Discipline 12. The Disciplinary Committee Leader Earns the Highest Grades (1)
The day the Anomia incident hit the news.
"Wow…."
The naked Lee Se-ah stroked her chin and let out a low whistle of admiration.
She was soaking in a bathtub, eyes fixed on the TV mounted on the wall.
She had already gotten word that Anomia had been captured long before the news broke.
Even so, no matter how many times she chewed over the Anomia coverage the news kept repeating, her astonishment refused to die down.
"This is genuinely insane…."
Ahn Woo-jin.
This man had truly lost his mind — in the best possible way.
Hardly into his term as Disciplinary Committee Leader, he had pulverized Anomia root and branch.
That infamous band of villains, a thorn in the side of the Hanyang Federal Academy and countless other academies besides.
This was a feat that no amount of "impressive" could ever do justice to.
With this single stroke, the standing of the Ahseong Disciplinary Committee within the academy city had swelled enormously.
And not because of Oh Baek-seo — the once-in-a-generation genius of the 6th Tier.
But because of the exploits of a 4th Tier male student: Ahn Woo-jin.
"Well, this is awkward. We've incurred a rather substantial debt, haven't we?"
"Yes. Thanks to him, I expect things will proceed very smoothly from here on."
From the call unit resting on the table beside her came the voice of Lee Jeong-mi.
"I really do like that man. We ought to express our gratitude properly, shouldn't we?"
Anomia had been a headache for the mafia syndicate Dohwapa as well.
With their most troublesome obstruction eliminated thanks to Woo-jin, no amount of thanks would have been sufficient. By the syndicate's ledger, they now owed Woo-jin two separate debts — and Se-ah had no intention of letting that obligation go ignored.
"Shall we prepare a monetary reward? Or perhaps a rare magical tool — or, going a step further, an artifact might be appropriate. Thanks to him, generating enormous profits going forward is only a matter of time, after all."
"No. If people like us gave the Disciplinary Committee Leader a gift like that, it would be a bribe, wouldn't it? That would put him in an awkward position."
"That depends entirely on how one goes about giving it, does it not?"
"Aww, but that senior of mine wouldn't care for anything like that. He's the type whose respect for the law runs far too deep."
Se-ah took hold of her long black hair, submerged in the water, and wound it around her fingers.
"Then how about this instead?"
Her narrowed eyes curved into a foxlike smile.
The candidates for Platinum Mileage never exceeded five per semester.
Two after midterms, three after finals — granted in a batch on set dates. Of course, the number could be smaller, or there might not be a single recipient at all.
Either way, my Platinum Mileage would only come once midterms were over.
Right now, however, I had no spare attention for mileage.
Let me recall.
At lunch today, I'd been sitting on a bench behind one of the rarely visited buildings, eating a sandwich Baek-seo had made for me.
Through an open window, the chatter of female students drifted down.
"That new Disciplinary Committee Leader is pretty impressive, honestly."
I involuntarily held my breath.
I strained my ears and listened closely to their conversation.
I knew eavesdropping wasn't a admirable habit, but the topic bore directly on my reputation — there was no way I could tune it out.
"The subway incident was a little dubious, but apparently he took down all of Anomia this time too…. Feels like I'm seeing him differently now?"
"Same here. The guy's got real skill."
I nodded to myself.
Good eyes, at least.
"Still, it's a bit of a shame Baek-seo didn't become the Leader."
Huh?
"If Baek-seo were running the Disciplinary Committee, that would've been the best-case scenario."
"The current Leader's not bad, though? Sure, Oh Baek-seo's a 6th Tier genius and all…."
"That's because you don't really see Baek-seo for what she is. I'll say it flat out: no one in our school could even follow her footsteps. She just lives in a completely different world. You know that feeling when you wonder how a person can be that perfect? That's exactly what I felt the first time I saw Baek-seo."
"Hmm. That much, huh?"
"That much, you airhead. Honestly, all the achievements the Leader has racked up? If Baek-seo had been the one in charge, it would've been more, not less."
These little….
Even Baek-seo doesn't know the game's secrets.
Intellectual superiority.
That was the power I possessed.
Look — I'll freely admit Baek-seo is more capable than me in every way, but without my knowledge of the game, Anomia would never have been caught. Doesn't that count for something?
…Not that I could actually argue that point out loud.
I couldn't exactly bring up the game knowledge, and from anyone else's perspective, an opinion like theirs was perfectly natural anyway.
That's how extraordinary Oh Baek-seo was.
"Besides, Baek-seo's always ranked first in grades too. It's not like the current Leader is some slouch, but there isn't a single thing where he beats her…. Maybe it's just because I'm biased about Baek-seo, but I'm a little disappointed. If she'd been Leader, I feel like something even bigger would have changed."
Grades, huh….
Midterms were almost here.
