Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 29

The day of the school trip. It was fine when I arrived at school with a backpack stuffed with my belongings.

But something was seriously off.

“Hey, Sohee.”

“Yeah?”

“Is it okay for just the two of us to go like this?”

I asked Sohee with an anxious glance out the window.

Right after arriving at school, Sohee took my hand and led me straight to the school gate.

Without saying much, really.

In front of us was a shiny, white limousine parked, and we were about to hop into that car.

While I was dazed, the limousine started to speed away quickly.

This happened before I even got a glance at any teachers.

“I already told the teachers in advance.”

“Oh, I see…”

What could she have possibly said? It didn’t seem like a casual chat.

Just then, Sohee pulled out a Soft & Chewy Cow from her pocket and placed it in my hand.

“What’s this…?”

“Weren’t you fond of it?”

With a bright smile, Sohee grinned, making it hard for me to say otherwise.

I nodded and popped the chewy treat into my mouth.

It was sweet and tasty.

“But, why are we just going by ourselves?”

Sohee tilted her head as if genuinely puzzled by my question.

Then she smiled lightly and opened her mouth.

“Why, it’s because the bus is too cramped and uncomfortable.”

True, it was cramped and uncomfortable, but that discomfort would still turn into a memory of our school trip…

I mumbled and hugged my backpack closer.

“We rode together last year. Did you want to take the bus this time?”

Out of nowhere, a sharp question cut through with the precision of a blade.

I covered my mouth with my bag and slightly nodded.

“Then let’s take the bus next year.”

There wasn’t much more conversation. Whenever Sohee asked me something, I could only manage short answers, causing our dialogue to naturally fizzle out.

I had grown accustomed to this body and wearing the school uniform skirt, but since my interests were different from other middle school girls, conversations didn’t tend to last long.

I tried to adjust our chat code by watching some videos on YouTube, but I didn’t find any of them entertaining.

“Hayun.”

“Yeah?”

“Is Deron fun?”

“Yeah.”

My reply came out immediately to Sohee’s question.

Sohee then chuckled and continued.

“I thought it might be boring since you quit playing Wizard.”

A brief silence followed her words.

In that short gap, pain began to drown my head in a white-hot fire.

“Ah, no… It just didn’t suit me, so I leveled up a new character.”

“I figured as much. You were so cool like a prince when you leveled the Paladin.”

“What was it like when you played Wizard?”

Sohee seemed to pause in thought and then burst into laughter.

“You were cute!”

After that, the words ceased. That delicate yet awkward silence stretched until we finally reached our destination for the school trip.

Future Digital Comprehensive Center.

I couldn’t help but think it was a bit odd as a school trip destination, but judging from the reactions of the other kids, it seemed like standards were a bit different in this world.

The Future Digital Comprehensive Center, henceforth referred to as the Future Center, was a peculiar place.

I never imagined I would step into a building this vast in my lifetime.

The entire area of this building is 205 km². It was so large that you had to board dedicated vehicles for moving around inside.

Unlike before, when we traveled separately by limousine, after arriving here we followed the teacher’s lead.

To be honest, I wasn’t really listening to the teacher.

I was gazing around like a country bumpkin during my first trip to Seoul, with my mouth wide open.

I thought I had gotten used to this world, but it seemed I hadn’t at all.

Everything felt new and incredible.

“Hayun.”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Did you hear what the teacher said?”

I quickly shook my head in response to Sohee’s question.

I had no idea what she’d said since I was so distracted.

Sohee chuckled at my reply and extended her hand.

“Drop your stuff at the accommodation and you can wander freely.”

“Oh, right. Accommodation. We definitely need that…”

I nodded blankly at Sohee’s words.

The accommodation should be separated by gender. Girls with girls, boys with boys. That’s the norm.

So, that meant I was going to enter a room full of middle school girls.

My heart raced. Middle school girls… I was one too.

It wasn’t at all strange for middle school girls to hug and play with each other.

So…

“What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

I hurriedly shook my head at Sohee’s question.

As I fidgeted with my mouth, a subtle smile appeared on my face.

I nearly let out a strangely embarrassing laugh.

As I started to walk after Sohee, countless students brushed past me.

Their faces glowed with bright smiles. Seeing their excited faces made it feel like I had truly arrived at an actual school trip.

While I was absentmindedly following Sohee, I noticed something strange.

The direction the students were rushing toward the accommodation was different from where we were headed.

“Hey. Sohee.”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t we going to the accommodation?”

“We are. To our room.”

“Our room, you say?”

“I told my dad. He said we could use the room that guests use when they come.”

Sohee’s words were like a riddle.

I wanted to ask what that meant, but I couldn’t. From Sohee’s response, it felt like she and I were closer than I had thought.

Asking a question about something I already knew could seem odd.

“Really? Is it really okay to use that room?”

“Yeah, he said there aren’t any guests this week. So he said we could use it freely.”

The elevator we took with Sohee brought us to the top floor.

When the door chimed open, there stood a big man in a black suit waiting for us.

As soon as he saw us, he bowed his head and stepped aside.

The room Sohee and I arrived at was massive.

It felt a little bad to be using this space just the two of us, compared to our other friends.

In the center of the modern, white room.

Sohee walked over and tossed her bag onto the couch.

Her actions felt unusually familiar as if this were her own room, leaving me feeling a bit flustered.

After unpacking, Sohee and I began to wander around together.

What should we do first? There were so many fascinating things to check out that I couldn’t hide my excited heart.

As I tiptoed and explored, Sohee approached me and said.

“Shall we try that over there?”

Sohee pointed toward an area already crowded with students.

