Ch.8177 – Survey

“Today, I’ll be replacing fourth period with free time because I have a meeting with someone from the foundation. Instead, I’ll hand out questionnaires for you to complete. Make sure to answer all questions and place them face-down on my desk when you’re done. Don’t forget to write your names! You must stay in your seats until you finish, understood?”

“Yeees!”

“One important note – you must answer the last page by yourself, so don’t show it to others even if they ask. Enjoy your lunch when you’re done!”

Teacher Jackie hurriedly left the classroom after handing a stack of papers to Han-gyeol, who sat in the front row.

“Wow, free time! Free time!”

The questionnaire was about three A4 pages, double-sided.

There didn’t seem to be too many questions, so everyone was excited to finish quickly and have time to play.

Yu-na tapped my back, making me turn around.

“Let’s fill out the questionnaire together while we chat!”

“Sure, why not. Feeling lonely doing it by yourself?”

“Yeah!”

Si-hoo gave us a disapproving look from the side, but if Yu-na wanted to do it together, what could I do?

Wait, was I being inconsiderate? Just to be sure, I invited Si-hoo too.

“Si-hoo, want to join us?”

“No. Besides, surveys are supposed to be done alone.”

“Everyone else is doing it together. What, you don’t like it unless it’s just you and Yu-na?”

“N-no…!”

“Why would Si-hoo want to be with me?”

Yu-na asked innocently, making Si-hoo flustered.

“I won’t disturb you two, so go ahead!”

“We were going to anyway.”

I turned my chair completely around to face Yu-na.

“Want to switch seats?” asked Yohan from next to me.

“Nah. Teacher said we shouldn’t leave our seats until we’re done. Gotta follow the rules.”

I’m a law-abiding person. Adults should set a good example for children.

“There seem to be a lot of written answers… this might take a while!”

“Yeah, probably about 15 minutes.”

“Mhm. Let’s finish quickly so we can play together.”

We wrote our names on the first page and turned to the first question.

[1. What’s your favorite subject?]

Without hesitation, I checked “Magic Infusion.”

“Wow, you decided already?”

“What about you? Is this a difficult question?”

Why wouldn’t they choose magic?

These kids have never lived in a world without magic, so they don’t appreciate how amazing it is.

Theoretically, magic follows universal physical laws, but that’s just what theorists claim. To me, magic is still a mysterious phenomenon.

In a world without mana, launching a single missile requires countless scholars working tirelessly, writing formulas and conducting thousands of tests.

Otherwise, it might explode right there instead of working properly.

But with magic, as long as you maintain the basic framework, the results align with the caster’s intentions.

Of course, having proper scientific knowledge to concretize magic circles enhances the power and accuracy of spells, but even this basic level is something to be grateful for.

Eventually, Yu-na gave in to my pressure and circled Magic Infusion too.

What if she didn’t? I’d make her like it anyway, so it didn’t matter.

“Let’s answer the next question quickly.”

“Least favorite subject? Mine’s PE.”

I didn’t like using my body for pointless activities like dodgeball.

Not only was this body weak, but I naturally disliked moving around.

“I figured that’s what you’d say, NoName, since you always rest during PE. Mine is art.”

“Art? That’s surprising since most people like it.”

“My older brother is really good at drawing, but he always makes fun of my drawings, so I don’t like it…”

“Haha… that’s understandable.”

Crushing a child’s creativity is cruel. Is this what siblings are like? I understand though.

When you live under the same roof with someone your age, you naturally want to tease them.

[4. Describe your family.]

In the section asking about my family, I considered writing Professor Cheon’s name but decided that wasn’t the intent of the question, so I simply wrote two characters:

‘Dad.’

It felt strange, like I finally had something resembling a real family.

[5. What’s your personality like?]

My pen stopped momentarily at this question I’d never considered before.

[…You’re really like this until the end. How can someone only think about themselves?]

“Hmm… Yu-na, what do you think my personality is like?”

“I think NoName has an angelic personality!”

“It would be too embarrassing to write that myself.”

“But it’s true! NoName is totally an angel.”

Angel is too much, no matter what. But just writing “kind” seems too generic.

I turned to ask some girls chatting in the next row.

“Hey, what do you think my personality is like?”

