Cheolsu might have failed to overcome the temptation of the dog chew and simply picked any paper at random, so I repeated the same question about three times. Even then, Cheolsu kept choosing the exact same sheet while drooling as if telling me to hurry up and give him the dog chew.
When I did not obediently give him the dog chew, he even picked up the sheet with [Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy] written on it in his mouth, brought it to me, and exchanged it for the dog chew in my hand. Thanks to that, my hand also became damp with Cheolsu’s drool.
Cheolsu, who had devoured the dog chew in an instant with loud chewing sounds, rubbed his body against me with a satisfied expression. It was a signal that he now wanted me to lift him and hold him. Unlike his huge body, Cheolsu was a spoiled baby.
I wondered whether Minsu had taken over Cheolsu’s body again, so I grabbed Cheolsu’s muzzle and examined him here and there, but Cheolsu only whined and neither spat out human words nor swallowed anything and everything like Minsu. A bit very? Large? But he was definitely an ordinary dog. The only flaw was that he was not from the streets, but from an Anomaly, so he was a little dangerous.
“You said you brought that dog from Baekju Apartment?”
In order to explain why I wanted to enter Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy, I also told Jeon Jiho about Cheolsu. Just like Dowon High School, this repeaters’ academy was also an Anomaly owned and managed by the Anomaly Control Department, so if I wanted to enter it deliberately, I needed Jeon Jiho’s approval.
It was not that I did not trust Cheolsu, but I thought safety should come first, so I shared the process of choosing the destination with Jeon Jiho. However, it did not seem like Jeon Jiho properly understood that I had asked Cheolsu in exchange for a dog chew.
If I had obtained the top-tier Controller position, I would have been able to enter without a separate report, but my current status was not top-tier, but intern Controller. Jeon Jiho recommended that I go with Lee Manji, a Controller assistant, on the grounds that he could not send an intern alone.
Jeon Jiho graced my shabby studio apartment with his presence in order to help prepare for entering an Anomaly. In truth, preparing for Anomaly entry seemed like an excuse, and it seemed he had come to check whether Cheolsu was a suspicious dog or not.
“He is not an ordinary entity, and he is not contaminated either.”
“I told you, he’s an ordinary dog. Though he is a bit big.”
“Considering that he came out of an Anomaly, he is not especially ordinary.”
Just like when Mom had visited my studio apartment, Cheolsu hid behind me to avoid Jeon Jiho. While I held and soothed the cowardly Cheolsu, Jeon Jiho clicked his tongue.
“He’s definitely a cunning entity. If the Director used him as a medium, his intelligence must be high.”
“When he’s this cowardly? I think he’s just afraid of strangers.”
“That can’t be. He is only pretending to be weak so you will hold him.”
It seemed Jeon Jiho disliked dogs.
“Perhaps he could be an organism-type Anomaly. There are also many legends related to black dogs.”
Cheolsu liked dog chews, and despite his size, whined because he wanted to be held in someone’s arms, so he did not look like an Anomaly to me. But if I argued back, it seemed Jeon Jiho would take Cheolsu away, so I simply stayed quiet.
Of course, just because I stayed quiet did not mean things passed smoothly.
“If it’s all right, I’d like to take him to the Department and check a few things.”
“You’re going to take our cute Cheolsu away and handle him roughly, aren’t you?”
“Roughly?”
“You’ll put Cheolsu in a straitjacket and try to draw his blood, just like you experimented on me!”
“…….”
“There is no way such atrocious animal abuse will be forgiven.”
I could not send Cheolsu to the Department, which had put a person in a straitjacket and drawn his blood just because mental manipulation did not work on him. Our Cheolsu was so timid and fragile.
When I hugged Cheolsu and shouted, “Oppose animal abuse!” Jeon Jiho let out a deep sigh.
“Then who do you plan to leave the dog with while you are at Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy?”
“I was planning to take him in with me.”
“…That is more like animal abuse.”
Jeon Jiho recommended that unless I was going to send Cheolsu back into an Anomaly, I should leave him with the Department until I found Kim Jihoon and Lim Jinseong.
Since I had secretly been thinking of receiving Minsu’s help through Cheolsu, I was somewhat conflicted over whether to leave Cheolsu behind or not. Separate from my worry that Minsu might grab me and refuse to let go, it was true that having him beside me was reassuring in many ways.
After deep thought, I made a decision.
“Well, I guess it would be strange for a dog to appear at a repeaters’ academy.”
It was not that strange for a dog to wander around Baekju Apartment. It was an apartment, after all. But a large dog appearing at a repeaters’ academy would obviously stand out no matter what.
