Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Duck Lord, Thank You
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At 5:40 a.m., Tae-jin woke up to the sound of the microwave running. Someone in the dorm was definitely heating up a midnight snack.
"Ugh, that smell..."
Tae-jin grabbed a towel and shuffled out into the hallway.
It had been a month and a half since enrollment. Students wandered the dorm corridors like zombies from the early morning hours. They all had bloodshot eyes from barely sleeping. Towels draped around their necks, toiletry bags in hand, they lined up in front of the showers, waiting their turn.
Everyone was on edge at this time, so Tae-jin was being extra careful to avoid any trouble.
Someone had written it in red marker on an A4 sheet and posted it up, but most students finished even faster than that. Time was too precious these days to waste on long showers.
As soon as Tae-jin finished showering, he checked his laptop. The school had an intranet for students, which was especially useful during exam periods.
Click.
'Duck Lord, huh...'
The student council-run anonymous board let users pick icons per post. They could even design their own. This mysterious figure's signature was a duck with a mischievous expression.
It had started small.
Someone posted a photo of a math problem at 1 a.m., and three minutes later, a solution appeared. From then on, questions snowballed. Solutions and answers followed every few minutes without fail.
All the students praised Duck Lord's grace.
Post an unsolved problem on the anonymous board, catch a quick nap, and the notification would ring. What used to require tracking down a teacher or upperclassman now saved them study time thanks to Duck Lord.
Tae-jin chuckled at Duck Lord's solution.
The explanations had gotten kinder.
When students complained about the one-line solutions, Duck Lord started adding explanations sometimes. Now, they stretched to a maximum of three lines.
He didn't know about the other classes, but everyone in Class 1 knew who Duck Lord was. They just weren't saying anything since it seemed like he wanted to stay hidden.
"I thought he was just a math whiz, but he's killer at physics and chemistry too."
Tae-jin was learning for the first time that there were geniuses in the world who were effortlessly brilliant.
Two weeks ago, a guest visited Seo-ha.
When he went to the café in front of the main gate as planned, Woo-hyun was already there.
"Teacher!"
Woo-hyun sat with a huge pair of sunglasses hiding his face. A large box sat beside him.
"Teacher? Come on, I haven't even taught you anything."
The corner of Woo-hyun's mouth twitched up.
Even after so long apart, Seo-ha looked the same. He'd grown taller and shed some of his country bumpkin vibe. Still just as polite and innocent as ever.
"Here."
Woo-hyun slid the black box across the table.
"I can't accept something this expensive."
Seo-ha spotted the logo on the box and waved his hands in surprise.
"Don't get cocky. To me, this is like grabbing an ice cream from the convenience store. And—"
Tap, tap.
Woo-hyun drummed his fingers on the table.
"I'm the one who suggested sending you to Gifted High School. Gotta provide some after-service."
"Still..."
Seo-ha hesitated.
He'd been planning to ask for a cheap laptop at home anyway. Not something this pricey...
Accepting it felt burdensome, but he worried his parents might feel slighted.
"You're taking informatics next semester, right? You need a laptop for IDE setup, data handling, coding tests. Heading into battle unarmed?"
Rip.
Woo-hyun tore off the seal sticker without another word.
Seo-ha couldn't hold out any longer.
"I'll pay you back someday for sure."
"Sure. When you make more than me."
Seo-ha sighed.
Woo-hyun had topped Korea's instructor earnings last year. His new lectures exploded, selling hundreds of thousands of books. He was a walking mid-sized company.
"Thank you. I'll put it to good use, really."
Seo-ha bowed deeply.
That day, Woo-hyun treated him to the most expensive hanwoo beef nearby before heading back to Seoul.
As Seo-ha lugged the box back to the dorm, classmate Ki-beom spotted him.
"Guys! Seo-ha got a laptop!"
"What?"
Where had those cool kids from the start of the semester gone?
A crowd of five or six rushed out in an instant. Their eyes lit up at Seo-ha's high-end laptop.
"Seo-ha, leave the heavy stuff to your hyungs."
Tae-jin took the box for him. They all piled into Seo-ha's room.
After over a month together, his classmates had discovered Seo-ha's charm.
They hadn't believed it at first, but now they knew. Seo-ha had no malice.
He didn't show off because, to him, solving problems wasn't a big deal.
Ask him something, and he'd explain with all his effort. If you still didn't get it, he'd sincerely apologize.
On soccer days, he'd fully gear up early and warm up on the field. They realized he actually looked forward to those days.
Not tech-savvy, Seo-ha let them set up the laptop at lightning speed. They spent ages explaining the intranet, useful programs for class, and more.
"Thanks, hyungs."
"No big deal."
The students waved it off casually and headed to their rooms.
'When will I grow up?'
To Seo-ha, it felt like he was always just receiving help. If he could, he'd add extra and give back to everyone.
After setting up the laptop, Seo-ha learned about the intranet anonymous board.
"A place like this exists?"
It was full of all sorts of minor school info.
Thanks to his talent swap with Winter, Seo-ha had gained mental stability and less burden when using his brain. No more worrying about backlash; he could dive into long research sessions.
'Oh! Gotta study for exams.'
Math he could skip, but other subjects were different.
Having skipped middle school, his knowledge had huge gaps. Encyclopedias alone couldn't fill them all.
Seo-ha devoured textbooks like novels. Physics, chemistry, biology were fun. Korean and English were a slog without interest. Good thing he'd studied English early.
Ding—.
"Hm?"
A math problem popped up on the anonymous board. Seo-ha answered instantly.
After a few times, even in chemistry and physics—despite only skimming basics—there was almost nothing he didn't know.
Ding, ding, ding—.
"Whoa, jackpot!"
He needed practice problems anyway.
The board overflowed daily: past exam compilations, variants, homemade ones. Varied types, but tough since posters couldn't solve them.
Solving them honed his real-world feel missing from textbooks. And it helped others too—one stone, two birds.
As exams neared, targeted questions flew in.
Getting caught would be embarrassing, so he stuck to the concept.
Seo-ha explained as kindly as possible.
Before long, it became "Ask me anything."
Seo-ha gained a lot too—exposure to problem types he'd never see otherwise.
Occasionally, weird questions came.
Seo-ha puzzled over it, then thought of Sung Ji-hoon, who always had one.
Dong—, doong—.
In the music room, he tinkered with the piano. Seo-ha read piano manuals and music theory, transcribing Ducky's chaotic, cipher-like tunes into sheet music. Ducky was evolving them with advanced theory.
Seemed like he needed more time for proper composition and performance.
After dinner, he stopped by the library on impulse. It was packed, seats scarce.
'Right, exam period.'
Waiting to return the piano manual, his eyes caught a group nearby. They pulled out printouts and whispered.
"Duck Lord Solutions Collection"
"Dude, this is compiled so well. Check the examples next to each formula."
"Kid from Class 3 is a Duck Lord fan. Bound all the past answers."
Seo-ha glanced around.
Students everywhere pored over "Duck Lord Solutions Collections." The A4 edges were worn ragged from use.
That night, a non-question post went up on the anonymous board.
Dozens of thank-yous piled up below.
Seo-ha's vision blurred as he stared at the screen.
He closed the laptop and tried to calm the swelling emotions.