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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Baekhwahak Hall Entrance Exam (1)
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"Oh no, Darami, our Darami...! S-sorry! See you next time!"
It seemed she was the owner of the squirrel I'd seen earlier.
The woman I'd bumped into dashed off without even a chance for introductions.
Normally, I'd have grabbed Jang Pal and made a fuss, shouting, "They say even a brush of sleeves is fate!"
"Aren't you going to shout, 'Today's super lucky!'?"
"...Shut up."
Wasn't that a bit *too* fleeting an encounter?
More importantly.
I was more curious about the status window that had popped up for the first time since my transmigration.
I immediately pulled out my smartphone and accessed the gallery app.
[ㅇㅇ(Sweetcandy38) / Back to school?! I'm back to school!!! (8)]
[ㅇㅇ(Maa1aang) / I'm lost near Daean Pagodaㅠㅠㅠ How do I get to Baekhwahak Hall from here??? (3)]
...It's real.
I thought I was hallucinating for a moment, being a gallery addict.
The floating nicknames of the gallery users.
More precisely, IDs were clearly displayed right next to their semi-fixed nicknames.
Of course, that didn't mean I was granted the ability to delete posts or act as a so-called moderator; it seemed to be purely the ability to see IDs.
For a status window to pop up, it felt a bit ambiguous.
Anyway, people who are active in the gallery frequently are noticeable.
For example.
[Author: PlumBlossomsAreOkayButRiceIsBetter (GOGIJoa)]
[Title: Early Bird Hwabung, Today's Dinner!!!!~~~~?!?!?~~?~?]
[(Direct photo of plain somyeon noodles with no toppings)
The cook is dead, everyone~~~~
F***, where's the meat topping~~~?]
- Look at the Taoist looking for meat ㅋㅋ Hwasan level
- Reply (Author): Even Taoists are human~~~ You f***er~~
- Piggyㅠ Stop eatingㅠ
Like this person who uploads photos of their breakfast menu every day.
To a certain extent, it allows for identification and public exposure.
It's an open secret among those in the know, but within the Hwasan Sect, they're almost certain it's the Seventh Elder, Cheongyangja.
I'd seen his imposing figure from afar once myself.
He certainly lived up to the image of someone who'd be clamoring for meat first thing in the morning.
Therefore.
I decided not to pay too much mind to this newfound ability for now.
For now, there wasn't much use for it, since I could only find out someone's ID by holding their hand.
However.
Later, once a 'handshake-big data' system accumulated, it would become a rather plausible source of information.
When people think their anonymity is guaranteed.
They tend to blurt out things they wouldn't say to someone's face.
Let's put off thinking about how to utilize this new ability for a moment.
The entrance exam comes first.
* * *
"Well then, Young Master. Please take care of yourself! This humble servant will be cheering you on diligently!"
"Alright. You've worked hard."
After sending off Jang Pal, my luggage shuttle.
I finally crossed the threshold of Baekhwahak Hall.
"So many people... Can I really pass?"
"With your skills, Big Sis, it's a sure thing! Hwaiting!"
"Where could Namgung Gaja be...?"
"Did you hear? There's a rumor that even the Demonic Cult is sending someone this term!"
"Hyaak...! The Demonic Cult is terrifying...!"
Only current students and prospective applicants were allowed inside the academy, yet it was overflowing with people.
There were two lines.
'General Admission' and 'Prestigious Sect Admission'.
My family, the Mangum Merchant Guild, was certainly 'gold spoon' in terms of wealth, but in terms of martial arts, we were closer to 'dirt spoon'.
Both my elder brother and second elder brother had no talent for martial arts whatsoever.
From that perspective, I was something of a mutant.
It was so bad that I self-taught half of my martial arts through 'Mootube' and learned the other half from our escort agency's head manager.
While waiting in the General Admission line, I casually peeked at the Prestigious Sect Admission line.
There wasn't even a line there; people would just show their faces, clear their throats, and be met with exclamations like, 'Oh my, you've grown so much already!'
Even a chic young master rudely wearing earphones in his ears would just toss his ID and get a free pass.
It was a scene of unfair admissions, just what you'd expect from those guanxi-obsessed types.
But true dragons, originally, emerge from humble streams.
I'll be that dragon!
"Could you please present your identification and entrance exam invitation?"
"Here they are."
"Oh my. You're the third young master of the Mangum Merchant Guild! Here, take this pass, and please head over to section 5."
Still, my 'humble stream' was at least a second-grade one.
At the very least, anyone in Xi'an, or even the entire Shaanxi region, who didn't know the Mangum Merchant Guild was either a demonic spy or a Demonic Cult operative.
I was quite a well-known figure myself.
The youngest son of a gold-spoon chaebol chairman.
Wouldn't I be the perfect son-in-law candidate?
That's why, ever since I recovered from my illness, there'd been a huge commotion with people trying to set up arranged marriages everywhere, but I cut them all off decisively.
In the process, I blurted out, 'I want to pursue natural encounters,' and got a smack on the back.
My parents couldn't break the strong will of their son who had returned from the brink of death.
After all, a hero should have three wives and four concubines!
...If possible, that is.
