NOVEL NEXT Chapter 81
Chapter 81: Admission Ceremony (2)
Yoo Ji-han’s party entered the hotel and waited in the lobby.
Soon, they were guided by the staff to a grand hall.
A massive chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the lighting focused more on extravagance than practicality.
A round table covered with a pure white tablecloth, and transparent wine glasses prepared atop it.
This place, often used for weddings, exuded a more luxurious atmosphere than the Rank 4 Exchange Meeting Yoo Ji-han had attended before.
[Sweet Fun – Yoo Ji-han’s Party]
At the table of Yoo Ji-han’s party, there was a strangely large cushion laid beside it.
This was a spot prepared for Chilla to sit at by Hero Academy.
“Chilla. Sit down.”
“Chirp.”
Chilla plopped onto the cushion of its own accord.
Yoo Ji-han sat down, surprised by the thoughtful arrangements made by the event organizers.
‘Do I know anyone here?’
More than half of the attendees were already inside for the admission ceremony.
Excluding those waiting at the entrance for their party members, it looked like almost everyone was present.
Since Hero Academy contacts successful parties individually, today marked the first meeting with other successful candidates.
Yoo Ji-han scanned the faces of those in suits, wondering if he would spot someone he recognized among the successful candidates.
‘…Min Ju-yong.’
A familiar male face found amid unfamiliar people.
It was Min Ju-yong from the Nice Guild, who showed a lot of interest in Min Yu-ri.
‘Looks like he passed somehow.’
Now that he had been accepted by Hero Academy, he wasn’t just some weak hero after all.
However, Min Ju-yong seemed unusually quiet, despite knowing Min Yu-ri was present here.
Perhaps he was trying to maintain some decorum in such a setting.
He glanced a few times toward Chilla but seemed to have no intention of speaking, prompting Yoo Ji-han to ignore him.
‘Keroes is also here.’
Among the parties in attendance was a Rank 4 party from Keroes.
They were faces Yoo Ji-han might have seen once or twice during past guild events.
Since Kim Hyun-tae’s party was significant within Keroes, it was common for promising juniors to bump into each other.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Look over there!”
Kim Si-hu pointed somewhere with his hand.
Yoo Ji-han turned to see an unexpected figure in the direction he pointed.
‘Moon Kyung-jin?!’
The reason for the enmity between Sweet Fun and the Knife Guild, Moon Kyung-jin, was here.
After the incident at the apartment, he had been on one leg, but now he was equipped with a prosthetic leg powered by magic.
It appeared he also had an artificial finger attached where his left finger was missing.
It looked so natural, as if he was using an extremely high-end prosthetic.
‘How did he pass, though?’
That bad-tempered guy made it into Hero Academy?
Yoo Ji-han couldn’t understand the mindset of those who accepted Moon Kyung-jin’s party.
“…!”
Moon Kyung-jin’s eyes went wide as he caught Yoo Ji-han’s gaze.
His expression seemed to ask how he ended up here.
Both were thinking exactly the same thing about each other.
“…”
“…”
Moon Kyung-jin stared at Yoo Ji-han with intensity before abruptly turning his head away.
This was the first gathering of the successful candidates for Hero Academy.
In a situation like this, he knew that arguing would only hurt himself.
‘If I’m not careful, this could turn into a Villain School instead of Hero Academy…’
Moon Kyung-jin attacked other parties just because he didn’t like them.
Yoo Ji-han couldn’t recognize him as a hero in any capacity.
But it felt awkward to let personal grudges get in the way.
For now, he had no choice but to let it go.
“Oh? It’s Young-wook.”
One of the parties accepted in Hero Academy was Jung Young-wook’s party from Dice.
Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu were intrigued as they kept spotting familiar faces.
‘Red Hole should definitely be here.’
There were actually three parties from Red Hole, the organization overseeing Hero Academy, present.
In addition to Red Hole and Dice, there was at least one party present from large guilds, making this an event dominated by big guilds.
‘This won’t be easy.’
Sweet Fun, being the smallest guild among the famous ones.
Would they really be able to graduate smoothly among such prominent guilds?
Yoo Ji-han had a feeling that life at Hero Academy would not be easy.
Snap snap!
At that moment, someone clapped in the center of the hall.
“…!”
“…Whoa!”
The heroes, who were engaged in chit-chat, suddenly froze in surprise upon noticing the person in the center.
It was none other than Baek Kang-cheon, the top-ranked mage in South Korea.
“Looks like you all are already having fun? Sorry to interrupt the good vibe, but I think we can start the admission ceremony now, right?”
“Yes!”
“Since not everyone can see my face here…”
[Fly]
Baek Kang-cheon floated high enough to reach the chandelier.
He was using magic to levitate himself in the air.
Not just jumping high or creating illusions, but genuinely rising into the air using only magic.
Moreover, he maintained a perfectly steady posture as if he were walking on the ground.
Mages who understood how difficult that was were busy looking up at him.
Perhaps they were hoping to gain some insight from witnessing his magic.
“Congratulations to all of you who passed Hero Academy’s Class 3! I’m Baek Kang-cheon, the headmaster of Hero Academy.”
