Often in a game, there exists a title hero and heroine that are like faces to the game.
Even in the multiple point of view game, fullmago where there are 3 digit playable characters there exists a title character.
Title hero Joo soohyuck
Title heroine An dain
Their poster where they were posed back to back with a dual sword and sniper gun respectively was the most famous poster from the game.
They were the typical munchkin protagonists.
In Eunkwang highs widely known elite selection process, these two were the two geniuses that had scored full scores in all three parts of the process which consisted of documentation approval, written interview, practical interview.
The two first met when they were both selected to represent the freshmen and from then on they were constantly involved in a friendly competition against one another.
The two who had fallen for each other at first sight considered the other as their competition but gradually formed feelings for each other.
But in a devastating storyline, there couldn’t afford to grow on their relationship.
In the second half of the final round.
All playable characters have died except Joo soohyuck, An dain, and the white tiger.
One day before the final battle.
Joo Soohyuck goes to An dain to confess his feelings.
[Are you going to die? Don’t try to make this out as some weird cliche!]
Dain puts up a defensive wall and adds on.
[Don’t you dare confess to me before I do.]
The two didn’t discuss any further but both of them made a promise.
To return back alive.
But Soohyuck dies while trying to save Dain, and Dain who survives and defeats her opponent dies eventually from a fatal injury
After her esteemed ability is undone she looks to Soohyuck who is mixed in with the corpse of the enemy.
[Soohyuck…I like you. Since the first day of school…during the times we fought side by side….I liked you, I like you….]
Dain used her last breath to squeeze out what was left of her to continue her confession.
Of course, Soohyuck made no reply and Dain eventually dies.
The last scene was where the white tiger belatedly comes to join them looks at the two dead title heroes.
And now.
The two main characters Joo Soohyuck and An Dain are standing as the freshman represents at the school entrance ceremony.
“Oath, We freshmen who have been accepted to enter Eunkwang player master high will do our best to excel in our studies and focus on improving ourselves. We will respect the schools’ traditions and rules and follow them in their entirety.”
“Freshman represent Joo Soohyuck”
“Freshman represent An Dain”
From these two geniuses, you could sense their charisma.
The student entrance oath they read out together left a beautiful impression as it was heard from the speakers.
It was just an entrance oath and yet it felt more like a short opera.
‘The two had said they fell for each other at first sight, but it’s impossible to tell now.’
The two exchanged glances after they finished reading the oath. But their eyes were full of tension.
Even so, the atmosphere around them was not harsh.
In fact, the atmosphere carried a sense of nobleness just like when there are two knights awaiting their battle.
The eunkwang main large hall, Sang In Hall, was more fitted to be expressed as a theatre than a school hall.
The hall was filled up by two thousand students and staff.
And hundreds of guests seated on the second floor.
Everyone was amazed and impressed by the charms of these two.
“They look like they’re living in another world.”
“The battle of the two geniuses….!”
“I was told that I was smart in secondary school…but those two are on another level.”
“Nobody in Eunkwang high did poorly in secondary school okay…don’t even mention secondary school it’s an embarrassment.”
“Hey isn’t’ the nameless supernova also a freshman this year? Wow, this year’s first years are on a roll.”
The very top of the 200 million Korean high school students.
Where the geniuses and talents of the nation came together.
The attention on the best of the best was grand.
‘Seems like I’m being mentioned as well.’
When I was at the entrance exam my name and title must have been published for everyone to know.
Although my presence was buried by the attention focused on the main character.
‘But that’s ok.”
I must really be an addict of the game for being excited at the sight of the two main characters and meeting them in real life.
After their oath, Dain and Soohyuck exited the stage via different stairs.
The two of them didn’t look back at each other and returned to their seats.
Then the agenda of the entrance ceremony continued but most were still absorbed in the two geniuses and their oath.
‘I guess I should just look for my classmates.’
I sidelined the entrance ceremony and tried to look for the faces of those in class zero I had seen before but none were to be found.