* * *
The entrance exam consisted of three main stages.
First, inner energy measurement.
As mentioned before, only those with a cultivation level of first-rate or higher could pass, so this was to filter them out based on their inner energy.
"Young Master Geum? Please place your hand here."
Looking at the tablet with a handprint displayed on it, I felt a little dizzy.
In the original story, the supervisor definitely measured inner energy by feeling the pulse, a traditional method...
Well, it's a world where even inns have kiosks.
As a modern person, I should be lenient and understand.
As instructed, I pressed my palm precisely onto the screen.
Slowly, I drew up inner energy from my dantian.
Wasn't there a saying, 'Misfortune turns into a blessing'?
In the process of overcoming death, my dantian had become even stronger, and my inner energy purer, instantly gathering in my palm through my meridians.
Swoosh!
Not only in my palm, but the inner energy enveloping my entire body naturally made the hem of my daoist robe flutter.
The bar measuring inner energy level steadily filled.
Two-thirds, or 2/3, was the pass mark.
But I had no intention of cosplaying as a 'hidden strength' type.
The reward for passing the entrance exam in first place.
I didn't want to miss the chance to acquire one of the secret techniques from Baekhwahak Hall's library.
Even when I became the 'bald-headed best in the world', the biggest reason for my easy success was the Prajna Protecting Heart Sutra I received as a first-place reward.
"Oh..."
Perhaps not expecting me to possess such a level of spiritual pressure, surprise flickered across the supervisor's face.
It doesn't end here!
The secret recipe personally selected by the God of Life and Death.
Spirit-Clear-Stone-Mushroom-Ten-Thousand-Year-Jade-Dew-Thick-Hundred-Herb-Soup-Summoning-Pill-Nine-Revolving-Hundred-Year-Vine-Thousand-Year-Fo-Ti-One-Horned-Carp-Clear-Soup-Boy-Ginseng-Spirit-Mushroom...
Anyway, behold the full power of me, who has consumed everything said to be good for the body and dantian!
Rumble...!
CRACK──!
"Ah!"
"Gasp..."
The tablet shattered.
Feeling a trickle of cold sweat run down my spine.
I stared brightly at the supervisor with the most harmless expression I could muster.
"...We'll discuss this internally for a moment."
They wouldn't expel me for property damage, would they...?
As I shivered and waited.
Soon, the supervisor, who had taken the damaged tablet, returned and spoke to me with an awkward expression.
"This is the first time this has happened since we introduced the tablet measurement system, so we've decided to proceed according to regulations."
"Regulations, you say...?"
"We will be conducting the re-measurement using traditional methods. Please return here after you've completed all the other exams."
Fortunately, it wasn't a 'You know your sins!' type of ending.
"I shall do so."
Because the gazes of those around me felt piercing, and the murmuring was gradually growing louder.
For now, it felt a little unsettling, but...
As instructed, I obediently headed to the next examination hall.
* * *
The next exam was, surprisingly, a written test.
There was a grand intention to select talents proficient in both martial arts and scholarly knowledge by evaluating their martial arts-related knowledge and general common sense—however.
Instead, some people ended up retaking the exam because they couldn't pass the written test cut-off.
Around this time of year, it boasted such a notoriously difficult level that illegal private tutoring flourished in Xi'an.
But I wasn't particularly worried.
Setting aside the fact that I was familiar with multiple-choice exam systems.
These were problems I was all too familiar with, having done countless 'rerolls' in the tutorial to get a perfect score on the written test.
Moreover.
My current body was Geum Sihyeon's body.
It possessed the fraudulent characteristic known as 'Divine Calculations and Ghostly Schemes'—a nearly perfect memory.
With a slight exaggeration, it was a difficulty level I could solve with my eyes closed.
In the quiet examination hall.
With only the sound of the supervisor patrolling as white noise.
Without hesitation, I swiftly and boldly scribbled away.
After choosing my answers, I yawned languidly.
Easy.
After finishing all the problems in just a quarter of an hour, I sat bored in my chair, observing the other examinees.
How long had I been spacing out like that?
"Squeak!"
"...?"
A squirrel.
It was loitering near my exam paper.
I felt like I'd seen it somewhere before...?
By its appearance alone, it seemed like a very harmless squirrel.
As I watched it with a slight unease, wondering if it might chew up my exam paper.
"Squeak, squeak!"
It nodded its head a couple of times, as if human.
Then, looking at me, it bowed its head as if in greeting.
Scamper, scamper.
It began to dart across the desks with great agility.
I blankly followed its path with my eyes.
The focused examinees.
And, cleverly evading the watchful eyes of the supervisors who had fire in their eyes.
Leap!
The squirrel leaped lightly onto the shoulder of the chestnut-haired woman sitting diagonally to my front left.
...It was that woman from earlier.
Seeing the ID floating above her head confirmed it.
The squirrel, having leaped onto her shoulder, whispered into her ear as if speaking human words.
And the woman's hand moved quickly after hearing those words.
As I watched her swiftly filling out the answer sheet in sync with the squirrel's wiggling.
"Ratatouille...?"
Unconsciously, a scene from a movie I had seen in my past life overlapped in my mind.