The Top Student's Secret

Feeling a slight prick of conscience, Tae-hyun began to make excuses. "Fine, I admit I'm a little bad with faces, but..."

It's way more than "a little"...

"But everyone is like that! Just like you said, human faces are surprisingly hard to tell apart, you know?"

"Excuse me, are you Player Kim Tae-hyun?"

"?!"

Startled, Tae-hyun whipped his head around. The universe had wasted no time in proving him wrong! Standing behind him was Ju Hyeon-yeong.

"Is it really you? You look exactly like your character in Fantasy Online 2, so I just had to ask..."

"...Yeah, that's me."

Jeong Su-hyeok and Choi Sang-yun stared blankly at Tae-hyun. Tae-hyun let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine. I'm terrible with faces. Happy now?"

Ju Hyeon-yeong had only intended to say a quick hello and leave, but it was Kang Hyeon-suk, the owner of Gang's Sundae Soup, who forced her into a seat.

"What? You know each other from that game? Then go sit down and talk! Have some fun! Chat!"

"B-but Mom, I'm in the middle of working..."

"Working, my foot! There are barely any customers!"

Although the restaurant was absolutely packed, with patrons crammed at every single table, Kang Hyeon-suk lied with a straight face.

"Go sit down! Hang out with your friends! Just do it!"

"But..."

"No buts!"

Kang Hyeon-suk practically shoved Ju Hyeon-yeong into a chair.

Her daughter did nothing but work! She had hoped that playing that Fantasy Online game or whatever would help her branch out. She thought she'd make friends and meet up with them in real life, like those online communities back in the day... But Hyeon-yeong showed absolutely no signs of doing that. Once, she had asked her what she did in Fantasy Online.

"I cook."

Cooking even in a video game! Hyeon-suk had beaten her chest in frustration. Talk about a workaholic.

Besides, that young man is that one young man!

At first, she had thought he was just a young man who liked working out. Then, she thought he was the one who let slip the "hidden secret" of the building's owner, Kim Tae-san. But when she looked into it later... they were father and son! She had no idea why a father and son would bicker and slander each other like that, but either way, he was quite the catch. He went to a prestigious university, came from a good family, and his face...

Well, looks aren't everything! He looks a bit rough around the edges, but he's a good person!

If Tae-hyun had heard her thoughts, he would have been deeply offended.

"So, who is this?" Sang-yun asked.

"She's the chef here at the sundae soup restaurant, and she's also a chef in Pan-On 2," Tae-hyun introduced.

"Wow, talk about perfect alignment between work and hobby. Is Pan-On fun?"

"Yes. There's so much to do even if you don't travel around, so I've been trying out all sorts of things."

"Oh, what are you working on right now?" Tae-hyun asked, suddenly curious.

Ju Hyeon-yeong was his disciple in the game. If she achieved a major milestone, Tae-hyun would receive a bonus. However, he hadn't seen any such system notifications in a while.

Has she not been playing lately?

"I'm doing a quest in the Erance Kingdom."

"Nothing popped up on my end, though."

"Ah, yes. It's a chain quest, so I haven't officially completed it yet."

"Must be a pretty high-difficulty quest, then?"

"It's a quest to become the royal chef for the King of Erance."

"...!"

All three of them stared at Ju Hyeon-yeong in sheer shock. The royal chef for the King of Erance? Erance was one of the most prosperous and powerful central kingdoms on the continent. On top of that, its king was a notorious tyrant famous for his incredibly fastidious personality! While most players couldn't even get close to him, Hyeon-yeong was steadily clearing a quest to become his royal chef. It was nothing short of astonishing.

"Isn't this a sign from above that we should start a guild? We even have a chef now!" Sang-yun joked.

"Are you making a guild?"

When Ju Hyeon-yeong showed interest, Tae-hyun waved his hand dismissively. "No. This idiot is just talking nonsense."

"If you ever make one, I'll help you out. I've received so much help from you, after all..."

"No, it's fine, really."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Listening to Tae-hyun and Ju Hyeon-yeong's conversation, Choi Sang-yun's mind began to race.

