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I got into school for nothing - Chapter 79

I got into school for nothing (79)

Lesson 18. Midterm Exam - 1

Early in the morning, Rucell awoke from sleep and slowly rose, still half-dazed.

As the fluffy blanket gently slid off her alluring and voluptuous nude body, Rucell was once again struck by the realization that she was at Union Academy.

"Such luxurious blankets, things we could only dream of in my world. What a relief, I'm still here."

At first, she had wondered if this was simply the disparity between lower and higher dimensions, but hearing Ban Yuwon recount how he, despite being from a lower dimension like herself, had enjoyed a civilization not so different from this one, was truly astonishing.

Naturally, there was no shortage of astonishing things about Ban Yuwon, but listening to his stories always raised the question of whether his world wasn't, in fact, uniquely special among lower dimensions.

She had declared her intention to follow him to his hometown, but when would that actually be possible? Summer vacation?

Until then, somehow with him...

Absentmindedly stroking the soft blanket while thinking of Ban Yuwon, she suddenly snapped back to reality, shook her head to clear her fantasies, and got out of bed.

Glancing to the side, she saw Dokgo Yeon, who had risen earlier, meditating cross-legged on her bed, clad in the nightgown Ban Yuwon had gifted her.

Her posture, unwavering as she focused on meditation, was truly elegant, making her seem far from a girl her age.

"Still, yesterday she seemed quite like her peer."

Ban Yuwon himself seemed not to have noticed, but all the blunders Dokgo Yeon had committed yesterday were a result of her being overly conscious of him.

As for why Dokgo Yeon, who wouldn't bat an eye even if someone died before her, had committed such "cute" blunders—

"I suspect she might have misunderstood in many ways..."

Without a doubt, Ban Yuwon was excellent.

Beyond his unparalleled performance in the Tower, the fact that Dokgo Yeon actively taught him martial arts she withheld from others suggested his talent for them was also second to none.

His exceptional ability to acquire wealth was more than enough to lead a group, or even support a family; he was an excellent... man, and then some.

What's more—though this might be colored by Rucell's personal preference—his face was perfect too.

At this point, wouldn't it be stranger *not* to be conscious of him?

Not only Rucell and As Light, but surely Dokgo Yeon too.

"But there's no need to assert it's love; after hearing those unnecessary words from that Anneri woman, she started thinking in a strange direction. She could just accept it naturally, such a clumsy person..."

Dokgo Yeon was fiercely proud and somewhat overbearing, and as evinced by the incident with Oltima, she had a tendency to refuse to acknowledge romantic relationships.

But when Anneri suddenly provoked her with "You actually like him, don't you?", Dokgo Yeon, in her attempts to avoid admitting it, spectacularly overthought the situation and went astray, leading to the current predicament.

Rucell believed that relying on his abilities as a party member and being emotionally attracted to him were separate issues... but it seemed Dokgo Yeon thought she shouldn't have any weakness towards him, even a slight one.

Thus, in attempting to clear the 23rd room according to her own will, she had instead revealed before everyone how greatly she herself was influenced by Ban Yuwon...

"Cute."

"Do you want to die?"

"Yelp!"

Suddenly, Dokgo Yeon's eyes snapped open, and Rucell, struck squarely by a pillow flying at a speed beyond perception, tumbled onto the bed.

"Ow, ow... Huh?"

Rucell, tearing up, sat up and realized Dokgo Yeon was glaring at her, or more precisely, at a specific part of her body.

It was a gaze she had received countless times from other women throughout her life, to the point of being weary of it.

Though it was embarrassing to admit, she had never once been outdone by another woman in terms of physical attributes.

In fact, she herself found them heavy and uncomfortable, and they only unnecessarily drew the attention of the opposite sex, so she wasn't particularly fond of them.

Yes, until she met her lifelong partner.

"Beast, why are you sleeping without even your underwear? How indecent."

"Because my body temperature is rather high... even if I wear them to bed, I end up taking them all off."

Dokgo Yeon probably didn't truly mean that, but Rucell decided to play along.

"That's truly a beast-like reason. No, but..."

Dokgo Yeon grumbled something under her breath, then fell into deep thought, momentarily forgetting Rucell.

