"Grimmmmmm, wake up! wake up!"
It was the morning alarm. After I put on my cloths, got the chance to met up with the rest of the roommate, which I found all of us rested very well.
"Good morning, Arak- Sara-cha." It was Tenka, who was in greeted me first, "Your outfit looks nice. How's your sleep?"
"It's pretty good. I dreamed about how I saw myself escaping from the control of the demon. How about yours, Tenka-cha?"
"I never dream when I fall asleep."
"Good morning, Araka and Tenka. Look at what I found." It was Jun dragging Sukeo, who was still in half sleep.
While seeing Sukeo fully dressed up yet still fall asleep again, Tenka and me chuckled for a bit.
"That's not the full image of the magic," Jun pulled out a canned coffee, and put it beside Sukeo's mouth. As he sipped for a bit, out of sudden, his eyes opened and look at both of us.
"Who's laughing here!?" He quickly reacted as soon as he gained conscious, "Ah, it's just Araka and Tenka."
After all of us woke up, we head directly to the grand canteen, where all of the participants having their breakfast.
"Guys, are you excited about the upcoming exams?" Sukeo asked, but no one answered, as everyone's focusing on their breakfast.
"Why does everyone just eat?" Sukeo looked a bit confused.
"Because we're all really stressful," it was Tenka who answered first, as she finished her dishes faster than anyone, "- the faster you eat at one point, the more stressful you're."
"That's true," I followed, "I have no idea what type of question they will ask during the exam."
"That's okay, I mean," Jun followed, "No one really knows what they are going face unless they are cheating
While we all finished eating, the morning meeting started.
"Good morning, everyone. Hope you have a relaxing first day. My name is Kou Janmin（高 健明）, and I will be the host of the opening ceremony, as well as the supervisor of the exam," the young man on stage said. He was not much older than us, and the only thing I could see from distance was his blue hair."Today, we are going to start the SAIR 3522 year entrance exam. Are you guys ready?" The host said.
No one replied again.
"Okay, I get it, everyone's quite stressful now. So without further delay, we're going to explain the general rule of the exam. The exam will last three days, each day with different activities. During the exam, you will receive three types of armband by the end of each one, which you will have it displayed on a gadget that you will put on your right wrist. One is the green armband, which means you performed well during this part of the exam; another one is the yellow armband, in which means you didn't do perfectly in this part of the exam, but your performance will be reassessed in the later part of the; and the final one, the most hated one, is the red armband. This will be issued if you made major violations of the rules of the activities, or you didn't put any effort in. When you collect two red armband, you will be eliminated from the exam. To pass the exam, you can get at most get two yellow armband or one red armband. The yellow armband could also become a red or yellow armband based on our professional judgement."
These rules seemed reasonable, as it already meant that if I didn't do well on one activity didn't mean the elimination from the whole exam.
"Now let's getting into today's plan. Today is the written test day, as you guys have already know on your way here. This year, we will try something different." He started to use the massive screen his back to explain: "The first part was your classical written test, with you answer questions on the booklet here; after that, there will be a knowledge test, in which you need to watch a video, while solving the problems using a simulation sandbox assigned for each group afterwards; and finally, which we added just this year, was your special skill test. Now pay a attention to this part, because this is completely new. This test will be based on a group escape room game. Your task is to escape from a room in a limited time based on hints you can find in the room. You can use any of your skills to escape the room. However, there are a few rules. First, sexual assault and violence among group members is prohibited; second, you're allowed to bring a device as if this is the device you will use for your special skills, and any device that you will use during the exam should be registered or stored at the designated lockers. Every room is under full surveillance during the activity, and any violation of the following rules will give you two red armbands, which meaning you're immediately eliminated and even may face detentions."
The escape room sounds pretty fun, I thought, at least I don't have to do calculus for that part.
"Now, we shall start our exam. All of our exam activities will take place at the SAIR training center in the Kaisan mountain. You will be assigned with a supervisor among your small team, which is based on the dormitory you assigned with. Please put any of the device away during the trip and the exam, as any phot and video taking of the facilities is prohibited. Again, if you need your device for the escape room activity, please inform your supervisor who will give a special tag and modification for your device."
After the morning masse ended, we packed ourselves up and waiting to be transported. Non of us had any device, as non of us registered special skills that required using device. It was until I passed the checkpoint that I realized my special skill assigned was high mobility, which was basically the same as what I guessed before.
While on the bus, I took a closer look at the supervisor. The supervisor we were assigned was a very short girl with twin ponytails. From her look, I was thinking she just graduated from primary school, if she carried a small backpack with her.
"Bruh, is this really the supervisor we are assigned to? They must be serious, right?" It seemed to be that Sukeo almost went laughed.
"Maybe her special skill is just be short or like a kid," it went same with Tenka.
