Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 55

Moving to the next class.

Ki Hyeonmin… is walking with us.

Our regressor who insisted on the lone wolf concept, my baby #2 who only reluctantly joined the group after getting caught in Gyeon Junhwi’s trap, is voluntarily matching his stride with ours and walking together.

Seems I’m not the only one who finds this strange.

Han Boram peeked her head out.

“K-K-Ki Hyeonmin, a-are you… going to the next class too?”

“It’s a required course.”

“B-but you’ve n-never gone before. Why… why only today?”

I’m curious too.

The next class is even a theory class.

In <On the Brink of Destruction>, Ki Hyeonmin never attended a single theory class.

The kid who never showed his face in the classroom would appear only on exam day, finish writing answers in 10 minutes, and leave.

Yet he’d get perfect scores on all written exams.

A regressor privilege, but people who didn’t know he was taking the same test for the 7th time viewed Ki Hyeonmin as a genius.

Some spread rumors and triggered suspicions of exam paper leaks.

That Ki Hyeonmin is voluntarily going to theory class?

“Stop it. Going to class isn’t strange.”

“C-can’t I even ask?”

“Please, just, be moderate. My head hurts, so lower your volume.”

The one who cut off the conversation with an irritated voice was Yeom Juwan.

My baby is very exhausted today.

Because yesterday, after Yoo Seoha left, Min Dorim worked him a bit too hard.

“A-am I really… that loud?”

“Yeom Juwan just said it because he’s tired, so don’t worry about it too much.”

Today Gyeon Junhwi’s eye-smile has no strength in it.

He also has dark circles under his eyes.

He was busy with possessor duties yesterday too.

“Ah, right.”

Gyeon Junhwi, who made eye contact with me, gave two brief blinks.

“You remember we’re starting the study group today, right? Is 8 PM okay?”

“Are we really doing that?”

“Of course. I already recruited people… Why, can’t you come?”

“No, that’s fine.”

I have to attend any official events with my babies.

But Gyeon Junhwi suddenly turned his head to look at Ki Hyeonmin following behind.

“Ki Hyeonmin, want to join too?”

“Who’s attending?”

“All of S-class, the team members who participated in the awakening test with Yeon Sora, and 5 kids from A-class.”

When my name was called, Ki Hyeonmin looked at me.

Our eyes met.

“…Fine. I’ll attend.”

Why is he really acting like this today?

* * *

I didn’t have time to ponder the question for long.

Because I need to focus on class today!

The first theory class is <History and Future of the Tower>.

A course designed to explain the Tower’s worldbuilding.

“The Tower suddenly appeared 3 years after the Great Rift. What was the greatest change that occurred in nature because of it? Yes, Cadet Yeon Sora?”

“The Law of Mana Universal Gravitation. Like gravity, the Tower possesses strong attraction that draws in entities with mana. Because of this, 95% of monsters now inhabit only inside the Tower. During the Age of Cataclysm, monsters appeared without location restrictions, but now except for rifts, monsters are only found inside the Tower.”

“A perfect answer. I’ll give you 5 points.”

Like a quiz show contestant, I raised my hand the moment questions came out.

Because class participation accounts for 15% of the grade.

I’ve been distracted by subordinate hunting and butterfly effect damage control and neglected my studies, but I absolutely cannot fail.

I’ve already given up on <Rift Theory>, so I need to maximize my grades in subjects I can do well in to avoid failing.

“There are two theories considered most persuasive in explaining the Tower’s existence. Do you know their names? Yes, Cadet Yeon Sora?”

“The Imaginarium Collision Theory and the Gamification Theory.”

“Please give a bit more detailed explanation.”

“The Imaginarium is a fantasy space… in other words, the imaginary world described in myths, books, movies, etc. The exact reason is unknown, but it’s believed the Great Cataclysm occurred when the Imaginarium collided with reality. Additionally, it’s believed the Imaginarium became ‘gamified’ with the Tower’s appearance and was confined within the space called the Tower.”

“You’ve prepared well for class. I’ll give you an additional 10 points.”

The professor looked very satisfied.

Thank goodness.

If I make a good impression, at least something will stick.

“As Cadet Yeon Sora said, the Tower is gamified. The system of clearing one floor to move to the next, the setting that you must defeat the boss monster in the boss area to clear that floor—these have high similarity to games that ordinary people frequently played before the Great Cataclysm. Then what is the grand narrative of this game?”

The professor suddenly picked up chalk and wrote ‘Tower Goddess’ in large letters on the board.

Seeing how he insists on chalk and blackboard in this day and age, seems like an analog enthusiast.

“During your awakening, you all probably received the message ‘Selected as a hero by the Tower Goddess.’ This is apparently a motif frequently borrowed from fantasy fiction before the Great Cataclysm. The grand narrative framework is speculated to be ‘when the chosen hero overcomes various difficulties and reaches the Tower’s summit, they can save the world.’ That’s why you must climb the Tower.”

