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Gye Idam seriously considered quitting the student council.
When he decided on an excuse and run away, another student came into the student council room.
The person was someone that Gye Idam knew.
‘Ah, that’s… the top student!’
It was Cheon Dongha, the person who served as the freshman representative during the entrance ceremony.
Their eyes met over Cheon Dongha’s semi-rimless glasses, and his eyes were very cold.
While Gye Idam was stunned by the cold impression of Cheon Dongha, Oh Hyeji spoke to the latter.
“Oh, you’re Cheon Dongha, right? You were amazing at the entrance ceremony.”
“The entrance ceremony?”
“Yeah, I heard you memorized the whole oath after just reading it once. I was watching the rehearsals too, just to help for the entrance ceremony.”
“It wasn’t that long so I memorized it quickly.”
Gye Idam listened to their conversation in a sour mood.
From the perspective of those who were personally at the entrance ceremony, the freshman who led the oath didn’t feel particularly small.
Seeing the obviously smart Cheon Dongha made Gye Idam feel disgusted out of nowhere.
He reminded him of someone.
‘That strong-willed bastard was smart too, he memorized the service creed at once too and… huh?’
However, Gye Idam’s thoughts melted in his head and disappeared like bubbles.
He tried to recall the thoughts that disappeared in vain beyond his consciousness, but it was no use.
As Gye Idam stood in a panic, a stinging sound hit his ear.
“Hello! It’s me, Ma Jinseung! I applied directly to be a part of the student council. Please take good care of me!”
Gye Idam did not like the roaring voice of this Ma Jinseung.
If he had a toy hammer in his hand, he might’ve swung at him.
Fortunately, before Gye Idam crumpled his face, Cheon Dongha told Ma Jinseung to lower his voice.
The way they talked seemed like they were in the same class.
“Ah, you have a unique motive for applying.”
It was Oh Hyeji and Ma Jinseung’s first meeting, but the former seemed to know something about him.
However, something that Oh Hyeji said caught Gye Idam’s attention.
‘Motive for applying? I wasn’t asked about that though…’
In the first place, Gye Idam joined upon Ham Geunhyung’s recommendation so he didn’t really have a motive for applying, and no one bothered to ask him either.
It didn’t seem like Ma Jinseung got any sponsorship so he had to apply directly and join after completing some interviews.
Ma Jinseung began to talk about his motive even though no one asked him to detail it.
“I decided to knock down the fire-based talent, my rival, that I first encountered here in Eungwang High. My rival joined the student association, so I decided to join the student council.”
“Is that so? Who’s your rival?”
“Yeom Junyeol!”
When Yeom Junyeol’s name came up, everyone looked surprised.
Gye Idam remained expressionless, but deep inside, he regarded Ma Jinseung as a fool.
‘His rival is the dragon descendant? Is he out of his mind?’
When the sophomores asked Ma Jinseung why he chose the man with abilities related to fire as his rival, he immediately answered.
“Because my light skill is weak against fire!”
Gye Idam thought of it as stupidity, not bravery.
‘He’s against the Dragon Clan’s descendant, and his abilities are no match against the guy. There’s no way he can win. Maybe his voice is so loud ‘cos his head is empty.’
Gye Idam thought that the student council members would laugh at Ma Jinseung.
He intended to spit some words when the atmosphere turns against Ma Jinseung, but contrary to what he expected, no one berated him.
“Hahaha, we have a Dragon Clan teacher at our school so you gotta be careful. Your rivalry seems to be for fun, but if Junyeol gets hurt, the Dragon Clan won’t take it easy.”
“Good luck! I’m not gonna help you, but I’ll cheer you on.”
Hearing the warm words come and go, Gye Idam felt like he was more stupid than Ma Jinseung.
‘…Everything’s broken here.’
Gye Idam swallowed all the acrimonious words he had tried to say to Ma Jinseung and remained silent.
The only thing he can do now was pretend that he has a quiet nature.
“Don’t do anything that would harm anyone around you.”
