Why Are You Coming Out of There...?
For a long while, Isabelle couldn't bring herself to clap.
All around her, applause poured out for the freshman representative. But her gaze never left the podium—not even for a second.
Up on that stage.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
And a face more familiar than anyone else's in the world.
"…Rowoon?"
The name slipped from her lips in the tiniest of whispers.
It was definitely Rowoon. There was no way she could be wrong.
Why… is he up there…?
Isabelle blinked hard, over and over.
Maybe she'd seen wrong.
But no matter how many times she looked, nothing changed. The child standing on that podium was unmistakably her little brother.
"…That's impossible."
She'd been certain Rowoon was at home.
The Academy? Enrollment? She had never heard so much as a word about any of it.
No—more than that. She had never even imagined he could come here.
That boy was only ten years old.
The Academy's admission age was fifteen.
Which meant, from the very start, he wasn't even old enough to sit for the exam.
And yet.
Top of the Combat Faculty…?
Those words refused to leave her head.
Top of the class. At Astel Imperial Academy, of all places—where royalty, nobility, and countless geniuses gathered in droves.
"…When."
Just when had he taken the exam? When had he prepared? When had he passed?
No. More importantly…
"Does that mean Dad is home alone in the countryside right now…?"
Her father's face flashed through her mind.
Surely not. Rowoon hadn't snuck off to the capital by himself… had he?
No way… right?
Isabelle wanted to dismiss the thought—but knowing Rowoon, it was entirely possible.
Four months ago he'd snuck into the forest alone and gotten an earful for it. Before that, he'd wandered outside the village by himself and come crawling home late, only to get a thrashing across the back. That was just the kind of kid Rowoon was!
Don't tell me he did it again…
Ominous scenarios began chaining themselves together in her head, one after another.
He left home without telling Dad. Took the exam alone. Passed alone… and came all the way to the capital by himself…?
"…"
The more she thought about it, the more plausible it became—and that was the real problem.
Just then, Rowoon—still mid-speech—slowly turned his gaze.
And looked her dead in the eyes.
"……!!"
The corner of his mouth curled up, just the slightest bit. Truly the slightest bit.
To anyone else, it would have looked like nothing more than a flicker of eased nerves. But Isabelle knew that expression.
That was the face he made when he was teasing her!
"…Lee Rowoon."
At first, she had been shocked. Truly, deeply shocked.
And then, just a little—just the tiniest bit—hurt.
Why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he told his family a single word?
But that feeling didn't last long.
The moment Rowoon grinned—
"…"
—a vein twitched at her temple. The hurt vanished in an instant. In its place, Isabelle started getting angry.
Or, to borrow Rowoon's own phrasing—
She was getting so tilted. Massively tilted.
"Let's all survive until graduation together."
"…………"
The auditorium went dead silent.
…
Ah.
I screwed up.
Old Tower habits slipping out.
I kept a stiff smile plastered on my face while screaming internally.
No. It was a phrase I used to toss around without a second thought. But thinking about it—this wasn't the Tower. From the students' perspective, their freshman representative had just casually told them to survive at their own entrance ceremony.
Get a grip! This is a romance fantasy!
"Ahem…"
I cleared my throat softly.
"Ah… that… came out a little wrong."
I scratched my head with an awkward laugh.
"What I meant was, let's all graduate safely together."
A brief silence. And then—
"Pfft."
Someone burst out laughing. That was all it took.
"Bwahahaha!"
"Kid must be nervous!"
"That's adorable."
Laughter rippled out across the hall. Even a few of the professors were covering their mouths, trying not to lose it.
"Bwahaha. That little guy's a total riot."
…
What was that just now.
Did I just hear some Earth dialect in there?
Must've been my imagination.
Anyway.
"…Whew."
Thank god. They bought it. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The tension that had been wound tight just moments ago had melted away like it never existed. I felt a good deal lighter myself.
"Once more, then."
I gave a light bow.
"Congratulations to you all on your admission. That concludes my speech."
The moment I lowered my head—
—Clap clap clap clap clap!!
Applause far louder than before filled the great auditorium. The reaction was better than I'd expected.
…
No. Honestly, there was something even more entertaining than the speech itself.
Basking in the applause, I snuck a glance at the front row.
Isabelle.
Noona still looked completely stunned. Her mouth hung slightly open. Her eyes were still round as saucers.
That expression hadn't cracked once since this whole thing started.
"Heh… khk…"
The laugh I'd been holding in nearly escaped out loud.
This is why you mess with people!
If I was being honest, I'd kept the whole enrollment thing a secret pretty much just to see that face. All that effort paid off.
Now the only problem was—
Dealing with the aftermath…
I scratched the back of my neck for no reason.
Well. First things first—get off the stage. I can worry about getting chewed out once I'm down.
I started descending the stairs like nothing had happened. And that was when—
"YAAAH!!!!!"
A familiar voice thundered through the great auditorium.
"LEE ROOOOOOOOON!!!!"
What? Just now? That sounded weirdly like Isabelle—
…
Uh.
I stopped mid-step and slowly turned around.
Front row. Isabelle had shot up out of her seat.
A vein stood out starkly on her forehead. Her pale face had flushed scarlet all the way to the tips of her ears. Gone was every trace of her usual composure.
And then—
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!!!"
The words boomed. They rang through the entire auditorium.
…
In that instant, tens of thousands of people shut their mouths at once.
The professors. The upperclassmen. The freshmen. Even the nobles in the VIP seats.
Every single pair of eyes turned to Isabelle.
And then—turned right back to me.
"…"
I slowly looked around. Tens of thousands of eyes. All of them. Staring only at me.
…
Noona.
This… uh. This isn't our backyard. There are… a lot of people here.
