The Academy Geniuses I Raised and Dressed

“You’ve investigated me, haven’t you? I’m just a hunter trainee who grew up in an orphanage, lacking in ability, but lucky enough to meet a kind hunter and enter Gwangcheon Academy.”

“You know that’s not what I’m asking.” Kai’s eyes grew even colder.

“Oh, you mean how I knew the things I just said.” I gave a smile, “I was simply making a guess.”

“A guess?” Kai frowned.

“Yes. I was trying to reason through it. You’re someone willing to spend money to hire students or have them transferred, all just to make your daughter the top student of her year. But if Meiling truly had outstanding talent as an Awakened, you wouldn’t need to go that far. Especially not at Gwangcheon, which people call a trash academy.”

If you dropped a mid-tier student from another academy into Gwangcheon, they’d become top of the year instantly.

“You’ve judged that Meiling simply can’t make it to the top on her own. That she lacks the ability. That also explains why you’re keeping her at Gwangcheon. You must’ve figured that she’d perform even worse at another academy.”

“……”

Kai remained silent.

“Sure, being top of the year at Gwangcheon doesn’t mean much compared to other academies, but looking at it the other way, your obsession starts to make sense. If she can’t even be number one at Gwangcheon, she’d truly be seen as a failure. If the daughter of a Forward executive is an underachiever, that would damage your image. But that alone isn’t enough to explain why you sent her to Gwangcheon.”

Actually, it explains about half of it.

Chen Kai is someone who cares deeply about appearances.

Even if his daughter becomes number one at Gwangcheon, no one would be particularly impressed. They’d see it as the bare minimum.

But if she fails to be number one? That would be a massive embarrassment.

So, for his own sake, Meiling must be the top of her class.

That’s how Chen Kai thinks.

But what about the other half?

“To understand why Meiling had to be at Gwangcheon, I added one more clue: the fact that you’re an executive at Forward.”

At the mention of Forward, I saw the faintest flicker in Kai’s eyes.

“A few years ago, Forward Group faced a crisis. Suddenly, the group’s chairman, Oh Yeonggwang, experienced a sharp decline in health and passed away—without naming a proper successor. The power struggle among the successor factions was so intense it even made the news. Some articles even suggested they weren’t acting like businesspeople but like assassins.”

“So what?”

“In the end, a victor emerged from that war. Oh Seongcheon, Chairman Oh’s youngest son, is now poised to become the next leader. The other factions have either been pushed out or bowed their heads and fallen in line…”

I met Kai’s gaze directly.

“…Given your family circumstances, I doubt it would’ve been easy for you to submit under Seongcheon.”

This time, Kai’s eyes visibly shook.

“You… how do you…?”

“Oh Seongcheon is trying to revive Gwangcheon Academy in a new direction—one that’s been long neglected. If your daughter attends and produces stellar results, it’ll work in your favor.”

Kai shot to his feet.

“Who the hell are you? How do you know all this?”

His voice had lost all calm.

“My sister told me.”

“You think this is funny?!”

“After someone’s been snooping into my past, why would I be honest with them?”

At that, Kai froze, his mouth slightly open.

“Please, sit down. We’re not finished talking about Meiling yet.”

“What?”

“In the end, what you want is for Meiling to be the top of her year. That much I can concede. Being number one at Gwangcheon isn’t worth much anyway.”

Kai’s expression twisted in irritation.

“However, I’m not interested in transferring. So let’s change the conditions.”

I held up three fingers.

“First: revoke Meiling’s commuting privilege. She has to live in the dorms and attend all classes daily. Private tutoring is banned.”

Kai’s eyes widened.

“Second: from today onward, you will not interfere in my, Meiling’s, or my friend’s school life. That includes not sponsoring the school, not asking teachers to go easy on her assignments, and no staff giving her special treatment.”

“What are you—”

“Third: in the future, you’ll grant me one request. No matter what it is. If you agree to these three terms, I’ll make Meiling not just the top of her year, but the single most exceptional student Gwangcheon has seen—past or future.”

Kai looked absolutely dumbfounded.

“…A vague promise that I’ll owe you a favor later? How am I supposed to trust you enough to agree to that?”

“I have no intention of harming Meiling or you. Everything inappropriate I heard today—I plan to erase from my memory.”

“From your memory…?”

“Well, who knows when I’ll end up like Jin Cheongwang’s gang? I should at least prepare a safeguard.”

As I said that, I lifted my smartwatch.

“!!!”

Kai’s shock was greater than anything I’d seen from him so far.

“You were… recording… You planned this from the start.”

From the moment I stepped into this room, I had my smartwatch’s recording function running.

I already knew exactly how today’s conversation would go.

If your opponent’s going to hand you ammo with their own mouth, you’d be an idiot not to bring a recorder.

Still, I had debated whether or not to use this card.

In the original storyline, the path to recruiting Meiling as a companion is rejecting Kai’s proposal to hold back.

But the moment you do that, Kai becomes your enemy.

And the teachers and staff under his orders make your school life miserable.

The protagonist overcomes that ordeal and eventually wins Meiling’s heart, making her a true ally.

But knowing all that in advance, suffering through it anyway would just be foolish.

If we’re going to be enemies anyway, then I might as well secure the upper hand.

And I already knew exactly what the key was to opening Meiling’s heart.