Wait, isn't this dangerous?

Yu Ji-soo had already been highly suspicious, demanding to know what was going on when she saw Lee Da-bi constantly hanging around Tae-hyun. Sang-yun had barely managed to placate her by convincing her, "Lee Da-bi is the guild master of Power Warrior, so she and Tae-hyun must be business partners dealing with gold!"

Furthermore, the guild master of the Pied Guild, which Ji-soo had joined, absolutely doted on her. Even a brief glance showed they were incredibly close, with the guild master constantly calling her "our pretty little sister." For Sang-yun, who harbored a massive, unrequited crush on the guild master of the Pied Guild, he had to walk on eggshells around Ji-soo.

Oh, no... This is... extremely dangerous...!

Choi Sang-yun decided it was best to keep his mouth shut. Avoiding any potential collateral damage was the smartest move!

"Senior, if the other guys ask me later how I got close to Player Kim Tae-hyun, can I tell them you're my university senior?" Su-hyeok asked.

"Go ahead. It's your choice," Tae-hyun replied nonchalantly.

"Do you think they'll even believe you?" Sang-yun chimed in.

"If they don't, they don't. Why should I care about convincing them?" Tae-hyun muttered.

While Tae-hyun and Choi Sang-yun bickered, Jeong Su-hyeok pulled a stack of papers out of his bag and began reading over them.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, I have an assignment..."

"..."

Tae-hyun and Sang-yun exchanged glances. Ah, right. This guy was still an active university student.

"Understanding of Modern Literature? Who's the professor for that again...?"

"Professor Kim Hyeon-gyun."

"Ah, him."

"The assignment is really tough..."

"He is quite demanding."

Jeong Su-hyeok groaned as he stared at his report, then looked up at Tae-hyun. "Senior, have you ever taken this class before?"

"Yeah."

"This guy was the department's top student," Sang-yun added.

"What?!"

"What do you mean, 'What?!' Hey, didn't you say you talked to my classmates before you came looking for me?"

Jeong Su-hyeok racked his brain, recalling the conversation.

"Ah!"

Because he had been so hyper-focused on the gaming aspect, Su-hyeok had completely tuned out the part about Tae-hyun being the top student.

"Senior! How do you become the top student?!"

"It's easy. Just focus on Korean, English, and Math..."

"Hey, that's the high school version!" Sang-yun barked.

"Ah, right. My bad. Okay, then. You just make a massive donation to the university and get on extremely friendly terms with the president and the professors..."

"..."

"I'm kidding."

"When you say it, it sounds like you're dead serious," Sang-yun muttered.

"To get good grades, you have to understand the professor's style and what kind of lecture it is. The professor for Understanding of Modern Literature is a bit particular. Both the midterm and final exams are replaced by reports."

Calling him "a bit" particular was a massive understatement. At Hankook University, that course was a living hell! Anyone with even a shred of inside knowledge avoided it like the plague. The promise of "no exams, graded solely on reports" sounded incredibly sweet, but it was a deadly trap. Students who eagerly signed up, thrilled by the lack of exams, ended up crying tears of blood.

"Ughhh... Groaaan..."

"Ugh, stop that, you're ruining my appetite. Give it here."

As Jeong Su-hyeok stared intensely at his report while making animalistic groans, Tae-hyun snatched the papers out of his hands in annoyance.

"Let's see what you wrote..."

Thump, thump!

Su-hyeok watched Tae-hyun with a tense, nervous expression. To him, Tae-hyun was practically a god. Having his report evaluated by such a figure was far more nerve-wracking than submitting it to the professor himself!

"In my personal opinion, there is a massive problem with this report," Tae-hyun declared.

"I-I'm sorry, Senior."

"The problem is that I'm only reading this just now."

"Thank you...?"

"Because if I had read this earlier, I would have known beforehand that your writing skills are absolutely chilling."

"I-I'm sorry, Senior."

"No, what I mean is, it's chilling in a way that reminds me of Hemingway."

"T-Thank you, Senior!"

"And Hemingway lived a truly chilling life in his later years, didn't he?"

