Episode 19. Fair (1)
“You didn’t know.”
Dante tried to comfort Alicia, but her expression remained frozen.
Of course, it was Dante’s idea that even if he knew he was a criminal, he had to do CPR.
It was the same with Alicia. Criminals should be judged by the law, not individual retaliation.
It was enough to leave it to the law, in fact, the laws of each country, including Agras, were very strong.
The population is growing, rare stones are scarce, and land is scarce. In this situation, there was no need to keep the criminal alive.
The news continued.
[ … … It was revealed that the deaths had left malicious comments to 3,000 celebrities, including politicians and entertainers, at an average of 1,000 per day and over 20 years. ]
Dante opened his mouth again.
“It’s really crazy. How do you do that every day?”
“So it is. Your face looks sober.”
“I can’t find the culprit. It’s not that there are at least 3,000 people who have lived with grudges.”
“Besides, if it was a 7-year-old criminal, the intensity of the malicious comments would have been like a murderer. uh… … ? Then I remembered. Before, there was an idol who committed suicide because of malicious comments. At that time, I think the bad guy was that bastard, too? Goosebumps.”
He was sentenced to imprisonment for a series of incidents, and as soon as he was released from prison, he said that he posted thousands of malicious comments again.
Alicia, who returned home with a sullen expression, fell asleep with a gloomy heart.
* * *
the next morning.
Ding-dong.
‘What. There is no one to come.’
“Ah! I slept well.”
Soft bedding.
Purified, pleasant air.
The right temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.
Even this small happiness will be forgotten someday, right?
So, in this moment, enjoy the happiness as much as possible.
Dante took a bottle of cool sparkling water from the fridge and headed for the front door.
click.
It’s like pajamas, so I stick my head out cautiously.
There was no one at the door. Instead, a red box was placed.
‘what?’
It might be an explosive, so I was contemplating whether or not to open it. A text came from Alicia.
[Ping Taeyang: I left it. ]
‘Why did you leave it like this? You can give it directly… … .’
Dante opened the box as he walked to the sofa.
Inside the box was a Tasha Tudor rare edition and a note.
“oh. Ohhhhh!”
Alicia you.
Were you a good guy?
Sitting on the sofa, he took out a note and unfolded it.
‘Even something like this.’
Dante read the note with a little excitement.
“It’s a birthday present.
I feel like I didn’t get a separate present for my birthday.
I thought a lot about whether or not to give it to you because I was waiting for it, but I gave it a go.
Were you a man too? (*´~｀*)
I don’t have a body that I can go anywhere.
I admit that I am not an angel.
then have fun Hello.
– From long-legged beauty Alicia
(hahahaha)”
Bye bye bye bye bye!
The shame that had sunk to the bottom of the water surfaced. Dante hesitated as he tried to tear the note with his trembling hands.
Come to think of it, it’s the first handwritten letter I’ve ever received from a woman. It is the first gift a woman ever receives.
This time the shame was pushed aside, and a deep sadness reared its head.
“Ha, life. I was in vain, I was in vain.”
Dante sighed and looked at his phone.
The article was posted yesterday in the main corner of the portal.
“Let’s see the comments… … .”
It wasn’t long before Dante put the phone down. There were numerous comments that would hurt Alicia. It was roughly the same as ‘a rare idiot who performed CPR on a criminal’.
It’s ironic.
The gist of the article was the death of a 7-year-old criminal ‘Affler’. People are putting another malicious comment on that article.
However, his worries about Alicia did not last long.
“right! go for a swim yo. this! Babe.”
Dante quickly changed into a swimsuit and headed to the rooftop. And without hesitation, he jumped into the deep water.
Poa!
good night.
It’s still a waste of age to wither away from the world.
Dante was a boy of sixteen.
The time when I was lying on a sunbed after a brisk swim and quenched my thirst with a soda. A woman in a gown approached Dante.
“hey.”
It was a black-haired beauty.
Dante looked around and stood up.
“… … Me?”
“this.”
As soon as the woman touched the watch, Dante’s cell phone rang.
[ 1 new business card ]
‘omg. Great zucchini. Did I get her number first? Ha ha ha!’
Dante checked his business card on the spot.
「 Stella Academy
Professor Jia Han
oh… … Not a student, but a professor, and that’s why they handed over their contact information first.
