Chapter 9: Total chaos with childhood friend at the opening ceremony! (2)

The sudden change in Yu-shin left Hyunwoo completely unable to hide his confusion.

Originally, Baek Yu-shin would be so overwhelmed by Hyunwoo’s aura that he couldn’t even speak properly.

This was because, even excluding consideration, Hyunwoo’s aura was so violent.

There was no one with a normal mental state who could maintain composure in front of Hyunwoo.

However.

He was still just a youngster.

Yu-shin, who had experienced all sorts of hardships in fantasy, wouldn’t bat an eye.

However, Hyunwoo could never know that fact.

He was greatly flustered by Baek Yu-shin’s sudden change.

Why?
Because Baek Yu-shin, who had always retreated, was suddenly not retreating.

Naturally, the current Yu-shin had no intention of backing down from this situation at all.

‘Why is this fcking bstard being such a bstard from our first meeting?’

The current Yu-shin strictly operates based on the present.
What does that mean?

Even if the red-haired guy in front of him was Baek Yu-shin’s close childhood friend.

It just meant they were meeting for the first time.
Why?
Because Yu-shin didn’t know Hyunwoo!

This was actually the cleanest way.

If he kept getting entangled with the past, there would be nothing more tiring and annoying.

As Yu-shin showed no sign of backing down, Hyunwoo eventually backed off first.

After all, Baek Yu-shin’s younger sister, Baek Yu-ri, was behind him.

If he earned Yu-ri’s displeasure here for no reason, he wouldn’t be able to approach her.

“I’m sorry, if it sounded that way, I apologize.
But you too…”

“Then that’s fine.”

“What?”

However, Hyunwoo could no longer speak.
Because Yu-shin had cut him off.

From Yu-shin’s perspective, it was natural.
The opponent had cleanly apologized first.

Since he had no intention of dragging it out further, he immediately cut him off.

But ironically, that only made Hyunwoo’s fiery temper burn even hotter.

“That bstard, really…!!”

“H-Hyunwoo, you need to calm down.”

“Calm down about that?
He’s completely ignoring me?!”

“H-eek?!”

Thanks to that, the innocent sparks flew to the girl who was trying to calm Hyunwoo down right beside him.

As the girl flinched with a frightened expression, Hyunwoo finally cooled his temper.

“I really need to control this temper of mine.”
Hyunwoo scratched his head and said.

“I’m sorry, I just got too angry without realizing it.”

“I-it’s okay.
It happens…”

‘Now, how do I approach Baek Yu-ri?’

However, on the surface, Hyunwoo was comforting the frightened girl.

But Hyunwoo’s mind was already filled only with thoughts of Baek Yu-ri.

That’s how it should be.

Because he could take the protagonist’s position.

But he never imagined that the pushover Baek Yu-shin would suddenly change like this.

‘Was the variable that guy mentioned this?’

He thought deeply, but Hyunwoo couldn’t find a suitable answer.

However, if he just stayed still like this.
He knew he would lose everything.

No.
This is a position I’ve barely managed to get my hands on.
I can never lose it.

Heroine, fateful encounter, growth, power.

It’s all mine!

Hyunwoo’s eyes, which had been gleaming with greed, soon cooled down again.

He couldn’t just stay still like this.

If a variable appeared, he would simply deal with that variable himself.

‘Should I just talk to that guy appropriately?’

There was just the right guy to use at the moment.

‘School again, it’s really been a long time.’

With Yu-ri’s help, Yu-shin barely managed to find his original class.

Yu-shin’s class was 1st Year Class C, just an ordinary class.

Cheongwol Academy was run on a strict merit system and performance-based system.

Simply put, if you had good grades or were strong, you went up to a higher class.

Otherwise, you fell.
In other words, it was survival of the fittest.

Of course, one might have such a question.

There would certainly be students whose talents bloomed late, though rarely.

So, should those students fade away without even seeing the moment their talents blossomed?

That was true.
However, the principal dismissed such questions with a single sentence.

[It’s a waste of time and resources to individually account for extremely rare cases.]

It was much more efficient to invest that into promising individuals instead.

Do you want to be treated well?
Do you want support?

Then prove it.

The strong rule from above, and the weak learn how to behave in front of the strong.

That was the teaching established by the principal who founded Cheongwol Hero Academy.

Naturally, classes would differ according to students’ abilities and grades.

From that perspective, Class C, to which Yu-shin belonged, was truly an ordinary class.

Not entirely without talent, but not exceptionally outstanding either—just average individuals.

Of course, since they were all awakeners, a minority, they could be called special talents.

