Chapter 16: skipping a grade(3).

A tall figure, sharp features, bangs that slightly cover his eyebrows.

He gave off an air of decadence.

He had black hair and dark eyes, rare among Ineungnyeokja.

However, a strange redness lingered within.

Various silver rings stood out on all of his fingers except his pinky.

Handsome.

Annoyingly so.

He was frustrated by how many handsome men surrounded him, from Jo Namyeon to this new arrival.

Jo Namyeon was a soft, gentle beauty of a lighter shade, but this man exuded a dark aura.

Chayeon, who’d often been called manly but never handsome before becoming a woman, resented these good-looking guys who kept popping up.

Now that he thought about it, Jindal had a lot of attractive people.

Not just the man in front of him, but also Teacher Seohee and Director Lee Yeonkyung were stunningly beautiful. Even Arena, currently hospitalized, was very pretty despite her unusual personality.

‘Do they pick people based on their looks?’

Or maybe receiving an Ineungnyeok made people become good-looking? Thinking of his own transformed appearance, it seemed plausible.

“Is this the child?”

“Yes. This is Ms. Chayeon, who will be advancing along with Jiho-kun. Is this your first time meeting her, despite being in the same grade?” Joo Jiho scanned Chayeon from head to toe.

His gaze felt unpleasant.

“Yes, it’s my first time.”

“I suppose it’s because we’re in different classes.”

Joo Jiho placed a hand on his knee and extended his hand towards Chayeon.

Despite bending, his head was still higher than Chayeon’s.

“I’m Joo Jiho. Nice to meet you.”

Chayeon wordlessly shook his hand.

“As exceptional colleagues who advanced together, let’s get along well. You may return now. Teacher Jung, please remain for a moment.”

No sooner than Yeonkyung had finished speaking than the secretary who had been waiting outside entered and escorted the two out.

Just before leaving, Heukgu’s voice reached Chayeon’s mind.

[I was going to head back with Chayeon, but I got caught. See you later.]

Unable to reply aloud, Chayeon simply nodded.

As Chayeon, who had left the education building, was about to turn back, Joo Jiho called out to him from behind.

“Chayeon, was it? We’re going to be sharing joys and sorrows as classmates, so don’t be so cold.”

He’d wanted to quietly slip away, but…

“Hey, why are you using casual speech when we’ve just met?” Joo Jiho paused, “Hmm?” at Chayeon’s sharp words, then looked down at Chayeon.

He didn’t seem to realize what he’d done wrong.

Judging by appearance, Joo Jiho wasn’t a teenager.

He was at least in his twenties – a rare age among the predominantly teenaged first-years.

“You’re more temperamental than you look. It doesn’t matter since it’s clear I’m older.”

“Whether you’re older or whatever, it’s still rude to start using casual speech without permission when we’ve just met, you crazy bastard.”

Joo Jiho’s eyes widened at Chayeon’s words. “An adult? You’re an adult? In that body?”

“Yeah, so what.”

“Then there wouldn’t be any ethical problem, would there?”

Joo Jiho grinned.

Chayeon didn’t know what he meant by there being no ethical problem, but he felt bad about his insidious smile. It was very insidious, and it was even more unpleasant because his good looks gave off an air of decadence.

“And you’re also using casual speech, aren’t you? Since we’re already being informal, let’s just keep going like this.”

Joo Jiho held out something: a smartphone.

“What.”

“Give me your number.”

Chayeon had become used to people asking for his number since becoming a woman and entering the academy.

And used to refusing.

“Get lost.”

There was no way he would give his number to a guy, being a guy himself.

Chayeon turned to leave, but Joo Jiho stuck close behind him.

“It would be convenient to have each other’s contact information as fellow students.”

“I have no intention of contacting someone as insidious as you.”

“You’re really temperamental. Just give me your number.”

The smartphone was thrust in front of Chayeon’s eyes.

He was a persistent bastard. Chayeon decided to use the misunderstanding that Arena had held the other day.

“Hey, let me tell you one thing.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a man.”

