NOVEL WEB Chapter 92
“The written exam for the final test was nothing special. At least, for me.”
That wasn’t to say that nobody else had issues, though.
“Uhh… umm… excuse me, Vice Class President…? I think this might be wrong…”
“Question 43? Nope, my calculations are spot on. You must have messed up your math there. Did you forget to square root something?”
“B-but… I really thought…”
As I dealt with my classmates swarming around me like bees to honey, trying to compare answers, some of them were full-on despairing, feeling like they’d already bombed the written part before even getting to the practical.
“Y-you’re not really going to fail us just because we didn’t study enough… right…? Right, Changwon?”
“Maybe.”
“Aaaaah!!!!”
One classic example was Morgan. It seemed like he was born without a study gene, he was a nervous wreck.
Even if you weren’t at Morgan’s level, just the written test alone sounded like a huge hurdle for the average student, as moans were heard all around.
“One, two, three… four wrong answers… h-hi…”
Lapiz was one of those too. She was shaking during midterms and it looked like she hadn’t improved at all since then.
Ageha must have put a lot of effort into helping her, only for it to be in vain.
But she was cute, and at least she wasn’t failing outright, so it didn’t seem like a huge problem. You really had to score close to zero to drop out.
Lapiz, or even Yeonhwa, who was barely doing a little better, would probably be fine. Sadly, Jinhyeon was doing fine too. If he wasn’t, way too many people would end up in trouble.
“Blanca is just amazing! She seems like she’s studying half-heartedly, yet still competes for the top spots in class. What’s her secret?”
“Just memorize the whole book.”
For me, it was all about whipping up random focus-boosting substances, then memorizing every single word from cover to cover.
Ageha complained that was an approach that we couldn’t mimic, but what could I do? If she wanted to complain, she should have been born as a walking chemical factory like me.
I might be a late bloomer, but hey, whatever.
“Don’t worry, Lapiz. You can make it up tomorrow in the practical!”
Yeonhwa, looking like a gambler who just hit a jackpot, shook Lapiz’s shoulders and brainwashed herself with her words.
“Right? The practical has a higher weightage anyway. But since they’ll announce the results on the day, ugh. How are we supposed to prepare for that?”
“If you don’t know it, you really don’t have to worry.”
“Jinhyeon is way too chill, it’s a problem.”
“Uhh… that’s true, Jinhyeon is a bit too oblivious…”
I silently observed Minho and Seolhwa as Ageha and Yeonhwa had a conversation totally out of sync.
It seemed like they still hadn’t fully processed what I’d said about a week ago, as they exchanged a slightly awkward glance at me.
“How’d you do on the test?”
As I approached to ask about their scores, they gave me an even more awkward smile than before.
“I did okay… I mean, if we just removed math from the subjects, everything would be peachy…”
“Totally agree. I don’t get why we learn things we’ll never use.”
No surprise, Seolhwa was whining about math with an expression almost identical to Minho’s. I often shared the same sentiment.
“What can we do? Humanity’s progress has always come with math. It’s just unavoidable. But hey, at least it’s good news that we did well on everything else.”
“Y-yeah! So even if math is a big deal, we did fine otherwise, right…?”
Although she said that, she didn’t seem confident at all. I wondered why she was so jittery when there was no way she would fail. The final wasn’t a quest anyway.
Was she thinking if she messed up, she couldn’t score well enough to please Ageha? I encouraged her to work hard, quietly convinced she was jumping to conclusions.
“Sounds like you’re teasing me.”
“I’m just cheering you on, appreciate it.”
After throwing shade at Seolhwa for misinterpreting goodwill, I left the classroom. The kids tagged along, making a ruckus, but quickly split off near the school gate.
The idea was to not waste energy and rest up, meeting again fresh for whatever would come in the practical tomorrow.
Looking at it this way, they all cared for each other like family.
If I hadn’t been raised by that person and instead by someone completely different… would I have been able to be just a normal friend? I pondered meaningless thoughts as I headed home.