But just as worldly jewels are valued not simply for their brilliance.

But for their rarity.
Awakeners were the same.

Of course, none of that mattered to Yu-shin, who had no memories here.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

At the voice from beside him, Yu-shin broke from his thoughts.
And turned his eyes in that direction.

The brown-haired girl he met this morning was there.
What, was she sitting right next to him?

But her anxious demeanor seemed to suggest she was afraid of something.

“What is it?
What’s wrong?”

“Because of what happened this morning, Hyunwoo is really angry.
Apologize quickly.”

“Apologize?
Me?”

Was this what they meant by ‘banging on a window in the middle of the night’?
It was absurd.

But Yu-shin decided to listen to her story anyway, hoping to get some information.

“What happens when that guy gets angry?”

“Well, Hyunwoo himself is in Class A, for starters.
And there’s a rumor he’s eyeing Class S.”

“Class S?
Class A?”

Yu-shin had no way of knowing that students’ levels were divided by class.

However, judging by the tone of her voice, classes were graded.

And he could tell that the higher they went, the stronger the students became.

If so, that guy Hyunwoo was currently in Class A…

‘He certainly wasn’t an ordinary guy.’

The Sword Saint Squad and the guy named Park Hyung-jun he met before were also quite skilled.

But in Yu-shin’s eyes, that guy Hyunwoo was at least a few steps above them.

Does that mean that guy Hyunwoo could also use something called ‘Bloom’?

Analyzing the enemy’s full strength was important.
That way, it was easier to deal with them.

“I have one more question.”

“What is it?”

“So, who are you, really?”

“…”

Naturally, Yu-shin had no idea who the girl was.

Childhood friend… he vaguely heard from Yu-ri.
But really?

Even concentrating hard while looking at her face, no memories came to mind.

However, what Yu-shin uttered was a question he genuinely asked out of curiosity.

Naturally, the person who heard that question didn’t hear it that way at all.

“S-stop joking.
It’s really not funny.”

“No, I mean.
I really don’t know you.”

Since he had already set the amnesia setting, he had to go all the way with it.

If he vaguely pretended to know something here, it would be troublesome later.

He had actually experienced something like that, and he truly didn’t know who she was either.

However, the girl judged that Yu-shin was pretending not to know her.

Why?

We’re childhood friends.

We’ve been close friends since childhood.

But why are you pretending not to know me?
Did I do something so wrong?

What did I do wrong?

This wasn’t how our relationship was supposed to be…

Yu-shin’s question created a very small crack in the girl’s heart.

Something some called a system, and others called affinity.

That absolute law-like thing, surprisingly, had a crack.

However, the very person who caused the crack hadn’t even noticed it.

No matter how many questions he asked, she didn’t answer.

So, Yu-shin finally managed to figure out her name from the nametag on her chest.

Yu Ha-young.

That was the childhood friend’s name.
Yu-shin, having learned her name, turned his eyes.

He vaguely understood how things were flowing.

So, Baek Yu-shin was a student in Class C with his childhood friend Yu Ha-young.

After experiencing something here, he made an extreme choice… was that it?

But wasn’t that because Park Se-jun and the Sword Saint Squad bullied Baek Yu-shin?

Yu-shin pressed his forehead with his index finger.
There was still nothing he could know.

Even asking his childhood friend Yu Ha-young didn’t yield any information…

‘For now, I guess I can only observe.’

One cannot fill one’s belly with the first spoonful.
He had just entered the academy.

For now, he would quietly observe the situation.

And as Yu-shin had judged, Lee Young-seok, the homeroom instructor of Class C, soon entered.

The middle-aged man with wrinkles on his face from an old-fashioned appearance smiled and opened his mouth.

“How has everyone been?”

[Yes!!!]

“Alright, alright.
But before I call attendance… Yu-shin?”

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you do the class duty today?
Thanks to that, I had to bring the attendance book myself.”

What kind of crazy talk was this?
Class duty?
And on the first day of the semester?

No, no.
In the first place.

It’s natural for the instructor in charge to bring the attendance book from the staff room himself.

However, no one in the class spoke back to Lee Young-seok, the instructor in charge.

Watching them, Yu-shin immediately realized.

These f*ckers.

They say if goodwill continues, they mistake it for a right.

That’s exactly what’s happening, isn’t it?

Perhaps Baek Yu-shin had a very pushover personality.

A personality that couldn’t refuse requests, and even took care of troublesome things himself.

However, unfortunately.

The Yu-shin present here now.
Was not the pushover Baek Yu-shin they knew.

“Why don’t you bring the attendance book yourself?”

What, do you not have hands or feet?