Chapter 5

A handsome face with a narcissism trait.

And a man who hits on every blonde beauty he sees.

‘No wonder he was grinning the moment he saw me.’

Lucy Saint was a gorgeous blonde with green eyes and a cat-like appearance.

Exactly Hayden’s type.

But perhaps because I’d already met the protagonist in person, it was less surprising than the first time.

I gave a vague answer and secretly checked the quest window.

!Sudden Quest!

: Praise Hayden’s exam!

Success Reward: Item Draw Ticket / On failure, Affection –3

Why on earth?

He didn’t do the support he was supposed to in the combat support test—he just wiped out everything himself.

Why am I supposed to praise that!

“You took down the monster all by yourself? That’s amazing!”

But contrary to my thoughts, my mouth was faithfully spouting praise.

I didn’t care about the penalty, but the success reward was tempting.

Again, no quest success notification appeared right away.

I knew it, quests.

“Yeah? You’ve already fallen for me?”

As if.

I held back my twitching lips and spoke.

“It’s not that I fell for you… I just think it’s impressive! It’s one thing to think about doing something like that, but actually trying it isn’t easy.”

You get it? Other people only think about it, but the guts to actually try it is impressive, you bastard.

I did my best to sugarcoat my true feelings.

Perhaps my effort paid off, because Hayden smiled even more brightly than before and approached me.

“Thanks. What’s your name?”

“Lucy Saint. You?”

“Oh my, so you’re a precious lady.”

Hayden seemed a little flustered.

He must have thought I was from the same background as him—or from some insignificant family—since I accepted his greeting so casually.

But the Saint family was a noble house with a long tradition.

Sophia, who hadn’t recognized me, was the special case.

“My apologies. I am Hayden, my lady.”

Hayden quickly changed his tone.

But that sounded even more cringeworthy, so I ended up waving my hand.

“Just speak comfortably. Once you enter the academy, status doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Then I won’t decline.”

He grinned shamelessly and dropped the formal speech.

And I kept praising him.

“More importantly, what happened with your exam?”

“Who knows, maybe I’ll fail?”

“As if! They wouldn’t fail someone skilled enough to wipe out a monster in one go.”

“Do you really think so?”

Hayden asked with eyes that had suddenly sunk deeper than before.

Right, this guy looks like an ordinary flirt, but occasionally gives off a chilling vibe—that’s his twist.

So I answered with 100% pure sincerity.

“Of course. You’ll definitely pass.”

Because I saw it.

And right on cue, the quest success notification popped up.

!Sudden Quest Success!

: Your praise gives Hayden renewed determination!

Check your success reward. (Click!)

I finally finished that damn praise relay.

Sigh, my dignity is dead.

Anyway, since I’d achieved my goal, I decided to leave.

The next batch of examinees was already swarming over from afar.

“Well, I’ll get going.”

“Ah, okay. Let’s meet at the academy.”

I hope so.

Praying he’d pass, I left the exam site.

Now I had only one exam left.

And it was the most important one for Lucy Saint, an archer.

* * *

The day of reckoning had dawned.

I had practically lived in the practice room all day yesterday for this day.

And now, it was time to show the results.

“Unnie, do your absolute best!”

Sophia gave me a solid cheer before I left for the exam.

Ever since that rumor spread, she seemed to think I was some incredibly capable person.

That’s not true.

Anyway, I followed the crowd of archers to the exam site again.

But today, everyone’s atmosphere was heavy—probably because it was their main exam.

Still, could anyone be more suffocated than me?

“That’s her, that one.”

“She knocked out a candidate, and apparently he ended up giving up on the exam…”

“Crazy. Good thing she’s not in my time slot.”

The rumor must have spread thoroughly.

I know. It’s not easy for an archer to K.O. an opponent with one punch in close combat.

But what am I supposed to do if Lucy is a strength-based character!

Still, since I’d seen these reactions at the cafeteria yesterday too, I was getting numb to them.

I decided to ignore them.

“Hmph, so what if she did that in close combat? An archer should be good at shooting. Her ranged shooting is probably a mess.”

What, can you see my status window too?

Feeling a pang, I whipped my head toward the voice.

There stood a girl with orange hair and a youthful face.

“Eek!”

The girl, who looked about Sophia’s age, flinched and averted her eyes the moment she met mine.

Her face was bright red—almost pitiful.

I stared at her intently.

“Hic! Hic!”

Eventually she started hiccupping.

