episode_0014

Episode 14: Group Project Class (3)

Dividing by male and female gender, it’s roughly half.

Therefore, I will kill all the men.

Why, you ask?

Because if I kill all the women, they’ll raise hell saying they died because they were women.

And I’ll end up taking all the blame for that.

Protests like those in the 1st round will occur at every single station in Korea, such as Hyehwa Station, Gangnam Station, etc.

And the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will truly become an iron fortress that no one can touch, even more so than in the 1st round.

Of course, I don’t utter words like these outside, but keep them to myself.

“Then, with this, we will conclude the presentation for Group 8. For your information, I just presented because the group leader told me to.”

“?! Hey, hey~!!”

“Teacher.”

Like that, I naturally passed the responsibility, no, the baton, to the homeroom teacher and the group leader.

“Uh… everything I was going to teach today is over… What should I do?”

But perhaps they were planning to proceed with the subsequent class based on what I just said.

The homeroom teacher could only keep making a stunned expression.

At that moment.

“Th-this kind of dog-like roleplay is really cheap…! You bastard!”

Belatedly, the Group 1 leader gets angry at me.

“Then what would you do?! Huh?!!”

I wondered why you weren’t asking that.

“It’s obvious.”

I immediately put the answer I had already prepared into my mouth.

Firstly, my parents like airplanes much faster than trains, so I won’t have reason to go there.

And since I don’t have friends in the first place.

Therefore.

“So I’ll pretend not to see it, go home, wash my feet, and just sleep. Because today is Friday, and I have to watch Mudo tomorrow.”

And then on Sunday, I have to watch 1 Night 2 Days.

* * *

Me, who turned cringey fantasies into reality.

Aren’t I embarrassed?

What are you gonna do about it?

This is just me.

I’ve already decided to live as myself.

Just because it’s the 2nd round, I have no intention whatsoever of abandoning the pathetic, outcast-like, cringey me from the 1st round.

What people call an “insider,” after all.

If, perhaps, it means tearing myself down and fitting myself into that mold to suit their tastes.

I’ll just be an outcast and a loser.

Because there is no life for me in that mold called “insider.”

In the first place, the fat me doesn’t fit into the mold they’ve defined.

Cutting off my own flesh and shaving down my bones, only to end up like that, that was exactly my previous 1st round.

If I’m going to live like that again this time, it’s not the 2nd round in the first place.

It’s just a repetition of the 1st round prime (′).

“Everyone, want to turn the page? About four or five pages… Ah, everyone open to page 52. There will be something like ‘Let’s think together and discuss’ there, and this time we’ll keep discussing using that. Anyone want to read it once?”

The second topic, the Good Samaritan.

Perhaps there’s a person dying of thirst and hunger in the Middle Eastern desert.

If they were a bad child who ignored them without saving them, it’s the story that our good Samaritans punished them.

It feels like a topic that will target someone, doesn’t it?

Naturally, the Group 1 leader, who was harshly dealt with by our Group 8 (actually by me), attacked with eyes blazing.

“Uh~ Ah~ That is…”

But now, I am not the group leader.

From the beginning, I was not the group leader of our Group 8.

“Hmm, I think what you said there is right~?”

Our Group 8 leader did well.

By deploying 『If you refute, you are unconditionally right』 against all of the opponent’s attacks.

This time, I didn’t participate much.

An outcast requires great decisiveness and consumes a lot of energy to step forward even once.

Indeed, I was greatly exhausted.

I thought I might have cleared the quest sufficiently with this much.

『Quantum Computer Research Plan 1st Initial Goal: Generate a quantum entangled state of 2 photon qubits (Reliability, Purity, Coherence 99% or higher) Required Experimental Tools: Type 2 Phase-Matching BBO Crystal, Phase-Preserving 1-inch Mirror, Plano-Concave and Convex Lenses for Beam Size Adjustment, Zero Order Waveplate, Polarizer with Extinction Ratio of at least 1:10000, 405nm Laser Diode Module, Driver Circuit Board for Laser Control…….』

So, pretending to listen to other groups’ presentations, I was completely doing something else with my writing.

If I do this, not only does it appear to those around me that I’m actively participating in the discussion.

