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[Chapter 123]
[The Value of That Name (3)]
A golden brooch engraved with the letters 'T.O' in the center.
The brooch pinned to the black blazer uniform easily caught students' eyes.
They could also tell that those wearing the brooch were under No Eun-ha's protection.
In other words, touch them and you die.
"Wearing this brooch definitely makes me feel like people's attitudes towards me have changed a bit. Before, there were people who would speak down to me even though we're the same age."
"I don't feel like much has changed whether I wear it or not."
"Su-bin, you..."
It was dinner time.
Eun-ha decided to have dinner all together with friends after a long time.
Friends waiting at the meeting place were all wearing brooches.
According to Min-ji, the brooch's threat seemed to have worked properly on students.
Though for students like Bae Su-bin whose skills were already verified, there didn't seem to be much difference in people's treatment whether they wore the brooch or not.
"I feel like things have changed a lot since that day. But I wonder if you guys are having a hard time because of me... I'm really sorry. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had to make brooches..."
"Are you saying that again? I told you there's no need to apologize for anything, right?"
"...Yes, thank you, Min-ji."
Yoon I-byeol who was depressed for a moment.
She shrank when scolded by Min-ji.
Eun-ha felt relieved seeing Min-ji take good care of Yoon I-byeol.
It was also what Eun-ha had asked, but Min-ji had been sticking close to Yoon I-byeol often since the incident that occurred recently.
Ariel was the same.
"But boss, I've been curious since before, what does the 'T.O' written on the brooch stand for? Kids were asking earlier but I didn't know either..."
As they got closer to the cafeteria, students started coming into view.
Students who were conversing among themselves stopped talking when they discovered Eun-ha and friends walking with him at the center.
Students' gazes examined them, moving to the golden brooches that stood out most on the black blazers.
Friends now accustomed to students' gazes walked as if not feeling the gazes.
Yoon I-byeol still didn't seem used to it, but the day would come when she gets used to it someday.
"It stands for Thirty One, meaning 31. I was going to make it just numbers at first, but there's 031st grade and 31st grade, so it seemed like it could create controversy. So I used English."
"Ah, I see. I thought it might be what's used when sending a letter to someone when kids said the meaning of 'T.O' isn't it. In the sense that people who get the brooch can meet the boss..."
"Oh geez, you dummy. That doesn't have a dot in the middle. It's 'To' not 'T.O'."
Meanwhile, Eun-hyuk and Seo-na were conversing behind them.
Some friends joined in their conversation.
Eun-ha was about to enter the student cafeteria while giggling at the sounds he heard.
Just then.
"─Lee Cheon-seo come out!!"
""""...""""
Someone suddenly shouted from behind.
Eun-ha's steps stopped there, and friends following him naturally stopped walking too.
Looks like Seo-na handled things well.
Eun-ha let go of the doorknob he was holding.
Looking back, a male student carrying a huge shield was walking towards them.
It was with an air as if he could fight right away.
Eun-ha looked with interested eyes at the student who was receiving people's gazes while preparing his internal mana.
Then he spoke to Lee Cheon-seo who was pretending not to hear on purpose.
"Lee Cheon-seo, he's calling you."
"Ah... I'm not feeling well now, can we do it next time?"
"That's up to you, but you know the academy rules that you can't refuse if a duel request comes in, right? You'll have to fight in the end."
"Tch... I'll just do it now."
So that friends' skills can be proven.
And so they can be trained.
Eun-ha introduced a game where students could duel with brooches at stake.
At first, there were many students who knew nothing about duels, and many students who were passive about dueling.
But after Seo-na and friends promoted on EFA, students requesting duels started appearing one by one.
By academy rules, students who received duel proposals through procedures couldn't refuse duel requests for the most part.
Eun-ha's friends were no exception.
"But why do these guys always want to duel me when Si-hyeong is here too..."
The Guardian duel format where the person who lasts longest alternating attacker and defense roles wins.
Cheon-seo who received duel requests whenever there was a gap since students learned about duels grumbled as if displeased.
But it couldn't be helped.
Students trying to take brooches weren't thinking of taking down already verified students, but students who weren't properly verified.
