Chapter 6

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“Give me your badge.”

In the student council room, Cha Ye Won held out her hand.

Yoo Eun Woo gently took off the school badge that was on her school uniform’s jacket and handed it to Cha Ye Won like a good puppy reaching out to her owner. Cha Ye Won took it and scanned it on her laptop. When Yoo Eun Woo’s student record appeared on the monitor, Cha Ye Won began tapping the keyboard to record a penalty.

“Minus 10 points for sneaking into the lab. Minus 10 points for stealing a bucket of blood. Minus 5 points for pouring it in the hallway. Pointed a weapon at another student, but didn’t fire, um, for this one, it will be just a warning.”

Less than a week after entering the school, the record book was full of red penalties. Cha Ye Won gave the badge back and said in a business-like tone.

“If you accumulate so many penalty points, you might not be able to take the classes you want to take later. You know that, right? Next, Baek Il So. Badge.” Baek Il So, the second-year student who was sitting next to Yoo Eun Woo, reluctantly held out his badge.

“I have never gotten a penalty before.” A growl was heard, but Yoo Eun Woo ignored it and turned her head away.

‘Why would you do that to someone else’s book?’

“Is this all the document?”

Seo Jae Hee, who was rummaging through the files in the back, asked while raising his head. “That’s all.” Cha Ye Won replied. Seo Jae Hee quickly went through the file he was holding. A falcon-shaped seal that symbolized the military flashed through the flipped sheets of paper.

My profile. A record that was sent from the military to the school. Yoo Eun Woo watched Seo Jae Hee swift through her personal information. There would not be much in it. It was not easy to include confidential information in a file that could be found by someone who had not graduated yet. All that it had, were her winning and losing records, battle outlines, and career history.

Yoo Eun Woo remembered the day she left the military. When she went to make a final plea to Kim Seo Hyuk, it was lying at his desk, ‘Examination of Thropy’s Disposal Report’. That was the real deal.

Seo Jae Hee’s head tilted obliquely. He was concentrating deeply as if his eyes were stuck to the paperwork. She did not think he was handsome when she looked at his eyes, nose, and lips in his ID photo, but when she saw him in reality, he naturally caught her eye with his soft hair, clean skin, and relaxed movement. There was a neatness in him that could not even stand out in the public service advertisement.

Then our eyes met. Yoo Eun Woo was taken aback by it and Seo Jae Hee immediately returned the gesture with a smile. It was like a reflex that had been trained for a long time.

“Also, Yoo Eun Woo.”

Cha Ye Won called.

“Let’s do a test tomorrow afternoon. I should have done it sooner. Well, Professor Jung is not here because he went on a business trip, but since Jae Hee is already here we can open the test room.”

Cha Ye Won, who officially was the student council president and informally, the only daughter of Cha In Ho, the head of the City Federation, was holding Seo Jae Hee back to fill the professor’s vacant seat. Well, this was what one could call a dictatorship. Cha Ye Won looked back at him and asked.

“Jae Hee, can you manipulate the test room?”

“Yes.”

Seo Jae Hee nodded his head. He met her eyes again. Seo Jae Hee, who smiled cleanly as if it was a habit, and Yoo Eun Woo, who was not used to it at all. Then all of sudden she laughed at herself. She was a murder weapon who was barely exiled to the school just before her disposal. Like a dog who is smeared with shit was scolding the dog smeared with bran* Why would she have to be wary of a man who was perfectly normal and so popular among other students.

(*Korean idiom that was similar to Pot calling the kettle back in English.)

There was another really urgent thing.

“How are the tests done?”

In response to Yoo Eun Woo’s question, Cha Ye Won closed her laptop and answered.

“We’re going to measure your tuning rate, strategical percentage, and damage percentage in the same order separately. We do this for the students to be assigned classes of each subject according to their level, so you can do it without any burden. There’s no need to try too hard. But it’s suitable to see your skills.”

“…….Separately?”

Eun Woo’s face became pale. Cha Ye Won tilted her head.

“Is there a problem?”

“Oh, I thought it was a test by giving specific missions like a battle simulation. In the given time, using how much time, how quickly, and how accurately you completed the mission. If it was this way….”

“This is a school. We don’t give such a complicated mission to a freshman who has just entered the school. Because it is not as tight as the military.”

It was driving her crazy. Although she was kind of expecting it, her mouth turned dry again. Baek Il So, who was next to her, shuddered.

“Even though your tuning rate is high, that does not mean you have the skill. Well you, maybe you deserve to be kicked out of the military.”

“I don’t know what Commander-in-Chief Kim Seo Hyuk did to Senior’s parents, but you can’t just vent your anger on me.”

