Academy's Silver Gatekeeper-Chapter 18

I waited with the female student from the Student Council for a moment, and not long after, a male student approached.

‘Must be him.’

I expected him to bring his gang along, but to my surprise, he came alone. I wondered if that meant he had some kind of conviction, or if he was just showing utter disrespect.

The answer would come from the Third Eye.

- Activating The Third Eye.

◎ Jung Yuhyeon

An Ambusher with a Twisted Sense of Superiority

◎ Details

A classic example of bullying the weak and fearing the strong. His critical-hit rate rises when facing someone weaker than himself.

As expected. My civil-servant instincts were on point. He gave off the aura of a troublesome complainer, and his trait matched the vibe perfectly.

‘Twisted. Sense of superiority. And an Ambusher, too. Good grief…’

He was quite something in many ways.

If Ma Hakjun had his own positive “holy trinity,” this guy had a negative one. I even wondered how he landed the Vice President spot in the first place.

“Examiner.”

He was still better than a foul-mouthed troublemaker who started cursing the moment we made eye contact.

“Hello. I’m Jung Yuhyeon, serving as the Student Council Vice President.”

“Good to meet you. I’m Baek Seojin.”

While exchanging introductions, I carefully studied his gaze. His words sounded polite enough, but the look in his eyes was far from friendly. He didn’t even bother hiding it, so he clearly hadn’t come with good intentions.

“You said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes. If it’s not too much trouble, do you have a moment?”

He was worried about causing trouble, yet he was the one giving orders to bring me over.

“Let’s talk here. There aren’t any students around, and I’m reluctant to leave my post without reason.”

“Ah, I see. Then I’ll speak to you right away.”

He even sent the female student next to us away before talking. I waited quietly, and he spoke with a sharp glint in his eye.

“Give it up. What you’re doing now.”

“…I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Don’t pretend. That thing you’re doing. Acting like you’re something big in Silver promotion exams, when you’re actually nothing. I’m telling you to stop.”

In other words, he found it annoying that a mere Silver was making a fuss. No wonder the Third Eye labeled his sense of superiority as “twisted.”

He was basically saying: “Stop strutting around and picking on Bronze students when you’re just a Silver.”

“Student Jung Yuhyeon.”

I had no reason to bow my head or say, “Okay, I’ll do that.”

I was well aware the Student Council held considerable power here at the Academy.

Most students would immediately take notice if the Council appeared.

However, I wasn’t an Academy student. I was a “civil servant” dispatched here. I was operating under an official mandate, carrying out my duties, period.

“This is interference with my work. You understand that, correct?”

“….”

“The Silver promotion exams are a government-assigned duty for me. The only ones who can comment on that are the Academy Director or my own department. Even though you’re the Vice President, you’re still just a student, so you have no authority here.”

He wasn’t outright attacking me, so it wasn’t obstruction of official duty, but it was still enough to be called interference. This twisted superiority complex needed a warning.

Even if I wasn’t as powerful an superhuman being as him, he shouldn’t treat me like a student. He needed to realize that challenging me was as good as challenging state authority.

“…I apologize for bringing this up so suddenly.”

He wasn’t just a stereotypical villain with a single-digit IQ. He immediately took a step back, probably because he sensed things were turning against him.

It made sense. Otherwise, how could he have climbed to the Vice President position?

“Still, I have my reasons for acting like this.”

“Reasons?”

“Yes. Do you know how many students have failed the Silver promotion exam under your watch so far?”

Hmm. Likely around forty, but I hadn’t bothered to keep a precise count.

“It’s exactly forty-five. They’re students who need to reach Silver quickly to refocus on their studies, yet they’ve failed promotion and have to worry about it all over again.”

He sounded like someone who cared deeply about Bronze and Silver students, which was ironic for a guy so steeped in superiority. In reality, it was just a mask. He looked down on anyone beneath him.

“You may not know this, but there’s a rule at the Academy. If you remain in Bronze for too long, you get an academic warning. It’s considered proof that you aren’t making an effort to improve.”

“I’m aware.”

“And you’re still doing this? Among those forty-plus students, some may be desperate to achieve promotion.”

Admission to the superhuman Academy was difficult, and graduation was even more so. I knew how serious academic warnings were. I verified it several times before I came.

“So in other words, Vice President, you think it’s right to take it easy on them in the Silver promotion exams, for the students’ sake. Is that what I’m hearing?”

“All the other dispatched Examiners so far have done it that way. Even most of the faculty members go easy on them. You’re the only one who’s suddenly raised the bar.”

I clicked my tongue involuntarily at his words.

He was using the fact that I was a civil servant to avoid outright crushing me with rank, so he was resorting to a claim of moral high ground. Honestly, having him do this wasn’t great for me, either.

