27 Playground

“Hi, Ji-hye! Did you have a good vacation?”

“Wow, Seori! It’s been ages! Yeah, yeah. How about you?”

“Hehe, I had a good vacation too. We went skiing last week, remember?”

“I’m so jealous. My dad always wants to go hiking, even in winter.”

At Sefiron Academy, the snow that had been frozen solid throughout winter was gradually melting beneath the stirrings of its lively young sprouts.

Unlike the high school division, where only the biting cold still lingered, the elementary division was so heated by the children’s energy that even passersby felt as though they were warming up.

It was the awkward two-week start of the school year wedged between winter vacation and spring vacation.

Most schools had combined them into a single winter vacation, but a handful of schools, including the academy, still maintained the February school-opening system.

Instead, the schools conducted a variety of activities unrelated to academics, providing the children with hands-on opportunities to consider their future paths.

To the elementary students, a school without classes was little different from a huge playground...