Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Pop Quiz
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Academy's days flowed by without a single boring moment. The girls aspiring to become heroes threw themselves into each day with everything they had. They burned with such academic passion that I had to wonder if a slacker like me even belonged here, sitting among them.
"Wow, everyone's working so hard."
What caught me off guard was the boys' attitudes. The captain candidates(?) were studying their asses off even though they had no real need to. In some ways, they seemed even more fired up than the girls. Their eyes─.
Looked like they were being chased by some invisible threat.
Waking up after dozing off in class made me feel like a criminal on trial. Wiping the drool from my mouth and scanning the room around me, the wave of self-loathing hit me like a truck.
On the surface, they were my peers, but really, they were way younger than me. While these kids raced toward their futures, what the hell was I doing? Pathetic.
'Not that I feel like studying or anything.'
The second I cracked open a book, all those negative vibes vanished like they'd been hosed away. Lounging around with a side of self-loathing beat boring-ass studying any day. Truth be told, this laid-back life was only possible thanks to my dick. I was one happy guy.
And just like that, I killed time─.
"This Friday, we've got a pop quiz scheduled."
"Yes?"
Lim Sarang stared straight through me and dropped a bombshell. My heart had been buzzing with excitement about heading home after afternoon classes, but it iced over in an instant.
A pop quiz? A test? Didn't that mean I had to study for it?
I'd slept or doodled through every class. Telling me this now—what was I supposed to do about it?
"It's Thursday today, Teacher?"
I shot my hand up and voiced my objection. We'd barely had two days of actual lessons—was there even enough material for a quiz? I didn't think so.
"Captains and heroes don't get a single day off. The Academy gets massive funding from national taxes. We have to grind you hard to live up to those expectations."
"......"
She said the day of the week didn't matter at all since we'd have these pop quizzes every week anyway.
All I'd picked up yesterday and today was that gates had ranks. She'd explained a ton, but my brain straight-up rejected it. Like a six-year-old memorizing the alphabet, I'd only tucked away F through S.
"I've got something to say about the pop quiz, so Lee Hyunwoo, you stay. Everyone else, you're free to go."
"?"
The girls shot me sidelong glances as they filed out of the classroom. The emotions in their eyes were pretty damn blatant. The guy who posted dick pics on the anonymous board—that wasn't me, no matter how many times I said it. Girls just wouldn't buy my sincerity.
"Jeong Sua, you too."
"I wanna walk home with Hyunwoo, though."
"I'll send him out soon. Wait at the front gate or whatever."
Lim Sarang scooped up her teaching materials haphazardly and eyed me. I could feel her gaze. She jerked her chin like follow me. I shoved back my chair and trailed after her.
Jeong Sua stared at us blankly for a second before turning away. Her shoulders slumped as she shuffled off listlessly. Watching her ass jiggle like that suddenly got my dick stirring.
I swiftly tucked it into the hem of my uniform pants. Expert maneuver.
"Slept like a baby during class, huh?"
Lim Sarang shot me a faint smile and a side-eye.
"...Studying just isn't fun."
"Weren't you gonna be the world's greatest captain? It's all useful stuff—can't hurt to know it."
All the Academy teachers were former field heroes—women who'd been out there in the thick of it. Even the guys teaching captain-only subjects had active-duty experience back in the day.
What they taught turned into blood and bone for the students. Info you couldn't buy for any price. Maybe that's why everyone focused so hard.
"Don't I not need to know it?"
"...If your dick keeps performing like it is, yeah, you could top the charts without it."
"Then I won't bother. No fun."
If I didn't have to study, I wouldn't. Why bother if it wasn't necessary? Life was short—stick to what you were good at and enjoyed. I'd be the ultimate captain with just my dick.
"Want me to switch your seat? Or throw a mattress in the back for you?"
"...I can sleep on that?"
"Teacher's call. If I say it's fine, it is. You could do anything in the classroom. I wouldn't care."
My homeroom teacher was saying if I wasn't gonna study at my desk, might as well crash out back there. Was this even a real school? I was already pumped.
"Sex too?"
Lim Sarang whipped her head around just a bit. Her sidelong glance practically screamed it: I knew you'd go there.
Her eyes curved into pretty crescent moons, her lips twitching like she was fighting back a laugh.
"With Jeong Sua, right? If you only cuddle up to her, the other girls will feel left out by comparison. Can't sign off on that."
"Mm─. Got it."
If I was trying to focus on the teacher's voice while studying and sex noises echoed from behind....
Yeah, that'd be a massive distraction. My greed got the better of me. Time to own it and move on.