Standing out inside an Anomaly was not exactly a good thing. Had I not been tentacled from the start in Dowon High School just because I was not wearing a uniform?
“Please look after him only while I’m inside the Anomaly. But absolutely! You absolutely cannot do weird experiments on our Cheolsu or anything like that.”
Cheolsu whined as if he understood that I had decided to leave him behind and enter an Anomaly. Jeon Jiho, still looking dumbfounded, looked back and forth between me and Cheolsu before slowly nodding.
“Even if I wanted to experiment on him, I don’t think I could.”
“Yes?”
“No, never mind. I’ll help you prepare to enter the Anomaly.”
Cheolsu whined for a long while, then seemed to realize he could not change my mind and quieted down at some point. Whenever I briefly turned my gaze away, he seemed to growl immediately toward Jeon Jiho. Seeing Cheolsu bare his teeth at Jeon Jiho made one thing certain.
Jeon Jiho was not popular with dogs.
***
What was the most important annual event in Korea?
If excluding nationwide holidays and Christmas, the College Scholastic Ability Test would undoubtedly make it into the top five important events. Korea was a country that even stopped planes from taking off on the day of the test because they might interfere with the English listening section.
Perhaps because it was a country that grew through human resources alone without any particular material resources, Koreans were especially obsessed with academic background. That meant they regarded a university’s name as important enough to stake their entire teenage years on the test in order to enter a good university.
I also entered the philosophy department, which I was not particularly interested in, solely because of the Hankook University name. Most Koreans, including me, were steeped in academic elitism, and if possible, they took the test multiple times in order to enter a university of a “higher rank.”
If I had failed my gamble of applying above my level through early admissions, I probably would have considered repeating a year or transferring at least once. Because philosophy department lectures fit me so poorly, I had also thought about retaking the test early in my first year. Though I did not think about it for long because I lacked the courage to study math again.
Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy had once gained great attention among repeaters based on this Korean academic elitism.
At the time, it was a rare boarding-style comprehensive repeaters’ academy, and the fact that if one paid the expensive tuition, one could study while solving food and lodging inside the academy building for a year moved parents’ hearts. Locking them up and making them study—would that not seem likely to send them to good universities, even if student rights disappeared?
In reality, it did send quite a few students to good universities. Until the academy students died in a dormitory fire ten years ago and the academy shut down, people openly said that if you were going to repeat, you should do closed-door training at Haneul.
Even now, if one searched “Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy” on the internet, quite a few posts came up. Not only testimonial posts written by students after getting into university, but even advertisement images stamped with the slogan, [Closer to the Sky, We Take Responsibility for Your Future.]
[The secret of H Repeaters’ Academy… Was it actually a cult?]
It was easy to find information about Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy even on YouTube, where horror stories and ghost channels were trending. Perhaps because college entrance exams were involved, people lost their minds, and related rumors had circulated even before the academy closed.
Stories that the academy director was actually a cult leader, or that repeaters and third-year repeaters pessimistic about their grades had committed suicide one after another, were not very surprising. Kids who studied too much inevitably went mad one day, so urban legends could not help but grow on their own.
1.Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy was demolished due to fire.
1-1. All sites of the repeaters’ academy are owned and managed by the Anomaly Control Department. Entry by civilians without permission from the Anomaly Control Department is strictly controlled, and legal measures may be taken in the event of illegal trespassing.
1-2. If you entered Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy regardless of your own will, please memorize the contents of the provided Rulebook and dispose of the Rulebook before moving.
Before entering the Anomaly with Jeon Jiho’s help, I disposed of the Rulebook I had checked again and again. Thanks to the fact that it had even more clauses than Dowon High School, I could not memorize every item, but even so, I was in a more prepared state than with the previous Anomalies.
Just like Dowon High School, the Rulebook, which was covered with stamps from the Anomaly Control Department, might not be of much help in the details, but it was certain about one thing: the escape method.
18.The fastest way to escape Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy is to receive high grades on the “monthly exam.” The “monthly exam” is conducted on a relative evaluation basis, and “discharge” is possible if all subjects are Grade 1 or higher. If you receive the lowest grade on the monthly exam, “discharge” will be permanently impossible.
Because I was entering this place, I solved the math workbook I had burned right after the College Scholastic Ability Test again. The fact that Haneul Comprehensive Repeaters’ Academy had stopped in its heyday, meaning even liberal arts students had to study geometry and vectors, was more terrifying than every other rule.
“For a math quitter to go this far, at least one of them had better be safe.”
For me, who had entered Hankook University straight from high school, to end up enrolling in a repeaters’ academy. Life really was something you had to live long enough to see.