Humans are disgusting creatures. No matter where they are or how they were raised, as long as they could think, humans will always compare themselves with others. Be it their friends or family, even strangers, they will always compare themselves with them. It is in this comparison that envy is birthed in the hearts of humans.
It will slowly consume them. Bit by bit. It won't distinguish from friend or foe. And once it has turned the hearts of its victims, not even the gods could save a person afflicted. Envy can cause unimaginable things. Conflicts, fights, war. Humans will always stay true to their disgusting nature.
Humans are disgusting creatures, but it's in this flaw that humanity strived to become better. To attain self-transcendence, humanity sought to compare themselves with others, with animals, with nature, and with the world. The obsession, the insanity, it provided fuel to a burning ember. The fire of humanity.
And as disgusting creatures, a ranking is something to be expected from them. Any thinking beings will always make rankings to satisfy their desire. What desire? Who knows? It's complicated.
Ranking the strongest is fun but ranking the strongest of the younger generation generates more fun points than a pack of bubble wrap.
It's like watching a cliché movie, you know it's the same as others but you expect a few good surprises. And besides, there's nothing else interesting to watch. That's why cliché movies are a lucrative business. It already has all the formula to keep the suckers coming back.
Princess of the Hourglass. That was her title. She just appeared out of nowhere and like a fairy, she swept the arena using her opponents' face, literally. No one knew where she originated. But her abilities spoke for itself.
The ability to bend time is a scary power. The applications are unimaginable. But she did not use her ability during the tournament. Using brute strength, she mopped the stage.
But as grand as her ability, her aspiration is equally low. After graduation, she applied to be a teacher.
***
In an interview with the number 1 prodigy, she was asked of her reason for becoming a teacher.
"So why did you decide to become a teacher? With your powers, you could potentially become a member of the pillars. How could you throw away such an opportunity?"
With a blank face, the prodigy replied, "I want to torture arrogant children."
***
During an exclusive interview.
"How was the experience."
"Fun."
"Tell us more about it."
"I like their screams as they begged for mercy."
"Can we talk about less brutal things."
"The greatest incentive about being a teacher is legally sending the students to the infirmary in the name of teaching."
"Let's pretend we did not hear that. What are your fun activities with your students."
"Sending them flying across the room then hearing the satisfying crunch of bones. Of course, in the name of teaching."
"That's it! We're ending this. This is live?! Cut the feed! Cut it!"
***
Now, she's a teacher at Central, a homeroom teacher for a certain class. And now, she's fuming.
"We can do this one more time. You just have to explain to what happened and you will all be pardoned." Her question will inevitably remain unanswered as the perpetrators of the destruction are incapable to do so.
A series of 16 hit combos rained upon their bodies before they could say a word. Each blow is packed with righteous fury and hateful venom. Now, their faces swelled up like balloons, making their mouths incapable of speech.
The punishment did not end there as the 5 of them were forced to kneel on top of blazing hot coals. Talk about teaching a lesson.
"You're not going to reply? Maybe a few educational punches could produce words from your mouths."
They all have tears in their eyes as they reeled back any bad feelings directed at their adviser. She has a particularly sensitive 6th sense regarding these things. 'You caused this!' They all thought in unison.
"Not talking, very well."
'No!' The five of them shouted in their minds.
"It's a minor dispute ma'am," Bryn intervened. "The class is discussing the gimmick for the school festival. And we know that people will have conflicting opinions. This lead to an argument that escalated into a fight."
'You're an angel Bryn!'
"I only left you for 10 minutes and this is what I come into? Little dispute? This is madness!"
"On behalf of the whole class, I deeply apologize for the damage they've caused."
The teacher's face remained in a disgusting frown. "Shut it. You five, go to the infirmary. Going home with that kind of face will surely get you thrown off your own houses. Not even 2 mothers could love that face."
*snap*
She then snapped as the damaged classroom magically reverted to its normal state it is as if the fight never took place at all.
'You could fix it like that! You're just finding a reason to beat us all.'
"Get out of my sight. You disgust me."
The five frantically ran outside like their butts are on fire. They will get their revenge someday or so they hope.
"With the trash out of the way, I could do the announcement." She paused. Then said, "the school festival is canceled."
"No!" The disappointed students all voice out their dissatisfaction.
"Yes!" But one seems to be too happy.
"Shut up all of you," she snapped, "the headmaster decided to conduct the tournament earlier as scheduled so that it could align with the upcoming nationals after it."
"Goddamn." Someone said.
"Don't worry, the festival will be done after the events. And now, we'll be doing the raffle." The teacher then pulled a golden box somewhere they are still unsure of.
As she inserted her hand inside, a series of runes lit up the surroundings of the box. For a simple draw, a spectacle like that is something over the top.
Everyone is nervous about the raffle, except for Ye Han. He is still blissfully unaware of the matters regarding such a raffle. He resumed his sleep seeing that nothing interesting will happen aside from a glowing box.
The teacher pulled out a small object, the size of a ping-pong ball with the number 59 engraved on it.
"Congratulations Ye Han! You are the winner of the raffle draw. And come see me during lunch. We have a lot to talk about."