Ch.194189 – Underqualified

“The historical figure I’ll be presenting is King Sejong! King Sejong created Hangul, but he had many other accomplishments too. During the Joseon Dynasty, circles were called daeryun (大輪), um… King Sejong’s minyu… I mean, Minyubangbon (民惟邦本) was Joseon’s most representative six-circle (六大輪) technique. Um… Minyubangbon means ‘the people are the foundation of the country’—”

The presentation on historical figures was in full swing as part of the “Fundamentals of Mana Cultivation” class assessment. With a magical twist added.

Choosing a historical figure and introducing at least two major magical accomplishments was not an easy topic for second-grade elementary students.

After all, concepts like the Pythagorean theorem and irrational numbers, which are taught in middle school, were already proven in the 5th century BCE, and integral calculus was covered in ancient Egypt.

Therefore, even the brightest students in Korea were too young to understand the life achievements of people who lived just a few hundred years ago.

Thanks to this, student number 1, Kang Do-hyun, looked like his face was about to sink into the A4 paper with his script.

Well, since the homeroom teacher only required a general explanation, it wasn’t a big problem, but he seemed flustered when encountering words he didn’t understand.

I gave him a thumbs-up to cheer him on as his expression grew darker.

Then the stumbling child managed to finish his presentation safely by carefully reading about Hangul, King Sejong’s true masterpiece.

“Um, thanks…!”

“Sure thing, you did well.”

The friend who shyly expressed his gratitude returned to his seat, and now student number 2, Ko Kyung-won, went to the front of the blackboard.

“The historical figure I researched is King Sejong.”

Another King Sejong?

Well, how much could these kids know? At best, it would be either King Sejong or Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who went from being on the 100-won coin to the 10,000-won bill.

“Yoon Si-hoo, who did you research?”

“I did Joan of Arc.”

“Oh, you know about Joan of Arc?”

Did he deliberately choose someone from France in case creativity in topic selection was part of the evaluation criteria?

“Hey. Is that true…?”

“What?”

“Well… I heard my parents talking this morning. You…”

“The presentation is starting. If you want to talk, use your pen.”

In the background, someone was explaining Korea’s first six-circle pan-temporal magic, Minyubangbon.

[Terrorist. Kidnapping?]

The word “kidnapping” was crossed out with an X, and he added below:

[Not me, my mom.]

As I put a period, Si-hoo’s mechanical pencil lead broke weakly.

He continued writing with trembling hands, clicking his pen.

[What about you?]

[I don’t know.]

It’s not like I have memories from when I was born.

[I was just locked in a remote prison.]

[For 7 years?]

Our eyes met again.

I was going to brush it off, but this kid seemed to know quite a bit. The news must have just broken this morning.

Young kids don’t need to know about this.

[You know it’s rude to ask more, right?]

“…!”

Si-hoo flinched.

The child who mumbled “sorry” in a small voice that only I could hear suddenly started drawing.

[😿]

[Look at this and cheer up. I’m really sorry…]

“Hah.”

A cute cat drawing with tears rolling down.

Even his way of comforting was childlike and cute.

I should respond quickly.

Si-hoo’s expression was visibly deteriorating.

[Thanks. I appreciate your concern, but don’t try to know too much.]

This is an issue that adults need to resolve.

It’s an adult’s duty to ensure children can live in a better future.

“Next, number 6, NoName. Did you… prepare for the assessment?”

All the students’ attention focused on Teacher Jackie’s question.

“I’ll just improvise.”

Tap-

I put down my pen and stood in front of the class for the first time in a long while.

Twenty pairs of bright, sparkling eyes were watching me.

I tried to think of a topic that others wouldn’t know, to avoid overlapping with other students’ presentations.

“The person I’ll be presenting is Werner Heisenberg, an essential figure when discussing quantum mechanics. His notable achievement was introducing matrix mechanics to mana cultivation theory—”

Thud-

The next presenter, number 7 Park Ji-su who was sitting in the front row, suddenly collapsed onto her desk.

