NOVEL NEXT “Is everything ready?”
“Yes, Professor. But what about that camera…?”
“Ha ha, you mean this? It’s a special day for our Na-me as they officially enter the Academy, so I think we should commemorate it!”
“But the entrance ceremony is supposed to be all about the freshmen.”
“Still, for today, I want Na-me to be the star of the most wonderful story. Now, could you stand there next to the main gate?”
“Sure!”
It had been a long time since I took a photo.
Honestly, I had never liked the idea of being documented, but I didn’t feel much resistance this time around.
Meeting strangers and having my mouth go dry was a thing of the past now.
Was I naturally extroverted? Despite my past memories of feeling exhausted around people, the thought of being alone brought forth the feeling of loneliness first.
Personality is truly one of those enigmatic things.
The cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully in March.
Several female students giggled as they brushed away the petals falling on their heads, and even the male students were captivated by the beautiful scenery today.
“I can’t tell who the real flower is, can you?”
“If you say things like that nowadays, people will think you’re getting old.”
Professor Cheon handed me the camera.
It was just me in a neat school uniform, standing in front of the Sephiron Academy main gate with a cherry blossom tree. Nothing too special.
Just a photo, after all.
But Professor Cheon kept pressing the shutter while laughing heartily.
‘Well then, let’s play along for a bit.’
Most importantly, the subtle scent of cherry blossoms was actually quite pleasant.
Personally, I thought it was quite surprising that I passed the transfer exam for Sephiron Academy.
Professor Cheon didn’t seem particularly surprised upon hearing the news, but I was sure that at least half of the admissions officers were not favorable towards me.
This year, I was the only transfer student at Sephiron Academy, and perhaps making announcements for just one student was unnecessary—so Professor Cheon personally called the administration office to jot down what I needed to know before my enrollment.
I went to get my uniform fitted and even got a new bag.
Since the professor begged me not to wear sneakers because they looked too shabby, we eventually settled on a plain pair of black shoes.
If you asked whether I had done any broadcasts in two weeks, I couldn’t say I hadn’t.
But I had already briefly said goodbye to League of Legends.
I had never gained any goals or motivations from that game in the first place, and having played it for seven grueling years, I wanted a bit of distance.
If I stopped playing games, my streams would naturally turn into casual chat sessions.
However, I still felt some awkwardness or alienation while communicating with viewers, so I spoke freely without paying much attention to the chat window.
Mainly about magic circles, really.
I usually talked about things I wanted to teach Laura in advance during the broadcasts, trying to figure out where most people typically got stuck in understanding.
There were definitely a few hiccups during the process, but I was sure some viewers understood something.
Laura was incredibly interested in magic.
But there were times when her knowledge was so lacking that I didn’t know where to even begin teaching her.
Still, she displayed remarkable concentration when it came to unfolding magic like a story.
I planned to teach her magic seriously while playing Wagal, but since she hadn’t properly grasped the basics of arithmetic and runes yet, I postponed my plans for later.
So, after a busy two weeks, it was already the entrance ceremony on March 6.
When we took the photo, I really did feel like I returned to my childlike spirit, but listening to the principal’s lengthy speech brought me back to reality.
‘Do I really have to spend time with these babies?’
I looked around the auditorium.
Yeah, they were young.
Way younger than I’d expected.
There’s a saying, isn’t there?
When you’re in elementary school, middle and high schoolers seem really mature, but as you progress to middle school and high school, all the younger kids look like babies…
I hadn’t encountered kids this young in my past life.
The average enrollment age for the Academy in the Kaizen Empire was around 18 years, and I had also been in my early 20s when I died before…
So I caught myself feeling less psychological resistance.
But facing those kids who were seven or eight years old made me feel so small.
I even had to look up to them!
“Hi! Are you a freshman too?”
“No, I’m in 2nd grade.”
“2nd grade?”
Such mishaps happen sometimes… or rather, it was happening right now.
I had recently hit over 110cm in height and felt a bit proud, but those rapidly growing little ones were already over 120cm and now looking at heights above 130cm.
Third grade? Surely not 2nd grade?
I used to be told I wasn’t short when I went out, but the feeling of injustice crept up on me.
Maybe I was the one overlooking society.
Having built so many relationships through a capsule, I had grown accustomed to being treated as an adult.
But reality was ignoring me in front of these little kids.
“Dear freshmen, congratulations once again on your assignment to our school. Sephiron Academy will support you in all your school life with care and love. Thank you for listening, and this concludes the opening remarks.”