"Hey, stop kidding. I'm a full time matured SAIR agent," the supervisor seemed annoyed.
"So may I ask your name?" Jun asked.
"My name is Wong An'nin （黃 安寧）, and I'm an agent from SAIR West and currently work with the main headquarters as an instructive agent." she said, and her voice still sounds just like a high school girl, "you guys can call me An."
"So An-ch- no I mean An-sa, how would you say about this year's exam, like is this year's a very competitive one?" Sukeo went back to his normal mood.
"Well, it really depends. This years' seemed to have a group diverse candidates. As such, we adjusted the structure of our exam to address this change," An further explained, "Overall, there are like 150 people participating in the exam."
"So if we couldn't bring anything, what happened if someone gets thirsty?" I asked.
"No worries. As soon as you arrived at the place, you will get a souvenir water bottle. You can carry it all the way to the end of the exam, and even carrying home if you didn't receive detention during the exam."
After we arrived the site of the exam, which situated in an underground complex in the mountains, we were assigned into a typical classroom along with several others.
As soon as the exam started, I opened the booklet and examine the questions. In general, these questions were not numerically difficult, but focusing more on elaborating thoughts. That's not hard for me at least, as I'm pretty good at writing and logical process. Without further stops, I answered all those questions in a very quick pace. As soon as everyone in my group finished, we handed in the paper at the same time.
"It wasn't that hard," Tenka said after she immediately exit the exam room, "they didn't even ask any numerical questions."
"Well, that's just a protocol to say the most," Sukeo commented, "this step was just to ensure no one entering the next part of the exam has zero intelligence."
After a brief break, we quickly assigned to another room for the next part of the exam, which is a group problem solving activity. In the room, there were other groups, which judging from the accents they were from the northern regions.
As soon as everyone entered the room, the room dimmed. As the screen slowly lowered down, the test started. The video was about different types of supernatural beings: the Sakuninku（死人鬼）, which were reanimation of the bodies of the deceased; the Hakirin（兇靈）, the humanoid being that existed in the legends; the Akunamon（谷珉）, a human beast hybrid that rumored to live in the Noeyun Mountains; and the Kamon （賀珉）,the demon god that no one knew whether it exists. The task for us was to use a simulation sandbox to create the perfect trap to catch all of those supernatural beings based on the description in the video.
"So what should we do now?" Tenka asked.
While we were thinking, Jun immediately had some idea:"Well, one thing I noticed about all of these beings was that they all attracted to blood. When we design the trap, we need to place something bloody at the center of the trap."
"But where can we find blood?" Tenka commented, "As you can see here, there is nothing that contains blood. Even though there is a needle there, there is nothing for us to treat the wound. There must be something else that would be helpful."
"Wait, I think I remembered something," it was Sukeo who got some idea, "as the video said, they always attack human when the human couldn't see them. As such, I think one thing that could attract them would be the darkness."
"But how can we make sure we can catch them in dark while not being attacked?" I asked.
"Let me see," Sukeo started checking the toolbox, "so we have a flashlight, a needle, a flash-band , four pairs of goggles, and a black cloth- I have an idea. How about if we use the flash-band to make them blind, and then use the black cloth and flash light to catch them. Think about it, when you apply a strong flashlight to black cloth, the heat it absorbed could easily blind all of their eyes, and then we can use the needle to kill all of them."
That sounds like the most reasonable solution, I thought. As such, we clicked the button for the simulation. As expected, all of the beasts went blind when we applied the flash band, and as the black cloth fell down, all them had no where to go. As the flashlight and needles stroke, all of them were killed.
"Perfect," the system announced, and our side of the room started lighted up.
"Voilà!" Tenka was the first one to get excited as soon as we exited the room. It was around the same time that other groups also figured out their solutions. However, there were serval groups that actually chose the blood method, which as expected, there was an warning message displayed: "Be careful, you wound may kill you if it's not properly treated."
As the activity ended, all the group received their midterm reports. At this point, my group had been among some of the highest scores, with both the written test and the problem solving activity receiving an "excellent" rating; meanwhile, for the groups that used the blood method, they still received a "good" rating.
"Before the upcoming escape room activity, please take a break as the escape room requires time to set up."
As we returned to the main preparation room, we grabbed some snacks and drink.
"The next activity could be a bit challenging," Sukeo commented, "I think we need to make sure everyone is in their best performance and able to work together."
"That's true, captain Sukeo," Tenka said, mimicking a soldier reporting to a captain.
"Why did you call me a 'captain' out of sudden?" Sukeo asked.
"Well without you, there is no way we could get that 'Excellent' rating." Tenka explained, "Plus, you're also the head of the student council, which you must already had some taste of leadership."
"Emmm, that makes sense."