I had zero intention of drifting blankly through exam season only to end up standing in Baek-seo's shadow all over again.
And so, at present —
I sat in the Disciplinary Committee executives' office, reading a textbook.
Huuuaaaah…!
I let out a silent war cry and studied with ferocious intensity.
There was so much to cover. Korean, English, math, social studies….
Beyond that, I had to keep up the practical subjects too — applied mana, combat training.
Disciplinary Committee work had swallowed so much of my time that my study hours had fallen woefully short.
Really, what would I have done if I hadn't pre-studied over the break?
Just imagining it made my head swim.
I was the Disciplinary Committee Leader, commander of a four-hundred-strong force ranking first in the school's combat hierarchy.
Maintaining top-tier grades was the bare minimum required to preserve a Leader's dignity.
Which is to say: in every possible circumstance, I had to be an example to others.
On top of that, this was the single remaining avenue through which I could beat Baek-seo.
I needed to be better than her at something — even just one thing.
A Leader who couldn't outdo his own Vice Leader at anything?
If things went on like this, my pride would be beyond saving.
But the current situation was that the executives were all gathered in the office.
For the sake of my image if nothing else, I couldn't tear through my textbook the way a dog wolfs down kibble.
And so, in stark contrast to the storm raging inside me, I maintained a placid, peaceful facade, pretending to read at leisure as I worked through the pages.
"Ha Ye-song, arriving like the wind!"
Ye-song flung open the executives' office door and barged in.
"Welcome."
"Welcome, dear."
"Hey there."
I greeted her calmly without lifting my eyes from the textbook, while Vice Leader Oh Baek-seo, tidying the pantry, poked her head up to return the greeting.
Treasurer Yoo Do-ha, sprawled on the sofa with a book draped over her face, showed no reaction whatsoever. She was fast asleep.
Secretary Park Min-hyuk, seated across from her, offered a greeting between hammering at his laptop keyboard.
"Whoa, Leader! Don't tell me — you're studying?!"
Her eyes went wide as a rabbit that had spotted its prey, and Ye-song trotted toward my desk.
"Midterms are coming up, after all. Just skimming through the textbook a bit, that's all."
I answered with practiced nonchalance, as if to emphasize how relaxed I was.
"As expected of you, Leader…! Such composure — truly befitting the second-ranked student in the school!"
"……."
That hurt.
It felt like a dagger driven straight into my chest.
"Isn't it obvious? Our Leader's brain is second to none."
"Ugh, there's that worship again…."
When Min-hyuk cut in, Ye-song's eyes sharpened into a glare.
"By the way, Ye-song — aren't you studying?"
This, from the girl who'd just been going on about my composure.
"Nope! Not yet, anyway. I've been reviewing all along, so I'm totally fine!"
Ye-song puffed herself up proudly.
"So what have you been doing lately, then?"
"Usually around this time, I spend my days hitting up all the restaurants I've been dying to try!"
Ye-song clasped her hands together over her chest as she answered.
"So what you're saying is — you're not studying."
That's what it boils down to, isn't it?
"Leader, playing around during exam season is the most fun of all, isn't it?"
"Well, that's… true."
It was… an accurate statement.
Turning your back on the agonizing ordeal looming right in front of you and savoring a little escapade — that was, indeed, the most efficient way to maximize a dopamine release.
That was a privilege of life that only exam season made possible.
"Ehehe."
Ye-song had chosen "living happily" over whatever suffering exams might inflict.
Wasn't that, in its own way, one legitimate method of enjoying one's youth?
Must be nice….
Somehow she became irritating.
Here I was, striving day and night to avert the arrival of a dystopia….
But I couldn't fault her.
Her actual grades were good enough that they'd never tarnish the image of a Disciplinary Committee executive.
Contrary to appearances, she really had been reviewing consistently. What lay behind that smile was honesty, plain and simple.
Though it would've been nice if she put that energy into a little more work, too.
"Leader. Here."
"Thanks."
I took a sip of the warm coffee Baek-seo brought over.
Replenishing the essential exam-season buff: caffeine.
I'd already downed an energy drink, but at this point sleep was a luxury I couldn't afford.
Even at the cost of my health, I needed to keep pumping caffeine until the very last trace of drowsiness was purged.
"Oh, and Min-hyuk — you're not studying either?"
Ye-song asked him.
"Work comes first for me. Lightening the Leader's burden is a far more valuable and important task than some exam."
So studying is out the window, then.
"Anyway, if I just count what we covered in class, I could beat you on the exams no problem."
"Getting cocky off your little memory cheat, huh?"
Ye-song scoffed.
"Forgot already? You're trash at math."
"I am not trash."
"Excuse me there, Min-hyuk boy? Isn't applied reasoning and numerical aptitude my domain? All that photographic memory, and yet you still can't even do basic calculation?"
"That's… not…."
"It is, though? Want to compare report cards?"