Goodness, she’s such a scaredy-cat, so how did she manage to say that?

I looked away from her.

It wasn’t anything special that made me stare. I just felt a sense of déjà vu.

‘Ah, I know why.’

I wondered who she reminded me of—she resembled the original Lucy.

Not in appearance, but her way of speaking and her vibe were exactly the same.

So much so that I wondered if she was Lucy’s hidden younger sister.

But her appearance wasn’t in my memory.

At least she wasn’t a main or supporting character.

I wondered whether that orange-haired girl would pass the academy, then realized I’d only know after Lucy passed first.

What position am I in to worry about someone else?

I need to solve Lucy’s problem first.

Pretending to look at the floor, I secretly brought up my item window.

• Lucky Four-Leaf Clover (C): Luck slightly increases for one day. Single use.

I planned to use this.

For reference, that was the result of the reward I got after completing Hayden’s praise quest yesterday.

The item rank went up from D to C, and the description changed from “slightly” to “slightly more.”

That’s right.

I had drawn a duplicate item yesterday.

‘…Gacha, don’t be discouraged. Just die.’

I cursed this insane probability system.

If a “Would you like to synthesize?” prompt hadn’t appeared, I would have hurled even worse curses.

Anyway, raising the luck probability (even if not exactly) was very good for me.

Because what I was about to do required extreme luck.

First, I activated the item.

Lucky Four-Leaf Clover (C)

: Remaining time 23:59:58

The timer started, confirming it was properly applied.

“We will now begin the E time ranged shooting test. Please come out in order starting with the called numbers.”

Perfect timing—the supervisor announced the start.

I immediately summoned my awakened weapon.

Awakened weapons appear in a form suited to one’s class at the moment of awakening, and most skills can only be used through this awakened weapon.

‘No need to carry the weapon around, either.’

Honestly, that was the biggest advantage.

The awakened individual can summon it just by thinking about it.

It seemed like a setting meant to make the protagonist look cool, but whatever—it was convenient for me.

Lucy’s awakened weapon was a pure white bow and arrows.

They even seemed to give off a soft glow.

‘If I miss with a weapon like that, I’ll stand out horribly.’

Such details weren’t in the novel, so I hadn’t known.

But seeing Lucy’s bow in person made me feel a little sorry for her in the original story.

Of course, the one I felt more sorry for was me, who had to use this bow right now.

“Number 36!”

After waiting quite a while, my number was finally called.

Looking around, there weren’t many candidates left.

That made sense—this exam let people leave as soon as they finished.

I at least pretended to walk confidently.

It was all part of the setup.

After a few steps, I stood at the shooting platform, and far, far away I could see a target about the size of Lucy’s head.

Meaning it was very small.

“You may shoot exactly three arrows! Shooting more will result in a penalty, so be careful.”

After the examiner’s words, I took a deep breath.

How hard had I worked for this moment?

‘Lucy’s ranged accuracy is 1%…’

I decided to trust that probability.

What have I been doing all this time?

Just grinding. Really.

‘Aargh! Why did you have to hit on the 81st shot!’

A crazy accuracy of maybe one hit out of 100.

So I decided to shoot until the 99th.

There were times I thought I’d lose my mind when Lucy’s arrow ambiguously hit or grazed the target mid-way.

Still, I barely succeeded in wasting the 99th arrow last night.

Of course, that alone wasn’t enough. Probability was just probability.

So the additional safety net I set up was this.

Lucky Four-Leaf Clover (C)

: Remaining time 22:11:23

Now I was an archer with slightly better luck.

At this level, even if it’s virtual, wouldn’t one out of three arrows hit thanks to luck?

With my thoughts organized, I slowly drew the bowstring.

The bow bent powerfully according to my will.

I swallowed and released the string.

Twang—!

With that clear sound—

“Miss!”

Damn it. The first arrow fell without even getting near the target.

I forced myself to steady my heart and shot the second arrow.

“Out!”

This is driving me insane!

The second arrow neatly dodged the target and lodged in the wall behind it.

My heart suddenly started pounding like crazy.

‘Am I really going to miss all of them?’

You said luck would increase! So why is this happening!

With trembling hands, I activated the Sharpshooter skill.

If it hit the wall, maybe a critical hit would still count for something.

Maybe that skill would let me pass.

I created the last arrow and drew the bowstring.

In that moment, I heard nothing.

I unconsciously held my breath.

Twang—!

The last arrow left my hand.