Chapter 17
Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse
A player’s physical body and mind excel as compared to a normal human being.
Their ability to access an emergency was faster as well.
My head started to react immediately as soon as I saw the person falling from the rooftop of the dormitory.
My room was on the 17th floor.
The place the person was falling from was from the 20th floor, the rooftop.
Taking into consideration the height of the building, the person would be falling approximately 10 to 15 meters above me.
I was unable to confirm the weight of the falling person, so unable to calculate the exact energy location.
But it was around that height.
For a normal person, the impact would result in a fatality.
The question was, whether I would be able to prevent the fall with my current strength and skill level.
There was a high possibility of me sustaining a serious injury or losing grip over the falling person.
‘I have to use my esteemed ability.’
But there were CCTVs installed on the external walls of the dormitories.
It would be problematic to reveal my ability to change my esteemed ability and outer appearance when and wherever I wanted.
Then let’s use an esteemed ability that won’t affect my outer appearance.
In the worst-case scenario, I might fail and expose the player information but I couldn’t simply watch someone die right in front of my eyes.
‘White tiger….’
The first character that came to mind was my most used playable character and the person I had met just a few hours ago.
He was of the tiger lineage and had the strength to use a large sword so I was confident his strength would be sufficient.
But the usage time of the white tiger from the final battle was too short to use.
But if it was the normal version with the celestial’s wrath debuff then there were no problems using it.
‘Let’s command the strength of the white tiger to be transferred to my body. I will store strength within me as a contained image instead of letting it take over my body…..!’
I wasn’t sure if this would work but I had to try.
It was the first attempt but I had to succeed.
I placed my entire focus on manifesting the player information as an image from inside me.
Fwahhh-
Just as the white tiger’s card turned into light and enveloped me, I spread out my arms to the falling person.
I felt the weight in my hands but with the strength of the white tiger within me, I was able to securely hold out the weight of the person.
And I was still in the form of my 17 years old Jo Eushin self.
‘I succeeded, my appearance didn’t change!’
Before my hand slipped I titled my body inward and landed safely in my balcony.
“Ah….ahhhhhh!”
“Someone fell! A person, a person fell!”
It seemed like there were several people who had seen the person falling from their window.
There were screams heard from the floors above and the sound of people talking.
I looked down at the person who was in my arms.
It was a playable character.
A character I had spoken to just a while ago.
<’Notification on Lee Lena’s Profile.>
[NAME] Lee Lena
[TITLE] Eunkwang high freshman
[BELIEF] Hariti’s observer ‘I will watch over you until you open your eyes’
[ESTEEMED ORDER] (Inactive)
[CONDITION] Poor mind and body – overall skill and ability declined slightly, Silence Oath 2, Fainted
[Overall skill] Lv.8
[Skill]
Trao dismantling Lv.3
Enemy detection Lv.2
Whipping skill Lv.1
(Failed to load partially)
[Explanation]
The person who had fallen was Lee Lena who I had met during the dream auction.
The child who had shared her words of advice to get me, who looked like Yeom Junyeol then, out of that place.
‘Lee Lena…’
I turned off the player information status and soon the cards lost their light and returned to me one by one.
The card that had flown out the window due to the activation of fate.
Lee Lena’s character card was the last to disappear.
***
The first point of contact after an incident in the dorms was the Jiik Hall.
It was the discipline facility in charge of the students in the dormitories.
The facility management was done by each dormitory administrative team but conflict management between students in the dormitories, regulation of rules, and student points management were done by the Jiik committee.
In the past, they used to have discipline leaders in Eunkwang high.
However, the selection had been untransparent and dictated by the board to work in their favor, resulting in a problem.
Those that didn’t qualify to be a player had social connections to back them up but they were not qualified.
And they had a strong inferiority complex against the nation’s most elite players.
The discipline leaders enjoyed using their power and authority to feel superior and cause pain to the elite Eunkwang high student.
‘There were even a few incidents mentioned in the game.’
‘Entire third years receive mass detention a day before their final exams.’
‘Rape case in Jiik hall’s practical room’
‘Student punished publicly in Jiik hall student cafeteria’
And so forth.
After a series of accusations and being sued, the discipline leaders were brought to court but managed to avoid jail imprisonment and being sacked. They got away with merely a fine.
The discipline leaders and the board members of the school had colluded to embezzle the school’s dormitory fees, maintenance fees, and other various fees that exceeded millions.
The discipline leads, with the support of the board, harassed the students even more shamelessly.
‘Then the issue was only resolved 15 years ago when a student president was elected.’
15 years ago, there was a riot led by the student president to kick out the discipline leads due to their misconduct and acts of corruption.
They started the petition and movement to have them resign, fired, or retired.
Students that were on sabbatical, hospitalized, or even on overseas exchange sent their signatures via mail to support the movement.
The petition movement garnered extensive support and managed to obtain the entire student population’s signature and made history, but even so, the board of directors acted brazenly.
‘That students who merely attended the school for three years before graduation and moving on, had no right to interfere with the school’s management. And that all students should be taught a lesson to know how to respect others and adopt some manners.’
‘This led to a bigger situation,’
As the entire student population’s petition movement failed the teaching staff also steeped in to support.
The students and staff of Eunkwang high refused to take part in lessons and held a silent demonstration in front of the school’s main central building.
The student council recorded the process and evidence of their case in the form of a video.
Then they published the video of various sites after adding 38 different language subtitles as an option. Then they actively participated in interviews with the press to reveal the situation publicly.
The first-ever scandalous situation form Korea’s most elite player specialized high was at the center of attention. Internationally and regionally.
Eventually, Chairman Hwang, who had been absent from his seat for a long time returned and took the side of the students. Instantly resolving the situation.
