Chapter 153

Chapter 153

I returned to the dormitory immediately after the exam ended. I looked at the answers that were given to me after the end of the exam and graded it myself. Out of the 29 questions, I answered 17 of them. I guessed the remaining 12 by rolling Baron Samedi's dice. I started by grading the answers that I solved. I wondered how many I had gotten right.

“One, two, three...”

I got four questions wrong. Considering how lax I was in studying, I could say that I did fairly well. Next, I graded the questions that I guessed by rolling the dice. Honestly, I didn't have high expectations. I just thought it would be fortunate if I didn’t get them all wrong.

"..."

The result was shocking. I got a whopping 2 out of the 12 questions right! I might have scored better if I had picked the answers in a column. I thought that Baron Samedi's dice might have some sort of special ability, but it was absolutely useless.

I really hated Baron Samedi right now. I hated him like crazy...

I looked at the exam paper I had finished grading. It was raining heavily—so much so that I wouldn’t have been surprised if a flood warning was issued.

"Dan Wedo, come out."

[This isn’t... my fault...!]

“Then whose fault is it?"

[The stupid... Prophet’s....]

The Loa of Rain, Dan Wedo, disappeared after saying those words. I was a little annoyed, but what he said wasn’t wrong. Sacred dynamics was a subject that I had no confidence in, and it was a subject that I had no interest in doing well in either. However, seeing how the results turned out, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. I kept thinking that if only I had studied a little harder, would the outcome have been different? Such thoughts kept popping up in my head.

[It's too late to regret now. Since you didn't study, it's only natural that you did poorly on the exam.]

"Yes, you're right," I reluctantly replied to Legba's naive advice and closed the answer book.

Tomorrow was the sacred material science exam. Just like sacred dynamics, I couldn’t rely on Legba's help for this one either, and it was a subject that I was very weak in. In order to do even a little better, I should have studied harder. Even though I tried to motivate myself, studying didn't go well. It seemed like I had horrible compatibility with sacred material science. I didn’t even know why I had to learn something like this in the first place.

Wasn’t there something like Voodoo material science? Yeah, there was no way, right?

"Ah, this is driving me crazy."

I kept getting distracted. This was something I figured out while studying, but I was the type of person who could focus on things that I liked. Even when I was accepted into Florence Academy, I didn’t practice any blessings or healing. I practiced only Voodoo spells.

The reason was simple. Dealing with Voodoo magic was more fun and easier than dealing with divine power. Similarly, no matter how hard I studied sacred dynamics or sacred material science, I would forget what I had studied the next day.

On the other hand, even if I just skimmed through Romanican Sacred Science or Understanding the Holy Books, the contents would stay in my memory for days. It was probably because these subjects were more interesting and easier for me.

By the way, this was also just me being distracted. Looking at the clock, I realized that thirty minutes had already passed without me doing anything.

"Ah."

Should I just go to sleep?

[If you want to fail tomorrow’s exam as well, it's okay to just sleep.]

"You have a talent for being harsh with your words."

[You're even more harsh with your words. Look at yourself first before judging others,] Legba said calmly.

What he said just now was also somewhat irritating, but he wasn't wrong. I let go of all distractions and focused on studying again.

***

The sacred material science exam that I took the next day was just as difficult as the sacred dynamics one. After the exam, the students in the same exam room gathered together and started talking. It was a conversation about how difficult the exam was and how low their scores might be. I thought I was the only one who found it difficult, but it seemed like that wasn't the case.

Today, something different happened. I still rolled the dice and guessed when I encountered an unfamiliar problem, but Ha-Yeon just continued solving her problems without even glancing at me. She even came with earplugs plugged into her ears today. It seemed like she really didn't want to hear the sound of the dice rolling.

I received the answer book from the proctor and left the auditorium. Outside the door, Ha-Yeon was waiting for me with a confident expression. I instinctively frowned.

"So, how was the exam? Did you do well?" Ha-Yeon said mockingly.

Without any hesitation, I nodded. "I did well."

"Really? How many questions do you think you got wrong? No, how many do you think you got right?"

Ha-Yeon crossed her arms and smirked. It was a blatant provocation that clearly showed her intentions. I had the urge to slap her forehead, which was exposed due to the wind, but I managed to hold myself back. I smiled at her and pretended to be relaxed.

"Perfect score," I said.

"What?"

"I think I got a perfect score. Honestly, it was easy."

It was a lie. Today, I rolled Baron Samedi's dice more times than I did yesterday. That was how difficult this exam was. I desperately hoped to get at least half the questions right, but I couldn't honestly tell Ha-Yeon that.

Ha-Yeon rolled her eyes around as if taken aback by my words. She chuckled as if she were composed.

"Ha, don't say ridiculous things. What was the answer to question 19?"

"I don't remember. It was so easy that I quickly solved it and moved on."

"Wasn't question 19 the most difficult? Did we take the same exam?"

"Maybe it was difficult because you're stupid? How about you look at yourself first before judging others?" I quoted Legba's words from yesterday.

Ha-Yeon's face, which was previously pale, started turning red. She seemed quite angry at my words. I hoped she would get even angrier. I couldn't help but wish that she would end up punching me in the face due to failing to control her anger. Then, I could sue her and get some settlement money. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

~

If that was the case, how exactly did In-Ah manage to smell the scent of Baron Samedi's cigar on my body back then? Suddenly, an eerie sense of uneasiness strong enough to make my head spin rushed over me.