It was only a “Silver” promotion exam. Outside these walls, a Silver Examiner was nobody special. From the students’ perspective, it affected academic warnings, so letting them pass was common courtesy. He was pressuring me, insisting I was ignoring that custom and acting on my own whims.

‘He really lives up to that twisted sense of superiority, yet he’s sharp enough to serve as Vice President.’

He was using the students as leverage, building a case against me. Fine. Then I would respond in kind. I’d dealt with stubborn complainants in my civil-service days.

“Alright, Student Jung Yuhyeon. I understand your logic that you’re doing this for the sake of the students.”

“Thank you. Then….”

“However. When those students, who pass the exam with minimal effort, go out on external assignments for practical experience, what if they suddenly face real danger? Who do you think will handle it better? The ones who struggled and worked harder to get promoted, or the ones who just barely scraped through? The first group would take fewer injuries and perform more effectively, wouldn’t they?”

Just like him, I leveraged the argument about caring for the Academy students.

Which was better in the long run—preventing academic warnings, or ensuring they had grown enough to fight monsters and villains?

“That’s for them to figure out themselves.”

His response made me frown.

“If they have talent, they’ll make it. If not, so be it. There’s no reason for us to worry about that. They should handle their own survival.”

“Hang on. A moment ago, you seemed concerned about those students.”

“I’m saying if too many academic warnings pile up, it’s bad for everyone. Of course it’s bad for the students, too.”

So that was his true motive?

He wasn’t worried about the students. He was worried that a spike in academic warnings under his watch would reflect badly on him as Vice President. What a twisted piece of work.

“Student Jung Yuhyeon. I’m sorry, but our negotiation seems to be over.”

“Seems that way.”

His eyes briefly flickered. I had the sudden notion that he’d planned his words from the start, calculating when to say them.

“Then show me what you’ve got.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Your skills, Examiner Baek Seojin. I want to see if you’re strict because you genuinely have the skill, or if you’re just an outsider who couldn’t even get into the Academy and is taking out his inferiority on the students. Prove it.”

He dropped any pretense of politeness and provoked me head-on.

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My troublemaker radar worked just as well at the Academy.

“You want a spar?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry, but I’m only here to evaluate students, not fight them.”

If something went wrong while sparring a student, I’d get torn apart by legalities. The only thing I was authorized for was evaluating them. Sparring with a student could become a serious headache if incidents occurred.

“Are you making excuses? You go after lowly Bronzes, but run away when a tougher opponent appears. Isn’t that right, Examiner Baek Seojin?”

“Think whatever you want.”

He couldn’t stop my exams anyway. He had no authority, so he was likely trying to block me some other way. It wouldn’t work…

“Such low class. Guess you really are showing off that you have no parents.”

He muttered it loudly enough that I heard every word. Whether it was intentional or not, it was definitely said.

‘This jerk. Even saints can’t ignore that level of trash talk.’

If this was his trap, I had no choice but to step in. People here took that kind of slur very seriously. No one would just let it go.

“Alright. Let’s spar. With conditions.”

“What are they?”

“If you lose, Vice President Jung Yuhyeon, you’ll have to forfeit your current rank and drop to Bronze. You’ll only be allowed to get back to Silver by passing my exam.”

Get ready. You’ll be parked in Bronze until the day you die.

Clank—

“…What the? Where’s the Vice President?”

“He’s not here? Wow. You’re right. He was just here a while ago.”

Two female students who entered the Student Council room tilted their heads in confusion.

“Hang on, Unnie. I’ll go find out.”

Yoo Dasom, the Student Council Treasurer, headed out somewhere.

Moments later…

“Unnie.”

“Yes. Did you find out?”

“Apparently, he left a little while ago.”

“Left? We have a Council meeting soon. Where did he go?”

At Yoo Dasom’s words, the girl she called Unnie frowned.

“I heard he went to see that new Examiner.”

“I’ve heard about him. So why?”

“They said the Vice President is meeting him right now.”

Hearing that, the Academy Student Council President, Kang Hana, turned icy.

‘This is troubling.’

He had decent ability and a solid background, but his superiority complex was a major problem. He looked down on ordinary people without powers, and he even belittled superhuman individuals weaker than himself. They were technically classmates, but he wasn’t someone she enjoyed dealing with. That was her conclusion about Jung Yuhyeon.

And in this situation, that haughty man went to meet the Silver Examiner?

“Dasom.”

“Yes, Unnie.”

“Let’s step out for a moment.”

“Huh? Where?”

Yoo Dasom waited for an answer, and Kang Hana responded.

“Wherever that Examiner is.”