Perhaps, Midterms (1)
Perhaps, Midterms (1)
Perhaps, Midterm Exam (1)
Time flowed by with cruel swiftness.
Before I knew it, it was midterm exam season.
'Where did my life go... What have I even done, and it's already exam time...'
A lot had happened in the meantime.
Among it all, the behind-the-scenes story of the 'dropouts' I heard from the Male Student Association seniors was pretty shocking.
First off, one question I'd had since before enrollment was finally answered. I'd definitely heard there were about thirty male freshmen, but only twenty-four people were invited to the group chat. The reason.
It wasn't a system error or a simple omission. The real reason was that the other six had sensed something was off and bailed before school even started.
Enrollment cancellation. In other words, they dropped out.
And they said one of those six who bailed was a member of our 'Clean Male Student Room' chat...
This might be a tangent, but I thought the place was dead silent, so I assumed Hyun-woo, that bastard, was acting friendly in front of me but had made another room behind my back to mess around without me.
'Well, I still don't know the truth of that...'
Anyway, as it turned out, the original members of this chat room were five people including me and Hyun-woo.
But on orientation day, one friend saw how the school was run and apparently threw in his resignation on the spot and vanished.
I thought something was strange.
During that huge course registration chaos last time, everyone was dying or going crazy, but there was one guy who never even made a survival report.
I thought he just coolly read and ignored it, but it turns out he had logged out of the school server entirely.
'No... damn, even so.'
If you're going to leave, shouldn't you at least leave a last word like, "Hyungs, I can't take it anymore. I'm going ahead." So those left behind could hug each other and rely on one another. What a heartless bastard.
Maybe he couldn't withstand that intense roasting from the president during the freshman welcome ceremony? Being treated like a monkey at the zoo in front of thousands—his mental state might have turned to powder.
That ajumma is amazing...
Breaking the fresh young freshmen's mental state right from the start and making them quit. For someone with the title of president, she's contributing more to the dropout rate than the employment rate.
But what dealt a more critical blow to my mental state than all the male students collapsing and dropping out that happened was none other than Park Hyun-woo.
The signs of change started about a month ago, I think.
From some point on, that bastard Hyun-woo started hanging around in groups with female classmates—while eating, during lectures, even coming and going from school.
— Kekehe! Hyun-woo, you're really funny!
— Ah, really? Is that so?
From a distance, it was like a youth sitcom full of laughter and chatter.
Thanks to that, it's been hard to even share a meal with the guy lately, so we've naturally grown apart.
I didn't think much of it.
'I thought that kid had some kind of phobia of girls... But he managed to make friends better than me.'
I just figured that due to the nature of this world, with so few guys, female friends would naturally flock to him. I was even a bit pleased, thinking his social skills were developing.
But... thinking only that far was the limit of my imagination. In other words, a clear misconception.
As it turned out, that four-eyed bastard... had gotten a girl.
I really had no idea. When? How the hell? I didn't even sense any signs of a fling?
Then, a few weeks later, the kid casually blurted it out.
— I'm dating them.
— Huh...? Since when...?
— Uh... about two to three weeks after school started?
Cold sweat ran down my spine. It's the seventh week since school started. That means I've been kept in the dark for over a month.
Was I that oblivious? No way... That can't be. I'm usually so good at reasoning. My nickname used to be Armchair Detective...
But when I carefully rewound my memories, there was something that stood out.
At some point, it seemed like a silver ring was glinting on his ring finger.
I thought he was just being extra cocky lately. I figured it was some cheap fashion ring he got caught up in.
'Damn, it was a couple ring.'
What's even more absurd is that he's not seeing just one person. He's dating three at the same time. Not a two-timer, but a three-timer.
I just don't get it. Are glasses a charm point in this world? Or did he install some hypnosis app I don't know about?
The classroom scene is even more ridiculous.
When Hyun-woo sits next to me, his girlfriends sit in front, behind, and diagonally. It's like he's surrounded by bodyguards—or rather, watchtowers.
