“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline.”
The atmosphere suddenly turned chilly.
Well, I understand refusing, but was it necessary to push my hand away as well?
No matter how much Dokgorin is my girlfriend, I felt like this was behavior that would make even Namgoong Ruby mad, and I unconsciously took a few steps back.
However—
“Wow~ You’re not going to make it easy to be friends, huh~”
Namgoong Ruby laughed cheerfully as if she expected this.
“…What?”
Even the ice princess Dokgorin seemed taken aback by this response.
“Honestly, I was a bit relieved. If we became friends right away after not seeing each other for two years, then all the plans I devised to become friends during that time would be worthless. But since you rejected me so harshly, it feels like I can reuse those plans.”
What is this overwhelming positivity?
Even Tang Sosu, who was meeting Namgoong Ruby for the first time, naturally wore a face of disbelief, as if to say, ‘Oh, that’s a bit much.’
Docgorin, just like that, spoke with a clear tone of embarrassment.
“I don’t want to be friends with you.”
“That’s the spirit! Keep rejecting me with vigor. That’ll make it feel rewarding when we finally do become friends.”
“……”
Now even Dokgorin was giving up on a normal conversation.
I can’t believe there’s someone out there who can push the grand Dokgorin to this extent.
Unable to watch any longer, I decided to jump into their conversation.
“By the way, Ruby, what brings you here? The Namgoong family is in Anhui City, right?”
“Hehe, of course, I’m here to enroll in Cheonmu Academy.”
She replied with confidence, placing her hand over her heart.
“Then we’re in the same boat. We’re about to take the entrance exam too.”
At that, Namgoong Ruby waved her hands in panic.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m entering on a recommendation, so I don’t have to take the entrance exam separately.”
Tang Sosu was the one who reacted to that.
“What! That’s so unfair!”
Namgoong Ruby scratched her cheek with an awkward smile.
“I was supposed to take the entrance exam originally, but my father, unbeknownst to me, arranged for a recommended admission. So I had no choice.”
Then, as if she suddenly realized something, Namgoong Ruby asked Tang Sosu.
“But who are you?”
Thinking it was quick to ask, I introduced her instead.
“This is Tang Sosu, from the Sa Cheon family. She’s Rin’s cousin, and we’ve traveled together all the way to the capital.”
“I see.”
Namgoong Ruby, resting her chin thoughtfully with her finger, then extended her right hand.
“Then, will you be my friend?”
“Huh? Are you talking to me right now?”
Tang Sosu looked dumbfounded.
It seemed like she was saying there’s no way she would be friends with me.
Well, we had that same reaction at first too.
“Yeah. I want to make as many friends as possible.”
Upon hearing Namgoong Ruby’s words, Tang Sosu appeared incredulous and asked me.
“Is she always like this?”
“Well, she did say her goal was to make 100 friends since we last met.”
“Sure enough, it’s Chilbok! She hasn’t forgotten what I said!”
Saying this, Namgoong Ruby suddenly pulled me into a hug.
So touching!
Because of that, I could vividly feel her not-so-small chest through the fabric of her clothes.
But the pressure was so strong that I didn’t have time to enjoy it leisurely.
“Hey, let go!”
Surprised, Dokgorin hurriedly tried to separate Namgoong Ruby from me, but it seemed this girl had strength like a beast and wouldn’t budge easily.
After a while of tugging back and forth, Namgoong Ruby finally released me, preventing a full-blown incident.
“Ugh, ugh, how strong are you?”
Barely free, I wheezed that out, and Namgoong Ruby casually responded, “Hehe, isn’t this normal for everyone?”
“If you’re normal, most people are going to feel really unfair about that.”
“Really?”
After the ruckus passed, Namgoong Ruby mentioned she had prior commitments and decided to leave the teahouse.
“Then, see you three at the academy next time!”
She waved her hand and left like the wind.
We, who were tossed around by her carefree nature, looked at each other with exhausted expressions before finally letting out a sigh of relief.
“She was really something else.”
“I agree.”
After Tang Sosu muttered this, even Dokgorin rarely chimed in to agree.
