I Became an Academy Overpowered Growth Genius

I Became an Academy Overpowered Growth Genius – 2

EP.2 Entrance Exam (1)

[Reading setting information.]

[Reconstructing the world according to the settings.]

It felt like slowly sinking into the depths of the ocean.

Sensations of currents brushing the skin from below.

Yet, the breathing was comfortable.

[Reading player information.]

[Reconstructing the player’s physique.]

[Starting the game.]

“Cough…!”

As the comfortable breathing was abruptly blocked, Kang Seo-Jun floundered on the bed like a fish.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Coughs erupted relentlessly, like stones stuck in prayer.

“What… is this…”

Struggling to calm his breathing, Kang Seo-Jun opened his stiffened eyes.

All he could see was blurry darkness.

Breathing felt uncomfortable, as if someone was choking him, and his body shivered as if barefoot in the dead of winter.

“Sh… it….”

Kang Seo-Jun groped his blocked throat.

“O…?”

It wasn’t the thin neck one would expect from years of not eating or moving, it was thick and sturdy.

“Wheeze… wheeze…”

Gasping heavily, sounding like an asthmatic patient, Kang Seo-Jun felt his way from his throat to his chest, from chest to arms, and finally to his face.

Each part was thick and sturdy, nothing like his familiar self.

“Ugh..!”

Twisting his body, Kang Seo-Jun sat up.

Then, blinking his stiffened eyes, he looked down at his own hands.

[Due to extremely poor eyesight, 《Eye of Providence》 assists vision.]

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.

– Woong! –

With a mysterious vibration, his sight brightened.

In the darkness, Kang Seo-Jun looked at his twisted and swollen hand.

The clenched and unclenched hand proved it was indeed his own.

“Oh… my… goodness…”

Kang Seo-Jun hurriedly got off the bed without turning on the lights and frantically searched for a mirror.

Even without any light in the room, everything was crystal clear, there was no need to turn on the lights.

After stumbling a few times, Kang Seo-Jun finally reached the bathroom mirror.

“Ah…”

Upon seeing his reflection in the mirror, Kang Seo-Jun involuntarily gasped.

Spotty hair, bubbling and boiling skin, lifeless eyes, pale lips, hunched back, twisted arms and legs.

If it wasn’t a goldfish, there was no way anyone could recognize him.

The human figure reflected in the mirror was exactly like the character he had just created.

[Due to correct judgment, intelligence experience points slightly increase.]

Once again, a voice resounded in Kang Seo-Jun’s mind.

He was too startled right after waking up to pay attention, but hearing it again made it undeniable.

This was the voice of the system he always heard in the Grand Hunter Academy.

[Due to correct judgment, intelligence experience points slightly increase.]

“Wheeze… wheeze…”

The character in the mirror, the system’s voice, a terrible condition.

There was only one thing that came to mind.

Prank? Dream? No…

He entered the game.

Once he established that premise, everything fell into place.

Difficulty breathing, a tingling sensation in the waist just from standing, an unbearable itchiness all over his body like wanting to scratch it immediately, headaches resembling someone drilling into his head, and so on.

It was all due to the debuff attributes he had added himself.

And despite this situation, being able to stand firm without his legs giving out…

《Status Window》

▶ Name:

Kang Seo-Jun

◆ Abilities:

[Strength: 1], [Agility: 1]

[Endurance: 1], [Resistance: 1]

[Health: 1], [Magic: 1]

[Sense: 1], [Intelligence: 8]

[Willpower: 30], [Luck: 50]

◆ Traits:

[Eye of Providence Lv. Transcendent], [Dimensional Shop Lv. Transcendent], [Favored One Lv. Transcendent], [Severe Obesity Lv. Lowest], [Necrotic Dermatitis Lv. Lowest], [Psoriasis Lv. Lowest], [Reverse Joints Lv. Lowest], [Twisted Arms Lv. Lowest], [Frail Constitution Lv. Lowest], [Mana Insensitivity Lv. Lowest], [Carnivorous Parasite Lv. Lowest]… (and more)

◆ Skills:

No skills.

