The Class President Election

"Answer me, Lee Seokhyun!"

Akasa hadn't originally planned to demand an answer this quickly. But after seeing the absurd flood of love calls pouring in live, she immediately changed her mind.

'He's way too popular.'

She couldn't quite understand why all the representative professors wanted him so badly. It wasn't that she couldn't see the appeal, though. If the other cadets were like shining raw gems, then Lee Seokhyun was more like...

'An ore that looks like it could be forged into anything.'

Most raw gems already had a clear path they were meant to follow. Take Woo Dohyun, the most talented first-year at Mirinae Academy. He was receiving sword training and was clearly destined to become the Sword Saint—or perhaps something even greater.

But Lee Seokhyun was different.

'A potential that could become anything, depending on who teaches him.'

He was the kind of existence that could transform into whatever his mentor shaped him to be. That was why every professor with even a shred of greed for talent was rushing to recruit him as their disciple. No mana in his body? Just put some in. Doesn't use weapons? Teach him. Give him knowledge that could shake the world. The representative professors weren't shaking their whole bodies and shouting for him to become their exclusive disciple for nothing.

In a situation like this, sitting back and doing nothing? That was unthinkable for Akasa.

'You people already have disciples, though.'

The representative professors at least had their own students already, but she had none. Not that she used to have one and lost them—she truly had zero from the very beginning. That was why she felt so impatient.

'I shouldn't have given him time.'

She suddenly regretted telling him not to feel pressured and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to take his time. She should have just grabbed his hand right then and made him stamp his seal on the disciple contract.

Thinking back on the conversation during the investigation, it had been beyond imagination.

Every time they asked a question and he answered, three compliments came flying out in a row. And in the end, every single one of them was trying to pull his major toward their own department while telling him to drop the double major.

Only then did Akasa realize she knew almost nothing about her future disciple.

'Double major?'

She hadn't even known the course registration period had already passed, so she had just learned that Lee Seokhyun had signed up for every single major. The one saving grace was that he wasn't taking the advanced martial arts courses, which left some time open for disciple training. But when she heard the rest of his schedule was completely full until Saturday, she was shocked.

'In the end, the only time left for me is that slot.'

The advanced martial arts course was usually scheduled at the very end of the day because it required the most brutal physical exertion. Classes often pushed students right up until the break period for immediate recovery, so they typically ran from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

In a way, it was only natural that Lee Seokhyun becoming her disciple would perfectly fill that empty slot.

And there was only one way to make that natural outcome a reality.

'Decisive action.'

The other representative professors already had disciples, so they couldn't openly recruit in front of the other cadets. But since everyone knew Akasa had no disciples and was in a desperate situation, they had no choice but to tacitly allow her behavior.

Having thrown such an extreme move, Akasa looked at Lee Seokhyun. Every single person in S-class, including Akasa herself, focused their attention on him as they waited for his mouth to open.

It was truly the peak of popularity.

'I'm screwed.'

Normally, when someone asked for time, the cliché was to wait until they came back on their own. He never dreamed she would act this aggressively, so he couldn't help but panic.

Of course he was going to become her disciple, but he hadn't wanted to declare it like this in such a public place.

'What is this, a disciple declaration ceremony?'

Whether it was during the representative speech or now, why did these moments always come so suddenly? If she'd given him any warning, he could have prepared, but with zero advance notice, he was completely flustered.

'This isn't good for people to find out like this.'

The ideal time for it to become known that he was her disciple would have been after he'd learned about half of her one-on-one transmission techniques. That way, even if the kids who didn't get chosen by Akasa came running at him yelling "Who do you think you are?!" he could beat them down.

But if rumors started spreading from now, there was a high chance he'd be the one getting beaten instead. No—he was certain it would be one hundred percent. He knew exactly what these ambitious, inferiority-complex-ridden cadets at Mirinae Academy were capable of.

'The worst part is that even if I don't confirm it here, they've already decided in their heads that I'm Akasa's disciple.'

Whether he refused or accepted, the rumor would get twisted and spread anyway. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Akasa had predicted a situation like this, he would have been impressed, but she seemed a little flustered too, so it looked like she hadn't expected the impact to be this big. She had probably been stimulated after watching the first-year representative professors beg him to become their disciple and just went all-in.