"S-Senior, I'm sorry, but... I honestly can't tell if you like my report or hate it."

"You can't tell? Then let me put it bluntly. You should just pack your bags and drop this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠class."

"I'm sorry, Senior."

"Because... you have no need to take this class anymore. A much higher-level lecture would suit you better."

"Thank you?"

"Though, of course, such a lecture probably doesn't exist on this planet..."

"..."

"Well, enough joking around."

"That was a joke?!"

"Of course it was. Why would I say all that with a straight face if I actually expected anything from you? Just fix a few things. Professor Kim Hyeon-gyun absolutely despises verbose writing, so delete everything from here to here."

"U-Um, Senior... that's literally from the beginning to the very end."

"Yeah. Rewrite it."

"...This is another joke, right?!"

"I'm not joking this time. And it's not from beginning to end. I left the first page alone."

"But still...!"

"Everything after the first page is just you repeating the same point over and over again. It's painfully obvious you were just trying to pad the word count."

"Sob..."

Sniffling, Jeong Su-hyeok did as he was told. *Scribble, scribble.* His report was ruthlessly gutted.

"You don't need to write a lot. I only submitted a single page and still got an A+," Tae-hyun said.

"What?! Really?!"

"Don't listen to him. Just write a lot," Sang-yun quickly intervened as Su-hyeok looked up, completely mesmerized by Tae-hyun's words.

"But it's true that I got an A+ with just one page, isn't it?" Tae-hyun argued.

"Yeah, but you only wrote one page because you wanted to hurry up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and play games! You shouldn't tell a junior to do that!"

"Hey, a result is a result. Good luck with it."

"Yes, sir!"

After gulping down the rest of his sundae soup, Tae-hyun suddenly remembered something.

"Come to think of it, my dad is acting a bit weird."

"Why? What did he do?"

"He suddenly looked at me and gave this really creepy smile. No matter how I look at it, he's definitely plotting something..."

Tae-hyun knew Kim Tae-san's smiles all too well. The grin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his father had flashed at home the day before yesterday was undeniably suspicious.

"Maybe something good just happened to him," Sang-yun suggested.

"No, his smile is different when that happens. The smile I saw was unequivocally evil."

"..."

"I have no idea what he's planning. Maybe he's feeling a sense of shame because he helped me during that fight with the Orcs?"

"...Why would he feel shame over that?"

"Well, he shouldn't have helped me there. But sometimes, your body just moves on its own, you know? I probably would've done the same in his shoes..."

Although Tae-hyun always claimed he would PK Kim Tae-san if he ever ran into him in the game, if he actually saw other players trying to PK his father, Tae-hyun would probably be the first to fly into a rage.

"Who knows. He's my dad, so he'll probably give it away soon enough. He's terrible at keeping secrets."

"Maybe he's preparing some quest to torment you?"

"Hmm... is there even such a thing? I doubt it. Besides, my dad is currently in the Auston Kingdom, so he shouldn't have the time or energy for that."

Because the Auston Kingdom had suddenly been unified, the players who had occupied territories within its borders were in a state of total emergency. Rumors were already circulating that all the guilds needed to form a grand coalition just to hold back the Auston Kingdom's forces.

"True. The Auston Kingdom is in absolute chaos right now. Who would've thought it would suddenly unify right after the Orcs pulled out..."

"Haha. Yeah, I know, right? I wonder why it suddenly turned out like that."

Tae-hyun feigned complete ignorance.

"So, what's your plan for quests?" Sang-yun asked.

"For now, I need to manage my territory a bit, organize my items, and then clear some class quests."

"You don't need to deal with the Orcs?"

"The Great Chieftain didn't die, but he won't be recovering anytime soon. I need to level up a bit more before I can go kill him."

Ultimately, to grow his class, he had to clear his class quests. He had taken a massive detour because of the Orcs, and then another detour because of founding his religious order, but Tae-hyun was planning to set out once again to reclaim his Authority.

"By the way, what level are you now?"

"...Why does that matter? More importantly, where are you located right now?"

Tae-hyun smoothly deflected the question!