“Yup!”
Even the smart yet cold Cheon Dongha did not laugh at Ma Jinseung.
Gye Idam fell into a sense of shame that was difficult to express in words.
‘The fool here is not me but that guy… But why do I feel like this?’
Time passed and Gye Idam rarely made attempts to leave the student council.
Every morning he’d think to himself that he’d quit, but the day would pass with him dealing with Class Zero runaways, rampages, and other antics.
The freshmen mainly dealt with Class 1-0, and they cause too much chaos that they were considered the worst ever.
It would’ve been easier to deal with them with the help of the Year 2 and 3 student council members, but even they were busy dealing with their own Class Zeroes.
In the end, the problems caused by Year One Class Zero had to be dealt with by the freshmen.
“No, if you wanna hear the Blue Violinist’s performance, you should be quietly stuck in one corner of the dormitory room to listen to it. Why would you need the entire concert hall for it?”
“Kwon Jein sunbaenim must've performed a lot at the concert hall. I heard she wants to perform in Korea again.”
“It’s been a long time since the Blue Violinist was in Korea! And it’s obvious that she’s not coming, not for a concert and not for a vacation!”
Year One Class Zero made a fuss as they occupied the school’s concert hall without permission to watch Kwon Jein’s performance videos.
They weren’t granted permission to use the facility, so they decided to raid it on their own.
“Gah, I wasn’t active today either…!”
“You used up all your energy waves against Yeom Junyeol in your battle, Jinseung-ah. Consider yourself lucky you didn’t get hit by those Class Zero kids.”
Ma Jinseung looked withered at Cheon Dongha’s words.
The light skill that he uses summoned what looked like some sloppy grass.
It looked even more pathetic when he stood next to Cheon Dongha.
‘He should be like Cheon Dongha at least if he wants to be Yeom Junyeol’s rival.’
Cheon Dongha was very active that day as well.
He combed through the concert hall blocked by the freshmen Class Zero, organized and led the entry operation, and his plan and his instructions were flawless.
At that time, the attention shifted to Gye Idam.
“Good work today, Idam-ah.”
“If it weren’t for Idam, we would’ve been beaten before Professor Jegal arrived.”
People complimented Gye Idam one by one.
He’s become very close to the student council members during that time.
They treated the quiet Gye Idam with no qualms.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t control my light skill well so you guys couldn’t control your energy waves too.”
Gye Idam said, hiding his embarrassment.
Gye Idam’s light skill, Mist of Night Silence, interferes with targets’ energy waves.
The problem is that the effect of his light skill does not discriminate between enemies and allies.
Today, Gye Idam’s fog has hampered the flow of everyone except him.
‘I still can’t control the fog very well. I used it ‘cos we were in a hurry but… that was dangerous.’
Gye Idam began to blame himself.
“Gem Chansol and Wang Chansol’s abilities are too annoying to deal with. We were blocked too, but you made the right decision.”
Cheon Dongha sounded cold as usual, but his words were not.
Following Cheon Dongha, Ma Jinseung used his characteristic loud voice to praise Gye Idam.
The more he listened to them, the more he felt choked up.
But it wasn’t out of gratitude.
‘Even if we get close, these guys will be…’
A very terrible sight suddenly came to Gye Idam’s mind.
It was a scene where the two student council members in front of him, Cheon Dongha and Ma Jinseung, were covered in blood.
‘Huh?’
But the scene quickly fled from his mind.
Gye Idam couldn’t even figure out what he was just trying to think of just now.
‘It’s stuffy like there’s fog in my head…’
As time went by, Gye Idam’s symptoms got worse.
By May, his workload as a student council member has greatly reduced thanks to Jegal’s influence on Year One Class Zero, but other situations were worsening.
It wasn’t just in Gye Idam’s head.
‘Something’s weird about this school.’
Gye Idam felt something odd about Eungwang High.
The unpleasant sensation intensified throughout his daily life.
“Kids these days, they just don’t have any manners! Ugh!”
