IBM 22

Final Trial (1)

His name was Geum Seo-il.

Though he was only thirty, he was known in the Murim as the Little Sword Saint.

He had passed the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy as the Second Scorer, and his exceptional martial talent and aptitude for enlightenment were recognized, leading him to be invited as the youngest swordsmanship master of the academy at the age of twenty-nine.

Geum Seo-il had been chosen to oversee the Final Trial of this year’s Changcheon Martial Arts Academy entrance exam, surpassing other masters with more experience.

It was because the exam method he devised had been adopted.

Geum Seo-il called this exam the Crossroads of Choice.

—Creeeak!

The applicant who opened the door and entered couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he looked around.

What he saw upon entering was Two Paths.

On the First Path stood Geum Seo-il, the supervisor of the final stage, and on the Second Path stood a large man wearing a Demon Mask, holding a gruesome iron club.

And behind that man, at a slight distance, was a pit about ten feet wide, and just above its surface, a girl was trapped in an iron cage dangling from a rope.

“What on earth?”

Geum Seo-il spoke to the puzzled applicant.

“Welcome to the Final Trial of the entrance exam.”

“Ah, yes!”

The applicant politely performed a Fist and Palm Salute to Geum Seo-il, who appeared to be the supervisor.

Geum Seo-il gave a light nod in return and then began to speak.

“The Final Trial is an exam that literally respects the choices of the applicants.”

“Yes? What do you mean by…”

“You just have to choose one of the Two Paths.”

“A choice?”

“An applicant who has passed the First Trial and Second Trial can be considered to have already qualified for admission to the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy. That is why we are giving you a choice.”

At those words, the applicant glanced back and forth between the Two Paths.

There was no explanation, but it was clear at a glance that the Second Path looked more difficult than he had anticipated.

However, he couldn’t make a rash decision without knowing what kind of test the First Path, where the supervisor stood, was.

“Excuse me, Supervisor, what is the First Path?”

“It’s simple. I will be standing in the middle here, blindfolded, with this Certificate of Acceptance on my head.”

“Certificate of Acceptance?”

“Yes. You just have to take the Certificate of Acceptance. I will stand still and blindfolded while I count to five. But once five is up, I will remove the blindfold.”

“You mean?”

“If the blindfold comes off, you will have to withstand Five Forms against me to take this.”

At these words, an Unusual Light glinted in the applicant’s eyes.

Judging by the distance, it seemed he could easily reach it using his lightness skill before the count of five.

That meant the final stage was practically a giveaway test.

‘This seems easy.’

There seemed to be no need to even choose.

It had to be the First Path.

But he grew curious about what kind of test the Second Path was and asked.

“How does the Second Path proceed?”

“It’s simple. You have to rescue the girl held captive by that Unorthodox Faction master over there. However, the rope will be cut after a certain amount of time, so if you fail to rescue the girl safely, there is no Certificate of Acceptance.”

It sounded simple enough.

But compared to the first test, it was difficult, just as he’d expected.

After all, rescue would be impossible if he couldn’t defeat the person disguised as an Unorthodox Faction master in time.

Was there any need to take such a risk?

The applicant said without hesitation.

“Then I will choose the First Path.”

“Hmm. A good choice. However, whether you take the First Path or the Second Path, there is a rule you must follow in this exam.”

“Yes? And what is that?”

“You must absolutely not speak.”

“Speak?”

“Yes. If you utter even a single word before the exam is over, you will be disqualified immediately, regardless of the situation. Just keep that in mind.”

“I understand.”

It wasn’t particularly difficult.

Besides, he hadn’t needed to speak at all during the exams so far.

The applicant confidently took a step toward the First Path.

As he took his first step onto the First Path, Supervisor Geum Seo-il covered his eyes with a blindfold.

‘Alright, shall we go.’

It was the moment he was about to take another step.

A bewildering sight unfolded before the applicant’s eyes.

‘Huh?’

The iron cage on the Second Path was sinking into the Water Pit.

It seemed like there was some kind of mistake.

But the problem was that the girl, as if her pressure points had been sealed, couldn’t speak or move.

Just then, Supervisor Geum Seo-il’s voice reached his ears.

“One.”

The count had already begun.

