The Valedictorian

To cut straight to the conclusion, it wasn't a yokai.

There was no crackling static, and the speech on the other end was perfectly fluent. More than anything, when he looked the number up, what came back was the Academy Administration.

"Uh... sorry. I thought you were a yokai."

At the officer's question, Bihyung broke into a cold sweat and explained.

"I thought it was a spam-text yokai. So I worked out a countermeasure... I figured if it really was tied to spam texts, throwing a big enough fit might make it disappear on its own."

For the record, spam-text yokai do actually exist. They just don't show up until a little later. And the way you clear them is exactly the answer I just gave.

The trouble was that the man on the line didn't know him. He was worrying himself sick over whether the excuse would even land when the reply came.

"Ah, yes. That's fine. More importantly... valedictorian cadet?"

"I'm actually the valedictorian?"

"No, but — why?"

To Bihyung, who couldn't bring himself to believe the result, the administration officer began to explain, slow and patient.

Hand people like that a yokai subjugation and call it a test? The Academy wasn't some pack of lunatic villains. It wasn't about to shove prospective cadets toward their deaths.

Do even that much well, and you pass — no. You land in the upper ranks. And the valedictorian currently on the line, Shin Bihyung, had gone well past that.

Hearing that, one moment came back to Bihyung. While he was still inside the Subway Yokai's space, the engineer had taken one look at him, frantically picked up speed, and the train had blown straight past the station. After that, the space around him had sealed off as if a fog had dropped. I thought I heard something, just for a second... that was the subway?

So the yokai itself had panicked, made a mistake, and that mistake had become an accident? It had died right then? What kind of... Was there really a situation this absurd?

Bihyung had naturally assumed he'd come in near the bottom. And why wouldn't he? The space had closed, and he'd been stuck at that subway station for a "day." But listening now, that wasn't how it had gone.

Only once he'd heard that much could Bihyung finally nod. So I'd gotten it wrong. It hadn't been like this in the game. You simply went to hear the entrance briefing, sat the test, and then your score appeared and the screen advanced on its own to the entrance ceremony. The game and reality aren't the same. I can't afford to overlook that, either.

Having come to that new understanding, Bihyung decided to ask the thing that actually mattered.

"I understand the valedictorian part. More importantly... am I supposed to answer for the yokai?"

Test or not, the Subway Yokai was property the Academy had subjugated. He'd gone and destroyed it on his own authority, which put the whole thing squarely under property damage. Fortunately, the Academy wasn't the petty sort.

If anything, they wanted to announce his feat to the world and recognize it. Should an exorcist of that caliber be born, tremendous expectations would gather on the Academy — and that would return a value greater than the Subway Yokai itself.

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

After swallowing a sigh of relief, Bihyung asked what he'd really wanted to ask.

"Then the other cadets are all right? I'm worried they might have been caught in the aftermath of the subjugation..."

The administration officer answered as if to tell him not to worry.

"I see..."

Bihyung turned his head. It had still been around lunch when he got home, and yet the sky had already gone red. ...That took a while. Ah. They'd had to stay this late because of him. I might've just made myself everyone's common enemy. He could only hope not. He hoped so, and still he couldn't shake the thought that academy life had already gone sideways from the very start.

Right then, the officer's request came through.

Ah. This is it. An event surfaced in Bihyung's mind at once. This, too, was information carried in a comment the developers had left behind. The event that fires when a user takes valedictorian or salutatorian. Its name: The Address. Depending on what you say here, you can branch all kinds of stories, right? A hidden piece you could obtain only at enrollment, and a branching story besides. Remembering the effect that had made his eyes go wide the first time he saw it, Bihyung settled on what he would say.

Time passed, and the entrance ceremony drew near. Time sure isn't moving. The test had been last Friday. Three days had gone by since, which made today Monday. With a limit of fourteen days now hanging over him, Bihyung spent each one worrying himself sick. Not that I can infiltrate the Academy at my current level. So he did nothing but wait for the ceremony and chew his nails.

And then the day arrived.

Bihyung stepped out of his shabby villa and headed for the Academy. It had been a while since he'd graduated high school, and putting on a uniform to go to school again felt genuinely strange. Not that this is high school. Only adults could enroll at the Academy. A university, if you wanted a comparison. The setting didn't allow minors — they had to raise exorcists and teach them how to fight yokai.

Anyway... they're really staring. With every step he took, he could feel people's eyes on him, sharp enough to prickle his skin. Yeah, yeah. He knew. He'd screwed up. But is that actually my fault? How could it be his fault that the Subway Yokai had lost its mind and kamikazed itself? The injustice of it sat on him and wouldn't move.

But contrary to what Bihyung thought, the reason they were looking at him was something else entirely.

"That's him, right? The valedictorian from all those rumors."

"Yeah. Look at that face. That's definitely him."

"I heard he took down the Subway Yokai."

"Wait, seriously? I almost cried at the second station."

"Getting off with nothing but luck was a blessing. Somebody even wet themselves. We nearly walked away with PTSD, and he's the one who saved us."

