Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 256

“Um…”

This is my first class since becoming a high school student.

I groaned as I focused on the lesson being conducted by the teacher.

I wasn’t tired since I hadn’t logged into Deron until late, but something felt off.

Countless numbers were scrawled on the blackboard.

Next to them were squiggly letters, resembling worms.

I couldn’t understand. I was falling behind in class.

With my arms crossed in disbelief, I tilted my head in confusion.

Why couldn’t I solve high school math problems?

If I thought back to my last middle school exam, I should have been able to do it without an issue.

“Um…”

“Is there a problem?”

“No…”

I shook my head in response to Sohee, who asked me from the side.

When I glanced at Sohee’s notes, it seemed like she was following along just fine.

I couldn’t believe it.

Sohee’s test scores were similar to mine.

Sometimes she scored higher than me, but most of the time, we were in the same range.

So, if Sohee could solve them, I should be able to as well.

But I couldn’t.

It felt like a gigantic wall was blocking me.

“That’s all for today.”

The math teacher, who had been writing densely on the blackboard, left the classroom with a satisfied smile.

I sat there blankly, just staring at the blackboard.

No matter how long I stared, I couldn’t grasp the formulas written up there.

The following classes were similarly bleak.

I could somewhat understand English and Korean, but the other subjects were a problem.

I was engulfed in shock, unable to rise from my seat.

After a while, the tightly shut classroom door opened, and a small girl with silver hair rushed in.

“Hayun!”

The one who entered was Ellie.

Her petite stature and cute face caught the attention of the entire class at once.

“Oh, Ellie.”

“Isn’t what you’re saying incorrect?”

“Incorrect?”

“Yes! School isn’t a place to sleep!”

I tilted my head at Ellie’s words.

School isn’t a place to sleep; it’s just a place where you can, if you really want to.

Some teachers don’t allow you to sleep, so you need some skills to manage it.

“It’s a place where you can sleep. It’s not just a place for sleeping.”

“Th-that’s…”

“Did you have a problem?”

“Oh, I got confiscated…”

“Confiscated…?”

“Yeah… my blanket and pillow…”

I gaped at Ellie’s words in disbelief.

Even if I was clueless about school life, I couldn’t believe she actually brought a blanket and pillow.

And they got confiscated, too.

How ridiculous must the teacher who took her blanket and pillow have thought?

“Well…”

“Hayun… I know you have a lot of experience in school life… How should I retrieve the items that were taken?”

I glanced over at Sohee, who was sitting next to me, taking cues from her expression.

She too seemed taken aback by Ellie’s absurd situation, her one eyebrow twitching nervously.

“Sh-shouldn’t you go to the teacher and ask for them back?”

“Ah, I see… so you negotiate with the person involved… Got it!”

Ellie nodded as if she had made a resolution and turned to dash out.

She burst in wildly and dashed right back out.

Seeing her energetic movement eased my worries about her for now.

In that moment, I recalled the promise I made to Ellie.

That we would have lunch together at school.

Now that morning classes were over, lunchtime was about to begin.

The kids seated in the classroom began to rise one by one and leave.

“Shall we go too?”

Sohee also wore a bright smile at the thought of having lunch with me.

But I couldn’t head straight to the cafeteria.

“I need to find Ellie.”

“Ellie…? Why?”

“Because we promised to eat lunch together.”

“Lunch…? With her? Why?”

“Because we agreed to. You’ll join us too, right, Sohee?”

During middle school, Sohee was always by my side.

So it shouldn’t be any different now.

“… Yeah.”

Her response came quite late.

I took Sohee’s hand and led her out of the classroom.

The Ellie I was looking for mentioned she’d go retrieve her confiscated pillow and blanket.

So it was likely she headed to the staff room.

“Let’s go!”

With that, I headed with Sohee to the staff room on the first floor.

[Why, why won’t they give it back!?]

[No… this is…]

[If you’re short on cash, just give more!]

As soon as I stepped onto the corridor after descending the stairs, I heard a loud shout.

The small girl was yelling at the top of her lungs.

It was clear from the sound.

The voice belonged to Ellie.

[Take this. Take more!]

Stopped in the corridor, Sohee and I exchanged glances.

What on earth was happening inside the staff room for Ellie to be yelling like that?

Unable to contain my curiosity, I yanked Sohee’s hand and headed towards the staff room.

The door to the staff room was slightly ajar.

Inside, the small girl with white hair held a luxury wallet in her hand while tossing a bunch of papers.

“Give me back my stuff!”

In front of Ellie sat a teacher whose face had turned green.

From the looks of it, that teacher seemed to be the one who confiscated Ellie’s pillow and blanket.