Yoo Eun Woo countered back firmly. She even gave him a smirk to give an impression that the test did not make her feel down. Baek Il So kicked the chair with his feet.

“Hey! You really..”

“Stop it.”

Cha Ye Won warned. Baek Il So bowed to the seniors, looked at Yoo Eun Woo, and strode out of the student council room. Yoo Eun Woo tried to chase after him, but Cha Ye Won said to her in a stern voice, asking her to leave after a little while, so she sat down. Five minutes after Baek Il So left, Cha Ye Won told Yoo Eun Woo that it was okay for her to leave now.

However, as soon as Yoo Eun Woo left the student council room, she ran into Baek Il So again. He seemed to have deliberately waited for Yoo Eun Woo to come out as his anger had not yet been relieved. Yoo Eun Woo kicked him in the stomach as Baek Il So pointed a finger at her, swearing. After that, they fought like crazy puppies. Cha Ye Won came out in disgust and separated the two. Baek Il So ran away reluctantly.

“Can’t either of you be reserved?”

Cha Ye Won retorted and entered the student council room. Yoo Eun Woo, who was rubbing her dirty school uniform, found a silver card on the floor. She thought Baek Il So had dropped his credit card or something like that, so she picked it up and looked at it. It was blank/It didn’t display anything. She had a speculation, but it was kind of absurd.

Is this a release card?

Yoo Eun Woo looked around and went into a nearby empty classroom. Standing by the window, she slowly glanced at the card in the dim sunlight. At a certain angle, there was a slightly transparent logo visible. It was a pattern that she knew. She clicked her tongue.

It was indeed a release card.

It was something that could not easily be seen even in the military. Even Yoo Eun Woo, who used to walk in and out of Kim Seo Hyuk’s office like her own home, only saw it a few times. The City Federation thoroughly supervised the overall production, distribution, and management of the release cards.

Why did a student have this kind of card?

She turned the card slowly in her hands.

Did he sneak it out of her dad’s wallet?

It would not be a surprise for Assemblyman Baek Jeong Myung to have at least one release card. The higher the social position, the easier it is to evade the law.

She clicked her tongue and stuffed the card into her pocket.

She did not intend to give it back to Baek Il So. She was going to use it as a weakness if he dared to bother her again. It was also illegal for him to have a card, so he would not be able to publicly look for the card either. Even though he would soon realize that he had lost his card and would be able to easily guess that he had dropped it while arguing with her, it was funny to imagine him getting upset as he was unable to ask about it openly.

As she was about to leave the classroom, she pulled out the earpiece intercom from her holster and put it in her ear. When she touched IF on her left wrist, a translucent screen floated in the air. She pressed Kim Seo Hyuk from the list of call history. Hearing the beep on the intercom, Yoo Eun Woo sat down on a nearby desk. Her two feet floating in the air.

(*IF: bracelet-like communication device)

The beeps lasted for a long time. Yoo Eun Woo sat on the cold desk and waited for a moment while receiving sunlight on her back. A notification sound followed, indicating that the other party could not answer the call and the connection was disconnected. The screen that was displayed by the IF disappeared completely.

Yoo Eun Woo blankly caressed her IF. It was shiny new. It hadn’t been used for that long.

When she was unilaterally notified of her expulsion from the military, she went to her accommodation with a puzzled feeling, her suitcase was already at the entrance. Even though she did not have much luggage, Yoo Eun Woo was hurt twice by the coldness of nobody asking if there was anything she cherished. She wrote a tight memorandum that she would not divulge any military secrets, had her IF confiscated for having military information on it, and returned the only gun she had cherished. She would put herself in a washing machine and turn herself around if she could cover her military’s tracks. Although she was so meticulous, she still could not erase Kim Seo Hyuk’s direct number from her brain.

What’s the use of calling him several times a day? He does not even pick it.

Yoo Eun Woo, came to school along with her suitcase which had been laid out coldly as if they did not want her to waste time packing. She did not realize it until she unpacked her luggage, but it was too simple. A couple of plain, monochromatic clothes. A stiff new wallet that must have been bought in a hurry. The ID storage compartment held only one credit card. For ordinary people, it was where the citizenship card would have fit. When she took out the card and turned it over, the card recognized her fingerprint and a hologram video with instructions on how to use it came out.

-………Supplies and materials necessary for classes shall not be purchased by Yoo Eun Woo individually, as they are directly claimed by the City Federation Central School to the City Federation itself. If you use this card outside of the City Federation Central School and the City Federation franchise, you must obtain approval from the City Federation at least a week in advance. In addition, when using the Trans-Death Sea Railway, the destination and purpose should be disclosed at least one month in advance and approved by the City Federation, if the CIty Federation determines that it has been used for inappropriate reasons other than academic and livelihood, We will send a notice letter and collect the card from you.