It’s summer, maybe she got heat stroke.

* * *

“Waaaaaah!”

After class ended, Park Ji-su ran into the hallway with a tearful face.

The presentation script in her hand was being crumpled mercilessly.

Girls who ran after her to comfort her patted Ji-su’s back.

“It’s okay! You said three whole sentences!”

These pure-hearted friends who couldn’t bring themselves to lie about her performance ended up hurting her feelings twice as much.

“Why did I have to be student number 7…”

With more presentation assessments coming up, she would clearly be compared to NoName every time.

Ji-su had never resented being a Park as much as she did today.

She couldn’t even get through half of the script she had prepared before timing out.

While she was certainly sad about not getting a good score, the stage fright she experienced during the presentation continued to overwhelm her emotions.

Thanks to her friends’ efforts to comfort her, she was able to shake off her tears.

“By the way, my mom asked this morning if Name was doing well.”

“You too? My dad suddenly asked if she was in our class.”

“Huh? Why?”

By now, everyone in Class 2-A knew that Name had been appearing in the news frequently.

Yu-na and Seo-ri had been talking non-stop about how amazing Name was.

And Name, who had returned to the academy after a long time, had been receiving a grand welcome since morning.

Now she seemed to have been called to the principal’s office again.

But this morning, they discovered a common thread: their parents had suddenly expressed concern about Name’s well-being.

And only two people knew the whole truth: Yoon Si-hoo and Lee Ha-ru.

Feeling guilty about talking behind Name’s back, Ha-ru whispered to the curious children.

“Trapped in a capsule…? How does someone get trapped in there?”

The children couldn’t understand the concept of being physically trapped in a capsule.

To them, capsules were things you just pressed a button or pushed to open.

Many had never even used a capsule in their lives.

“What does that mean? Trapped…?”

Yu-na, who had been eavesdropping, approached and asked.

“Oh, Seo Yu-na…”

Everyone knew that Yu-na was Name’s best friend.

They were reluctant to tell her what they had heard, since Yu-na herself didn’t know.

Si-hoo, who had followed Yu-na into the hallway, was about to speak.

“I think this is the right place!”

“You go first!”

“Stop pushing me!”

“Everyone behind you is waiting because of you!”

“I really can’t get any more penalty points!”

“Come on, hurry up!”

“Stop! Don’t push!”

A group of older students came crowding from the end of the hallway.

The second-graders froze collectively at the appearance of these seniors, whom they rarely encountered except during arrival and departure times.

“Hi kids, haha… hello. Is um…”

“Why can’t you speak properly! Is NoName in your class right now?”

The purple badges on their chests indicated they were sixth-graders.

“Oh, I think she went to the principal’s office…”

“Move back!”

“Hurry up and go back! What if a teacher comes?”

“Stop pushing! There’s no space behind!”

They could only watch the commotion of the older students.

Then a low “Ooh” sound echoed through the hallway walls from behind.

“Why are the older students here? Please make way for people to pass.”

The complicated crowd instantly sorted itself into two lines.

It was NoName, the talk of Cephiron Academy.

Name walked through the center, frowning as if she didn’t understand what was happening.

“Wow, amazing…!”

“She’s so tiny!”

“Looks like a first-grader.”

“I wonder if she’s a genius or if our grade’s top student is a genius?”

“What are you saying! Of course… she’s the genius.”

“Kyaaaah!”

“Woah! I almost cursed… Why are you suddenly like that?”

“She’s just so cute!”

“Are you crazy…?”

Meanwhile, some students looked at Name as if they were seeing a monster.

“I asked my brother who goes to Seyeon University if studying hard would make me like her.”

“And?”

“He said being reborn would be faster.”

“Wow… that’s harsh.”

“That’s how much of a monster she is.”

