Chapter 3

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“Oh, It’s Senior Jae Hee!”

“Senior! Senior Jae Hee! Hello!”

“Senior, where have you been? Not for a day or two, we did not see you for almost a whole month, so everyone was worried. It was not like something bad happened, right?”

“Hey, what were you saying? Say something that makes more sense. Senior, I’ve written all the Heat Electrocution notes. Please, take your time.”

Before he could answer, a thick notebook came into his sight.

‘Heat Infection and Metastatic, 4th Year, Design department, Choi Soo Yeon’, the writing on the outside of the notebook was profound.

Seo Jae Hee smiled brightly.

“I am grateful for the intention. Thank you.”

Heat Infection and Metastatic were subjects that were known to be difficult to write notes for. After the class, where the professor passionately raged for about three or four hours continuously without taking a single break, his fingers always ended up numb as he hurriedly tried to catch up with his notes. In particular, the professor’s handwriting was the worst, as the words scrambled on the blackboard were closer to a painting. If the cleaner, more organized notes appeared, they would be traded at a high value among students. So, it was a great gesture to lend notes at no cost.

“Senior helped me a lot back then. Think of it as a reward and accept it, no need to be careful with it, just look at it comfortably. If you want to copy it, I’m also fine with that.”

Seo Jae Hee briefly rummaged through his memory. Since he was part of the dispatch team, it was common for him to take care of an unspecified number of students, and thought she would be one of them. He refused again.

“It’s really okay.”

“Senior….”

“Class will start soon. Let’s get in.”

Seo Jae Hee reached out his hand and gently grabbed the notebook that Choi Soo Yeon was holding out and pressed it down to her hand. He deliberately slipped his fingertips slightly. As soon as Seo Jae Hee and Soo Yeon brushed, Choi Soo Yeon was startled and hugged her own notebook, rushed to say her greetings, and left to see her group of friends. Through her flowing hair, he could see her ears were turning red.

Choi Soo Yeon’s absence was filled with other students who were looking for an opportunity to talk with Seo Jae Hee. Seo Jae Hee was able to take a break after finishing his greetings by making eye contact with female students who had gathered around him. He was just about to go up through the stairs.

“Jae Hee?”

Looking back, it was Cha Ye Won.

She was standing at the start of the stairs, raising her chin and looking up at Seo Jae Hee who was already on his way up the stairs. His gaze seemed to be drawn downwards. No matter what you were looking at, your gaze would be attracted to her. She was born with a lot of good things gifted upon her. Cha Ye Won climbed the stairs and stood in front of Seo Jae Hee. She drooped her well-groomed eyelashes and spoke.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you in a month.

Cha Ye Won smiled and continued.

“If you go, you just go, if you come, just come like that, at least you have to tell me. I’m worried you know, right?”

Cha Ye Won, who had the sunlight pouring down like a waterfall from the window next to the stairs, seemed unreal like she would melt and disappear. Seo Jae Hee looked away from her for a moment and confirmed that no one was nearby, then wiped his smile, looked at Cha Yeo Won again and said softly.

“You were the one who sent me away, anyway.”

Cha Ye Won tilted her head and asked.

“What makes you blame me?”

“Didn’t you make your father do it? You wanted to send me to the Dead Sea so I can have a hard time because I did not listen to you. Thanks to you, I had a good trip. But isn’t it too old fashioned to send me to measure the dragon’s heartbeat? If you were going to send me away for a long time, you could at least make the effort of updating the cause. It was so easy.”

“Too easy, you say. You went against the team and went to the Dead Sea alone to measure the dragon’s heartbeat?”

Seo Jae Hee grabbed the railing. This is because Cha Ye Won, who was standing one step below him, grabbed the back of Seo Jae Hee’s head and pulled it towards herself. Cha Ye Won tilted her head towards Seo Jae Hee’s ears. Seo Jae Hee was not sure that the yellow thing that was pouring down his chest was sunlight or Cha Ye Won’s hair that was shining through the sunlight, he wished he could sweep even a strand of her hair.

“Everything was a lie except the smell of the blood.”

Seo Jae Hee managed to resist the urge to push Cha Ye Won down the stairs. Seo Jae Hee rubbed the back of his neck while Cha Ye Won, who took a few steps back laughed, saying she was going to die of fun. She spat it out calmly.