Who knows how I feel, stuck in the middle of that suffocating encirclement? Lately, whenever the cooing sounds come in stereo from beside me, I feel like I can't breathe.
Damn... the world's really going crazy.
Thanks to that, an invisible wall has grown between me and that friend lately, whether I like it or not.
When I look at him, I feel a strange sense of wonder—wondering if he's becoming something like the 'Emperor' the club seniors talked about.
No, isn't that a bit of a stretch? How can one person have a hundred girlfriends? He'd definitely die young from exhaustion. His skeleton wouldn't hold up.
'But didn't this bastard say his dream was pure love...?'
Was that pure love not one-on-one, but a harem pure love...? My memory's foggy...
Anyway, I was even afraid to ask him how far he'd gone. Because somehow, the moment I heard the answer, it felt like the friend I knew, Park Hyun-woo, would disappear forever.
The only thing that consoles me is my personal achievement.
I finally hit Diamond tier in Rel. With my brain engaged and giving orders while playing, I went up quickly.
On the other hand, my sore spot... Storm of Time and Space... that game's ranked mode doesn't even work. If you queue once, the estimated wait time is an hour. I turn it on, eat a meal, come back, and it hasn't even matched—so I can't play...
"Phew..."
Anyway, now it's time to stop escaping reality. I turned my gaze back to the monitor.
A liberal arts course: <Sex and Love: Exploration of Male and Female Culture>. Midterm replacement assignment.
The report topic was:
'If the male-to-female sex ratio becomes 1:1, regarding the social changes that would occur.'
As soon as I saw the topic, I snorted.
This is my specialty. Not imagination—just listing the facts from the world I lived in would guarantee an A+.
Just then, my phone vibrated.
[Shin Ga-young (Class Rep)]
'Ga-young's...? What is it?'
[Shin Ga-young (Class Rep)]
: Jin-hyuk, what are you doing?
[Me]
: Working on an assignment
[Shin Ga-young (Class Rep)]
: Ah~ Sex and Love?
[Me]
: Yeah
[Shin Ga-young (Class Rep)]
: Whoa lol I'm struggling to pick a topic too
: Wanna go to a café together? I'll buy you coffee!
A café... Rather than going there and banging our heads together, isn't it way more efficient to just throw a clear answer sheet at her?
I remembered that she'd helped me a lot with school life. Time to pay it back.
Without hesitation, I pressed the file transfer button.
[Me]
: (File transfer: SexandLove_Midterm_Draft.hwp)
: I'm almost done, so reference mine.
: Don't copy it, just look at the flow. It'll help.
Kyyy... This thoughtfulness... Does she understand my deep meaning—that she can work comfortably at home without going out to a café?
After a moment, the '1' disappeared.
But the reply didn't come right away.
The typing indicator appeared and disappeared several times, then:
[Shin Ga-young (Class Rep)]
: Uh...
: ......Thanks. I'll reference it heh...
Her reaction was oddly lukewarm. Maybe I gave her too perfect a resource and she felt intimidated?
Feeling proud, I tapped the keyboard again.
Roughly pick a cover design, align the table of contents, sprinkle a few impressive words in the conclusion...
Enter, clack!
"Done."
Perfect. From this world's perspective, it's like a historical record restoring lost Korean history. I'm confident I wouldn't be surprised even if the professor stood up and applauded.
"Phew..."
Since I'm done with everything... time to cool my head... It's exam period, but they say you study for 50 minutes and rest for 10.
Just one game... No, cleanly grab one win and stop.
With familiar hand movements, I opened the 'Legacy Era Legend' client.
Scanning the friend list, I saw the noona upstairs was also online.
[Friend List (1/24)]
● I'm Nice : In Game
'Doesn't this person study for exams as a college student...?'
[TimundoNaeGyehoek]
: Seo-ah noona
: Aren't you studying for exams?
By the way, this noona's current Rel nickname is 'I'm Nice'... but apparently it was a product of a forced nickname change...
