“W-who was it?”
The teachers turned to Cha Do-do, their expressions filled with disbelief.
Cha Do-do immediately regretted speaking up. Perhaps she should have kept quiet. It would come to light eventually anyway, so it did not really matter, but she felt she had been too hasty.
Still, there was no taking back what she had said.
“This student here.”
Cha Do-do indicated Kang Woo, who was sitting beside her, with a glance.
Silence fell over the table.
“What is his name?”
“Kang Woo... You probably wouldn't know him.”
The teachers tilted their heads at her reply. Naturally, none of them recognized the name; it was not among those of the highest-ranked incoming students.
Kang Woo himself was paying no attention whatsoever. He was too busy battling his pork cutlet.
‘Damn it, this knife is useless. I need a different knife!’
After watching him for a moment, Kim Yun-taek asked another question.
“Then did this student perform the best in physics?”
“No. Apart from the last problem, he only got... about half of the others right.”
Kim Yun-taek gave Kang Woo, who was still eating, a peculiar look.
“Does that mean he's good at physics or bad at it?”
“I'm not sure yet.”
“Hmm.”
After a moment's consideration, Kim Yun-taek addressed Kang Woo directly.
“Kang Woo?”
“Yes?”
Apparently, there really were people who lacked basic manners. Either that, or he was being treated worse than a dog.
Kang Woo looked up from his meal to see who had spoken. It was the man who had introduced himself as the first-year grade coordinator in the auditorium.
“What did you think of today's physics questions?”
“They were rather cheap, if you ask me.”
Having his meal interrupted, he was hardly inclined to give a favorable answer. Besides, he was not pleased with the teachers who were trying to assess their students' abilities using such poorly chosen questions.
Kim Yun-taek's face tightened, but he managed to maintain his composure and asked again.
“What about the last question?”
“There wasn't much to that one, either.”
“How did you solve it?”
“I defined the spherical shells and integrated the infinitesimal mass elements to derive the result.”
Still frowning, Kang Woo went on to describe the various steps in his solution.
His explanation went far beyond the simplified methods found in ordinary study guides. It was a detailed solution that worked from the fundamental principles, leaving Kim Yun-taek speechless.
Even Cha Do-do, who had been uncertain about Kang Woo's ability, was astonished.
As the teachers stared at Kang Woo in wonder, at a loss for words, one of the teachers sitting across from Cha Do-do spoke up.
“Your name is Kang Woo, right? Did you happen to solve the last Earth science problem?”
“Hmm. That one was a piece of cake.”
The teacher who had asked the question frowned slightly at his choice of words.
Kang Woo hurriedly clarified himself.
“It's a physics problem, too.”
“Physics?”
“A problem about buoyancy.”
“Yes, that's right. So did you solve it?”
Kim Yun-taek joined the conversation.
“Lee Min-chan solved that one as well. He correctly determined that the water in the cup wouldn't overflow and that melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctic would have different effects on sea level. His answers were correct, but he couldn't explain how the individual parts of the problem were connected. Still, getting the answers right was impressive in itself. What about Son Cha-hee?”
Kim Yun-taek spoke with evident pride and waited for Cha Do-do's response.
Cha Do-do gave a faint chuckle before answering.
“Son Cha-hee couldn't solve it properly, but Kang Woo did. He calculated the buoyancy of the ice perfectly and used the result to correctly deduce what would happen if the Arctic icebergs melted.”
At her answer, the teachers' attention returned to Kang Woo.
Kang Woo popped another piece of pork cutlet into his mouth, chewed, and nodded.
“Yes, that's how I solved it.”
“But you couldn't solve a single multiple-choice question,” Cha Do-do added reproachfully.
Looking somewhat more serious, Kim Yun-taek turned to her.
“Surely you aren't suggesting that Kang Woo is a genius?”
“I wouldn't go so far as to call him a genius...”
Kim Yun-taek had been trying to praise Lee Min-chan, but the conversation had taken an awkward turn. Realizing that this was not an appropriate discussion to have in front of a student, he changed the subject.
“This year's incoming students are exceptionally capable, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll accomplish. Lee Min-chan will probably choose physics for his research project, and Son Cha-hee will choose chemistry, won't she? Let's all do our best to nurture their talents.”