Meanwhile, Rucell got out of bed, took a refreshing shower, and put on her uniform.

By the time she finished getting ready and returned, Dokgo Yeon was already in her uniform too.

"Beast, since you still seem to be misunderstanding, I'll make this clear: I don't particularly—"

"You don't like Yuwon? And being conscious of him is merely because of his outstanding abilities?"

"...Yes, that's right. You understand well. That I was conscious of him, even a little bit... is true."

Replying with a somewhat reluctant expression, Dokgo Yeon nodded.

Rucell, guessing her true feelings, smiled faintly.

"I see. I must have misunderstood."

"What you said yesterday wasn't wrong. ...It was certainly a blunder."

While saying that, why was she making a gesture of kicking the air with her foot, so menacingly?

"I won't show such a foolish side again. In the Tower, I will simply rely on Ban Yuwon's abilities. Developing crisis management skills, indeed; the Tower isn't a place for self-improvement..."

"...Still cute, after all."

"!"

"Y-yelp!"

This time, it wasn't a miss; it hit squarely.

After landing a blow on Rucell, Dokgo Yeon, now seemingly a bit calmer, spoke to Rucell, who was writhing in pain on the floor.

"Anyway, it's true that I caused trouble for the party members due to my fault. As a token of apology, I'll teach you a martial art too. Since I'm already teaching Ban Yuwon and As Light, it would also be strange to unnecessarily leave only you out."

"Be-beast-kin don't need such things..."

"It will be fine."

Dokgo Yeon looked down at Rucell and smiled arrogantly.

Rucell no longer found her particularly cute.

"What I intend to teach you is, in any case, a martial art that beasts used."

* * *

Until last week, the lingering excitement from the special activities had kept the entire academy abuzz, but as Monday arrived and the exam season officially began, smiles gradually started to vanish from the students' faces.

Though each and every one of them were geniuses representing their dimensions, Union Academy was a place where even such geniuses couldn't be certain of graduation.

The Special Admissions students, in particular, admitted for their unique talents but often lacking in average abilities (which usually included intelligence) compared to the other geniuses, felt even greater anxiety.

"I don't understand why the regular students bully the Special Admissions students."

Ban Yuwon shrugged his shoulders as he examined the academic rankings of Special Admissions students from the past few years, which he had received from Yumina.

The names of the Special Admissions students were highlighted in red, and on every ranking sheet he checked, it looked as if lava was boiling up from the bottom of hell.

It meant that without exception, every single one of them had ranked at the very bottom.

"And here Special Admissions students so kindly lay the groundwork at the bottom, yet they can't even be grateful."

"Ban, you're the worst."

As Light, who had buried his face in his desk, said, half in tears.

After school on Monday, they gathered in the doorless classroom and were working on their written assignments together.

Of course, Ban Yuwon, as soon as he received the assignments, had spectacularly finished them all in an instant, and was now looking through various materials he had received from Yumina.

"Indeed, the animosity towards Special Admissions students isn't just because of their origin."

Though slightly less capable than Ban Yuwon, Dokgo Yeon, who was working on her assignment at a speed by no means inferior to the Union Academy average, suddenly leaned over to check the materials in Ban Yuwon's hand and let out a bitter laugh.

"Their performance in the Tower doesn't seem to lag just because they're Special Admissions, but if their regular exam results are this terrible, it's like asking to be bullied."

"I don't want those damn higher-dimension bastards looking down on me!"

"Then stop chattering and focus on your assignment."

"Gah!"

Dokgo Yeon's sound logic made As Light's heart stop for a moment.

Meanwhile, Rucell had an expression of having given up everything and was staring blankly at Ban Yuwon.

Ban Yuwon also looked back at her and let out a soft sigh.

He had thought she could at least handle assignments by herself, but he was mistaken.

Rucell was truly—a fool among fools.

No, it wasn't that she was truly stupid, but that the academy's demands were excessively high.

"Beast, don't bother the innocent Ban Yuwon."

Dokgo Yeon, seeing the two engaging in a meaningless staring contest, narrowed her eyes in a look of pity and spoke.

"If you steadily train your martial arts, your mind will clear, and your learning ability will also improve. So don't forget to practice every day."

"I'll train my martial arts, but I trust Yuwon."

"Truly an incorrigible beast."