“I’ve never seen a monster in my life…”

“Hey, NoName isn’t a monster!”

“Excuse me, Name… NoName?”

A student stopped Name.

“What is it?”

“Could you… give me your autograph?”

“Why would you need my autograph?”

The senior student was dumbfounded by her innocent question.

Instead, his friends scolded him for his behavior.

“Don’t you watch the news?”

“I’m sorry, I’m an idiot…!”

“How could you do that to her!”

“What did I do…!”

Cephiron Academy was in complete chaos.

Especially students who, due to information imbalance, excitedly approached Name without knowing the truth, were all met with fierce resistance from friends who knew better.

“Hey, aren’t you going back to your classroom! I’m going to tell your homeroom teacher!”

The situation was finally calmed when Class 2-D’s homeroom teacher was called out.

* * *

[So… you see, Yu-na…]

This morning, Yu-na’s mood was more excited than ever.

Name was an irreplaceable, precious friend to Yu-na.

[They said she was trapped in a capsule and couldn’t get out…]

She had heard that a Korean streamer named NoName had solved a difficult mathematical problem.

So-maru had explained that this person was her friend NoName. Even without her brother telling her, Yu-na would have known.

Every time the name NoName was mentioned in the news, she wanted to brag.

‘Name isn’t 14, she’s actually 7!’

‘The person who proved that theorem is my friend!’

So she had been waiting for Name to return to the academy.

[Hmm? I think they said since birth for 7 years…]

But there were times when she couldn’t sleep, worried that Name might never return.

So Yu-na kept imagining what they would talk about and what they would play when Name came back.

‘Name knows everything, so maybe she’ll know the predicted questions for the final exam.’

‘Should I ask her to play gonggi again? Or trampoline?’

And when Name arrived at school, she was quite surprised by the unexpected atmosphere.

Teacher Jackie, who always said she missed Name, suddenly became too awkward to speak properly.

Even the group including Yoon Si-hoo and Lee Ha-ru, whom she thought were close to Name after herself, didn’t openly welcome her.

The idea that they might be jealous of Name’s excellence was purely Yu-na’s misconception.

[They say she only played games without eating or drinking anything just to survive.]

“Seo Yu-na? Why are you in the hallway? The next class is starting, let’s go in.”

“Ah… uh…”

“Why do you look like that? Did something happen? Did someone hit you?”

Name stared at Yu-na’s face, then tilted her head again.

All the days she had spent with Name flashed through Yu-na’s mind like a kaleidoscope.

Times when she was jealous of Name without knowing better, when she misunderstood her as being from a wealthy family, all the past mistakes came rushing back, making her face flush hot.

Perhaps even the fact that she had poor health and always took potions…

“Are you crying?”

“No… I’m not crying… ugh… really I’m not…”

The unstoppable tears made this excuse completely unconvincing.

Beyond her tear-blurred vision was the friend Yu-na admired so much.

Name wiped away the teardrops with her thin fingers and comforted her.

Every touch from her conveyed thoughtfulness and consideration.

Even trying to roughly estimate the pain and hardship Name must have experienced, Yu-na couldn’t imagine it with her mere eight years of life experience.

“If you’re not feeling well, should I take you to the infirmary? Hmm?”

And now this child, despite her painful past, was not showing it and was instead taking care of others.

If Name had been determined to hide it completely, would Yu-na ever have known?

Yu-na couldn’t be sure of the answer to this question.

That’s why Yu-na now doubted even this “friendship” relationship.

Yu-na’s constant craving for love and attention stemmed from her emotional deprivation due to her busy working mother and deceased father, but she didn’t want just one-sided kindness from Name.

‘I guess I don’t deserve to be by Name’s side…’

With such thoughts, Yu-na pushed away Name’s gentle touch and ran back to the classroom.

As if they would never see each other again…

* * *

“You sit behind me.”

“Don’t talk to me! Hiccup…!”