The professor swept his gaze across the classroom once, then banged the blackboard.

Only after several sleeping students hurriedly opened their eyes did he continue speaking.

“Do you know what will happen if we don’t keep climbing the Tower? Yes, Cadet Ryu Ain?”

This time I was a beat late, so a student who looked like Anne of Green Gables answered instead.

“It’s not certain, but it’s believed that if we don’t climb the Tower, the Tower will collapse and the Great Cataclysm will return.”

“Correct. In fact, for the past 3 years, humanity has been stuck at the 82nd floor. During this stagnant period, the Tower’s total mana has decreased, and external rifts have also increased dramatically. Some say if we leave this alone, the end will come.”

It’s not wrong.

In <On the Brink of Destruction>’s ending, the Tower collapses and the apocalypse arrives.

Excluding the fact that there’s an organization moving systematically to cause that collapse, academic consensus accurately understands this world’s setting.

“Then next is about system bugs…”

Ding-dong-dang-dong—

Just as the important part was about to come, the class bell rang.

The professor checked the clock and frowned.

“Class progress is slower than expected. Some of you cadets will be going to Field Training. Participants in Field Training must hand-copy pages 61-91 of the textbook about system bugs 5 times and bring it to the next class. That’s all!”

That’s a lot of homework.

“Is it over?”

“S-Sora… you were amazing today! So cool!”

Yeom Juwan yawned widely and stretched, while Han Boram seemed genuinely impressed by my rare model student mode.

Meanwhile, Gyeon Junhwi and Ki Hyeonmin… are looking at me with somewhat subtle expressions.

Am I that strange?

What on earth do these kids think of me?

* * *

Ki Hyeonmin attended the Skill Fundamentals class too.

He’s already mastered the Search skill, yet he sat for 2 hours holding the skill board.

Why is this kid who saves even sleeping time for leveling up acting like this?

But the most surprising thing—

“Where are you eating lunch?”

He wants to… eat together.

Lee Hyojun and No Jitae were thrilled to see Ki Hyeonmin sitting at our table.

“Whoa! Ki Hyeonmin? The real deal?”

“Can I see the swords you used? One has a slight curve and one is straight, right? You differentiate between slashing and stabbing purposes?”

“Haha… amazing…”

Meanwhile, Park Rahee is giving soulless reactions.

She looks quite tired too.

There’s also a strange feeling that she’s avoiding me.

She even flinched when I linked arms with her the moment I appeared.

‘But I can’t let her go.’

My role is subordinate marking!

I’ll decide how to move after the background check, but either way, I need to maintain the stuck-together setting.

“Ki Hyeonmin! Gyeon Junhwi!”

At the sudden voice, I turned my head to see an unfamiliar man standing in front of our table.

“Sorry to interrupt your meal. I wanted to properly thank you… I was at the scene.”

“Nothing to thank me for.”

“I didn’t really do anything. Ki Hyeonmin did everything.”

“You did plenty! Without you, there would’ve been mass panic!”

“Hey, you guys! You were seriously amazing! And you’re freshmen, not even upperclassmen!”

Once one person opened the floodgates, people in the cafeteria swarmed this way.

Watching this scene fills me with pride and fulfillment.

My babies became popular!

At this level, the election should be no problem, right?

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t check the General Forum.’

While everyone’s distracted, should I sneak in and look? I accessed the system.

As expected, posts analyzing Gyeon Junhwi and Ki Hyeonmin’s excellence were occupying the hot posts.

Over 10 pages—this is pretty good kindling. The regeneration speed is incredible too.

I scrolled through the posts while checking comment reactions.

— Gyeon Junhwi was an awakening test outbreak survivor?

↳ (Link) Team member left analysis post. High probability the item he made then was Persephone’s Curse

↳ A-grade item on awakening day wtf

↳ Must be an early awakener

↳ Nope not an early awakener.

↳ How would you know that? Lots of people don’t say anything and cosplay as geniuses

↳ Even if he’s an early awakener, still impressive. A-grade has about 50% success rate even for second-years

— Gahh~ That genius high is good!

— This friend’s real genius isn’t item crafting. The nine-tailed fox nest placement was more exquisite than the item crafting.

↳ Two rows in a straight line… Been working 12 years and learned a lot watching

↳ I agree with this. Young people often choose corners for psychological stability. Can’t even think of such bold shelters.

↳ Designing shelter considering monster movement radius in such short time, plus the ability to command 70 people at once is excellent.

— Taking class with him and his head is seriously good

Curiosity about crafting ability was mainstream, but active-duty veterans were enthusiastically promoting Gyeon Junhwi’s excellent intellect.

Veterans are the best! Do more!

Praise for Ki Hyeonmin also overflowed.