“The recording is automatically uploaded to the cloud. If anything happens to me, there are kind people who’ll make sure the file is released.”

I gave him a calm smile.

Of course, I had no such ‘kind people.’

The file wasn’t being uploaded to the cloud, either.

But after hearing all that talk about family and sponsors, Kai wouldn’t be confident that this was a lie. He was probably questioning what kind of power was backing me.

“……”

Just as I expected, Kai looked visibly conflicted.

“If you accept my proposal, there won’t be any trouble, and you’ll get what you want. And the request I’ll make later won’t involve money or do any harm to Meiling’s father. There are just some things I can’t explain right now, and I ask for your understanding.”

Kai didn’t say a word. He just looked between my face and wristwatch before finally speaking with a hardened expression.

“If things don’t go as you promised, don’t expect mercy from me.”

“Of course. That’s only fair. Well, I think we’ve talked enough, so I’ll be going now. No need to see me out—I can find my own way. Oh, and by the way, thank you for the lovely meal.”

I smiled as I said it.

Kai said nothing. His lips were a tight line as he glared at me.

He would definitely start investigating me now.

He’d wonder if this was a trap laid by another Forward faction. Who were my collaborators? Who was backing me?

But he wouldn’t find anything.

You can’t find what doesn’t exist.

Still, if he did discover something, I’d appreciate it if he let me know too.

Monday morning, after the weekend.

As I walked down the hallway toward our classroom, I came to a stop.

Standing right in front of the door was a girl in school uniform with twin ponytails, arms crossed.

Everyone walking past was sneaking glances at her.

“!”

The moment Meiling spotted me, she strode right up and said, “Come with me.”

“Nope.”

I replied clearly and firmly.

The students who were watching gasped in shock.

Meiling scowled up at me.

“I said shut up and follow me.”

“If you didn’t make a reservation, please come back another time. I’m a little busy. I plan to go lie facedown on my desk.”

“Hey!”

Her voice echoed through the hallway.

“Oh come on, can’t take a joke? Fine, let’s go.”

I chuckled, and Meiling ground her teeth.

She took me behind the main school building—a place as secluded and shadowy as it gets.

She looked around like she was checking for anyone watching, then glared at me.

“What the hell did you say to my dad?”

“I told him to let you start attending class like a real student.”

“What? That—what the—”

“How’s the dorm life? Too cramped for a rich girl like you?”

“That was you too? Why the hell is my dad listening to you?!”

“After dinner yesterday, he threatened to have me transferred because I was interfering with you becoming top of the class. And wouldn’t you know it—I happened to be recording everything at the time. It’s backed up on the cloud now.”

This time, I wasn’t bluffing.

As soon as I got back to my dorm room, I signed up for five different cloud services.

“……”

Meiling froze with her mouth half open.

“Of course, I don’t plan to make it public. Your dad agreed to my conditions in exchange for making you number one.”

The moment I said that, Meiling’s stunned face turned cold—just like Kai’s had yesterday.

“So that’s what this is.”

“What?”

“I bet you asked for money. Or a spot at Forward after graduation.”

“Nope. My conditions were exactly what I just said. Put you in the dorms and make you actually show up to school.”

“W-What…?”

“And to stop handing you special treatment with money and bribes.”

“No way… Why would you even care whether I come to school or not?”

“Because once you’re in, my squad will be complete.”

Meiling looked genuinely confused now.

“After school, I’ll introduce you to one more squad member.”

“What the hell are you talking about?! Why would I join your squad?!”

“Well, if you want to go into dungeons through self-directed practice, you need to be in a squad. And since Jin Cheongwang’s gang got expelled, your squad’s been disbanded.”

“Still—why would I—”

“You got wrecked by Jin Cheongwang’s crew without being able to fight back, didn’t you?”

Her body stiffened.

“You’ve got all that potential, and you made it into a Hunter Academy, but if you’re just going to waste it, at least help me out. It’s a shame otherwise.”

“What I do is none of your business.”

“So if something like that happens again, you’ll just throw a tantrum and die?”

“You—were you watching back then?!”

“Meiling. Just give it a shot. Join my squad and work with us. That way, if you ever run into people like Jin Cheongwang again, you won’t just get steamrolled. And…”

I looked her in the eyes and said,

“If you want to break free from the chains that bind you, then you’ll need tools or power strong enough to break them—whatever form they take.”

The sharp look on Meiling’s face faded.

“You…”

“You’ve got the talent to do it. See you after homeroom.”

Leaving Meiling behind, I walked toward the main building’s entrance.

She didn’t shout or call out after me.

After the long day of classes finally ended around 7 PM, I stepped into the hallway with Lumina.

“Whoa… she’s really here.”

Lumina spoke as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Right in front of Class A’s room, Meiling stood with her arms crossed, looking completely worn out.

No surprise—going from never showing up to sitting through every class in one day would tire anyone out.

“Let’s do introductions on the way. We’ve got to register our squad before the staff leave.”

I said that and took the lead, walking ahead of Lumina and Meiling.

“Ah, wait—”

“…Hmph.”

I heard footsteps hastening to catch up and a scoffing snort behind me.

But for the entire walk down to the first floor, not a single word was exchanged between them.

Strange.

I thought people started talking naturally when there were two of them together.

(End of Chapter)