Please, Make It Stop!
It was around ten o'clock when our homeroom teacher walked into the classroom. Elementary homeroom teachers were apparently regular subject teachers rather than awakened ones, and sure enough, she didn't give off the slightest hunter vibe. Now that I thought about it, there hadn't been any introduction time for the regular staff at the opening ceremony either.
Daengdaengi, who had been watching the ceremony properly in my place, was the one who told me all this.
—Creeeak…
"Alright, everyone~ Your teacher is here~"
Most of the kids here had spent last year as third graders at this school, so they already knew the teacher somewhat. The teacher, on the other hand, had way too many little rugrats to keep track of and was busy teaching her own classes, so she clearly didn't know us.
—Tap, tap-tap-tap!
Three syllables written in fancy letters. A woman with long brown hair, her forehead bare, wearing round black glasses. Just looking at her face, she seemed like a kind person.
"My name is Kim Hyun-ji. I teach math, and I'll be spending the next year with all of you in Grade 4, Class 3. Okay~?"
"Ye-e-e-s,"
Kim Hyun-ji nodded at that long, drawn-out chorus that only little kids could produce, glanced over the class roster tucked under her arm, sweeping her eyes across the kids one by one, and began calling names.
"Kim Ha-jun?"
"Here."
"Oh Ha-rin?"
"Here~"
"Kang Ji-ho?"
"…"
"Ji-ho? Is Ji-ho absent?"
"Oh, that's me, Miss."
"Mm-hm~ Shin Min-jae?"
"Yup."
Name after name rang out as the roll call neared its end. Apparently they weren't calling names in alphabetical order, because the order was totally random—and of the twenty-seven kids in our class, mine still hadn't been called even as we approached the very bottom of the list.
"And… Yu Choa?"
"Here-!"
"Mm, I suppose Choa will be taking hunter classes from now on?"
"Yes, that's right."
Maybe the awakened students were clustered in the back, but Yu Choa was called twenty-sixth. She sat right behind me, and her voice was so loud it got on my nerves.
"Whoa, so jealous~"
"I wanna awaken too and coast through life."
"What are you talking about, awakened people have it rough too, you know?"
I had no idea what an elementary schooler could possibly have been through to be 'having it rough,' but apparently that was Yu Choa's position. To be fair, awakened people do coast through life and do have it hard, so it really depends on the class. If you wanted the true freeloader life, you had to awaken as a Heal-ryong-in—one of those untouchable healer elites.
"And… Eve?"
"Huh? Yes!"
"Hmm~ Eve. Got it. You're an awakened one too, Eve?"
"Th-that's right."
My homeroom teacher nodded along, then went to sit at the computer desk to kick off introductions.
"Since it's the first day, you'll all be mingling with kids from other classes… Some of you will know each other's faces, and some won't. Right? So we're going to have some time to introduce ourselves~"
"Miss, can't we just have free time instead? We basically know everything already."
"Mm. No. Ji-ho, come up first and introduce yourself~"
Our homeroom teacher neatly guillotined the suggestion from a slightly delinquent-looking kid and made her stance ironclad. Most of the children booed and went boooring, Miss, but the introductions began regardless.
"I once kicked a soccer ball so hard it cracked a diamond—"
"I won first place at a piano competition—"
"My mom runs a café and sells Twosung cookies—"
Blah blah blah, an assortment of bizarre self-introductions flew back and forth until it was Yu Choa's turn.
"Woo-woo, Yu Choa."
"Woo-woo."
The moment she stood up, jeers rang out through the entire classroom. Obviously it wasn't genuine mockery—the kind of thing popular little kids inevitably attracted.
"Ahem! Hey, everyone quiet down."
—Tap-tap-tap…
Yu Choa wrote her name on the blackboard in handwriting surprisingly pretty for a little kid, then turned around to introduce herself.
"You all probably know me, but I'm Yu Choa. I'm awakened, which means I'm super strong. Step out of line and I'll beat the crap out of you."
"Choa?"