In fact, compared to when I’m presenting, this uses at least a hundred times less energy.

First, I need to properly lay out the experimental plan.

I probably won’t be equipped with a proper laboratory and truly start research until high school, at the earliest.

Since I was in a regular high school in the 1st round, I don’t know well, but.

I heard that Seoul Science High School has an R&E (Research & Education) program where high school students can start researching.

So that as soon as I enter Seoul Science High School in middle school, I can immediately research and set up a laboratory.

I’m focusing on pre-planning all the research I’ll be doing in the future.

While doing that, I’m also studying what I couldn’t do and wanted to do whenever I have free time.

Of course, I also need to prepare for the Seoul Science High School entrance exam.

The main gate of those arrogant guys who only let me pass the 1st round in the 1st round and immediately dropped me in the 2nd exam.

This time, I will boldly break it down from the very front – 1st place -.

“Phew, class was fun after a long time~ Han Gyeongjun, what would you have answered if it were you? Han Gyeongjun? Hey, are you listening~? Class is over~!”

“Ah.”

When did it end?

It ended in an instant because I was concentrating.

“What in the world were you writing until now?”

*Rustle.*

I mumbled vaguely that it was just notes and shoved my notebook (for research) under the desk drawer.

Now that I think about it, the class ended but the quest hasn’t cleared yet.

“So, Han Gyeongjun, how would you have answered~?”

“What do you mean? The Good Samaritan?”

“Yeah~”

It seems I truly need to answer this properly to clear the quest.

As the lively female student kept persistently asking, I sighed deeply as if bothered, and.

“Just pretend not to see……”

Just as I was about to speak appropriately.

“Pretending not to see it and just going home to wash your feet and sleep is not allowed this time?”

“……”

No, I was caught right away.

Looking at her way of speaking, I thought she was just an empty-headed kid, the kind who would immediately dye her hair blonde and hang out if she met the wrong friends.

She’s surprisingly sharp.

“Well.”

I thought about it a little.

“First of all, you would save them, right?”

“Huh? Ah, yes yes~”

“Why?”

“Because~ No, I said it all just now during the presentation, what in the world were you writing down?”

Yeah, you’re right.

What was I writing?

Perhaps unlike you, my handwriting is terrible, so even if you knew, you wouldn’t be able to read it.

“Um, can I slightly change the problem?”

“Like you did to Group 1 earlier? I don’t like that…”

You don’t like it?

Then I should say more.

“It’s the same situation where the Good Samaritan is dying, but it’s because of a robber. You can only save that person by killing the robber.”

“No, you don’t necessarily have to kill them…”

“Or you get stabbed by a knife and die.”

It’s not as extreme a situation as you might think?

You see them often, don’t you? Random terrorists or murderers in the news.

Even without going that far, you witness these kinds of things often in life.

On the streets, at work or home, and even at school.

“Ugh, I’ll still save them~! If the other person is holding a knife, I can just throw a rock from far away! A really big one~”

“Alright, you have been punished. A fine of 5 million won.”

I held out my hand to her as if asking for the money quickly.

“Why~?! I saved them!”

“Yeah. So it’s not because of the Good Samaritan Law, but because the robber reported you for assault and you were found guilty.”

It’s true.

It’s really common in Korea.

While America is generous with self-defense.

Giving both the robber an attempted murder charge towards the victim, and the righteous person who helped save them an assault charge towards the robber, that’s our proud Republic of Korea, isn’t it.

“Th-that’s fucking ridiculous~!!”

“Why?”

I explained step by step.

“You achieved your original intention. You saved the victim. If you had the guts to throw a rock at the guy holding a knife, prepared for the possibility of dying in the first place, you should accept a fine.”

There really is no other hell-py ending like this.

The victim didn’t die and lived.

The robber was punished for attempted murder.

The person who saved them, having thrown a rock at the robber anyway, accepted the assault charge bitterly.

Is that all?

Even the police and judges ended up with two achievements, attempted murder and assault, something that could have amounted to merely one murder charge.

Truly, it’s a peaceful ending just thinking about it.

“If that’s not it, then the truth is you just weren’t planning to save them?”

At my words, the lively girl thumped her chest as if frustrated.

