The Cost-Effective Proposal
The front door slid open with a rattle, and every student’s eyes snapped toward it at once.
The boys stared at her, completely spellbound.
“Hi?”
She smiled at the students watching her.
“Uh… uh… hi.”
The boys waved back, dazed by her smile.
“Whoa, what? Hayeon just greeted me.”
“She was greeting me, you idiot.”
Jeong Hayeon crept quietly toward the back of the classroom. She kept sneaking forward until she was right behind Cha Jiyun’s seat. Cha Jiyun, earphones in and gaze fixed on some distant point outside the window, hadn’t noticed her at all.
With a mischievous grin, Jeong Hayeon placed a hand on Cha Jiyun’s shoulder.
“Boo!”
Cha Jiyun flinched hard and whipped around. The moment she saw Jeong Hayeon, her face crumpled into a frown.
“.......”
“Sorry, sorry. It was just a joke. Want to grab something from the school store?”
“........”
Cha Jiyun nodded silently.
The two of them had been childhood friends. Even though Jeong Hayeon harbored a fierce inferiority complex toward Cha Jiyun, she never let it show.
“More importantly, I don’t think I’ve seen your face before?”
Jeong Hayeon stared straight at me. It was the first semester, so it would have been perfectly normal not to recognize someone. But Elphon Academy was the best of the best. Early education was practically mandatory to get in, and the prep academies were everywhere. The kids who excelled there were the ones who enrolled here. So even if most of the new students weren’t close, they at least knew one another’s faces.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, beaming.
“Yeah.”
“Anyway, Jiyun, hurry up. We need to get back before class starts.”
“…I’m coming now.”
Cha Jiyun followed her out. Every boy in the room turned to steal glances at them.
“Dude, isn’t it straight-up unfair for two goddesses to be hanging out together?”
“They do say birds of a feather flock together.”
I was busy thinking about how I should play this moving forward.
About ten minutes later, the front door opened again and the teacher walked in.
“Nice to meet you all. I’m Lee Yangcheol, and I’ll be the homeroom teacher for Class 1-A.”
He turned to the blackboard and began writing.
10%
“Does anyone know what this means?”
Some students stayed quiet because they didn’t want to stand out on the first day. Others genuinely didn’t know. A few simply didn’t care. There were plenty of reasons not to raise a hand.
But one person shot their arm up anyway.
All eyes turned to her.
“Oh. You’re the freshman student council president, correct?”
Her name was Jeong Hanna.
“Yes. As I understand it, the 10% represents the proportion of first-year students who ultimately graduate at the end of their third year.”
The teacher’s face lit up with satisfaction.
“Correct. Far too many students grow complacent the moment they step through Elphon Academy’s gates, thinking success is guaranteed. They fall behind almost immediately.
If you want to survive here and actually graduate, you’ll need to bleed for it. I assume none of you came all this way just to become average hunters?”
The children’s expressions tightened with tension in an instant.
“One reason our academy is called the greatest is because exceptional students enroll here.”
The students’ faces brightened a little.
“But the real reason we produce such outstanding results is the exceptional output of our seniors. And the reason we only produce exceptional graduates is because we immediately hold back anyone who falls behind.”
The kids swallowed hard.
“That is why, starting today, we will form teams and begin the evaluation immediately.”
“What? Today?”
An assessment on the very first day of school? It was no different from being told to take a full practice exam the moment you stepped onto campus.
Ha… I really hated this.
“The evaluation is simple. You will clear a dungeon. You’ll be in teams of four, so keep that in mind.”
“How are the teams decided?”
“Excellent question.”
Lee Yangcheol unfolded the paper he had brought with him.
“!!!”
Every student’s eyes widened. The paper contained their exact entrance exam rankings.
“Team formation is entirely up to you.”
“Then obviously we should team up with the top rankers.”
The students immediately began scrambling to find the highest-ranked kids.
“However.”
Lee Yangcheol’s voice cut through the noise. All attention snapped back to him.
“The higher your rank, the more bonus points you receive for teaming up with lower-ranked students. Conversely, if high-ranked students only team up with each other, you will be penalized with minus points.”
“Ah…”
“In short, building the right team composition is the core of this test.”
“But… isn’t there a 500th out of 500 in our class?”
One kid stared intently at my name tag.
“For real?”
“Pfft haha, he really is dead last?”
The students kept glancing between my name tag and the ranking sheet, bursting into laughter.
“I’d score higher than that even if I took the test with my feet. Just how bad are you?”
They started forming teams, carefully excluding me.
Of course, pairing with a low ranker gave bonus points, but apparently no one wanted to risk being stuck with the absolute last place.
