I Became the Student Council President of Academy City-Chapter 90

Kim Man-seok refused at first. However, I kept following him and asking, and eventually, he changed his mind and decided to teach me.

I don't know what made him change his mind. No matter how much I asked, he always repeated that his heart just changed.

Later, he mentioned that I reminded him of his son, so maybe he saw his son's image in me.

My master, with his extensive experience in actual combat, favored a combat-oriented training method, and he didn't go easy on me just because I was young.

And since he was also at the 6th rank, his teaching was more than sufficient.

Thus, I endured the horribly difficult and painful times.

─ "Woo-jin."

One night, under a starry sky.

My master and I were sitting by a campfire, having a barbecue party with cultivated meat.

I was happily eating, wondering why we were having meat, when my master placed his hand on my head and smiled.

─ "You'll probably become unbelievably strong. Strong enough that someone like me won't even compare." ─ "I know. I can already tell that my mana is refined to that extent."

Back then, I was confident, believing that the results of repeatedly practicing mana cultivation since childhood would soon become evident.

It was only later, when I hit the wall of the 5th rank, that I started to consider myself ordinary.

─ "Haha, this kid's really unlucky, a perfect target for a beating." ─ "Where are you going?" ─ "Where would I go, leaving you behind?"

Before dawn the next day, my master quietly left my side without a word.

Unlike with Dal-bi, I had already suspected that my master would leave. He had been talking about his son more often than usual, which was unlike him.

If the old wounds in his heart had resurfaced, it was easy to predict that he would head outside the city.

But on that day, I was in a daze all day.

Saying goodbye to someone dear is always hard to get used to.

"……."

In the midst of white chrysanthemum flowers was a young portrait of my master, as I remembered him. Baek-seo and I attended the funeral dressed in black, bowed, and lit incense.

Since most citizens didn't have parents, the role of the chief mourner was usually taken by someone who was like family or an AI robot.

In my master's case, his comrade, Song Do-il, became the chief mourner. Do-il was someone I often encountered during my time as a disciple.

He was also the one who informed me of my master's death. Despite being around the same age as my master, he looked like an old man with white hair.

It seemed that living a life filled with constant battles, resentment, and stress in the outside world had aged him quickly.

‘Bandages…’

Unlike what I remembered, Do-il had a bandage wrapped around his left eye. It looked like he had recently suffered an injury to his left eye.

"May the deceased rest in peace."

Baek-seo and I expressed our condolences and bowed our heads.

For a while, my eyes were fixed on the portrait.

I spent some time in a daze.

Baek-seo quietly waited for me.

Although I knew from the original story when my master, Kim Man-seok, would come to Neo Seoul, I hadn't expected him to leave this quickly.

Meanwhile, there weren't many people having a meal. Only a few elderly people.

They were part of the old humanity, who had chosen to spend their peaceful old age in the city. They had come to see my master one last time.

“I expected only Woo-jin to come, but there’s a girl with him too.”

Baek-seo and I sat side by side at the table, and Song Do-il sat across from us, striking up a conversation. I could feel the gazes of the other old humanity members.

Even though he had lost a comrade he had lived with for decades, Do-il didn't seem particularly sad. He even smiled with a sense of ease.

However, his eyes were dark, as if he hadn't slept for several days.

Baek-seo greeted him with a kind smile.

"I'm the Deputy Chief of Ahseong High's Disciplinary Committee. I'm here to support the Chief, and when I heard about his master's passing, I accompanied him."

"Well, aren't you a sharp one."

Do-il nodded in approval and then looked at me.

“Woo-jin, the Chief of Ahseong High's Disciplinary Committee? You've grown well in our absence. But that kind of position must be tough. A lot of responsibility comes with it, right?”

“It’s tough, but not as tough as what you've been through.”

“Is that so? I wouldn’t know; I don’t have any responsibilities. Ah, Woo-jin, hold on a second.”

Do-il gestured for me to come closer. He seemed to have something private to say. When I approached him, he put his arm around my shoulder and turned me away from Baek-seo.

Do-il whispered playfully.

“You've even got a pretty girlfriend now. Life’s good, huh?”

“Does it look that way?”

“Of course. Congratulations, man.”

“Yeah, well. Thank you.”

Do-il was a warm-hearted person.

I recalled how, when I was training under my master, Do-il would often come by and make sudden dad jokes. Maybe it was because of the tough training, but they were quite funny.

Even now, it was clear that he was trying to be considerate of my feelings.

‘You're probably the one who’s the most hurt.’

Do-il was likely the one who carried my master back.

He must have endured a hellish time crossing the monster-infested outside world to return to the city with my master, who was probably in a terrible state or already dead.

There was no way his mind could be okay.

‘Who’s comforting who?’

So, I decided to be considerate of him as well.

“What were you two talking about…?”

“Nothing?”

When Baek-seo asked, Do-il played innocent.

I returned to sit next to Baek-seo.

“So, what happened to the master…?”

“There was no specific cause of death. That idiot just pushed himself too hard, not even realizing the gap between himself and his opponent. That’s why I ended up like this too.”

Do-il casually pointed to his bandaged left eye.

“Well, it was inevitable. But considering how long we've lived, we've had a good run!”

I recalled that the retrieval rate of explorers' corpses was 0.09%, according to the latest report. Even that was in cases where comrades happened to bring the bodies back, so in reality, it was almost impossible to retrieve them.

Since the survival rate wasn’t high either, they couldn’t tell if an explorer was dead or alive, so they had a system of renewing licenses every ten years.

If an explorer couldn’t renew their license, they had a three-year grace period.

