Chapter 4: Smartphone in Murim Academy

Hundred Flowers Academy Entrance Exam (2)

If I were a righteous young man,
I would’ve reported this blatant act of cheating that occurred in this less-than-sacred examination hall.

…Well, I did hesitate for a moment, but I never followed through.

Because—

“A squirrel peeked at my test and whispered her the answers!”

If I shouted that?
Even I’d think I was crazy.

There was no proof.
Just my testimony.
And even that was more suspicion than solid evidence.

"Even brushing sleeves is fate," they say...
I might’ve — just a little — thought of something sentimental like that.

Just a little. A tiny bit.

Still, even if I wasn’t going full Camus and calling them out in the name of justice, I figured I should at least give a gentle wake-up call to that squirrel duo, already strolling down the dark path of cheating before the real Murim journey even began.

After the chime signaling the end of the exam rang out clearly, I lingered by the entrance on purpose, waiting for her.

Soon, I spotted the crown of a small head bobbing through the crowd, her chestnut-brown hair neatly tied to one side.

As I stepped toward her casually, she recognized me too, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Oh! You're the gentleman I bumped into earlier!”

I’d been wondering how to approach her if she didn’t recognize me.
Thankfully, that problem solved itself.

“Did the urgent business you were rushing to take care of go well?”

I asked, feigning innocent curiosity.

“Uugh, my squirrel caused some trouble again... Just the second I take my eyes off her, she dashes off somewhere!”

Her puffed cheeks actually made her look even more squirrel-like.
Wasn’t there some saying about pets resembling their owners? Or was it the other way around?

“Come to think of it... I feel like I saw a squirrel near my test sheet earlier…”

I dropped the bait and watched her reaction.

The Squirrel Girl’s eyes rounded in surprise for just a moment.

“Ah, well… My Darami can be quite the troublemaker. She just can’t sit still. Hehe.”

She changed the subject pretty fast — quite smooth not gonna lie.
But I didn’t miss the way her expression briefly tightened.

…No way.
She was actually pulling a Ratatouille meta?

“That squirrel seemed to be deeply studying my answer sheet… and then whispered something in your ear.”

“Ah—! No, no, she just likes climbing on me and playing, that’s all!”

Squirrel Girl was starting to look visibly flustered.

Still, there wasn’t any need to push further.

Even if she passed the written exam thanks to some cheating, she’d get nowhere if she couldn’t handle the rest.

I gave her a bright, carefree smile — like I’d simply satisfied a passing curiosity.

“Haha, I’m joking, of course. I mean, even a mystical beast couldn’t actually read—”

“Squeak?”

I stopped mid-sentence.

Because at that exact moment, the creature in question — the squirrel — peeked its face out from between her chest.

……
Wow.
Did I just see that?
Boobs…?

“Hey, Darami! I told you to stay put!”

At first, I’d only noticed her cute and innocent face.

But now that I see this woman…

She was significantly stacked!

“Well then, I’m off to get ready for the next exam! Good luck to you too, master. Let’s meet again at the academy, okay?”

With her squirrel combo landing a direct hit and blowing away my mental defenses, the Squirrel Girl rattled off her goodbye and hurried off with quick steps.

Let’s meet again huh.

The words left behind a surprisingly pleasant ring in my ears.

“Ah—!”

I should’ve asked her name.

…Kinda regretted that.

Still reeling from the memory of that… monumental pair of mounds and her squirrel—

I arrived at the next stage: the Physical Strength Test.

It was exactly what you'd expect from a circus strongman show: smashing stone slabs purely with brute strength, no Qi involved.

……Honestly, I wasn’t confident.

I mean, it’s only been a year and a half since I crawled out of bed after being half-dead.

Sure, elixirs helped build up my Qi, but unfortunately, this world didn’t have steroids, or even protein shakes, like the ones modern gym bros love so much.

It’s not because I was slacking off on training. Okay?

“General admission candidate 157, Geum Sihyeon — seven slabs!”

Hey, that’s solid as hell.

“Hyaa!”

“Prestigious sect candidate 87, Wol Song — ten slabs!”

……
That guy’s bald.
If you’ve got nothing else, you’d better be strong, right?

