Galaxy Martial God Temple - Clubs (2)
The upperclassman blocking my path introduced himself.
"I'm Cheon Haeu. Class 1, sixth grade, and president of the Fist Club."
Class 1, huh.
At this school, students were reassigned to classes every year based on their final exam scores from the second semester.
And the only criterion for placement was academic performance.
In a martial arts-specialized school like this one, "academics" meant martial arts.
This school openly encouraged competition. They ranked everyone by skill and split the classes accordingly.
Being in Class 1 as a sixth grader also meant he was one of the top twenty students in the entire school.
The current sixth grade had 489 students, enough to fill twenty-five classes.
That meant the talent pool was wide, and the competition had to be brutal.
If he was in Class 1 in his graduation year, he was probably on the verge of reaching the 1st-rate realm, or maybe had already reached it.
"You. Join our club!"
What was this?
Was he some pirate trying to recruit a crewmate?
Honestly, he did look like he'd fit the part.
"I'll think about it. Then, if you'll excuse me."
I gave a rough little nod and tried to walk past him.
But the upperclassmen stepped in front of me again.
"Do you need something else?"
"N-no, it's just... could you maybe give us your answer here?"
"Ah. Then I refuse."
"Huh? Why?!"
I looked at the still-young upperclassman, flustered out of his mind, and answered,
"Because you're not giving me time to think. You haven't even explained why I should join. If you just tell me to come without any reason, of course it feels coercive. Isn't it only natural that I'd dislike that?"
Persuasion was supposed to take time, kid.
Unless you were offering me something absolutely impossible to refuse.
If they tried to force the issue, I'd call Teacher Liven and Teacher Kim Dohwa right now.
If they wanted to lean on their backing, then I'd use mine too.
I had no idea what kind of position Cheon Haeu's parents held if he could even get information about Cheon Soyeon, but at the very least, it had to be lower than Cheon Gyeong-ho, my legal guardian.
I'd never actually met Cheon Gyeong-ho, but borrowing his name to block unreasonable pressure from adults should be fine.
Teacher Liven had said the only reason a smart kid with no talent for martial arts like me hadn't been transferred to a gifted school was because I was Cheon Gyeong-ho's grandson.
I still wasn't thrilled about that being the reason I didn't get transferred, but I was also glad I hadn't been.
After hearing my explanation, the upperclassmen started murmuring among themselves in confusion.
"W-we take it back! Asking for an answer right now, I mean! We take it back!"
"J-just wait a little! We'll explain why you absolutely have to join our club."
With that, they huddled together and started whispering, trying to come up with reasons on the spot.
Still, maybe they had some common sense. Or maybe even sixth graders felt awkward about bullying a first grader.
Either way, they didn't seem inclined to use force.
Thank God.
Looks like I wouldn't need to pull a sword out of my inventory.
"You can tell me the reasons later, slowly. Someone's waiting for me, so I'll be going first."
"Huh?!"
I used my lightfoot technique to slip quickly between them and headed outside.
The next day.
I'd finished my afternoon classes, taken a shower, and was heading over to where Siwoo was waiting to pick me up when the upperclassman who'd approached me yesterday—Cheon Haeu, along with the Fist Club gang—showed up in front of me again.
"Hey there, junior. Come to think of it, I don't think I got your name yesterday."
He definitely already knew it, so this act didn't suit his gorilla face at all.
"Cheon Jiwoo."
"Right, nice to meet you. I'm Cheon Haeu, president of the Fist Club."
Unlike yesterday, he gave me an awkward smile and greeted me politely.
Looks like after I left, they must've gone off and reflected on what they'd done wrong.
"Like I said yesterday, the reason you should join our Fist Club is—"
"Wait!"
A booming voice cut off Fist Club president Cheon Haeu before he could finish.
Cheon Haeu turned toward the source of the voice and immediately frowned.
"Cheon Jeon-il!"
Victim Number Two of steroid abuse—or rather, Gorilla Number Two—had shown up with two lackeys of his own and blocked Cheon Haeu's path, just like Gorilla Number One.
"How dare you cut in line!"
"You're the one trying to cut in line! I was here first!"
Cheon Jeon-il—Gorilla Number Two—let out an "Urk!" and looked flustered at that perfectly reasonable point.