At that moment, the teacher who had asked Kang Woo about the final Earth science problem spoke up again.
“What about you, Kang Woo? Have you thought about what subject you'd like to choose for your research project? Physics? Chemistry? If you choose Earth science, I can give you plenty of guidance.”
Kang Woo did not really understand what the teachers were discussing. From what he could gather, they were asking which subject he intended to specialize in later.
Of course, he would choose physics, but he decided to keep that to himself for now.
“I haven't decided yet.”
“Ah, I see. Come and see me sometime soon.”
Kang Woo guessed that this teacher was in charge of Earth science.
While the teachers, who had already finished eating, continued chatting, Kang Woo concentrated on cutting up his pork cutlet. At least the food was delicious. With meals like these, he could look forward to the next three years at school.
He ate so enthusiastically that before long his tray was empty. Yet he was still hungry.
His eyes fell on a piece of pork cutlet Cha Do-do had left uneaten. After cautiously gauging her mood, he gently poked her in the side.
“Hmm?”
“Ma'am, may I have that?”
Cha Do-do smiled and personally passed him her remaining pork cutlet.
* * *
At the same time, Son Cha-hee was also enjoying the pork cutlet served for lunch.
“Wow, this doesn't even feel like school cafeteria food!”
Beside her, Yoon Su-a kept exclaiming in delight.
It was certainly on an entirely different level from the meals they had been served in middle school. Of course, the food might be especially good because it was the first day of preparatory enrollment, but if the school continued serving meals of this quality, there would be nothing more to ask for.
After all, nothing mattered more to students than their school meals.
“I'm suddenly starting to fall in love with this school.”
“You really are something!”
Well acquainted with Yoon Su-a's love of food, Son Cha-hee smiled warmly and looked at the people seated across from them. Unfortunately, they happened to be Lee Min-chan and his followers, students who had attended the same academy and competed against them.
The boys had already finished eating and were drinking the yogurt drinks served for dessert while enthusiastically discussing the exam.
“So, did you solve it?”
“Of course I solved everything. I can't guarantee every answer was right, but it wasn't that difficult.”
Lee Min-chan answered confidently, holding his head high.
Son Cha-hee was extremely curious about how he had approached the problems, too. She considered Lee Min-chan her only real rival at this school, and everyone sitting at the table knew it.
When Son Cha-hee continued eating without saying anything, Lee Min-chan casually asked her a question.
“Did you solve the last physics problem?”
“More or less.”
“I got the exact answer. But do you think we were supposed to derive the formula as well?”
“That would require integration, so probably not.”
“Right?”
Neither Lee Min-chan nor Son Cha-hee was confident that they could derive the complete theoretical solution through integration.
Son Cha-hee felt considerably relieved to hear that Lee Min-chan had not solved it completely either. The lingering uneasiness in her heart seemed to vanish. If even Lee Min-chan could not solve it properly, surely nobody else had managed to do so.
Then, suddenly, she remembered the strange boy she had met at the café that morning.
‘Could he...? No, surely not.’
Son Cha-hee quickly dismissed Kang Woo from her thoughts.
* * *
Having finished their exams and eaten lunch, the students were in excellent spirits.
As he returned to the classroom, Kang Woo enjoyed the lively atmosphere around him.
‘Ah, it's wonderful to be young.’
Watching the students chatter endlessly made him feel a little envious. But then he remembered that he himself had become a full twenty years younger. If he made good use of his time, there was no telling how much he might accomplish in the years ahead.
For a moment, the vague thought that perhaps he had entered Kang Woo's body for this very reason filled him with a sense of satisfaction.
Once he changed his way of thinking, the world seemed brighter and more vibrant. Surrounded by the students, Kang Woo savored the feeling of being young again for the first time in a long while.
Not long afterward, their homeroom teacher, Cha Do-do, entered, and the classroom fell quiet. Sitting at the very back, Kang Woo watched the proceedings as though he were a spectator.
“All right, did everyone enjoy lunch?”
The students answered Cha Do-do in a cheerful chorus.
