Ch.156156. Back to School

Dokgo Jun was quietly watching TV.

[It seems like a factional fight. As you can see in the footage, they were monsters that helped people. But now they’re killing each other.]

[Are they more aggressive compared to other monsters? There were many monsters that helped humans, but it seems like the masked monster corps and the other monster group are different from each other.]

[Just like humans, maybe there are different factions in the monster world too.]

This man had no interest in the scene of so-called experts babbling on TV.

‘It doesn’t matter which side wins. Your true nature won’t change anyway.’

Monsters are just monsters. Monsters that disrupt society and pretend to be human are fighting and killing each other.

To Dokgo Jun, it seemed like they were reducing his workload.

However, the classification of monsters was something that concerned him. Until now, there were 5 monsters that helped humans.

‘These ones evolve without wearing masks.’

Dokgo Jun himself had seen with his own eyes a wolf monster evolve into a humanoid form.

They were different from the masked monster group. The dragon he saw in the Busan footage must be of the same kind.

“That whale in the data. Can it really achieve such transformation.”

Though the species itself seemed to have changed, he was well aware that from an evolutionary perspective, it was different from the norm.

‘That monster is killing the masked monsters. Why?’

Dokgo Jun didn’t care what happened. But things were progressing too smoothly according to his desired scenario.

“If the chaos grows, I can just kill them all.”

If a conflict broke out among them, civilians would be harmed.

In other words, Dokgo Jun could exterminate them all without hesitation.

‘But it’s too obvious. If this happens, people’s trust will decrease.’

It felt like he was being forcibly moved by someone’s hand. The scenario was painfully predictable.

‘No, what does it matter? Just kill monsters as monsters. That’s not a big problem.’

Dokgo Jun was waiting for his opportunity to step in.

[Dokgo Jun, you’re certainly an excellent Jaeger, but your vision is narrow. You need to see the bigger picture. Think of people first.]

But as he tried to simplify things, he kept remembering Seo Jin-hun who died because of him.

“See the bigger picture… Nothing proper has come out yet, senior.”

Dokgo Jun smiled bitterly.

*

I know my expression isn’t good. The situation I’m in is a ‘false accusation.’ Basically, I can’t reveal my appearance to people.

Even if I transform into a monster and speak, to other people’s ears, it’s just howling.

In such a situation, once misunderstandings begin, there’s no way to explain myself.

The enemies are plotting now. They’re constantly provoking me or trying to get me attacked.

As you know, they secretly kill people.

If they make each other look bad and push things to the extreme, and then they openly kill people?

Then society will hunt us both down. They’ll think both sides are equally bad.

In this situation, I feel like Dokgo Jun would openly enjoy it.

For him, our fight is none of his business, and causing social chaos is a win.

What if he’s deliberately inducing this?

For these reasons, my expression was at its worst.

The beginning of sophomore year. Right at this moment when freshmen are having their entrance ceremony.

My footsteps lead to a different place than before.

The advanced class. A day that was supposed to start nicely in the advanced class has been ruined.

The moment I opened the door, Han Min-woo was the first to greet me.

“!”

“Yeah.”

As he silently raised his hand, I realized anew that this was the class I had chosen.

“Do Jong-hyun?”

Some students from the advanced class approach. It’s strange seeing them like this. Students I only saw during joint classes are now right in front of me.

Following behind, Gu Sang-heon entered with a smile and met my gaze.

“Isn’t that Jong-hyun? Did you succeed in advancing?”

“Please take care of me this time too.”

“You’re welcome here.”

As we high-fived while passing by, advanced class students entered one after another.

Everyone looks surprised to see me.

Seo Jin-won from the intermediate class is also one of those who advanced with me.

Are Jin-won and I the only ones who advanced? Then Geum Do-hyun enters whistling.

“Do Jong-hyun. You came up too. I thought you would.”

“Yeah, please take care of me.”

“Hmm.”

At this moment, Geum Do-hyun gave me a scrutinizing look.

“What?”

“Nothing. As a sophomore, you seem to have grown taller.”

“That’s because I exercise regularly.”

“That’s a good sign.”

As Geum Do-hyun passed by, I felt somewhat uneasy.

No, am I being oversensitive? I don’t think I’ve been discovered.

But I couldn’t maintain this worry for long because Aerial’s loud voice was heard.

“Du Jong-hyun, how are you here? Didn’t you mess up the first half?”

“But I did well in the second half. Didn’t you see?”

“I thought you’d fail, so I didn’t pay attention.”

As Aerial was about to pass by with a slight sneer, Yu Ji-a waved at me and said:

“Aerial, weren’t you there until the end? You were at school even when I asked you to play.”

“…”

Aerial avoided the spot without answering. Haha, thanks for caring.

And surprisingly, the one who arrived just in time was Seol Yu-hwa. Since it’s the first day of school, she probably came from home after looking after the kids, not from the dormitory.

Seol Yu-hwa smiled as soon as she saw me.

“You’re here?”

“Yes. We’re in the same class from now on.”

After exchanging brief greetings, I turned around. The seats aren’t specifically assigned, so we sit wherever we want… but most of the advanced class students sat in the same seats they had since freshman year.

