I often heard people say I take after my mother and that I’m quite clever.
At first, I couldn’t believe it.
[Sephiron Academy Admission Notification]
But then, I really got accepted!
I benefitted a lot from the elementary school textbooks I picked up from the trash, with my brothers sacrificing their nights to teach me.
There was a time I thought to myself.
Could it be that I’m a genius too?
Academy classes were tough, but learning magic was so much fun.
However, that feeling came crashing down during the first midterm exam.
[Class Rank: 7/20]
[Overall Rank: 32/80]
“Wow, Yuna, you did well on the exam! You placed 7th in class!”
“Is this… considered doing well?”
No way.
That can’t be.
32nd out of 80.
I couldn’t accept the fact that I was just a common average student at the academy.
The top student in our class was a friend named Kim Han-gyeol.
He wasn’t great at listening to the teacher, but he was really popular and loved to hang out with friends.
For the first time, I felt resentment towards someone else.
At first, I was confused by this emotion, but soon I realized.
“Kim Han-gyeol, how can you do so well on tests?”
“Me? I just had private tutoring at home, nothing else!”
Jealousy, anger, and hatred.
I despised the kids who enjoyed what I couldn’t have so nonchalantly…
I bit my lip hard.
“32nd? How many places do you need to rank to get a scholarship?”
“20th…”
“Got it… Good job on the test, Yuna.”
On the day I showed my report card to Maru Oppa, I cried in my mom’s arms all day long.
I’m so sorry to everyone.
I’ll do better moving forward.
So please, don’t hate me.
After that, I started studying until midnight for the first time.
I felt a bit bad for Maru Oppa, who usually fell asleep at that hour, but I thought this was the only way I could repay him.
However, I was so pressed for time that I even asked the security guard for permission to take a nap in the lounge during exam periods.
No-eul Oppa was right.
If you don’t push yourself, you can’t grow.
I learned as much as I could from the friends who excelled in their studies and sometimes helped them with their homework too.
I didn’t mix with the friends with lower grades. It was a waste of time.
Whenever I saw problem sets that seemed unused long in the locker, I’d sneak some to work on, and during performance assessments, I took noticeable roles to score better.
Even so, I still lacked time.
[Class Rank: 3/20]
[Overall Rank: 10/80]
‘I did it…!’
Fortunately, my combined score for the midterms was 20th.
With this, I could at least get half a scholarship!
But during the finals, there was no one to ask me about my grades.
Even the desk that should have been shared with a partner was placed a little away from mine.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
I have no regrets.
In the end, my method was right, and I was able to gain confidence.
Compliments from friends didn’t make me happy at all.
Just praise from my mom, Maru Oppa, and No-eul Oppa is enough.
So, no matter who insults me, I believe I’ll be able to endure it.
Probably.
*
“Seo Yu-na, wake up your partner.”
“…”
“Seo Yu-na, can you hear me? The exam starts in 10 minutes! Please wake Kim Han-gyeol!”
“I don’t want to. Why should I?”
“Waaah…”
Why should I care for someone who chose to sleep?
But Lee Ha-ru seemed to think differently and threw a remark at me.
“Hey, do you want to talk for a moment after the exam?”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
In the end, Kim Han-gyeol woke up with a slap on the back of his head from Lee Ha-ru.
If he’s half asleep, he might not do well on the test.
Is that good news for me?
This midterm exam, I was really confident.
It was a golden opportunity to surpass Lee Ha-ru and Kim Han-gyeol, who were competing for the top spots in class.
I had successfully completed all the tests held on the first and second days.
From the core subjects like ‘Korean’, ‘Math’, and ‘Autumn’, to academy subjects like ‘Safety Rules’, and ‘Magic Records’.
I just had to get through the last and most important subject, ‘Basics of Runes’.
During the 40-minute allotted time, I managed to finish all the questions in just 30 minutes.
Memorization was my strong suit, so maybe I could be the first 1st grader to score 100 points!
The teacher mentioned that no one had achieved 100 points yet.
After the exam, Lee Ha-ru was waiting for me behind the school.
She looked pretty upset.
“Seo Yu-na, do you know what the class calls you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“They call you Jae-wang. The loser king.”
“… Really?”
I expected it, but it was a more shocking nickname than I thought.
Not even “Anne of Green Gables,” but outright “loser”…
“Doesn’t that make you think at all?”
“…”
“Have you thought about why you’re called that?”
I had started to feel that the kids were avoiding me little by little.