Even though that comparison was a little unfair, seven slabs was more than fine among the general track examinees.

It’s the same logic as a public high school student not needing to score like a STEM prodigy at a gifted school.

Now, as long as I passed the upcoming retest for the Qi measurement, valedictorian was practically mine.

I brushed off the stone dust clinging to my sleeves and headed back toward the Qi test station, though not without a bit of unease in my step.

***

“…You’re telling me the scanner broke?”

The exam director, Moyong Seol, doubted her own ears.

As the very first graduate of Hundred Flowers Academy — and someone who had never left since — she had never heard of anything like this happening.

“Here, ma’am.”

One of the assistant proctors handed her a tablet.
She was skeptical until she looked down at the screen.

“Hmmm…”

Even with a clear palm-shaped crack spidering through the display, she couldn’t quite believe it.

‘Did he use some kind of layered force technique…?’
‘No way that’d work on this kind of gear.’

She kept studying the damage, over and over.

These smart devices — tablets, phones, and more — were collectively known as cutting-edge artifacts, developed years ago by the Jegal Clan, the Sama Clan, and a strange foreigner from the East known only as ‘ComHaHa’.

Even as a Qi master at the peak realm at just 28 years old, Moyong Seol wasn’t confident she could destroy one of these precious devices using pure Qi alone.

Which led her to only one conclusion:

“…Maybe the scanner was defective to begin with. Let them know we’ll conduct a retest after all other exams are done. I’ll personally oversee it.”

“Understood!”

With test-takers piling up endlessly, they couldn’t afford to stall.
So she sent Yoon Jihyang back to resume the exams for now.

Then Moyong Seol opened her own proctoring tablet and pulled up the application file of the problematic test-taker in question:

“Geum Sihyeon of the Warring Gold Fields…”

A legendary merchant group once ridiculed for pouring money into developing high-tech devices, but now controlling the greatest wealth in the Central Plains.

Even if he was gulping down high-end elixirs like water thanks to that wealth, Geum Sihyeon was still just 20 years old.

How much Qi could a twenty-year-old really gather?

Of course, there was also the possibility that he’d obtained insider knowledge from his family and had found a vulnerability in the tablet’s system.

Would someone really go that far just for an entrance exam?
She doubted it…

A moment later…

Moyong Seol finally stood face to face with the man of the hour:

Geum Sihyeon.

Her first impression—

‘…He’s handsome.’

To borrow an old-fashioned phrase, he was the very image of jade bones and an celestial grace.
Tall and dignified, with a bold, strikingly masculine face — truly well-formed.

“Ahem. Since the previous error might repeat itself, I will personally measure your Qi.”

Moyong Seol did her best to maintain a composed expression as she pressed her palm against his.

Just from the calluses on his hand, she could tell he’d trained relentlessly.
It had been so long since she’d held a man’s hand — and it was so large, so reassuring…

“…Hot.”

For a moment, her mind almost drifted away — but she quickly snapped back and continued:

“Have you ever tested your Qi against someone else before? Just concentrate it into your palm like this.”

But really, the man standing before her was, at best, first-rate.
Compared to herself — someone already on the verge of entering mid-Peak realm — he was still just a fledgling.

“Here I go.”

Slowly, she began to feel Qi flowing from his palm.

But then—

“…Feel free to release your Qi without restraint. I can handle it.”

Moyong Seol frowned slightly.

The sensation was too faint — weak, even — far too mild for someone who’d supposedly shattered a reinforced tablet.

Had he really used some insider trick to exploit a system flaw?

Just as disappointment began to rise in her chest—

“Ah… My apologies. This is the first time I’ve held a woman’s hand like this. I may have been a bit too reserved.”

Geum Sihyeon gave a bashful smile and whispered it almost shyly.

Moyong Seol’s heart melted a little.

But before she could fully process this strange new feeling—

Kuugugugugu…!

A tidal wave of Qi surged into her hand, vastly stronger than before.

“…!”

Outwardly, she didn’t react. But inside, Moyong Seol was startled.

This was by no means the Qi of a mere first-rate martial artist.

