Chapter 5: Smartphone in Murim Academy

Entrance Ceremony

I left the academy gates feeling refreshed after catching up on all the top-voted posts I had missed.

Originally, I planned to head straight home.

But a crowd gathering nearby piqued my curiosity.

At its center, a loud voice rang out:

“Hey, hey! This isn’t an opportunity you see every day! With your insight, you could turn one silver coin into a hundred!”

It sounded like a typical street swindler.

But a 100x return? That’s no small talk.

Men with the surname Geum have a keen nose for money.

And so do I.

I weaved through the crowd and found the source of the voice.

A neatly dressed man in luxurious silk robes stood confidently.

I focused on the emblem on his sleeve.

It was the exact same Moyong Clan insignia that our princess’s long robe had.

My trust level shot up to 100%.

Seriously, what lunatic would dare scam people in front of the academy under a Ten Great Clans name?

Sensing an even stronger whiff of money, I turned to the banner he had laid out:

[Pick Me Up! Who Will Be #1 in the Prestigious Sect Admission Ceremony?]
[▩ ◀◀ Scan the QR Code! Betting also accepted in ThousandGoldPay!]

“Oho.”

Out of curiosity, I scanned the QR code. A sleek, well-organized page popped up.

[ 1st. Wol Song (Shaolin Temple). Odds 3.17:1
  2nd. Namgung Hyo (Namgung Clan). Odds 4.34:1
  3rd. Seomun Jayeong (Seomun Clan). Odds 6.98:1...]

Wow, this is legit.

As I glanced past the name “Jayeong” (which sounds like “snorer”), I decided to jump in for real.

Why would I pass up a sure-win when I already know the answer key?

I scrolled down to find a familiar name.

Since I'm a male character, let's see...

There it is.

[ 81st. Unhak (Beggar’s Sect). Odds 187.77:1 ]

Without hesitation, I bet 10 gold coins.

The ranking soared instantly—but only up to 38th.

Still, I’ll win it all in the end.

That guy’s the rival to the main character, after all.

“Young Master Geum Sihyeon has placed 10 gold on Unhak of the Beggar’s Sect!”

“?”

Hold on. Isn’t anonymity a given in illegal betting?

I looked up from my phone and met the eyes of the bookie.

He kept flicking the dice through his fingers with unsettling precision.

This bastard.

He dropped my name on purpose to hype the crowd.

“Haha! Fancy meeting you here! I’m Moyong Taek. A bit embarrassing to meet like this, but it’s an honor.”

“…Geum Sihyeon. Pleased to meet you.”

My mask nearly cracked.

Still, I managed to pull off the act of a polite young heir from a chaebol family.

I reached out my hand.

Instead of a martial arts salute, I offered a Western handshake—currently a trend even in the Central Plains.

He gripped it immediately.

Above his head, I saw:

[Gambler_Taek]

As I read the floating name…

I started calculating.

If, by some disaster, Unhak didn’t place first…

A suspicious anonymous poster would soon wreak havoc with every kind of slander available.

***

When I got home, I found a familiar face waiting for me.

“Brother? What brings you here? Don’t tell me… you got fired?”

“You punk. Is that how you speak to your elder brother?”

My second brother, Geum Sirang.

The pride of the Geum family. The guy who passed the top-level imperial exam.

“Since my little brother might become a jobless bum after today, shouldn't this elder brother offer his congratulations?”

“Would you quit jinxing me already?!”

Even as he teased, he messed up my hair and handed me a rice snack with a grin.

He still has that habit of treating me like a snot-nosed kid.

“Tastes good.”

I still like sweets, though.

That’s our hyung for you.

After laughing through his antics, I went to my room and took a glorious nap.

By ancient martial arts timekeeping, it was early in the hour of the dog.

In modern terms—8 p.m.

Bzzz—

My smartphone buzzed.

“At last!”

The entrance exam results must be out.

