Mastore 48 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 48

Convenience Store Worker Taking Written Exam (2)

In addition, there were question sets that I couldn't understand.

How am I supposed to know what initial response a anti-magic specialist should take when finding a troll electrocuted by a high-voltage wire containing 20% purity magic? Should I splash water on it or something?

In addition, there was a passage stating that a bank robber had planted a bomb in a vault, listing things like the sounds coming from the bomb, its color, the magic flowing from it, and they asked what an anti-magic specialist should do in this situation. What is a anti-magic specialist supposed to do in that situation? If it were me, I would probably scream and run away.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the scope of work for an anti-magic specialist is very broad.

Explosive disposal also appears as an example, and so does entering a gate. If we assume this license allows involvement in all these fields, then I somewhat understand why someone would want to obtain it.

Of course, this realization didn't help me understand the questions, so I thanked the Orc and quietly sat back down. I think I might seriously need to consider retaking the exam...

After about 25 minutes passed in a half-dazed state, someone walked into the exam room.

"I'm the proctor, Deckard."

Cold voice and pale skin. Must be a vampire. After glancing around the now-silent exam room, he continued.

"The exam time is 60 minutes, 80 questions. The total score is 200 points. The exam papers I will now hand out to you...."

As he spoke and snapped his fingers, a bundle of exam papers suddenly appeared in front of me, fluttering and falling onto the desk. They looked exactly like mock exam papers.

"After opening them, please mark your answers on the answer sheet. If caught cheating, you will be disqualified and lose all eligibility for any future national license exams. There are no essay questions. If any issues arise during the exam or if you complete the exam, please raise your hand. We will begin now."

As soon as he finished speaking, the clock on the proctor's desk started ticking loudly. I heard pages turning, so I also picked up the exam paper and turned to the first page. At least if it's math problems, I can somehow try to solve them....

[Question 1. What is 1 + 1? (2 points)]

(1) 1

(2) 2

(3) 3

(4) 4

(5) 5

Is this a joke?

I’m not kidding—this is exactly what was written. I was so dumbfounded that at first, I thought I had gone crazy and was hallucinating. Either that or the universe had gathered its forces to grant my wish for a free pass.

But even after blinking my eyes, nothing changed. I rubbed it with my thumb and scratched it with my fingernail, but it remained the same.

After staring at it for a few more seconds, it seemed clear that there was indeed a problem with this problem, but there was no sign of anyone around raising an issue about it. Is this some kind of freebie question thrown out so applicants don't get discouraged?

After marking 2 on the answer sheet with doubtful feelings, I checked the next question.

[Question 2. A B □ D E F G... What letter should be written in □? (2 points)]

(1) B

(2) C

(3) D

(4) E

(5) F

"Um, Proctor?"

My voice echoed through the still-quiet exam room. A few people slightly raised their heads to look at me and then buried their faces in the exam papers again. The proctor answered me in a sharp voice.

"Don't speak, just raise your hand. You're disturbing the exam."

I stayed still with my hand raised without saying more, and the proctor walked over with heavy steps and bent down to ask me in a small voice.

“Is there a problem?”

The problem itself is the problem. I came to take the anti-magic license exam, so why am I solving elementary school arithmetic problems? Did they give me the wrong test paper?

Lowering my voice, I asked as politely as possible, and the proctor, who had been staring intently at my face, picked up the exam paper and slowly flipped through each page. Then he returned the exam paper to me and said:

"The exam paper has no issues."

“Huh? This is?"

"If there's a problem, it must be with you, the examinee."

Why are you suddenly picking on me?

His tone didn't seem like empty words or lies for me to think that. His voice, which had been sharp when he said I was disturbing the exam, had subdued considerably. Since this jerk's face was so pale, I couldn't tell whether the expression on his face was one of ridicule or disbelief.

After that, the proctor whirled around and returned to his seat, and when I looked at the next question, my confusion only doubled instead of being resolved.

[Question 3. 1 1 2 3 5 X 13... What number goes in X? (4 points)]

Why is the Fibonacci sequence worth 4 points...?

Most of the following questions were all math, language, or morality-related questions at the lower elementary school level. Among them, question 6 was:

[If a soccer ball rolls toward you, what would you do?]

The answer choices were varied, such as tell them to take it, kick it in the opposite direction, run away with the ball, etc., but can't you just kick the ball back to them? What kind of psychopath runs away with it?

Since all the questions were like this, there wasn’t much to think about. After finishing all 80 questions, the minute hand pointed to 4. I remembered they said to raise your hand when finished, so I did.

The proctor glanced at me and approached again, whispering.

"What is it?"

"I'm finished. What should I do?"

Hearing my words, he picked up my answer sheet and stared intently at it, then said with the corners of his mouth slightly raised,

"You may go home."

He probably thought I just randomly marked answers. Whatever...

* * *

When I got up, several of the different species raised their heads and looked at me, probably because they heard the sound of the chair I made. Their expressions were all smirking. I guess they were happy with one less competitor.

