Weak Class of Anti-Hero
Chapter 23: An Ordinary Evening

Chapter 23: An Ordinary Evening

The weeks that followed were strangely calm. My new reputation bought me peace. No one dared to cause me trouble anymore. My forced partnership with Yoo-Na continued, but she avoided me as much as possible outside of mandatory classes. She had returned from the infirmary, healed, but the fear in her eyes when she saw me was my greatest satisfaction.

Then, the exam period arrived.

I had excelled in combat, but the written exams were another story.

"Aura Manipulation Theory. History of Dimensional Breaches. Ethics of Supernatural Abilities." Min-Soo read the list of subjects, looking worried. We were in the library, surrounded by piles of books and terminals.

"Ji-Hoon, your grades in these subjects are... disastrous," he said. "Your combat ranking is impressive, but if you fail your theory exams, your overall ranking will plummet. You could even be demoted."

He was right. I had never paid attention to theory. For me, magic was about practice, about survival. Not complicated equations on Aura fluctuation.

I looked at the pages of the textbook. The words danced before my eyes. It was a language I didn’t understand.

"I’m terrible at this," I admitted, which was rare for me.

Min-Soo sighed. "I know. That’s why I’m here."

For the next two weeks, he became my personal tutor. We spent entire nights in the library. He explained the concepts to me with infinite patience, creating diagrams, mnemonic devices, using his own power to help me "swallow" the information.

It was exhausting. More exhausting than any fight.

But slowly, very slowly, I began to understand. I began to see the logic behind the magic, the science behind the power.

On the day of the exams, I was stressed, but prepared.

When the results came out a week later, I had the surprise of my life. I wasn’t first, far from it. But I had a passing grade. I had succeeded.

The same day, an announcement echoed throughout the academy. The exams were over. The mid-semester break was beginning. A week of freedom.

I had points. I had time. And for the first time, I didn’t know what to do with it all.

Most students went home for the break, eager to see their families.

Me, I no longer had a home to go back to.

My apartment in Gwanak-gu was just a set of empty walls, filled with memories that were too painful.

So I stayed at the academy. The campus, usually so loud and lively, had become a ghost town. It was quiet. Too quiet.

The first day, I trained alone in the gym. The second day, I read every mission report I could find in the library. But the silence began to weigh on me.

On the third evening, Min-Soo found me in my new room in the Beta building.

"You’re going to rot in here if you keep this up," he said as he entered. He hadn’t gone home either. He said the academy’s library was better than any other.

"Come on. We’re going out."

"Where to?"

"To the city. To spend our points. You’ve worked hard. You deserve a break."

I hesitated. Going out to the city to "have fun" seemed like something from another life. But he was right. The inaction was driving me crazy.

We took the bus to Hongdae. The neighborhood was vibrant, full of lights, music, and young people. It was a world apart from the strict discipline of the academy.

Min-Soo took me to an underground bar, a place known to the Awakened. We didn’t pay in won, but in points, transferred directly from our terminals.

I had never really drunk alcohol before. I ordered the same thing as Min-Soo, a glass of soju.

The liquid burned my throat. But after the second glass, a pleasant warmth began to spread through me. The sharp edges of my thoughts started to soften.

We talked. About everything and nothing. About classes. About other students. About monsters. It was easy. Simple.

For the first time in months, I wasn’t thinking about revenge. I wasn’t thinking about my mother.

I was just a student on break, having a drink with his only friend.

It was a strange feeling. It was almost happiness.

After a few drinks, we left the bar. The night air was cool and the alcohol gave me a light confidence.

We walked aimlessly through the busy streets of Hongdae. The sounds, the lights, everything seemed more intense, more alive.

Min-Soo, usually so reserved, was more talkative. He told me about his family, about his dream of using his power to become the world’s greatest data analyst.

We passed an arcade. We went inside and spent points on fighting games. I was terrible. He beat me soundly, laughing at my clumsy attempts. It was the first time I had seen him laugh so freely.

Later, walking down a quieter alley, we passed a discreet door with a red lantern above it. A man in a black suit stood at the entrance.