The entrance ceremony was optional and the freshmen were seated based on a first come first serve basis so it was difficult to distinguish who was allocated to which class.
I didn’t know any of the freshmen surrounding me.
‘Or it could be that I just couldn’t’ recognize them.’
The game centered around Soohyuck and Dain.
Sometimes the storyline was presented from a different point of view, like the professors or other political parties outside the school. But it always fell back to the two main characters to lead on the main story.
In the game, the introduction of the class zero characters began starting from the point where the two main characters met.
‘I had revised but in the ‘game library’ it did not contain the whole class log of those in class zero…it did not reflect the same number as the class size stated to be.’
Last December, ever since I had communicated with the external space, my “dual world future status inquiry menu’ was leveled up from one to 2.
The result of that was the access to the ‘game library.’
The result of being passed out for 3 days was the games’ home settings.
‘I had sworn to myself for selling the physical copy and for selling it inside the game as well.’
With the heavy payment, it opened up the game library.
Of course, I only paid highly because I was a loser and a junkie for the fullmago game.
I did not regret my splurge but did beat myself up for my obsession with the game.
‘It’s probably because of my obsession that they called me here from outer space.’
The entrance ceremony eventually came to an end and I was not able to locate even one classmate from class zero.
‘I guess I’ll just see them in class.”
I walked away from the entrance ceremony hall.
***
The entire eunkwang high campus was around 50 million square feet.
In the morning the classes were held in classrooms but in the afternoon for the free curriculums, the students needed their own means of transport.
In Eunkwang high they provided free bicycles and air boards for students and ran regular air shuttle and buses.
The air boards were loved by many students as all you needed to do was to set the destination you wanted and it transported you there automatically.
In other words, to prevent accidents in mid-air, it was impossible to manually drive the air boards on your own.
For your own mode of manual transport, it requires you to go through a thorough round of interviews to be approved limited usage.
‘I actually wanted to ride this for a long time.’
I held onto the handle of the air board and flew into the air.
I selected the first-year classroom zero that appeared on the hologram map. Then the automatic flight system beeped and maneuvered my ride.
“It’s like a real CG game.’
Blue skies.
The air shuttle and air boards that were cutting across the sky.
The buildings fanned out below.
Everything was outstanding and beautiful like a CG game.
‘The building looks even nicer from a top view’
There were several shared facilities that surrounded the central large hall where the entrance ceremony had been.
It was even possible to see the white clock tower located at the main gates and look across the entire campus in a glance.
All the varying designs of buildings and sculptures decorated the campus nicely. They all shined brightly like I had opened a chest full of treasure.
As the air board took me past the central area to the freshman area.
I saw from afar the heart of Eunkwang high. The main central building. Shining brightly away.
I thought I would have gotten used to its grandeur since I had visited it once to meet the chairman.
But no, it still amazed me and was the most graceful and beautiful building in Eunkwang high.
I wonder why the yellow tiger left the main central building to be dyed and dirtied in blood.
‘I had heard that the yellow tiger himself designed the main central building.’
Did he not care even if his hard work was dirtied and broken?
While I was deep in thoughts the air board slowly drifted further away from the central building.
***
Eunkwang high provided wearable device earrings as well.
This was to avoid cases where students were not able to take part in curriculums due to outdated wearable devices or not owning one.
I knew that we would be receiving one from school but went ahead and bought one on my own.
‘GPS and messages may be exposed to the school so I had to be careful.’
As per the personal privacy data act it was against the law for this information to be accessed publicly.
But in the terms and conditions, you signed off that in the case of an emergency you consented to allow the school to have access to your personal information.
The case of emergency would mean ‘whenever I want’ to people like the professor who had sold Saeum of April off in the dream auction.
‘If I were ever to encounter an emergency as per my own definitions, the first thing I’d do was to destroy the wearable device provided by the school.
In one ear I wore my own and in the other, I wore the one provided by the school.
As I inserted the skin-colored wearable device it was hard to distinguish it clearly.
I wore the wearable earring and downsized the air board and returned it to my item library and headed towards the classroom.