Ban Yuwon looked at the previous year's exam papers Yumina had specially prepared, gauging their difficulty.

Naturally, the level demanded of students was higher compared to the assignments—and Ban Yuwon, quickly coming to a conclusion, asked Yumina, who was sitting nearby, sipping flower tea.

"Professor, is cheating allowed during exams?"

"Of course not, why would it be allowed?"

Yumina replied with a refreshing smile.

Well, of course, Ban Yuwon himself thought it was an incredibly foolish thing to say after he'd uttered it.

But in an exam of this difficulty, to save As Light and Rucell, there was no other way but cheating.

If they don't at least apply rules like the Naruto Chunin Exam...!

"But Professor Yumina, isn't it not a crime if you don't get caught?"

"Student Ban Yuwon, check the latter part of the materials I gave you."

When he obediently turned to the materials as Yumina instructed, there was indeed a chilling phrase written there.

It was a "List of Academy Expellees due to Cheating Incidents in the Last 5 Years."

There were quite a lot.

Last year alone, combining grades 1 through 5, more than 20 students had been expelled.

The fact that nearly 30% of them were Special Admissions students was another astonishing fact.

"Most of them were students with special abilities, and they committed cheating because they were confident they wouldn't get caught. But as a result, every single one was caught and had to leave the academy. You understand what I'm trying to say, right?"

"That the academy students are much more pathetic than I thought."

"No-ho-ho-ho."

"Hoh, woah."

Yumina's slender fingers gently pressed against Ban Yuwon's cheek—an ambiguous act, whether punishment or reward—producing a fragrant floral scent and a somewhat ticklish sensation in his chest.

Rucell, watching such a refined display of intimacy—a skill seemingly reserved for sophisticated women—felt as though she was losing somehow, and gritted her teeth.

"No matter how outstanding Student Ban Yuwon's Authority is, it's hard to escape the eyes of the system directly supervised by the Chancellor."

"The Chancellor supervises it directly...? So there are that many students cheating."

"The higher you go in grades, especially to the graduating class, the more prevalent it becomes. Everyone must be anxious. But what you must remember is that cheating is the act furthest from the 'dignity' Union Academy desires. Keep this in mind and study diligently, everyone."

"Me."

It was at that moment Rucell stood up, tapping the table.

Though there was also the intention to prevent Yumina from getting any closer to Ban Yuwon.

"I... I'll give up on graduation."

"Rucell?!"

Rucell, with a resolute expression, grabbed Ban Yuwon's arm.

"My goal isn't a mere diploma, but to be with Yuwon forever."

"That wasn't your goal when you first enrolled, was it?"

"Now that I think about it, all I need to do is be by Yuwon's side anyway, so there's no need to strive for a mere piece of paper like a diploma. In the future, I'll go to 'Earth' with Yuwon...!"

"Coming to Earth? ...Migrating?!"

Ban Yuwon's face turned pale as he realized Rucell's life path had already been decisively charted within her own mind.

It wasn't that he disliked her, by any means, but he still didn't clearly understand her feelings, and when he heard heavy words like "forever" or "future," he couldn't shake off an uneasy feeling...!

"Oh, Yuwon doesn't need to feel pressured. It's just that I want to dedicate my life to Yuwon on my own whim...!"

"I appreciate the sentiment very much, but that makes it even *more* burdensome."

"Having a solid life plan is good, Student Rucell."

Yumina said with a still-smiling face.

"If your exam results are too bad, you won't be able to go anywhere during vacation, and you'll have to take summer courses."

"Summer courses...?"

Rucell, hearing the unfamiliar word, tilted her head cutely, but Ban Yuwon, who had heard that term many times from his older sister (a university student, however rotten she was), shuddered.

"It's attending the academy during vacation and taking classes, you see. Only students who performed poorly on exams gather together. Of course, Student Ban Yuwon will do well on the exam, so there's no way he'd have to take summer courses—."

"I'll study hard."

Rucell quickly sat back down.

Then, she clung desperately to Ban Yuwon's arm.

"Yuwon, save our vacation...!"

"Ah— Mmm. I'll try my best. ...'Our' vacation?"

Ban Yuwon thought that even tonight, he should consult Cellon about language magic that enhances learning effects.