It’s all thanks to investing ’30’ in willpower.

“For now… let’s sit down….”

Kang Seo-Jun initially sat on the bathroom floor but the pain in his buttocks made him walk back to the bed.

– Plop! –

Seating himself on the bed, Kang Seo-Jun organized the situation.

First and foremost,

he pondered how something like this could happen.

Even though it sounded absurd to himself, Kang Seo-Jun already had one thing in mind.

“Hidden DLC.”

Suddenly, warnings that appeared before starting the game flashed through his mind.

[Warning! DLC mode is hardcore difficulty with no save and load.]

[Warning! The player has only one life, and if you die, you cannot come back.]

[Warning! Once the game starts, you cannot return to the original world until you clear the final quest.]

That wasn’t part of the concept.

Kang Seo-Jun wiped his face once.

No saving or loading.

One life, game over upon death.

No way back until the final quest is cleared.

If he wanted to survive, he was stuck without any alternatives.

“Sigh… wheeze…”

As he sighed, it sounded like deflating air from a balloon in his chest.

He had been thrown into a perilous gaming world with a body where sudden death wouldn’t be unusual even for a day.

Yet, Kang Seo-Jun’s mental state didn’t waver in the slightest.

Rather, as his thoughts cleared, a strange sense of anticipation surged within his chest.

Even though he had turned into a body that could drop dead any moment, Kang Seo-Jun knew better than anyone else the potential this body held.

Initially startled by the changed body, upon reflection, wasn’t this an unparalleled stroke of luck in life?

Kang Seo-Jun got up from the bed and soaked the long curtain next to him.

Beyond the balcony, the familiar night sky unfolded.

The artificial island city in the East Sea where the Korean Hunter Academy was located.

It was a stellar view of the teleport.

The certainty of entering a game strengthened.

Kang Seo-Jun contemplated while observing the view.

“I need to go to the academy.”

It wasn’t just to follow the flow of the game.

To survive in this world with this body, the graduation reward from the academy was crucial.

The supernatural abilities in this world manifest through the mark engraved on the right hand.

Without consuming the ‘Fruit of Ascension’, obtained only by passing the academy’s selection process, the mark gradually fades and disappears.

In other words, if Kang Seo-Jun fails to obtain the ‘Fruit of Ascension’ at the academy, he would lose all benefits and endure various debuff attributes, facing his end.

Even with a willpower of ’30’, wouldn’t despair be inevitable?

However, obtaining the ‘Fruit of Ascension’ and properly awakening the mark would allow him to enjoy the longed-for life in this other world.

Kang Seo-Jun instinctively grabbed his upward-curving lips.

[Ding! A quest has arrived.]

Conveniently, along with the system voice, a status message appeared in front of his eyes.

“How do I open the quest window?”

He thought, and it opened immediately.

《Quest》

▶ Pass the Academy Entrance Exam!

◆ Description:

Participate in the academy entrance exam starting tomorrow at 12 PM and achieve the passing score!

◆ Success Reward:

Random stat +1

◆ Failure Penalty

Loss of the mark

“Tomorrow at 12 PM…”

The academy entrance exam was part of the game’s tutorial scenario.

Although it wasn’t easy, with the setting where even those with an average stat of ‘6’ occasionally fail, for those who have played this game for over a thousand hours like Kang Seo-Jun, passing hundreds of times was routine.

====

***

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The next day.

The scheduled academy entrance exam had commenced.

Kang Seo-Jun’s name was naturally on the examinee list, and he entered the exam venue without any obstacles.

And thus began the entrance exam.

The location was a field as vast as a World Cup soccer stadium.

The content of the exam was measuring abilities.

“Kang Seo-Jun, new student. Strength ability score of 1… F-grade.”