The military kicked out Yoo Eun Woo just like that. After three years of treatment in which she even lost her cognisance. She paid so much with her loyalty to be treated as a human for two years when in reality the card that couldn’t even be used was her cut-off payment.

Yoo Eun Woo turned on the IF again and this time chose Seo Yoon Joo. Expectations were slim but she had no choice. She heard a beep through the intercom. It was disconnected again this time.

Yoo Eun Woo pulled the intercom out of her ear. She rolled the white metal slowly in her hand. Having been unable to hear Kim Seo Hyuk’s voice for a long time, the only last conversation she had with him broke out heartbreakingly.

‘It’s up to the committee. You were judged unfit for the military. If you graduate normally with qualifications from school, you can get citizenship. If your grades are at the top, of course, you can join the military.’

‘What if I can’t graduate? How am I supposed to graduate from school? You know yourself that I can’t!’

‘If you are delayed even for one semester, it is judged to be useless and you can get discarded. I’m sure you have heard it.’

Yoo Eun Woo closed her eyes tightly. Her hands were sweating. The intercom kept slipping from her hands.

‘I told you that It wasn’t my fault. It had a confusing strategy.’

‘As we checked with the system before the mission, your gun was fine.’

‘It must be an inside job. After I was dispatched, someone had put a confusing strategy on my gun system, and that often happens after the captain had a conflict with the committee. Just like sneaking up on someone you don’t like, I’m the target. Because I’m one of yours!’

Confusion with the strategy part is actually easy to get rid of even by a basic student.* Even if you get caught, it’s easy to solve it. How can you be called a soldier when you can’t do a thing like that properly? Whether it’s due to me or not, it’s more about your ability.’

*Note from translator: As they produce a power called ‘ON’ and use it through the gun – this power has a damage power (like a pure power). This power was strategically designable – so the ON could be changed in shape (like a bullet, or maybe like a web, sword, like creatures).

‘If someone designs it properly, I can definitely move in it. Not all soldiers should have the same qualities. One can do their part in a specialized field. Isn’t that what you always say? I win by hitting. It’s a confusing strategy, but it can be resolved if the supporters set up the shield properly.’

‘That’s your weakness. You definitely need someone to guide you through the strategy. You know that the enemy can even take advantage of you.’

‘Did you save me just for this? Now that you find me useless but didn’t want to get rid of me directly, so you threw me into this school to fail. ’

‘If I knew you were strategically dyslexic, I would have killed you instantly.’

The intercom slipped.

Yoo Eun Woo slipped out of the desk. She bent over and tried to pick up the intercom, but her legs became weak and she collapsed. Kneeling down, she picked up the intercom that had fallen to the floor. Drops of water fell over the earpiece. It was then, Yoo Eun Woo realized that she was crying.

“It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

She murmured firmly. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and wiped her tears from the earpiece.

If the captain doesn’t answer her call, she can go see him in person.

Next Friday, there was a ceremony to celebrate Citizen’s Day in the 1st City Square. Kim Seo Hyuk would definitely attend. She can go there and ask him. To take her back to the army…. Her pride had been destroyed a long time ago anyway. But without the military, she had nowhere to go. The people who took me back. The unit that raised me. Even if she needed to get down on her knees and beg to get back to her former agency while putting aside her feeling of betrayal for being abandoned…..

‘If I knew you were strategically dyslexic, I would have killed you instantly.’

Her cheeks were hot. Tears flowed out of control, and Yoo Eun Woo was at a loss while still crouching down. She kept wiping her eyes with her sleeves in a hurry.

It was actually difficult for someone who had eaten meat* to cry. It was too difficult. Everything. She had to work hard every time, so she always tried her best. All of the missions that were given by the military were completed without a hitch. After that, she spent the rest of her time studying design. It was like her stomach was churning due to the dyslexia, so she needed to cook up the dinner and then eat it in a hurry. If she was able to do that she could become a citizen one day, would it be difficult? (*Korean idiom for someone with experience)

“Yoo Eun Woo.”

Yoo Eun Woo jumped to her feet in surprise like a baby beast who had heard a gunshot. She swallowed her breath. She was all alone before. She did not know when her opponent had come in. Her back became cold at the thought of him seeing her crying. As trained in the military that abandoned her, Yoo Eun Woo slipped her right hand without realizing it. She gripped the gun in the holster.

Her tears had cooled, but her heart was still burning, filling his ears with the silence.

It was still unfamiliar for her even though she saw Seo Jae Hee several times in the student council room. Come to think of it, there was no sophisticated, trained smile that he had shown before.

With eyes that showed no expression, Seo Jae Hee said to her.

“Pair with me.”

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This translation is presented by Nocturne Translations.

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