Kang Si-hyeong who had shown a lot of activity was positioned above Lee Cheon-seo in students' value judgments.
"Cheon-seo will have a hard time. Besides Cheon-seo, who else has received duel requests so far?"
"Lee Cheon-seo has the most. Other kids have mostly received once or twice, and the ones who've received a lot are probably Gu-rae and Ariel?"
"What about I-byeol?"
"I, I've had just once... It was a duel competing on memorization ability."
Eun-woo's explanation.
Eun-ha nodded his head.
Whether duels aren't activated yet or friends' skills are verified so they're not requesting duels.
For now, it seemed no one besides Lee Cheon-seo had dueled much.
"...Kuk! This, shit...!"
Meanwhile, Lee Cheon-seo is struggling.
Eun-ha quietly marveled at the unexpectedly advantageous student's skills.
But soon lost interest and turned away.
That lazy one needs to be fixed even like that.
Where are you trying to just suck honey? Of course you have to show that much results too.
In just 1 year.
The gap between Kang Si-hyeong and Lee Cheon-seo widened considerably.
It's because Lee Cheon-seo neglected training.
Honestly, Eun-ha couldn't believe he used the alias
He inwardly thought.
I hope he didn't just try to suck honey before regression too?
But he seems to have some talent.
Eun-ha decided to watch him while finding him unsatisfactory.
Though he thought it many times, there was no suitable guardian.
For now, Kang Si-hyeong barely met his standards.
His quality of drawing aggro seemed better than
"Ha-yang."
"Hm? What?"
He entered the student cafeteria leaving Lee Cheon-seo behind.
Though Lee Cheon-seo fell far short of expectations, he couldn't leave other friends alone either.
Eun-ha who thought of that spoke to Jung Ha-yang walking right beside him matching his pace.
Ha-yang turned her head.
"Though it seems people accept it now since it's the early stages and duel contents aren't difficult, duel difficulty will gradually increase as time passes."
"Yes."
"I'm not worried about you guys, but the kids who just entered this time might find it difficult."
Eun-ha glanced at Yoon I-byeol chatting with Kim Min-ji behind him.
A girl with outstanding talent, but who hasn't bloomed her talent yet.
Academy students still didn't know what an amazing navigator she would grow into.
So we show that to students.
That Yoon I-byeol deserves special treatment.
"Since you're a navigator, you should be able to help that I-byeol kid who's also aiming to be a navigator."
"Hmm... okay. I'll do that."
Jung Ha-yang,
So Eun-ha asked Ha-yang.
Fortunately, Ha-yang readily agreed.
Then she tilted her head.
"But Eun-ha. What happened with the volunteer activity starting next month?"
"I discussed with Seo-young noona and decided to make groups of about 30 people to clean dungeons. I decided to participate every month, and you guys can participate in turns."
Eun-ha sighed.
He felt overwhelmed thinking about cleaning dungeons every month from now on.
They say the academy dungeon changed greatly in ecology after transforming last year.
Though it was conquered again after that, he who had never visited the transformed dungeon would have a hard time not knowing the geography.
Moreover, having to take care of kids too...
Forcibly dragging in Seo-young noona too, it's obvious this noona will nag...
I'm not sure if it was a good choice.
They say power comes with duty, but.
Eun-ha's honest feelings were that he wanted to covet power without duty.
But he was conscious of his friends' eyes.
Especially─.
"─Why?"
"...Just. Thinking about cleaning dungeons every month makes me feel overwhelmed..."
"I can help every month too."
"Where do you have time for that? You're already dying from the tasks Player Yoon Seong-jin gave..."
"No. I'll be able to make time."
"I'm grateful just for your words. You do as you've been doing. Don't overdo it unnecessarily."
Jung Ha-yang smiles brightly.
Eun-ha chuckled and replied.
No Eun-ha who had become conscious of her eyes at some point.
☆
No Eun-ha's group's golden brooch.
Students were buzzing with talk that they could get brooches if they beat No Eun-ha's group students in duels.
In a way, it could be said they could obtain qualifications to enter No Eun-ha's group.
And some of them learned what they lacked through duels.
"This is wrong. What is the academy thinking giving special treatment to No Eun-ha's guys?"
