Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Glacia's Thoughts
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***
—I’m not used to people.
If you weren’t used to being around people, it was only natural to be unaccustomed to forming relationships with them.
You gradually grew accustomed to interpersonal relationships by talking a lot and meeting others often. But if approaching people felt unfamiliar, that premise could never be established.
And the more introverted a person was, the more they sought out a specific type of person.
Someone they were relatively familiar with. Someone they had already broken the ice with, someone they could talk to without much thought.
And right now.
Glacia was the same.
She didn’t know anyone at the academy.
In fact, she didn’t have many people she met regularly outside the academy either.
She was used to being alone, and she found it comfortable.
Before her Trait was discovered, even her hobbies reflected a preference for quiet spaces; she mostly spent her time reading.
Watching the people gather in small groups and move along after the entrance ceremony,
"......."
Glacia was a little dazed.
*'How does everyone get close so quickly?'*
Her older sister had told her in the past that she should get along with everyone. But that was easier said than done.
Approaching someone, or even responding when someone came up to talk to her, felt strange.
Just seeing so many people made her feel a bit uneasy.
*'Being with so many people is definitely uncomfortable.'*
So my gaze naturally drifted over there.
Toward the C-Class, quite a distance from where I was in the A-Class.
The person who wasn't awkward about my attitude when we were together, who responded with confidence and composure.
—Han Cheon-seong.
Looking over at the C-Class, I found him without much trouble; his appearance certainly made him stand out.
Black hair and black eyes. Even compared to others, those features were so distinct that he was easy to find.
I had only met him a few days ago, and an unusual relationship had been established—one where I was meant to understand him.
As we talked, I felt more at ease than I’d expected.
Because even if I was quiet and didn't say much, Han Cheon-seong wasn't awkward and just accepted it calmly.
I could feel once again how different he was from other people.
Of course.
Looking at the man pestering me right now, I couldn't help but feel that way.
"...Glacia. The entrance ceremony was pretty boring, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
I replied curtly and met his gaze.
The first thing I noticed was the same A-Class student uniform as mine, followed by his bright blond hair and distinct features that could be called handsome.
—Leonhardt Rorient.
He had tried to talk to me frequently throughout the entrance ceremony.
Thanks to my Legendary Trait, I already knew this man's name. And seeing him in person, I could certainly sense an extraordinary, uncommon quality.
But strangely, the more we talked, the more I felt he didn't live up to my expectations.
He clearly had a Legendary Trait and an unusual aura…
*'Did I expect too much?'*
I wondered, my eyes fixed on him.
"Glacia, if you don't mind, would you like to look around the academy together? Since it's our first day, I thought it would be nice to explore together."
His friendly tone felt peculiar above all else.
His Trait and his outstanding looks. Everything about him was far from ordinary, yet there was a feeling I couldn't quite put my finger on.
His voice was full of confidence, and his light blue eyes held a confident gaze as he looked at me.
"..."
As I met his gaze without a word, it all felt so natural.
This man was confident.
But.
Strangely, it reminded me of the man named Han Cheon-seong.
The two men, Leonhardt and Han Cheon-seong. Both were confident.
But the nature of their confidence was vastly different.
Leonhardt currently had a conviction in himself, a sense of pride that was palpable.
Perhaps it was to be expected.
He had a Legendary Trait and was incredibly handsome. I could feel the other female students around us looking at him with clear admiration.
And Leonhardt, too, seemed to take it for granted.
No, he had every right to be confident.
Because that was how everyone saw him.
*'I see.'*
I realized it without thinking.
Why I felt no excitement, no feeling at all, while looking at this man named Leonhardt, whose every visible aspect was extraordinary and special.
The reason was too simple.
*'It's all just so obvious.'*
There was a 'reason' why Leonhardt's actions and appearance were only natural.
He was confident, and he possessed clear grounds for that confidence. It was so understandable that he could even show such a self-assured attitude toward me.
Yes.
To me, the man named Leonhardt was too easy to understand.
And that was precisely why I wasn't interested.
"...Glacia?"
As I continued to meet his gaze without a word, he asked awkwardly.
At that, what little interest I had completely vanished.
This man was simply acting as expected based on the obvious.
That was what made him so different from the many questions Han Cheon-seong had made me feel.