In an instant, the applicant’s mind became a mess.

If there were no rules, he would want to shout that he had to save that girl right now, but doing so would get him disqualified from the exam.

If he ignored it, took the certificate, and then spoke up, the iron cage would sink completely into the Water Pit.

“Two.”

If he ran now, he could just barely snatch the Certificate of Acceptance.

But he didn’t know what would happen to the girl in the iron cage in the meantime.

‘Damn it.’

Still, he had barely made it to the final stage of this year’s exam; he couldn’t let the opportunity slip away so easily.

And wouldn’t he be disqualified anyway if he failed to defeat that Unorthodox Faction master in the Demon Mask?

The confused applicant didn’t know what to do.

The pressure that any choice he made would be wrong weighed heavily on him.

The applicant could no longer even hear Supervisor Geum Seo-il’s voice.

“Five.”

Supervisor Geum Seo-il removed his blindfold.

Even then, the applicant hadn’t set foot on either path.

Geum Seo-il scoffed at the sight.

“Applicant disqualified.”

“W-What?”

The applicant, startled by the word ‘disqualified’, retorted.

Looking at him, Supervisor Geum Seo-il spoke in a somewhat cold voice.

“Seeing as you still can’t bring yourself to say that the iron cage is sinking and the girl is in danger, you truly are not qualified to enter the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy.”

“W-What do you mean?”

—Screeeech!

Just then, the applicant saw the iron cage, which had been half-submerged in water, rising back up.

The girl was smiling and waving at him.

‘!?’

In that moment, a Sense of Emptiness washed over the applicant.

‘……It can’t be.’

This wasn’t an accident.

It was, quite literally, an intentional situation, and he had failed to make any proper choice.

The flustered applicant soon protested.

“I-Isn’t this too much? How can you possibly set the passing criteria like this?”

“Did I not say?”

“What?”

“That you could get the Certificate of Acceptance by either easily taking it during the count of five, or by going to the Second Path and saving the girl.”

“No. How are we supposed to make a choice in a situation where we’re disqualified if we speak?”

At the applicant’s words, Supervisor Geum Seo-il sneered and said.

“What a funny guy. The options were varied. At this distance, you could have easily used your lightness skill to grab the certificate within five counts. Couldn’t you have just informed me of the accident after securing it?”

“That’s…”

“And you, bastard, are crucially lacking something as a member of the Righteous Faction.”

“Lacking?”

“If you truly knew righteousness, you would have run to the Second Path without a second thought. Regardless of the outcome.”

“……..”

At those words, the applicant was momentarily overcome with shame.

Supervisor Geum Seo-il was right.

Faced with a person in danger, he had weighed his options and failed to choose either.

Geum Seo-il coldly pointed to the door for disqualified applicants and said.

“I can’t stand the state of you. Get lost, quickly.”

In the end, the applicant left through the door with his shoulders slumped.

Watching him go, Geum Seo-il clicked his tongue.

The true purpose of this exam, called the Crossroads of Choice, was to assess not only Cool-headed Judgment but also Chivalrous Spirit.

At the very least, someone with Cool-headed Judgment would have done as he’d said earlier, and someone with Chivalrous Spirit would have chosen the Second Path, regardless of the outcome.

“That’s a really difficult test. I’m so glad I didn’t enroll this year.”

At the voice, Supervisor Geum Seo-il turned his head.

Standing there was Dang So-so, the assistant from the Second Trial.

At Dang So-so’s words, Geum Seo-il clicked his tongue and said.

“It’s not a difficult test. The Second Path was designed to be impossible to complete from the start. Just choosing it guarantees a pass.”

“Huh? Really?”

“However, you’d have to experience the pressure of facing an Unorthodox Faction master who has reached the Entrance to the Transcendent Stage while there’s a person to be rescued.”

Geum Seo-il’s lips twisted into a wry smile.

As if he was enjoying the situation.

‘……That’s just a completely Sadistic Taste.’

Anyone would be thrown into confusion in such a situation.

They might even suffer a great mental shock.

A situation where you have to fight a tremendous master while watching a hostage sink in water was not something one encounters easily.

Dang So-so stuck out her tongue and said.

“…….I think there will be more disqualified applicants here than in our second stage.”