What the hell was her old nickname that she got forced to change twice by the admins for 'inappropriate nickname'... It's a past I can't even imagine.
And after being forcibly renamed to something like 'GoodWordsPrettyWords123', she bought a nickname change ticket out of spite and changed it to 'I'm Nice'. Seriously.
Anyone can tell it's a nickname that screams 'I'm not nice'—dripping with resentment.
After a bit, a short and blunt reply came.
[I'm Nice]
: Gave up
: lol
[TimundoNaeGyehoek]
: Wanna duo one game
[I'm Nice]
: Wait
: This game ends soon
[TimundoNaeGyehoek]
: Ok ok
After waiting a moment, a cheerful ding sounded and an invite window popped up.
[ 'I'm Nice' has invited you to a game. ]
Accept.
We quickly queued a normal game. The queue popped fast.
I picked mid Hasegi, and noona picked jungle Bush Cat. The combination of science and hunter...
Game loading finished, and we entered the canyon. The early phase flowed quite dynamically.
First, mid was a Hasegi mirror match.
It was a battle of blade champions fought for pride, but the result was my overwhelming victory. Solo kill at level 2, solo kill at level 6. I cleanly opened the mid highway and settled the hierarchy.
The problem was bot lane. Our bot duo must have learned family education by themselves—they were serving a buffet to the enemy ADC. Total 4 deaths within the first 5 minutes. Meaning they got absolutely destroyed.
Top lane was going even, and just then our top laner barely solo-killed the enemy top.
Right from that point, our team's jungler 'I'm Nice (Yoon Seo-ah)' showed her true worth.
Physical skill? Ganking? No. Her specialty was using 'All Chat' for verbal warfare.
As soon as the enemy top died, she opened the all-chat window as if she'd been waiting.
Sowing discord.
[All] I'm Nice (Bush Cat): Wow... enemy top is really pitiful lol
[All] I'm Nice (Bush Cat): Your jungler gave bot lane a win condition and you got zero care? Abandoned top?
Inciting.
[All] I'm Nice (Bush Cat): If I were you, I wouldn't play the game for real lol how do you play with a disgusting jungler?
[All] I'm Nice (Bush Cat): Hey angry guy, have some conscience and look at top lane lol that guy's dying of thirst.
Gaslighting.
[All] I'm Nice (Bush Cat): Cheer up ㅠㅠ Axe Man-nim plays better but you're losing because of the jungle gap...
[All] I'm Nice (Bush Cat): If you were on our team, we would've won for real.
Tadak, tadak. A typing speed faster than skill combos. The sentences she threw dug into the canyon's cracks.
[All] TopThrowing (Axe Man): For real jungler you dog bastard only spams RPGs as fuck
As you can see, the effect was tremendous, and eventually Axe Man's mental state shattered.
[All] TopThrowing (Axe Man): I'm done gg go play with your mom jungler
[All] TopThrowing (Axe Man): Top open gg
[ TopThrowing has left the game. ]
Enemy team infighting, and a rage quit. Not long after, the surrender vote passed.
[ Victory ]
Staring at the victory screen, I gazed blankly at the monitor.
'Wow...'
No matter how much it's just a game. I'm playing with the hoobae who lives right downstairs, and she pulls off that kind of psychological warfare without blinking an eye? Isn't she embarrassed?
"Heh..."
I just let out a hollow laugh.
As soon as the game ended and the waiting room chat opened, I typed without hesitation.
[TimundoNaeGyehoek]
: I'm going
[I'm Nice]
: Ok
: Bye
Cool. Unbelievably so for a sociopath who was just drowning someone with her keyboard moments ago.
"Phew..."
I won the game, so now... time to really study.
Just then, the phone face-down on the table chirped. It was Shin Ga-young, the one I'd sent the file to earlier.
Checking the screen belatedly.
[Shin Ga-young (Class Rep)]
: Jin-hyuk...
: Um... what is this...?
In the message, a text filled with her deep bewilderment appeared.