“Anyway, form your teams by the end of lunch. That’s all.”
Still, I had my own plan.
****
Lunch period.
Instead of eating in the cafeteria, Radeon, Jeong Hayeon, and Cha Jiyun headed to a nearby café.
Ding-a-ling—
“Welcome.”
The employee greeted them cheerfully.
“Jiyun, what would you like?”
“…An iced Americano is fine.”
“Extra shots? The usual three?”
“…Yes.”
“One iced Americano with three shots, and one caramel macchiato, please.”
“Certainly. Thank you. The pager will vibrate when your order is ready.”
“Jiyun, let’s sit over there.”
“…What about you, Hayeon?”
Cha Jiyun asked.
“Oh! Right, Hayeon’s here too. Sorry, I completely forgot. I’m really sorry. What would you like?”
“……”
Jeong Hayeon’s expression froze for a second, but she quickly recovered with another bright smile.
“…Me? I’m okay. My stomach feels a bit off. Hehe.”
“Ah… I see. That’s a relief.”
“Let’s go sit down.”
“Jiyun, who are you planning to team with?”
Radeon’s eyes sparkled as he asked Cha Jiyun.
“…I’ll probably team up with the members I worked well with at the academy.”
“I see. But you’re still speaking so formally? Can’t you drop the honorifics now?”
“…I’m more comfortable this way.”
“Come on, just try it.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Radeon was completely ignoring Jeong Hayeon, speaking only to Cha Jiyun. Jeong Hayeon bit her lip as she watched him.
She liked Radeon. But he never spared her a glance, his eyes always fixed on Cha Jiyun.
What exactly did he see in her? She was blunt, boring, and had zero sense of humor. Jeong Hayeon genuinely couldn’t understand it.
Why would he choose someone like that over me?
Ha… seriously.
Cha Jiyun, who had been sipping her iced Americano, suddenly made a face.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick? Are you okay?”
“…It’s nothing.”
“Really? That’s good, then.”
“Shall we head back soon? Lunch is almost over.”
“Yeah! Let’s go.”
Jeong Hayeon smiled brightly.
“Jiyun, what are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
“…I’ll visit the restroom first.”
“Okay. We’ll head back first. Take your time.”
Cha Jiyun remained seated for a long while. Only after they had completely disappeared from sight did she quietly walk to the counter.
“…Excuse me.”
“Yes, how may I help you?”
“…Do you have anything warm and sweet?”
“Would a hot caramel macchiato work?”
“…Something even warmer and sweeter than that.”
“Ah! Then how about hot chocolate?”
“…I didn’t specifically mean hot chocolate, but…”
“Great! One hot chocolate coming right up.”
“…Since you’re recommending it so strongly, I suppose I have no choice.”
“Pardon?”
She returned to her seat.
Cha Jiyun stared quietly at the iced Americano still sitting on the table.
Why did she even drink this stuff? It was only bitter and tasted awful.
But she was the daughter of the tenth-ranked conglomerate. She had to act like she possessed refined, mature tastes. For her, maintaining that image was essential.
“Ugh.”
Just looking at the iced Americano made her frown. The mere sight brought the bitter taste back to her tongue.
After making sure no one was watching, she dumped the entire drink. Soon the employee brought her order.
“Here’s your hot chocolate, miss.”
“…Thank you.”
She sat down with the warm cup and took a sip.
Slurp—
“Mmm.”
An expression of pure bliss spread across her face.
Yes. This was real flavor. The sweetness felt like it was melting her whole body.
*****
Jeong Hayeon returned to the classroom and scanned the room.
How could she beat Cha Jiyun?
Pairing with a low-ranked student would give significant bonus points, but they might also drag her down. Teaming with high rankers, however, would result in minus points.
The ideal choice was someone with a low entrance exam rank but actual skill that far exceeded it. In other words, she needed a teammate with excellent cost-performance.
Unfortunately, all those students had already formed teams. The ones left were mediocre at best.
What should she do…?
At that moment, a voice came from behind her.
“Want to team up?”
It was Nam Doyun.
“…Huh? Out of nowhere?”
Jeong Hayeon looked flustered.
“I’m pretty much the best when it comes to cost-performance, you know.”
Nam Doyun grinned.
“........”
Jeong Hayeon’s mind raced through calculations. Teaming with the 500th-ranked student would give an enormous bonus. That meant she could afford to recruit a few high-ranked students and still come out ahead even with some minus points.
Her calculations finished.
“Okay! Let’s do it. What’s your name?”
“I’m Nam Doyun.”
“That’s a nice name.”