A New Order
The rank written on the report card.
It was displayed like this:
It was a better result than I had expected.
Perhaps the weight of the other minor subjects was quite low. Or maybe the second-place student's scores were worse than I thought.
Either way, a good result was a good result. Satisfied, I returned to my seat.
Meanwhile, the distribution of the report cards came to an end.
"Alright, good job everyone. Hang in there today, and I'll see you during class later."
With that, the teacher left the classroom.
Slide. Click.
As soon as the door shut, the classroom erupted into noise.
Murmur, murmur.
Naturally, my friends rushed over to ask me.
"Hey, hey! What rank did you get?"
"First? Second?"
I asked them back instead.
"What about you guys?"
"Ah, who cares about us right now? Hurry up and tell us."
"Yeah. Tell us what rank you got."
They were dying of curiosity.
"If I tell you first, it won't be as fun. You guys go first."
After some bickering, Oh Yunsung finally spoke up first.
"Tsk, I got fourth."
"Fourth in the school?"
"No, in the class."
"Oh! That's great. You went up two ranks."
"Right? My school rank went up quite a bit too."
"Good for you. All that studying paid off."
When I turned my gaze to him, Jang Junyeob answered.
"I got eighteenth."
"Just as Yunsung predicted."
"Tsk."
"Still, you rose a lot from the bottom. You're in the lower-middle tier now."
"Exactly. You should thank Hyunwoo. If it weren't for the study group, your grades would never have gone up like this."
Oh Yunsung pointed at me and then asked again.
"Oh, right! So! What rank did you get?"
Only then did I answer.
"First."
"Oh?"
"I knew it!"
Hearing my rank, the guys giggled, looking far more excited than I was.
"That's insane."
"My friend is first in the school, lol."
"This is like a legend. How does the last-place student become first in just one semester?"
"Everyone! My friend is first in the school! Yes!"
With them shouting so loudly, the surrounding kids couldn't help but hear.
They glanced over and whispered among themselves.
"Ji Hyunwoo is first in the school?"
"For real?"
"Whoa, looks like it's true."
"Holy crap, that's insane...!"
No one claimed it was impossible like before. They seemed to accept it now. Still, since they hadn't expected me to take the top spot, everyone seemed shocked.
Soon, the kids' gazes shifted toward another student.
It was Kim Ildong, who had originally been expected to take first place.
Glancing at him, the kids whispered.
"Then is Ildong second?"
"Probably. But didn't they say Ildong did really well on this exam too?"
"Yeah. I really thought he'd be first in the school this time."
"Hmm? What about the class president? Is Ildong definitely second?"
"I think I overheard earlier that the class president got third."
"Then Ildong must be second."
To be fair, whether it was second or third in the school, it was undoubtedly an impressive achievement.
Yet, despite achieving such a score, Ildong sat with his head bowed like a criminal. He let out a deep sigh as if a grave disaster had occurred.
"Sigh..."
Normally, he would have been first.
In my past life, I had only gotten my act together and started studying after the CSAT. In the original timeline, I would still be dead last in the school, and first place would have belonged to Ildong.
But things turned out like this.
For someone relying on their GPA to get into college, this might have been a significant blow.
But I can't afford to worry about that.
As I had that thought, my friends didn't miss the opportunity to start clamoring.
"Hey, hey, doesn't this mean Hyunwoo has to treat us today?"
"Oh, true! For once, you're making sense."
"Treat us! Treat us!"
"Manna Snack Bar after school, let's go?"
"Tteokbokki, sundae, tempura, and fish cakes?"
Huh?
I chuckled, dumbfounded.
Still, these guys did play a small part in this.
Thanks to them, the study group had been fun, and I had earned a decent amount of Karma. I might as well treat them once.
"Deal."
As soon as I got home, I told my parents my results.
"I got first place."
"Oh?!"
"No way! First in your class?!"
"Yes. First in the class, and..."
With that, I unfolded the report card and showed it to them.
After staring blankly at it for a moment, they both gasped.
"What! You're first in the school?!"
"First in the school?! Oh my goodness!"
The two of them grabbed the report card, almost trying to snatch it from each other, and scanned it frantically.
They rubbed their eyes as if the small print was hard to read.
"A perfect score in Korean! A perfect score in Math!"
"English is perfect too! Even Korean History is perfect!"
"Wow! Is our son a genius?"
"This is incredible! Wow!"
After scanning the entire page, wide smiles bloomed on both of their faces.
"First in the school!"
"I'm so proud of you!"
"How is this even possible? You didn't even go to any prep academies!"
"And you were so busy building that purification facility until recently!"
Indeed. Realistically, it made no sense.
I shrugged, acting as if it were no big deal.
"I told you. I just got interested in studying."
"Even so!"
"No, wait. Since he built a facility like that himself, it makes sense he'd get these scores!"
"I suppose so. A normal high schooler wouldn't have been able to build something like that in the first place!"
"Ha! Our son is amazing!"
"Seriously! Thanks to you, we don't have a single worry now!"
They laughed and cheered.
Seeing them smile made me happy.