Then the short-haired girl beside him, one of his lackeys, stared at Cheon Haeu coldly and said,
"No. Cheon Haeu, you're the one cutting in line. Club recruitment period starts next week, doesn't it? Then what do you call approaching him in advance, if not cutting in line?"
"Urk!"
This time it was Cheon Haeu who recoiled in embarrassment.
The short-haired girl looked at me and asked,
"You're Cheon Jiwoo, right?"
"That's right."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Cheon Yeong-ae, vice president of the Sword Club. This is our president, Cheon Jeon-il. If you join our club, we'll promise you twice the support any other first-year gets."
The sudden attempt to win me over immediately drew protest from Cheon Haeu and the Fist Club.
"Hey! Are you really going to play dirty like that?!"
"That's discrimination, you know?!"
Cheon Yeong-ae, vice president of the Sword Club, just snorted at their complaints and ignored them.
"Well? Isn't it good for you too? If you get more support, you'll grow stronger faster as a martial artist."
Wow. An elementary school kid already trying to buy people with money. What a piece of work.
"We can offer that much too! We'll give you two and a half times!"
"Haeu?!"
Cheon Haeu blurted it out without even discussing it with his club members.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, was why competition mattered.
Cheon Yeong-ae glared at Cheon Haeu.
The Sword Club and the Fist Club, huh.
I was learning both already.
While I was thinking it over, the presidents of the Lightfoot Club and the Spear Club arrived late to the scene too.
"You dirty bastards!"
"How could you do this?!"
The latecomers shouted at the ones who'd gotten here first, and once the four club presidents and their tagalongs gathered and started snarling at each other, the teachers came rushing in.
"You all! What do you think you're doing over there?!"
The martial arts teachers from each class showed up—especially Teacher Kim Dohwa, our homeroom teacher and apparently the head of the martial arts instructors—and things escalated fast.
"You're sixth graders, and you dare surround a single first grader and pressure him?! All of you, come with me to the staff room!"
At Teacher Kim Dohwa's roar, the sixth graders flinched and looked wronged.
Fair enough. They had turned the mood ugly and seemed ready to fight each other, but they hadn't actually pressured me.
The sixth graders were dragged off to the staff room by Teacher Kim Dohwa, and I missed out on what looked like it would've been a fun fight.
Too bad.
If they'd all started throwing punches as a group, it would've been entertaining.
Didn't people say there was nothing more fun than watching a fire or a fight?
"Student Cheon Jiwoo should head home now. As for me, I suppose I'll go to the staff room and enjoy the show."
Teacher Liven, who had apparently appeared without me noticing, saw me off in her android body.
Did she just call watching children get scolded "enjoying the show"?
This damn lunatic android.
Ah, I wanted to watch too.
Another day passed.
Today, after afternoon classes, I'd finished showering and come out to find my homeroom teacher, Kim Dohwa, waiting for me.
"Is something the matter?"
"Do you have a moment? I'd like you to come to the staff room with me."
She gave off the kind of vibe where, if I said no, she'd just nod and let me go.
Still, it was a request from my homeroom teacher, so I decided to comply.
"Just a moment, please."
I sent Siwoo a text telling her I might be a little late and asking her to send Cheon Soyeon home first.
Then I followed behind Teacher Kim Dohwa toward the staff room.
Inside, forty-one students were seated as if waiting—the likes of Gorilla Number One, Fist Club president Cheon Haeu, and Gorilla Number Two, Sword Club president Cheon Jeon-il among them. The moment I walked in, every last one of them turned to look at me.
"Tsk."
Kim Dohwa glared, and the students who looked to be sixth graders immediately shrank back and lowered their eyes.
"Let's have a quick talk."
Kim Dohwa led me into the counseling room inside the staff office.
"Are those upperclassmen the club presidents trying to recruit me? Shouldn't the sixth graders be in class by now?"
"I've already asked each class for their understanding. You really are quick on the uptake. Maybe it's because you're smart."
"Well, yes. Teacher Liven gave me a hint."
"Then I suppose you know why they're acting like this too."
Word must've spread after all that chaos yesterday.
If they recruited me, Cheon Soyeon would supposedly come as a set.
