Chapter 43
Time flew quickly and March 2nd, the first day of the new semester, arrived. Beodeul left home after resignedly accepting his schedule, which had classes starting from the second period.
“At least it’s not first period. Have I become too lazy?”
Beodeul nodded as he reflected on his lifestyle over the past few weeks. Someone who had devoted his life to <SOG> before the semester started couldn’t say much else.
Even yesterday, despite needing to sleep early, he had reluctantly dragged out his time and ended up falling asleep at 3 AM. This was the first time he’d felt so reluctant to go to school.
“But I got to play the game to my heart’s content until now…”
Though he felt some regret about not reaching max level, that wasn’t something achievable overnight.
After level 100, the experience requirements increased tremendously at certain intervals, significantly slowing down leveling speed. In fact, reaching level 119 was already an incredible achievement.
‘Maybe I can reach it by summer, after this semester ends.’
The fact that he was thinking about the end of the semester on the very first day… Beodeul swallowed a hollow laugh as he turned the doorknob, arriving in front of his classroom.
As soon as he entered the classroom, several gazes fixed on him. Since he couldn’t recognize anyone, nor could anyone recognize him, he gave a slight nod and sat down by the window in the back.
A few minutes later, someone placed their bag next to him and sat down. Beodeul, who had been fiddling with his phone, looked up and opened his eyes wide when he saw a familiar face.
“Hello, sunbae-nim.”
The cafe owner’s son… no, Shin Wooseok. He was definitely a junior with that name.
“Hello. It’s been a while.”
“Yes. You haven’t been coming to the cafe lately.”
Before devoting most of his time to <SOG>, he often stopped by the cafe while walking around the neighborhood after his workouts. But lately, he’d been so focused on staying home that he had no reason to visit the cafe.
“Ah… I’ve been a bit busy.”
Of course, there was no need to explain all those details. Beodeul spoke words that were deliberately abbreviated and packaged.
“I see. But—”
“Hey, Shin Wooseok~”
Their brief conversation was interrupted by someone’s intrusion. Those approaching Wooseok seemed to be his classmates who had returned to school after military service. While greeting Wooseok, they glanced at Beodeul sitting beside him with wide eyes.
“But who’s sitting next to you…?”
“This is Han Beodeul sunbae-nim. He’s one year above us and just returned from a leave of absence.”
Beodeul was a bit surprised by Wooseok’s explanation without him having to say anything himself.
Even before, Wooseok had seemed somewhat awkward, but today he was quite different. It felt as if they had been familiar with each other all along.
“Ah, so this is Beodeul sunbae-nim. Hello, I’m Lee Hoseong. Please feel free to call me comfortably.”
“I’m Park Sehwi. Sunbae-nim, you’re seriously handsome.”
“Hey, that’s so rude…”
“No, I thought he was an idol or something. Am I the only one?”
These were names he had seen a few times in the sophomore group chat. Beodeul smiled at the two embarrassed people, assuring them it was fine.
“I’m Han Beodeul. Nice to meet you.”
“Wow, what’s with that voice…?”
“I’m sorry, sunbae-nim. This guy really can’t get his act together.”
“Oh! I’m sorry. Nice to meet you too.”
“That’s enough, go sit down. It’s almost time.”
Wooseok, having seen enough, waved his hand to shoo the two away. As they left, saying they were planning to sit far away anyway, the awkwardness and apology remained with Wooseok, who sat next to Beodeul.
“…I’m sorry. They’re not usually that unhinged, but they seem to have gotten weirder while I haven’t seen them.”
“Haha, why are you the one feeling more embarrassed? I was fine. Your friends have quite the nerve.”
Beodeul glanced at Wooseok’s face. It was a bit surprising that they could make such a fuss over someone else when they had a friend with looks like his.
“But is it okay not to sit with your friends?”
Even apart from Park Sehwi and Lee Hoseong in the distance, several others had greeted Wooseok and sat nearby. It only occurred to him now, as Wooseok had sat next to him so naturally from the beginning.
When Beodeul looked around and asked, Wooseok answered firmly.
“Yes. I prefer sitting here.”
“…?”
“Is that uncomfortable for you?”
“No.”
Although Beodeul answered smoothly, he was inwardly perplexed.
‘Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to sit with his classmates? Why next to me…?’
Well, if he was fine with it, there was nothing more to say.
That was a few hours ago, when he didn’t think much of it. But now, Beodeul could be certain something was strange as he noticed the continuing overlapping classes and unchanging seatmate.
“Wait, can I see your schedule?”
“Sure.”
Wooseok opened an app on his phone and handed it over, and they compared their two schedules.
“They’re similar.”
“Not just similar… they’re identical.”
“Our department’s schedules are pretty much all the same anyway.”
“Debate, this is a required course. Didn’t you take it in your first year? Most people do.”