After those three years, they were declared missing and presumed dead.

The day I first met my master was also the day he came to renew his license.

“What rank are you now?”

“Around the 6th rank.”

“Kyaa, I knew it. Woo-jin, you’re a genius. I’ve never seen anyone with mana as pure as yours!”

We talked about our recent lives and memories of my master.

If it weren’t for the funeral, it would’ve been like a normal conversation between people who hadn’t seen each other in a while.

Even though we knew what emotions we were all feeling, we pretended not to, creating a ridiculous situation where we were all trying to be considerate of each other.

“He really… was an unlucky bastard.”

As Do-il reminisced about the past, a young couple entered the mourning hall.

The boy had slicked-back fiery red hair.

Wearing sunglasses and walking confidently with a smile, the male student strutted around like a delinquent with his hands in his pockets.

Following behind him was a girl with sky-blue twin-tail hair and a cold expression.

“Who are they? Hold on.”

Do-il quickly returned to the mourning hall. However, he didn’t seem to recognize the couple.

“……?”

I had never seen these students before either.

Were they people connected to my master that I didn’t know about?

They just stood there, staring at my master’s portrait, not even offering a bow. Were they Protestants?

‘No…. What’s this?’

They didn’t even bow their heads.

The boy, in particular, stood still, staring at the portrait, and then glanced at Do-il.

He sneered, as if mocking him.

For a moment, I wondered if I had seen wrong because his disdain was so blatant.

Do-il seemed to have the same feeling; he looked bewildered before his expression hardened.

“Who are you?”

“We just heard that Kim Man-seok passed away, so we thought we’d come and see. I guess this old man finally bit the dust.”

“……?”

The boy pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead and smirked. He seemed to be mocking them.

“Ah, yukgaejang! Let’s go eat yukgaejang.”

“Okay.”

They headed to the dining area, briefly glancing at Baek-seo and me as they passed.

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The atmosphere turned tense, the tension palpable. Baek-seo seemed displeased as well.

The old humanity mourners were casting sharp glances at the new arrivals. There was a palpable sense of hostility in their stares.

But either they were oblivious, or they simply didn’t care, as the boy continued to eat his yukgaejang happily.

He was eating with such gusto, it was like he was filming a mukbang.

“Kya, this is why I love funeral food! Hey, can I get another bowl?”

The boy cheerfully lifted his bowl of yukgaejang towards the staff. The girl quietly chewed on the bossam.

Do-il stared at them, looking dumbfounded.

Even the staff member working at the event was sweating bullets, sensing the tension.

The room was filled with a heavy silence.

The staff brought another bowl of yukgaejang, and the boy cheerfully accepted it, taking in his surroundings.

“Hmm?”

The boy noticed that all the mourners were glaring at him with hostility.

The boy’s smirk turned into a scowl, and a vein popped on his forehead.

He snapped irritably.

“What are you looking at, you bastards?”

A blatant provocation.

“How dare you, young punk, say such things here!”

One of the mourners shouted, and the boy’s lips curled into a smirk.

“I wanted to see this bastard die too, okay? I came here for my own reasons. You think you’re the only ones with feelings? I came here to deal with mine, so mind your own business.”

Screech!

“Oh?”

In an instant, Do-il moved swiftly and placed a knife to the boy’s neck. The boy was startled at first but then grinned in amusement.

“Brother, you’re being noisy, so shut up.”

“Oh, right, sorry?”

The boy responded softly to the girl’s scolding. They didn’t seem to care that Do-il had drawn a knife.

“Who the hell are you two? What was your relationship with Man-seok?”

Do-il asked in a menacing tone, and the boy hesitated before answering.

“Not much? Just someone we knew.”

“……?”

“Kim Man-seok… He was that old guy who used to criticize Neo Seoul’s system, right? He was pretty famous.”

There are several problems with the Neo Seoul system.

Like the issues I experienced in the factory when I was a child, where human rights were blatantly disregarded despite being enshrined in the Constitution.

Such criticisms were always brought up, and my master was one of the people who consistently voiced such concerns.

As a strong figure among the old humanity, my master’s opinions carried weight.

“He was just an old man with a big mouth. He pissed me off, that guy. And now he’s dead, just like that? I thought it would be interesting to come and see for myself.”

The boy pointed to the portrait with his spoon.

The mourners’ faces twisted in anger.

“This city has advanced so much for the good of humanity! But that old man had no clue what he was talking about, isn’t that funny!?”

“Brother, you’re being loud….”

Before I knew it, my body had moved.

Thud. I grabbed the boy by the back of his head.

“Huh? Oomph!”

Bang!!

I slammed the boy’s head down hard.

His head plunged into the yukgaejang, smashing the table and crashing into the floor. A scream burst out from him.

I lifted his head again and slammed it down once more.

Bang!!

“Have you said everything you wanted to say?”

My voice was tinged with coldness, even though my emotions had already cooled.

The girl, presumably his sister, quietly chewed on her bossam while glancing at her brother and me.

“Kyaa! This guy’s making things fun…!”

Despite the pain, the boy twisted his head around, ripping at his scalp. He had considerable strength.

“What’s your deal?”

The boy asked, his face soaked in yukgaejang broth and covered in bits of meat, grinning with a twisted smile. Veins bulged on his face as he expressed his anger.

Luckily, he seemed fully intent on resisting.

My rationality was already wearing thin.

“I’m with the Disciplinary Committee. I’m detaining you for defamation, public disturbance, and obstruction of business.”

If he was so intent on provoking me, I was more than willing to oblige.