Whatever. I was told I could go home, so I quickly went outside. Not wanting to stay in the hallway in front of the exam room, I went all the way out of the building and came to the fountain where the 300m sign was.

Actually, I found the design of the fountain a bit interesting. In the center of the fountain stood a warrior in a steadfast pose, and from the tip of the sword he held aloft, water endlessly gushed out endlessly.

After finishing the fatigue recovery medicine Manager handed me, I looked around and sat on a nearby bench to make a call. The signal rang exactly once.

[Hello? Chan-ah?]

“Yes, Manager.”

[Why are you calling already... Could it be that you've given up on the exam?]

"I bombed it."

The level of education in another world, you see. I heard Manager swallow her breath as if she was shocked, so I quickly added that I was joking.

"I did solve it all. I solved it, but the questions were a bit... strange."

[For example?]

"Manager, 1+1 is 2, right?"

[Uh… Are you asking philosophically?]

“I mean, when a customer brings a buy-one-get-one deal, you give them two items, right?”

[Usually, yes.]

I went on, the questions were all like this, and I asked Manager if she's the type to kick a soccer ball back with her foot if it rolls to her. At this point, Manager burst into laughter and couldn't stop for dozens of seconds. Guess there were no customers at the store.

"Manager?"

[...Ahaha, that, ah, sorry. I think I know what happened....]

"Then please tell me. So I can laugh together."

[Yeah. But before I tell you, there are no others around listening, right?]

After hearing that, I immediately looked around, but there was only me. I think there were other races taking pictures near the fountain earlier.

"Doesn't seem like it."

[Yeah. First, there was no problem with the exam paper itself, right?]

“Yes.”

I stared at it intently, but it didn't distort, and it didn't explode like a firecracker or try to bite me the moment I touched it.

[Then it's simple, you know. The entire exam room was under a spell. Maybe they used a type of magic that hinders cognition or coats the retina with an intangible magic film, something like that?]

"Uh...."

In simple terms, this is what she meant. As soon as you enter the exam room, they install magic that makes the questions look distorted throughout the entire room, and the difficulty level of the distorted questions is set so that you can solve them if you study hard for a year.

Those who forced themselves to solve these problems would barely pass, and if they noticed midway and used their anti-magic abilities to undo the distortion, they could pass with a free pass. Or they would ignore all the filtering nonsense like me.

[It’s just a guess, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. I thought it was quite a clever idea after I thought of it too.]

Since Manager said so, I decided to assume that's the case for now. Except for just one question.

“I came here thinking it was a written exam, but isn’t it no different from a practical exam?”

[Well, yeah... but you did take the written part.]

"No, that's true, but... if the other species taking the exam there find out, won't they rise up in protest?"

[They won't be able to? Because no one will know.]

Apparently, even if they couldn’t solve the questions, they’d just think it was their fault, since technically, you could solve them if you studied hard enough. This makes sense rationally. It makes sense, but...

“Why would they bother going through all this trouble…?”

[I can somewhat guess their intention.]

"Really?"

[Yeah. If I were the exam maker and heard this idea, I would have thought, 'Let's give extra points to the examinees who notice this, or even exempt them from the practical exam.' I mean, for any license, actual skills are way more important than just the written score, right?]

Indeed, even if you get 100 on the written driving test, it doesn't mean you drive well.

[That was my guess, did it make some sense?]

“Sort of.”

[Hehe, I wonder how many points Chan will score.]

Rather than looking forward to it, I just hope the exam makers don't come to our convenience store. If they’re out here messing with examinees, imagine what they would do to a convenience store part-timer.

[So, Chan-ah. When should I come pick you up?]

“I’ll head over right now.”

I threw the empty fatigue recovery medicine bottle into the trash can and got up.

Although the process was absurd, since I did finish the written exam, I felt more relaxed as I left the academy district.

The feeling of distance I had when I left the convenience store had mostly faded, probably because most of the non-human students on their way to class were already gone. Makes sense—it’s well past 9 AM. If anyone’s still on their way to school now, they’re probably in for some serious trouble

As I got close to where I could see the main gate, Manager asked me,

“Chan-ah. So, how was it? Your first outing?"

"Well, I'm not sure yet...."

On the way here, I did make eye contact with other species a few times, but that was it. I didn't encounter any humans at all, but at least it seems my outward appearance isn't considered very special in this world either.

If it feels like this, maybe I don't need to be so scared no matter where I go from now on. Just knowing that alone feels like a big gain.

Plus, I learned that it's a really fun neighborhood with lots to do.

Standing in front of the main gate and looking around at the less crowded surroundings, it was full of all kinds of streets where students could hang out, like PC rooms and multi-rooms. There was even a banner advertising the opening of a VR room where you could practice magic. Not that I’m interested—VR makes me motion sick.

"At least it doesn't seem like I'll ever be bored living here."

"Then isn’t it okay if you just hang out nearby before coming back?"

“Nah, I’ll head home today. I don’t think you’ll stop worrying otherwise, Manager.”

Well... I’ll probably be back here again someday anyway.









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