“I told you several times not to mess around in private…”

Seo Jae Hee immediately shut up when he heard a sign of a crowd downstairs. Looking down over the railing of the stairs, some of the students with lemon-coloured badges, meaning they were in second grade, were coming into the hallway making noises. Waiting for them to pass, they stopped at such a distance that they would be able to hear the conversation between Seo Jae Hee and Cha Yeo Won. It seemed like they would stay for quite a long time, seeing all of them talking loudly about the exam papers in their hands. Feeling the need to change the subject, Seo Jae Hee smiled softly.

“What was going on while I was gone?”

Seo Jae Hee’s voice was polite and gentle as if it had never been cold. Won’t someone’s muscles be cramped if one changed their expression just like that? Cha Ye Won muttered but Seo Jae Hee kept his eyes calm. Soon after, Cha Ye Won answered flatly.

“There was a Special Admission Student.”

“What?”

Did he hear it wrong? Cha Ye Won laughed at Seo Jae Hee’s reaction.

“There was a Special Admission Student.”

“I told you not to joke around.”

Seo Jae Hee spoke his words with a low voice to prevent the students in the hallway from listening.

“It’s real. Came in last week. When you were away.”

There were several unwritten rules in the City Federation Central School, one of which was as follows.

It is better to have fewer Special Admission Students.

If you are a citizen, you are obliged to take a tuning measurement at the age of eight. Children who are found to have talents are to enter the basic education in their city for 7 years and attend the applied school for 6 years. Most of the ordinary talents graduated from applied school at the age of 21 and were placed into the society, but the ones with extraordinary talents who have been filtered through all kinds of tests and discovered to have a set of skills through battle simulation, are gathered here at the City Federation Central School in the 1st city. They usually graduated in five years, and a promising future awaited them after that. It was a common route. Exceptions were rare.

Since the establishment of the City Federation Central School, there have been three Special Admission Students.

First, Kim Ji An, tuning rate 32. Damage 48% Strategic 52%.

She was born in the slums of the 8th city. Since she didn’t have decent parents, her personal information had not been registered at the time. Kim Ji An was arrested by the police while demonstrating her talent in crimes for a living, and it was not until the age of 33 that she was measured for the first time in her life. The City Federation had always been generous to someone with talents. They wanted to put Kim Ji An into a systematic educational facility and somehow make her a useful citizen. Kim Ji An, who had never received a formal education, was recognized by using irregularities at her own will and then was able to overcome the difficult threshold of the City Federation Central School. School life was not easy. Kim Ji An was arrogant at school, and the other students who didn’t like her humble background were being sensitive to her. After several incidents in which the school struggled to cover and the students kept making a fuss about it, on a windy day, she separated from everyone during a training mission and disappeared.

Second. Lee Sung Jae, tuning rate 21. Damage 71% Strategic 29%

He graduated with a basic education in the 6th city with average grades and got a job at the Dragon Research Institute. Lee Sung Jae, who had been working for three years, abruptly quit the research institute and applied to the City Federation Central School. Although he had no special qualifications as a talent, the principal secretly granted Lee Sung Jae a special admission. Less than a month after entering the school, Lee Sung Jae set fire at the school’s dragon hatchery and died because he could not get out of the scene. The principal resigned, to take the responsibility for the damage of the dragon, not the death of Lee Sung Jae. It was the famous ivory tower’s arson case.

Third, Jung Yoon Hwan, tuning rate 82. Damage 35% Strategic 65%

Even when he was sleeping, his brain was still working.

He was a born strategist, from the bone, a natural architect. He was outstanding in all aspects, his amazing swiftness, his talent as a strategy designer, which was verified throughout his elementary school years. There was no need for him to complete the formal education system. As soon as he was in the second semester of his fifth year at the applied school, 19-year old Jung Yoon Hwan, who had not even graduated, was taken in by an elite army and joined under Kim Seo Hyuk. And 7 years later, he entered the City Federation Central School after a bombshell declaration, ‘Please give me a break.’ What made Jung Yoon Hwan different from the previous two was that he was still alive and was currently in the third grade. So if you asked whether he was better than those two, it was not actually true. He kept breaking school rules by not showing up in the classroom, not taking all the written exams just because they were annoying, it was truly a horrible situation for other students as he was able to maintain his top ranking with simulated combat.

And now, a fourth one has come. One Jung Yoon Hwan was already overwhelming. Now we have the fourth one.

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