Chapter 48
I was often told that I was clever, just like my mother.
At first, I couldn't believe it.
[Sefiron Academy Acceptance Notification]
But I really did get accepted.
That was thanks to my brothers, who taught me using elementary-school textbooks they'd picked up at the recycling center, cutting back on sleep to do so.
For a while, I even thought,
Could I be a genius, too?
The academy's classes were difficult, but learning magic was fun, at least.
But that feeling was brutally crushed during the first midterm exam.
[Class Rank: 7/20]
[Schoolwide Rank: 32/80]
“Wow, Yuna! You did well on the test! You came seventh in your class!”
“This is... doing well?”
No.
That couldn't be.
Thirty-second out of eighty.
I couldn't accept the fact that I was merely an ordinary student at the academy.
The top student in our class was a friend named Kim Hangyeol.
They were popular and loved playing with their friends, even though they didn't listen to the teacher very well.
For the first time, I hated someone else.
At first, I was lost in this feeling, but before long, I understood what it was.
“Kim Hangyeol, how do you get such good scores?”
“Me? I haven't done anything besides getting tutored at home.”
Jealousy, anger, and hatred.
I hated the children who took for granted everything I didn't have so much that...
I bit my lip tightly.
“Thirty-second? How far up did you say the scholarships went?”
“Twentieth...”
“I see... You worked hard on the exam, Yuna.”
The day I showed my report card to Maru hyung, I cried in Mom's arms all day.
I'm so sorry, everyone.
I'll do better from now on.
So please, don't hate me.
After that, for the first time, I stayed up studying until midnight.
I felt sorry for Maru hyung, who should have been sleeping soundly, but I thought this was the only way I could repay them.
Even walking to school for forty-five minutes every day felt like a waste of time, so during exam periods, I asked the guard for permission to use a spot in the break room and secretly slept there.
Noeul hyung was right.
Unless you become ruthless, you can't grow.
I learned as much as I could from the students who were good at studying, and sometimes I even did their tutoring homework for them.
I didn't even speak to students with low grades. Time was too precious.
If I found a workbook in a locker that looked like it hadn't been used in a long time, I stole it and worked through it, and during performance assessments, I took only the conspicuous roles that would ensure I got a good score.
Even then, I was still short on time.
[Class Rank: 3/20]
[Schoolwide Rank: 10/80]
‘I did it...!’
Fortunately, my combined rank from the midterms was twentieth.
That meant I could at least get a half scholarship!
But during the final exams, unlike last time, none of my friends asked how I had done.
The desks that were normally supposed to be arranged in pairs were spaced a little farther apart in my case, too.
But I couldn't help it.
I don't regret it.
In the end, my method had been right, and I had gained confidence.
Praise from my friends made me not the least bit happy.
Praise from Mom, Maru hyung, and Noeul hyung was enough.
So even if someone badmouthed me, I would be able to endure it.
Probably.
* * *
“Seo Yuna, wake up your desk mate for me.”
“...”
“Seo Yuna, can't you hear me? The exam starts in ten minutes, so wake Kim Hangyeol up for me.”
“No. Why should I?”
“Whoa...”
They had chosen to sleep on their own, so I didn't understand why I was supposed to look after them.
But Lee Haru seemed to think differently and scolded me.
“Do you want to talk with me for a bit after the exam?”
“Sure. A little while is fine.”
In the end, Kim Hangyeol woke up after Lee Haru smacked them on the back of the head.
They wouldn't do very well on the exam if they were still groggy.
Wasn't that a good thing for me?
I was truly confident about this semester's second midterm exam.
It was the perfect chance to beat Lee Haru and Kim Hangyeol, who were always fighting over first and second place in the class.
I had successfully finished all the exams held on the first and second days.
From the general subjects ‘Korean,’ ‘Mathematics,’ and ‘Fall’ to the academy subjects ‘Safety Regulations’ and ‘Records of Magic.’
All I had left was the most important subject, ‘The Basics of Runes.’
We had forty minutes, but I was able to solve the final question in just thirty.
Memorization was the field I was most confident in, so maybe I could become the first first-year student to score a perfect 100, couldn't I?
The teacher had said that no one had received a perfect score yet.
After the exam ended, Lee Haru was waiting for me behind the school.
She looked extremely displeased.
“Seo Yuna, do you know what the kids in our class call you?”
“No, I don't.”
“They call you Jae-wang. It means ‘the obnoxious outcast.’”
“...Really?”
I'd expected something like that, but the nickname was even more shocking than I had imagined.
Not Red-Haired Anne, but an outright outcast...
