EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school - Chapter 15

Translator: Hong | Editor: Darling, Aira

Often in a game, there exists a title hero and heroine that serve as the “faces” of the game.

Even in PMH with almost hundreds of playable characters and their different point of views are explored, the game has its title characters.

Title hero Joo Soohyuk and title heroine Ahn Dain.

Their poster where they were posed back to back with a dual sword and sniper gun respectively was the most famous poster from the game. 

They were the typical munchkin protagonists. 

In Eungwang High’s widely known elite selection process, these two were the two geniuses that had scored full scores in all three parts of the entrance exam which consisted of documentation approval, a written interview, and a practical test.

The two first met when they were both selected to represent the freshmen class, and from then, on they were constantly involved in friendly competition against one another. 

The two, who had fallen for each other at first sight, considered the other as their competition but gradually formed feelings for each other. 

But in a devastating storyline, their relationship couldn’t afford to grow.

In the second half of the final levels of the game. 

All the playable characters have died except Joo Soohyuk, Ahn Dain, and Baeokho-gun. 

One day before the final battle. 

Joo Soohyuk goes to Ahn Dain to confess his feelings. 

[Are you going to die? Don’t try to make this out as some weird cliche!]

Dain puts up a defensive wall and adds on.

[Don’t you dare confess to me before I do.]

The two didn’t discuss it any further, but both of them made a promise. 

To return back alive. 

But Joo Soohyuk dies while trying to save Ahn Dain, and Ahn Dain survived after defeating her opponent but eventually dies from a fatal injury.

After her light skill is undone, she looks to Joo Soohyuk who is mixed in with the corpse of the enemies. 

[Soohyuk-ah…I like you. Since the first day of school…during the times we fought side by side….I liked you, I like you….]

Ahn Dain used her last breath, squeezing out what was left of her to continue her confession. 

Of course, Joo Soohyuk made no reply and Ahn Dain eventually dies. 

The last scene was where Baekho-gun belatedly comes to join them and looks at the two dead title heroes.

And now. 

The two main characters Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain are standing as the freshman represents at the school entrance ceremony. 

“Oath. We freshmen who have been accepted to enter Eungwang Player Master High School will do our best to excel in our studies and focus on improving ourselves. We will respect the schools’ traditions and rules and follow them in its entirety.”

“Freshman represent Joo Soohyuk”

“Freshman represent Ahn Dain”

An overwhelming charisma exudes from the two geniuses.

The student entrance oath they read out together left a beautiful impression as it was heard from the sound system. 

It was just an entrance oath and yet it felt more like a short opera. 

‘It’s said that the two fell for each other at first sight, but it’s impossible to tell at all.’

The two exchanged glances after they finished reading the oath, but their eyes were full of tension. 

Even so, the atmosphere around them was not harsh. 

In fact, the atmosphere carried a sense of nobleness just like when there are two knights awaiting their battle. 

The Eungwang High main large hall, Sangin Hall, was more fitted to be expressed as a banquet hall than a school hall. 

The hall was filled up with two thousand students and staff, and hundreds of guests were seated on the second floor. 

Every single one of us was amazed and impressed by the charms of these two.

“They look like they’re living in another world.”

“The battle of the two geniuses….!”

“I was told that I was smart in middle school…but those two are on another level.”

“Nobody in Eungwang High did poorly in middle school okay…don’t even mention middle school it’s an embarrassment.”

“Hey isn’t the Nameless Supernova also a freshman this year? Wow, this year’s freshmen are on a roll.”

The very top of the 200 million Korean high school students. 

The place where the geniuses and talents of the nation came together. 

The attention to the best of the best was grand. 

‘Seems like I’m being mentioned as well.’

My name and title I acquired during the entrance exam as a part of Group 13 must’ve been known by people too.

Although my presence was buried by the attention focused on the main character. 

‘But that’s ok.”

I must really be an addict of the game for being excited at the sight of the two main characters and meeting them in real life. 

After their oath, Ahn Dain and Joo Soohyuk exited the stage via different stairs. 

The two of them didn’t look back at each other and returned to their seats. 

After that, the agenda of the entrance ceremony continued but most were still absorbed in the two geniuses and how they led the oath. 

‘I guess I should just look for my classmates.’

I sidelined the entrance ceremony and tried to look for the faces of those in class zero I had seen before, but none were to be found.

