Six hours have passed since the start of the exam, and somewhere on the island, beside a river stream that flowed between a dense forest and a big rocky mountain, a broad tent could be seen, inside of it, a bed and small table were placed. And right on top of the bed, a guy was sleeping, as if he wasn’t even in a really important test.

What that guy didn’t know, was that his sleep time would be cut by an approaching cadet, that moved straight towards the tent. This cadet was Cristopher.

 

“Fucking finally!” I said while reaching Kim Hajin’s tent.

As to why would I know that it was his tent, well, let’s say that the rest of the cadets didn’t bring shit, I’ve seen a few of them around looking for caves to pass the night and whatnot.

Entering the tent, I see the guy sleeping on the bed so comfortable. For a moment, I thought if I should wake him up or not, but I decided not to be an asshole for once and left him alone.

Going outside, I took out a camping seat from my backpack, alongside a small magically foldable table, a portable barbecue grill, a fishing rod, a cola, a bucket, and a fishing hat. I also took a few baits. Putting everything in order, I sat on the camping seat, with the fishing rod thrown towards the river, and the table at my right me with the cola on top.

The barbecue was already prepared with some wood I quickly cut, just waiting to be ignited, while the bucket was at the left side of the seat, waiting to be filled with fishes.

Now, the funny thing is. I didn’t have to do much. If anything, just let the fishes take the bait once, and shock them with a slight current of lightning through the fishing rood. That would be enough to bring them out of the river and into my bucket.

With that said, I just started fishing while waiting for Hajin to wake up.

***

“Yo! Finally! Welcome back to the world of the living!” I shouted at the guy walking out of the tent, at Kim Hajin.

“Huh? When did you get here?” He asked me while scratching his bed hair.

“Like an hour ago or so.” I shrugged, taking another fish out of the river, picking it from the rod, and putting it inside the bucket. “I’ve been fishing since. Do you have somewhere we could keep these?” I asked, pointing at the bucket of fishes.

“*sigh…* Wait, give me a second.” He said, taking out what I assume is his laptop, and after fiddling around with it for a little while, he put the fishes into his stigma.

“What were you fiddling with your laptop for?” I asked him.

“Oh, sending the drones away.” He shrugged.

“Ah, you already hacked into them?”

“Yeah, was the first thing I did.” He spoke. “Also, here, your beer.” He took a cooling bag out of the stigma.

“Ow, man! Thanks!” I took them. “Hey, do you want to go hunting a few monsters before cooking?”

“Sure, let’s go see what we find.” He stretched before taking out his cadet training gun. “But let’s not go too far away, I don’t want to leave the camp for too long.”

“Mm? Oh, right.” I nodded. “Wait for a little bit.”

I stood up went towards a tree, and with my training sword, I cut a small tree twice, leaving only a log of 4 meters. After that, I cut the front of it, and then with the sword, I started writing something.

“…” Hajin only looked at it. “Are you sure?” He looked at me.

“Yeah, this will keep everyone away while we go hunting for a little bit.” I shrugged.

[This camp belongs to Cristopher D. Lamas. Whoever tries something funny. I’ll hunt you. And will eliminate you from the final exam. Trust me that I’ll be able to identify you.]

“But why in English?” Hajin tilted his head.

“Huh?”

“Why did you write it in English?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Korea is this world's most spoken language, you know?”

“Oh, right…” I nodded. “I forgot.” And then Shrugged.

“*sigh…* Whatever, let’s go.” He started walking ahead.

“Sure.” I put the log in the middle of the camp and started walking away too.

***

After 9 hours has passed, somewhere around the forest, Rachel was running behind the faint smell of cooked meat.

She’s been fighting constantly since coming here, and thanks to that, she got hungry constantly, making it hard for her to keep the rations provided by Cube intact as much as she would like, even when her elementals helped her to fight, the energy was still necessary, at least enough for her to have to eat every now and then.

Right when she thought she wouldn’t find anything to eat soon, a faint smell of cooked meat reached her.

And after she ran all the way towards her objective. She found five cadets cooking a boar, a team of three males, and two female cadets.

