The Academy Without Lee Hyunseung
The Broad Academy assigns students to classes from A to F based on their practical and written exam scores. A-class is reserved for the highest-ranking students. F-class is where the lowest of the low end up.
After the news of Lee Hyunseung’s stalking incident spread across campus, the A-class students hurled insults at him without restraint. But in B, C, and D-class, there wasn’t much venom directed his way. The F-class students, in fact, treated him like a hero.
The reason was simple. Yoo Heeyeon’s own misdeeds had finally caught up to her.
Yoo Heeyeon got along well enough with her fellow A-class peers, but she barely spoke to anyone from B-class and below. She openly looked down on them, dismissing them as inferior. That arrogant attitude of hers had spread far and wide, earning her plenty of enemies.
So when she finally got what was coming to her, most students simply smirked and said she deserved it. Very few actually blamed Lee Hyunseung. The only ones who kept badmouthing him were the top predators of A-class—the ones who had benefited the most from sucking up to her.
Among them, the worst was Seong Hyunwook.
During break time in A-class, Seong Hyunwook sidled up to Yoo Heeyeon with a smug grin.
Seong Hyunwook had his eyes on the guild run by Yoo Heeyeon’s parents. The Artemis Guild possessed the nation’s greatest military power, wealth, and connections. Simply becoming a low-ranking member there was enough to guarantee a bright future.
His own parents ran a fairly high-ranking guild, but it couldn’t even begin to compare with Artemis. That was why Seong Hyunwook clung to Yoo Heeyeon like glue, flattering her at every opportunity. After all, she might one day inherit the guild. And when that day came, he wanted a high position for himself.
Yoo Heeyeon answered with a haughty expression.
She laughed as she spoke.
Soon, class began.
Instructor Jung Yu-jin looked over the students and announced, “Today we’ll be learning about crafting techniques. Anyone can use basic crafting skills, but if you want to create complex or high-grade items, you’ll need the crafting abilities of an awakened who has manifested as a blacksmith. In particular, even an Epic-grade blacksmith receives excellent treatment because…”
The instructor went on, covering a wide range of topics. When she finished her explanation, she asked the class, “That covers the basics. Any questions?”
Jung Yu-jin scanned the room. No one raised their hand. Most of the A-class students looked utterly bored, as if they already knew everything. Their expressions said the lesson held no interest for them.
Just because that one student is gone… does the classroom really feel this empty?
Lee Hyunseung had always sat with sparkling eyes from the moment class started until it ended, burning with a desire to learn everything possible. Whenever she asked if there were questions, he would fire off one after another—so many that the other students sometimes grew tired of it. But his questions were always fascinating and insightful.
—Instructor, I mixed goblin bodily fluids with slime mucus, solidified it, and set it on fire. It caused a powerful explosion. Do you know the principle behind it?
Every class, Lee Hyunseung would bring up obscure facts no one else knew and ask about them. Sometimes Jung Yu-jin even wondered if he knew more than she did. Talking with him had always been enjoyable. After all, she loved research and exploration.
What is that boy doing right now?
Even though she was still young, Jung Yu-jin had never dated anyone. It wasn’t for lack of opportunity—it was because she had never met a man who could match her intellectual level. She liked mature, intelligent men with a passion for inquiry. But until now, no one had ever satisfied her standards.
Only after Lee Hyunseung disappeared did she finally realize it. She had been interested in him.
Since all academy students were adults, such feelings weren’t a problem. What surprised her—what truly shocked her—was that this was the first time.
It was the first time she had ever felt emptiness or longing because someone was gone.
If only the Artemis Guild didn’t exist…
She resented herself for having to expel him. She had no power, so she could only obey and stay silent.
“Instructor?”
When several students noticed their frozen teacher and called out to snap her out of it, Jung Yu-jin flinched and quickly regained her composure.
“Sorry, I was lost in thought. Shall we continue the lesson?”
Lee Hyunseung stood inside the Labyrinth, a dungeon teeming with monsters. Exploration had been completed from the first underground floor down to the twelfth. No one knew exactly how deep it went. One thing was certain, however: the deeper you descended, the stronger the monsters became.
He was currently on the first underground floor, at its very dead end.
—Ssssssssk.
Lee Hyunseung ran his hands along the wall, feeling every inch.
Damn it… this is the right spot.