“Soso, more outstanding successful candidates have emerged than you think.”

“From here?”

“Yes.”

Supervisor Geum Seo-il thought of two people.

‘Hong Hye-ryeong.’

The daughter of the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle, one of the Four Great Grandmasters.

She not only chose the Second Path but also displayed martial prowess on par with the Demon Mask.

The original intention was to teach a sense of despair through this test, but she overcame it with her skill.

However, she failed to save the girl hostage.

But she had achieved the test’s objective and was the first to defeat the Demon Mask, so she confidently took her Certificate of Acceptance.

‘The disciple of the Eastern River Sword Saint……he was a funny guy.’

Yeong-chun chose the First Path.

He snatched the Certificate of Acceptance in a flash before the count of two, then threw himself toward the Water Pit.

Of course, he was blocked by the Demon Mask and stopped, but the guy also tried to take him down without hesitation.

Both of them showed results that went beyond the essence of this test.

‘Looking at the results, the disciple of the Eastern River Sword Saint has slightly less martial prowess than the daughter of the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle, but he also possesses cool-headedness.’

I think I understand why other masters want to be exam supervisors.

It’s because you get to see various aspects of the applicants.

Supervisor Geum Seo-il, who had been feeling inwardly satisfied thinking about them, asked with puzzlement.

“But Dang So-so, why are you here?”

“You’re only asking now? A problem arose at the Second Trial because of an applicant, so I’m on my way to request the General Supervisor to refill the Artificial Lake.”

“Refill the Artificial Lake?”

“Yes. That applicant used Flight Over Water and made the Artificial Lake overflow.”

“What? Flight Over Water?”

Geum Seo-il frowned.

A level of lightness skill that could reach Flight Over Water was not a state an applicant could achieve.

It was something only possible for someone who had reached the same state of lightness skill as Supervisor Ga Yu-hang, who was in charge of the Second Trial.

Geum Seo-il, finding this strange, soon asked.

“……Could that applicant be the friend named Mumu who supposedly tore off the castle gate at the First Trial?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“Yeon Nam-gyeong told me.”

“Ah!”

Come to think of it, Yeon Nam-gyeong, the assistant from the First Trial, had headed to the Main Building to request help before her.

“Anyway, Master Geum. I’m in a hurry, so I’ll be going.”

After she hurriedly left, Geum Seo-il stroked his chin.

When Yeon Nam-gyeong first told him, he had dismissed it lightly, wondering if such a thing was even possible.

But now, hearing that he had displayed such incredible martial prowess at the second stage as well, preventing the exam from proceeding, made him curious about the reality of it.

‘Wasn’t he called the younger brother of that Yu Jin-seong?’

I heard he was a talented person overflowing with chivalrous spirit.

But this guy gives off a strangely different scent.

The fact that he’d wrecked the exam trials twice felt suspicious.

If it was intentional, it could not be forgiven.

‘If……he did it on purpose, he’d better be prepared.’

Of course, this test was on a different level from the previous ones.

After all, it was a test designed so that the given conditions could not be met in the first place.

Even if he had somehow passed the previous trials, if he tried to clumsily interfere, he would be the one getting hurt badly.

After about fifteen minutes,

Supervisor Geum Seo-il inwardly clicked his tongue as he watched the back of an applicant named Ha-ryun walking away leisurely with a Certificate of Acceptance.

He was a qualitatively different guy from all the applicants so far.

No, to be precise, his quality was not good.

‘Should I consider this cool-headedness?’

He was a little surprised that the guy had snatched the Certificate of Acceptance from his head during a mere count of two.

It was because his lightness skill was almost on par with the third disciple of the Eastern River Sword Saint.

But the moment he snatched the certificate, the guy simply tried to leave.

So Geum Seo-il had reprimanded him.

[Why didn’t you report that the iron cage was sinking into the water?]

[Wasn’t the fact that silence was required part of the plan anyway?]

[What?]

[And even if it were a real accident, wouldn’t that not be my responsibility, but rather the fault of the supervisor and the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy administration for their inadequate preparation?]

At those words, Geum Seo-il couldn’t bring himself to rebuke him.

Even if it didn’t align with the hidden purpose of the exam, the guy’s words had a point.

After all, he hadn’t broken the premise of the test.

