The dorms for Cube Cadets were located in a set of six extravagant high-rise buildings, arranged in a hexagon. Three on the left were for the girls, and the remaining three were for the boys.
Each building consisted of a hundred floors, which in turn consisted of five rooms each.
As for the rooms themselves, they were already assigned. The higher up your rank, the higher up your room.
The top male and female cadets for each year got the penthouse suites at the top of the buildings. Meanwhile, the bottom ranking cadets got rooms closer to the ground level.
That meant that, Lee, who was rank 999, got a room literally on the first floor right above the reception area.
You would think that it would be insulting. And to the average Cube cadet, it may very well be insulting.
But all Lee could think about was the fact that he wouldn't have to sit forever in an elevator with other people or climb a hundred flights of stairs to get to his room every day.
'This is, unironically, super convenient.'
Adjusting the smartwatch he was handed earlier by Instructor Soohyuk, he walked inside and turned on the lights.
A couch, bed, and rice cooker. A full kitchen by the wall. A TV and desktop PC along with a pair of monitors. Various magic tools...
"Yep. Like I thought, even being at the bottom of the barrel in a place like this is amazing."
The 'dorm room' was functionally a full-sized apartment.
There was a bedroom off to the side, separate from the living room. A washer/dryer combo. A bathroom with a built-in shower and bathtub. And after testing, Lee realized that the shower went from icy cold to scalding hot water.
Meaning that it was perfect for recovery after a hard day of training.
It seemed like the delivery robots had already dropped off his luggage since there was a large box in the corner of the room waiting for him already.
And a quick look inside confirmed it, with his spear, spare clothes, and other simple belongings neatly packed away.
"Alright. Then... Let's unwind and think about what to do for tonight." Lee walked around to put his belongings away in his new living space while doing some brainstorming.
It was getting close to evening already.
After the weapon selection earlier, Instructor Soohyuk had given them the long tour around the campus before stopping here at the dorms.
...And of course, it was done without stopping for food.
Not that it bothered Lee that much. But it WOULD be good to get some food before he went to go check out the training facilities.
As much as he was used to training on an empty stomach, he was ALSO a student right now. And training on an empty stomach always overdrafted his attention span.
That was perfectly fine in the soulcrushing corporate job he had which barely required any mental effort to do. But classes?
'Yeah, let's not get into that habit.'
Starting things off right was important. Getting off on the wrong foot came back to bite you later, after all.
So...
'Cafeteria it-'
A soft chime on his smartwatch.
For a moment, Lee was confused on what it was until he opened checked who had texted him.
[Chat with Rachel Elizabeth Louise]
This is a test. I noticed that we have the ability to contact our peers via the class roster. If this works, would you kindly respond?
"Huh." Lee tilted his head. "You can do that?"
If it was possible to just text anyone from the class roster, it might get troublesome.
Lee made a mental note to start up a whitelist of people.
But then he replied to Rachel.
===
Rachel's first day at Cube had been... strange. And unexpected.
As England's princess, she was expected to maintain a composed and elegant demeanor.
And Rachel herself had a tendency towards that. She was naturally reticient, enjoyed peace and quiet, and generally moved around with an ease born from years of rapier lessons and training.
So, on arriving at Cube, she had decided to do her best to present England on its strongest foot. Particularly since England only had two Master Rank Heroes... and only on a technicality as they had obtained Korean citizenship 15 years ago.
Thus, Rachel had lofty expectations to fulfill. And she was determined to fulfill them.
But.
Sitting in her penthouse and staring out at the fading sunrise while waiting for Lee's response, she couldn't help but voice her thoughts. And as to those thoughts...
"This is not like me."
Rachel acknowledged it.
The way she had interacted today with Lee was nonstandard. Not just against her usual method of dealing with people, but also...
...Because she enjoyed it.
Was it because he genuinely did not care for her title?
Was it because of his audacious move in class that morning taking a seat beside her when no one else did?
Or was it the fact that he moved with a carefree manner that she never could?
Either way, whether Rachel wanted to accept it or not, the fact was that her classmate, Lee Shin, was very much a person of interest in her life now.
It was a strange thought.
'This... is most definitely the first time.'
The first time that someone caught her interest.
The first time that someone was genuinely interested in her... like how Lee had been on their talk walking back to the dorms.
The first time that someone didn't care if he drew enmity for interacting with her.
And the first time that someone wasn't fazed by her beauty.
Rachel's thoughts were interrupted by a soft chime. Her smartwatch.
Tapping it, a holographic display flickered, revealing Lee's response.
[Chat with Lee Shin]
Thanks for the headsup. It worked fine. I found a whitelist and a blacklist function on the smartwatch too, by the way. Since you're you, probably a good idea to set your smartwatch to whitelist and add people you want to allow to contact you. I'm doing that now.
So far, it's just you on my whitelist, so if you text me, I'll know it's you.
"This is bad."
As Rachel read the text message, she was sure of it. A nagging sensation she had since meeting Lee.
"...Is this what they call a crush?"
Rachel placed her hand over her warm heart and the sense of contentment she had just from reading Lee's message. A sense of peace that she had never felt communicating with anyone else in her life.
Just as she was thinking that, her smartwatch chimed again.
[Chat with Lee Shin]
I'm going to head out to get food by the way. Did you want to come with? Or did you want me to bring you anything? It's a good time to get ahead on studies though, so I don't mind.
"Ah." Rachel slowly nodded. "...I am doomed."
Even though she was unfamiliar with intimate relationships... or relationships in general, Rachel was not completely naive.
And so she could cleanly assess her current state in regards to Lee.
And as for that state?
...Rachel quietly kept the answer in her heart. For now.
Instead, she typed a response to Lee.
===
[Chat with Lee Shin]
Rachel: Thank you, but I am fine. Enjoy your meal. Like you suggested, I will indeed work on getting ahead. And you are also the first on my whitelist. Thank you once more for informing me, and for today.