“Gah…”

I widened my eyes at the sight of paper flying around on the floor.

They were checks. Checks attached to a staggering number of zeros.

Not just one, but more than a hundred were rolling around on the staff room floor.

It was an amount that would be hard for an ordinary person to earn even in a month.

Is that why? The other teachers around looked unable to respond easily.

“Ha…”

I wiped my face while watching Ellie.

The method was all wrong.

If she had just apologized and said she wouldn’t bring those things again, they would probably have returned them.

Suddenly—

It was then.

Sohee, who had been peeking through the crack in the door behind me, stepped forward and flung the staff room door wide open.

“So-Sohee?”

“Wait a moment.”

I nodded at Sohee’s words and hid beside the door, peeking my face out.

Sohee entered the staff room, stepping over the scattered checks, and stopped in front of Ellie and the teacher who had confiscated her blanket.

Then, Sohee opened her mouth.

But it was so far away that her voice only came through faintly.

The school corridor wasn’t quiet. Especially not during lunch hour.

The sounds of students rushing around completely drowned out Sohee’s small voice.

How much time passed like that?

The teacher, who wore a pale expression, pulled a large bag from a corner and handed it to Ellie.

“Wow!”

Ellie grabbed the bag and rubbed her face against it.

It seemed she had gotten her confiscated blanket back.

Sohee led Ellie out of the staff room.

Despite the commotion, both of them didn’t seem to mind it at all.

“Ah! Hayun!”

I plastered on an awkward smile as I watched Ellie rush towards me, glancing back at the checks scattered on the staff room floor.

Is it okay to leave those behind?

“Ellie. It looks like you got your blanket and pillow back.”

“Yeah! Sohee helped me with that!”

Ellie said that and flashed a bright smile.

The small girl’s smile had a way of brightening the area around her.

“By the way, what brings you here? Are you here for something at the staff room?”

“No. I said I would go have lunch together.”

“The promise we made in the morning…!”

“Right.”

“Okay, just wait a moment! I’ll drop off this blanket and pillow in the classroom and come right back!”

With that, Ellie spun around and dashed away.

Holding the large bag made it hard for her to climb the stairs, and it looked like it would take a considerable amount of time for her to return.

“Sohee.”

“Yeah?”

“What did you talk about in there?”

“Just… shouldn’t it be better to return them?”

“Is that really all?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded at Sohee’s words.

It seemed that since it was the first day of school, the teachers were lenient in forgiving her.

That aside, what would happen with all those checks?

“Oh?”

Just then, while pondering the checks strewn about inside the staff room, I noticed a large poster stuck to the corridor wall.

[The Tennis Club wants you!]

[Go game club member recruitment. Quiet place. Reading books is fine.]

[Recruiting reading club members. Inquire at the library.]

[Theater club recruitment! It’s okay to be short! Passion!]

I hadn’t noticed it before, but now that I saw it, these flashy promotional posters were quite eye-catching.

“It’s club activity promotions.”

I nodded at Sohee’s comment, astonished.

Seeing that they even set up posters for promotional purposes, the scale of the club activities must be quite large.

“Is there a club you’re interested in?”

“Um…”

A club I’m interested in…

I scanned the various posters at Sohee’s question.

Then, I found one poster in the corner.

[VR Game Club.]

It was a poorly made promotional poster.

Inside the large poster were images of a large capsule and various VR games haphazardly stuck all over it.

It looked like something crafted with a drawing tool.

“Is that what you like?”

“No?”

The VR game club, huh.

I felt a bit intrigued, but I didn’t like club activities.

They were just a waste of time.

I’d rather spend that time going home and playing Deron for an extra hour.

“I’m going to join the return home club again.”

“Hayun.”

“Yeah?”

“Students at this school are required to participate in club activities.”

Required to participate in club activities?

So it seems that becoming a high school student means losing freedom.

I sighed in disappointment at the grim reality.

“Then I’ll join the VR game club.”

If that’s the case, it makes sense to choose a club closer to gaming.

I poked the shabby poster with my finger and said.

“Are you really going to do that?”

“Yeah. If I can.”

Sohee nodded at my words and smiled quietly.

Toda-dada-dak!

At that moment, loud footsteps echoed down the stairs.

It was Ellie, who had bounced down the stairs with a panting breath, collapsing onto the corridor floor.

“Hah… Hah…”

“You’re back?”

“Hah…”

It seemed she didn’t even have the energy to answer.

Looking down at Ellie, I asked.

“Do you want to join the VR game club too?”

“Ga… Hah… Game club…?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded at Ellie’s question, pointing at the promotional poster.