Crossroads

Chapter 7

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.