Countless students were climbing the mountain with a single goal in mind—to reach higher ground as quickly as possible.

We were among them, technically.

But while the others marched confidently up the main trail, we veered off toward a shadowy side path tucked between overgrown bushes.

A path no one else even considered.

And I knew exactly why.

"Aaaah!! It's sticky—!!"

"Louis! Louis!! Help me!!"

…Yeah.

This was why.

The quiet, shaded path was full of traps.

Not dangerous traps—just annoying ones.

Right now, both Elena and Lisa were flailing helplessly, half-submerged in a pool of sticky slime.

I pressed a hand to my forehead, sighing.

Slimes were harmless low-rank monsters.

They didn't bite, didn't sting, didn't poison.

They just… covered everything in mucus.

But that was precisely why everyone avoided this route.

No one wanted to spend the rest of the exam covered in slime spit.

"Ugh… it's cold… and slimy… and gross…" Elena whimpered, her face practically crumpling as the slime clung to her clothes.

Lisa wasn't much better.

"It got in my hair! Louis, pull me out before I go bald!!"

"At least try not to roll around in it," I muttered, stepping carefully around the puddle.

After bracing myself, I grabbed both of them by the arms and dragged them out of the sticky mess one by one.

Their shoes made disgusting squelching noises as they finally stumbled back onto solid ground.

Only after I finished hauling the two of them out—slime dripping everywhere—did the commotion finally settle.

Elena looked like she might cry again.

Lisa was shaking her hands wildly, trying to fling off the remaining slime.

The two of them looked miserable.

And this was just the first trap.

I let out a slow exhale.

"…We've got a long way to go."

The mountain was eerily quiet—too quiet.

It was hard to believe dozens of students had climbed up here earlier, and yet there wasn't a single trace of them anywhere.

"I'm sure it was around here…"

I muttered, scanning the rocky ground and tall shadows cast by the trees.

Relying on faint memories, I walked a little further, trying to match the scenery with what I remembered from the exam.

That was when something glimmered faintly in the shade.

"…What's that?"

Before I could move, Lisa—still grumbling as she peeled off bits of sticky slime clinging to her clothes—also spotted it.

Her eyes widened with sudden excitement.

And then, when she got a proper look—

"Found it…!! Louis! I found the treasure!"

Her voice rang out with genuine joy.

She pointed dramatically at the object resting against a rock.

A small glass marble.

The very item we needed to pass the test.

It sat there innocently, reflecting sunlight like a polished gem.

But something felt wrong.

"That's not the treasure we're looking for—"

"Huh…?"

Lisa didn't even let me finish.

She dashed forward, reaching out with both hands like she was about to snatch a miracle from the ground.

The instant her fingers brushed the marble—

Fwoooom—!!

A blinding white light exploded outward, swallowing the surroundings.

The shadows, the trees, the mountain—everything was drowned out in an instant.

Lisa flinched and staggered back, finally sensing something was off.

But it was already too late.

That familiar, weightless sensation hit me—the same one we'd experienced once before.

The feeling of space twisting around us, of the ground disappearing beneath our feet.

"Louis—!!"

"I know—!!"

And before either of us could grab onto anything—

We were pulled into the light and sucked into somewhere else entirely.

-------

When the blinding light finally faded and we opened our eyes again, the ground beneath our feet had changed.

A cold, damp air brushed against our skin.

Jagged stone walls flickered faintly in the dim glow coming from somewhere above.

It looked like… a cave—no, more like a dungeon with an unsettling atmosphere clinging to every corner.

"S-Sorry, guys. I touched it without checking first…"

Lisa's voice trembled with guilt as she hugged her staff close.

"It's okay," I said calmly. "Let's just focus on finding a way out of here."

And I genuinely meant it.

Not a single part of me planned to blame her.

Because everything happening right now was exactly what I intended.

This place—the eerie cave, the hidden chamber, this awkward silence—it was all part of a small dungeon prepared for the test.

In the webtoon, Lumine had complained about it once, saying no one ever fell for the hidden trap.

But I remembered.

And I purposely guided us right into it.

The reason was simple:

Even though it was labeled a "trap," the dungeon's difficulty was laughably low.

Outside, the students were probably already scrambling around, stealing treasure boxes from each other, fighting tooth and nail.

Chaos everywhere.

Meanwhile, all we had to do was calm down, search for the treasure tucked away inside this dungeon, and then stroll right back out.

Efficient. Safe. Predictable.

And there was another crucial incentive:

Cooperation points.

Falling into a trap together, relying on each other to escape, achieving a goal as a team—

this was exactly the kind of scenario the examiners wanted.

And right now?

We were checking off every requirement perfectly.

I glanced at Elena and Lisa—both still disoriented, but looking to me for direction.

Good.

Now this test would unfold exactly the way I needed it to.

But at that moment.

"Kirik!"

A sharp chattering sound echoed from the darkness inside the cave.

The three of us instinctively raised our weapons—Elena gripping her sword tightly, Lisa stepping slightly behind me while her wolf companions growled low in warning.

And then—

"…A goblin?"

A small, ugly creature waddled into the faint light.

Green skin, pointed ears, wiry limbs, and eyes that looked just a bit too round to be threatening.

A textbook goblin.

"Kirik?"

It blinked.

We blinked back.

For a few long seconds, both sides simply… stared at each other.

Then, as if its brain finally rebooted from shock, the goblin let out a panicked squeal and bolted deeper into the cave.

It was so sudden that I almost missed it.

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