Why Did I Have to Enroll

Monday morning of week 7 at Union Academy.

Light reacted with disbelief as he watched Ban Yu-won checking the reactions to the video he uploaded yesterday.

"How could you upload this? Ban, are you YouTube's walking dead?"

"Light, your modern vocabulary has improved quite a bit."

"Don't talk about me like I'm from ancient times!"

Busted.

Looking at Ban Yu-won playfully sticking out his tongue, Light felt the urge to grab and pull it mercilessly.

Meanwhile, Dokgo Yeon, who seemed unsatisfied with today's menu and was munching on cereal mixed with Ban Yu-won's spirit potion jam in plain yogurt, spoke with her usual indifferent expression.

"The mood was quite nice. You might as well have stayed overnight."

Luciel's face turned as red as a ripe strawberry.

Ban Yu-won gritted his teeth and pretended not to hear her words as he spoke.

"We can't just keep showing videos of us killing monsters and joking around, so I tried this concept, and isn't the response pretty good? Actually, during exam period we only uploaded videos of sparring and studying, so uploads decreased. I thought we needed some new stimulation at this point."

"Well, the view count is really high... but the response doesn't seem entirely positive from Luciel's fans."

Light pointed to the comments section as he said this.

Ban Yu-won was shocked to see the mix of surprisingly harsh comments.

While most of the negative comments were directed at Luciel, Ban Yu-won received quite a share as well.

There were even scholarly comments scolding them about dating when they should be focusing solely on climbing the tower.

"Come on, we're not idols who need to follow dating bans."

"Humans tend to expect and get disappointed as they please. Perhaps they express their emotions more freely because they don't have to face us in person."

"But I've always been quite obvious about showing my affection for Yu-won..."

Luciel, who had finally recovered from the shock of the word "overnight," chimed in.

As she said, previous videos had often shown Luciel's devotion to Ban Yu-won.

So why was there such an uproar now?

While Ban Yu-won knew the reason but was too embarrassed to say it, Dokgo Yeon provided the answer.

"A young girl's one-sided love appears sweet and adorable, but yesterday's date video gives off the impression of a mature couple. If someone was overly invested in one person, seeing them completely attached to someone else becomes unforgivable."

"M-mature couple."

Ah, Luciel had drifted off into her imagination again.

Dokgo Yeon finished her yogurt bowl cleanly and sighed.

"No need to ask how far things have progressed. Why is this beast unnecessarily bold yet awkward at important moments? You're quite alike."

"We're not even dating. We just went on a date. ...Besides, Ban went on a date with me too."

"Light, if you join in now, things will get complicated, so keep quiet."

Knowing that speaking up here would truly make things troublesome, Ban Yu-won kept his mouth shut and just checked the video.

Then he realized that by manipulating the video information, he could see view counts broken down by dimension.

He was skimming through it, thinking that seeing dimension names wouldn't tell him where they were located anyway, and that it only meant most viewers were from Union—.

His breath caught when he discovered Earth mixed in among the dimensions.

"What is this?"

"What? How do you read this?"

"Earth."

"Earth?"

Ban Yu-won's teammates peered at his mirror.

He displayed the mirror's image as a hologram with a strange expression.

"It's just one person, but someone watched this video from Earth."

"Didn't you say Earth had no mana?"

"No monsters, no dungeons, no constellations either."

"A typical lowest-tier dimension that hasn't evolved even once. A world without even mana, let alone constellation access... How could someone like Yu-won be born there? It's a miracle..."

Then naturally, there shouldn't be anyone with Union Net access rights.

Well, since Ban Yu-won had already gained access rights, he could connect even if he returned to Earth... but isn't he currently in Union?

"Could Earth be starting to evolve? Maybe you being called to Union Academy was a sign."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Even so, it was strange to have a special admission student from a world without even mana... Maybe Ban was Earth's first mana awakener."

Ban Yu-won couldn't help but feel conflicted.

He had hoped Earth would remain exactly as he knew it, separate from fantasy worlds like this Babel Tower and Union Academy.

What would happen if monsters and dungeons appeared on Earth? What about his family?

Ban Yu-won's mind became complicated.

"But this person is quite remarkable too."

Luciel exclaimed in admiration as she imagined the still unidentified Earth YouTube viewer.

"Union Net access rights are harder to obtain the lower the dimension. Yet they boldly gained access rights in a world where mana has just begun to emerge. They might be the most talented after Yu-won."

"Plus, it seems they've watched all our channel's videos. Could they know that Ban Yu-won is from Earth?"

