Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Middle School Student Yoo Ha-yeon (2)
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Seoul's Daeha Middle School is a private school.
If something's popping into your head, you're right. The chairman of the foundation running this middle school is my grandfather.
A prestigious private school boasting history and tradition, attended by chaebol heirs and politicians' kids? Korea doesn't have many like that. After the Korean War wiped everything out, how could any have survived?
And this is still the 20th century. That so-called history and tradition is at least twenty years short of aging properly.
Of course, schools in wealthy neighborhoods naturally attract kids from well-off families, but it's not like chaebol kids attend some special places en masse.
In this country... if you bomb the college entrance exam (which doesn't exist yet as the CSAT), no amount of money can save you, right? Even Chairman Yoo Seong-pil failed to get his kids into Seoul National University.
In Korea, a school's prestige isn't determined by how many rich kids attend or how fancy the facilities are... it's by how many it sends to Seoul National University. They're generally proportional, sure.
That was the problem.
What did I hate most when I started elementary school—no, national school? Those godawful 1980s classrooms straight out of a nightmare.
They gave me special treatment as the chaebol heiress... but that didn't magically turn decrepit buildings into new ones.
Coal stoves in the middle of classrooms instead of central heating, lunchboxes instead of cafeteria food, and Saturday school (important).
Ugh... this is the 20th-century flavor? It's a chicken coop... At least my time had play Saturdays.
How long was I supposed to skip class while looking over my shoulder? This was my natural right as a 21st-century human.
And this soul-crushing educational environment would only worsen in middle and high school. Zero-period morning classes and evening self-study awaited.
I could swing my power around to opt out, but my friends around me would still suffer. I'm not clueless. I just ignore it.
So I tried introducing a progressive education system... but conventional methods couldn't buck the era's trends.
But there's always an exception to every rule.
For Yoo Ha-yeon—the peerless genius of the world, bearer of otherworldly beauty, history-creating force—there was a trump card.
Money.
A ridiculously vast amount of it.
"Grandfather! I want a middle school of my own to attend!"
"Got it."
And just like that, a middle school was born.
Ah, if you don't get it, this is money. It solves most problems.
Gender discrimination? Educational environments bordering on child abuse?
Even more powerful than that is authority. With innate advantages and environment, someone like a contemporary power holder can ignore them to a degree.
The existence of queens in ancient Egypt or Silla doesn't mean those societies lacked gender discrimination. It means class discrimination was so overwhelming it overshadowed gender.
A colossal wave of capital slammed into the educational foundation, birthing a middle school unprecedented in scale—for one single person.
So even a friendless, total loser girl could live happily.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ -Tap.
I slowly strolled the middle school grounds for the first time, letting out a sigh of admiration.
"Nice. Real nice here."
I should've come earlier to check it out, but I've been too busy lately.
Truth be told, Daeha Middle School wasn't built entirely from scratch by me. You can't erect a school overnight. When I brought it up with Grandfather, I hadn't been caught with the Alpha Fund yet—or so I thought—so I couldn't splash around too much cash openly.
Thanks to the time crunch, I had to spend an extra year in elementary. I even considered skipping middle school for high school altogether...
Fortunately, it didn't come to that.
Money has a way of shortening timelines. I took over one—no, two—schools under construction and customized them to my taste.
There's even a swimming pool, fountains, a computer lab. I'm not fussed about it, but there's a natural grass field too.
My favorite part? The central atrium from the first floor to the fifth, with a glass ceiling letting sunlight pierce every level during the day.
Waste of space?
Whatever. I've got money to burn. Can't half-ass the place I'll spend three years in.
I'm already building the high school I'll attend. Daeha High School, naturally.
Sadly, my national school wasn't Daeha National School. That's in Seongnam City.
-Rustle.
As I smiled in satisfaction, stroking the brand-new computers stacked behind the school, some student affairs uncle—how'd he know I was here?—came rushing over, yelling.
"Hey! You there, student! Don't touch that!"
-Dash dash dash.