It was half true and half a lie. His body was female, but his mind was male.

Joo Jiho’s sharp eyes widened greatly. He’d been suffering from ptosis, judging by the slight wrinkles that formed on his forehead as his eyes opened.

“Pfft, you’re funny. Are you that desperate to avoid giving me your number?”

“I’m serious, so get lost.”

“A man, huh… I’d like to see that with my own eyes.” Joo Jiho’s gaze, reminiscent of a reptile, scanned Chayeon’s body.

“You crazy bastard.”

Was this guy in the same league as Arena?

Fortunately, Joo Jiho didn’t rush towards Chayeon.

“Alright. Let’s get to know each other slowly from now on.” Joo Jiho cheerfully backed off, then turned and began to walk away.

“F*ck off.” Chayeon raised his middle finger at his retreating back.

Jo Namyeon was annoying enough.

He had no intention of getting close to someone as unlikeable as him.

The room, which he hadn’t seen in 9 days, felt somehow unfamiliar.

He could see dust had settled on it, just from being gone for a few days.

“I should clean first. Hey, are you still sleeping?”

<<…>>

Just in case, he called out to Heukgu, but there was still no reply.

Whatever.

After lightly sweeping and wiping, Chayeon sat on the bed and looked at the papers he’d received earlier.

There were general documents about the operation of the advancement system and the curriculum, and also documents written specifically for Chayeon.

According to the documents, Chayeon would be going to the 3rd-grade classroom to take classes starting next Monday.

That is, three days from now.

“Does advancement usually happen this quickly?”

Having never even seen someone get advanced, let alone himself, Chayeon had that question.

Just like with his enrollment, everything at Jindal seemed to be done immediately.

As he was quickly scanning the paper, a foreign word caught his eye.

[Ranking Battle]

“What is this?”

Three pages were dedicated to explaining something called the Ranking Battle.

The characters were dense and used difficult Chinese terminology, making it hard to understand.

Tired of reading, Chayeon decided to use an easier method.

[Teacher, what’s a Ranking Battle?]

[Ah, it’ll apply to Chayeon soon, then.] He got a reply right away.

The contents were enigmatic.

[What do you mean by apply?]

[Isn’t it almost midterms season for the 1st and 2nd graders now? Instead of taking tests during midterms and finals, the 3rd graders and above do something called Ranking Battles. Simply put, it’s a mock battle using your abilities to test who can use their abilities best.]

[They’re held quarterly, so there’s a total of four a year. The third Ranking Battle of the year will be held soon.]

It was a somehow uneducated way of evaluation.

They rank people based on fighting? It wasn’t the animal kingdom.

[That’s uneducated]

[Because 3rd graders and above have assignments to take on, the need for training to prepare for real combat increases dramatically. You should think of Ranking Battles as part of that.]

[Assignments?]

[Yeah, the difficulty of the assignment given depends on the results of the Ranking Battles.]

The word “assignment” reminded Chayeon of the group assignments he’d had in college.

He’d only experienced it once, and it had been for a general education class, but it had been a terrible experience.

He had fully realized why people said group assignments were like cancer.

[Do I have to participate in that Ranking Battle?]

[No, it’s not required. But if you don’t participate in the Ranking Battle, you’ll automatically be recorded as the lowest rank. You don’t have to participate if you don’t mind that.]

He wondered if being recorded as the lowest rank wasn’t a good thing.

If the difficulty of the assignment differed depending on the rank, then the lower the rank, the easier the assignment would be, right?

[Then I won’t do it]

[We’ll be receiving applications next week. Just write that you won’t be participating on there and submit it.]

“Hoo.”

Chayeon put down his smartphone and leaned back.

‘It’s so quiet, it’s kind of weird.’

Heukgu had been chattering the whole time while he was alone for almost a month – although most of it was useless – so he felt unfamiliar with this silence.

It was quiet, so he was sleepy.

He should exercise.

The next day, a Saturday weekend, Chayeon went out to a nearby training ground.

Whether it was because he’d been resting at the hospital for a week, he was still so tired.