"No way."

Ban Yu-won couldn't help but chuckle at Dokgo Yeon's overly bold speculation.

"Earth alone has diverse races. Considering all dimensions, there must be countless people who look like me. How could anyone pinpoint my origin?"

What made it even harder to determine his nationality or background was that Ban Yu-won was mixed-race.

While his hair and eyes were black, his facial features and bone structure were typically mixed East-West.

Why would Ban Yu-won have believed his grandfather's claims like 'Our ancestors built the Babel Tower~'?

Because he knew his lineage wasn't purely Korean.

Moreover, unlike his sister, he showed distinct mixed-race features as if through atavism, and in his childhood, he thought this made him quite special... which probably made him trust his grandfather's words even more.

'It's an embarrassing past. ...No, since Grandpa's words turned out to be true, maybe I don't need to be embarrassed?'

For reference, Grandfather Ban Ji-won, perhaps because of his beard, looked just like a sophisticated European gentleman.

Ban Yu-won had never seen anyone who better suited the term "nice grey" than his grandfather.

I gave him mana before leaving, so I hope his dementia symptoms have improved even a little... huh?

'Could this be Grandpa?!'

Ban Yu-won scrutinized all the videos posted on the channel with wide eyes.

The unknown Earth viewer had watched all of Rebellion channel's videos, and particularly replayed videos featuring Ban Yu-won dozens of times.

Someone who showed such interest and affection specifically for him among the four members... it had to be his grandfather!

"This is definitely our grandpa."

"It's the first time I've heard Yu-won use such an intimate term."

"...Luciel, you're not jealous of grandpa, are you?"

"Why are you so sure it's family?"

To Dokgo Yeon's reasonable question, Ban Yu-won explained how before enrolling, he had returned to Earth and injected magical power into his grandfather, father, and sister.

"Then wouldn't your sister, who's the only one who awakened magical power, be the most likely candidate?"

"My sister? ...I suppose that's possible."

After hearing her words and thinking about it rationally, Ban Yu-won finally realized his assumption simply came from wanting his grandfather to watch his videos.

Of course, since he couldn't imagine his sister deliberately watching his videos dozens of times and didn't want to imagine it either, he decided to keep believing it was his grandfather.

"Sister, Grandfather... I want to meet and greet them all soon."

Luciel smiled warmly and said.

Ban Yu-won quickly erased the word "meeting the parents" that had popped into his head and was about to respond to her when-

"You can visit other students' dimensions during vacation if you apply in advance."

Yumina appeared with her tray and sat down beside them as she said this.

Her tray only had a small muffin, water, and a drink on it.

Seems she wasn't happy with today's menu either.

"Professor, do you eat at the student cafeteria too?"

"Today is a holiday for the entire academy. The restaurant and faculty dining hall are closed too."

Since last week was the exam period, there were no classes today, Monday.

Instead, what happens is that overall grades are posted, and students who have concerns about their scores can use today to consult with professors to have their grades corrected.

"Professor, I'd like to apply for that. My dimension would probably be better off without me... So I want to go to Yu-won's dimension during the break."

"...You beast, are you prepared to abandon your dimension?"

When Dokgo Yeon asked with a frown, Luciel laughed lightly.

"I understand what you're worried about, Dokgo Yeon, but it's fine. I won't cause any trouble for Yu-won."

"Well, I wonder if that will work out just because you want it to."

Dokgo Yeon's unpleasant sarcasm, Luciel's gentle smile brushing it off.

Strangely, these two often had conversations that only they understood, as if much was left unsaid between them.

Is this what they call women's unique way of communication?

As Ban Yu-won was spacing out thinking about this, Yumina cleared her throat and began her explanation.

"To discuss that, we should first talk about the academic schedule during break. I mentioned that the first semester goes until week 14, right? There's no special closing ceremony, and from week 15 we go straight into the exploration period. Remember what I said? That you can explore the Tower for two weeks during break."

"So weeks 15 and 16 are the exploration period."

"That's right."

Yumina nodded and continued.

"Week 17 usually has special activity schedules. You've done it once before, right? Being dispatched to other dimensions to complete quests. Unless something unusual comes up, you four will likely be grouped together."

"Will you be coming with us, Professor?"

"Of course. We can't send a freshman team without a supervisor."

With three weeks already scheduled after final exams, students who were happy about having a long break would probably feel like they've been hit with reality.

