*
“Is it bad news?”
At the question of Seol Yeojin, the management team leader, Jurim shook his head and closed the message window.
“It’s a personal matter, so you don’t need to worry about it. How are the kids?”
Smiling faintly, Seol Yeojin passed some documents across the desk.
“Serhi, Gru. Both of them are extremely bright, you know? I was a bit worried since Serhi has never received compulsory education, but he follows along well enough if you just teach him the basics. I thought we’d have to prepare for the exam in two years, but I think we can aim for next year’s exam instead.”
Seol Yeojin recounted all this in an excited voice.
Gru was at a level where his age of four was completely unbelievable, and although Serhi had a sullen face and would click his tongue in annoyance, he generally followed instructions well enough when told to do something.
“Really? What about Dani?”
“…Dani has… good stamina. You need stamina to sit in a chair for a long time and study well, after all….”
“At least that’s something to be thankful for.”
When Jurim made a sarcastic remark, Yeojin let out a small laugh.
“Dani will do well if he puts his mind to it. It’s just because he doesn’t try.”
He nodded noncommittally.
The reason Jurim had entrusted the children’s education to Yeojin was because of Onsuhyeong.
More serious about Gru’s education than anyone, Onsuhyeong had found and recommended a few gifted schools in Korea that Gru could attend.
“Since Gru awakened early, Yustichia International School should be fine too.”
In his heart, he wished for Gru to grow up normally… but the child was off the charts.
He would stand out even more at an ordinary school.
So Jurim had concluded that it would be better for him to go somewhere there were people who could watch over him. Gidan was currently attending Yustichia International School, after all.
It was while he was preparing for Gru’s school that Serhi came in under an agreement.
Somehow, they ended up taking in another minor, and decided to send Serhi to Yustichia as well.
When Jurim said he would send Serhi to school, his guardian Jin Siwon also gladly accepted.
He said it was just in time, as he had been worried. He went on to say something incomprehensible about the child being a bit lacking, perhaps because he’d learned at a farm.
“More importantly, regarding Serhi and Gru. Both of them have one problem… Since they’re both so bright, other subjects aren’t an issue, but….”
She passed him another document. Jurim took it with a puzzled expression.
It was a printout of elementary school problems.
It was a low-difficulty Korean language exercise where you filled in the blanks with appropriate words matching the situation shown in the illustrations.
Since it was the basics of the basics, he couldn’t understand Seol Yeojin’s worry—until he checked the children’s answers.
In the blanks were scrawled, crooked letters.
Name: Serhi
(Illustration: A friend cheers after Cheolsu scores a spectacular goal into the goalpost)
[Cheolsu, your form is insane!]
Name: Han Gru
(Illustration: Yeonghui holds up a math test with a score of 100, and a friend claps)
[Yeonghui, you’re the math supreme!]
Flipping through, the answers were similar.
Serhi seemed not to know standard language at all, and Gru couldn’t let go of “supreme” from start to finish.
“Hmm….”
Jurim swept his hand down his face, then rested his chin on his hand and asked seriously,
“What about a donation admission?”
He was willing to make a generous donation himself, and Gru’s grandfather could probably erect an entirely new building.
Smiling, Yeojin replied,
“As if that would work?”
As Jurim clicked his tongue in disappointment, she adjusted her glasses.
“Don’t worry and leave it to our team. I’m not just saying this—they’re really smart kids, so if we sit them down and have them study, they’ll pass the written test without any trouble.”
“Please do.”
Jurim nodded.
It was Seol Yeojin who, a year ago, had coaxed and coddled the thoroughly twisted Gidan to send him to school. If she said she could do it, there was no reason to doubt her.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Seol Yeojin, the corners of her mouth already lifting in a bright smile at the thought of taking the children into her team and putting them through their paces, bowed and left the guild master’s office.
Once the door closed, Jurim rolled his stiff neck this way and that, then tapped on the desk. Tap, tap.
The person who had dropped Gru off at the orphanage was dead.
It was something he hadn’t anticipated.
He didn’t even know if it was the mother’s side or the father’s side, or if they were even the biological parents.
He couldn’t decide whether to keep digging, or if it would be better to stop here.
Chapter: Festival and the Fake S-Rank
A quiet hallway in front of the teachers’ office.
Choi Seonhye, the Korean language teacher, spotted someone and smiled.
“Ah, Ugyeong. Could you take this printout to Teacher Mun Ira?”
It was Seon Ugyeong, who had just stepped out of the teachers’ office.
“Yes, I’ll take it to her.”
Seon Ugyeong smiled faintly and took the thick stack of documents.
Choi Seonhye looked at the dependable student council president and spoke with a pleased expression.
“We’re lucky to have a model student like Ugyeong in our class. Our class has had a lot of problems, right? Honggi, too.”
When Ham Honggi’s name came up, Seon Ugyeong’s eyes went cold for a split second.
“What do you mean. But Honggi’s been well-behaved these days, hasn’t he? He attends school regularly, does his recycling properly, and…”
At the mention of doing recycling properly, Choi Seonhye let out a snort. It reminded her of how Ham Honggi had been acting like a quiet, good child these days, perhaps due to the recent change in his family circumstances.
“Well, let’s see how long that lasts.”
Seon Ugyeong smiled, his eyes curving.
‘That’s right. How long can that last?’
He silently agreed, then strode into Mun Ira’s classroom and shut the door.
Buzz—
Right on cue, his cellphone rang from his pocket.
Seon Ugyeong took out his phone and made sure not to scrunch up his face at the name on the screen.
[NAG Gu Sinhu]
‘How many times is he going to call?’
Gu Sinhu, you stupid blockhead.
Annoyed, Seon Ugyeong tossed his phone onto the lectern.
He had posed as a fake S-Rank to sell goods, but somehow Gu Sinhu had found his number and was contacting him incessantly.
No matter how much he tried to avoid him, that persistent idiot, dead set on recruiting a fake S-Rank, never tired.
‘I didn’t think Gu Sinhu would take the bait.’
If he had known an S-Rank guild master would be such a nuisance, he never would have put on this fake S-Rank act.
He was currently refusing the offer using his student status as an excuse, but the problem was that graduation wasn’t far off.
Most kids his age were already receiving guild support. It would become harder and harder to dodge Gu Sinhu’s scouting with the excuse that he had to attend school.
‘Annoying!’
As he stood staring at his phone, which buzzed again and again,
“Not answering?”
“Ah….”
When Seon Ugyeong raised his head, Mun Ira entered the classroom, glancing at the phone.
Mun Ira approached lightly and looked down at the phone.
“If it’s NAG, that’s a major guild. Sounds like a great opportunity. You need money, don’t you?”
Money… Seon Ugyeong muttered and laughed self-deprecatingly.
Yes, after all, the only reason he had accepted Mun Ira’s proposal was money.
His goal was to save up enough capital and leave this wretched country.
To that end, Seon Ugyeong had begun to scrape together money desperately.
Once he broadened his perspective, making money wasn’t difficult.
He set up an illegal sports betting site and gradually expanded it.
Customers were easy to find nearby. High schoolers were easy prey to tempt.
It was around that time that he met Mun Ira.
“The gambling site trending at school these days. It’s yours, right?”
In that moment, he thought everything was over.
“Ugyeong, do you need money?”
“Huh?”
“I want to help you.”
She whispered in a pretty voice and handed him a bottle.