“I started it in my first year, but I thought it would be unnecessarily tough, so I dropped it. Why didn’t you take it, sunbae-nim?”
…For the same reason. He had only seen about three peers who had made the same choice, but what a coincidence that this junior who returned to school with him had done the same.
“I was planning to take it after adapting to my major courses. There were so many scary rumors about it.”
“I thought the same, but everyone looked at me strangely. They said it would be harder in the second year. But now you’re here too.”
To think this all stemmed from a series of incredible coincidences. Beodeul was taken aback but returned Wooseok’s phone.
“Here you go. Thanks for showing me.”
“I didn’t expect all our classes to overlap, it’s fascinating.”
He simply nodded, even the words he was about to say were taken from him.
“I guess so.”
“Are you attending the opening ceremony today?”
“They said returning students absolutely shouldn’t miss it, right? Haha…”
“I think it’s because of the introductions.”
Well, whether it was because of introductions or some other reason, they’d have to go to find out. Beodeul gave an ambiguous smile and looked at the professor who had just entered the classroom.
The first day was indeed mostly filled with orientation sessions with little content. Since that had been the case all day, he thought this last liberal arts class would be the same. However… there was a reason for those ominous rumors.
“First, we’ll form groups… randomly? Should we do it randomly?”
For a moment, the disastrous treasure island event that had been both catastrophe and party flashed in his mind. Beodeul, who would shudder at the word “random” after that incident, jerked his head up. But strangely, Wooseok next to him showed a similar reaction.
‘What’s that about?’
Just as his eyes met Wooseok’s, the professor unexpectedly said something welcome.
“Hmm, no. Let’s just group you based on where you’re sitting. Six people per group, okay?”
Befitting a liberal arts class with mostly freshmen, no one objected to the professor’s words.
“You checked the debate topics in the syllabus, right? Each group will take on one topic and lead the debate…”
After the professor’s long explanation, time was finally given for group members to introduce themselves. Beodeul’s group had a balanced ratio with three freshmen and three sophomores. Though he wasn’t sure if the freshmen would see it that way.
“But you two are higher-year students. Are you retaking the course?”
“I didn’t take it in my first year and then went to the military.”
“Ah~ I haven’t gone to the military yet. You probably figured that out from my student ID number?”
Sophomore Song Seunghun glanced noticeably at the silent Beodeul and leaned slightly toward him.
“What about you, sunbae-nim?”
“I took a general leave of absence for one year after my military leave.”
“No wonder, I could sense that worldly aura about you.”
“Worldly?”
As Beodeul questioned this, just when Seunghun was about to speak, Wooseok extended his phone toward him.
“I made a chat group. Could you enter your number so I can invite you?”
“Ah, yes.”
Afterward, Wooseok also collected the numbers of the remaining freshmen and invited them. As Beodeul just watched, Seunghun once again subtly set the stage.
“Who should be our group leader? Anyone want to volunteer?”
No one raised their hand. Beodeul realized the meaning behind Seunghun’s gaze and shrugged.
“I think it would be good if our senior member took the role. What do you juniors think?”
“What? Me, me…? I also…”
The freshman girl targeted by Seunghun nodded while glancing nervously at Beodeul. Then she never made eye contact with him again.
Oh dear, Beodeul inwardly sighed. The poor freshmen were clearly on pins and needles.
“Then I’ll do it. If no one objects.”
“Wow~ You’re so decisive!”
In the end, when he said he would take the leader position, Seunghun clapped and rejoiced.
“Sunbae-nim.”
“Yes?”
“Are you really okay with being the group leader? You’re busy, aren’t you?”
Wooseok’s sudden whisper caught Beodeul off guard.
“When did I say I was busy?”
“…I didn’t. You just seemed like you would be.”
“It’s fine. And I think it’s best if I do it, don’t you?”
He answered that way and checked the faces of everyone sitting around. Seunghun was all smiles, and the three freshmen were swept up in his atmosphere, unable to speak properly. It was questionable whether they could conduct a decent debate like this.
‘Looks like I need to turn the atmosphere around.’
To do that, he first needed to positively resolve this situation of being forced to take the leader role.
“Since there’s extra credit, I’ll be a bit greedy and take it.”
Wooseok could only nod, unable to tell Beodeul that a path of hardship clearly awaited him.
Chapter 12: What’s With The Intoxication?
After the last class ended and Beodeul attended the opening ceremony, he was dragged straight to the opening party. While he hadn’t harbored naive expectations of being able to go home right after the introductions for returning students, he still felt regretful.
‘My experience points…’
If he had been hunting during this time, he might have reached level 120 today. He found himself thinking like a proper hunting machine as he glanced at his phone.
Messages were constantly flowing in the voice code chat room he had made with several Grace guild members. As it happened, SaltySalt and Shotgun were discussing the amount of experience points Girmu had lost today.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