Unfortunately, it was during a family meal, so every eye turned to me.

“So, how’d it go?”

“Little bro, I offer my condolences in advance.”

“Aigo, Sirang-ah, don’t say such things!”

As Mom smacked the back of my good-for-nothing brother, I opened the message with a slightly pounding heart.

[(WEB Notification) [Hundred Flowers Academy] General Admission Results
Hello, Geum Si-hyeon. We sincerely congratulate you on your final acceptance to Hundred Flowers Academy. Detailed information about the entrance ceremony and certificate of admission are in the attached file. Thank you.]

Passing was a given.

I immediately checked the certificate:

[General Admission: Valedictorian (1st place)]

“Yessssssss!”

This is it!

I triumphantly held up my phone to show off my glorious achievement.

“You… placed first? You didn’t cheat or anything, right? If you confess now—ow! Ow! Mom, stop hitting me!”

Tsk.

What a fool.

I’m not some cheat-happy rascal like Squirrel Girl. I passed fair and square, with full game-mod power.

Heh heh!

I couldn't help but do a little shoulder dance.

The whole house erupted into celebration.

“Not bad for a walking corpse. Well done.”

“All thanks to you, sir.”

Even the old man—our family’s divine doctor who never leaves his room—came out to congratulate me.

It was finally time for Geum Sihyeon to step into the world of martial arts.

Me, Gangrim!

***

A week flew by.

By the time the bitterness of failure faded for those who chased their dreams to the capital only to be rejected in Xi’an…

I proudly became a freshman at Hundred Flowers Academy.

100 students from general admission, and 100 from prestigious sect admission.

Different starting lines at birth.

Different paths to get in.

Now we stood shoulder to shoulder.

But right from day one, I was hit with a serious crisis.

“...Thus, foreseeing the coming turmoil in the martial world, Sword Saint gathered the will of all the Central Plains and founded this academy. Just like the ancient Hundred Schools of Thought, it was named after the meaning of all kinds of flower, as we gather all blossoms of martial talent...”

The opening cutscene doesn’t have a skip button.

Where is the ESC key in Jianghu ethics?

Half my fellow freshmen had already dozed off under the oppressive weight of this speech.

If there’s a supreme sound technique, it’s the booming voice of our bald academy head reading historical essays.

Still, I’m a polite young man from the Land of Courtesy.

…Just kidding.

Once that long-winded speech ended, I had an important duty.

To take the stage.

It’s like that scene from Death Note when L and Light greet the class together.

The top scorer always gets dragged into this.

“...Let us cherish the chance to learn even the secret techniques of each sect, and be grateful to those who open their hearts to the Jianghu…”

In modern terms, this whole speech boiled down to:

Study hard.

To expand a bit:

A major Central Plains crisis event will happen in the future, and we’ll let you learn the so-called overpowered secret arts—so study hard now.

That’s about it.

Of course, nothing comes free in this world.

If you want to learn that extra spicy, over-stylized, dramatic Plum Blossom Sword Technique that practically makes flowers bloom from your blade with every swing—they’ll teach you… but there’s a catch.

From that moment, you’ll be considered part of Mount Hua.

It was basically a clever way to lure promising general students into the prestigious sect umbrella.

A classic guanxi (connections) cartel move.

“Haaam…”

I yawned and glanced to my side.

The valedictorian of the prestigious sect admission.

In the setting, he is the genius said to have descended from the heavens—the main character’s rival.

Also the treasure man who gave me 77x returns on my bet.

Unhak sat beside me, legs trembling like a leaf.

“Um… sorry but… are you okay?”

I’m not the type to talk to strangers, especially guys.

But he looked so bad that I felt a sudden surge of humanity.

Sweating bullets. Twitchy hands and feet.

Was he holding in a poop or something?

We’re supposed to be rivals going forward.

But I didn’t want to start our first meeting by witnessing him poop himself live.

His pale face turned to me with a grinding creak.