“Doesn't hearing that make you feel anything?”
“...”
“Then have you thought about why they started calling you that?”
I had gradually noticed that the other children were avoiding me.
But why was Lee Haru telling me about it?
“You weren't like this at the beginning of the term. You were kind to your classmates, came to school early every morning to pick up everyone's milk, and even did the other kids' homework for them. Why are you acting like this these days?”
“Does being kind make you good at studying?”
“What?”
“I'm going to be first in the class no matter what—no, first in the entire school. While you and Kim Hangyeol play during every break, I'll study and catch up.”
“You're really funny.”
“Think what you want. Once this exam is over, I won't even talk to you people anymore.”
In any case, it didn't seem as though Lee Haru was genuinely concerned about me, either.
She had always been at the center of the girls.
In the end, she was just like the rest of them.
“Do you think you can catch up to Yoon Sihoo acting like that? You'll never be able to.”
Lee Haru screamed.
“Who is Yoon Sihoo?”
“You don't know? He's first in the entire school. He's never once lost first place.”
“I'll catch up to him no matter what.”
“For an outcast without even a father...”
I didn't care if she insulted me.
Since everything was my fault, it was only natural that I should endure it.
But how could she look down on my father so easily?
“Do you want to die?”
I was angry.
I tried using the words Noeul hyung habitually used.
“What? It's true, you filthy beggar.”
I felt as though I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't hit her face at least once.
But strangely, at that moment, I suddenly remembered the sight of a girl I'd seen during the sports festival.
She had wielded aura with her whole body and sent the chin of a senior two handspans taller than her flying.
Definitely,
the mana circuits,
like this.
My heavy head suddenly felt much lighter.
I felt ridiculous for having suffered over it all this time.
The reason I kept getting ignored was that I looked weak.
So that she would never dare to look down on me again, I swung my fist at the area around the necklace Lee Haru treasured most.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Children really were foolish.
Why didn't they understand that there was nothing effort couldn't accomplish in this world?
No matter how poor my family was or how little I had access to a private tutor,
time was given equally to everyone.
I heard that the academy's high-school students studied twelve hours a day even on weekends.
But no one in the elementary division put in that much effort.
If they had studied twelve hours a day, I would never have been able to catch up to them.
So while I was still young, I would get above them before anyone else.
[Class Rank: 1/20]
[Schoolwide Rank: 2/80]
My brothers shouted in delight when they saw my report card.
Even Mom, whose illness grew worse with every passing day, got to hear some good news today.
I hoped Mom would hold on until the day I proudly graduated from the academy and went to college.
But something about my report card bothered me.
The fact that I was ranked second.
The existence of someone in first place.
Could Yoon Sihoo, the person Lee Haru had mentioned, have come first again this time?
I suppose I'd have to visit Class A next week.
* * *
“If Yoon Sihoo is in your class, could you call him for me?”
“Sorry, I'm going to the cafeteria with a friend! Do you want to come get something to eat?”
That friend, too.
“Could you call Yoon Sihoo for me?”
“Why don't you go in and call him yourself?”
That friend, too.
Not one of them would do me this favor.
Was it because I was an outcast?
It didn't feel good to be ignored even by children I didn't know.
But I couldn't just enter another class without permission.
If the other children reported me to the teacher, I might receive demerit points.
So I went to the front of Class A every break and waited there until Yoon Sihoo came out.
“Are you Yoon Sihoo?”
“Yeah. Why?”
He was definitely a familiar face.
Since there weren't many students at the academy, the six months we'd spent there, excluding vacation, had been enough for me to remember everyone's face at least once.
He was a little shorter than me, but judging by his neatly worn, well-mended uniform, he was clearly Yoon Sihoo.
“You came in first this time, right?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Let's solve the ‘Records of Magic’ exam again from the beginning together.”
Our other scores must have been similar.
The only subject in which I had scored low was ‘Records of Magic,’ where I'd gotten an 84.
There was only so much I could learn from the knowledge taught at school.
There was a huge difference between merely memorizing magic and actually performing it.
Even when I already knew the material, my mind often went blank the moment I was asked to draw a magic circle.
I needed to use this opportunity to learn exactly how the top student in the entire school worked through problems.
“When are you going to do it?”
“Can't we do it right now?”
“Right now? I left the test paper at home.”
Sihoo scratched his head.
But every moment was precious.
“It's fine. I've memorized all the questions. You have too, right?”
Since I assumed Yoon Sihoo would be the same if I could remember them,
“...I do remember them all.”
My guess had been right after all.