Chapter 7 : (Preliminary Competition)
The day before the test, Ransi and Juntai were training in Juntai's garden. Juntai was doing push-ups. Ransi collapsed after completing 1591 push-ups, while Juntai continued for another hour, reaching 4773. As sweat poured from Ransi, he told Juntai, "How did you do it? I reached 1591 push-ups in half an hour and couldn't continue, while you managed 4773 in an hour and a half. You're really strong." Ransi thought to himself that Juntai had truly been diligent in training over the past four years.
Juntai looked at him and said, "I'm almost dead. I'm really exhausted. I won't be able to move for the rest of the day."
Ransi, with a look of surprise, said, "Haha," trying to hide his envy.
The scene then shifts to Ransi, Juntai, some other students, and Nari, who is explaining the best methods for finding the longest-lasting gate.
After the explanation, Juntai and Ransi were walking when Nari stopped them and said he wanted to walk with them for a while. As the three walked and talked about the test, Juntai stumbled and fell. Ransi and Nari extended their hands to help Juntai. Juntai grabbed their hands, got up, and thanked them for their help. Ransi responded, "It's okay; we're friends after all," and everyone smiled.
On the Day of the Test
As students gathered at the test tower and some were on their way to the tower, a voice from the announcer said:
"Hello, viewers and participants in the preliminary competition. This is your host, Anya Lia, here to assist you throughout this competition.
I will begin by explaining how the competition works for all participants and viewers, as we always do in detail."
(Explanation of the Preliminary Competition)
The competition consists of several individual tests, except for the joint test where all students participate. It involves two points: all students gather at the starting point and must reach the endpoint by crossing various obstacles to reach the gates before the plate bridges. After each gate, there is a bridge of plates. Some doors don't have obstacles and can be accessed immediately after searching. The plate bridges are metallic, and each door has a number of minutes or seconds indicating the time before the plates fall. Some plates fall gradually, while others fall all at once. There are also plates that fall from the beginning, stop in the middle, and then fall again from the middle. Next to the number of minutes above the door is a symbol, which changes and has specific meanings. For example, ^2 means that when you press the penultimate plate, all plates in this bridge will fall after two seconds. The circle symbol means that one of the plates is a trap. When pressed, it will start a countdown from 5 to 1, and all plates in this bridge, and the two bridges on its right and left, will fall. The minus symbol with a number means that the time will decrease by the number next to the minus if you run quickly. For example, if the time is four minutes and the contestant starts running, it will decrease to two minutes. There are other symbols and their meanings. The number of gates may vary from one competition to another, increasing or decreasing.
The competition time is determined by the number of gates and the difficulty of the obstacles but is generally set to thirty minutes.
Points are awarded for each stage, and the student with the highest number of points will advance to the original "Swordsmen of the Afternoon" competition.
Here are the rules set by the director and deputy, Naye Horim:
1. You may not injure your fellow competitors with severe bruises.
2. You may not push any competitor off the plates or into any obstacle. There is no need to worry about participants' safety; the competition is conducted with high safety standards, and everything is handled by specialists in safety and security.
3. All instructions from the director or their representative must be followed.
4. The winner will be selected by a specialized committee.
5. Anyone who objects to the competition results or makes false claims will be expelled from the school immediately.
6. If any student suffers a serious injury during the competition, all students will be punished and considered participants in the incident.
7. (As information) No teachers are allowed to participate in organizing the competition in any way. It is solely the responsibility of the director and deputy.
8. Provoking others to fight is not allowed. In such cases, both the attacker and the attacked will be disqualified, and insults or disrespect towards your peers are not permitted.
9. Anything not covered by these eight rules is permitted.
The competition time will be only 5 minutes because there are 4 gates and 9 mazes.
Nami Slone appeared with his long, bluish hair, green eyes, round face, and fit physique. After hearing the announcer, he said, "So, the joint test will depend on speed. The number of winners in the joint test will be fewer than in previous years."
Host: All students should go to the exam gate. Please arrive before five minutes pass.
Jentai appeared walking and stopped at the exam gate with other students around him. Ransi looked at him, then lowered his head and looked at his shoes. Ransi asked him if his feet were swollen. Nari placed his hand on Ransi's shoulder and said, "No, he's carrying weight to avoid winning by five seconds." They then began to laugh.