"Ah, sorry, Miss. Anyway, you know the Union Guild, right? The healer of their number one raid team, Yoo Seon-yeong? That's my mom. I'll heal you if you pay, so deposit ten million won each."
"Ch-Choa?"
"Kidding, Miss. I'm B-rank for now, you see? Awakening at this age is super rare, you know. Once I hit S-rank I'll save you all a seat, so start lining up."
"Choa…"
"You gonna get me a National Assembly seat too?"
"Obviously."
I have no idea what today's elementary schoolers are growing up watching, but Yu Choa was definitely an unusual one. Still, the overall atmosphere of the class wasn't bad at all. Maybe there wasn't any of the bullying I'd been worried about after all.
"And… Eve? Eve's a transfer student, so none of you know her. Could you come up and introduce yourself?"
"Ah, yes…"
The moment my name was called, the attention of every single kid in the class locked onto me. Honestly, I didn't have much to say… and when you all stare at me like that, it's embarrassing, okay?
What on earth am I supposed to tell them? What do I even like…? Hmmm…
"H-hi. I'm Eve."
—Beep-beep!!
"Ah, um… And this is Daengdaengi. He's a golem I made. He's technically an A-rank awakened one…?"
"Whoa."
"A-rank? Then he's higher than Yu Choa."
"There aren't many A-ranks, are there?"
"My uncle's an A-rank too."
The moment I introduced myself as an A-rank, the eyes of every kid in the class changed in an instant. They all went whoa, amazing and realized how impressive I was, turning me into an object of admiration on the spot.
"Holy crap, an A-rank?"
"Ahem. Who just said 'crap'?"
"Jang Jun-woo, Miss."
"Jun-woo, swearing costs you points. Be careful next time."
"Ugh, Lee Suyeon has lost her mind. Why's she snitching?"
"Jun-woo deserves those points."
"No, Miss, please—"
"Alright, alright, quiet. Eve's introducing herself."
"W-well…"
These little peanut-brained rugrats, seriously. The Super Ultimate Eve the Princess is trying to introduce herself, and you keep interrupting…
"A-and… I'm ten…"
"We're all ten."
"Oh, right…? Um, I did… a little hunter work? Before coming here."
"Oh my, is that so? I bet the other kids have lots of questions for Eve. Anyone have a question for Eve?"
No, hold on—the other kids just introduced themselves and sat down, so why do I get a special question session? This is teacher-led bullying, I'm telling you. And I trusted her…!
"I have a question."
Before I could even say I'd rather not take questions, one came flying in while I was still stammering. The questioner: Yu Choa, one of only two awakened students in Grade 4, Class 3.
"Ooh, Yu Choa's moving to check her."
"What was that? I heard you say you're an A-rank awakened one—what's your awakening class? You made a golem, so are you a Golemancer?"
"Ah, um…"
Truthfully, my status window did say something about Princess of a Fallen Nation, but the traits my skills showed on the surface were pretty similar to a Golemancer's.
The difference was mainly that all the tedious work—shaping the metal, fitting the joints, writing the prompts—was normally required for just one golem, whereas for me a single word sufficed…?
"I-I'm a Golemancer…?"
"That must cost a fortune. Is that all the golems you have?"
"No… I have about four more…"
"That's more than I expected. Can you show us right now?"
"That might be a little difficult right now…"
"Whoa, look how fierce Yu Choa's checking is. Her rank got overtaken and now she's gone poison."
"Miss! Make Jun-woo be quiet!"
"Jun-woo, that's enough~"
"Yes'm."
"By the way, are you foreign? How come your Korean is so good?"
"Ah, I'm Korean, my name's just Eve…"
"How's that possible? What Lee family are you from?"
"No idea…"
That makes two of us, because I don't know either. Honestly, I'm the one who's most curious about it. It can't be helped, though—the status window says Eve. She fielded a few more questions after that, but every single one of them was about hunters.
"Are you strong? Could you beat an S-rank in a fight?"
"Never tried, so I don't know."
"Who's your favorite hunter?"