As we were talking, there was an new announcement: "Greetings everyone, hope everyone has a good break. As the escape room activity starting in a few minutes, please make sure you have already picked us your registered devices. To enter the escape room, please gather in a good and stand at the teleport capsule located on the side of the room. During the teleport, please hold the hands with your partners to minimize discomfort you may experience during the teleport."
Since we have nothing to pick up, we headed directly to the teleport capsule. As the teleport started, we found ourselves surrounded with blue lights and thunderbolts. It felt the same as a quickly descending plane, which I found myself almost in zero gravity.
Not long after the teleport, we finally arrived at the escape room. From the first glance, it looked like a normal home, with the space filled with essential products. However, as soon as I turned my face toward the kitchen, all my good impressions were gone - the fridge had a very unpleasant smell, and half eaten food was scattered around. There was a clock displaying the time limits, in which the countdown started at 45 minute.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Out of sudden, Tenka screamed out, pointing at her direction.
"What's going on, Tenka?" Jun asked, trying to figure out what Tenka saw.
I made a turn toward Tenka's direction and took a look at what Tenka saw - there was a body of a young man in a hoodie hanging on the balcony in a rope, with the neck sticked onto the loop.
"It's a suicide scene," Jun commented, "maybe we can check the body to see if we can get more information about this room."
"But - there's a body there. Why would SAIR use a real body in our entrance exam?" It seemed to be Tenka was still scared.
"Don't worry, it's just a dummy, though a very well-made one," just as we were saying, Sukeo had already arrived at the scene. "Araka, could you help me check the main door? Tenka and Jun, could you also check the living room to see if there is a key or something?"
"Roger that," I walked toward the main door and check whether the door was locked. As expected, the door had a digital lock and was fully locked. There was a keyboard on the lock, which indicated the lock may require a password to unlock.
"There is a digital lock there. Did you find any hint of password?" I asked.
"I couldn't find anything useful," Tenka said, "The only thing in room that is noticeable is some rotten food in the kitchen and some half-eaten instant noodles. It's quite messy on the kitchen side."
"Well I found a paper with the word 'password' in the pile of garbage," it was Jun who just returned from the kitchen, "but I'm not sure if it would work."
"What does it look like, like does it have letters and numbers?" I asked.
"This is a short one, with only numbers. It said '2 2 7 5'."
"2 2 7 5"? That makes sense, I thought. Without any hesitation, I entered the numbers onto the lock. It didn't work, as the display on the lock said "The number of trials had exceed the limit for today. Please find a keycard or contact the admin to unlock.".
"It didn't work. It said that the number of trials had exceeded the maximum for today. We need a keycard or something to unlock it."
"Guys, take a look at what I found in his pocket," Sukeo called us to check his progress.
I took a look at he got, and found a crumpled paper with some words on it: "Today is my wife's birthday, sorry for unable to come to your birthday party. Please tell her about what's going on today, and she will come to save you."
"What does that mean?" Tenka asked, "Should we contact his wife?"
"But how do we reach his wife? I haven't found any contact hidden in this area." Jun added.
"I think there was another room that we haven't checked. Have you guys checked the bedroom?"
"I checked, but it's locked by a digital lock." Jun said.
"Well I think the solution must be within the bedroom." Sukeo suggested.
As such, we decided to check the door to the bedroom. I tried the password Jun found, and surprisingly, it unlocked the door.
The room was even messier than the living room, and it's easy to tell that it belong to a gamer or a Yarokinin（屋裡人, as of the same meaning as Otaku or incel ) - there were character figures and Woninsy （畫人書,basically manga) all over the shelves, and the gaming set was surrounded with used cans of energy drinks. In the bed, there was a big pillow covered by the quilt, as if there was a person sleeping there.
"These are all real Woninsy," Tenka noticed, as she grabbed one of the books from the shelves, "They really spent that much money on making the scene as realistic as possible."
"But he doesn't look like a person who can get a wife," Jun commented, "or a good wife at least, as no one cleaned his room or made his bed."
"Yeah," I followed, "I kinda imagine him living alone."
"That makes sense, as I found that all the food in the fridge were all single portion," Tenka suggested.
"Wait, did you guys said that this guy lives alone?" Sukeo seemed noticed something, "If that's the case, I actually know who was the 'wife' here."
"So do you have a clue?" I asked, though I also had a clue.
"Yeah," Sukeo showed us the paper he found, "Take a look here. Did you find the spelling of the word 'wife' here a bit weird?"
It indeed had some problem. While most of the words on the paper were written in Faonzy （方字,or Kanji）, only the word "wife" was written in Kabamo (卡字,alphabetic scripts), and the spelling was very weird, being Orocha instead of Oroka.
"Orocha is not a word of the standard Watabana (羊文) , but a word that created by those Yarokinin based on the word Oroka referring to their favorite female characters from those animation series or Woninsy," Sukeo explained, "As such, what we need to do is to figure out what this guy's favorite female character is."