He bolted over like the wind, sighing without even glancing at my face.
"Huh? These aren't student stuff anyway. Man, they're brand new..."
The affairs guy frowned and began lecturing me.
The fact he didn't chew me out right away upon seeing my uniform showed he was pretty tolerant. Of course, since I handpicked people like him.
"Um, this place... it's mine."
The flustered affairs uncle asked back.
"These computers are yours?"
"No, 'here' is mine."
I gave an awkward smile and turned around.
"Hm? Whoa...?"
Pointing to the name tag on my uniform, I flashed a faint smile.
[Yoo Ha-yeon]
The mark of the school's owner.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ To sum up the story so far...
I'm the queen of this school.
"Kneel, peasant. Fetch my textbook pronto."
So I boldly demanded that a friend I hadn't seen in ages serve me properly.
"...You've changed a lot since I last saw you."
Mai-ryeon, whom I hadn't seen in months, eyed me strangely.
"What? Why the weird look?"
"Hm, your personality hasn't changed much. I was worried when you skipped the entrance ceremony, but glad nothing major happened."
Hm. So my personality aside, other things had changed.
I glanced in the mirror. My uniform accentuated a fresh allure reflecting back at me.
"My face got prettier? Or... here?"
I pointed to my chest with a sly smile, but he shook his head.
"Your personality got more shameless. You weren't this narcissistic before..."
"..."
"Hey, you! What kinda mouth is that to a lady?!"
Oh.
One of my followers snapped in my stead. Like everyone I kept close, she was a pretty cute girl.
A friend I'd hung with since national school days. Not sure if she saw it that way.
"It's fine, Ji-yeon. Boys always pick on girls they like."
"Ah, uh! Y-yes, miss."
Whether by instinct or savvy at reading hierarchies, Seo Ji-yeon picked up on the pecking order fast.
Mai-ryeon had a crappy personality but was plenty capable, so she deserved decent treatment as valuable manpower.
"Maybe it's the student number thing. Seo Ji-yeon's is after mine."
Mai-ryeon said that, but probably not.
"Pfft, who ranks openly by student number? And it's random anyway?"
"...We've watched you snag Class 1, Number 1 every year."
Hm, fair point. My student ID: 1st Year, Class 1, Number 1. I insisted on it every time, so I got the unique one again.
"Don't say that, Ryeon-ah. All people are equal. Well... except me."
There was this saying from Joseon kings now and then. To me, yangban and commoners look the same... all people.
I love it. Peak imperial classism.
"Ah, today's class is orientation. Let's look at the math subject we'll be studying..."
The math teacher droned on leisurely up front, but I openly lounged half-reclined in my chair.
"...Miss, you seem bolder lately."
Whispers came from nearby. ...Seo Ji-yeon?
Nothing could faze Yoo Ha-yeon, who'd surpassed her past life's self, so I brushed it off.
And it wasn't against school rules. Even if I openly skipped or broke stuff, it wouldn't be.
Because I'm the owner. Sounds extreme, but that's private schools for you. Chairman's whim rules.
Oddly... private schools in this era could even force religious events on students (it was similar decades later). Despite constitutional religious freedom.
So this was hardly unusual. I'm not bullying anyone to suicide or assaulting students, right?
Pretty cheap for providing cutting-edge facilities.
.
.
.
Boring class periods dragged on and on.
'Ugh, so dull.'
I'd gotten used to it in national school, but it felt like wasting time into the dirt.
Still, picturing myself—a shadowy world dominator—hiding my power in peaceful school life? Kinda satisfying.
Who am I?
'Conqueror of the Bank of England.'
The world is too easy. Seriously.
I closed my eyes gently, propped my head on my hand, and struck a contemplative pose pondering life's truths. Then cracked one eye and checked in my hand mirror.
Wow, wow.
I'm smitten. Totally cool.
"Miss, you in puberty or something?"
My loyal minions gossiped beside me.
"Could be. She's middle school now."
Middle... school.
-Crash!
I kicked wildly at thin air and toppled from my chair.