Even Ye-song's playful teasing was more than Min-hyuk could withstand.
"No, you're right…. I am absolute trash…."
Min-hyuk hung his head on the spot and sank into self-loathing. His usual depressive state.
The kid's mental fortitude was thinner than a potato chip. I should counterattack a little on his behalf.
Ye-song shot me a look drunk on victory, as if she'd won something. What was I supposed to do about that?
"Just kidding, Min-hyuk! Chin up! Come onnn?"
Ye-song giggled, grabbed Min-hyuk's shoulders, and shook him back and forth. He swayed limply like a reed in the wind.
"Leader. This is a gift the student council sent over earlier. Want to be the first to try it?"
Just then, Baek-seo casually picked up a snack and brought it to my mouth. Her lilting voice landed quite pleasantly on my ears.
"Oh, sure."
"Say ahh~."
Quite naturally, I ate what she offered.
A piece of sweet chocolate bread.
It was delicious.
"……."
That said… Baek-seo's smiling face looked exactly like a daycare teacher beaming as she fed something tasty to a small child.
I'd eaten it on pure reflex, but somehow my pride took damage from the exchange.
Come to think of it, this girl — I've never once seen her study….
Oh Baek-seo.
The top spot in the entire school had always belonged to her, unchallenged.
And yet not once had I ever witnessed Baek-seo in the act of studying.
There had been types like this in my past life, hadn't there?
The kind who seemed to never study at all, yet swept the top ranks the moment exams rolled around.
Somewhere out of sight, she was surely stacking reference books and problem sets sky-high, absorbing them with monstrous focus.
Outstanding ability, perfect scores.
Look at her again and again, and she was superior to me in every single respect.
That was precisely why Baek-seo loomed over me as an ever-greater burden.
How to put it — the feeling of an ant standing before an elephant. Utterly overwhelming.
"Leader."
"?"
It was while Ye-song was still clutching Min-hyuk's shoulders and shaking him around for sport.
Out of nowhere, Baek-seo cupped a hand around her mouth, leaned toward me, and whispered in a low, hushed voice:
"Want to study together later? Just the two of us?"
"Hm?"
What?
Just the two of us…?
A flash of flutter preceded the return of my reason.
This —
This was an enormous opportunity.
Blinded by my competitive streak, I had forgotten a basic truth: friends usually study together.
Baek-seo had almost certainly suggested it simply because she considered me the friend she felt most at ease around.
Still, the fact that I could study alongside Baek-seo came to me like a ripe, luscious fruit — one I wanted to sink my teeth into immediately.
Because —
I could watch Oh Baek-seo study?
As if I'd let this chance slip away.
Everyone currently in this office was my rival. No exceptions.
How the school's number one — the mightiest Baek-seo — actually approached her studies was something only I was going to find out. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles, no?
Petty? Maybe. Didn't matter.
When exams are on the table, sentiment is bad for business.
This was, in its own way, a battle.
Before Baek-seo could change her mind, I cupped my hand beside my mouth and brought my lips straight to her ear.
Some part of me insisted the opening had to be seized fast, and my movement turned hasty without my realizing it.
"Absolutely. See you later."
"……!"
The moment I whispered it, Baek-seo flinched, her head jolting.
Then — very faintly — her body seemed to shiver, just once.
…No, wait. She shuddered?
Did I see that wrong?
"Mm…."
Baek-seo pulled her head away from me with a certain urgency, quite unlike her usual unhurried manner.
"?"
What was that.
Her expression still carried her usual elegant smile. Nothing appeared to have changed.
Perhaps that odd moment had just been my imagination.
"Hrrrnk…."
Suddenly, Treasurer Yoo Do-ha began to snore. Every gaze in the room turned toward her.
Her snoring marked the start of a brief silence.
Do-ha, asleep on the sofa. Her skirt had ridden up without defense, leaving her shorts fully visible. Judging by the posture alone, she could've passed for a middle-aged man at a sauna.
"She'll ace math again, no question."
Ye-song remarked.
Math wasn't the half of it.
Do-ha also displayed overwhelming talent in accounting, her elective subject.
Anything involving numbers, she was the undisputed strongest. Not even Oh Baek-seo could take her on there.
But because she only studied the subjects that genuinely interested her, her marks everywhere else left much to be desired.
Fortunately, her combat ability held its own, so her overall ranking reliably landed somewhere between the middle and upper-middle of the pack.
Still, at least there's something she's better than Baek-seo at.
Somehow, that thought made me feel a little disillusioned.
Back to studying….
My eyes returned to the textbook.
……
"Weren't we supposed to study together…?"
"We were."
"Then why are we here?"
Baek-seo and I had arrived — just the two of us — at the training room.
A private practice space, reserved for today.
"It's a little more… private here, isn't it?"
Baek-seo smiled, inscrutable.
I couldn't make heads or tails of what she meant.