But why was Lee Ha-ru telling me this?
“You weren’t like this at the beginning of the semester. You were nice to your classmates, came to school early to bring milk, and did the kids’ homework. Why is that changing now?”
“Does being nice make you do well in school?”
“What?”
“I’m going to be the class 1st, or even the overall 1st. While you and Kim Han-gyeol play during breaks, I’ll study and catch up.”
“You’re so funny.”
“Think what you want. Anyway, once this exam is over, I won’t talk to you all anymore.”
In any case, Lee Ha-ru’s words didn’t seem genuinely caring about me.
She was always the center of attention among the girls.
So ultimately, Lee Ha-ru was just like the rest.
“Do you think saying that will help you catch up to Yoon Si-hoo? Absolutely impossible.”
Lee Ha-ru sneered.
“Who’s Yoon Si-hoo?”
“Don’t you know? He’s the top student in the entire school. Never once has he slipped from 1st place.”
“I’m definitely going to catch up.”
“Didn’t your dad leave you? You’re just a loser.”
I didn’t mind her insulting me.
It was only natural that I had to endure it since it was all my fault.
But how could she belittle my father so easily?
“Do you want to die?”
I was furious.
I tried to imitate the words No-eul Oppa habitually uses.
“What? That’s true, you orphaned child.”
I felt like I’d regret this day for life unless I hit her at least once.
But oddly enough, at that moment, I suddenly recalled a memory of a kid I saw during Sports Day.
She was swinging her aura around and striking the jaw of a senior who stood two heads taller.
Surely,
the mana circuits,
like this.
My heavy head became much lighter.
I felt foolish for having sulked all this time.
The reason I kept being ignored was that I seemed weak.
To make sure I could never climb back up, I swung my fist near the most beloved necklace of Lee Ha-ru’s.
“AAAAAAAH!”
Kids are really foolish.
Why don’t they know that nothing in this world can’t be achieved through effort?
Even if my home is poor and I don’t have a tutor,
time is something that’s given equally to everyone.
They say the academy high school seniors study for 12 hours even on weekends.
Yet, in the elementary division, no one puts in that amount of effort.
If they studied for 12 hours, I would never catch up to them.
So, while I’m still young, I’ll be standing above them first.
[Class Rank: 1/20]
[Overall Rank: 2/80]
My brothers cheered loudly when they saw my report card.
Today, I was also able to bring some good news to my mom, who’s been getting worse every day.
Until the day I graduate from the academy and go to university, I hope my mom can hold on.
But still, I felt uneasy about my report card.
The 2nd place rank.
The existence of the 1st place.
Is that ‘Yoon Si-hoo’ that Lee Ha-ru mentioned still at 1st place this time?
I think I’ll have to visit class A next week.
*
“Could you call Yoon Si-hoo if he’s in the class?”
“Sorry, I have to go to the snack bar with my friend! What do you want me to get?”
This friend too.
“Can you ask Yoon Si-hoo to come out?”
“Just go in and call him yourself?”
This friend too.
None of them would fulfill my request.
Is it because I’m being bullied?
It doesn’t feel good to be ignored, even by someone I don’t know.
But I couldn’t just barge into another class.
If the other kids tell the teacher, I could get demerits.
So I waited in front of class A every break, hoping to catch Yoon Si-hoo when he came out.
“Are you Yoon Si-hoo?”
“Yeah, so?”
He definitely looked familiar.
Since there aren’t many students in the academy, even during the 6 months when classes are ongoing (except for vacation), I could memorize everyone’s face at least once.
He was a bit shorter than me but neatly dressed in a well-tailored uniform. So he has to be Yoon Si-hoo.
“You came in first this time, right?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Let’s review the ‘Magic Records’ exam together from the start.”
The other grades must have been similar.
The only subject where I scored low was ‘Magic Records’, where I got 84 points.
It was limited to just knowledge learned in school.
Magic is significantly different between just memorizing it and actually performing it.
Even if I already know the content, when I had to draw the magic circle, my mind often went blank.
I needed to understand fully how the top student solved problems during this opportunity.
“When are we doing it?”
“Can’t do it right now?”
“Right now? I left my exam paper at home.”
Yoon Si-hoo scratched his head.
But time is of the essence.
“It’s okay. I’ve memorized all the problems. You remember them too, right?”
When I thought that if I remembered it, Yoon Si-hoo would too, he replied.
“… Well, I guess I do remember all of them.”