Now it was truly time for the freshmen to part from their parents and head to their respective classes. It was a brief farewell, but among them, some kids were truly about to burst into tears.
Parents of current students didn’t need to attend the entrance ceremony, so most academy students were busy chattering with their friends.
“Na-me, you’ll be able to find your way home, right?”
“Please don’t make me shy and just go.”
“Ha ha. Then make lots of good friends! I’m cheering for you!”
The gazes of the 2nd graders seemed to be oddly focused on me, and it wasn’t just my imagination.
Some were whispering about my face.
Feeling shy, I quickly sent Professor Cheon back home and now awaited only the results of the class allocation for the 2nd grade.
[Everyone’s student ID should have been updated. Please check your class assignments and move to your respective class without confusion.]
The academy students took out their student IDs from their pockets, wallets, and bags.
Kids who were in the same class as last year cheered while those who seemed to be alone looked visibly gloomy.
It seemed there were only four classes, and even if kids were supposed to be clustered by grade, the class allocation results seemed quite significant to them.
One by one, the students left the auditorium and headed to the main building where the classrooms were.
But even as everyone left, I had no choice but to stand firm in my place.
‘But I don’t have a student ID…?’
Even in 2051, the administrative processes were still quite clumsy.
*
“Are you in class A?”
A voice called out to stop a boy.
Was I still standing around? Si-hoo reluctantly turned around.
His parents had been waiting at the auditorium entrance since he came out.
“Yes.”
“Of course you should be. From now on, you’ll have to work harder than ever the past year. It’s not like other kids are going to just keep playing forever.”
“Yes, I understand… Mother.”
“You’re smart like me. You’ll do great in 2nd grade as well, won’t you?”
“Yes… Father.”
After saying that, he watched their retreating figures, still finding it hard to face his parents.
He knew their words were all meant for him, but the bitter feeling was hard to shake off.
Unlike the 1st graders, whose class assignments were random, starting from 2nd grade, the top ten students from the previous year along with the best of the best became the same class, A class.
Of course, as the academically top student, there was no way Si-hoo wouldn’t make it into A class, but the yearning for his parents’ praise remained.
The time was 9:45 AM.
He only needed to enter the class before 10 o’clock, so he planned to wander the auditorium area for about ten minutes to clear his head.
‘Who is that?’
A girl with hair cascading past her waist down to her knees hopped down the stairs.
She looked like she had just come out of the auditorium.
Dressed in non-uniform clothing, she didn’t look like an elementary student at all; her fragile body suggested she was deep in some serious thought.
“Aren’t you in class yet? There’s not much time left until 10 o’clock.”
Of course, no teacher would penalize a student on the first day, but out of concern, he urged her.
“I’m Yoon Si-hoo, a 2nd grader from Sephiron Academy.”
“Oh, I see. I’m NoName.”
Thinking back, hadn’t the teachers already taken the 1st graders in for class assignments before making the announcement?
How come that girl was still hanging around the auditorium?
“Would you like me to help you find your class?”
Ah, so she had simply gotten lost.
Although Si-hoo felt pressed for time, he thought he had enough room to lead her to her classroom.
“Sephiron Academy can be quite complicated, so it’s best to know your way around. Especially the lower grade classrooms are really hard to find at first.”
“This is the training arena. They say classes start here from 4th grade, but we’ve only used it during Sports Day.”
“There are a total of three shops, but for 1st graders, the northern building is the closest one.”
“The dining hall is on the 2nd floor of the central academy. Just go straight from here and you’ll find it.”
“Over there is the middle school dormitory. It’s right next to the elementary school, so if you make noise during exam periods, you might get in trouble.”
He introduced various academy facilities along the way, hoping it wouldn’t be too boring, but the girl showed little reaction, making Si-hoo feel awkward.
So he shifted the topic to the entrance ceremony.
“How was the entrance ceremony? Wasn’t the principal kind of boring?”
It wasn’t as grand compared to the middle and high school ceremonies, but the elementary ceremony was still a significant event.
Even the famous personalities invited by the Sephiron Foundation attended.
Even though the principal’s closing words were the hardest part.
“It was good. He seemed strong.”
“Hmm?”
What did she mean by ‘seemed strong’?
Si-hoo could only vaguely guess that the girl was expressing the atmosphere of Sephiron Academy in that roundabout way.
Surely, she wasn’t talking about the principal, right?