“No, why does it become like that~?! That’s also the same as that thing from earlier after all!”

“What is that? A fallacy?”

“Yes, that! It’s a dog change!”

What kind of dog change? It’s dog shit, you bitch.

“That’s debate.”

In the end, debate, especially in arguments, is even more so.

If you can just make the other person fall into a self-contradiction, you’ve already won halfway.

That’s why everyone says listening to what others say is more important than your own assertion.

While saying things plausibly like “respecting the opponent’s opinion~” and blah blah.

The truth is, you’re pretending to respect the opponent’s opinion, while preparing to throw shit in their face.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you will win a hundred battles (百勝).

Or not be defeated (不殆).

If you can know the opponent’s opinion, grasp their weak points, and pinpoint and poke them, you won’t be defeated at least.

Even better, if you can induce the opponent to stab themselves without them even realizing it, you can win every one of a hundred battles.

“Think about it carefully. Making the other person feel that they are wrong is much easier than proving that I am right.”

Proving is difficult.

Disproving is easy.

For example, try to prove that you are not a fool.

Compared to that, it would be easier to point out that I am a fool.

It’s the same in mathematics.

Proof is truly a difficult path.

A sacred path that only true geniuses and born naturals can walk.

“Among those, the easiest method is to mobilize public opinion and have them pointed at. Like during the presentation earlier, you know.”

When I spouted numerous fallacies to the Group 1 leader earlier, and she retorted 『Then what will you do?!』.

Saying 『I have to watch Mudo, so I’ll quickly go home, wash my feet, and just sleep.』.

I said truly nonsensical bullshit.

But just like how all the other kids, except for the Group 1 leader, burst out laughing at that Mudo remark and were out of the game.

If I can just instigate the foolish insiders and gain power from public opinion.

Making the opponent feel that they are wrong is truly easier than eating gruel.

In fact, who is right and who is wrong in a debate is not important at all.

“Wow~ Han Gyeongjun, you’re really bad.”

“Am I?”

Of course.

It seems the 40 years I’ve lived have always been like that.

Whether in human relationships, at work, or even in politics or just simple internet comment sections.

What’s important isn’t whether this is true or not.

It’s whether you think it’s true.

No matter how correct the answer, if the grader doesn’t understand it and marks it with an X, that problem simply becomes 0 points from then on.

[Sub-quest 『Group Project Class Together』 has been successfully cleared.]

And I got 100 points.

[As a quest clear reward, you have acquired 『Elixir of All Stats +1 Increase』.]

[Evaluation is underway based on the influence exerted on NPCs (Mi Sujin, Hong Jahi, Yu Eunha, Han Somi…) related to the quest…….]

When a quest is cleared, things like this often pop up.

It was the same when I did mindless good deeds sub-quests before to lower my outcast stat.

However, at that time, most of them were F, so they failed, or occasionally B grades.

Other than that, most only came out as C or D grades, so I just looked at the Status Window’s bitter words and it ended without much happening.

[Mi Sujin is once again impressed by your unexpected appearance.]

[Hong Jahi holds hostile feelings towards you.]

[Yi Aram wants to refute your fallacy, but feels self-loathing because nothing specific comes to mind.]

[Yu Eunha shakes her head in disbelief, but her curiosity about you intensifies further.]

[Han Somi greatly empathizes with your worn-out ideology and looks up at you.]

The evaluation is surprisingly good?

Honestly, even I thought it was loser fantasies, so I expected to just get a terrible image.

Is it because I’m a middle schooler with Chunibyo?

For that kind of thing, they’re all still first-year middle schoolers, and…….

“But the Group 1 leader has been glaring at us since earlier, hasn’t she? Ah, here she comes~”

“Gotta go take a dump.”

*Scramble.*

No, *Scramble*.

From behind, I heard sounds like “Hey, where are you running off to, you son of a bitch!” but.

I paid no mind and immediately darted into the restroom.

Lastly, if I were to give one tip.

How to always win in a keyboard battle.

No matter how many replies come, never read them and immediately delete the notifications~

* * *

*Ding!*

[Other students on average perceive you as someone with good speaking skills.]

[Final evaluation is being calculated.]

“It’s coming out…!!”

*Scramble!*