Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
5. 1st year class 0 (3)
Players’ physical and intellectual capabilities are far superior to ordinary people.
The thinking speed is much faster.
The moment I saw a person falling from the rooftop, my mind spun extremely quickly.
My room was on the 17th floor.
A person was falling from the rooftop of a 20-story building.
Considering the building’s height, they will fall about 10-15m before they reach me.
Their weight cannot be determined, so the accurate potential energy cannot be calculated.
However, it’ll be high.
If they collided with an ordinary person, that person would immediately die from sheer impact shock.
I doubted I could stop them with my present physical strength and overall ability level.
Even if I didn’t die and just got hurt, there was a possibility I would drop that falling person.
‘I have to use the Gwangrim.’
The CCTV cameras were installed on the outside walls of the dormitory.
If my Gwangrim, which freely changes my appearance and ability, is revealed to the world, my movements would be restricted.
‘Then I need to use my Gwangrim without changing my outer appearance.’
The very first character that came to mind was my main playable character, who I met a few hours ago, Baek Ho-gun.
The physical strength of Baek Ho-gun, who belonged to the Ho tribe and moreover was a sword user, was enough to withstand the shock.
Baek Ho-gun’s best final version had too short of a usage time to be used.
However, the average version, bearing the Heavenly God’s wrath debuff, could be used without problems.
‘Let Baek Ho-gun’s power descend to my body. If I manifest it with the image of the power being completely tied inside me, rather than that power enveloping my entire body, then…!’
I didn’t know whether it would work, but I could do nothing but try.
It was my first try, but I had to succeed.
I poured my entire concentration into manifesting the Player’s Trajectory with that image.
Paaat—
Baek Ho-gun’s card turned into light and enveloped my body. At the same time, I reached out my hand towards the falling person.
I felt heaviness pressing on my arm, but Baek Ho-gun’s overall statistics were applied and I stably received that person.
And I was still in my 17 years old Jo Uisin appearance.
‘Success. I didn’t change!’
I pulled the body behind me before my hand slipped and safely settled on the balcony.
“Ah…..Aaack!”
“Falling! Someone is falling!”
Seemed like I wasn’t the only one who saw someone falling outside the window.
Then screams raised above, and everything turned noisy.
I looked down at the unconscious person I was holding.
It was a playable character.
It was also a person I met not so long ago.
⟨Reading ‘Lee Lena’ character’s data.⟩
[Name] Lee Lena
[Title] Eungwang’s first year
[Blessing] Watched over by Hariti ‘I’ll keep an eye on her until she opens her eyes’
[Gwangrim] Inactive
[Status] Overall weakness — slight drop in all statistics and skill levels, oath of silence 2, fainted
[Overall statistics] Lv. 8
[Skills]
Disable Trap Lv. 3
Enemy Detection Lv. 2
Whip Martial Art Lv. 1
[Description]
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The person who fell from the sky was Lee Lena, whom I met at the Fantasy Auction.
The child who desperately advised me in the form of Yeom Junyeol to leave that place.
‘Lee Lena…’
I released the Player’s Trajectory and the cards, one after one, lost their light and came back inside me.
The card which flew outside of the window with the stimulation of the Power of Fate, Lee Lena’s character card, disappeared last.
***
In case the incident happened in the dormitory, the first who had to be informed was the Wings Club, a self-governing organization of students living in the dormitories.
The Eungwang School didn’t have a dormitory manager.
The residential area management team undertook the management of school facilities, but the Wings Club was in charge of managing students in the dormitory, mediating conflicts, enforcing the rules, and managing the system of penalties and merits etc.
The Eungwang School did have a dormitory manager in the past.
However, a problem arose because some directors monopolized their authority over the managers and the shady recruitment process.
They were incompetent people with connections, without even player’s qualifications.
And they harbored feelings of inferiority and envy towards the players of Korea’s most prestigious highschool.
The managers delighted in hurting the excellent students of Eungwang School by using their insignificant status and authority, and proving their superiority to themselves.
‘A few incidents were even mentioned in the game.’
‘Disciplinary punishment of the group of 3rd year students, a day before SAT’
‘Sexual assault in the Wings’ study hall’
‘Public corporal punishment in the Wings’ student cafeteria’
The list goes on.
