"Two days, four-eyes! Two days have passed and yet we've had no kimchi!" Chima voiced as the three residents of boys' dorm room fifty walked to the Academy's main building.
Hakyun simply nudged his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. "I lost so I'll make the kimchi; but you don't have the right to bother me about it. Make do with the cafeteria food for now."
"No way I'll keep doing that when you exist," Chima frowned, his bag carried in a baby-cradle with his arms wrapped tightly around it. Merlin wondered why the boy always did that, but it was none of his business. "Do you know how hard it is to come across money?"
"The premium card for a month is ten percent off," Hakyun replied, holding the straps of his backpack. "Subscribe for that."
Veins popped out of the sides of Chima's head. He was really frugal, wasn't he?
It was Monday, the first, actual day of their lives in the Academy—not counting the physical assessment. They were each dressed in their uniforms—white shirt, red blazers, brown trousers, striped ties—and on their shoulders were the emblems of Cohort Spearhead.
Merlin had goosebumps over his skin, his heart pounding so intensely that he wondered how Chima and Hakyun could talk about Kimchi at the moment. It was not like he didn't crave it too; he was yet to taste it, after all. But he just felt like they should be more excited about classes instead.
They were on their way to becoming Mages!
His mind then flew back to the headmaster's quest, and his mood instantly soured.
Deconstructing an S-Class Mage's Advanced, Tier III spell had not been on his bingo list when he had gotten the System. At least, not a year after he'd gotten into Prestige Academy. For Kieran to have been able to do that, he had had to be at least level fifty, if Merlin remembered correctly. His Intelligence was a measly level eight at the moment. He had forty-two more level ups to go. And his physical training had taken a nose-dive in quality. Jogging and push-ups were doing nothing to help with his progress. The points he was getting were negligible. Unless he began raiding Dungeons, there was no way for him to level up as quickly as the headmaster wanted of him.
What exactly was he to do here?
"Guys," Merlin called to Chima and Hakyun, deciding to take his mind away from his plight. "I'm worried."
"Huh?" Hakyun touched his glasses. Chima raised a brow. "About what?"
"I'm in Class A," Merlin sobbed, standing still for a while and looking up at the blue sky. "Why am I in Class A?"
Their class assignments had come in early Sunday morning, as well as the current rankings for their Cohorts and academics. Merlin had expected it, but he was topping the rankings for academics as a result of the enormous points he had received. Chima and Hakyun had chased him around their room then, as their own means of congratulating him, apparently.
Unlike them, though, he was sure that he would fall soon enough, so he couldn't get excited. His scores were always average on exams and tests; he had only managed to top for now because of the System; soon enough he would be down at the bottom, where he belonged. That was, unless Nora could help him bolster his scores, but he would have to wait until evening to find out if there was a glimmer of hope there. He hoped there was. There had to be.
Then there was the Cohort rankings, which had pissed Hakyun off. After all, Cohort Dragon Eye was in the lead with a hundred points, while Cohort Spearhead came in second with ninety-five points.
The difference was only five points, but Cohort Dragon Eye was first regardless. And Hakyun didn't like that. He'd wanted Cohort Spearhead to be first from start to finish.
The boy was the most deluded person Merlin had ever met.
"Why would you be worried?" Hakyun continued. "Professor Jung said the classes would be split equally, so I'm sure everything is fine."
"Yeah, Mel," Chima joined in. "I'm sure it's all good."
The problem was not the class, the problem was that he would be alone.
"Easy for you to say; you are both in the same class." Merlin scoffed.
Chima's expression tightened. "You think I wanna be in the same class as four-eyes? I see enough of his face in the dorm, and now I've been cursed to see it during classes as well. You have no idea how hurt I am, Mel."
"Take that back," Hakyun roared.
"Make me."
Merlin sighed.
If Merlin was to use one word to describe the interior of the Academy's main building, it would be regal.
With white, stainless walls bearing golden accentuations, stained windows, golden carpets running along the floor, and the banner of the Academy hanging from everywhere the eyes could see, Merlin almost thought he had walked into a royal palace. The students shuffling about brought him down to earth, though.
"How come we're just coming here for the first time since Thursday?" said Hakyun with folded arms. "Absurd."
"Because we're lazy," Merlin answered, bluntly.
"I agree," Chima said.
"Speak for yourselves." Hakyun sighed. "Well, then. Got to get to class. One has to always be diligent. See you later, Merlin." He waved as he turned around and headed up a staircase to their left.
Chima followed, repeating Hakyun's exact words and wave. That action of his caused them to bicker once more on their way up. Something about Chima copying Hakyun, and how that was rude.
Merlin could only purse his lips and walk forward, following the map on his smartwatch, as he searched for his classroom. It was a handy feature to find locations within the Academy.
As for Nora, she too was in Class B. It was almost like everyone who Merlin knew had been taken to a separate class from him. He wondered if Kim Yiseo and Kim Minji were in different classes as well.
Ah… I never got Minji's number… He clicked his tongue softly. I'm sure she'll give me if I ask, but I wonder if Kim Yiseo would too…
Merlin arrived at his classroom not long later, and the first thing he did was peek through its windows.
"Wow, they're so diligent," he mumbled, then realized that Hakyun's tics were getting ingrained into him. He shook it away immediately.
Classes were divided into four, lettered A to D, and each class had forty students. His class: Class A, was already ninety percent filled. It made him feel like he was unserious.
There goes me entering through the front door…
Merlin sighed and walked in through the back door, and found a seat not too far from it. He was not keen on having anyone noticing him, so he did it very quietly. Thankfully, it seemed they had all shared themselves into some sort of friend group already, because there were a cluster of threes and fours here and there.
Classes were going to be boring for him, weren't they? He could see no signs of either Kim Minji or Kim Yiseo. And hoping that they would be a part of those who were yet to arrive would just be wishful thinking.
Merlin shrugged, took off his backpack, and put his forehead on his table. A quick nap before classes began wouldn't hurt.
He had been unable to sleep a wink last night, rereading Singularity Mage to refresh his memory on the earlier Dungeons Kieran had cleared, and which would end up being perfect for his first raid, if push came to shove. He hadn't realized that most of Kieran's Dungeon raids occurred from chapter forty, and since he was not exactly the fastest reader, it had taken him the whole night to get there.
Now he was paying for it.
"Excuse me," a voice called suddenly from Merlin's side, perhaps intending to talk to someone that was seated on the seat across from him.
Merlin briefly wondered when someone had sat down there. He had not noticed anyone when he'd walked in.
Well, it didn't matter to him.
"Excuse me," the voice called again, and Merlin's brows twitched.
They were not here for him, right? He decided to look up, and, yes, they were here for him.
Standing at the end of his desk was a familiar face, one that made him sit up straight in an instant.
"You…" Merlin blurted without thinking. "The president's grandson."
The boy smiled—a fake smile, Merlin believed. "It's Lee Jaehyun," he said—corrected, to be precise. "Nice to officially meet you, Merlin Tyrrell."
"Oh… Nice to meet you too," Merlin replied, still unsure why the boy had approached him. He decided to ask. "Do you need something?"
Lee Jaehyun shook his head. "Oh… Not really. Just…" He pointed to the space on Merlin's bench. "Is anyone seated beside you?"