But the guy’s mindset was quite different from that of other Righteous Faction members.

‘What an unpleasant guy.’

Since he had been admitted, it seemed he would need to be watched for a while.

But he didn’t know why the guy’s hand was injured.

His palm was swollen and purple, as if it were fractured.

When he asked if there would be a problem with that hand before the test, the guy had shown strong displeasure.

Could something have happened?

While he was wondering, the next applicant entered the exam hall, as if preparations were complete.

‘Hmm.’

The way he ambled in, looking around here and there, was not to his liking.

He had a rarely seen handsome face, but his expression was incredibly simple-minded.

Supervisor Geum Seo-il asked.

“What is the applicant’s name?”

“Me? Mumu.”

“Mumu?”

At those words, Geum Seo-il’s eyes narrowed.

Is that bastard the younger brother of Yu Jin-seong, the one who wrecked the first and second stage exam halls?

He finally got to see his face.

‘I’ll be watching to see just what kind of bastard you are.’

If he was the kind of person with the disposition he suspected, he would be looking for something to disrupt this exam as well.

However, this exam was completely different from the previous ones.

The master disguised as the Unorthodox Faction member in the Demon Mask was a master who had reached the Entrance to the Transcendent Stage.

If he tried to cause another disruption, he would pay the price dearly.

“Welcome to the Final Trial of the entrance exam. The Final Trial is an exam that literally respects the choices of the applicants.”

Supervisor Geum Seo-il explained the final stage of the exam, just as he had done until now.

Through this test, he should be able to figure out the guy’s disposition.

And so, Geum Seo-il gave Mumu the choice.

“Which path will you choose?”

At this question, Mumu tilted his head, then walked over to the First Path.

Seeing this, Geum Seo-il inwardly chuckled.

‘Yes. Of course.’

I can understand this much.

Anyone would choose the path to easily obtain the Certificate of Acceptance.

The problem is that this First Path is the test with the strongest mental pressure.

Geum Seo-il took out the blindfold.

And when Mumu reached the front of the First Path, he put on the blindfold and shouted.

“One!”

Though his eyes were closed, he was familiar with the situation.

Now the iron cage would start sinking into the water.

From here, the guy would face the true question of this test.

Should he go to the Second Path, or should he quickly choose the easy First Path and get the certificate first…?

—CRASH!

At that moment, a tremendous roar echoed in Geum Seo-il’s ears.

It was a sound as if the ground itself was breaking.

‘!?’

What on earth was that just now?

Just then, a scream reached his ears.

“Heok!”

—CRASH!

Another crashing sound was heard.

It was the sound of something hitting a wall and getting embedded in it.

‘What? What was that sound?’

“Two!”

Geum Seo-il shouted “two” for now.

In the meantime, a series of sounds that were hard to guess were heard.

—KRRRAAAAACK!

“W-Wait, what are you doing… KYAAAAAAAAAAK!”

—SWOOOOOOOSH! CLANK! CLANK! THUD!

He heard something fall right in front of him, and the floor shook from the vibration.

It was utterly impossible to guess what on earth was happening.

“…..Three!”

He was dying of curiosity, but since it was the rule, he continued counting.

—Snatch!

Just then, he felt the Certificate of Acceptance that had been fixed on his head being taken off.

Frustrated, Geum Seo-il quickly took off his blindfold.

‘!!!’

After removing the blindfold, Geum Seo-il was so dumbfounded by the sight before him that he was momentarily speechless.

“Did I pass?”

In the brightly smiling Mumu’s hands was a large iron cage.

“Uweeegh!”

The girl trapped inside the iron cage was retching, her face pale white as she clung to the bars.

Like someone with severe motion sickness.

‘……..What on earth is this?’

He simply couldn’t understand the sight that defied all common sense.

Surely, he hadn’t brought the entire iron cage with him in his hurry to get here during the count of five?

‘This is crazy……’

It was an absurd shift in perspective.

Wait, then what was the Demon Mask guarding it doing in the meantime?

As he turned his gaze to where he was, Geum Seo-il’s eyes widened like saucers.

“M-Master I-mun!”

The Demon Mask, no, Master Byeok I-mun, who had been helping with the exam, was staggering out of a broken wall.