It seemed they had a rather tough time.
*
After killing some time in the teahouse, we headed back to Cheonmu Academy to take the entrance exam.
Even after quite a while, people still crowded the place.
We navigated through the crowd to get deeper inside.
“How exactly will the entrance exam be conducted?”
To that, Tang Sosu shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know either.”
“What?”
“I heard the content of the exam changes every year. Otherwise, long-term students might prepare in advance based on prior exam content. But they need to filter a lot of applicants in a short time, so it won’t be too complicated.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
I was bold enough to come all the way to the capital with my girlfriend, Dokgorin, and I really didn’t want to end up flunking the exam and being in a hopeless situation.
We approached the admissions office to get information about the exam, and the staff handed each of us a fabric armband.
“What’s this?”
“It seems to be an armband to wear on your arm.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
As I read the writing on the armband, I said, “Cheon(天)?”
Tang Sosu squinted her eyes and said, “I’m In(人), but does that mean everyone gets a different one?”
Noticing this, I saw that the armbands on the surrounding people all had different characters.
However, they seemed to categorize them all under Cheonjiin(天地人).
“Could it be they divided us into groups with this?”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
It seemed like Dokgorin, who had been quietly watching our conversation, was envious and quickly interjected.
“I also have Cheon(天) written on my armband just like Chilbok. Does that mean Chilbok and I are in the same group?”
“That might be the case, or it might not be.”
Since only the organizers know the specific methods for the exam, I couldn’t give a definitive answer as a participant. You understand that, right?
At that, Dokgorin calmly nodded.
“So, in the end, we’ll just have to experience it ourselves.”
Just then.
“Everyone’s attention!”
A big voice pierced through the crowd, capturing everyone’s focus, us included.
All eyes turned towards a middle-aged man in black robes who was slightly elevated on a platform.
Seeing this, the martial artists who had come to take the entrance exam began to murmur.
“It’s the pinnacle swordsman, Un Giik!”
“Isn’t he one of the popular professors at the academy? Has he been chosen as the exam administrator for this entrance exam?”
“This is no joke.”
Since he seemed to be a renowned individual, those who recognized him gathered in small groups to whisper.
In the meantime, Un Giik, who had successfully captured everyone’s attention, cleared his throat softly before speaking loudly.
“Then, I will now begin the 97th entrance exam for Cheonmu Academy.”
Waaaah!
Hearing his words, the examinees erupted in fervent cheers.
But in the next moment, what he said was truly shocking.
“For the first exam, those participating must fight each other.”
It seems like with so many people, we should quickly cut the numbers in half.
*
What Pinnacle Swordsman Un Giik ordered the examinees was merely one thing.
‘Survive.’
The reason he distributed armbands with the characters Cheon, Ji, and In was that they were collectibles.
The principle was that by gathering a total of ten armbands, including one’s own, one could move on to the next exam; the problem was that armbands with the same character were useless.
In other words, someone with the character Cheon(天) had to target those with the characters Ji(地) and In(人), while those with In(人) had to target those with Cheon and Ji.
No wonder, since they needed ten, it was evident they had a malicious plan to reduce the number of examinees to one-tenth.
Examinees, taken aback by the sudden exam format, began showing looks of confusion.
However, amidst such people, some quickly started to take action, while others formed alliances with those who had the same character.
Since killing someone would result in immediate disqualification, that was something everyone had to be careful about.
“So, this is an individual match now.”
Dokgorin and I both had the same character armbands, but Tang Sosu, who drew a different character, smiled confidently and said something.
That was nothing but the trademark of her family—memorization.
“I’ll move on my own, so you two just figure it out. If it gets too hard during the fight, surrender is also one option, you know that, right?”
Like she was leaving a child at the edge of the water, Tang Sosu carefully warned us before departing.
As the two of us were left alone, Dokgorin looked at me with a meaningful smile behind her black veil.
“You ready? Chilbok?”
“Of course, Rin.”
Now that we’ve come this far, I’m sorry for the other examinees, but I will take this seriously.