The entrance ceremony dragged on for quite a while after that.
The General Faculty valedictorian's speech. The headmaster's closing remarks. Introductions of each faculty's professors. A congratulatory message from the Imperial Family. The school anthem.
"…"
For the record, I don't remember any of it.
Why? Because in the front row, Isabelle had been glaring daggers at me the entire time.
More precisely, it was a look that said: You. Me. After this. We're talking.
…
Okay, that's terrifying……
The one silver lining was that, thanks to this being a formal entrance ceremony, she at least didn't charge the stage. I bought myself time by avoiding eye contact with her as much as humanly possible. And after what felt like forever—
"This concludes the entrance ceremony."
The headmaster's words were met with a round of applause, followed by the scraping of chairs as students began rising from their seats one by one.
"All freshmen, please proceed to your respective faculty orientation venues."
At the professors' guidance, people started filing out of the auditorium in faculty groups. I snuck a glance behind me.
…
Isabelle was still scanning the crowd for me. If she caught me now, it was over. I quickly melted into the throng of Combat Faculty students.
Fortunately, there were so many people that I slipped out of her line of sight in no time.
If she catches me, that's two hours minimum—two hours…! Gotta bounce!
After about ten minutes of walking, we arrived at the Combat Faculty lecture hall in the center of the Academy.
Thousands of freshmen poured into the vast auditorium, and I found myself a decent seat. That was when—
"Lee Rowoon!"
A cheerful voice called out from beside me. I turned my head to find Lucia beaming and waving.
…
Ah, right. She was here too.
"We ran into each other again!"
"Yeah, we did."
"I hope we're in the same class!"
"That'd be fun."
"Right?!"
Lucia was grinning all by herself, bouncing with excitement.
…
This girl still had no idea I was the top student. Granted, she'd been dead asleep through the entire entrance ceremony, so it tracked……
Up at the front of the hall, a professor raised his hand.
"We will now announce the freshman class assignments!"
A blue light flashed, and a magic screen flickered to life.
Every student's gaze snapped upward.
"…Finally."
"Please just let me get into Class A. Hell, even Class B…!"
"I wonder what kind of monsters ended up in Class S this time."
The murmuring grew louder.
A moment later, the letters at the very top of the screen came into view.
The auditorium quieted slightly.
"Starting with Class S, of course."
"I heard they only take fifteen."
Names began appearing one by one.
"His Highness the Crown Prince."
"Obviously."
"Well, yeah."
"Hard to argue with that one."
The students accepted it without much surprise. It would have been stranger if the runner-up—and the Crown Prince, no less—hadn't made Class S.
Plus, he was the original novel's male lead.
Next up.
"…!"
A brief hush fell.
"That special admission student?"
"Ah— the one with the insane spirit affinity?"
"I heard she's a commoner? No family name."
"Still, special admission makes sense. Spirit mages don't exactly grow on trees."
"……Wait, isn't that the girl who yelled earlier?"
Isabelle's name stirred up a fair bit of buzz as well. Being a commoner raised some eyebrows, but the fact that she was a special admission student was already widely known.
But then—the moment the next name appeared.
"…"
The auditorium stirred once more.
"Hmm… the top student?"
"Ah… that commoner…? I was wondering when he'd show up."
"A mere commoner ranking higher than me……"
"Is it just swordsmanship? Magic? He doesn't even use anything, does he? It's not like he has some rare ability like the special admission girl."
"Still, he is the top student……?"
"Eh, probably just a flash in the pan. He'll get demoted soon enough."
"But it looked like something was going on between him and the special admission girl……? Are they engaged or something?"
The noble kids' expressions twisted ever so slightly. A commoner landing in the highest class in the entire Academy—for people who'd spent their whole lives steeped in a sense of superiority, it was a hard pill to swallow.
Not that they could voice their complaints out loud. This was the Imperial Academy. Professors were watching from right up front.
Besides, once you enrolled at the Academy, everyone was a student—status be damned. In short, you couldn't throw your rank around here.
So the students just exchanged looks and whispered among themselves in low voices.
And then the remaining names filled in one after another, until the very last—
"…"
Every name was filled in.
"Whoa…"
"This year's Class S is insane."
"His Highness the Crown Prince, a daughter of a great magic house, and a spirit mage??"
"This is a legendary roster."
Meanwhile, right next to me—
"WOOOOOOAH!!"
Lucia threw both hands in the air.
"Lee Rowoon!! We're both in Class S!!"
"…So we are."
"So we're gonna keep hanging out together?"
"Probably?"
"YESSS!!"
Lucia started bouncing up and down all by herself, absolutely thrilled.
…
Okay, she's cute, but she genuinely still doesn't get it. Excuse me. There was only one Lee Rowoon on that list—and that top student wouldn't happen to be me, would it…?
If I weren't the top student, that would mean my namesake who is the top student somehow failed to get into Class S?
Is she just that oblivious…? Or is she pretending not to know?
If this were a novel, she'd be the kind of character readers would roast alive in the comments.
I let out a dry little laugh. And then—
"Each class, please follow your assigned teaching assistant!"
A TA holding a placard labeled Class S stepped forward.
"Class S, over here."
Lucia and I naturally fell in and walked over.
A short while later, we arrived at a building far larger and more luxurious than any of the other lecture halls.
Figures. Being the top class, they'd clearly thrown some money at it.
The TA stopped in front of the door.
"This will be your Class S classroom going forward."
Click.
The door slowly swung open.
And the first person I saw—
"…"
—standing at the very front of the classroom with her arms crossed, was Isabelle.
"…"
"…"
Our eyes met.
Hyung… no. Noona, why are you coming out of there…?