The gate began to open slowly, and everyone fell silent.
What awaits them behind the gate?
Nari instructed everyone with him to split up and they would meet at the midpoint in two minutes. Anyone who finds a way to the gates before everyone else and goes alone without informing them will be considered a traitor.
All the students raced forward as soon as the gate opened. Ransi went in his direction quickly, and Nari and Jenterai also moved with a light smile on their faces.
After a minute, the students reached Gate Nine (i.e., the one above labeled "9 minutes" and marked with ^3) and began to push to open the gate and cross quickly. However, the students were surprised to find no plates under their feet and fell down, with some grabbing other students and pulling them into the abyss.
After the students returned to the midpoint and two minutes had passed, Nari, Jenterai, Ransi, and the rest of the team met at the midpoint.
Nari: "Any news? I didn't find anything except a dead end. It seems no one has found any gates yet because of the mazes, and many students have returned to the midpoint."
Ransi: "I'm the same."
Nari: "And what about you two?"
Others: "We are the same as you."
Nari: "And you, Jenterai?"
Jentai sighed and said, "I also found a dead end at first. Then I continued and found two other blocked paths (mazes). I didn't go down the fourth path."
Nari thought to himself: "How did he manage to find three blocked paths so quickly? Is he deceiving us?" He began to doubt. Nari looked at the rest of the team and told them: "We need to follow Jenterai; he is the ideal solution. We only have about two and a half minutes left."
Jentai moved forward with everyone following him until they passed the three mazes. They reached an open area and began searching. One of Nari's team members shouted that he had found the door. Nari reached the door in shock because he read "9 minutes ^3" above it, meaning we are lucky this time. This will ensure we reach the second checkpoint. This is better; I won't have to abandon any of these fools.
But after the entire team arrived, Nari looked at Jenterai and told him that he found the path and that he should open the door and cross first. Jenterai agreed and began to slowly turn the door handle. When the door opened, they found all the plates still there. Nari sighed and told Jenterai that he was wrong to doubt him and would make it up by letting him lead to the end.
Jentai said it was fine. He walked ahead, followed by Nari, Ransi, and the rest of the team. When they reached the midpoint, the circular and random markers activated. Quickly, Jenterai jumped and stepped on Nari's face to enhance his jump. Nari shouted, "This is against the rules; you can't push me." Jenterai sarcastically replied while still jumping and stepping on his team members: "Pushing you isn't forbidden, but making you fall is." He then rushed towards the gate as the plates began to fall from the end of the path. Nari also jumped quickly towards the gate. Ransi shouted, "You cheater, Jenterai!" and the entire team started chasing Jenterai to the gate. Jenterai crossed the gate and closed it quickly. Nari, Ransi, and the rest of the team jumped and clung to the edge under the door after all the plates had fallen.
The scene shifted to the bridges on either side of where Jenterai was, falling down, and a large number of participating students fell.
Nari shouted, "Jentai, open the door for us, and I promise I'll act, but nothing happened." Jenterai laughed and said, "Goodbye." They heard the sound of footsteps.
Nari: "Damn this scum! Don't you have any sense, Ransi? We can't endure this situation much longer."
Ransi told him there was one solution: to jump and grab the handle because it was large and wide enough to hold onto and open slowly, then return to cling to the edge. Nari and the rest of the members heard this, jumped, and grabbed the iron handle. Nari shouted at them to let go of the handle as his hands were starting to slip. Then they heard a voice say, "Okay, I thought about what you said, and I'll open the door for you."
Desperately, Nari and his team said, "No, Jenterai!" Jenterai opened the handle, and Nari and the rest of the team's hands slipped, falling into the abyss. But Ransi was still clinging to the edge, jumped, and grabbed Jenterai's shoe, but he fell with only the shoe because Jenterai wasn't wearing it. Ransi looked at Jenterai and shouted, "You damned devil, I'll show you!" Jenterai smiled in a very malicious way but then came to his senses; there was only one minute left, and only one path remained to the final point.
Jentai ran quickly and said that only one correct path remained. Based on the number of mazes he knew, there were only two more mazes (blocked paths) and one path leading to the final gate.
End of Chapter Seven.
"Based on the events that have occurred so far in the story, do you think Jentai will be able to reach the end successfully?"