Bzzz—
Even without a microphone, his voice echoed as if it were right beside them.
He amplified his voice using magic, reaching far despite it normally being a soft-spoken tone.
Though he would typically need to be right near to hear, the heroes could clearly hear Baek Kang-cheon’s voice.
‘Ah! So that’s how it works…’
Kim Si-hu, gazing up at Baek Kang-cheon, had his eyes sparkle at the sight of the magic.
An experience he could never find in textbooks!
Analyzing a great mage’s magic, breaking down the flow of mana into small units, and interpreting its structure.
Those who could learn something just by observing belonged to a different category.
Kim Si-hu, fitting that mold, was growing in real-time, even at that moment.
“Your concentration posture looks great.”
As the surroundings turned quiet and all attention was directed towards him, Baek Kang-cheon opened his mouth again.
“I’ll keep it short. A lot of incidents have been happening recently in Korea. It’s a global trend, and thus, there’s an increasing need for heroes.”
Whenever incidents occur, the blame inevitably falls on heroes.
Despite earning much more money than the average person, they get criticized for not pulling their weight.
But ironically, even those who criticize end up being saved by heroes.
To maintain stable peace in modern society, the presence of heroes is indispensable.
“I’m truly glad to bring potential heroes like you to Hero Academy in this situation.”
Rank 4 parties that had successfully passed through high competition.
Although they were still fledgeling since barely surpassing Rank 5…
The heroes present here all showcased substantial potential.
“Having entered Hero Academy, all of you need to become excellent heroes. We will provide tremendous support to help you grow into such heroes. At times, you’ll even venture into MA, and we’ll have sparring sessions among you…”
Regardless of guild size.
Without regard to age, gender, or funds.
Everyone who entered Hero Academy would be evaluated on a transparent and fair standard.
This could only be proven through the party’s skills!
Even parties from influential large guilds would be expelled from Hero Academy if they didn’t meet the standards.
“Last year, really only a handful of parties could graduate among those who were admitted.”
“…”
“And this year, evaluations will increase significantly compared to last year, and it will be much tougher. I’m expecting fewer than ten teams to graduate.”
“Wha…?”
The Class 2 of Hero Academy was widely known to be genuinely challenging.
Yet, Baek Kang-cheon claimed that Class 3 would be even harder.
Hearing this, the parties fell into worry.
Among them, some heroes who had received advice from Class 2 members sighed heavily.
“Heroes with mana often fall into the delusion that they are special compared to others. I’m sure there are some like that among you. But that type quickly falls into despair and gives up once they encounter a stronger foe.”
“…”
“I’ve seen many heroes perish this way. I hope there are none of that weak type among the heroes entering Hero Academy.”
The heroes nodded at Baek Kang-cheon’s words.
They didn’t think they would be among those who would despair when facing their own limits.
*
After Baek Kang-cheon’s greeting, the successful parties from Hero Academy each took turns introducing themselves.
Since they knew nothing about each other as fellow new students, this was a segment intentionally prepared by Hero Academy.
“We are James Kang’s party from Red Hole.”
“Are you foreigners?”
“My father is American.”
Red Hole, Dice, Snowball, Warriors…
And even the shadows of the top ten guilds like Zhuge and Happy Time Guild were next.
Introductions from guild members with recognizable names went on one after another.
Then it was time for Yoo Ji-han’s party to introduce themselves.
“We are Yoo Ji-han’s party from Sweet Fun.”
“Sweet Fun?”
People tilted their heads at the guild name.
Apart from a few participants, no one had ever heard of Sweet Fun before.
“Nice to meet you.”
Clap clap clap…
After a brief introduction, a formal round of applause ensued.
‘So, even people like this get to attend Hero Academy.’
‘Has the acceptance criteria for Hero Academy lowered?’
‘They’ll probably end up being the bottom in no time.’
Mixed in with the applause was a sense of disrespect towards Yoo Ji-han’s party.
No matter how bad I might be, I’m surely better than them.
Heroes from well-known guilds generally felt this way.
“Is the introduction over?”
“Yes!”
After all the parties had introduced themselves.
Baek Kang-cheon, who had been quietly listening, looked around and smiled.
“Emergency announcement here!”
“…?”
“I’ll announce the top 10 parties that received the highest scores in the recent Hero Academy interviews!”
“Wha?”
Baek Kang-cheon pulled out a small folded paper from his pocket and unfolded it.
“James Kang’s party, Han Ji-young’s party, Jung Young-wook’s party…”
All the names being called belonged to parties from large guilds.
But then…
“Lastly, Yoo Ji-han’s party.”
“…?!”
Yoo Ji-han’s party was named by Baek Kang-cheon.
‘Are we that good?’
Yoo Ji-han was slightly taken aback by being rated higher than he expected.
The heroes from parties not called felt their expressions sour.
‘Am I worse than those guys?’
‘Why?’
‘What a joke…!’
How could an unheard-of party score higher than us!
That couldn’t be true. There must have been some issues with the interview evaluation.
That’s what the heroes thought.