—
“I hope you’re all ready. No matter what anyone says, strength is the most important thing for a hero. That and stamina. No matter how wise or clever you are, if you run out of strength, that’s the end for you as a hero.”
Justitia laid out her philosophy on heroes, and only when the atmosphere was starting to get a little stale did she finally wrap up her long-winded speech and get back on track.
“…I got a little sidetracked there. The point is, this practical exam will test your stamina and strength. But we’ll also evaluate your smarts, so don’t get too hyped up.”
Morgan, who had been giddily hyping himself up, shrank back like a cat caught out in the rain when Justitia pointed him out.
“The practical will be held at an external facility, supported by Heros Company. All your suitcases are already loaded up in the vehicle, so just bring yourselves.”
“External facility… just how fancy are they planning this to be…?”
Most kids reacted the same way Lapiz did. They seemed scared, wondering why they’d be using external facilities at all.
Some even flashed confident smiles, thinking wasn’t that the bare minimum for the Academy’s standard?
But Minho was trying hard to act casual yet had an expression of disbelief plastered on his face.
If I hadn’t been covering my mouth, he probably would have given me a weird look. I had momentarily zoned out with my stupid grin.
“External… facility?”
In any original work, or even the one I read, the exam begins within the Academy itself.
Starting inside, you’d wander around the city and come back. It wasn’t about moving around with a vehicle like this at all.
So, what exactly were they planning now? I didn’t particularly care about their reasoning. They probably just upped the difficulty because first-years were too good.
“What the heck are they planning, I’m pumped but also scared!”
I murmured that in a voice that completely lacked enthusiasm as I boarded the bus.
Usually, kids would be buzzing with excitement about getting on a bus for Academy activities, but today was the exception.
Looked kind of like a bus for transporting death row inmates.
“Please let it be something easy…”
Lapiz was expressing her anxiety right next to me. I joked that no matter how tough it got, it couldn’t possibly be harder than fighting Changwon.
“I-it might be e-easier than that, but I can’t really say for sure…”
I guess she was trembling a bit too much after the written test blues.
“You’re gonna miss me, right? So put in the effort, Lapiz. That should be reason enough, right?”
“I-I guess so… yeah, I’ll do my best…!”
I felt a little tickle in my chest. But if Lapiz flunked, Minho and I would end up in trouble too, so this was a necessary push.
As the atmosphere felt like a funeral home, we soon arrived somewhere.
“A studio…?”
The place where we were to take our final practical was a massive studio. It was ridiculously spacious; it looked perfect for filming movies, but that was about it for my thoughts.
I didn’t even fully grasp what they were planning, so I asked Justitia if we were actually in the right place.
“Yes, we arrived correctly. Let’s go in.”
However, Justitia confirmed that this was the right spot. My suspicions only grew stronger as we entered.
It was suspiciously bustling, with many people from Heros Company milling about.
“Ah, Academy Class A students! Please wait a moment, we’re in the final adjustment phase, it’ll take about… 10 more minutes!”
“I heard it would be all set by the time we arrived.”
“Aha, well, being prototype tech, we ran into some unexpected issues. Just a little tweaking is required.”
“Prototype tech? That’s safe, right?”
The Heros Company rep smiled nervously, and what they said seemed like an accidental slip.
“Is it okay to say that out loud?”
Changwon seemed taken aback, asking the lady whether that was something she should have mentioned.
“Uh… it’s fine! It’s not really sensitive information… ah, boss! Ouch! Ouch!”
She started off fairly relaxed, chatting with us, but suddenly got yanked away by the “boss” by her hair.
“…Yes, there was a brief ruckus, but the practical will start in 10 minutes, so please change into your costumes. Brace yourselves, and let’s hope for good results.”
Justitia tried to smooth over that ridiculous situation, attempting to bring back some order.
Somehow, I had a feeling this wouldn’t go smoothly.
It’s gonna be fine, right?