“What!?” One of the female cadets shouted alerted at Rachel's sudden entrance, making all of them stand up in alarm, putting up their guard.

“What do you want?” One of the male cadets asked Rachel with a frown, not quite sure of what to do.

She knew she could probably fight all five of them and take the boar, but as 12 hours haven’t even passed, she still couldn’t fight other cadets.

“I would like to buy some.” Rachel said while pointing at the boar that was cooking.

“Ah~ So you are working alone?” One of the male cadets got closer to her with a smile. Holding up his hand.

“…” Rachel slightly glanced at his greasy hand, but decided to shake it anyway, only that when she was about to do so, the cadet took it back.

“Sorry, sorry! My hand is quite dirty.” He laughed apologetically. “You’re welcomed to join in, we are all cadets after all.” He said before turning towards the other guys. “That’s fine with you guys, right?”

“…” They nodded towards him without speaking much after seeing the meaningful glance he was giving to them, which Rachel couldn’t see.

“Oh, right. You must not know our names. Though we do know yours haha.” The guy said after turning once again towards Rachel.

“…” Rachel frowned at his words.

“Haha… Well, Rachel-ssi is someone famous after all…” The guy scratched his head. “I’m Joo Yeohoon, by the way.” The guy smiled at her.

***

At least 14 hours have passed since the start of the exam, and both Hajin and Cristopher were currently talking and grilling fishes and meat in their camp, while also drinking beer and cola from a portable magic icebox that Hajin had with him.

 

“I’m telling you… This is like going out camping.” I say to Hajin before sipping from my beer.

“It’s still an exam, you know?” He lifted his eyebrow.

“Yes, so? It’s just hunting some monsters and that’s easy. We just hunted ten of them. That’s 30pts for each of us.” I shrugged at his worries.

“Well, that’s true.” Finally kept grilling the fish, before asking something. “Hey, where did you learn to cook recently fished fishes? I don’t even know how to hunt and prepare wild animals. Even less, fishes…”

“Mm? Oh, I learned it.” Just shrugged. “The first time I ever visited another world I was truly out home. I mean, at that point I wasn’t even as powerful as I’m right now, true, I had more resources to work with, but all in all, I was weak.”

“Huh? What does that have to do with cooking fishes?”

“Just listen.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Being weak, there was a limit to what I could, or what I couldn’t do in that world. Hell, I was even surprised I was able to travel to other worlds by myself and not by some shitty summoning from there. Well, going back on track. I was quite surprised when I did it for the first time, to the point that I didn’t even consider going back to my world until a few weeks have passed.”

“Wait, wait! You could go from one world to another as you pleased?”

“Well, not precisely as I pleased, I needed a lot of time to rest before I could even try it once again, so it wasn’t that good. Either way, the world I got into had this kind of medieval setting that was quite interesting, magic was part of it so it wasn’t as bad as I would expect from medieval society, it was the typical isekai world, you know?”

“Oh, like those from Japanese light novels?”

“Precisely. Heck, there was even a Demon King and a Hero at that time! I got in there at the perfect moment to see two sides at war. Ow man, such a good time.”

“Holly fuck…” Hajin muttered. “But still, what does that have to do with grilling fishes?” He tilted his head.

“Do you want me to tell you the goddamn story or not?”

“Fine, fine! Jeez… I was just messing around with you.”

“*snort* Well, as I was saying. I went around that place with only my fist and a sword I asked someone to make in our world, it was a good sword but wasn’t all that amazing, just a normal sword. The only good thing was that I learned that steel could circulate mana not that badly.” I took a sip of my beer. “Well, being who knows where, I had to walk around, fighting monsters and whatever that tried to attack me, as you would imagine it. It was quite hard for me to go without food, and as I went into that world by accident, I brought shit with me. Barely my sword.”

“You have to tell me how the hell you go to another world BY accident.”

“Sure.” I shrugged. “Well, I found this river that was quite wide and deep, but it had a lot of fishes, big ones. Being hungry as fuck, I did what I thought was correct. I jumped right in and started fishing with my sword. Thankfully, it was easier for me then than it is now, for some reasons, but well, the first few fishes I ate, I barely cooked them as I was hungry. After the fourth time I ate fishes, I started to peel their scales, as they were quite disgusting to eat, even if they didn’t injure me.”