Of course, there was some backlash among students.
It was why the academy gives special treatment to No Eun-ha's group and tries to encourage discrimination.
On Tae-yang agreed too.
He turned his body abruptly after seeing Choi Eun-hyuk win a duel with a brooch at stake in the training hall.
"Isn't this them officially revealing they have a chosen people mentality? Our father too... no, how can they do this when all people are equal!"
On Tae-yang grumbled.
A-ra would surely have the same opinion as himself.
He decided to meet her and pour out all his complaints.
Surely a good solution could come to mind if he did that.
No Eun-ha, Mok Min-ho too...
Those guys who encourage discrimination and flaunt their skills are dangerous bastards.
We can't let the academy fall into those guys' hands like this.
The vicious cycle must be broken.
The only person who can break that cycle would be himself who recognizes they are wrong.
"Cha Eun-woo too, Yoon I-byeol too... Surely other kids are being used by No Eun-ha too."
Students belonging to No Eun-ha's group probably don't know No Eun-ha's true nature.
The only person who knows that is himself who glimpsed his true nature in front of the faculty office.
Therefore, he must do it.
Then─.
─I have no choice but to become stronger.
Though I don't like that the academy emphasizes meritocracy, that's the only way I can oppose No Eun-ha.
On Tae-yang firmly resolved.
It's frustrating, but duels with golden brooches at stake were settling as one culture in the academy now.
Therefore, the only way to end a culture already flourishing was to take down No Eun-ha.
Take down No Eun-ha and liberate students from the shackles of unhappiness.
Ironically, that was no different from saying he would punish skill with skill─.
"─When I take down No Eun-ha, students being deceived by No Eun-ha and academy students will be grateful to me."
On Tae-yang imagined.
The scene of all people in the academy praising him on the day No Eun-ha's dictatorship disappears.
But where a dictator disappears, another dictator appears.
A revolutionary who gains power will eventually become a dictator.
☆
No Eun-ha's group's golden brooch.
It was a controversial situation in many aspects at the academy.
Some even voiced complaints asking if it's okay to discriminate against students even if it's an academy that emphasizes meritocracy.
Jo A-ra also envied the special treatment, while thinking negatively on the other hand.
"Why do I have to find this. I clearly said I wouldn't accept it, so why am I doing as told."
But there's a saying that if you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight.
Students wearing brooches had to keep proving their strength.
In a way, it could be seen as selecting outstanding students for each position.
On EveryFine, they even called them the 'Golden Grade'.
"They definitely said it was the workshop on the lowest underground floor..."
Moreover, they agreed to not mind doing hard work by cleaning the academy dungeon every month as much as they receive treatment.
She thought it was unexpected too.
Because No Eun-ha's group On Tae-yang talks about didn't seem like they would do that at all, recalling the incident where No Eun-ha protected Yoon I-byeol and declared not to touch his people this time.
Actually... it was kind of cool.
Though Tae-yang is cooler.
Jo A-ra who recalled the video of No Eun-ha declaring on EveryFine nodded her head.
She had to acknowledge what should be acknowledged.
"Ah, is it that place over there? But why is there so much dust piled up here?"
A building where students aiming for non-combat fields work.
Jo A-ra who came down to the lowest floor of the building frowned discovering the workshop beyond luggage piled with dust.
She couldn't understand how they could work in a place like this.
Maybe that's why this workshop wasn't being used.
"What am I really doing... Tae-yang will get angry if he knows..."
A-ra who painfully opened the workshop door kept complaining.
Recently, she who received No Eun-ha's number somehow ended up contacting him occasionally.
It was inevitable too.
Though she withdrew from the cultural exploration club, she kept asking Eun-woo and Seo-na about things she was curious about in academy life.
Since I have overlapping classes with Su-bin and overlapping ones with I-byeol too...
It's inevitable to have a smooth academy life.
And those guys... are kind.
Though Tae-yang's relationship with them is bad.
She didn't think she had to have a bad relationship with them too just because of that.
But since he would get angry if he found out, she was meeting them avoiding his eyes.
She pretended not to know when meeting No Eun-ha, and contacted carefully by text.
「No Eun-ha」: There should be a safe there (8:46 PM)
It's the chat log from the previous day with Eun-ha.