As a result, the embezzlement, negligence was exposed publicly and the five board of directors were dismissed and the entire group of discipline leads became jobless. After which their other crimes were exposed and they served a prison sentence.
Through this process, the self-run student facility committee ‘jiik committee’ was formed.’
The Jiik committee consisting of the student union, leading committee, the entire club, and society groups established itself as the largest student committee in the school.
And the person who flew to my balcony on a manually operated air board was the head of the Jiik committee, Sung Siwan, a third-year in Eunkwang high.
‘Someone must have alerted the Jiik committee.’
Based on the CCTVs on the external wall, they would have figured out which room this was.
And in the case of emergencies, the head of the student committee was issued a manual airboard and its license, hence Sung Siwan had been able to fly over here.
Even so, to reach in 2 minutes, he was way too fast.
“I came after watching the CCTV, are you okay?”
Sung Siwan must have rushed here.
Maybe he had just gotten out of the shower, as his hair was dripping with water and his shirt was on the wrong way.
His hair that had been blown by the cold night air of March, was slightly frosted.
“I am fine, but the kid that fell has fainted.”
“Ok….can I come in?”
“Sure.”
Siwan left his airboard and shoes on the balcony and came into the room where Lena was lying on the couch.
Meanwhile, there was a commotion outside.
The freshman dorm consisted of 20 floors.
From the 1st to the 10th floor were for females.
While from the 11th to the 20th floor was for males.
Right now where we were, was the 17th floor.
It will stand out if Lee Lena stayed here.
“It seems like she’s injured. So she won’t need a recovery item.”
Siwan sighed in relief and put the recovery item card back into his pocket.
“Eushin, I’m sorry…but can we say that it was a joke done by class zero.”
“What?”
“Both you and Lena are from class zero. To say that it was me who pulled a joke, it doesn’t make any sense, but if it causes any trouble I’ll be answerable for it. I’m so sorry to ask this of you…when you saved Lena.”
Siwan bowed his head to me.
I was surprised that Siwan bowed his head to a first-year without hesitation, and that he knew my name.
‘Could he have possibly memorized the names of all the students in the dormitories?”
But what was more shocking was the fact that Lena was in class zero.
Because in the game she was not in class zero.
‘For now, it wouldn’t be bad to pass it off as a prank.’
To be involved in a suicide attempt.
To be involved in a prank.
It was obviously better to be associated with the latter.
Until we could hear the details from Lena herself, it was best to leave this incident undisclosed.
As I nodded my head, Siwan looked apologetic and relieved at the same time.
Then he headed over to the balcony and shouted loudly.
“Go back to your dormitories, it was just a prank by the class zero students.”
Then the common stopped momentarily before the gossip started.
“Hey, the Jiik committee head is here. He says go back in!”
“Class zero, what a classic. Seriously on the first day of school.”
“Class zero take it easy, man. Today is the first day of school.”
“Were they training their skills?”
“Maybe they were prepping for April fools. I thought someone was falling for real.”
The many open windows of the freshman building started to close and soon it was quiet.
I was speechless by how fast the situation resolved.
“We briefed them during the freshman orientation on the past incidents and how it was handled….4 out of the 5 examples were caused by the previous class zero student.”
The past class zero students were too much.
Just what had these students done before.
No, as I recalled the game and the class zero students doings, I could totally relate why they reacted that way.
They changed the entire contents of the school’s water tank with coffee milk.
Or building a large ice castle in the fountain found in the school’s premises.
Or planting numerous explosives in a building identified to be demolished.
And so on.
I was suddenly interested to know what the five chosen examples were.
Maybe I should have gone for the freshman orientation.
While I was going through these chains of thought, Siwan was on a call using his wearable device.
“Professor Ham Geun Hyeong, This is Sian. Oh….you heard it from the staff dormitories as well? It’s true but she was saved halfway, there are no casualties….yes, from class zero…sorry? Yes both of them are from class zero. Lee Lean and Jo Eushin. Yes. We will be there soon.”
Siwan must have contacted the form teacher of class zero.
I could only hear Siwan’s side of the conversation but I could roughly guess what Ham Geun Heyong was saying.
“Seems like we’re going to have to go and see professor Ham. Let’s leave through the balcony. If I use the expansion mode it can change to fit 4 passengers.”
Siwan was modifying the airboard he had left on the airboard.
Meanwhile, I put the blanket he had passed me over Lena.
‘….she’s lost a lot of weight.’
Lena looked much thinner as compared to the last time I had seen her at the dream auction.
Her small and pale face was pitiful to look at.
I covered Lena up tightly so that she couldn’t be seen and so that she could sleep warm from the cold night wind.
“We’re setting off.”
Siwan turned on the engine once he checked that Lena and I were boarded.
Siwan drove the airboard extremely slowly in consideration for Lena.
“Do things like this happen often?”
“Huh?”
“You just seem very used to it.”
Siwan had looked shocked when he had first reached my room.
But he had with him the recovery item, a blanket.
Contacted the form teacher immediately and we were on the way to meet him.
His level of readiness and movement made him appear as someone familiar with these kinds of scenarios.
“There are suicide cases in elite high schools or colleges every year. Especially in our school where there are only players. Because before this we were the top 15% who were treated specially.”
Siwan avoided answering me with a direct response.
“But when you put all the players together, they are no longer special anymore. So there are a few cases where the students are not able to accept that.”
Siwan stopped talking momentarily and looked at Lena who was in my arms.
“But I’m sure Lena who just started her first day of school has a different reason.”
While listening to Siwan, the airboard had arrived at the staff dormitory building.
As we were walking to the teachers’ lounge to meet Ham Geun Heyong Lena regained consciousness.