Chapter 23 – Put to the Test (9)

“The first round of the exam has ended. Examinees, please take your hands off the desk and place them on your heads. Anyone who does not follow instructions will be immediately failed for cheating and permanently disqualified from retaking the exam!”

It felt like I had fallen asleep only a moment ago, but the proctors started shouting. Because the exam time was only one hour, even if I finished early, it was not enough time to get a decent sleep.

‘I hope they just collect them quickly.’

As I waited with both hands on my head, the proctor who was collecting the answer sheets from the back finally stood in front of me. The proctor alternated between looking at my exam paper and my face, glared at me with contempt for some reason, and passed by.

‘What is it? Is it because of the armband?’

Even though public officials were generally kind, not all of them would be kind.

But how many times had I already received looks of contempt and disgust because of this armband? The six shops I had visited to buy whiskey, and the stinging glares of the examinees as I entered the testing room. Thinking of that, I felt an urgent need to throw off this yellow armband, which was like a brand.

‘Because of this single yellow-hair label, even things that should work out might fail.’

To develop our Ember in the future, the first Ember must become my main stage and trading partner. Since it was the same for other Embers, the armband was no different from a shackle to me.

Our priority was to promote our Ember to a small city.

“Sigh, when and where am I going to fill twenty thousand people…”

An population of twenty thousand, the minimum requirement to be promoted to a small city. We were in a situation where we had to fill nineteen thousand more.

However, to those considering migration or settlement, there would be many Embers with more attractive options than ours, which gave me a headache.

It was just as I put my worries aside and was about to talk to the boy.

“What kind of exam difficulty is this?”

Once the proctors left, complaints erupted from the crowd gathered in the back. Each of them seemed close, so it was unlikely they had befriended each other here. They already knew each other and appeared to be examinees from the same Ember.

“No, are these questions that should appear on a beginner qualification exam? Especially Question 47, this content wasn’t even in the public texts.”

“Not just 47, but all questions after 30 are like that. How can there be any distinguishing ability with this?”

They were cursing the irrational exam difficulty regardless of whether other examinees stared or not.

“…True. This is way too difficult compared to last year.”

“As expected, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.”

Other examinees were also suppressing their anger and agreeing with their opinions. Perhaps they did not mind the other examinees, but rather thought they did not need to.

‘Setting aside that I am intermediate-advanced… the questions indeed lacked distinguishing ability.’

Even considering that my perceived difficulty was much lower, as the questions went toward the back, there were many that were too burdensome for beginners to solve.

Moreover, the given time was only one hour, which was far too short to solve all fifty questions.

Since I was a pervert who had memorized and understood the setting book to the point where principles and definitions sprang to mind just by looking, I finished the exam in twenty minutes. Subtracting the time spent writing the answer sheet and reviewing, it probably took about fifteen minutes.

But for others, it would not be the case at all. The solving process itself must have taken a considerable amount of time. In that sense, I doubted whether it was an exam with distinguishing ability.

‘This is not like the Immortal Ember…’

Although I did not know how the previous exams were, I could feel that this exam did not suit the first Ember. How could they verify a beginner’s qualification with criteria that made even an intermediate-advanced person tilt their head?

If compared to 21st-century South Korea, it was a hard CSAT… no, even calling it a hellfire CSAT would be insufficient.

“Looking at this mess, most of them will fail.”

Let alone the setter’s intention, I could not understand the Department of Magic Engineering that approved it, and at the moment those words slipped out without realizing,

“Hey, yellow-hair. What did you just say?”

Was the goddess of fate cursing me? Why did the noise die down exactly at the moment I muttered to myself?

At the timing and statement that left no choice but to be misunderstood, even I found it absurd and looked around.

“…”

Not to mention the crowd of ten in the back glaring as if they would eat me alive, the attention of all examinees in the room was focused on me.

At this moment, those who harbored hostility toward me meant everyone except the boy, who likely understood the true meaning of my words.

“Well, calling it a mess wasn’t referring to you, but the exam questions…”

“Hey, cut the pathetic excuse.”

As I looked around to clear the misunderstanding and laid out what was less of an excuse and more of an explanation, a man from the crowd of ten stood before me in rage.

“How dare a yellow-hair bastard from who-knows-where insult us? Especially a guy who couldn’t even solve the questions and slept the whole time?”

The man had a gaze that looked ready to kill me right now, perhaps due to the thought of being insulted by a yellow-hair. Since they claimed to be magic engineers, they would hold their self-pride and honor dear.

“…Please calm down. I admit there was room for misunderstanding in my words, but it is literally a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding! Everyone here heard you calling us a mess!”

Thinking it was impolite to reply while sitting, I stood up to face him and spoke calmly, but the situation escalated further and further.

It was better to resolve it peacefully. Aside from my mistake of omitting the subject, these were likely people who had a certain degree of wealth or influence in their respective Embers, enough to come take the magic engineer exam.