One of the greatest sources of Gye Idam’s discomfort was with a teacher named Choi Pyeondeuk.
Choi Pyeondeuk picked on students that looked “easy”, and on teachers who had less experience than him.
Heo Chaeah, a female student in the same class as Gye Idam, suffered from Choi Pyeondeuk and even considered dropping out.
Heo Chaeah confided in Gye Idam and lamented like so.
“Why does the board of directors let a teacher like him work here? A few days ago, he also said something bad to Professor Gong Cheonghwon who was protecting me…”
Choi Pyeondeuk suddenly began to bully Gong Cheonghwon, a fix-termed teacher in the school.
Compared to Choi Pyeondeuk, Gong Cheonghwon had far more excellent abilities, popularity, appearance, and character, so the students’ resentment toward him grew even more.
‘Anyone would feel disgusted by that bastard, but why do I feel like there’s more to it…’
There were many strange things besides Choi Pyeondeuk’s sins.
The school magazine department, which seems to be fighting with the newspaper department for writing articles that have not been properly researched, did something.
Someone from the student council contacted someone from the magazine department.
That person from the school magazine department refused to answer any of the student council’s questions, and they seemed to be running away from something.
Gye Idam was concerned about the strangely frightened attitude of the magazine department member.
‘Oh, what’s the point of bothering? I’m gonna forget about it the next second anyway!’
Gye Idam felt like he was going crazy.
However, people around him didn’t understand his mental state.
Although Gye Idam seemed to be belligerent and more nervous compared to the beginning of the semester, no one batted an eye.
This is because there were many openly crazy people in Eungwang High.
“The top one and two are gonna be DoWonWooKiHwanDoWonWooKihwan… even if I study I… top one and… hahaha…”
One night, at Cheonik Mountain.
A sophomore student looking like an extra was wandering the mountain and talking nonsense.
It was Year Two Class Zero’s president, Woo Kihwan.
‘I heard he was close to the top at the start of the school though.’
Woo Kihwan was said to have always been the top one student until he entered Eungwang High.
Until he ran into Do Wonwoo to be exact.
Even if he was a bit eccentric, Woo Kihwan was considered the top of his class.
However, it seemed like he lost his mind after continuous losses.
It’s still a great feat to be the second-best among the great players in their year, but he went crazy because of it.
No, it was more like Woo Kihwan was crazy in the first place.
‘…Yeah, I should go to sleep now.’
Gye Idam, who went out that night for a walk to ease his frustrations, turned on his heel to leave.
However, before he could go down the mountain, someone appeared.
“You’ll catch a cold, Kihwan-ah. Let’s go down.”
It was Sung Siwan, a sophomore member of the Jiikhoe.
Sung Siwan memorized all the names and faces of the dormitory students, and he used to talk to Gye Idam.
‘…What a nosy guy.’
Sung Siwan’s nosiness, as expected, was not appreciated by Woo Kihwan.
“I don’t listen to anyone weaker than me.”
“Really? Then should I call Professor Im Yeonhwa?”
“Geuhk… I won’t lose to my homeroom teacher!”
“Hahaha, you should say that after securing one win.”
Woo Kihwan had better grades, but Sung Siwan knew his way around people.
He also caught Gye Idam, who missed the timing to escape.
“Let’s go down the mountain together, Idam-ah.”
Gye Idam felt annoyed at the nosy sunbae who managed to make Woo Kihwan obey.
Gye Idam nodded gently and followed his two seniors down the mountain.
Sung Siwan actively led the conversation as they walked, but Woo Kihwan kept saying things that none of them could understand.
Throughout their descent, Gye Idam was lost in other thoughts.
‘…Cheonik Mountain seems to be in a bad condition. Is it just me?’
The sight of the land rotting and all the vegetation of Cheonik Mountain drying up briefly crossed Gye Idam’s mind.
But Gye Idam didn’t think deeply of it.
‘It’s no use thinking about it anyway…’
And after that night’s hike, Sung Siwan began to talk to Gye Idam more often.
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