family, then you should know. Do you really think an illegitimate child like me is as lucky as you claim?"
"T-That's…"
His eyes wavered.
"If you only look at the surface, then sure—you could probably win against any Class 5 cadet. But I don't see it that way. You guys would have lost no matter what."
"T-That's nonsense. If it weren't for you…"
"No, absolutely not. Why do you think things ended up this way? Was it because our tactics were superior? Because our forces were stronger than you expected? You had nearly three times the numbers and were at a higher level than Class 5."
While superior tactics played a role, I hadn't expected things to be this easy.
If even half of these cadets had the same fighting spirit as the Class 5 cadets, our side would have suffered serious damage.
"But you never truly fought back. That's why you ended up being hunted."
This incident confirmed something for me.
I had been right not to force a reassignment from Class 5.
The cadets of Class 5 had hit rock bottom—they were desperate. They had nothing, so they had the will to fight tooth and nail.
Most cadets… were no different from these cowards.
"This is Sungmuiga. Think about what that really means."
Leaving the dazed cadets behind, I stood up.
Checking the list, I frowned.
'Still a long way to go. I need to move quickly.'
As soon as I activated my concealment technique, my presence faded significantly.
The hunt wasn't over yet.
Meanwhile, Lee Seol-ah sat in Lee Jae-hak's office, snacking on some tea sweets.
"Wow, you have some great snacks here."
"…They're for guests. Don't overdo it."
"Nope~."
Dipping a cookie into her coffee, Lee Seol-ah asked casually,
"Still no word?"
"I haven't even had time to process the instructor's message that all the second-years have entered. How much time has passed since this started for things to have progressed so quickly?"
"Well, I suppose. Just thinking about those bastard-borns and the trash heap kids crawling around is already exciting. Didn't Mother say she'd reward us if we handled this well?"
"..."
Jaehak Lee stopped typing on his keyboard.
As he stared at the blinking cursor on the graph, he thought to himself.
'Will things really go that smoothly?'
He hadn't put in excessive effort to prepare, but he had still made a considerable number of arrangements, so the results should turn out as expected.
And yet, Jaehak felt a strange emotion.
He was sure things would go according to plan, but at the same time, he felt a contradictory hope that they wouldn't.
— Little brother, the youngest is not your match. Be careful.
That was what his eldest brother had told him when he visited a while ago while the plan was in motion.
At the time, he had laughed it off internally, but now those words pricked at him like a thorn stuck in his throat.
Jaehak glanced at his phone.
Bzzz—!
Right then, his phone vibrated.
— Young Master. I don't even know where to begin. I apologize. Currently…
It was a report from Kim Kyutaek.
Jaehak's eyes twitched as he read the lengthy message.
"What? Is it over?"
Seola Lee suddenly leaned in to check the message.
Her expression quickly shifted to one of shock.
The core of the report was simple.
Fifteen deserters.
"What… What the hell? Did the bastard-born fight back more than expected? Or maybe the trash heap kids were more injured than we thought and are taking longer to return?"
"Perhaps…"
Was that really the case?
Jaehak couldn't bring himself to say any more.
Then an hour passed. And another.
Reports kept coming in sporadically.
Every time Jaehak and Seola read them, their expressions changed.
"This… This is insane! Those worthless bastards! How could they fail to take down a single bastard-born?!"
The cadets involved in this operation were practically annihilated.
On the other hand, every single cadet from Class 5 had survived.
Jaehak let out a hollow chuckle without realizing it.
'We lost.'
The youngest sibling, Cheol Lee.
Jaehak mouthed his name silently without speaking aloud.
Tapping his fingers against the table, his eyes gleamed.
***
At some point, the cadets who had been targeting Class 5 and me had stopped hunting us and instead began hiding or fleeing.
"Hrk, ugh—"
"D-damn it… Ughhh!"
Three cadets, who immediately tried to run the moment they saw me, were subdued before they could put up any proper resistance.
These three were the last ones I needed to deal with.
I tore up the list in my hands.
'You underestimated me too much, Seola noona, Jaehak hyung.'
This would put the two of them in a rather difficult position.
They had orchestrated this plan under the orders of Lady Baek, but not only had they failed, they had also left their supporters' children severely injured.
On top of that, the cadets who had been subdued by Class 5 and me wouldn't even be able to properly participate in the promotion battle, meaning they were practically guaranteed to fail.
There was no doubt some form of protest would arise from this.
As a result, the two of them would suffer significant losses.
They had failed to sink Class 5 and me, and instead, they had wasted the resources and political influence they used to bribe the cadets—losing only their own reputation in the process.
