Chapter 7: Now as a student

Life after that incident was so simple that it was difficult to express in prose.

Even though it’s been quite some time since I entered elementary school, life has been regular.

Eat breakfast and study, eat lunch and exercise, eat dinner and study.

That’s all.

It’s surprisingly the same as my daily life before Alice came. It was so similar that it didn’t take much time to get used to it again.

So I had no complaints. It’s just that a girl who used to cling to me annoyingly disappeared.

That’s all…

“Maru.”

While studying in the library, the vice-principal called me.

Her expression has brightened considerably since the incident. Probably because the orphanage building was newly built, and the financial burden was reduced.

It was a strange feeling to think that all of this was thanks to Alice.

“Yes?”

“The culprit, I heard she’ll have a hard time getting out of prison for the rest of her life.”

Since I had lost interest in the arsonist after the incident, this was the first time I learned about her treatment.

Or maybe the vice-principal was being considerate of me and deliberately didn’t say anything until now.

Because she was a repeat offender, committed a crime against the socially vulnerable, and Sungkwang Enterprise’s influence was added, the culprit was sentenced to more imprisonment than imagined.

Considering her age, she will never see the light of the world again while she is alive.

“That’s good.”

“Alice…”

“I’m fine.”

“……”

“I’m fine. I’m a little annoyed that she left without saying goodbye, but it doesn’t really matter.”

“Alice sent a letter.”

Hearing those words, the composure I had barely maintained was broken.

It was time to slowly forget her scent. But when something related to her came to me, my heart pounded.

“It’s been years, she could have come in person.”

“Well… after the adoption, she has to contact the orphanage regularly, right? I heard from the personal assistant that she’s really busy.”

‘And because the chairman herself doesn’t like Alice setting foot in the orphanage again.’

The vice-principal swallowed this thought. Because it’s a remark that Kim Maru doesn’t need to hear.

“It’s also addressed to some of the orphanage teachers, but the one about you is the longest. Would you like to see it?”

“Now… no.”

Even now, I don’t know why I refused the vice-principal’s suggestion at this time.

Did I want to forget about Alice quickly?

Just like disposing of all the items related to a broken-up ex-lover, I also wanted to escape from her traces.

Come to think of it, this kind of breakup was the first time I’ve experienced it in my past life and this life.

No matter how much I searched my memory, I had never experienced a sudden breakup with a partner with whom I had formed a deep relationship in such a short period of time.

When I coldly refused to see the letter, the vice-principal hesitated for a moment.

Seeing her hesitating, I eventually opened my mouth carefully.

“Just leave it there. I’ll read it someday. But now…”

The vice-principal left the letter near the door and left the room.

I opened the middle school math workbook again and focused on studying. I liked it when I was concentrating on my studies because I didn’t have any miscellaneous thoughts.

However, my stomach made a growling sound asking for energy, and my concentration was quickly broken.

‘I think I’m getting hungry more often these days.’

Because of my first growth spurt, my body demanded a lot of food. I got up from my seat and headed to the dining hall. I was thinking of grabbing a snack if there was one.

The dining hall was very different from the one before the fire. Because it was the subject of a major reconstruction project under the name of Sungkwang, the interior was much more luxurious and the quality of the food was also higher.

At least I didn’t have to replace a meal with steamed potatoes like before. Nevertheless, I sometimes ate steamed potatoes.

When I arrived at the dining hall, there was a guest first.

The previous madam gang… those three girls were sitting together and eating snacks. They were startled when they saw me entering the dining hall.

I didn’t pay attention to them and put the fried rice displayed like a buffet on a plate, sat down, and started eating.

They also lost interest in me and started a conversation, but the content of the conversation was annoying.

“I think the only good thing that arsonist left behind is this dining hall.”

“Well, the food has become tastier than before.”

“It’s thanks to that Alice. Still, isn’t it great for her? She was adopted by a rich lady.”

Something exploded in my head at the madam’s words. I got up roughly from my seat.

The sound of the chair was loud, so they looked at me with embarrassed eyes.

I approached them and retorted fiercely.

“What about Alice? Living the good life?”

“Wh, what suddenly.”