"Sorry."
I replied with a single word.
"Ahaha. No, it's not you. What's there to be sorry for? I was just a bit sudden. I can see why you'd answer that way, Glacia."
Watching Leonhardt respond so smoothly, I simply started walking.
Following the crowd of people leaving for the exit, one by one.
*Rustle.*
As I walked past a slightly surprised Leonhardt, I felt no reason to speak to him.
If he didn't spark my interest even when I saw him this close, then that was that.
*'Compared to my sister, this man is... ordinary.'*
Leonhardt's Trait might be Legendary, the same as my sister's, but it was just that—'the same.' Even if they possessed Traits of the same class, people were divided into countless categories within that.
To reach the same level as my sister, I didn't feel this man was particularly necessary.
"..."
And so my eyes came to rest on Han Cheon-seong, walking far in the distance.
He seemed to be laughing and chatting with someone he'd already befriended, and my direction naturally shifted from the exit toward him.
A man with a paltry Common-rank Trait. A man so very different.
A man who had nonchalantly uttered words I couldn't comprehend.
A few days ago, I had felt something special in him, enough to see a shadow of my sister. I had a reason now to understand him.
*Sarak.*
*Sarak….*
As I tried to catch up to Han Cheon-seong, my pace naturally quickened.
***
*Sarak.*
Walking alongside Glacia, who had given me the ridiculous answer of 'just because,' we naturally started to tour the academy.
She and I were wearing different student uniforms, so we stood out, but we still had to look around the academy.
Classes would start tomorrow, and I couldn't afford to not even know where the classrooms were.
*Thud.*
As we first stepped into the C1-Class classroom, I was stunned by its sheer size.
*'This is even bigger than a university lecture hall.'*
The classroom in the Grand Royal Academy was far more spacious than the lecture halls at the university I had attended in my original reality.
The room was filled with various tools whose purpose I couldn't guess and equipment that seemed necessary for classes. It was all just fascinating.
"The classroom is really spacious, even for a C-Class."
"It is."
I glanced at Glacia, who echoed my sentiment, as I slowly looked around the classroom.
There were a few others inside wearing the same uniform as me, but it was only now that it all felt real.
The place where I'll be spending a lot of my time from now on. Looking at this classroom, my heart swelled for some reason.
*'Finally... I'm starting.'*
Nearly three months had passed since I was dropped into this world for reasons unknown.
It truly felt like I was only just beginning now.
My real life in this world, at the Grand Royal Academy…
"..."
As I thought this, feeling a little excited, I felt people's attention slowly focusing on us.
As the frequency of their sidelong glances increased, I couldn't help but notice.
And the target of those gazes was mainly not me.
They were all pouring down on Glacia, who was right beside me.
*'Once the grades come out... those curious looks will change completely.'*
For now, we had only been assigned to our classes, so they just looked on with curiosity. But I knew that soon enough, those gazes would turn into envy, jealousy, and awe.
—The difference between classes.
As time went on and students experienced the insurmountable gap between Traits and the discriminatory benefits, it would all too naturally escalate into conflict between the classes.
The Grand Royal Academy was more ruthless than I'd thought.
It didn't categorize grades by class.
It evaluated all the classes from S to D together and displayed the results for all to see.
In short, quarterly grades were given out as 'overall rankings.'
You were constantly evaluated on where you stood among the nearly one thousand students in this year's class.
"..."
Thinking about that, my excitement seemed to cool down a bit.
Glacia, who calmly gazed at the interior despite receiving their stares. I knew just how high she would rank among the top students.
Truthfully, it wasn't something that didn't concern me, either.
I had to worry about how my own first grades would turn out.
"Glacia, I think we're done looking around the C-Class classroom. Shall we go to the A-Class?"
The many stares were getting on my nerves, and Glacia nodded at my words.
*Sarak.*
I turned first and headed out of the classroom, steeling my resolve as I matched her pace.
—The A-Class.
And within it, the A1-Class.
Just as the C1-Class students were looking around their classroom, the A-Class students would be doing the same.
That meant... I would inevitably come face to face with them.
The protagonist of this world, Leonhardt, as well as all the other students with monstrous Traits.
*'Don't get intimidated.'*
I hardened my resolve as I walked.
The moment I lose confidence in myself, it's all over.