The entrance ceremony was optional and the freshmen were seated based on a first come first serve basis so it was difficult to distinguish who was allocated to which class.  

I didn’t know any of the freshmen surrounding me. 

‘Or it could be that I just couldn’t recognize them.’

The game centered around Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain. 

Sometimes the storyline was presented from a different point of view, like the professors or other political parties outside the school, but it always fell back to the two main characters to lead the main story. 

In the game, the introduction of the Class Zero characters began starting from the point where the two main characters met. 

‘I reviewed it but the Game Library did not contain the whole class log of those in Class Zero…it didn’t reflect the same number as the class size stated to be.’

Last December, ever since I had communicated with the transcendent universe, my “two-dimensional future transform object exclusive menu’ was leveled up from 1 to 2. 

The result of that was access to the Game Library.

The result of being passed out for 3 days was the games’ home settings.

‘I had sworn to myself for buying physical books, and now in the game…’

The Game Library was free of charge.

Of course, I only paid highly because I was a loser and a junkie for the PMH game. 

I did not regret my splurge but did beat myself up for my obsession with the game. 

‘It’s probably because of my obsession that the transcendent universe called me here.’

The entrance ceremony eventually came to an end and I was not able to locate even one classmate from Class Zero.

‘I guess I’ll just see them in class.”

I walked away from the entrance ceremony hall.

***

The entire Eungwang High campus was around 50 million pyeong. 

(T/N: A unit of measure of floorspace approximately equal to 3.3058 m²)

In the morning, classes were held in classrooms, but in the afternoon, for the free curriculums, the students needed their own means of transport. 

Eungwang High provides free bicycles and air boards for students and ran regular air shuttles and buses. 

The air boards were loved by many students as all you needed to do was to set the destination you wanted and it transported you there automatically.  

In other words, to prevent accidents in mid-air, it was impossible to manually drive the air boards on your own. 

For your own mode of manual transport, it requires you to go through a thorough round of interviews to be approved for limited usage. 

‘I actually wanted to ride this for a long time.’

I held onto the handle of the air board and flew into the air. 

I selected the Year One Class Zero classroom that appeared on the hologram map, and the automatic flight system beeped and maneuvered my ride.

‘It’s exactly like the game CG.’

Blue skies. 

The air shuttle and air boards cutting across the sky. 

The buildings fanned out below. 

Everything was outstanding and beautiful like the computer graphics of a game.

‘The buildings look even nicer from above.’

The central area is where the joint facilities of all students and teachers are concentrated such as the Student Association Hall, Student Council Hall, and General Club Hall.

It was even possible to see the white clock tower located at the main gates and look across the entire campus at a glance. 

All the varying designs of buildings and sculptures decorated the campus nicely. 

They all shined brightly like I had opened a chest full of treasure. 

‘The Silver Hall…!’

As the air board took me past the central area to the freshman area, I saw from afar the heart of Eungwang High, shining brilliantly in the distance.

I thought I would have gotten used to its grandeur since I had visited it once to meet the chairman, but no, it still amazed me and it was still the most graceful and beautiful building in Eungwang High. 

I wonder why Hwangho left the Silver Hall to be dyed and dirtied in blood. 

‘I had heard that Hwangho himself designed the Silver Hall.’

Did he not care even if his hard work was dirtied and broken?

While I was deep in thought, the air board slowly drifted further away from the Silver Hall. 

***

Eungwang High provided wearable earring-type devices as well. 

This was to avoid cases where students were not able to take part in curriculums due to outdated wearable devices or not owning one. 

I knew that we would be receiving one from school but went ahead and bought one on my own. 

‘GPS and messages may be exposed to the school so I had to be careful.’

As per the Personal Privacy Data Act, it is against the law for this information to be accessed publicly. 

But in the terms and conditions, students sign off that in the case of an emergency, they consent to allow the school to have access to their personal information. 

The exception ‘in case of emergency’ might mean ‘whenever I want’ if professors were like the people who held Saeum of April in the Hwanmong Auction. 

‘If I were ever to encounter an emergency as per my own definitions, the first thing I’d do is destroy the wearable device provided by the school.’

In one ear I wore my own and in the other, I wore the one provided by the school. 

I inserted the skin-colored wearable device and it was hard to distinguish it clearly. 