The madam avoided my approaching gaze and stuttered. She would have retorted roughly if it were the same as before, but now she can’t even look at my face.

“What, is my face that disgusting? I think your words are more disgusting.”

“No, that…! Anyway! Don’t come!”

Her face turned red like a tomato, and she ran out of the dining hall. I glared at the back of the madam who ran away, and then changed the target I was glaring at.

This time, I glared at the two minions.

Despite my glaring, the two of them stared blankly at my face as if they were on drugs, and then ran away in surprise. Their earlobes were bright red.

‘What’s wrong with them. Are they all messing with me?’

I gnashed my teeth, sat back down, and resumed eating. I quickly finished my meal with angry spoonfuls.

After finishing the meal, I sat at the table for a while and closed my eyes.

‘…What should I do with the letter.’

I wanted to get away from her traces, so I refused to read it right away, but in the end, people inevitably have lingering feelings.

Is Alice waiting for a reply? Then should I read the letter?

But what if the content of the letter is negative?

The breakup between the two of us was so bad that it couldn’t be viewed positively no matter how positively I looked at it.

It seems better to read it when I have organized my feelings to some extent.

‘I’ll go to Hakdo. If it’s like the webtoon.’

And if she hasn’t reformed, she will become a great evil in Hakdo and make many students suffer. And a righteous female student named Kim Noeul will revolt.

Is it right to leave Alice like this?

She left me for my hospital bills and the future of the orphanage. But she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay by my side.

‘I still want to go to Hakdo and talk to Alice again.’

My feelings for Alice changed to longing over time.

Whether I pour out curses when I meet her or cry saying I missed her, I just wanted to see that pure white face again, even if it was just once.

‘But my hometown is not eligible for admission to Hakdo.’

Just as high school assignments in the original world were based on lottery based on hometown, not everyone can enter Hakdo.

There are numerous high schools in Hakdo and various admission criteria.

The one I can aim for is in the end…

‘Academically outstanding student.’

Fortunately, I’m already familiar with the secondary content due to the reincarnation buff, so I decided to go crazy about studying this life.

Since it’s a gender-reversed world, the most mundane way for a man to succeed is to study.

After making that resolution and concentrating on my studies, time flew by again.

Before I knew it, I was having my middle school graduation ceremony.

“Maru, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

I answered the homeroom teacher’s words concisely. She patted me on the shoulder and encouraged me.

“It’s a miracle that a student like you came out of my class. And you received unprecedented grades in the history of the school…”

‘If I’ve been studying middle and high school curriculum since I was a child, it’s rather strange if I can’t even do this.’

[Next, there will be a farewell address by the graduating student representative, Kim Maru.]

“Now, go to the podium.”

I took a step and walked to the center of the podium. While walking, I felt the numerous gazes that were fixed on me.

There were kind gazes from the teachers, and from the students… I don’t know. How do I look to you?

I stood in the center and tapped the microphone slightly. And when I looked around, I saw the orphanage principal and vice-principal taking pictures of me in the distance.

“I’m Kim Maru, the graduating student representative.”

I started with a light greeting and ended with encouraging the juniors in a mundane way. I practiced countless times while looking in the mirror at the orphanage, so there wasn’t a single mistake.

After the graduation ceremony, the principal and vice-principal approached me.

“I can’t believe this day has come for us… It’s like a dream, Principal.”

“That’s right. Isn’t he the best output of Haetsal Orphanage?”

“…What output is a middle school graduate.”

I sighed and suppressed the fuss of the two women. The principal looked around and handed me the file she was holding in her armpit.

“What is this?”

When I received it and asked, the vice-principal answered instead.

“It’s a Hakdo transfer application. To summarize briefly, transfer students can start Hakdo life from the second year, and before that, they evaluate their school life for one year at a school outside of Hakdo”

In short, if you want to be a transfer student in Hakdo from the second year, you have to spend a year well outside.

“It’s normally a competitive screening process, but I thought there would be no problem with your grades, Maru.”

“Thank you. I’ll have to work harder for another year.”

“Then are you going to play after transferring to Hakdo?”

“It’s not that.”

‘Rather, I have to run really hard from then on.’