This was really troublesome.

"I'll become your disciple! Thank you for accepting me!"

"Mm! Good! Understood! I'll handle your course registration, so come see me as soon as you have time!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Troublesome was troublesome, but the situation needed to be contained, so he spat out his answer before things could drag on any longer.

Bang!

The moment she heard his answer, Akasa flashed a deeply satisfied smile, slammed the door shut, and turned around.

The moment she left, every single gaze in the room poured onto him.

"This is getting noisy. Everyone, please take your seats."

Thankfully, Gainard entered quickly and saved him from the concentrated attention.

"Today, rather than focusing on course registration, we'll mainly go over the theory exam explanations and practical exam feedback."

Since the theory exam review would come first, he told them to listen carefully and not doze off. After saying that, Gainard stepped back, and Professor Lee Hwaryeong popped into existence in midair with a poof.

She seemed to secretly enjoy the attention her entrance drew and immediately began the review.

"Alright then, let's start with the hardest questions—numbers one through five."

'I didn't actually expect anyone to solve them, but a few cadets did, which was quite surprising.'

At Lee Hwaryeong's playful words, it felt like someone had smashed the back of his head with a club.

'You didn't put those there to be solved?'

According to her explanation, they had been trap questions, and the real ones came after. Without realizing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that, he'd wasted all his time on the first five problems.

Of course, solving all five was how he'd managed to place sixth, but this still felt excessively cruel. Normally, those "perfect score prevention" questions were placed at the end. But she'd twisted it and put them at the very beginning.

It was a perfect subversion of the common belief that question one was always the easiest.

"Question one was about party play. This part relates to the heretic path. I'll first explain the intention behind the question and the model answer."

The high-difficulty problems she had created included content related not only to sorcery but also to martial arts and the heretic path, so Gainard and Kerar occasionally joined in on the explanations.

Lee Hwaryeong conducted the lecture by explaining one problem at a time and immediately taking questions.

But very few cadets actually asked anything.

'The level is way too high.'

It was like telling baby chicks who knew nothing to suddenly fly like phoenixes—they had no idea where to even begin. Receiving such advanced explanations while in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a state of complete ignorance had overloaded their brains.

You had to know something before you could ask a question. When the gap in level was this big, nothing even came to mind.

The same was true for him. Since he'd simply memorized the entire answer key, even listening to the explanations left him unable to understand a single thing.

"...And that concludes the theory exam review. If any cadets still don't understand something or have questions later, feel free to ask anytime. Don't feel pressured."

Lee Hwaryeong seemed to wrap up the theory review nicely, but then, as if something had just occurred to her, she added one more thing.

"Ah, and by the way, the only cadet who got all five of the first questions correct was Lee Seokhyun."

Did she really have to say that?

The gazes that had barely scattered after Akasa left immediately locked onto him again.

He couldn't stress this enough—now was not the time to be receiving any attention at all.

'Why are they so obsessed with messing with me?'

It felt like he was being "hate-bombed," as people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said. Once was understandable, but having it happen repeatedly made him seriously suspect that the professors were all intelligent anti-fans of his.

But the problem was that this wasn't the end.

When Gainard gave feedback on the practical exam, he mentioned his name far too naturally.

"The most important attitude during the practical exam is to give it your all and burn with fighting spirit. In that sense, Lee Seokhyun showed that attitude very well during his fight against the ogre."

Was this really feedback, or was it high-level backhanded criticism?

The silver lining was that Gainard had based his feedback on the top five practical exam scenes, so the attention on him was relatively low.

'But it's already too late.'

His name had been mentioned one after another by Akasa, Lee Hwaryeong, and Gainard. The level of attention on him had already reached its peak.

From now on, he had no choice but to face the events that were about to unfold.

When a new class formed, it was the most natural thing in the world.

It was absolutely necessary, someone had to do it, but most cadets hated doing it.

It gave more burden than bonus points, and even the students with strong desires to show off avoided it. The worst possible event.

"Now that the review is over, we'll take a short break and then immediately proceed with the class president election."

Any cadet who wishes to run for the position, please speak up now.

After Gainard finished speaking, every single gaze in the room focused on him once again.

'I'm completely screwed.'

The class president position was as good as decided.