And in the quietest whisper:

“Th-there’s… too… many… w-women…”

“……”

Gynophobe, I see. So he had a crippling fear of women.

…I mean, I’m not the smoothest with girls myself, but wow, that’s extreme.

Unfortunately, he continued to cause a magnitude 7 earthquake all the way to the stage.

But the moment someone started talking about martial arts...

“...Even among the Beggar’s Sect’s arts, if one digs deep enough, they become profound and refined. Beyond the Nine Great Sects and Ten Great Clans, countless warriors have their own unique martial styles. Imagining their beauty alone is enough to stir the heart…”

He did a full 540° mental spin and possessed the spirit of a chatterbox.

Forget "woman-crazy bird" — he’s a martial-arts-crazy bird.

“Next, the valedictorian of general admission, Young Master Geum Sihyeon of Warring Gold Fields, will now give his speech.”

Watching Unhak’s face crumble under the headmaster’s sonic blast and his own nervous breakdown made me feel oddly better.

I stepped up to the podium and looked around at the faces.

Most of them were unfamiliar.

But I spotted a few in between that looked like familiar characters:

The squirrel girl, the dice gambler, and even people who looked just like in-game illustrations.

It really sank in that I’d been thrown into Hundred Flowers Academy's world.

Of course, most of the gazes weren’t friendly.

They were wary.

…Not surprising.

I'm not part of a prestigious sect.

No Nine Great Sects, no Ten Great Clans.

In the game, that was just background fluff.

But now, living as Geum Sihyeon, I could feel it firsthand.

These prestigious sect kids were a tightly-knit cartel.

No matter how much my father networked or how much gold he threw at it...

I couldn’t even recruit a proper martial master to teach me.

The one who poisoned me back then… they might even be here.

Well, whatever.

I’d already learned in my past life:

You can’t be loved by everyone.

Ahem, ahem.

I cleared my throat.

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Geum Sihyeon of Warring Gold Fields. I look forward to learning with you.”

Short, proper, and respectable. A true model student greeting.

***

After my short, punchy, and perfect speech that contained only the essentials…

It was time for the main event of the day.

“Lastly, we will now introduce a special student and conclude the entrance ceremony.”

A thunderbolt to shake up the complacent orthodox sect cartel.

“Since the truce, there has been no real interaction between the Orthodox sects and the Heavenly Demon Cult. But in the spirit of Hundred Flowers Academy, for the first time this term, members of the Heavenly Demon Cult will join us for the sake of mutual exchange.”

The murmur began softly.

Then rapidly grew into a massive uproar.

“Oh! Does this mean we’ll get to witness Demonic Cult martial arts too?!”

I ignored the background commentary from the martial-arts-mad bird beside me.

As if they had been waiting backstage all this time, the Demonic Cult members slowly began to ascend the platform.

Among them, one person caught everyone’s attention.

A woman—no, someone too flat-chested and fragile-looking to be confidently called a woman.

To exaggerate a bit, the girl, with curves reminiscent of a plain trampled and run over by Genghis Khan, walked 'thump-thump' as if she were the representative and stood on the platform.

…Or rather, appeared to stand on it.

Only when Moyong Seol rushed forward and placed a box at her feet did her face pop above the podium.

With cheeks slightly flushed, she just stood there blankly again.

“……?”

This time, it wasn't Moyong Seol, but someone else.

A member of the Demonic Cult hurriedly ran over with a piece of paper and handed it to her.

Only after receiving it did the girl’s tightly shut lips finally part.

“N… Nice… to… meet… you… fellow… martial… artists…”

Stutter, stutter.

Her voice was low and mechanical, barely rising above a whisper as she stammered.

The Little Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult—

Thus began the dazzling martial debut of the “Bumpkin Heavenly Demon Girlboss.”

(TL: Idk guys, you tell me, “Nong Cheonma-jjang”. I’m bad at nicknames)

Next Chapter