Curious about what was happening, I leaned in closer to see that when a student entered a large capsule, their image was displayed on a big screen in the center.

The student in the VR world stood there with a lightsaber in a white space, and soon, round objects began flying at them from all directions.

The speed of those objects gradually increased until they came at the student so fast they couldn’t even respond.

“What’s that?”

“A reaction speed test.”

“Do they give prizes too?”

“Yeah. If you score above a certain point.”

The student who emerged from the capsule clutched a large stuffed toy in their arms while laughing with their friends, looking genuinely happy.

I lined up to wait with Sohee.

It looked fun; I wanted to give it a shot too.

I didn’t know how much time passed. After the previous students finished, it was my turn.

Sohee stood with her arms crossed, smiling brightly.

“Go for it!”

Hearing her encouragement, I entered the capsule following the staff’s guidance.

And just like that, everything turned white in my vision, and I found myself standing in a bright space.

[Welcome to GR’s VR reaction speed test. The user’s data may be used for the company’s benefit, and for more detailed information…]

I tuned out the automated voice. It was just saying they would use the records for research purposes.

I immediately started to move my arms and legs. The physical constraints of reality vanished. Although there were no stat bonuses from the game, my body could perform movements impossible in real life.

As I checked the lengths of my arms and legs, a small handle appeared in front of me.

It was indeed the lightsaber I had seen earlier.

Reaching out, I grabbed the lightsaber, which extended into a long blue beam.

I felt no weight. The sensation of holding something was faint.

Swish!

I swung the lightsaber lightly, but the feeling of it moving with barely any resistance felt entirely alien.

While I was getting used to this sensation, the test began.

It started easily. I swung my saber to slice through the slowly flying round objects.

It was simple enough to handle with just a light flick of my wrist.

After managing to slice through about twenty spheres, the speed began to pick up.

Ten seconds for the benchmark. It was the same speed as the previous test.

But even that was easy. Just by watching the trajectories of the newly generated spheres, I could predict when they would reach me.

Then suddenly, the speed increased again.

Cleared stage six, cleared stage seven, cleared stage eight.

As the stages increased, the speed grew exponentially faster.

Yet, I swatted them away easily. The moment I surpassed stage six, my mind began tingling slightly, and upon reaching stage seven, I felt familiar pain emerge.

The sensation of sharpening a blade with precision.

Once stage eight began, an array of spheres, much faster than before, shot toward me.

I quickly moved my body to dodge.

The test wasn’t over yet. I then realized I didn’t need to deflect every sphere.

The spheres I dodged changed direction and flew back at me. As long as I sliced them at that moment, it was enough.

As long as I reacted, that was all that mattered.

The instant the stage nine test began, my vision flashed white.

An intense focus enveloped me, reaching a level of sensation I’d only encountered in an extreme state of concentration.

Time felt like it was flowing slowly, and the spheres headed my way seemed to come at me in slow motion.

As the pain in my head burned white hot to its limit, I felt a sudden ‘pop’ sensation, as if something different had awakened.

This talent was like a blade itself. The more I used it, the sharper it became, amplifying that feeling even further.

I had surpassed something. That’s how it felt.

Spheres flew in from beyond my blazing vision. A light sweep with my hands sliced through the spheres accurately.

Next, next, next. The physical movements beyond the limits of reality became no issue.

Soaring into the air, I swung the saber in circles. I had to dodge those spheres that I almost couldn’t swing in time.

What if it had been a different weapon?

A fleeting thought flickered through my mind.

If I didn’t focus, I would fail. The sharpened senses gripped my entire body.

Thinking less and feeling more. The instant I read the sphere’s trajectories with my two eyes, my body reacted.

As my spinning body adjusted the sword’s path.

With a single swing, I sliced through three spheres.

I had handled all the spheres of stage nine.

Now it was time for the next set of spheres to appear.

I took a deep breath, focusing my low gaze straight ahead.

But nothing appeared. Contrary to my tight tension, no new spheres were generated.

[Congratulations. You have cleared all the prepared tests.]

Is that it?

This is all?

I thought I could push just a bit further, so I felt a hint of disappointment.

A sigh escaped my lips.

My body went slack, and I felt my energy drain out.

I exited the capsule, limbs wobbling. Sweat dripped down my back.

It felt like I had burned through a tremendous amount of stamina in that short amount of time.

“Hey! Hey there!”

At that moment, a panicked-looking employee hurried toward me.

He seemed about to say something, but he had to step back because Sohee abruptly intervened between us.

“That was fun, right?”

“Ah, Sohee. I was a bit disappointed.”

“Disappointed?”

“Yeah. I felt like I could have gone one more level.”

Sohee turned away with a strange smile in response to my answer.

It looked like Sohee and the employee knew each other.

The words escaping from her mouth were quite dry.

“I don’t think you’ll be getting your results today, will you?”

“Wait, what?”

“The equipment broke down.”

“Ah, but…”

“Just say it broke, all right? Got it?”

The employee nodded with a pale face, his eyes fixed on the computer screen on a big desk.

While the equipment broke down and we couldn’t check the records, I still received a plush toy as a prize.

Clutching a big dolphin stuffed animal, I exited the booth with Sohee and asked her.

“What do you mean it broke?”

“Well, while you were testing, the screen stopped working.”

“Really?”

I felt a wave of regret at Sohee’s words.

I thought I could show her my remarkable side, but it seemed she didn’t see it.

No wonder nobody was there to praise me when I exited the capsule.

Before, when the students who went ahead achieved high scores, everyone would clap.

“Are you disappointed?”

“A little.”

Responding to Sohee’s question, I hugged the fluffy dolphin tightly.