This World is too Cruel to Men

“Uh…”

What was this all about?

At first, Dokgun thought it was just a coincidence.

It wasn’t a big deal if their eyes met a few times while he was showing the new students around.

But it happened a second time, a third time, and now, just now, a fourth.

He couldn’t dismiss it as coincidence anymore.

His first thought was, “Did I do something wrong?”

Maybe she was just curious.

Maybe she found it interesting that the student he’d happened to bump into before even entering the school was now in the class he was assigned to guide as Student Council President. But…

People tend to jump to negative conclusions, don’t they?

So, he started to get self-conscious about his appearance.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Is there anything weird about me?”

He directed the question at Jinho Mk.2, who seemed to have progressed from fanboy to full-blown zealot.

Dokgun had already checked himself over and couldn’t find anything wrong, but maybe there was something he was missing.

“Weird? Like what?”

“I don’t know… like, is my tie crooked? Did I spill something on my shirt…?”

“Hmm…?”

Jinho Mk.2 looked puzzled by the sudden question.

After a moment, he started scrutinizing Dokgun, turning his body back and forth and tilting his head.

“I don’t see anything.”

“Really…?”

Then what was it?

Was she really just staring at him because she found him interesting?

“Why do you ask?”

“Well… I think the Student Council President keeps looking over here.”

Dokgun was just stating facts.

But Jinho Mk.2 responded with a scoff, clearly finding Dokgun’s statement ridiculous.

“Dude, are you being delusional?”

“No, our eyes definitely met…”

“Sure, ‘you’ think so. But from the president’s perspective, she’s probably just checking to make sure everyone’s keeping up.”

It seemed unlikely, considering their eyes had met four times.

But Jinho clearly wasn’t in the mood to believe him, so Dokgun let it go.

Meanwhile, the school tour was nearing its end.

“Lastly, this is… the Special Training Room.”

Special Training Room.

As soon as Dokgun heard those words, it clicked.

‘This is it.’

The training facility for aspiring Heroes.

He’d heard that every high school was legally required to have one, but he didn’t expect they’d actually show it to them on the tour.

Yeon-gang High School’s Special Training Room was much better than he had imagined.

Especially considering that Baek Seol-hwa was practically the only one who used it.

‘Well…’

On second thought, it made sense.

High schools in his past life were obsessed with sending as many students as possible to prestigious universities.

But in this world, high schools were desperate to produce even a single Hero Licensing Exam passer.

That was probably why Whispering Willow High, his first choice, was considered prestigious and had such a ridiculously high application rate.

With schools subtly competing with each other over how many Heroes they produced, the monthly sparring matches were said to have a much different atmosphere in high school.

Unlike middle school, the high school matches were more like inter-school competitions.

Considering that subtle rivalry, it wasn’t surprising that Yeongan High was showering Baek Seol-hwa with all sorts of special treatment.

‘But if this is how things are…’

Would he be treated as a traitor during the sparring matches?

He couldn’t help but worry.

He didn’t think Yun-Seo would just stay quiet.

Even if ‘he’ stayed quiet, she probably wouldn’t.

Actually, she’d probably cause an even bigger scene if he ‘did’ stay quiet.

And at her current level, Yun-Seo was strong enough to be considered an ace even as a first-year.

That humiliating defeat in their last middle school sparring match seemed to have acted like some kind of stimulant.

She’d been training incredibly hard ever since.

Yun-Seo had already been considered unbeatable among her peers, and now she was training seriously.

Imagine how much her skills must have improved.

As Dokgun looked around the Special Training Room, thinking about Yun-Seo, she happened to be thinking about him too.

Albeit for a different reason.

***

‘I miss Dokgun…’

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

It felt strangely empty without him constantly by her side.

It wasn’t like he was at a boarding school or anything.

They were only apart during school hours and would see each other afterward. But still…

‘I wonder what he’s doing right now…’

Was the entrance ceremony over yet?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt a pang of loneliness.

She fidgeted with the band-aid on her lip.

If she didn’t, she felt like her lip would involuntarily pout.

‘He hasn’t even texted…’

Of course, she knew he must be busy on his first day and probably didn’t have time to look at his phone.

But… couldn’t he at least send a quick text asking how things were going?

‘Should I just…’

Text him first?

The thought crossed her mind, but she hesitated.

She didn’t know what kind of situation he was in.

What if a teacher was nearby, and her text made his phone ring, and it got confiscated?

The fact that she even had to worry about this annoyed her.

She never had to think about these things before.

‘It’s his first day. Why isn’t it over yet…’

That was all she could think about.

As Yun-Seo was lost in thought, the other new students around her were looking at her with puzzled expressions.

Of course, only the new students were looking at her with puzzled expressions.

The upperclassmen, who had come to assert their dominance from the get-go, were glaring at them menacingly.

The person who happened to be assigned the seat next to Yun-Seo couldn’t stand the upperclassmen’s glares any longer.

A cautious nudge to Yun-Seo’s side brought her back to reality.

“…Huh? What?”

Just then, one of the upperclassmen, who seemed to be the leader of the group, stepped forward.

“You’re Oh Yun-seo, right? You seem pretty relaxed. You can go first.”

“…Go first for what?”

“You… seriously didn’t hear anything, did you? The skills test.”

Skills test.

The moment those words reached her ears, Yun-Seo thought,

‘Ah, this is…’

That thing.

Back when they went camping, Dokgun had said that Whispering Willow High was different from Yeon-gang High.

Since there were a lot more aspiring Heroes, things might be a little different from middle school.

He’d warned her that the upperclassmen might try to pull some nonsense.

She had asked him what she should do if that happened.

What had he said?

– ‘What else? If they try to pull some seniority crap, you gotta set them straight.’

Right… that’s what he’d said.

“Oh, the skills test? Okay.”

She readily nodded at the second-year who seemed to be some kind of club leader.

“…What?”

The upperclassman looked dumbfounded.

Had she expected Yun-Seo to be nervous?

If so, she wasn’t going to play along.

There had to be a reason to be nervous, and honestly, Yun-Seo didn’t think she could lose to anyone right now.

Not even to that Baek Seol-hwa girl.

Dokgun always told her never to get arrogant, but this wasn’t arrogance.

This was confidence.

Confidence born from the belief that the path Dokgun had shown her, and all the training they had devised together, wasn’t wrong.

Confidence filled her chest.

Looking at the dumbfounded upperclassmen, she calmly asked,

“When do we start? The skills test. I’m ready whenever.”

“Ha…!”

In the midst of all this, one thought bothered her—

‘Come to think of it, that Baek Seol-hwa girl also goes to Yeon-gang High…’

‘Don’t tell me…’

Had they run into each other by any chance?