"If you spread it around a little to the others.... I might allow it?"
"Yes?"
"Kidding."
We reached the staff room together. Teachers who'd wrapped up classes were sorting paperwork at their desks. I followed her all the way to her spot.
Lim Sarang plopped down at her desk and dragged over a chair. For me.
"Pop quiz got your head spinning? Haven't studied a lick—what're you gonna do?"
"You said I didn't have to. So I'm not."
"Quiz scores count toward your grades. It's for lining you all up by rank."
"......"
A question popped into my head.
"Don't you grade the girls and boys separately?"
"Ranks are tracked separately."
"Then I just gotta beat the boys. Eat well, shit well, done."
"......"
Lim Sarang shook her head. Like that wasn't the point at all.
"You're something else, for sure. You'll snag top spot in practicals. Hardly anyone wants it anyway...."
"Lucky me."
From the jump─.
"Don't the boys aim for dead last? Keeps 'em further from captain duty."
"No, no."
Academy top rank: prime, vigorous captain. Academy bottom: slightly frail captain. Still way healthier than boys from other regions—first ones drafted if shit hits the fan....
"You really have no clue, do you?"
"About what?"
"Top rank isn't something you can just claim. You're the exception. Nobody wants it. But nobody wants bottom either. Bottom 10% get hit with brutal corporal punishment."
"...Corporal punishment?"
The Academy had ten classes total. A through J. Two hundred fifty hero candidates, fifty captain candidates. Thirty kids per class.
Out of fifty boys, five got the brutal punishment. What the hell was it? My ears perked right up.
"That's why I called you here to the staff room alone."
Lim Sarang pulled something from her drawer. A palm-sized slip of notebook paper covered in writing. Obvious what it was at a glance.
"The pop quiz questions."
"...Why're you giving me this?"
I couldn't wrap my head around it. My homeroom teacher straight-up cheating first? Lim Sarang was all confidence—no hint she realized she was handing me the answers.
"If you got punished and broke, it'd be a national loss."
"...Broke? How?"
What kind of punishment warranted talking about breaking? Fear washed over me like a tidal wave. Even a tough guy like me felt chills.
"The hero girls all have dreams. They enrolled aiming to become heroes. They charge ahead fine without carrots or sticks."
"......"
"Captain boys? Not so much."
Heroes and captains started on different lines. Hell, they were running in opposite directions. Captain candidates bolted the wrong way the instant the whistle blew. Bodies that couldn't keep up with heroes.
"Harsh as it sounds, it's basically forced conscription. We're past the carrot phase. Been that way since day one of enrollment."
"...Yeah, pretty much."
"So the Academy swings the stick. Legally─."
They'd passed a new law for it. Something dubbed the Captain Cultivation Act.
'Weaker than military draft treatment. No idea what the kids think of it.'
Back in my old Korea, they forcibly drafted adult men to fill the ranks, crushing them under a pile of laws. This world's Korea handled captain candidates the same way.
"The Korean Hero Academy rolled out the 'meat urinal' system. Under the guise of semen inspections, they milk captain candidates mercilessly."
"So the boys bust ass to dodge the bottom─."
"And study like hell."
Lim Sarang pulled up a video on her computer. Sound was off, but I could practically hear the girls' moans echoing in here.
Five boys tied naked to beds in separate rooms. Girls queued up outside each door, condoms in hand—one per girl.
"Gayeong mentioned it. Matching bedroom chemistry with the captain who took your virginity? If you take another guy's semen or dick, it all goes to waste─."
"There's that condition: the captain who pops your cherry. Odds of graduating together with him and hitting the field? Slimmer than you think. Captain switches mid-Academy? Happens all the time."
"Ah...."
"Anyway."
No creampies allowed. The stick's excuse was semen checks, after all. Regular sex? Fair game.
So the bottom 10% captain candidates turned into meat urinals for an hour after school. Hero candidates got free rein on their dicks.
Literally public toilets.
"Keep slacking like in class, and you'll win the meat urinal lottery. 100%."
"Not that stupid."
"Insurance policy. Take it nice and quiet. As your A-Class homeroom, I can't watch you break. Whole country'd back me—'cept maybe the family of whatever boy takes your spot."
"Brutal. Meat urinal in my place."
Lim Sarang shoved the pop quiz sheet into my hands.
"Nothing for you to worry about. Unavoidable sacrifice."
"Yessir."
"Just memorize the answers. That much you can handle, right?"
"Can't promise, but I'll give it a shot."
She gripped my hand tight, her face pleading: please, just study for once.