“So… You learn, by failing?”

“Pretty much…” I shrugged, before sipping at my beer. “I mean, if you do something a lot of times, you are basically forced to learn how to do it, even if by trial and mistake. Of course, in my case, I wasn’t really in danger as I could basically eat anything.”

“Ho… That’s quite gross…” He said, trying to hide his expression of disgust.

“I know hahaha!” I just laughed at his disgusted expression.

We talked a little bit more about things that happened during my first week in that world, basically how I had to walk carefully to avoid any potentially dangerous monster or even war zones until I finally made it towards a town.

After that, we just spoke a few things about Cube and Rachel and Olivia’s improvement these few weeks.

“To think that you would end up training her after all the times you called her psycho or wacko hahaha!” Hajin laughed while using the tongs to turn a piece of steak.

“*sigh…* She has the determination, I give her that.” I shook my head.

“Oh, come on! I know you probably planned to do so from the start.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ve never seen you endure so much from someone as you did with her. You knocked out Shin Jonghak after he spoke three words to you!”

“Pfft, that sure was refreshing haha.”

Right then, I sensed someone getting close to us, so I stopped Hajin from talking more.

“Wait. Someone’s coming.”

“Mm? Who?”

“It’s your girlfriend.” I shrugged.

“My what?” He asked before looking at the place I was looking. “*sigh…* She’s not my girlfriend.” He whispered.

“Sure.” I shrugged.

After a few seconds, Chae Nayun made it towards our camp, panting as if she was tired.

“What…?” She looked around the place and then at us. “What the heck!? Where did you find all this!?”

“Oh, actually, Kim Soohyuk told us to bring these things with us, but as you’re always sleeping in classes you didn’t hear. I thought Kim Suho or someone else would tell you.” I smirked at her.

“What!? When!? Why did nobody tell me about it!?” She started screaming.

“It’s just that you’re quite the air-”

“Dude, stop. Why do you have to pick a fight every time?” Hajin rolled his eyes. “Nobody told us anything. The final exam was a secret, remember?” He turned to Hajin.

“Then how? Where did you get all these things?” She said after glaring at me.

“Well, we’re first and second at theory in Cube, and in the world, remember?” He said while pointing to his head. “We brought them just in case.”

“Oh, right…” She finally nodded. “Good for you.”

“Yes, good for us.” I smirked before taking a long sip at my beer. “Ha… Refreshing! Hey, is the meat ready?” I asked Hajin.

“Yeah, I’m already serving everything.” He said as he started to put plate after plate in a table we had prepared to eat outside. There were fishes, meat, and a few grilled veggies.

I stood up and helped him with the rest of the things.

“…” Meanwhile, Chae Nayun just stood there looking at the food. “*Gulp.*”

“Are you hungry?” Kim Hajin asked her while grabbing his chopsticks.

“…” She nodded.

“Don’t you have any food left?” He tilted his head.

“Hahaha…” She scratched her head. “I lost it while fighting against a monster…” She averted her eyes. “R-really, I’m a bit clumsy…”

“She’s lying.” I furrowed my brows at her.

“What!? No! I really lost it while fighting!” She got red from embarrassment.

“That’s a lie.” I pointed my can at her. “You probably already ate it all.” I shrugged before sipping at my bear.

“W-W-What…!? N-N-No! I-I d-didn’t!”

“Pffft… Gotcha!” I laughed at her.

“*sigh…* Hey, how many points do you have?” Hajin asked her.

“…” She glared at me, before turning to him. “I have… 25pts.”

“Really?” I lift an eyebrow before eating a piece of fish.

“…” She looked at the piece of fish, before answering. “Really!”

“Stop.” Hajin said at me, to which I just shrugged. “Well, give us half.” He turned at her.

“H-Half?” She looked worried.

“Yeah, half.” Hajin nodded. “But in exchange, I’ll also lend you a sleeping bag, you’re probably sleepy too. Though you can say no if you don’t want to.”