On the first underground floor, there existed a secret area that had never been opened. Only someone like Lee Hyunseung—who had spent three months as a veteran of Broad Academy Online—would know about it.
—Click!
As his fingers brushed across the wall, he felt something catch. He looked closer.
Found it. Just like in the game.
He carefully pulled out a single brick. Inside was a small magic circle.
—Crunch!
Without hesitation, Lee Hyunseung bit down on his own finger.
Blood flowed freely.
He let it drip onto the magic circle.
—Whooooooosh!
The circle instantly lit up with brilliant light and sucked him inside.
The moment he was pulled inside, he saw magnificent structures and a single well.
This was the hidden place on the first underground floor—the Well of the Goddess.
Lee Hyunseung had come here to obtain a class.
The Well of the Goddess was a place where one could receive a class—in other words, a location that granted awakening.
In the game, the class you received depended on the offering you made.
When he had played Broad Academy Online, sacrificing a lock of hair here had granted him an Epic-grade class. Classes were ranked from Normal, Rare, Epic, Unique, to Legendary in order of rarity, so even Epic was considered quite good.
But Lee Hyunseung knew a secret that no one else did.
The Well of the Goddess didn’t only accept hair as a sacrifice. It could also take parts of the user’s own body. And the greater the sacrifice, the higher the potential grade of the class you could receive.
For example, offering only hair might grant an Epic class, but sacrificing hair, fingernails, and toenails together opened the possibility of obtaining something above Epic.
The more you’re willing to offer, the more appropriate the class the well will grant.
Which class you actually received was random.
This was a hidden piece on the first underground floor. Once you entered and either made an offering or left, the space would disappear. That was why almost no one knew about it.
In fact, it was safe to assume that everyone except Lee Hyunseung was completely unaware of its existence. After all, he had always monopolized this spot the moment every new game cycle began.
He continued to deliberate.
Equivalent exchange…
The more you sacrificed, the greater the return. The probability of receiving a high-grade class increased.
But throwing in someone else’s body parts or a monster’s parts meant nothing. It had to be your own.
Since offering only hair gave a high chance of an Epic class, it was easy to predict that cutting off a finger or toe would yield something even better.
—Gulp.
Maybe I should just offer something moderate and leave it at that. Getting a normal Epic out of Normal, Rare, Epic, Unique, or Legendary wouldn’t be bad. As long as I don’t get Normal…
Even hair alone gave a high probability of Epic. Offering fingernails, fingers, or toes might produce an even higher grade, but the very idea of sacrificing part of his own body was terrifying.
Note that any wounds sustained inside would be fully healed once you left. Even if you cut off an arm, it would be restored the moment you stepped outside.
Still, he lacked the courage.
Fuck… do I really have to go this far just for revenge?
It was scary. The thought of cutting and carving away pieces of his own body. The pain he would have to endure terrified him.
Drip. Drip.
Water pooled on the ceiling and continued to fall.
Five hours.
For five whole hours, Lee Hyunseung stood frozen, unable to do anything. Because once he offered a body part to the well or left the dungeon, the opportunity would be gone forever.
He couldn’t bring himself to leave, nor could he take action. He simply stood there, agonizing.
Maybe I should just get an Epic and call it a day…
That was when his phone began to ring.
—Riiiiiiing.
It was an unknown number. Given the situation, Lee Hyunseung hung up immediately.
—Riiiiiiing.
But it rang again from a different number.
—Click.
He hung up again, but the phone rang once more.
—Riiiiiiing.
What the hell? Is one person calling me from multiple phones?
Sensing something strange, Lee Hyunseung finally answered.
“Haa… Fuck, why weren’t you picking up the phone?”
What?
The moment he answered, a shrill, middle-aged woman’s voice he had never heard before snapped at him.
“Who is this?”
“Who? You have the nerve to ask that after stalking my Heeyeon? How can you be so shameless?”
“...Do you know Yoo Heeyeon?”
He asked in a puzzled tone. Then came the shocking reply from the other end of the line.
“Of course I know her. She’s my daughter, you piece of trash.”
—Swish.
As he listened to her words, Lee Hyunseung quietly looked down at his own arm.
Should I just cut this off and throw it in?
A powerful impulse surged through him.
Kim Heera would never know just how greatly her call had influenced Lee Hyunseung’s decision.