Winter Camp (1)

Several months had passed since Ah-rin left for her hometown.

Today was the day when test results, like dictation or math quizzes, came out.

It was the time when the classroom was filled with the excited shouts of kids who were happy or disappointed with their scores.

“I’m doomed! What am I gonna do now?”

“Yes! We’re definitely eating chicken for dinner tonight!”

“With this score, my dad’s gotta buy me a Nyantendo, right?”

Everyone was both afraid of and looking forward to the fair rewards or punishments that came with their grades.

Of course, elementary school exams weren’t something I had to worry about too seriously.

As long as I didn’t make any little mistakes, a perfect score was a piece of cake.

“Ma Seongjin! How did you do on the test?”

“As you can see.”

When I showed my perfect-score math sheet, the classmate next to me compared his answer sheet with mine.

His score was 60.

If you said it was good, it was good; if you said it was bad, it was bad. It was that kind of ambiguous grade.

It sounds confusing, but that was really what his score meant.

His reaction proved it.

“Whew… What a relief. I guess I barely avoided punishment this time.”

“Do your parents get mad if you drop below 60?”

“Yeah. When I got 50 in the summer, they confiscated my game console and deleted all my computer games.”

I’d never experienced that myself, but just thinking about it was terrible.

It was like a sad hostage situation parents orchestrated to make their kids get better grades.

In reality, that method did help some kids improve their grades.

But most parents just cranked up their ‘happiness circuit’, firmly believing their own children would be the same.

They completely forgot that some kids just aren’t going to make it, no matter what.

“But next time, I have to get 70. I’m really worried about second grade.”

“It keeps going up, huh.”

“I barely managed to get exactly 60 this time, so I have no idea what I’m going to do if the cutoff keeps getting higher. Man… what should I do?”

My friend complained, saying even doing well wasn’t really ‘doing well’.

Other kids looked glum too—some because they didn’t make the cutoff to get a doll they wanted, others because they wouldn’t be allowed to go to a concert for some popular boy group.

No wonder kids learned to hate tests from such a young age.

“Attention, everyone!”

As the homeroom teacher walked in, the kids went back to their seats.

During closing, the teacher started talking about things coming up.

“You all know that the tests are over and there isn’t much time left until vacation, right? But don’t get too excited just because of that. Got it?”

The kids answered, “Yes.”

Since the semester was basically over, there wasn’t much left to announce, except a few things.

“And I’m going to tell you about the winter camp for this break. We’ll be going to Yong-in, and we’ll be using both the amusement park and the ski resort for two nights and three days.”

“Is it at EverXland?”

“That’s right, it’s there.”

Hearing about that famous amusement park, the kids gasped in excitement.

While some were still considering whether or not to go, one kid raised his hand.

“But didn’t a gate open in Yong-in recently? I heard even Hunter Guilds have been gathering there lately.”

It was like someone popped the fun balloon.

The kids’ excitement quickly turned into concern about whether it would be dangerous, but the teacher explained.

“If you’re talking about that, don’t worry. It’s only a D-rank gate, so there’s no real danger.”

“But haven’t there been lots of incidents of monsters escaping from gates?”

“That only happens with higher-ranking gates. The chances are very low with low-danger gates like a D-rank.”

Since the gate opened, naturally mobs of Hunters would be swarming around the area.

They’d form parties and go inside to hunt monsters and reap any benefits.

Since D-rank gates only have low-level monsters that suit their easy difficulty, the monsters never make it outside before getting defeated.

“So don’t worry, we can just have fun for two nights and three days. Don’t just stay home all the time—sometimes you need to go outside and play.”

“But lately, aren’t there lots of guilds messing with gates?”

“Then just don’t sign up, man.”

The teacher scolded the student who was worrying.

The class burst out laughing but quickly fell quiet as the teacher continued.

“As I just said, signing up is up to each of you. If you want to go, you need to hand in the application form and fee by this Friday. Understand?”

“Yes!”

The teacher handed out the letter about the winter camp.

As the teacher had just said, it was described as a fun, three-day, two-night camp.

‘Honestly, I’m considering it too.’

The fee was 50,000 won.

Just the lodging and amusement park tickets would be more expensive, but the school seemed to be covering the rest.

Knowing my parents, they wouldn’t think twice about such a trifling amount.

If I simply asked, I’d be able to go directly, but it didn’t really appeal to me.

I didn’t care if I went or not.

“Oh, and each class only gets twelve people, first-come, first-served. Got it?”

That was written in the announcement too.

It made sense that they couldn’t bring the whole class during break, but this definitely encouraged the kids to make up their minds fast.

‘Plus, it’s over Christmas.’

Camp was from December 23 to December 25.

According to the letter, they’d even hired a chaperone.

Since it was during those dates, I figured the place would be overflowing with disgusting couples.

The other kids didn’t know how awful that could be yet, but—

‘I’m not one of them.’

Sitting together on the ski lift, acting all cutesy.

Skiing together, or couples sledding, going “Kyaaah! Oppa, I’m scared!” at each other.

Or linking arms at the amusement park going, “Let’s ride that one together!”

Or sitting side-by-side on a bench or squeezing together on the rides.