Thanks to that, Jin-won and I sat in the empty seats.

And in the first class, I saw a familiar figure.

“Everyone, I’m Eun Se-rin, your new homeroom teacher from today. I look forward to working with you for a year. Like last year, we’ll have two teachers, with the newly arrived Instructor Bae Min-sun assisting.”

Eun Se-rin is the homeroom teacher? In a way, that’s fortunate. I need to keep an eye on her.

“As you know, contact with freshmen is prohibited until after the first semester. You’ll only meet them in clubs, but don’t push it. We’ll be stricter because of what happened last year.”

Eun Se-rin informed us about the general curriculum for sophomore year.

Notably, fighting in various terrains, which has been mentioned several times before.

While freshman year involved simple terrains with various scenarios, sophomore year will delve deeper.

For example, underwater combat, aerial combat, urban combat, hostage situations, and more will be added.

Various situations will unfold in succession.

“The field trip is still undecided. There were many incidents last year, and Jong-hyun, come to the faculty office after class. And since we have two new friends, I was thinking of rearranging the seats. You might have preferred seats, right?”

“Is that necessary? Can’t we just sit anywhere?”

At Geum Do-hyun’s objection, Eun Se-rin’s gaze turned sharp.

“Necessary? Honestly, Do-hyun, there were complaints that you couldn’t see well from the front row.”

“You could say I’m enthusiastic… Anyway, that’s fine. Since new students have arrived, let’s get right to it!”

Ah, Geum Do-hyun immediately reads the room. Her tone is colder than I expected.

It’s different from when she’s alone with me. Is this her instructor persona?

“Then I’ll place students with poor eyesight and shorter students in the front rows. It’s a case study format. It’s also good for discussions and debates. We’ll have frequent discussions from now on, so get used to it.”

Eun Se-rin began arranging the seats.

The formation was fan-shaped around the teacher’s desk, with students with poor eyesight placed in the front rows based on their examination charts.

Of course, even among students with poor eyesight, the front row assignments were random.

The rest were random too.

It feels like drawing lots. I was assigned to the middle-back area.

“And the seat next to our new Jong-hyun will be…”

Eun Se-rin draws a number and smiles meaningfully.

“Seol Yu-hwa! Aerial, you’ll have to be content with the seat right in front.”

“We’re not that close.”

That’s right, in the fan-shaped formation, Aerial is right in front of me. Her face was full of displeasure.

“Really? Still?”

“No!”

“With this arrangement, from sophomore year on, it’s not enough to simply get the job done. We’ll have discussion time every day and hold meetings. Reflections on practical training are good, and so is strategizing. You’re learning to communicate constantly with your colleagues. That’s what you should learn in sophomore year.”

Eun Se-rin ended the class with details about why she arranged the classroom this way.

I don’t think my assigned seat is bad. She just wants to make the two people work together quickly.

Aerial in front and Seol Yu-hwa next to me…

“I look forward to working with you.”

Seol Yu-hwa’s smile greets me. Yes, this is good. Definitely.

“I didn’t expect to be sitting next to you.”

“So we’ll be in the same seats for a year?”

Seol Yu-hwa’s expectant statement. I’d be fine with this too, but…

“We’ll change after the first semester.”

Aerial suddenly turns around and gives a sharp look.

But that look isn’t directed at me. It’s directed at Seol Yu-hwa.

“We’re sitting close.”

“Yeah.”

Their conversation is bleak. Can I consider them rivals?

The problem is that it’s not just pure rivalry.

I need these two to cooperate.

That will increase the chances of preventing doom.

Aerial’s gaze turns back to me.

“So, Du Jong-hyun. When should we meet? You said you’d escort me today?”

“Since Instructor Eun Se-rin called me, it’ll have to be after that?”

“Alright, I’ll look forward to it.”

As she turns back, her gaze briefly passes by my side.

“…”

And a suffocating silence followed.

Moreover, today is the opening ceremony, so we’re not really doing anything. At most, we might have morning classes.

Please just end it.

After all the morning classes with the instructors’ self-study time, I finally finished all my classes.

“If Gu Sang-heon hadn’t intervened, it would have been terrible.”

Thankfully, Gu Sang-heon naturally came over in this stifling atmosphere.

I went to the faculty office and met Eun Se-rin. Eun Se-rin was waiting for me with a beaming smile I hadn’t seen earlier.

“So, Jong-hyun. How’s the new seating arrangement?”

“It’s fantastic.”

In many ways.

I can see joy at the corners of Eun Se-rin’s mouth, and it’s not my imagination.

“Seol Yu-hwa and Aerial are definitely talented students. If they join forces, they’ll be amazing. But looking at the records, these two haven’t worked together except during the first semester of last year.”

That was when Dokgo Jun came for inspection. Indeed, they were impressive when they teamed up then.

“We need talented students too. Especially your generation is in a very good flow compared to other years. For the sake of humanity, those two should get along.”

“But they’re both so prideful.”

“Ah, that’s why I deliberately placed you next to them.”

“What?”

“That seating arrangement was my decision. To have the three of you together. What do you think?”

Eun Se-rin’s wink felt like a curse today.