Before Yeom Jun-yeol and Cheon Dong-ha graduated from Plum High, a multitude of bizarre incidents occurred amid the chaos at Eunkwang High.

One of these was the so-called “Mysterious Pit Incident.”

Across the entire Eunkwang High campus, pits of consistent size kept appearing daily, while a strange phenomenon killed all plants—from Cheon Ik-san to the greenhouse and garden plants in the research zone.

The culprit was none other than my playable character among the first-year juniors, Cha Seok-won.

‘He tried to solve the mystery experimentally and through observation, questioning why plant death rates varied across areas despite almost identical conditions.’

Cha Seok-won deduced that the secret lay in the soil.

The death of plants was deeply connected to the soil—disrupted earth veins, dried-out psychic energy, and even the death of the divine beast symbolizing Shinyeok.

Each night, Cha Seok-won dug up the school grounds, naively hoping to find the cause and thereby satisfy his curiosity, save the plants, and improve the school’s atmosphere.

But when /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Yeom Jun-yeol discovered Cha Seok-won was behind the pits, he thought differently: the faculty must be involved in the school’s anomalies, and Cha Seok-won digging around would likely be removed.

‘So Yeom Jun-yeol told him a trusted teacher’s name and advised using the authority of himself and Yeom Bang-yeol if needed.’

While Yeom Jun-yeol was still enrolled, Cha Seok-won was safe and his research went smoothly.

However, after Yeom Jun-yeol was killed during the school trip and the Red Lion’s revenge failed and shattered, Cha Seok-won lost his protector.

Despite this, he did not give up and eventually discovered forbidden truths, leading to his removal.

So it’s no surprise that Cha Seok-won again shows curiosity and passion in this world—but the question remains: why is he digging pits again?

‘Unlike before, there is no problem with Eunkwang High’s psychic energy, so why now?’

Plants in every zone, including Cheon Ik-san, were healthy.

Students looked forward to autumn leaves on Cheon Ik-san; Guseulbi planted rare flowers with Gwanglim’s “Grace of the Green Hand” in the research greenhouse; and Olmu was cute, precious, and healthy.

If the soil had any issues, the tigers wouldn’t be sitting idle.

Hwang Ji-ho, who received reports on Cha Seok-won from the replay of Plum High and Cheon Dong-ha, and the white tiger who read my thoughts, all reacted.

“This isn’t digging for festival preparations.”

“I agree.”

“Baekho, you do have thoughts after all.”

Since no solution came from among us, we decided to ask Cha Seok-won directly.

We had come to thank the first-year juniors for cheering during the exchange matches and to encourage them for exams with snacks.

The tigers were curious, and because the snack quantity was large, we needed porters.

So we headed to the first-year zone.

When asked why he was digging pits while he should be busy preparing for exams, Cha Seok-won answered honestly.

“The soil of Eunkwang High is healthy.”

He had dug up unhealthy soil at Plum High, now he digs because it’s healthy?

His eccentricity was not new, but this time it was harder to understand.

Still, it was a relief that Eunkwang High’s soil was sound.

‘Could it be, as Jin Jeong-muk speculated, that he’s digging for something during the festival?’

If true, that would be crazier than the second-year class 0.

I suspected Cha Seok-won might get into class 0 next year.

Behind me was Hwang Ji-ho, the powerful figure who put me in class 0.

Fortunately, Cha Seok-won had his reasons.

“I made friends at the military academy during the exchange. The soil there didn’t look healthy either, and my friend agreed.”

Thanks to the Ministry of Defense Research Institute, manipulated by the mastermind, the military academy soil was definitely unhealthy.

Some cadets noticed and tried to uncover the cause.

But limits in the academy forced them to seek alternatives.

During the exchange, Cha Seok-won sensed the discord at the academy, talked about it, made friends, and found common ground.

Usually, researchers bring to mind types like Song Dae-seok, but Cha Seok-won’s sociability was on a whole different level.

Was it because his research area was broad?

He seemed glad I showed interest and eagerly explained.

“There aren’t many teenage players at the academy who stay long-term and use psychic energy. So I want to compare the soils to find the cause.”

“The soil of Eunkwang High is also school property. It’d be best to get permission for such experiments.”

“I report to the teacher every time before experiments. Last semester, at the 120th report, I was permitted to group reports of 10 or more afterward.”

I think the first-year class 1 homeroom teacher tried his best.

So I hope Hwang Ji-ho won’t take advantage of poor Cha Seok-won’s experimental reports to give him a hard time.

“...That’s what I think.”

“Jo Yi-shin, say it before Baekho rambles.”