— Seeing him in person is insane

— Not human movement

— Freshman alone handling 9 godilis and each one is 15-second clear…

↳ But why did 9 attack all at once?

↳ They didn’t attack all at once. Chimeras absolutely never attack in groups

↳ (Link) Eyewitness testimony. If you don’t know shut up

↳ Interesting. If this is true, despite monsters acting opposite to their characteristics, he didn’t panic and drove it into 1-on-1 combat situations. Amazing judgment in such short time

— But isn’t Ki Hyeonmin also a freshman rep? Why was he buried until now?

↳ Buried by YSR

↳ Finally shining because YSR is gone.

But sometimes the well-going topic would jump to strange places.

— Shocking fact. YSR was also at the scene

↳ Then why didn’t she step up?

↳ For real if it’s Yeon Sora level, isn’t 9 chimeras 1-second clear?

↳ There must be some reason she couldn’t step up

↳ I bet a thousand gold she didn’t step up, not couldn’t

— But someone had cardiac arrest at the scene… isn’t this similar to Baek Hyeonjung?

↳ For real suddenly foaming at the mouth and collapsing is exactly the same

↳ Did she attack a classmate instead of monsters?

↳ No…. That’s going too far

↳ This kind of speculation is too much. She’s not some thug, why would she do that in that situation

↳ I vote for needed meat shield

↳ Lololol normally I’d stay neutral but if it’s YSR seems totally possible lolol

↳ But from what people at the scene say, the guy who collapsed was a risk factor, so isn’t this preventing an accident?

↳ Even if that’s true, the problem is stopping his heart instead of talking

There are sharp ones.

But there’s no evidence I did it anyway, so I can cover this with denial.

Getting cursed doesn’t feel great, but…

Well, the villainess image is useful in its own way, so I decided to look only at the good side.

I hurriedly closed the hologram window when a somewhat high-pitched voice rang out.

“Junhwi! The study group starts this week, right?”

A female student with a pretty face standing in front of our table.

Blonde hair and yellow eyes creating a unique atmosphere—I’ve seen this face in illustrations too.

“Wh-who?”

“Junhwi’s friend? Hi! I’m Seong Hayul. And you are?”

“H-Han Boram.”

“Junhwi has such a pretty friend too?”

Seong Hayul is one of the heroine candidates.

The reason she’s not in my bias rankings despite having illustrations is because she’s the type of character I disliked.

A typical queen bee.

Relying on her decent face, she especially loves dumping work on male students, and seeing Gyeon Junhwi not fall for that temptation makes her greedy, leading her to truly fall for him… that kind of heroine narrative.

Not my taste.

“I told my friends about the study group and they want to join too. Can’t you add just 2 more people?”

Seong Hayul asked with a nasal voice, but—

“Sorry, I’d like to but there are already too many people.”

Gyeon Junhwi smiled while putting up an iron wall.

In the original, she became obsessed after being rejected when asking for homework help, but that trigger is being replaced by this moment right now.

“Just 2 people~ Can’t you squeeze them in for my sake? They’re really good kids!”

“Sorry, but it’s not a social gathering. If there are too many people, other study members will be uncomfortable.”

My baby being so firm!

Seong Hayul has somewhat useful abilities so he’ll take her in, but seems he has no intention of accepting her handmaids too.

“Then can’t you ask the other members for understanding? Please~”

But Seong Hayul didn’t know giving up.

Instead of Gyeon Junhwi, she started showing her aegyo face to other spectators around.

Tilting her head at a 45-degree angle and blinking—it’s cringeworthy but… she is pretty.

A few male students bewitched by that pretty face started pressuring Gyeon Junhwi.

“Come on Junhwi, one person should be fine, right?”

“It’s two people though.”

“Two people… anyway with more people the burden decreases, and when she’s asking like that.”

“Right, just let them in.”

‘Those bastards aren’t even study members, why are they going ‘let them in, don’t let them in’ blah blah.’

This is why I hate Seong Hayul.

Gyeon Junhwi can’t take a cold attitude because of image management, and this kid constantly manipulates public opinion around her to obstruct my baby’s path.

Anyway, my baby’s in a difficult situation.

This is when I need to step up.

“I don’t want them.”

When I said it firmly, everyone’s eyes turned this way.

Seeing me, Seong Hayul forced a smile.

“Y-you’re Yeon Sora? Nice to meet you!”

“I’m another study member Gyeon Junhwi mentioned. I don’t want 2 more people. If you accept them, I’m dropping out.”

Seong Hayul made an expression like a wounded baby deer.

“Why… go that far?”

“Reason?”

My baby would need to create various justifications to refuse, but I don’t need that stuff.

I only need one thing.

How dare you ask Yeon Sora for reasons!

Grin.

If hers is a 45-degree downward angle, mine is a 45-degree upward angle.

The effect of eye-level smile was a direct hit.