I was genuinely curious how others perceived me now.

This aspect stressed me out so much when I was younger that at some point I stopped thinking about it altogether.

I was somewhat interested now.

“Umm… I’m not sure? What about you, Ha-ru?”

“Well… um…”

Nuri said she didn’t know, and Ha-ru hesitated.

“If you don’t know, I’ll just write something myself.”

“I think you’re like a mom!”

“…?”

What is she talking about?

I was speechless at Ha-ru’s unexpected comment.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant…! I meant you’re kind and cool like a mom…”

Ha-ru waved her hands, trying to explain.

“I like that unique expression. I’ll write that then.”

“Why not angel…!”

“Angel is too much for my personality.”

Yu-na protested with puffed cheeks. But no means no.

After that came relatively easy questions.

My habits, interests, what I do in my free time, impressive books or movies I’ve seen, recent happy and sad events.

I answered each one carefully.

I hesitated briefly at the question asking who influenced me the most, but soon wrote down my dear mentor’s name.

[Maria Euphrasia Terraruby]

The last page, which we were told to complete alone, turned out to be nothing special.

Suggestions for friends, personal messages for the teacher, things to say to the academy, etc.

I quickly answered these bland questions and finished the survey.

“You’re not done yet?”

Yu-na was still struggling with the last page.

“But… but… this is too hard…”

“Why?”

“The third question from the bottom…”

[Who are the 3 friends you’re closest to in class?]

Yu-na collapsed on her desk with a deep sigh.

* * *

Jackie Carroll’s work continued long after the students went home.

She had just spent three hours grading a mountain of reports for the Magic Infusion performance assessment.

Of course, she could have finished in two hours if she hadn’t been watching VTube in between.

Parent-teacher conferences always began with the new school year. When one finished, another parent would be waiting.

‘Let’s see who’s next… Yu-na and Yohan.’

Scheduling these conferences at the beginning of the semester was truly troublesome.

Since parent-teacher conferences were mandatory at the academy, she had to somehow summon busy parents to the academy regardless of their circumstances.

She would explain exactly which areas their children excelled in based on aptitude assessments and briefly share her observations of their academy life.

Additionally, Jackie had conducted a survey among the students to understand how the class was functioning and what the children were thinking.

Although parent-teacher conferences had already been going for two days, she hadn’t yet compiled the survey results, so she placed the stack of papers on her desk, determined to complete the task today.

The survey contained various questions.

It started with simple questions like who their close friends were and what their current concerns were.

Jackie entered their responses into a data cell one by one, complaining about still having to process these things manually in this day and age.

The main concerns of Cephiron Academy students were grades (65%), followed by friendships, lack of free time, and family relationships.

Compiling the question about the three closest friends was more complicated.

Still, as she mechanically organized the data, dozens of arrows appeared on the screen.

The more arrows pointing to someone, the more central they were in the class.

‘Han Seo-ri’ naturally received the most arrows, with ‘Lee Ha-ru’ and ‘Kim Han-gyeol’ also showing significant numbers.

After examining what they wanted to hear from their parents, what they didn’t want to hear, their study habits, and suggestions for the academy, Teacher Jackie turned to the final question.

If there was a classmate whose behavior they wished would improve, who was it and why?

Typically, students popular with their own gender often received animosity from the opposite gender.

Proving this, Kim Han-gyeol was disliked by three girls for playing too many pranks.

Lee Ha-ru was criticized by four boys for nagging too much.

While these weren’t particularly concerning, she focused on another individual.

Yu-na, who received only two arrows from classmates, was disliked by more than half the class.

For showing off, being selfish, saying mean things, not helping with homework.

She had become isolated in Class A for various reasons.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Jackie re-examined Yu-na’s survey.

Now she noticed that when asked to name three close friends in class, Yu-na had written the same name in all three spaces.

[NoName / NoName / NoName]

The student who ranked first as the smartest in class, even ahead of Yoon Si-hoo.

Also voted as the classmate everyone wanted to befriend.

Jackie found NoName’s survey to compare and see who she had listed as friends.

[Seo Yu-na / Han Seo-ri / Yoon Si-hoo]

“Thankfully, NoName seems to be looking after her. But who’s the other person?”