Since I had to grow my Ember through exchanges using small but non-negligible threads called relationships, there was no need to make enemies unnecessarily.

Even more so for those who possessed a lot, like them.

However.

“Did your parents teach you to denigrate and laugh at other people’s efforts? To rejoice in others’ misfortune?”

“…”

To consider relationships now, their attitude had crossed the line. There was no sign of improvement.

‘Ah, am I not a human to them? Should I have kneeled or something?’

When it reached the point of personal attacks, even such a thought occurred to me.

I fully understood that they were out of their minds from ruining the exam, but it simply looked like they were venting their anger because I was a yellow-hair.

To think they could not bring themselves to complain to the proctor and instead took it out on me, a weakling. It was utterly ridiculous.

However, because there was no need to cause trouble now when the exam was not even over, it was at the moment I was about to ignore him and sit down.

The bastard finally said those words.

“Ah, if it’s a misunderstanding, then my thought that you would have parents must be the misunderstanding. This is what you call a misunderstanding, yellow-hair.”

“Ahaha! That makes sense. That is indeed when you use the word ‘misunderstanding’!”

There was one thing I resolved when I possessed Ailen Vail. It was not to make Ailen’s life, which must have evaporated because of me, pitiful or miserable.

I had suppressed the Wayne brothers for the same reason.

Right now was that limit. Even if others could be subjected to such denigration and mockery, it must never happen to ‘me.’

But at the same time, I was analyzing the situation coolly from the perspective of ‘myself.’

‘If I am despised in such a public place, it will be difficult to plan future works. I will crush them head-on.’

In other words, it was in front of those who might become my potential allies or enemies. Now that my face and name were exposed, there was nothing good about being looked down upon like this.

At that moment, there was someone who moved before me. It was the boy.

“No matter what, aren’t you speaking too harshly?! He said he was talking about the exam questions, not you!”

“Shut your mouth, kid. Are you taking his side because you’re both yellow-hairs?”

The man approached the boy threateningly, but the boy paid no heed and voiced his anger on my behalf.

“I’m saying this because your actions truly look like a pathetic mess now. You couldn’t say a single word to the proctor, and now you are venting your anger on us because we seem easy. That is just petty!”

“Where does this little bastard get off…!”

In the end, the man, whose patience had exploded, raised his hand. Perhaps familiar with violence, the boy opened his eyes wide and took a defensive stance, but…

Thud.

The fist of the beastly man never reached the boy. His dirty hand was caught in my grip.

“The boy is right. This does not look like the behavior of someone who aims to become a magic engineer and set an example.”

“These bastards are doing this as a pair…!”

“How about you give up the exam even now? Setting aside academic depth, you seem to lack the ‘qualification.’”

When I brought up qualification to the guy who was trembling, unable to either pull back his wrist caught by me or strike, his voice actually went down. Not because he was reflecting, but because he was thoroughly irritated.

“…What? Say that again.”

But he wasn’t some novel protagonist, and would the situation change just because he put on a serious face?

Creak…!

“Ack!”

Since I had already decided to make him an enemy, I had no hesitation and continued speaking while squeezing his wrist as if to break it.

“If you just give up the exam, you’ll be short of excuses when you go back… so I will make the reason for you. Personally, that is.”

Although I did not know how to fight and could not break a wrist with grip strength alone, I bluffed and looked down on him arrogantly.

I have no intention of clearing the misunderstanding now. If they cannot be allies, they will become enemies who dare not resist.

That was my way.

* * *

“…I will make the reason for you. Personally, that is.”

At the touch-and-go situation unfolding right in front of his eyes, the boy felt his heart racing more than ever before.

‘Is this person really a yellow-hair?’

It was not out of anxiety that he might get caught up in violence. Because violence was so familiar to the boy who had a history of being exploited, he had no choice but to admit that his heartbeat originated from this unknown man.

‘Just looking at his vessel, he is second to none compared to that scumbag.’

Scumbag—that was what the boy called the leader who had exploited him and his young sister, a leader he could not grind to dust enough.

Yet, apart from the magnitude of his resentment toward him and the seemingly non-existent humanity, that scumbag was indeed a great enough figure to lead an Ember.

But what on earth was this man, who was a savior who rescued him and his sister from crisis, and who possessed immense magic engineering talent?

The boy’s senses, which had never been wrong once, were sounding an alarm in his head that this man was an incomparably greater figure than that scumbag, even though they had only met for a day.

‘Was it not a lie when he said he would become a leader despite having such magic engineering talent?’

Every single one of his behaviors was unbelievable for a yellow-hair. One could only call him a leader candidate of a prominent Ember hiding his identity…

Even so, one could not be this bold at such a young age.

‘If it’s this person…’

At that moment, the boy began to dream. A dream that if he followed this man, he might achieve the revenge he so desperately wanted.

However.

‘Could we see the end of this ice age?’

A grand dream as a magic engineer that transcended personal resentment was delivering a great resonance to the boy’s chest.