After the conversation, I left the school building and was walking on the playground when a female student approached me.

It was a person I couldn’t help but know well because we were in the same class for the past year. I was the class president, and the girl in front of me was the vice-president.

“H, hey Maru! Can you spare some time?”

She fidgeted, fiddling with the hair that had fallen on her chest. She seemed determined to make a resolution. When I looked at the two teachers, they made strange expressions and left the playground first.

“It’s youth~.”

“It’s youth.”

“Go quickly.”

At the two teachers’ teasing, the vice-president’s face turned even redder.

The vice-president led me to a flower bed behind the school, saying to go to a secluded place. In fact, at this point, I could guess what she was going to say.

‘She’s been sending signals for a year, there’s no way I wouldn’t know.’

I just had to intentionally ignore those signals because the goal in front of me was too big.

The vice-president’s face looks particularly clearer today.

Her long, straight hair fluttering in the wind gives off a subtle scent of shampoo.

Her large eyes emphasize the freshness of a middle school student.

“…Maru.”

“Yeah.”

“I like you. I won’t say much. Can you keep in touch with me even after going to high school?”

Surprisingly, she confessed like a woman without stuttering and clearly. And my answer was already decided.

“I’m sorry.”

“…Ah.”

“I don’t think I can waste time on dating, now or in the future.”

“R, right. You were always working hard.”

The two of us closed our mouths. The first to speak was the vice-president.

“I liked that hard-working side of yours.”

“Thank you.”

“You know what? There are still quite a few girls who want to talk to you today besides me?”

“What?”

‘I didn’t know that.’

Only after hearing her words did I realize that there were quite a few girls looking at me from around.

‘When did they follow me?’

“Actually, I thought I would fail, but I still wanted to convey my feelings.”

“You’re brave. With that courage, you’ll meet a better man than me.”

“…Maybe.”

She turned around with a depressed expression. It’s worse to comfort her unnecessarily here. I sighed and stood in place until she disappeared from my sight.

Eventually, as the vice-president said, I was freed only after repelling the girls who came to me one by one and confessed their feelings.

‘Damn it, everyone is trying to stab me because it’s graduation.’

At least I should know them to worry about it, but even girls I don’t know at all confessed, so the stress was not small.

Is this why the beauties of the previous life were twisted?

I took out a small hand mirror from my bag and looked at my face.

A male orphanage teacher gave me the mirror as a middle school entrance gift, saying that men should take care of their appearance from now on.

Because of the memories of my previous life, I felt uncomfortable with a man carrying a hand mirror, but now I’m just used to it.

That doesn’t mean I’m doing full-fledged grooming like eyelash management or skin brushes like other men, it’s just for removing eye boogers.

My familiar face is reflected in the mirror. I didn’t know when I was young, but after entering middle school, I learned about the value of my appearance.

‘I don’t know if this will be helpful or poisonous.’

I put the mirror away and looked at the news articles on my phone.

[Chairman Lee Jaeyeon’s child is from Hakdo. What kind of place is Hakdo…]

[Controversy over killer questions in the Hakdo self-mock test. It surpasses the level of the evaluation institute…]

[Most of the winners of the National Sports Festival are high school students from Hakdo…]

I have never lost interest in Hakdo for a single day. I clicked on Chairman Lee Jaeyeon’s article and skimmed through the text.

I saw a picture of Chairman Lee Jaeyeon that I vaguely saw in the hospital. Unfortunately, there was no picture of Alice.

‘Alice entered Hakdo a year earlier because she’s a year older than me.’

“Maru, so were there any girls you liked?”

The vice-principal was behind me because I didn’t come until late.

“I just refused them all.”

“Really? Dating as a student is also a precious experience… Because it’s a feeling you can never feel after becoming an adult.”

“…I’m not interested.”

My only interest is Hakdo.

Probably around this time next year, I’ll be in the dormitory of Hakdo.

What I have to do in Hakdo was clear.

Grasp Alice’s movements.

And meet and talk again, even if it’s just once.

She left the orphanage of her own will, but it was because the situation forced her to.

But if I meet her and she has become a villain like in the original…

I wanted to change her. I wanted to return her to the Alice I knew.