The textbooks distributed from school are stacked on one side of the desk.
My height for sitting has comfortably surpassed them.
Certainly, the curriculum at Seviron Academy is far more advanced than that of the previous Arabel Elementary School.
The textbook at the very top happened to be math, so I casually glanced at the table of contents.
Basic arithmetic of large numbers, properties of plane figures, fractions and decimals, and so on.
Even though the final pages include common divisors and multiples, it still seems difficult to properly implement 1st Circle magic with only these subjects.
At best, maybe just spells like ‘Light’, ‘Heat’, or ‘Cooling’?
The individual lockers are located in another small room connected from the back of the classroom.
Upon opening the door, a scene unfolds where a total of 25 lockers are crammed together.
With 21 students in Class A, the number is sufficient.
Before the break arrives, our homeroom teacher told us that after organizing our textbooks, we could spend our time freely.
To move nearly twenty textbooks, it felt like I would have to make at least three trips.
I initially tried to carry ten at once, but my body swayed, and I decided to give up on that ambition.
“I’ll open the locker for you.”
“Thanks.”
Kindly, a cute little girl with her hair tied in twin tails opens Locker Number 6 for me.
The lockers are designed in a triple-layer structure for convenient storage. It seems that a wealthy academy truly is different.
As I neatly stacked the books from the innermost part, the girl who helped me didn’t leave but stayed right beside me.
“What did you talk about with Shin Si Hoo?”
“Hmm?”
“You were talking about some wizard earlier.”
“Oh, I mentioned that if your hands are slow when casting magic, you could die.”
Come to think of it, she was the child sitting right behind me.
It looks like she found our conversation quite interesting.
“Shin Si Hoo is a genius. You don’t have the right to advise him.”
I must have been mistaken thinking that.
The girl sneered with a hint of disdain.
I couldn’t grasp what made her look at me with such an annoying expression.
Once I finished organizing the remaining 13 books, the bell rang, signaling the start of break time.
“Hey, Name! It means hello in Swedish!”
“Hello, Seory.”
“You remembered my name! I’m touched!”
“We haven’t been apart for that long, have we?”
With Han Gyeol Kim leading the way, several students flocked to my desk.
Thanks to this, Si Hoo was naturally pushed out of the crowd, and his spot was taken by Seory.
“New transfer student? Exchange student? Anyway, hello!”
“Hey, Han Gyeol, why are you pretending to be friends with the transfer student alone!”
“We’re really close! And please don’t hit my head!”
“Where is Arabel Elementary School? I’ve never heard of it before.”
It was truly chaotic.
With various greetings, my classmates surrounded the desk.
Except for the red-haired boy who had just mocked me and Shin Si Hoo, everyone seemed to have gathered.
“Since Name is confused, can you ask one by one?”
Seory cleverly intervened to organize the flow.
Since we would get to know each other in time anyway, the kids quietly whispered among themselves about their curiosities.
“Where are you from? Did you come from another academy?”
“You idiot, they just said they’re from Arabel Elementary!”
“Shh! Why are you all so noisy?”
“It’s in Dobong-gu.”
Since it’s a small school with only one class per grade, it was only natural that the Gangnam kids didn’t know about it.
“How do you know Seory? Did you meet before?”
“I told you earlier, we became friends fighting.”
“How can we believe you, Seory?”
Now that I think about it, Ji Hye is missing. I thought she was Seory’s best friend, but it’s possible the classes were divided.
“We’re neighbors. We live in the same complex and met at the playground.”
“So did you really beat up the older kids?”
“I didn’t really fight.”
I just overpowered them and ran away.
“Name, how can you say that! You cast an amazing spell, swoosh, and defeated them all!”
“I thought Han Gyeol was kidding.”
“It’s true, ugh.”
I didn’t answer every question individually.
At this rate, they might uncover all my personal information, even my underwear color.
Seory cleverly noticed that I was uncomfortable and pleaded with the kids to stop asking questions.
Instead, we decided to introduce ourselves.
This way, I could learn the names of my classmates one by one.
“Iharu is super rich. His grandfather is the vice president of the Samyeon Group! If you want something to eat, just ask him to buy it for you. He’s a pushover, so don’t be shy.”
“Why are you bragging about that, Han Gyeol? And I told you not to talk about it in front of others!”
“Your uncle is the leader of the Laon Clan, isn’t he? Anyway, rich people stick together.”
“Am I rich? I barely get any allowance.”
The wealth level of the students at Seviron Academy is undoubtedly on another level.
Could it be because most of the gifted students in elementary school are a product of their parents’ early education, unlike those selected by their own talents and efforts in high school?
Even though we wear the same uniform, it’s impossible to hide the luxury that spills out in small details like backpacks and shoes.
It starkly contrasts with the children from Arabel Elementary, who don’t have enough money to buy proper slippers, dragging around torn ones.