...But thinking about it again carefully, it seemed unlikely that many people would be sad about having less free time at Union Academy, where prodigies from all dimensions were gathered.

"Now, once the special activities are over, that's when break truly begins. You can return to your home dimension and stay there for a month and a half until the second semester starts. You can stay at school too, but since you can't enter the Tower or do special activities, there's not much point."

"Is that the same even with individual exploration rights?"

"Yes, you can't enter. That's why breaks are a good time to catch Tower intruders."

Yumina looked proud, but well.

Thinking about how the Tower operated and the Principal's attitude toward it, Ban Yu-won just shrugged.

Yumina had more to say.

"Actually, I wasn't going to tell you in advance since Luciel and Light might have summer session schedules..."

"Ugh."

"Eek."

Now knowing the horror of summer sessions, Luciel and Light hunched down and tucked in their necks so much they could be mistaken for Durahan, but the next moment Yumina smiled brightly and held out her mirror.

"You don't need to worry about that anymore. You both did well."

"Ah, the grade posting!"

Ban Yu-won hurriedly pulled out his mirror too.

While you could access the school homepage with your student ID, it was much more convenient to view it on the mirror.

After logging in with his student ID, he could quickly access the grade confirmation page, and whether it should be called expected or not, his written exams were all perfect scores and his practicals were all top grade.

For the comprehensive evaluation battle, as already known, he ranked 8th.

"Hehe, you all did so well that I can hold my head high. Even though it's an average of four people, you're the best among eleven classes."

"That's a relief."

Dokgo Yeon wasn't just good at martial arts either - though not as good as Ban Yu-won, all his scores were single-digit rankings.

Luciel and Light also had excellent practical scores, and thanks to Ban Yu-won's talismans being so effective, they managed to score higher than the academy average...

"We could make a fortune if we sold those talismans."

"Yu-won?!"

"Hehe. It would really cause a stir. We even overwhelmingly beat the Special Class! Just thinking about getting to tease those professors who spoke rudely to you all because you were special admissions makes me so happy."

Yumina's hair, made of flower petals, floated gently in the air, proving her elated mood.

Perhaps she had already done some teasing, as whispers about Professor Cantone this and Professor Ryu Cheol-myeong that seemed to be coming from over there.

"I must repay my greatest contributor who helped raise my standing! Ban Yu-won student, shall we go on a date?"

"......"

"A date......"

"Ah."

Just when they had managed to change the topic, Yumina brought back the awkward atmosphere!

In the end, due to Light and Luciel's fierce opposition, the date was canceled, and instead, all five of them decided to do club activities together.

Though it had become quite familiar by now, from the next day on, Ban Yu-won's group could clearly feel that the way others looked at them had changed once again.

*

At a bar in Ronica's upscale shopping district.

Professor Alec de Cantone, a full professor of Tower Studies at Union Academy, slammed down his whiskey glass and spoke through gritted teeth.

"I can't stand this!"

"Calm down, Professor Cantone. It's not like we can change those commoners' grades. If there had been any cheating involved, we might have been able to do something about it..."

"It's infuriating enough that those lowlifes are defiling our sacred Tower, but now we have to watch these vermin strutting around because they're top scorers!"

Gulp.

Cantone ground his teeth as he downed his drink in one go, making his request for a rocks glass rather pointless.

"How did the Tower come to this? Has the Principal lost his mind? I advised him countless times that instead of leaving it to that absurd Union Net system, professors should be able to select students directly. He ignored that, and now he's completely destroyed the academy's order!"

"But look here, Professor Cantone. Nevertheless, those students are clearly exceptional..."

"Noble blood! Noble mana! One's status is determined at birth! Why can't you understand that those born as vermin will die as vermin, no matter how much they struggle!"

Professor Cantone poured himself another generous serving of whiskey.

Though it was specially brewed to intoxicate even superhumans with magic flowing through their bodies, he knocked it back without a second thought.

"To think they're getting cocky over high scores in just basic subjects... huh?"

"Professor Cantone?"

While seriously contemplating whether it was time to cut ties with this unhinged man, his colleague professor maintained a worried expression without revealing his true thoughts.

Cantone had no way of seeing through his colleague's true intentions, and besides, he was too caught up in his sudden revelation to be in his right mind.

"Right, basic subjects... Top performers can take advanced major courses, can't they?"

"Of course they can, but isn't that more of a decision for the professors rather than the students?"

"Indeed."

After cleanly emptying his glass, Cantone set it down on the table and stood up.

"I need to have a word with Professor Ryu Cheol-myeong."

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