I wore the wearable earring and downsized the air board and returned it to my item window and headed to the classroom. 

The title hero Joo Soohyuk was in Class 1-2, while Ahn Dain was in Class 1-1.

Unlike the second and third years where they were ranked in classes based on their performance, the freshmen were allocated to average out the class ranking. 

For Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain who had similar performances, the person who decided to be enrolled in Class 1-1 was based on alphabetical order. 

Hence, Ahn Dain was put in 1-1 and Joo Soohyuk in 1-2.

‘Seeing the people gathered there, one side must be 1-1 and the other must be 1-2.’

Those who wanted to talk to the two main characters would be gathered there. 

I walked past the crowd and found the Class Zero Classroom. 

* * *

Class Zero Classroom.

Perhaps I had arrived a bit late, the professor entered as soon as I sat down.

The professor wrote his own name on the whiteboard. 

‘Ham Geunhyung.’

He was one of the playable characters and the head of the student department.

In Eungwang High where freedom is highly valued, the role of the student department head was not given to those who were strict and emphasized excessively on manners.

Ham Geunhyung was witty, understanding, and capable of dealing with emergencies flexibly. 

He was like a wolf in sheep’s clothing so I remember him distinctively from the game. 

“I am Ham Geunhyung, I will be your homeroom teacher for one year. I am also the student department head this year so I may not be around all the time.”

In ordinary high schools, it was rare for a busy student manager to be appointed to his or her own homeroom class.

But in Eungwang High, taking into consideration the special case of Class Zero, they appointed a rather senior member of the staff to be in charge of this class. 

Just like how the second-year class zero form teacher was the school affairs department head, Jegal. 

And the third-year class zero class form teacher was the head of the research department. 

“No one has applied for the role of the co-homeroom teacher yet so it is vacant for now. Once it’s decided I will let you know. But….”

There was a frown line in the middle of Ham Geun Hyeong’s forehead. 

“Never have I met kids like you.”

What Ham Geunhyung just said was a fact. 

There were at least 500 freshmen in Eungwang High each year, yet there was no way that he had met all sorts of students before. 

“This is too much.”

I agreed with his statement. 

In my entire school experience, I had never encountered an experience like this. 

“To think that the attendance rate is half of half of the class size.”

Four. 

Including me, this was the number of present students in Class Zero. 

Our total number was 16.

This was probably the only class that had a 25% attendance rate on the first day of school. 

“Today we will decide on who will be the class president and vice president before dismissal. I will decide on the class motto.”

The motto of Class Zero 1-0. 

‘Come to school on time.’

The boldly written words were displayed on the hologram panel of the electric whiteboard. 

The motto felt rather odd, but Ham Geunhyung seemed serious about it. 

“Those who want to be the class representative, raise your hand.”

Aside from me, three other people were present 

Two females and one male.

‘Let’s observe and see first…’

One of the females was Kim Yuri, a playable character. 

The other was a non-playable character Hani.

I remembered seeing both of them in the game. 

As for the male student…

I couldn’t help but express my shock and mutter out loud.

“…Chairman?”

I had said it very quietly but the male student turned my way and glared at me. 

‘Oh, I’m doomed.’

I must have relaxed after being carried away in the good mood of the entrance ceremony. 

What I had just muttered might be the dumbest move I’ve made since I came to this world. 

I tried my best to overcome this crisis. 

But nothing came to mind. 

Because there seemed to be no way out of this. 

My head was full of panic and chaos. 

Just then, the speaker alarm rang in the classroom. 

DING DONG DANG DONG-

— Jo Eushin and Hwang Jiho of Class 1-0, please report immediately to the Chairman’s office. I repeat, Jo Eushin and Hwang Jiho of class 1-0, these students are to report immediately to the Chairman’s office. That is all.

“We’ll go to the Chairman’s office, Professor Ham Geunhyung.”

Chairman Hwang Myeongho… no, the student Hwang Jiho took a hold of my arm and dragged me out of class. 

I knew I was smaller and lighter than my adult self, but he carried me  so swiftly as though I was a balloon. 

Just before the classroom door shut, I heard Ham Geunhyung’s voice accompanied with sighs. 

“…..to have such poor attendance on the first day of school.”

The doors closed and the attendance of Class 1-0 went down from 25% to 12.5%.