The incoming students weren't blaming him. What they held, if anything, was admiration, awe, and a thin thread of envy. Of course, with his ears shut tight, none of that was a conversation Bihyung could hear.

That was the moment.

"Ah!"

His head came up at the sudden voice. Familiar eyes. Her? The way she came pounding over was downright puppyish. Golden hair, and a smile so bright as she looked at him that it was like watching a single sunflower bloom. The girl he'd saved on the first day. The woman who had been slated to become a villain. She came running, grinning like she was glad to see him.

"Hah... hah... I finally found you!"

She must have run a long way. She called out like that while she fought her panting down.

"...Huh? Found me? Me?"

At his question she nodded and answered.

"I never even got to say thank you back then. Thank you. Because of you, I made the briefing on time."

Then she dipped her head in a quick bow.

"I made them. I... wanted to buy you something, but I didn't have the money..."

Bihyung took the envelope she held out. Inside the carefully wrapped plastic, the cookies were still warm.

"It really wasn't anything that big..."

"It was plenty big to me!"

Saying so, she caught his hand in both of hers.

"I'm Hwang Mina. If you need a favor, or if you need help, tell me anytime. Got it?"

With that she let go and thumped a fist against her own chest. Her physique was so overwhelming that Bihyung had nowhere ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠safe to put his eyes, and the awkwardness was all he could feel.

"Oh, right! I've got something I need to get ready, so I have to run... Bihyung, right? Then see you later, Bihyung!"

And Mina took off in a pattering sprint, the same way she'd arrived. Bihyung looked for a moment at the cookies in his hand. So her name is Hwang Mina. He knew it now. She was never called by name in the game. Inside Dokja Jeongi, she had only ever been a villain. To the players on the outside, an early-game screwjob. He hadn't called her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anything different himself. But not anymore. He knew her name, and he had overturned the fate that would have made her a villain. ...Doesn't feel bad, though.

He hadn't saved someone's life from the root. He had changed it a little. What kind of butterfly effect would come of that, he couldn't say; it wasn't something he could know yet. For now, he decided to enjoy the moment. Bihyung tore the wrapping open, ate as he walked, and made for the auditorium. Soon the entrance would begin with the speeches of the valedictorian and the salutatorian. Good thing I prepared the speech. Thinking so, he stepped in through the back door that had been set aside in the auditorium.

And then.

"Uh, uh...?"

He found Mina, flustered at the sight of his face. She was sitting in the salutatorian's seat.

"B-Bihyung? You being here means... wait. Then you're the valedictorian...!?"

From the way she startled, she clearly hadn't known. And since she'd told him to come find her if he needed help or didn't know something, she was probably embarrassed on top of shocked. Of course, if they were competing over who was more surprised, Bihyung won. Isn't this butterfly effect a little too cracked? He'd known she'd been folded into the main story. He hadn't known she would shove aside every talented heroine and sit down as salutatorian. She must have possessed tremendous talent and simply never gotten the chance to sprout it before she became a villain. At this point, what even is that Golden Sun guy? He'd been able to shut a Mina like this down completely. Some ability that was completely busted, but only where women were concerned?

The entrance ceremony got underway at once. Admonitions from the faculty, the Academy's educational policy, and encouragement to seize the future followed one after another. After that came the speeches of the salutatorian and the valedictorian. It was Mina's turn as salutatorian, so she stepped up to the microphone and gave her oath. Put simply: she would become an exorcist, protect civilians, and hunt yokai down and kill them. That was the gist. Afterward, she offered a single line carrying her own ambition. That was the ceremony's tradition, and one of the hidden pieces Bihyung had been waiting for.

"I am someone who lacks."

Opening on that note, Mina's speech seemed oddly frail. But the voice that followed had something in it that caught hold of people.

"That's why I will learn a great deal. From experience, from the professors' teaching, and sometimes..."

A glance. For an instant, Mina's eyes seemed to turn toward him. Had to be his imagination.

"From my classmates. I will become someone who can receive a great deal of teaching, and also give a great deal in return. That is all."

The moment she finished, applause crashed down like thunder. Not bad. Did she even know? That a story branched from that speech, too. Right... there was an effect tied to learning. A bonus attached itself to learning, and you could grow faster than everyone else. A Tier 1 speech. One of them.

As Bihyung watched with no small satisfaction, Mina took a step back, and he saw her let out a sigh of relief. Their eyes met. She smiled with her eyes, small and bright, secretly clenched a fist, and mouthed the word.

"You got this!"

Bihyung nodded and took a step forward. An even greater roar of applause and cheers shook the auditorium. Quietly, he steadied himself. Hoo... I'm shaking. Coming right after Mina's speech, the eyes of the incoming students and the faculty were razor-sharp. Exorcists of the future. Exorcists of the present. Exorcists of the past. In the order of past, present, and future, the hall was full of people who could kill him. Even so, he had to step forward. Fit the first button properly, and his odds of staying alive would rise.

He settled the tremor, schooled his face into something bland, took all of them into his gaze, and let a short speech fall.

Silence settled over the hall.