“Our school might not excel at everything, but the meals are excellent. The problem is that you end up eating too much and putting on weight. I've been gaining weight ever since I started working here...”
“Oh, come on! You call that gaining weight?”
“Then what does that make the rest of us? Pigs?”
The students protested playfully. After all, Cha Do-do was the very picture of a slender figure.
Cha Do-do laughed and continued.
“Anyway, be careful not to become overweight before you graduate. You'll be spending more time sitting at your desks and studying, so don't forget to get an appropriate amount of exercise, too.”
Laughter filled the classroom.
“Now, let's get started with this afternoon's activities. There are 124 incoming students in total, with fifteen or sixteen students in each class. Our class has sixteen. Of course, these are temporary class assignments, but I don't expect the final ones to change very much.”
“Aren't the classes going to be rearranged based on the diagnostic assessment results?”
“Unless there's a particular problem, the assignments will probably stay as they are.”
The students murmured among themselves and glanced around the room. The thought that they might be spending the next year together made them see their classmates in a different light.
“Argh! I shouldn't have tried so hard on that test!”
One student grumbled in dissatisfaction.
“Our class is a lucky one. We have two girls, you see. There are only ten girls among this year's incoming students, and with two assigned to each class, only five classes have any girls at all.”
Every student's gaze immediately turned toward the two girls, Son Cha-hee and Yoon Su-a.
Because of the nature of science high schools, female students were relatively rare. Being assigned to a class with girls therefore gave the students mixed feelings. Of course, there were also students who did not particularly want girls in their class.
The fact that Class 3 had two female students was also why Cha Do-do had been assigned as its homeroom teacher. Just as female students were less common at science high schools than at ordinary high schools, so were female teachers.
Objectively speaking, Son Cha-hee and Yoon Su-a were both quite pretty. They were the sort of girls who would be popular with their classmates. Of course, judging by what Kang Woo had seen of Son Cha-hee's personality, he doubted she would get along especially smoothly with everyone. It was not that she was the sort of person who would be ostracized; rather, she had the disposition of a queen.
Yoon Su-a, on the other hand, seemed considerably more approachable than Son Cha-hee.
When everyone's attention turned to them, Son Cha-hee merely held her head higher, whereas Yoon Su-a smiled at the other students. That alone spoke volumes.
“There have been quite a few issues between boys and girls lately, haven't there? I hope we won't have any problems like that at our school. Let's all help one another and get along for the coming year.”
After looking around at the students, Cha Do-do continued.
“Now we'll start introducing ourselves. Oh, and you'll need to form groups of four today. The idea is for group members to help one another adjust to school life. There will also be group assessments during lessons, so think carefully and form a group with people you get along with. As you listen to the introductions, consider who you'd like to be grouped with.”
Cha Do-do asked the student sitting at the front to introduce themselves.
From then on, the students took turns coming to the front and introducing themselves.
Whenever a student said their name, writing appeared. Each time, Kang Woo paid close attention to the faint letters appearing above the student's head.
- Kim Myeong-shin, Mathematics C, Physics C, Chemistry B, Biology B, Earth Science B.
As several students took their turns, Kang Woo came to understand that an A was an exceptionally high rating. He also realized that the ratings did not reflect the students' current abilities, but rather their potential.
Then it was Son Cha-hee's turn.
“I'm Son Cha-hee, from Hanguk Middle School. I like every subject, but mathematics and chemistry are my favorites. I hope to study alongside some good friends here. Anyone who's willing to work hard is welcome to be my friend.”
This time, however, no writing appeared above Son Cha-hee's head. But when Kang Woo focused on her and recalled the writing he had seen before, the faint letters describing her potential appeared again.
After her introduction, whispers broke out around the classroom.
“Wow, she's a goddess. I've got to become friends with her.”
“Heh, have you looked in a mirror lately?”
“I heard she ranked first in our class.”
“But Min-chan still beat her, didn't he?”
At the mention of Lee Min-chan, Son Cha-hee frowned slightly.
Son Cha-hee was clearly the most famous student in the class. Some of her classmates had attended the same academy as her, and she was known to have the highest entrance exam score among the students in this class. Her pretty appearance only attracted more attention.
“By any chance... do you have an ideal type?”