Chapter 286

Naturally, the exam location was at the Central Paladin Order.

To be more precise, it was set in a training ground shared between the Central Paladin Order and the Central Crusader Order. It was so spacious that there was still plenty of room, even with hundreds of examinees gathered.

From what I heard, not only was the entrance exam for the Central Paladin Order going to be held there, but also the entrance exam for the Central Crusader Order.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

I met Jin-Seo there, and it wasn’t a coincidence. I knew that she was going to take the Central Crusader Order entrance exam for the experience, so we contacted each other a few times during our preparations for the entrance exam.

Jin-Seo found me among the many examinees and approached me to start a conversation.

"Hi," she said.

I was momentarily lost in thought, so it took me a while to realize that Jin-Seo had approached me. I belatedly nodded in acknowledgment.

She was wearing the crusader uniform with a long sword at her waist. I pointed to the sword with my chin and said, "You’re carrying something scary around."

"They told us to bring personal weapons. Don’t you have anything like this?”

"We were actually told not to bring anything."

Unlike the Crusader Order entrance exam, which required the examinee to carry personal weapons, the Paladin Order entrance exam did not allow the examinee to bring any equipment. Weapons and holy artifacts were obviously prohibited, and they even confiscated cell phones and all other electronic devices.

Obviously, I only pretended to comply with the rules, and I secretly didn’t hand in a few items, such as the phone that I used for Voodoo Cult-related business and the Staff of Reversal. To be specific, I entrusted my phone to Damballa, who could transform into the Staff of Reversal at any time, and instructed her to stay in a corner of the examination site.

I did this because although Romincan clergymen were heavily guarding the exam site, it was still not completely safe. After all, the cathedral affiliated with the Central Priesthood had been attacked not too long ago. The cathedral had been filled with numerous prelates, resulting in a large death toll.

If a Satanist attacked or some other dangerous situation arose, I planned to use my staff to mitigate the crisis.

I thought of dozens of contingency plans in case of various unforeseen circumstances. At that moment, Jin-Seo tapped my shoulder with her finger and said, "Did you bring something you shouldn't have?"

"How do you know that?"

"I can tell just by looking at your face. It's okay, I won't tell anyone."

Jin-Seo smiled slyly and continued, "I would have done the same. Because we are no longer in a situation where we can blindly trust the clergymen.”

Her words carried a lot of implications. It meant that she had considered the possibility of Satanists or Voodoo Cultists hiding among the many students and examiners at the examination site.

It also meant that she believed that even the Romanican Church headquarters, such as the cathedral affiliated with the Central Priesthood or the Central Training Ground, were not safe from attacks by Satanists.

Rumors had been circulating among the Romanican clergymen for the past few weeks. Following the attack by Satanist Executive Lust in the cathedral affiliated with the Central Priesthood, there were rumors that there might be a spy among the prelates or Florence Academy students. There were many rumors like that in the past, but people usually dismissed those as baseless conspiracy theories.

However, it was a bit different this time. Several inquisitors, including Joseph, publicly announced that they were going to find and catch the spy. Due to these public announcements, the rumor that there was a spy among the important figures in the Romanican Church had more or less become a fact uttered by the people.

The spy was most likely referred to me. Although it seemed like I was in significant danger, Joseph and other inquisitors showed no signs of suspicion toward me. For some reason, my name did not appear on the list of suspects. I wasn’t entirely sure whether this was thanks to Sung Yu-Da's help or just due to luck, though.

I was thinking such things when Jin-Seo suddenly said, "Now that I think about it, you’re not exactly a trustworthy person either.”

At that moment, I was so shocked that I almost choked.

"Why am I not trustworthy?" I blurted out.

"Because you only do untrustworthy things," she said.

"Just what did I do?"

"Last time..."

Jin-Seo stopped talking midway and stared daggers at me. I could detect a strange mixture of anger within her gaze.

The brief silence that followed after she stopped talking felt incredibly heavy. I swallowed nervously.