After numerous reports and accusations, the managers were judged by law, received the penalties’ fees and were sent on probation, but they narrowly dodged the prison and weren’t even fired.
The directors and managers cooperated, and every year they embezzled the budget in the name of dormitory management and operation. As a result, the directors, who couldn’t let go of this money, gave the managers perfect protection.
With directors’ backing, the managers took their shameless and obscene harassment of students even further.
‘The situation improved 15 years ago, after the student council president was inaugurated and came forward.’
15 years ago, the student council president led Eungwang School students with intention to fire the dormitory managers and corrupted directors.
Student council began ‘Eungwang School’s students’ signature campaign’, demanding their dismissal, stepping down and retirement.
Even absent, hospitalized or students who were studying abroad for a short term, sent their signatures by mail.
The signature campaign received explosive support and gathered signatures of the entire school in the process, breaking the records. But the majority of directors continued their shameless behavior.
‘The students who will graduate within 3 years at best have nothing to do with the school management. The directors’ board has a duty to teach pretentious students of the elite highschool some manners.’ the geezers[1] defended their positions like that.
‘Therefore, the matter continued to grow bigger.’
When the signature campaign ended in failure, even teachers joined the students’ side.
The Eungwang School’s students and teachers refused to hold classes and held a silent protest before the Silver Light Building.
The Student Council made a video of the entire case records, evidence and process.
They released the video with subtitles in 38 languages on various video sites and actively took parts in interviews with media, revealing the details of the situation.
When attention of the entire country and foreign media concentrated on the first scandal which happened at the Korea’s most prestigious Player special highschool, the directors were backed into a corner.
Finally, chairman Hwang Myeong-ho, who was absent for a long time, returned and accepted the students’ proposal, ending the controversy.
The five directors, whose acts of embezzlement and breach of trust were exposed to the public in the process, were removed. All managers lost their jobs and after their crimes were revealed, they were put behind prison bars.
What was created in this process was ‘Wings Club’, an autonomous dormitory organization.
The Wings Club joined the Student Council, Guideline Club and General Club Council as student representative organization in Eungwang School.
And now, a person flew up to my dormitory room’s balcony, riding a manually operated airboard. He was the Wings Club president and third year of Eungwang School, Seong Siwan.
‘I guess someone immediately informed the Wings Club.’
It is possible to find this room if you saw a video recording from the CCTV surveillance outside the dormitory.
The representative of the student organization was issued a license and had permission to use a manually operated airboard on the school grounds in case of emergencies, so Seong Siwan could fly straight here.
Even so, coming within 2 minutes was too fast.
“I saw CCTV and came. Are you okay?”
I guess Seong Siwan came in an extreme hurry.
As if he jumped out of the shower, his hair dripped with water and his T-shirt was turned inside out.
The ends of his hair were a bit frozen because of the blowing night breeze of early March.
“I’m okay. The child who fell, fainted.”
“Okay… Can I come in?”
“Yes, please.”
Seong Siwan stepped down from the airboard onto the balcony, took off his shoes and then entered the room. He examined Lee Lena who lay on the sofa.
It was still noisy outside and in the neighboring rooms.
The first years’ building had 20 floors.
The floors 1 to 10 were female dorms.
The floors 11 to 20 were male dorms.
And I was on the 17th floor.
If Lee Lena was here, it would be immediately noticed.
“It seems she is not injured. The recovery item won’t be needed.”
Seong Siwan sighed deeply as if relieved and put the recovery item card in his hand into a pocket.
“Uisin, I’m sorry…. Can we say class 0 was joking for now?”
“Yes?”
“Uisin and Lena are both class 0. It will be me who will say it was a joke, so when it doesn’t add up and there will be a problem, I’ll take responsibility and explain. But you’re the one who saved Lena…. I’m really sorry.”
Seong Siwan bowed his head to me.
I was surprised that Seong Siwan didn’t hesitate to bow his head before a 1st year student. I was also surprised that he knew my name.
‘No way. Did you memorize the names of all dormitory students?’
However, the biggest surprise was that Lee Lena belonged to class 0.
Because in the game, Lee Lena wasn’t in class 0.
‘It’s not bad to treat it as a joke for now.’