“If you talk too much all at once, the transfer student will get confused. We should introduce ourselves slowly, one by one!”
“No, it’s okay; I remembered everything. You are Jeon Nuri, and next to you is Hwang Hyejeong. And next is Ko Kyungwon, right?”
“Uh? Yeah, that’s right…”
“Oooooooh, transfer student! You’re really smart! Si Hoo should be worried!”
I could memorize a hundred Korean names in this situation.
Since I’ve gotten used to meeting aristocrats with bizarre first, middle, and last names like those in Kaizen, the long names here feel warm by comparison.
“So what’s the name of that red-haired friend?”
I pointed to the girl in the hallway talking with Shin Si Hoo.
“Ah, the one named Jae Wang…?”
Han Gyeol narrowed his eyes.
He seemed displeased by the very mention of her, biting his lower lip tightly.
“So her name is Jae Wang?”
For such a cute appearance, that’s quite a bold name.
Beside me, Haru hesitated for a moment before seemingly having to whisper to me.
“It’s not Jae Wang, it’s Jae Wang… she’s a disliked outcast.”
*
“Are you really not going to eat? We’re buying it.”
Ji Hye said, sucking on an ice cream cone.
“Yeah, it’s time for my medicine.”
The Melona ice cream looks really delicious, but I have to hold back.
Seory and I joined Ji Hye from the adjacent class and settled down at a spot in one of the northern stores.
“Yuna? The one who always follows Shin Si Hoo? She’s the second in the whole school, right?”
While we were chatting about the academy, Ji Hye brought up Yuna’s name, saying she knew her as well.
“You probably know her better than I do, Seory.”
“She was in Class C in the first grade.”
“She was always hanging out in front of our class during breaks.”
“Is that so?”
“You probably didn’t notice because you were busy playing with the other kids?”
Yuna… so her name is Yuna.
“I heard Iharu and Han Gyeol really dislike her.”
Seory told Ji Hye about what happened earlier.
“Is that so? The rumor has been that Yuna has a bit of a strange personality.”
“Strange personality?”
“Thinking back, Seory, you mentioned that she did the same to you last year. You lent her your pants during the sports day, and she returned them with milk stains without washing them.”
“Did that happen? I don’t really remember.”
She didn’t seem like such a mean-spirited person based on the rumors.
Even though she had books to move, she went out of her way to help me open my locker.
“Does she like Shin Si Hoo?”
“No way? In fact, she probably dislikes him a lot.”
From my guess, Ji Hye looked shocked and shook her head across her face.
“I think she dislikes others who are better than her. Plus, um… since Si Hoo is first in class.”
Is she trying to keep him in check? Seory suggested cautiously.
“Si Hoo does study well.”
“Right. I doubt there are any students who have finished the elementary school content other than Si Hoo and Yuna.”
“Both of them are complete monsters? I can barely get multiplication and division right…”
If Seory is correct and Yuna is trying to hold me back, then I could understand her behavior to some extent.
It was frustrating to be treated this way at even eight years old, though.
Since I never intended to befriend everyone, I could easily ignore her if it happened again later.
“I’m so jealous that you and Seory are in the same class… I’m all alone in Class B, it’s lonely.”
“Aw, our Ji Hye is lonely? Don’t worry, we’ll come visit you every time like this. And there are many nice kids in Class B, so I’ll introduce you later!”
“What do you think of the academy, Name? Is it different from other schools?”
“There are definitely a lot of rich people in this area.”
“Right? Especially since it’s Class A, it’s probably even worse.”
The vice president of a large corporation, a famous clan leader, hospital directors, university presidents, and so on.
I wonder what it would feel like to meet people you might only see once in your life, who are part of such families.
“Still, the kids are all friendly.”
The comfort of having wealth is different.
The kids at Merlin Orphanage steal each other’s things and sometimes engage in fights, whereas at least the kids here probably don’t do that.
“But don’t underestimate things. This afternoon, we’ll have the aptitude assessment test, so the real academy life starts now.”
Ji Hye suddenly stood up and told me to gather my resolve.
She warned me not to underestimate the endless homework, tests, and practical assessments.
Seory nodded along, chiming in with a “That’s right.”
“How does the aptitude assessment go? Is it for all subjects?”
“No, just for Magic Studies! 20 multiple-choice questions and 5 short answer questions. It’s not a test that goes into your grades, so there isn’t a fixed range to study.”
“Then I don’t need to worry about it.”
“If you can’t get in the top 20 for two consecutive assessments, you might have to switch classes in the second semester! And since it’s a test where the class ranking is announced, it’s really important!”
“Hey, are you worried? You don’t trust our transfer student?”
Seory held my hand tightly.
“Make sure you beat Shin Si Hoo and Yuna this time. Let’s crush those arrogant noses of theirs!”