Dante brushed his wet hair and spoke.
“Ah yes. I received your business card.”
“Looks like he’s not a student at our academy. If you’ll excuse me, which school do you go to?”
hmm… … .
Isn’t that what you expected?
“I am still a high school student. I plan to apply in the second half of this year and enter next year.”
“You know there is an entrance exam fair starting next week, right? I’m in charge of the booth at the fair. I want you to visit me once. It doesn’t have to be at the fair, so if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.”
“Ah, yes. thank you.”
“Enough then.”
The woman took off her gown on a sunbed a short distance from Dante and jumped into the pool.
‘Professor Jia Han. What is your name? Is it unique?’
By the way, if you can’t control mana, this kind of thing will happen. Is mana control basic for a competent mage?
While thinking about it, Dante checked the professor’s mana status. It is also at the general level. If you consume your stamina while swimming, you might be shaken. Her control ability was perfect.
‘A professor at a prestigious academy must be a great person, right?’
Dante entered ‘Jia Han’ in the search bar.
Personal information immediately appeared.
‘Your name was Jia, not Hanji?’
On the business card, it was marked as ‘HAN JI AH’, so I was confused. The portal read ‘JI AH HAN’.
‘Early graduation from Agras National Academy, entry into the youngest wizard’s tower… … .’
The career is brilliant from start to finish.
‘When you enter the school, you’re taking classes from people like that… … .’
Did you say it was an entrance exam fair?
I’ll have to visit it sometime.
* * *
“A Camu concert?”
Today was the day of the national idol Kamyu’s concert.
Alicia stopped by Dante’s house briefly. It was to brag.
“Yeah, aren’t you envious?”
“I’m not much of a celebrity. But don’t women usually like male celebrities? Ahh! right. You’re not an ordinary woman, are you an unusual woman? I forgot.”
“hey. After you enter the academy, don’t come crying. Am I very ordinary?”
“No, no. Your appearance is average. admit?”
Alicia clicked her tongue with a sullen expression.
“Anyway, I hate bastards like you the most. Those who flatter only when they have something they want.”
“Okay. Would you like to watch a documentary with me? I have a rare edition of Tanya Tudor.”
“shut up. Anyway, I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll stop here.”
From noble mtl dot com
Alicia turned around and walked to the front door, then stopped.
“I like the lyrics of Camu songs. I listened to it every day when I was having a hard time. So I like it.”
Kamyu was also famous for not putting songs on albums unless he wrote and composed them himself. There are so many songs that touch the heartstrings, so he was a singer loved by people of all ages.
Although, of course, the male fan ratio was much higher.
“Then go.”
Alicia swung a lightstick the size of her face like a hammer and disappeared from sight.
‘I heard that there are many people who heal with songs when they are depressed. I guess he’s like that too.’
Dante did not like to hear or sing songs.
‘I need to organize some books.’
A built-in bookshelf was installed on one side of the living room. Now that you have money, the first thing you want to do is make your home library dream come true.
It is an era of scarce natural resources.
In the vicinity of Agras, there was a state-run lumberyard, botanical garden, and agricultural land. Necessary resources are produced there, but huge maintenance costs are incurred every year.
If there’s anything good about it. It was that they had discovered an exoplanet with large deposits of resources such as oil, natural gas, and rare earths. Including the planet Gliese 581C discovered in the old days.
Usually, you have to deal with monsters to get resources, but I also found a planet with natural resources and no monsters. Such a planet was called the Golden Egg.
golden egg.
From individuals with some money to businesses. He was frantic to find the golden egg somewhere. Because there is no government interference.
A government sweeping through that vast universe? It’s a no-brainer. So instead of easing regulations, the government set up policies to collect taxes.
The nobles with high ransom were neatly displayed on the bookshelf.
Is proud.
When I smelled the paper, I felt like I had become an intellectual.
August 30th.
The entrance exam fair will be held from today.
‘It’s the first day and it’s the weekend, so it must be very crowded… … .’
still have to go
It was because Alicia’s vacation was only two days away. Tomorrow, the day before the start of class, I was told that I had to go to the dormitory.
“Did you get everything? Even if you look around with me today, you’ll still need to visit a few more times. It’s hard to see everything in one day.”