"Baron Samedi, let me ask you something. Last time, I think my friend could smell the scent of your cigarette.”

[Oh really? I don't know who it is, but that's unfortunate.]

"...What do you mean?"

Baron Samedi ignored my question and continued to smoke while chuckling. His red gaze was the only thing that I could clearly see through the thick smoke that had spread throughout the room. I waved my hands to disperse the smoke. The more I waved my hand, the thicker, heavier, and stickier the smoke became as it completely enveloped the room.

[It means that the time has come for that friend to leave.]

His voice was calm and dry. Within the smoke that filled the room and Baron Samedi’s gaze that pierced through the smoke, I felt a sense of dread.

***

Ha-Yeon arrived early, so she went to the exam room to study before everyone else. Today was the day for the Understanding the Holy Books exam. Understanding the Holy Books required good memorization skills and considerable analytical thinking, as indicated by the word understanding in the subject's name.

Due to the mistake she made on the sacred dynamics exam that she took on the first day, Ha-Yeon didn't know how her score would turn out. In order to have confidence in victory, Ha-Yeon had to do better than Sun-Woo in either Understanding the Holy Books or Romanican Sacred Science. These were her weakest subjects, so she needed to study harder for them.

It was then that a voice came from behind her. The tone was mocking and condescending.

“It’s always those who can’t study that cram right before the exam.”

Ha-Yeon turned around with a grimace on her face. Sun-Woo was looking down at Ha-Yeon with a smirk on his lips.

“The content that you review right before the exam is what sticks in your memory the most—”

Sun-Woo interrupted Ha-Yeon. "Yeah, you're right."

He then plugged in earplugs in both his ears, sat at his desk, and took out the Holy Book to start studying. It was ironic of him to say that those who can't study cram before the exam, and yet he himself was cramming.

He was truly a hypocrite. She understood that he had the tendency to bully the people he liked, but doing it like that only had the opposite effect. She only let it slide because she was a benevolent person...

Ha-Yeon was so caught up in such thoughts that she was unable to properly read the Holy Book. Meanwhile, students continued entering the auditorium, and soon, the proctor’s announcement began.

—The following cases are those that the proctor determines as misconduct. Looking at another student's test paper, not following the proctor's instructions, continuing to write after the bell rings...

The proctor distributed the exam papers.

Ring.

The bell rang, and the exam started. Ha-Yeon's eyes widened as she looked at the first page of the exam.

"..."

There were certain words that the teacher for the Understanding the Holy Books subject would habitually say at the start of every class. They would state things such as, “This time around, it will not be possible to solve the exam through memorization alone,” and “The difficulty of the exam will be considerably harder than in previous years.”

The students assumed he was just saying such things to scare the students as usual. However, after looking at the exam, she realized that those words had not been empty words. The time allocated to them was 60 minutes, but there were 30 questions. Moreover, each question was difficult enough to be considered a killer question. Even she wasn’t sure if she could solve all the questions within the given time frame.

It was at that moment...

“I would like to submit and leave.”

One student stood up from his seat while holding his answer sheet. No one was surprised. It was because the person who stood up was Dae-Man.

"Did you shade all the answers in a column again?"

"As soon as I saw the first question, I had a strong feeling that this is beyond my abilities!"

"Alright..."

The proctor seemed tired of lecturing him, so he sighed deeply and quickly ushered Dae-Man out of the auditorium. The other students in the same exam room didn't pay any attention to Dae-Man either. After spending three days of exams with Dae-Man, they had become accustomed to it.

Ha-Yeon also steadfastly solved the problems. The questions and the given options were unnecessarily long and verbose, so even solving one question was difficult. With concentration, it was somewhat manageable but still challenging. There were questions that asked to select the option that was true, and yet all the options seemed wrong, and there were questions that asked to select the option that was false, and yet all the options seemed correct.

This exam would most likely have the highest curve. It was so challenging that she believed that it would be difficult to make an exam that was any harder than this.

Sun-Woo wouldn’t be able to receive a perfect score on this exam. The difficulty level of this exam was on a different dimension compared to the one in the diagnostic assessment. When not even half of the allocated time had passed, something unexpected occurred.

"I would like to submit and leave."

A student submitted their answer sheet to the proctor. This time, it wasn’t Dae-Man. It was Sun-Woo.

The proctor tilted his head in confusion.

"Did you solve all the questions?"

Ha-Yeon was also puzzled at first. Although Sun-Woo might not excel in other subjects, he was quite knowledgeable in Understanding the Holy Books. That was why he was able to achieve first place in the diagnostic assessment. However, Sun-Woo had given up on this exam.

Why did he do such a thing? Honestly speaking, without Understanding the Holy Books, Sun-Woo didn’t have much left. With this, Ha-Yeon became confident of her victory, but somehow she couldn't relax. This exam was certainly difficult, but it wasn’t difficult enough that Sun-Woo would give up. Ha-Yeon couldn't concentrate on her problems and instead looked at Sun-Woo.

In response to the proctor’s questioning, Sun-Woo furrowed his eyebrows and questioned the proctor instead. “Wouldn’t I be submitting because I’ve solved all the questions?”

“...”

Ha-Yeon and the proctor’s expression stiffened at Sun-Woo's sarcastic remark. Their expressions stiffened for different reasons.