And if Cheon Soyeon came, the club would receive far better support.
When I nodded, Teacher Kim Dohwa let out a sigh.
"Embarrassing as it is, there are too many suspicious points to dismiss it as mere rumor. And honestly, that guess probably isn't completely wrong."
Teacher Kim Dohwa admitted that fairness had already been compromised.
"Well, with Soyeon's talent, I guess it can't be helped. It may still be hard for the other students to accept, but since I'm close to her, I think I understand why the clan has such high expectations for her."
"...I-is that so. Thank you for understanding."
This school gave its students a considerable amount of support by default, but if they wanted anything beyond that, they had to win various competitions.
Or at least demonstrate results worthy of it.
As first-years, we were still learning how to use our bodies more than building internal qi, so we didn't need much beyond the standard support.
But from second year onward, things changed.
And the still-young sixth graders gathered outside the counseling room had spent years experiencing that truth firsthand.
So once they learned that recruiting Cheon Soyeon could net them a huge windfall without all that competition, there was no way they wouldn't get greedy, even at their age.
Of course, their own greed might not even be the biggest factor. The adults' greed could be even worse.
Even if they felt jealousy toward Cheon Soyeon, she was so much younger than they were that it was awkward for them to treat her as a rival.
This situation wasn't really the kids' fault so much as the school's—for failing to control that greed and letting a problem like this happen in the first place.
"To be honest, this is the kind of thing that ought to be resolved through a faculty meeting. But before that, I want to hear your opinion, since you're the person directly involved."
"My opinion... If I just roughly pick one of them and join, I guess that would settle things for now."
Of course, that would only settle things for now. The problem could always explode again later.
"But why me? What those upperclassmen really want is Soyeon, isn't it? Nobody approached Soyeon herself."
They weren't even trying a two-track strategy, and yet they'd targeted me from the start.
What were they going to do if Cheon Soyeon chose a different club from mine?
At my question, Teacher Kim Dohwa sighed.
"From what I've heard, the parent who leaked the information strictly forbade the children from doing anything that might burden Student Cheon Soyeon. It may have come from the clan leadership itself—perhaps even the Family Head."
I see.
Since they couldn't aim for the general, they aimed for the horse instead.
And I was the horse.
Neigh~ Clop clop.
"Please keep this a secret from Soyeon. If she hears about it, she'll be hurt."
She was already carrying guilt over getting me caught up in the kidnapping incident. If she found out I was now tangled in this annoying mess just because I was close to her, I had no idea what would happen.
Cheon Soyeon was usually gentle and rarely got angry, but once she did, there was no controlling it.
I could still vividly remember the kidnapper whose head had come off in an instant, spraying blood like a fountain show.
She'd been three years old at the time, so if she'd reached the Peak Realm by now, it honestly wouldn't surprise me at all.
"All right. I'll make sure everyone keeps their mouths shut as much as possible. And this is a summary of the offers those students put together for you before you arrived. Take a look."
Teacher Kim Dohwa handed me the documents.
There were forty-one pages in total, each one detailing what kind of support each club could offer me.
Did each club president manage the club's resources?
No, that couldn't be it.
There was no way the school was stupid enough to entrust actual resources to students.
More likely, the faculty advisor handled management while the school conducted regular audits.
That said, the club presidents probably weren't completely powerless either.
They were at least in a position to evaluate club members and voice opinions about how resources should be distributed. That would explain how they could make offers like this.
And since every student here was a direct descendant of the clan, even the advisors had no choice but to respect a certain degree of student autonomy.
"I can think of roughly three ways to resolve this situation nicely."
"Three ways?"
Teacher Kim Dohwa looked at me in surprise.
Judging by her expression, she'd been seriously racking her brain over how to handle this.
Since the issue was basically a power struggle between students, it was the sort of problem that was hard to solve unless you were directly involved.
"They're simple methods. First—"
Just as I was about to explain my ideas to Teacher Kim Dohwa, I felt a chilling, murderous aura from outside.
Startled, she threw open the counseling room door and looked outside.
There stood Cheon Soyeon, glaring at the club presidents with a terrifying presence rolling off her.
Ah.
Well, there go two of those options.
(To be continued)