The tigers talked, but I listened intently as Cha Seok-won passionately explained his plans and process.

The military cadet was researching “soil ecosystem and microorganisms” on campus.

Though it seemed unrelated to psychic energy and boring, the anomalies they sensed were deeply tied to the mastermind’s plot.

Because it’s exam season and clues were lacking, the research was slow.

Still, I advised them just in case.

“If you discover something, consult me before publishing. And if anything happens...”

“Mention the Hwangmyeong Foundation. Say your research is supported by the foundation. If trouble comes, consult with our homeroom teacher Ham Geun-hyung instead of yours.”

Before I could say to use my name, Hwang Ji-ho cut in.

But is it okay to do this without informing Ham Geun-hyung?

If something big happens, Ham Geun-hyung would be a better support than Cha Seok-won’s homeroom teacher.

“I heard from Sawol Seyum that Ham Geun-hyung is often away on business trips to Hongcheon.”

“You’re close with Sawol Seyum too? Anyway, since what you do resembles class 0’s behavior, even if not your homeroom teacher, consult the teacher handling class 0. If you say I recommended it, they’ll all comply.”

“Yes, I will.”

Though it might seem odd, Cha Seok-won did not argue and responded brightly.

His smooth nature was likely why the class 0 examiner reluctantly put him in class 1.

It seemed others were watching Cha Seok-won too.

“I was worried because Seok-won dug pits again. I’d feel at ease if Yi-shin took care of him.”

“He’s not even in class 0, so next year the student council will have trouble.”

After Cha Seok-won left to distribute snacks to juniors, Yeom Jun-yeol and Cheon Dong-ha, who had observed the Plum High replay, approached.

They knew from the start that Cha Seok-won was the culprit in the pit incident and kept an eye on him.

If needed, Yeom Jun-yeol planned to tell Cha Seok-won to use his name like before.

“I wanted to look after juniors like Yi-shin does.”

Yeom Jun-yeol was truly the best senior and student council president.

Even as he cared for Cha Seok-won, he said kind words to me—what a wonderful heart.

Not only that, Yeom Jun-yeol handed me a paper bag.

“I heard you always give snacks to juniors during exams. Since we’re graduating, we prepared this for you.”

“Even if you graduate, I’ll take good care of them.”

“I trust you. But it’s different when seniors and classmates do it.”

“By age, I’m a senior too, though.”

Though Hwang Ji-ho kept butting in, showing his age, I was too moved by Yeom Jun-yeol’s homemade snacks to care.

He had made snacks using tangerines he brought back from the school trip.

Chocolate bars with tangerines and nuts, and sugar-coated tangerine jelly—enough for the whole class.

Despite being busy, Yeom Jun-yeol prepared this for juniors, which touched me deeply.

Compared to me, who always bought snacks because I was too shy to make them myself.

“Jo Yi-shin, I feed the class more delicious snacks than you.”

So what?

Instead of retorting to Hwang Ji-ho, I thanked Yeom Jun-yeol.

“Thank you. The orange treats I had in the Dragon Palace were delicious. I look forward to these too.”

“Yeah! Expect my feedback.”

Thanks to Yeom Jun-yeol’s snacks, study went more smoothly that day.

Sadly, some kids still struggled.

After enjoying vacation and exchange matches, having to study thoroughly was painful for some.

“To get grades matching our brilliance, we have to study! But I don’t want to!”

“Even graceful swans must paddle desperately underwater. Now is that time.”

I thought the attention-seeking duo were either geniuses who could do well while playing or carefree types indifferent to results—but apparently not.

It made me wonder why they had been absent so often since Guseulbi and Ong Gildong worked so hard, obsessed with grades.

Especially after seeing me as Cha Seok-won, they vowed to raise their scores accordingly.

Thanks to that, though they weren’t as diligent as capable Kim Yuri, their grades looked decent.

“Hyo-don, your face is red! I’ll cast wind magic for you!”

“Uh...”

Recently, temperatures dropped considerably, but Maeng Hyo-don felt hot solving math problems.

His bloodshot eyes and tense body raised his temperature and psychic activity, warming the area.

Our angel Olmu’s light, soft fur melts quickly, but Maeng Hyo-don was like a stone—he wouldn’t melt easily even if heated.

During breaks, I planned to leave the study room to avoid the white tiger who watched the class with his chin in hand and buy drinks while tidying study plans.

“Vice-captain, I’ll come with you.”

“Ah, me too!”

Before I could open the door, Mok U-ram and Kwon Rena immediately followed.

They seemed to have been waiting for a chance to talk with me.