"You went to In-Ah's house. Secretly."

"Oh, that..."

Upon hearing the rest of her sentence, I sighed in relief. I thought for a second that I had made a mistake and accidentally revealed my identity to her, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. I smiled awkwardly and said, “I didn’t go secretly. I just didn’t tell you about it.”

"That's the same thing. What's different?"

“It’s a bit weird for me to bring it up when you didn’t ask about it.”

“Shouldn’t you reveal that kind of information even when I don’t ask you about it?” Jin-Seo asked, probing me.

I found it difficult to understand what she was saying. What was the point of revealing such information? I hadn’t particularly done anything special enough in In-Ah’s house for me to report what had happened to Jin-Seo. Something related to Yoon-Ah occurred, but I couldn't tell Jin-Seo about that.

“I don’t need to bring that kind of thing up, right? It’s not like I did anything weird,” I said.

Jin-Seo glared at me with a slight frown and let out a bitter laugh.

"Oh, so you’re sick of me. That’s why you’re going around meeting other women?”

"That's not it... No, why are you framing it that way? You’re making it sound strange."

"After doing that to me, now you're trying to leave me..." Jin-Seo said in a fairly loud voice.

I heard people around us murmuring and looking at us. I recognized a few students from Florence Academy among those people. This was a difficult situation. I didn’t understand why Jin-Seo was putting me in such a tough spot. I broke out in a cold sweat.

I wiped the sweat running down with the back of my hand, bowed my head deeply, and let out a sigh.

I was about to say something to Jin-Seo as I raised my head, but I was unable to say anything.

Just a moment ago, she had a sad expression like a heartbroken girl, but now she was laughing playfully. The way her expression changed so rapidly left me speechless.

"Are you teasing me?" I asked.

In response, Jin-Seo just smiled and nodded. I absentmindedly scratched the back of my head even though my head wasn’t itchy at all.

"If you're going to joke around, choose the right timing. There are so many people around. You’re going to cause a misunderstanding...”

"Sorry, I just find it amusing when you're flustered."

"Amusing?"

"Well, rather than amusing, it’s more like..."

Jin-Seo hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I like it when you show your flustered self to me. Because it’s not how you usually behave."

—Attention. All candidates for the Central Paladin Order entrance exam are to gather in the east section of the training grounds...

An announcement echoed across the training ground. It was a notice for the Central Paladin Order entrance exam applicants.

There was no announcement for the Central Crusader Order entrance exam applicants yet. Although the exams were being held at the same location, the exam content was different.

"Looks like you have to go," Jin-Seo said as she watched applicants flood the east side of the examination hall.

"Break a leg," she said.

"Sure thing," I responded with a nod.

I was just about to follow the other applicants when Jin-Seo lightly grabbed my arm.

She looked at me strangely and said, "You will keep the promise we made back then, right?"

She seemed to be referring to the promise we made at her house on the day of the memorial service, so I nodded.

"Of course."

That day, Jin-Seo expressed her feelings to me. However, I did not respond to her feelings. To be more accurate, I couldn't respond. There were still too many unresolved matters, so I left her house with the promise that I would definitely answer her feelings someday.

Since then, I focused on doing well on the Central Paladin Order entrance exam and hardly did anything else. Perhaps I was putting in a lot of effort to keep my promise to Jin-Seo. I would only be able to give her an answer after entering the underground prison. It would be after meeting my mother and gaining confidence in what to do next.

While heading toward the eastern side of the training ground after parting ways with Jin-Seo, I glanced back and looked at her. She was staring blankly into the distance. Her lips were tightly sealed, and a dark and gloomy shadow was cast over her entire face. It was a different sight from when she was in front of me.

"..."

I suddenly remembered the memorial service and remembered the image of her house, which was empty after Kim Chang-Won's death.

Her house was very spacious, so it looked even emptier. Jin-Seo may have seemed fine when talking to me, but she was probably not completely okay yet. She could momentarily forget her sadness by exerting immense effort, but completely erasing it would be impossible.