The exam proctor stamped Kang Seo-Jun’s exam ticket with an F-grade for strength, wearing a complex expression.

“Wow. F-grade? With a score of 1?”

The examinees waiting behind Kang Seo-Jun murmured.

“With a strength of 1, isn’t that the level of an ordinary person without a mark?”

“No, it’s not even at the level of an ordinary person. Even ordinary people usually score around 2 to 3 for strength.”

“Can he even properly grip anything with those hands? They seem completely bent, can’t even make a proper fist.”

“Insane. That’s the case. Not just with the skin, it seems there are overall issues. Even a person like that can have marks.”

“Not even reaching an E+ grade, let alone an average E-grade. It’s obvious he’ll fail.”

Could it be due to the influence of his willpower of 30?

Despite the curious gazes, there was no change in Kang Seo-Jun’s feelings.

However, Kang Seo-Jun’s focus was completely elsewhere.

“Wow. Agility 22. B-grade. That’s impressive, surpassing even active heroes.”

The exam proctor, unable to hide his admiration, stamped the exam ticket of the woman in front with an Agility B-grade.

“Wow. B-grade. Clearly, her class is different from ours.”

“Of course. She must have received tutoring from top trainers, consuming all kinds of expensive potions since childhood.”

“It’s not just the environment. From the genes themselves, she’s in an unreachable realm.”

“Seriously, posting a roughly taken photo of a naturally beautiful face on social media would be more beautiful than heavily edited faces.”

The woman who was receiving everyone’s admiration and attention was someone Kang Seo-Jun was familiar with.

Jin Se-rin.

The heiress of the prestigious Seongjin Group, one of South Korea’s three major conglomerates, and the heroine of the Grand Hunter Academy.

“Indeed, there’s a difference between the game and reality.”

Seeing the heroine, usually only seen in illustrations and pixel graphics, in reality felt novel.

At that moment, another commotion from the proctor’s impressed admiration could be heard from another direction.

“This is amazing! Following strength, she also has a B-grade for endurance! It might set a record for the highest average values!”

When turning to that direction, there was another familiar face.

Similar to Seongjin Group, he was the heir to Taesan Group, one of South Korea’s three major conglomerates.

However, unlike Seongjin, he was notorious for being vicious and cruel, a mischievous troublemaker.

Park Shin-Hoo.

“Wow, b-grade for both strength and endurance?”

“This batch seems to be full of monsters.”

“Are they really the same age?”

The examinees waiting in line glanced at Park Shin-Hoo, murmuring.

“Jin Se-rin and Park Shin-Hoo are definitely the top candidates.”

“Well, from what I see, Park Shin-Hoo seems slightly superior. He already has two B-grade abilities.”

Perhaps conscious of their murmurs, Jin Se-rin and Park Shin-Hoo’s gazes collided, sparks seeming to fly between them.

‘The top candidate…’

There was an exceptional reason why they were so intensely competitive upon hearing the title ‘top candidate.’

While students passing through the academy’s nurturing and selection process could awaken their marks by obtaining the ‘Fruit of Ascension’, those from major corporations or large guilds aimed for higher achievements.

That was the ‘Fruit of the Sun’.

It was a special fruit from the highest-ranking candidate at the academy, achievable only by the top performer.

This mysterious fruit, which grew only once a year on the tree of ascension, drastically increased the recipient’s limits of ability growth.

Considering that all hunters active at the highest tiers had awakened their marks using the Fruit of the Sun, it wasn’t an overstatement to say that the competition for top positions at the academy determined the subsequent rankings within corporations and guilds.

However, none among them would likely acquire the Fruit of the Sun.

‘The Fruit of the Sun is rightfully mine.’

“Examinee Kang Seo-Jun… Agility 1… F-grade…”

Receiving an Agility F-grade stamp from the exam proctor, Kang Seo-Jun thought as much.