Currently, there are 85 superhuman academies on Earth, and 55 of them are located in Central Agras. All 55 schools were expected to participate in the fair.
Dante changed into clean clothes and stood in front of the mirror. I really liked the way I looked in the mirror.
“How are you dressed?”
“Naissu! But do all the Charlie kids wear black tops and bottoms like you do?”
When the two first met at the Versailles slaughterhouse, Dante was wearing a black top and bottom.
“mostly.”
Not only in Charlie, but in all five bases, black was the national attire. The reason is that water bills are expensive. All water is supplied through a toxic purifier, which is expensive.
So people did not wash often and wore black clothes that were not easily noticeable even if they were dirty.
“Shall we go?”
“go.”
The two got on the subway.
The fairgrounds are on the outskirts of the city and are always held in the same place.
“Aren’t there any skyscrapers at the fairgrounds?”
I asked to go by subway instead of Sky Taxi.
“There are no skyscrapers over 50 stories.”
“I am surprised.”
“what?”
“It’s a superhuman entrance exam fair. Aren’t there a lot of children from prestigious families coming?”
At Dante’s words, Alicia shook her head.
“Kids from prestigious families don’t attend fairs. You’re going to the school your family has chosen for you.”
“aha?”
That’s a clear answer. There was nothing more to ask, so Dante took out his phone and fiddled with it.
Alicia showed interest.
“What are you doing?”
“To make a plan. Now I want to get some exercise and try a lot of things.”
“Kids who are really good do well on their own even if they don’t have anything like that.”
“Lee Nam.”
Maybe a minute passed.
Alicia opened her mouth again.
“My mother died. I was a perfectionist. I’ve always had a plan in my life. When I squeezed it, my mom checked it. In the end, that schedule became the one my mom wanted, not me.”
“hmm… … If you live according to the plan made by others, you will do it even if it is difficult. Because autonomy disappears.”
“It was hell.”
“now?”
“happy. I’m so happy that I can live my life the way I want! hehehehe.”
Dante listened to her silently.
She had barely noticed that not only her brother but also her mother would have died. However, today was the first time that Alicia brought up the topic of her mother.
Alicia, who smiled broadly, continued.
“It’s a bit hard to say this with my own mouth. Even if you just enter the top 5 academies, you’re in the top 5%.”
In today’s society, the superhuman rate is about 0.3 percent. With 1.5 million newborns born each year, this meant that 4,500 of them would become superhuman.
“5% of the 40,000 first-time freshmen… … .”
“Because all five prestigious schools combined selected about 2,500 people.”
As Dante said, the admission quota for the 85 superhuman academies is about 40,000. If we select about 40,000 people, there will be only 4 to 5,000 left after graduation.
The rest drink high school before graduation for various reasons.
An average graduation rate of 10 percent.
The top five prestigious schools had an average of 30 percent, which was relatively high.
“How hard do you have to be to drop out of the school you barely entered?”
“Don’t imagine anything. It will be a million times worse than the worst you can imagine.”
“I only attended one semester, so you say that?”
“There were 500 students when I entered the school, right? 250 left.”
The period with the highest dropout rate was, of course, the first semester after admission. After one semester, the dropout rate drops sharply after that.
It was because all the children who had already fallen would fall away, leaving only those with strong mentality.
Dante suggested, snapping his fingers.
“Shall we make a bet?”
“what?”
“How long can I last?”
“You say as if you have already entered school?”
“… … .”
Looking at Dante, who was depressed, Alicia smiled brightly.
“hey! It’s a joke. Of course you pass Maybe BS has already paid the bribe?”
what did you just hear
A bribe?
“what. Are you telling me to deny admission? Could it be that you entered the school like that?”
“I want you to keep going like this! I want you to be pure. I’ll take care of the bread.”
got hit
sh*t.
The moment Dante was about to say something.
Alicia said.
“bet? I even graduate!”
“oh… … .”
“I bet my chastity on -.”
“Really this idiot. Even if you walk, you’re not like that. Wait a minute… … do you stay chastity.”
“hey.”
“Ah, I will stay.”
“That just made me feel worse, you f*cker! Am I grown up?”
Just in time, we arrived at our destination.
The two went to the fairgrounds chasing after Oh Sun-do-soon.
“I’m popular!”
“… … Really!”