It was still somewhat rough, unrefined, as if the cultivation technique behind was still incomplete, but the wild, unrestrained force packed within…

At minimum? Peak-level early stage.
No, it was so intense that it could even be considered the mid-stage.

Moyong Seol bit her lip and raised her Qi in response.

As an examiner, she couldn’t show the unsightly appearance of being pushed back in a direct contest by an entrance exam candidate.

A silvery aura began to shimmer around her delicate hand.
A chilly cold began to ripple around her.

The Ice Essence she had inherited from her mother burst forth as if the reins had been loosened for the first time in a while, and lunged to crush Geum Sihyeon’s inner force.

Or… at least, it tried to.

Then their eyes met.

Those calm, clear eyes of his sparkled with serenity, even while he was pouring out massive amounts of Qi. His presence is so peaceful that she couldn't believe he was a newcomer to the martial arts world.

Moyong Seol realized her mistake.

After all, this was just a qualification test, not a matter of pride or dominance.

If she pushed harder, she might seriously injure him.

“…That’s enough.”

She withdrew her Qi slowly, trying to maintain her composure as much as possible.

She had heard the sound of genius.
She had also met many so-called geniuses in her life.
But this man—Geum Sihyeon—was the real deal.

“Full marks.”

A dragon had entered Hundred Flowers Academy.

***

Thank you, Life and Death Divine Doctor~!

“Ehehehe.”

The grudge I’d held for every bitter mouthful of those revolting elixirs, which had always made me want to throw up everything inside me, was now washed away like it had never existed.

Full marks.
What a beautiful, soul-satisfying sound.

On top of that, I even made face-to-face contact with one of the game’s main heroines:

Moyong Seol.

An S-rank companion who could wield both swordsmanship and ice arts freely.

Sure, she had the critical flaw of being 28, a bit on the older side —
But as someone ranked among the Five Beauties of the Martial World, and specifically known as the Ice Blossom, her real-life appearance… was exceptional.

"Real-life" might be a weird word to use here, but still.

Even just proving that all the money Father poured into me hadn’t gone to waste was more than enough to lift my spirits.

“Yaaawn…”

Now that all the exams were done, I just had to wait for the results.

They’d be announced later tonight.

…Apparently, those who fail wouldn’t get a notice at all.
So a lot of people were probably going to have a sleepless night.

The teahouse my family runs in the Warring Gold Fields? Already fully booked for tonight.

No telling whether the drinks will be celebratory… or consolation.

As I strolled down a now mostly-empty street — most examinees had already left — I took out my smartphone.

Gallery-surfing while walking?
Of course I can’t resist.

“Oh?”

As soon as I connected to the academy’s Wi-Fi, I could finally access the Hundred Flowers Academy Gallery, which had been unavailable until now.

No wonder the Shaanxi gallery had been quiet.
Everyone was over here making noise.

[Hundred Flowers Academy Gallery]
[ㅇㅇ/ Got 72 in Qi and 50 in physical — is that average enough to pass? 😭 (4)]
[ㅇㅇ/ OMG I DESTROYED THAT TEST LOL (7)]
[CrystalClear2ndYearKing / Kick out the newbies — we won’t be seeing them tomorrow anyway (13)]

I was scrolling through the chaos brought by the test-taker invasion…

“…Hm?”

When I spotted a familiar ID.

[Author: IcePrincess (SNOWWHITE_04)]
[Title: Princess ㅠㅠㅠㅠ My heart went boom boom today ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

[ (Photo of a unicorn carp swimming in a pond)

Today ㅠㅠㅠ I met a total cutie ㅠㅠㅠ
We like totally held hands and squished and hngggg, all sort of things ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
For the first time in a while, Princess ㅠㅠㅠ became super happy happyyyyyyy~~!!!! ]

- Princess, you missed your meds again. Go back to the clinic.

- ;;; I’m a new student… who is this person?

-ㄴ Just a delusional tryhard. Ignore her.

- Has she even graduated?? WTF.

“……”

This… was the movement technique of a 28-year-old?

I felt like I’d just witnessed a glimpse of true genius, and immediately hit the back button in retreat.

Right then and there, I downgraded Moyong Seol’s tier from S to A in my heart.

After all, as they say:

Looks are important… But inner self matters too.

Just like me.

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