Min-Soo lowered his voice. "That’s a ’tea house’."

I knew what that meant. "Tea house" was the code name for a brothel for the Awakened. Places where you could pay with points for "company."

I looked at the door. It was a world I knew nothing about. A world of desires and easy pleasures.

"Do you want to...?" Min-Soo began, looking a little embarrassed.

I shook my head. "No. Not my thing."

The thought seemed strange to me. Spending money on something like that... It was a luxury I couldn’t even imagine. My life had been a struggle for survival, not for pleasure.

We kept walking.

That evening showed me a side of life I had always ignored. People didn’t just fight and survive. They laughed. They drank. They sought pleasure.

It was a lesson as important as any combat class.

Maybe there was more to life than hatred and revenge.

Maybe.

We ended up sitting on a bench in a small park, watching people go by. The slight drunkenness had faded, leaving a pleasant tiredness.

That’s when I saw her.

She was sitting alone on another bench, drawing in a sketchbook. She had short, purple-dyed hair, a discreet lip piercing, and was wearing a large hoodie. She seemed completely absorbed in her drawing.

She wasn’t beautiful like Yoo-Na. She wasn’t seductive like the woman in the red dress. She was... interesting. Real.

She must have felt my gaze, because she looked up. Our eyes met. She didn’t smile at me. She didn’t look away. She just looked at me with frank curiosity.

I don’t know what came over me. The alcohol, maybe. Or just the feeling that this evening was different.

I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Min-Soo asked.

"I’ll be right back."

I walked over to her. My heart was beating a little faster. It was more intimidating than facing a monster.

"Hi," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hi."

"What are you drawing?"

She hesitated, then showed me her sketchbook. It was a drawing of the street, the people, the lights. It was really well done.

"It’s beautiful," I said, and I meant it.

"Thanks."

We talked for a few minutes. About her art, about my studies (I vaguely said I was in a "private school"). Her name was Ji-Soo. She was an art student. She was not an Awakened. She was one of the 30% of "Stagnants."

Her conversation was simple, direct, without any of the power games from the academy. It was refreshing.

Finally, she closed her sketchbook. "I have to go."

"Wait," I said, acting on impulse. "Can I... get your number? Maybe we could get coffee sometime."

She looked at me, then smiled for the first time. A real smile. "Okay. Why not."

She entered her number into my terminal.

Then she left, disappearing into the crowd.

I went back and sat next to Min-Soo. He stared at me with wide eyes, completely stunned.

I looked at the number on my screen.

This evening was truly full of surprises.

On the way back, Min-Soo looked at me thoughtfully.

"You know," he said, "maybe you should go home. For real. Just for a night or two."

I frowned. "Why? There’s nothing left for me there."

"Maybe. But you can’t keep running away from that place forever. Sometimes, you just have to... sort things out. Tidy up. The house, and your head."

His words were wise. Wiser than usual.

We reached a large intersection. Min-Soo’s neighborhood, Mapo-gu, was in one direction, mine in another.

"See you at the academy," he said as he got on his bus.

I stood there for a moment. Then, instead of taking the bus back to Gangnam, I took the one going to Gwanak-gu.

When I opened the door to my apartment, the silence hit me again. But this time, it was different. Less hostile.

I turned on the lights. Everything was as I had left it.

I went into my mother’s room. I opened her closet. Her clothes were still there, neatly folded. Her scent was still faintly there.

A wave of emotion washed over me. Sadness, this time. Not hatred, not rage. Just a deep, quiet sadness.

I took out the photo albums. I looked at the pictures of her, smiling, healthy. Pictures of me as a child with her. I took out the best ones and placed them carefully in a box to take with me to the academy.

Then, I sat in the living room and turned on the TV. The sound of a variety show filled the silence. It was normal. Mundane.

I looked around. The fridge was empty. The cupboard too.

A simple thought came to my mind. A thought I hadn’t had in a long time.

I should go grocery shopping. Fill the fridge. Stock up the house a little.

It wasn’t much. But it was a start. A start to putting things back in order.