She searched the workshop while carefully reading from the top.
She could only find the safe Eun-ha mentioned after getting dust all over her ivory hair.
It feels just like filming a spy movie.
She fiddled with the safe lock while checking Fine Talk again.
Soon the safe opened.
"Ugh... Tae-yang will get angry if he knows?"
She knew what was inside the safe because she contacted Eun-ha the previous day.
She groaned seeing the brooch placed in the safe.
"No Eun-ha": If you have a warm sun personality, you probably won't receive it, so keep it. (09:01 PM)
「Me」: Even if I have it, I probably won't use it? I don't need it??? (9:03 PM)
「No Eun-ha」: I'm not saying you should wear it too
Use it when problems arise for you guys (9:04 PM)
Why No Eun-ha was being so considerate of them like this.
Jo A-ra couldn't understand.
Even though she thought On Tae-yang was treating him too harshly, he was consistently kind.
Tae-yang is a bit childish...
No Eun-ha feels more mature?
Though she couldn't understand the reason.
Still, it was nice to be taken care of.
Jo A-ra soon took the brooch from the safe.
"I'll have to keep this a secret from Tae-yang. Hmph! I'm only taking it because I have no choice. Just so you know."
Jo A-ra making a hmph sound.
Then she tried pinning the golden brooch to her uniform as a test.
She switches her smartphone camera so she appears on the screen.
"Hmm... not bad."
It wouldn't be bad to secretly wear it where people can't see.
Since she couldn't send it to On Tae-yang.
Jo A-ra took a picture of herself and sent a Fine Talk to Eun-ha.
It was the first time she sent a message first.
「Me」: Ta-da! I'll use it well! (3:23 PM)
☆
It's lunchtime.
I-byeol looked for a mirror before going to meet friends who said they secured seats first.
Yoon I-byeol standing in front of the bathroom sink examined her appearance this way and that.
"...It's okay."
She's meeting friends for the first time after the weekend.
She gently touched the brooch pinned to her uniform one last time and psyched herself up quietly.
I think I met good friends.
I think I met a good person...
She who was awkward dealing with people after being caught up in false rumors in middle school became even more awkward dealing with people.
Becoming close with someone sometimes felt scary.
It was like that now too.
She was worried students passing by might mock her like last time.
"...It's okay."
But it's okay now.
Yoon I-byeol repeated to herself and touched the brooch when anxious.
She decided to quickly go meet her friends.
Will they notice I cut my hair?
Do I look weird wearing contacts?
Are they laughing because I look ugly putting on makeup after a long time?
The anxiety doesn't disappear.
Nevertheless, she calmed her heart recalling 'his' words that she could do anything.
Now she's in front of the student cafeteria.
She who took a deep breath received her menu and headed upstairs receiving students' gazes.
Finding friends wasn't difficult.
They were in the seats they always gathered at.
"H-hey, guys, hello!"
Friends were conversing.
I-byeol carefully approached them and awkwardly raised her voice.
""""...""""
The conversation cut off abruptly.
Surprise seemed to appear on friends' faces.
Soon─.
"─Did you cut your hair on the weekend? You really cut it well. It's pretty."
Min-ji gave words of praise.
Starting with her praise, friends sitting there expressed compliments.
Yoon I-byeol who gained momentum from friends' praise decided to be bold now.
A very small courage─.
"─E-Eun-ha, how is it?"
""""...""""
─creates a turning point in life.
Yoon I-byeol suppressed her pounding heart and waited for Eun-ha's answer.
He who was blankly staring at her soon burst into a faint smile.
"It's pretty. Now you really look like Yoon I-byeol and I like it. The bob cut suits you well too."
Though she couldn't understand half of what he meant.
Yoon I-byeol felt like she could fly hearing directly from Eun-ha's mouth that she was pretty.
"U-um! Thank you!"
A very small courage brings happiness.
Yoon I-byeol sat as close to No Eun-ha as possible and smiled.
"H-Ha-yang... The fork is bent."
"...Ah... It is? Seo-na, why is the fork bent?"
I met good friends.
I met a good 'person'.
So, I won't live the same life as back then anymore.