“Yes. Just leave through where you came from.” I pointed at the forest behind her.

“N-No! I mean, yes! I-I want to!” She got closer, turned on her smartwatch, and pointed it towards Kim Hajin, who also turned on his smartwatch to trade points.

“Hey. Just so you know. The half of 25 is 12,5, but you have to round it up to 13, not 12.” I furrowed my brows at her.

“I-I-I know!” She got red. “I’m not that petty!”

“Mmm… I just thought it would be something you would do.” I shrugged.

“…” She glared at me before sending 13 points towards Hajin.

After that, we all started eating, Chae Nayun started eating quite slowly, as if trying to force herself to eat, something that was normal considering that she only eats in the best places.

After that, we all just sat there at the table, I was rubbing my stomach, while Hajin was taking out a bottle of water. He gave it to Chae Nayun, who stayed quiet while looking at it.

“It’s normal mineral water, not from the river.” He said, making her flinch before she took it.

“River water’s quite good.” Said while looking up.

“Yeah…If it doesn’t have any bacteria or stuff inside.” Hajin retorted.

“Meh, just take it from where there’s a lot of rocks. If it’s a waterfall better.”

“Mm…?” After drinking half the bottle, she suddenly looked at Hajin’s hand that was still stretched, looking at one of his fingers. “By the way, what’s that?” She asked.

And this time, it was Hajin’s turn to flinch. He looked at the ring while thinking.

{He’s probably trying to figure how the hell he should tell her that it was a ring that would end up in her hands if we didn’t take it from the Chameleon Troupe.} I thought while chuckling.

“Ah, nevermind, nevermind! I’m not curious at all.” Chae Nayun suddenly shouted before drinking all the remaining water.

“Hey… I didn’t say you could drink it all…” Hajin said to her.

“…” Chae Nayun looked at him. “Eh…?” Before turning slightly red.

“Pfft! Hahahaha.” I couldn’t hold it and had to laugh.

That night I prepared my own tent, and Hajin gave Chae Nayun a sleeping bag. We went all to sleep, to get ready for the next day.

***

The next morning, both Hajin and Cristopher were already up, getting ready to start moving. Cristopher’s tent was already inside his backpack, while Hajin was tickling an almond-shaped seed.

“… Why are you so cute?” Hajin talked to the seed.

“Dude… Stop. You look creepy looking at her like that and saying that stuff.” While Cristopher commented.

“Oh, shut up. Let’s go.” Hajin said, before picking the seed, and dismantling the tent so he could put it inside his magic pouch.

Although it was already, morning, the sky was dark, and it was probably like that because of some magicians in the central tower. Under the dark sky of the morning, two cadets move somewhere into the forest. Prepared to do their own things.

While the girl that was inside a sleeping bag outside their tents, showing just her face like some kind of caterpillar, had actually heard both of them talk. Misunderstanding their words.

“…” Sometime after Kim Hajin and Cristopher left, she slowly opened her eyes. Before turning all red, with her mind still in a daze from what she heard. “*sigh…* Whatever it was, I didn’t hear it. H-He was t-talking to h-himself. Yes, that’s it. There must be some kind of dog or cat nearby, definitely. I-It h-has to be that leopard cat of Cristopher. Yes. That’s it.” She tried to deny everything she heard.

***

“Well, I’ll be leaving. See you later today.” Cristopher spoke to Kim Hajin once they walked a few meters ahead.

“Right, I’ll be checking around. Probably going towards the World Tree, that enormous tree over there so I can see the whole island.” Kim Hajin nodded while pointing towards a big tree that could be seen from where they were. While it was called World Tree, it was just an enormous tree, nothing more.

“Okay, I’ll be checking around, see what I can do. I’ll probably be hunting some monsters or something. And see if there’re any cadets that would like to fight me for points.” Cristopher shrugged.

“Don’t bully others.” Hajin shook his head before moving towards the tree.

“Whatever.” While Cristopher just waved his hand at him while walking away. “Remember to text me the coordinates to the hideout of those guys you talked about.”