‘No way in hell am I going!’

Just imagining it made my lunch threaten to come back up.

Honestly, I wanted to rip up the camp letter, but I had to show my parents.

These days, they sent a message to parents about which papers kids received during closing.

‘Thanks to that, you can’t get away with lying about your grades anymore.’

Anyway, I had no interest in hanging around while watching that kind of grossness.

I’d rather go somewhere with my family.

“Oh, and you all know there have still been disappearances in town, right? Don’t go wandering around at night.”

“Yes!”

“In fact, there’s a kid from Class 10, 1st-grade, who’s been missing for months, so be careful.”

With those warnings, closing ended.

But the teacher didn’t dismiss the class just yet and pointed at a student.

“And Ma Seongjin.”

“Yes?”

That was me.

“Mr. Choi Sangbaek, the sixth-grade mana instructor, wants to see you after school. He should be waiting for you in the gym right now.”

“Me?”

Mr. Choi Sangbaek was the teacher who had watched me play slap game.

He was also in charge of students with confirmed “hand” admittance, so it made sense he wanted to see me.

I didn’t know why he was calling me to the gym after school, though.

****

I headed to the gym for now.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a sturdy-looking adult inside.

“You’re here.”

Mr. Choi Sangbaek welcomed me as I stepped onto the gym floor.

He seemed to have seriously been waiting for me.

“Why did you call me all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing big, it’s for this.”

In the middle of the gym was something covered with a cloth.

From the movement and the noises coming from under the cover, it seemed to be a living creature.

It sounded a bit like a stray dog. But I figured they wouldn’t call me over just for a dog.

Flap—

And when the cloth was pulled away, my guess was right.

Inside was a restrained monster, growling and glaring at me.

“Is this…?”

“It’s a training monster. It’s not dangerous, so don’t worry.”

Direct experience in monster subjugation was allowed starting fifth grade.

The target was the E-rank monster Junior Lizard.

As the name implied, it looked just like a lizard and protected itself with relatively thick scales.

― Krarara!

The creature roared, trying to intimidate me, but my expression didn’t change.

Mr. Choi Sangbaek spoke with admiration.

“Impressive. Even the fifth graders got scared just hearing this one’s roar.”

“Are you suggesting I try killing it?”

“Haha, you catch on fast.”

Apparently, the reason for calling me here was to secretly test me.

It would be absurd to make a first grader do something even fifth graders struggled with, but I was rather unique compared to others.

That was common knowledge ever since the slap game match.

“Of course, whether you do it or not is your choice. I am curious, though, since you were the one who caught a sixth grader’s mana punch single-handedly.”

“But why have me do this only now? If you wanted me to, you could’ve asked ages ago.”

It had been months since that slap game match.

Since winter break was just around the corner, I thought this was pretty late.

“So, will you try?”

“…”

For now, I decided to give it a try.

Given that my admission as a “hand” student was already settled, there was little chance this was just a joke.

Since the Gate Outbreak, it had become common for children to kill without hesitation.

And their manner of speech had changed a lot from how I remembered it back on Earth.

This wasn’t an age where children were just “children” anymore.

― Krarara! Krarara!

I grabbed the writhing Junior Lizard in both hands.

Even if it was restrained, a monster was still a monster.

It might not be truly dangerous, but it took bravery—like handling a shark or tiger.

But no matter how fiercely it growled, I just stared straight into its eyes.

‘Doesn’t seem to be any trick to this.’

After checking, I infused my fingers with mana.

With hands strengthened by mana, I gripped the creature so tightly, its scales crumpled.

Screeeech—!

With a spread of both arms, the monster was torn in half before it could even scream.

My hands were soaked in the Junior Lizard’s blood as it split open like torn paper.

At the sight of me doing this so nonchalantly, Mr. Choi Sangbaek was left speechless.

“W-Wow, in one shot…!”

I proved my strength by ripping the monster apart with my mana-enhanced grip.

It might not be impressive for an adult, but given my age, being shocked was natural.

“Is that enough?”

When I still acted nonchalant, Mr. Choi Sangbaek clicked his tongue.

His face said he was wondering how a kid like me could exist.

It was the reaction I expected, but the way he looked at me as if I were an invasive species felt strange.

“I didn’t expect it to be this easy for you. Other successful kids took minutes to kill it.”

Most kids would have to beat and pull at it for several minutes before finally killing it.

While they barely managed to bludgeon it to death, I had finished it cleanly in a single move—no wonder he was shocked.

“And that one had been in training for months. And you took it down in one blow.”

“Training?”

“The Junior Lizard you just killed had been trained since September. Its scales were twice as tough as a normal one.”

September was when I played slap game.

If he’d been training it until now, I could understand why I was being tested only now.

‘So he’s been training this one just for me all this time.’

The fact that he specifically trained one for testing meant he’d kept a close eye on me for being unusual.

That answered my lingering questions.

[You have subjugated the E-rank monster ‘Junior Lizard (Reinforced).’]

[Karma has increased.]

‘Huh?’

Just then, a system window like the ones in games popped up above my head.

My eyes opened wide in surprise.

It was the same system window I had used for 50 years in Mewzealand.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Oh, the system came back…

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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