Piiing—!
At that moment, two signal flares were fired into the sky.
Two shots once I had dealt with everyone on my list.
It wasn't just on my end—the others must have finished as well.
'It's over.'
This was my warning to them.
To my older sister and brother, whom I had once feared.
Far in the distance, the sunset stretched across the silhouette of the rocky hills.
Thus, the first day of the promotion battle came to an end.
***
After we finished eliminating our pursuers, I parted ways with the cadets of Class 5. We had already agreed to act separately once the job was done.
In this promotion battle, there were two ways to win:
Either defeat someone and steal their nameplate or find a hidden nameplate.
Stealing nameplates from cadets was an option, but I deliberately avoided fighting and instead focused on searching for the hidden ones.
The reason was simple.
'Maybe I can find nameplates using my Evil Eye.'
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I put it into action.
'My Evil Eye's ability is analysis.'
Some eyes can read the future, while others can discern truth from lies.
The power to read magic, the power to read strength.
My Mystic Eye was one that analyzed reality—the phenomena of this very moment.
'Then I should be able to do it.'
How much I could see with this eye, how I would develop this power, and how far I could push its limits—all depended on me.
'Let's focus.'
Throb—
And in an instant—
With a sharp sting in my eye, I saw an unfamiliar glow.
Following that glow, I turned my head and couldn't help but smirk.
'Found it.'
Amid the cracks of the cliffside rocks, I spotted a strange object.
A nameplate.
'Got it. So this is how it works?'
Pressing on my sore eyelids, I opened my eyes again.
'I can develop better control. This is doable.'
Slowly, I searched through the forest.
After pushing my eyes to their limit, I would hide briefly to recover. Once I regained my strength, I reopened my Mystic Eye and continued searching through the rocky mountains.
And so, the second day of the promotion exam passed.
I occasionally ran into cadets from other classes, but I swiftly took them down and continued collecting nameplates.
Both my Mystic Eye training and nameplate collection were going smoothly.
"Whoa… this is…"
Then, on the night of the second day—
After gathering firewood that wouldn't produce smoke, I lit a small fire and counted my nameplates in amazement.
Even if I had taken down over half of the entire cadet corps alone, I wouldn't have been able to obtain this many nameplates.
…No wonder my backpack was getting heavier.
***
The third day of the promotion exam.
With the exam nearing its end, I finished my meal with a high-calorie energy block and sat on a high vantage point, scanning the surroundings.
'I won't be able to train my Mystic Eye anymore.'
The rocky mountains were in chaos.
Explosions of magic and dazzling flashes of light erupted wildly across the landscape.
Since dawn, the battles had been non-stop as the exam neared its final stretch.
I slowly turned my gaze.
'If I avoid that guy any longer, he's just going to be more of a pain.'
I had already dealt with the cadets sent by my sixth sister and seventh brother in this exam, but there was still one more person left who was after me.
Swish!
At that moment, something leaped through the air with beast-like agility and landed right in front of me.
"…Phew, damn. Finally found you."
I looked at the figure standing before me with a calm expression.
"What? You're not surprised?"
"I knew you were chasing me."
"Then you could've stopped running."
"I wasn't exactly avoiding you."
"Oh, really now?"
Eighth sibling—Lee Seohyun.
This guy was still left.
She furrowed her brows deeply, slamming her iron sword into the ground. Then, tying her hair back with a headband, she pulled her sword out again.
"No need for long talk. Hey, let's fight."
Lee Seohyun grinned, revealing her white teeth.
"Let's settle this cleanly. Top or bottom, winner decides. If I win, call me 'Noona.'"
"And if I win?"
Lee Seohyun scoffed.
"As if that'd happen. But if you do win, I'll call you 'Oppa.'"
A chill ran down my spine.
I never imagined hearing a sibling say 'Oppa' could sound so disgusting.
"…If you were trying to damage me psychologically, that was pretty effective."
"Shut up and draw your sword already!"
As I looked at Lee Seohyun glaring fiercely at me, I shook my head.
"If you wanted to fight so badly, you should've attacked on the first day."
Back then, I had been running all over the rocky mountains, recklessly unleashing my magic.
Because of that, I ended up facing not only my intended targets but also several other cadets.
If Lee Seohyun had attacked me then, things would have played out very differently.
"I already told you. I fight fair. Jumping in when you're exhausted and finishing you off? That'd be cheap as hell."
Before she even finished her sentence, she kicked off the ground.
"So let's do this properly!"
I smirked bitterly and drew my sword.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, the final battle of the promotion exam began.
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