"So how do we figure out what his favorite female character is?" Sukeo asked.
"Ah, it's Haya-cha under the cover," Tenka seemed to figure out what was under the cover. Jun and me came closer to take a look on Tenka's discovery - it was a body pillow featuring Mikumi Haya (米田 含), the female main character from the series 'Go Haya Go! (Hayake!)'.
"So it's Mikumi Haya from 'Go Haya Go!'," Jun figured out, "but how do we continue the task here?"
As the others were thinking about the next step, I accidentally kicked on a pile of game disks and made the pile collapsed. Surprisingly, a safe was revealed inside the closest, where it was previously covered with the pile.
"Guys, I found a safe under the pile. Maybe the keycard is inside the safe," I suggested.
"Do we know the password?" Jun asked.
After a quick examination, Sukeo had his solution: "Well, we actually have known the password. Do you remember the words on the paper said it was his 'wife''s birthday? Since the safe seemed to have four digits for the lock, we can try it with Haya-cha's birthday."
"I actually know what her birthday is," Tenka figured out, "it's June 14th."
I typed 0 6 1 4, unsurprisingly, the safe was unlocked - there was a key card and a business card there.
As we decided to head back to the living room to unlock the door, Tenka seemed to have some 'natural struggle', "Guys, very sorry about that - but I really need to use the bathroom now."
"What!? But where could you do it? There is no bathroom here." Jun
"But what's that?" Tenka held herself tightly and pointed at the bathroom located just behind the closest.
"Hey, I don't think it's a real bat- " While Jun hadn't finished his sentence, Tenka had already disappeared.
"If the Woninsy are real, so does the bathroom."
"Ughh, I think we should move on," Sukeo suggested while putting the left palm on his face.
As we put the keycard onto the main door's lock, surprisingly, it didn't work. "Please contact the admin."
"What!? It's impossible!" Jun felt very disappointed, "how comes we had spent so much time to find an useless keycard?"
"Araka, did you find anything else in the safe?" Sukeo asked.
"There is this business card in the safe, I haven't checked about it." I grabbed the business card from my pocket and showed it to Sukeo.
Sukeo grabbed the card and closely examined the card: "Well, there is a phone number on the card. Maybe we can try this one."
"Hey. Are you guys insane? Maybe the number on the card is just a decoration", Jun seemed to lost his patience, "Just take a look at how-"
"No, it's a real company. My house uses it. If I remembered correctly, we need an ID and a serial number to let the company unlock it." Sukeo calmly explained.
"But they don't even let us to use our phone. There is no way this place has any connection to -"
"Hello, I need to unlock my door," just as Jun complained, Sukeo had already reached the telephone beside the sofa. "Araka, could you look for the ID of the owner for me?"
"Roger that," I rushed into the bedroom to see if I had missed any place. While I entered the room, I heard Tenka was calling me: "Sara-cha, could you come in for a second?"
I pushed the door and found a struggled Tenka pointing at the bathroom. "Did you figure out it's a display toilet?"
"No, it's a real toilet, but the water tank seemed clogged," Tenka said.
"Okay, I will help you." I walked my way to the water tank to examine the problem. When I opened the lid, I figured out it was not a easy fix, but also a necessary step - it was an photo ID that clogged the water tank.
"Sukeo, I found the ID." I told Sukeo and rushed back to the living room. As Sukeo gave the information of the photo ID to the other side of the phone, he calmly lowered the speaker.
"We did it," Sukeo said calmly.
"Really!? That's it?" Jun was still confused.
"Yes, exactly," just as Sukeo finished his sentence, the door was unlocked. It was An, the supervisor, who welcomed us.
"So you guys did it within 30 minutes, which is pretty good," An checked the clock on the table and commented.
"Hah, what a relief," just as we greeted with An, Tenka came out from the bedroom and met with us.
"How's the bathroom break?" An asked.
"It's good, thanks god it's a real one," Tenka replied, with smile on the face.
"Wait, that's not a display toilet!?" Jun was still in the shock.
"Of course it wasn't," An explained, "You're using our dormitory for the activity. The only things that were fake there were the body, the ID, and the food."
"That explains why those character figures and the books were also real," Sukeo said.
"The books were belong to the library of the facility, and those figures were actually mine," An further explained.
"But I think it was clear that we did went through some kind of portal when we get here. Do you guys really use portal to enter the room?"
"That's actually our new technology and it really saves the time, it's really hard to navigate around the complex by foot," An replied, "Okay guys, now I'm going to give you guys the green armbands. After that, you may grab some books here, just to make sure you return them to the library by the end of the exam."
As such, this concluded our written exam for today. By the end, Sukeo received two green armbands, while the others received one. When I checked the leaderboard, we found that our team was among the top groups. What would we expect for tomorrow, I thought, but as long as we work together, everything will be okay.