‘Muscle loss is going to be f*cked.’

Not that there were many muscles to begin with.

Chayeon stretched his shoulders and looked at his thin arms.

They looked pure white and soft.

“Haa, I don’t even feel motivated.”

He’d been exercising steadily until he’d been hospitalized, but he didn’t feel the same motivation as before.

When he was in a man’s body, he felt joy when he saw his muscles being trained, but he didn’t get that sense of accomplishment now that it was a woman’s body.

Even so, he had to steadily do a certain amount every day in preparation for the time when he turned back into a man.

Let’s do pull-ups today.

To be honest, he wanted to work his shoulders and back the full course, but it was impossible with this body.

Moreover, it wasn’t exactly pull-ups, but just hanging from the bar.

It was already difficult to hang on with his current body.

‘I can fly around so easily when I have a sword.’

Chayeon, who didn’t know anything because Heukgu hadn’t given him any hints, seemed to gradually be understanding his abilities.

He wasn’t exactly sure because he wouldn’t give him any clear explanations, but at least his physical abilities were improving absurdly when he was holding a sword in his hand.

Whether it was a real sword, a fake sword, or even a wooden sword. As long as it looked like a sword, it was fine.

‘And he seemed to say something about adapting too.’

When he was fighting the demon, Heukgu had definitely said something, but his memory was hazy.

It seemed that was because he’d been listening to the story while his mind hadn’t been completely right at the time.

Anyway, Chayeon was just a weak girl when he wasn’t holding a weapon.

“Huh?”

He was approaching the pull-up bar, but he saw a somehow familiar back.

Someone was doing pull-ups with a form so exemplary that Chayeon was impressed.

Despite wearing a baggy short-sleeved shirt, he could feel his sturdy back muscles.

The man turned around, as if he had sensed his gaze.

“Ah.”

“Oh?”

It was that man he’d seen yesterday.

His name was Joo Jiho, was it.

“To meet you in a place like this. What a coincidence.” Joo Jiho said, wiping his sweat with a towel as he approached.

His broad shoulders and chest muscles revealed their presence through the wet shirt.

This guy’s pretty something.

“You came here to exercise too?” Joo Jiho came close to Chayeon.

“Back off. You smell like sweat.”

“Ah, sorry, sorry.”

At Chayeon’s sharp tone, Joo Jiho kept his distance and grinned.

Thinking that he was still smiling with a creepy smile, Chayeon just passed by him and stood in front of a low pull-up bar that suited his height.

He felt competitive.

“Ugh!”

He slowly pulled his body up, gripping the bar with an overhand grip.

He could feel his arms trembling.

He would have just endured it like this usually, but an unknown sense of competitiveness came up, thinking that that annoying guy was watching from behind.

“Huuh-.”

Chayeon, who had come down as he was, struggled to pull his body up again.

He was trying hard to put strength into his lats, but his ridiculously low muscle mass couldn’t support Chayeon’s weight.

Even using all his strength, he stopped at a certain height, only able to tremble.

“Your form isn’t bad.” He heard a voice from behind him, evaluating him.

What did he mean by evaluating? If it was his original body…

“Hiyak!”

Chayeon, startled by a sensation suddenly felt on his side, involuntarily let out a shrill scream.

“Your voice is cute. Why are you always scowling? Here, I’ll help you up. Give it strength.” What,

“Sh*t, take your hand off?” Chayeon shouted with a reddened face, but Joo Jiho ignored him and just lifted Chayeon up.

“Here, I’ll slowly take away strength. Give it strength.”

His body moved up and down.

Chayeon was so light to a muscular man with a height of 190cm.

“I said, take your hand off!”

“Alright, alright, calm down. I’m going up again.”

‘Sh*t!’

It was humiliating.

It was so humiliating.

He, who used to lift 3 major exercises to a total of 500kg, was now being held by a man who looked worse than that, swaying up and down in front of the pull-up bar.

‘Sht, sht!!’

Looking at the scenery going up and down, Chayeon could only mutter that.