Chapter 9: The Exam (2)

"What the hell is wrong with Helios Academy?! What kind of school Organizes an exam that can potentially threaten our lives?!!"

Everyone was pissed at Han Mujin and the Academy, how could they make such a dangerous exam for them? With their fists point in the air, they all shout in unison,"The Academy definitely wants to get us all killed! If you didn't want us to enter the Academy, why didn't you just say so in the first place?!" 

In another place, Sasha finally wakes up, "Ah!"

Leon frowns, "why are you screaming? Is my face that scary?"

"Ah, no, no. Not scary at all!" Sasha quickly defends herself in fear that Leon would misunderstand. "Hmm, okay then" Leon crouches down to meet Sasha's level, she rests her head on her hand smiling, "Sasha, why did you lie that you didn't want to take part in the entrance exam? If you wanted to take the exam so badly, you could've just said so." It took a long time for Sasha to understand Leon's words,"wait, what? I'm in the trial right now?"

"Yep." Leon states with an expression saying that it's pretty obvious. 

"What?!" Sasha grabs onto Leon, "that can't be right! Boss! How do I get out of this now?!"

Leon realises something off, "wait", seriously staring at Sasha, Leon questions her, "you mean you came here by accident?" Sasha nods her head. Leon frowns, how did Sasha get here? From what she could remember, there was quite a distance from the magic circle where Sasha was standing…

Noticing Leon suspiciously staring at her, Sasha quickly explains, "right! Now that I think about it, I felt a strong force collide against my back at the time." Sasha tries to recall what happened. When she was seeing Leon off, a strange force collided against her back, pushing her towards the teleportation spell. She managed to break her fall, preventing her from falling on the magic circle. However, another force much powerful from the previous one mercilessly attacked her, she could only defend herself against the attack, forgetting the teleportation spell behind her. The force was too powerful for her to defend against, Sasha fell into the magic circles, and like everyone else, she teleported to this strange island.

"After that, I lost consciousness, and woke to find you here." Leon is silent for a moment, this was indeed strange. Who would do such a thing to someone who isn't even a candidate? "Do you remember the person who did this?" Sasha tries to think, "I-I'm not sure…" Leon patiently waits for Sasha to speak, "Oh! I remember that it was a guy with red hair… but I didn't get a good look at his face." 

'A guy with red hair…' Leon contemplates, it must've been someone who had a grudge on Sasha, but Sasha seldom offended anyone. It could only mean that it was someone Sasha had a connection to… 

'Wait. No way' 

The image of the thug that stole Shin's invitation came to mind. The culprit was the thug! Wow, Leon couldn't believe it, that coward of a man actually had the ability to push Sasha into the teleportation spell? He sure had the ability, that's for sure. Leon glances at the clueless Sasha, it's probably best if she didn't tell Sasha. If Sasha knew it was that wimp who pushed her, she would definitely go into a frenzy. She clears up her throat, changing the subject, "well, you're here anyway. So there's nothing I can do."

Sasha: "?!" 

Sasha desperately grabs onto Leon's arm, "Come on Boss, you can just ask the examiners to send me out!" Leon shakes her head, "I can't do that."

"Why?!" Why can't the boss do something as simple as that? She doesn't want to take the exam! Leon sighs at her subordinate's desperate expression. "Because the only way to get out of here is to break the slate."

"Then break it!" Leon immediately rejects Sasha, "if I did that, I'd be disqualified from the exam."

"…." 

'Seriously? You're a privileged Candidate, for god's sake!' 

"Boss, it won't matter even if you withdraw from the exam. It's not like it'll affect your acceptance in the–"

Sasha is cut off by Leon's bright smile, "hmm?"

Sasha: "…"

 Never mind, she won't risk annoying her boss lest she gets abandoned to fend for herself. Don't blame Sasha for thinking like this, Leon is the type of person who would leave a person dissatisfied with her to fend for themselves. 

"It seems we've been separated from those guys." After hearing what Leon said, Sasha looks at her surroundings, "you're right. Where are Easen and Shin?"

Leon looks at Sasha in surprise, "how did you know their names?"

"Eh? Boss, you don't know? We exchanged names when we were given storage items."

"How would I know that, when I wasn't even near you guys?"

Sasha goes silent at Leon's Refute. He had a point.

 "will they be alright?" Sasha was worried for those two. Leon reassures Sasha, "don't worry, those two are strong. They can manage just fine." Leon glances at Sasha on the right side, "you should worry about yourself instead."

 Confused by Leon's words, she asks, "what do you mean–"

Before Sasha could finish speaking, a loud Growling sound is heard from behind, alerting Leon. She turns around, with a surprised expression on her face.