The deep sorrow that would be etched in one's heart after someone's death could not be easily erased.

I glanced at Jin-Seo staring blankly into space, and then I resumed walking.

To the east, there were candidates, in other words, my competitors, who had come to take the Central Paladin Order entrance exam, bustling around.

***

The Central Crusader Order entrance exam candidates left the training ground and headed somewhere else, leaving only the Central Paladin Order entrance exam candidates on the training ground.

The person who appeared to be the examiner gathered the candidates in one place, stood behind them, and watched over us without saying a word. The candidates stood still with tense postures and gazed at the examiner with eyes filled with determination and hints of tension.

Meanwhile, I was looking around and trying to figure out the strange uneasy feeling that was permeating the training ground.

“...”

The entrance examination site for the Central Paladin Order was spacious. However, in contrast to the size of the training ground, there were very few people deployed.

Only five individuals appeared to be examiners. Two seemed to be proper examiners, while the other three simply performed miscellaneous tasks, such as guiding the examinees. More personnel should have been deployed if this was supposed to be an entrance examination for the Central Paladin Order. With such a small number of examiners, it seemed like it would be difficult to control the examinees, let alone conduct an examination.

The examiner standing in front of the examinees held up a microphone and apologized.

—Ah, ah. I'm sorry. Due to traffic congestion, some examiners are experiencing difficulty entering the examination site, so the examination schedule is being somewhat delayed...

I briefly considered what would happen if Satanists attacked this place, but then I figured it would be meaningless to think about such things and decided to give up.

Rather than saying that it was meaningless, it was more accurate to say that it was extremely unlikely. There was no chance that Satanists would attack this place today.

The reason I believed it was extremely unlikely was because Jun-Hyuk came to me just before taking the entrance exam.

—It’ll be quiet for a while.

One day, when I was busy preparing for the exam, a huge raven-like demonic beast broke through the dormitory window, came into my room, and said those words.

Before I could even respond, the raven continued speaking.

—We are in the middle of an internal conflict. We won’t be able to clash with the Romanican Church or the Voodoo Cult any time soon. I’m the one who also killed the woman you call Lust.

- ...

—But that's not important. Anyway, it means you can relax. Well then...

After saying that, the raven flapped its wings. It seemed to be preparing to leap.

—Later, no, in a bit, no... It won’t be too early, nor will it be too late. Soon. Yes, soon. See you soon. Soon. Those are very symbolic words...

Flap!

The raven left those words as a final message, then flapped its wings vigorously as it leaped into the sky.

Jun-Hyuk hadn’t come back to me to deliver any more messages since that incident. He seemed to be busy dealing with the inner conflict or whatever it was.

Since this information was from Jun-Hyuk, I couldn’t just blindly trust the intel, but he most likely wouldn’t have said such things without any reason. In any case, if his words were true, the possibility of Satanists appearing again seemed low for a while.

At least on the day of the Central Paladin Order entrance exam, there didn’t seem to be any need to worry about a Satanist attack.

Boom—!

That was when it happened. A deafening noise resembling an earthquake suddenly reverberated across the silent training ground. The examiners were startled and turned their heads.

A few examinees crouched down with their faces twisted in fear and horror. I looked in the direction where the sound came from.

Bizarre-looking creatures broke through the training ground walls and approached us. They were grotesque creatures that seemed capable of killing more than a dozen people.

The creatures approached us with menacing steps. Upon closer inspection, I saw they were demonic beasts and demons. And it looked like someone was commanding those demons and demonic beasts. At first glance, he exuded an atmosphere similar to a Satanist Executive.

However, there was a slight difference. Compared to the Satanist Executives I had encountered so far, namely Jun-Hyuk and the woman named Lust...

"..."

Finally, I realized the difference—that person was not a Satanist Executive. They were fake. That person was an actor hired to stage the situation.

In other words, he was an examiner for the Central Paladin Order entrance exam.