In my past life, around this time, my father's reassignment would have been decided, and the atmosphere at home would have been bleak.
Thank goodness.
After chatting in a joyful atmosphere for a long time, my father suddenly spoke up.
"Ah, come to think of it, tomorrow is the commissioning ceremony."
"What time is it?"
"After lunch. So I think we can just go together in my car in the morning."
"That sounds good."
That was a good idea, but...
"Actually, I'll go to school first and then head over. I've missed too many classes lately, and Manager Baek offered to give me a ride."
"Manager Baek?"
"Yes. I spoke with him on the phone earlier, and he said he'd be passing by on his way back from some field work."
"Oh!"
"Still, it's not easy to offer a ride like that."
"Haha, he must really like you."
"Well, he's getting promoted thanks to you, so it makes sense."
My parents burst into laughter once again. My father even joked that Manager Baek probably looked at me with eyes dripping with honey. Good grief.
"I'm grateful for it. So I'll do that tomorrow."
Meanwhile, at Kim Ildong's house.
The atmosphere here was completely different from Hyunwoo's home.
"Sigh, second place again? You call this a report card?"
Standing stiffly with his head bowed like a criminal, Kim Ildong watched as his mother threw the report card at him.
The paper slapped against his cheek.
Smack.
"..."
Even as Ildong stood there with his head bowed, his mother pointed a finger at him.
"You! Do you know how many prep academies I sent you to? And you only got second place? When are you going to get first? Huh?!"
"..."
"Are you going to spend all three years losing to him and just end it like that? You have to win at least once! Are you a man or what? Don't you have any pride?"
"..."
"Say something! Make an excuse! Huh?!"
Tense, Ildong finally managed to speak.
"T-That is... I beat Kang Seongtae, the one who was originally first. But..."
"You beat him? Then why are you second?"
Kang Seongtae was the rival who had consistently held the top spot since their freshman year.
Ildong's mother assumed her son had lost to him again.
But the name he spoke next was different.
"A kid in our class named Ji Hyunwoo... suddenly got first place."
"Ji Hyunwoo? I've never heard that name before. He's not even the class president. And he suddenly got first?"
"...Yes, suddenly..."
"His rank went up? Then what was his rank before?"
At that question, Ildong hesitated.
"Well..."
"What is it! Tell me!"
Pressed by his mother, he finally spoke in a small voice.
"Last place..."
"Last place? What do you mean, last place?"
"In the school..."
"What?"
"Last place in the school..."
"Last place in the school? What on earth does that mean?"
Ildong explained the situation again.
He told her that there was a kid named Ji Hyunwoo who used to be dead last in the school, but his grades suddenly skyrocketed during the midterms, and now he had taken first place in the school for the finals.
Hearing this, Ildong's mother looked flabbergasted.
"Ha! Do you think that makes any sense? A kid who was dead last suddenly becoming first? If something like that happened, you should have told me right away. This is ridiculous, seriously!"
"Well..."
"Forget it! He must have cheated. There's no other way this could happen."
"..."
"But wait, the teachers must have found it strange too. How could they let it slide so quietly? Are they in on it?"
"..."
"Anyway, we can't just sit back. I'm going to the school tomorrow to demand answers."
"..."
Today was the day of the commissioning ceremony.
Still, I went to school first. Manager Baek was scheduled to pick me up later.
Perhaps because I had taken first place in the school, the other kids' reactions were subtly different.
Of course, it wasn't a dramatic shift like when I jumped to third place during the midterms.
It was more like... kids I didn't know seemed to know who I was.
I realized why the moment I ran into Jang Junyeob.
"Yo, first place in the school!"
It seemed this talkative guy had been blabbing about it everywhere.
Even now, the other kids' eyes focused on me.
"Yeah, yeah. Good morning, last place."
"I'm not last place anymore! As of yesterday, I am proud to be eighteenth!"
"You're still outside the top hundred in the school, though."
"Ugh."
Just then, Oh Yunsung walked up and spoke.
"Good morning. What are you guys talking about?"
"It seems our former last-place friend isn't satisfied with being outside the top hundred."
"Hey, Jang Junyeob, you should be happy your grades went up. For someone who never studied to rise that much in one go is actually huge."
Jang Junyeob pointed at me.
"What about him?"
"He's an exception."
"Tsk, true. I admit it."
As expected, he was quick to change his tune.
"Anyway, they say the CSAT will be here in the blink of an eye. Let's get inside and study. You know we don't have regular classes starting today, right?"
"Yeah, let's go."
Afterward, we studied in a separate room assigned to us.
"The answer to this question is number three!"
"Correct."
"Oh, your accuracy rate is getting pretty high now."
"Bwahaha!"
After a while, I suggested, "Let's take a break."
"Sounds good!"
We stepped out for a moment, only to hear a commotion coming from the hallway further down.
Chatter, chatter.
"What's going on?"
Oh Yunsung asked a student walking over from that direction.
"What's the fuss?"
"Ah, Ildong's mom came to the school, and the teachers' office is in total chaos right now."
Jang Junyeob reacted instantly.
"Let's go check it out!"