Also just for information the title hero Soo Hyuk was in class 1-2.
While Dain was in 1-1.
Unlike the second and third years where they were ranked in classes based on their results. The first years were allocated to average out the class ranking.
For Soohyuck and Dain who had the same score, the person who was decided to be enrolled in class 1-1 was based on alphabetical orders.
Hence the result of that was Dain in 1-1 and Soohyuk in 1-2.
‘Seeing the gathered people one side must be 1-1 and the other must be 1-2.’
Those who wanted to talk to the two main characters would be gathered there.
I walked past the crowd and found the class 0.
I finally arrived in class zero.
Perhaps I had arrived late, as the professor entered as soon as I sat down.
The professor wrote his own name on the whiteboard.
‘Ham Geun Hyeong.’
He was one of the playable characters and was the student manager.
In Eunkwang high, where they highly valued freedom, the role of student manager was not given to those who were strict and emphasized excessively on manners.
Ham Geun Hyeong was witty, understanding, and capable of dealing with emergencies flexibly.
He was like a wolf in sheep’s clothing so I remember him distinctively from the game.
“I am Ham Geun Hyeong who will be your form teacher for one year. I am also the student manager this year so I may not be around all the time.”
In ordinary high schools, it was rare for a busy student manager to be appointed his or her own form class.
But in Eunkwang high taking into consideration the special case of class zero they appointed a rather senior member of the staff to be in charge of this class.
Just like how the second-year class zero form teacher was department head, Jegal.
And the third-year class zero class form teacher was the head of the research department.
“No one has applied for the role of the co form teacher so it is vacant for now. Once it’s decided I will let you know. But….”
There was a frown line in the middle of Ham Geun Hyeong’s forehead.
“Never have I met kids like you.”
What Ham Geun Hyeong just said was a fact.
There were at least 500 freshmen in Eunkwang high each year, there was no way that he had met them before.
“This is too much.”
I agreed with his statement.
In my entire school experience, I had never encountered an experience like this.
“To think that the attendance rate is half of half of the class size.”
Four.
Including me, this was the number of present students in class zero.
This was probably the only class that had a 25% attendance rate on the first day of school.
“Today we will decide on the class rep and the vice rep and be dismissed. I will decide on the vision for the class.”
The vision of class 1-0.
‘Come to school on time.’
The bold fonted words were displayed on the hologram panel of the electric whiteboard.
The vision felt rather odd but Ham Geun Hyeong seemed serious about it.
“Who wants to be the class rep, put up your hand.”
Those who had come to school excluding me were three others.
Two females and one male.
‘Let’s observe and see.’
One of the females was Kim Yuri, a playable character.
The other was a non-playable character Hani.
I remembered seeing both of them in the game.
The male student.
I couldn’t help but express my shock and mutter out loud.
“…chairman lee?”
I had said it very quietly but the male student turned my way and glared at me.
‘Oh, I’m doomed.’
I must have relaxed after being carried away in the good mood of the entrance ceremony.
What I had just muttered might be the dumbest move I’ve made since I came to this world.
I tried my best to overcome this crisis.
But nothing came to mind.
Because there seemed to be no way out of this.
My head was full of panic and chaos.
Just then, the speaker alarm rang in the classroom.
DING DONG DANG DONG-
Jo Eushin and Hwang Jiho of class 1-0, these students are to report immediately to the Chairman’s office. I repeat, Jo Eushin and Hwang Jiho of class 1-0, these students are to report immediately to the Chairman’s office. That is all.
“We’ll go to the Chairman’s office teacher Ham Geun Hyeong.”
The chairman Hwang Myeong ho…no, the student Hwang Jiho took a hold of my arm and dragged me out of class.
I knew I was smaller and lighter than my adult self but he moved so swiftly as though I was a balloon.
Just before the classroom door shut I heard Ham Geun Hyeong’s voice mixed with sighs.
“…..to have such poor attendance on the first day of school.”
The doors closed and the attendance of class 1-0 went down from 25% to 12.5%.
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