"Camila Torres."
"Who?"
"Dunno, sounds like a nobody."
These peanut-brained little elementary schoolers just called Maxy a nobody…! They don't even know anything about her…!
"C-Camila Torres is famous, though…"
"Are you acquainted with Hunter Yoo Chaerin?"
"Huh? How'd you know?"
I had no idea why Chaerin unni's name suddenly came up, but it was probably because she was a publicly active S-rank hunter. The moment I said I knew Chaerin unni, the kids' expressions shifted once again.
"Wait, seriously? I was just asking randomly."
"How do you know her? Are you close?"
"I guess…?"
"Whoa, incredible. You're cooler than Yu Choa."
"Ahaha…"
And so, buried under one question after another, eleven o'clock arrived before I knew it and the bell went ding-ding-ding. Standing in front of this many kids had my head spinning in circles—I didn't even have the strength left to think.
"Alright everyone, take your time resting, and I'll see you next period~"
"Yes~"
But during that fifteen-minute break, I didn't get to rest at all—I was surrounded by the other kids and bombarded with yet more questions.
"Whoa, your white hair is SO pretty. I don't need to awaken, I just want my hair color changed."
"Ahaha… thank you."
"How tall are you? You're super cute."
"O-one thirty…"
"Let's measure hand sizes."
"Ah, here…"
"Got a boyfriend? Not into girls or anything?"
"I-I don't have a boyfriend… I'm not really into dating…"
"Do you like sweets? Wanna go to the cafeteria together?"
"There's a cafeteria…?"
"Can't you do the dorm life? I wanna share a room with you."
"That'd be a bit… my house is in Seoul…"
"If you're awakened, are you crazy strong too?"
"Ah, I'm not really the strong type."
"Yeah. I can tell."
"U-um… I see. Okay."
"Is your family rich? Does your mom give you a big allowance?"
"Just, you know, a normal amount…?"
"Wanna film a TikTok with me? It'd totally blow up."
"I don't think that'll work…"
"Ugh, what a waste."
"Do you go to hagwon too? Are you good at studying?"
"Not really… I'm bad at studying…"
"That's fine. Eve, you never have to study a day in your life."
"Why's that…?"
"With a face like that, anyone could provide for you."
"R-really…?"
"Are you on social media? Lots of followers? I run a slime account. Eight thousand followers."
"Ah, I do have one…"
"Really? Wanna follow each other?"
"Follow-for-follow might be a little hard…"
"Is your mom super strict?"
"Mom…? Hmm… She mostly just lets me do whatever."
"Whoa, so jealous. Well, you did say you don't study."
"What do your parents do?"
"Probably a company…"
"Office worker? Big corporation?"
"S-something like running a business?"
"Whoa, are you a chairwoman?"
"I really don't know…"
At this rate, they'd be asking for my resident registration number and bank password any minute now. By roughly my five-hundredth question, someone from behind thrust a phone right in front of my face.
"Is this you, Eve?"
"Hm…?"
On the screen was my social media account, sitting at 1.21 million followers, filled with photos I'd taken and posted in the past. The kids surrounding me froze in shock the instant they saw the phone screen.
"Holy crap. That's you? 1.21 million followers? That's insane."
"Ahaha…"
And the owner of that phone was none other than…
"You follow Hunter Yoo Chaerin back. You've got some clout, huh?"
The informal power behind the throne of this class—and the only other awakened student besides me—Yu Choa.
"Great timing, Eve."
"Wh-what's good timing…?"
Yu Choa looked at me and flashed a sly grin.
"I'm so glad you're here. The time has come to end our war."
"War? What war…?"
At the word war, the kids around us sucked in their breath. In an instant the classroom air grew heavy, Yu Choa dragged her chair over with a screeeeech and plopped down right beside me, and this is what she said:
"There's a sixth-grade senior who doesn't get along with us. She's always flexing about how she has twenty thousand TikTok followers. Go put her in her place for us."
"Ah…"
These little elementary school gremlins, what the heck. Just let me go already.