Being caught in a suicide commotion.
Being caught in a joke.
I didn’t have to think which would be more of a problem.
At least until I hear a detailed situation from Lee Lena, this matter had to be kept under wraps.
Once I nodded, Seong Siwan made half relived, half apologetic expression and then stuck out his head through the balcony window and shouted in a loud voice:
“Go back! The class 0 kids were joking!”
For a while, noises stopped, and then I heard voices from everywhere.
“Wings president hyung came. Hey, go back!”
“Class 0 acknowledgment. You’re a real story from the first day.”
“Class 0 guys, run crazy a bit quieter. It’s the first day!”
“Was that skill training?”
“I guess they’re preparing for April Fool’s Day in the future. I thought they were really falling.”
“It’s the same as I heard at orientation! Amazing.”
All the opened windows around the 1st year dormitory closed, and in an instant it became quiet.
It was a bit too ridiculous speed of quieting down.
“It’s probably because during the dormitory orientation, when I explained what to do when faced with a mysterious event… 4 out of 5 examples were cases caused by previous generations of class 0.”
Previous class 0 generations are too strong.
What the hell did they do?
No, I guess if you think about class 0’s achievements in the game, that reaction was completely natural.
Filling all of the school’s water tanks with coffee milk.
Creating an enormous ice castle in the school’s lake.
Causing dozens of explosion incidents on the old school site which was scheduled to be demolished.
There was even more than that.
I was very concerned what those 5 incidents, which they heard about, were.
I should have gone to the dormitory orientation.
In the time I had such thoughts, Seong Siwan was making a call through the wearable device.
“Teacher Ham Geun-hyeong-nim. It’s Seong Siwan. Yes…Did you even hear from the staff dormitory? That’s right, she was rescued in the middle. No one was injured…Yes, class 0….Yes? Both of them are class 0. Lee Lena and Jo Uisin. Yes. We’ll go immediately.”
Seems like Seong Siwan informed class 0’s homeroom teacher, Ham Geun-hyeong.
I could only hear Seong Siwan’s voice, but I could imagine what Ham Geun-hyeong said.
“I think you have to go see teacher Ham Geun-hyeong-nim. Let’s go straight from the balcony. The airboard can take 4 people if you apply the passenger extension mode.”
While Seong Siwan went out on the balcony to prepare the airboard, I wrapped Lee Lena with a blanket item he handed to me.
‘…She is much thinner.’
She was paler than Lee Lena I saw at the Fantasy Auction.
I felt sorry for this small, white like sheet face.
I meticulously wrapped Lee Lena in the blanket so she couldn’t be seen from outside or exposed to the cold.
“We can depart.”
Seong Siwan confirmed that me and Lee Lena were aboard and started the airboard.
In consideration of Lee Lena, he drove very slowly.
“Does it happen often?”
“Uh?”
“You seem used to it.”
When Seong Siwan just came to my room, he looked embarrassed.
However, he prepared a recovery item and a blanket, and immediately contacted the homeroom teacher. His action figure was impressive.
It was the foresight and swiftness likely seen in the person who experienced this situation a lot.
“…Every year, there are suicide incidents in prestigious highschools and prestigious universities. Especially in schools where only players attend. Before we always belonged to the 15% of special people, wherever we went.”
Seong Siwan didn’t answer my question directly and spoke vaguely.
“Some kids cannot bear it, because when only players gather together, that specialness disappears.”
Seong Siwan words stopped for a while, and he glanced sideways at Lee Lena who I was holding in my arms.
“But for Lena there may be another reason on the first day of school.”
While I was listening to Seong Siwan’s words, the airboard landed before the school employees’ residence building.
Before we arrived at the teachers’ dormitory where Ham Geun-hyeong was waiting.
Lee Lena opened her eyes.
*~*~*
[1] geezers – 꼰대 – a hateful slang referring to an old person with an authoritarian mindset and who is using their status to harass others. It can be used for younger people too. It is also sometimes translated as Boomer in English as they are from the same ‘generation’, but this translator doesn’t think it conveys the meaning very well.
Translator’s note: Let’s not think about the terrible reality described in the last conversation, does anyone want coffee milk? I want coffee milk so badly now.
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