Upon waking up Friday morning, I was greeted by an unusual occurrence: a message. Of course, I had received hundreds of messages from the group chat containing the 2 idiots. However, that chat was muted to prevent me from losing my last few brain cells.
[Your official ranking exam results will be displayed during class today. The school once again apologizes for the delay.]
The school underestimated the time it would take to test hundreds of eleven students, so the results were postponed.
Recalling my performance during the exams, I assumed that I would be ranked around 100. Being ranked within the top 150 would give perks such as bigger dorm rooms, better training gyms, and more merit points! At the same time, no one would suspect my ranking of being too high or too low, as I was previously in Class B.
Ren's father might be surprised by the results as he knows the real reason why I was placed in Class B, but I doubt he'd care.
"wait, why am I thinking about that asshole?"
After entering the classroom, I saw expressions ranging from solemn to horror to shock and excitement. The poster stuck to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom caused these expressions.
"Rank 1: Kevin"
"Rank 2: Liam"
"Rank 3: Alya"
"Rank 4: Irene"
"Rank 7: Lily"
...
"Rank 52: Zack"
...
"Rank 97: Ren"
...
"Rank 545: Han"
"Rank 546: Jin"
Kevin was surprised to see Liam ranked at number 2, only now understanding the amount of oppression placed on commoners. Irene was neutral as she placed higher than Lily, giving her a sense of superiority, but at the same time, her 3rd rank was taken away.
Liam and Zach were ecstatic that, despite their huge rise in rankings, they seemed to forget about the injustice they faced during their initial class placement. The princess, Alya, was aloof as always, reading a book; however, she occasionally stole a glance at the 2 students who placed higher than her. Finally, the two idiots seemed not to care as they waved to me from our seats at the back.
There was one more person, but I didn't dare to glance at Lily out of fear that Ren's feelings would reappear.
Sitting down in my seat, Jin immediately bombarded me with questions while Han gave me a sympathetic glance.
If you feel so bad, then help me!
"This travel club thing better be entertaining after you hyped it up."
What do you mean hyped it up??? I just told him that there would be girls attending...
Before I could respond, Mrs. Longburn walked into the classroom and towards the podium, with her gaze pausing on Liam for a moment.
Typically, teachers would be ecstatic to have 5 of the top 10 students in their class, but Mrs. Longburn seemed indifferent as she went about the school announcements as usual.
During class, I thought of trying to take notes as doing well on exams awarded more merit points; however, this behavior would be suspicious to Ren's friends. With my being 8 years behind everyone else, I desperately needed some way to learn, so I subtly took pictures of the board with my phone under the pretense of playing a mobile game.
Of course, these actions did not go unnoticed by the elven students sitting in front of me, but honestly, I couldn't care less about what they thought.
*RING*
Not even bothering to push our chairs into the desk, the two idiots and I were the first to leave the classroom.
Still in our school uniforms, the three of us headed to the portal for the travel club orientation.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard a voice from the right.
"We're early; why don't we get something to eat?"
Surprisingly, it wasn't Jin who asked; it was Han.
Han's a big foodie, noted.
Glancing at my phone, I noticed that we had 20 minutes to spare, so I obliged, and Jin didn't seem to care. That was, of course, until we reached the food spot that Han recommended.
Seeing the tens of exotic ice cream flavors and cones soaked in chocolate, Jin's face turned to one of pure joy. Recalling our first lunch, where Jin took at least 3 portions of desserts, I deduced that he had a central sweet tooth.
"Let me get one of that... that..... that... oh, that too!"
That was how we, the first students to exit the classroom, ended up late to the orientation, causing us to receive even more disgusted stares.
Looking to my left, I saw Jin licking his four scoops of ice cream, and with all my will, I suppressed the urge to slap the cone right out of Jin's hands. I mean, even Han was angry.
How the hell does someone spend 20 minutes choosing ice cream flavors?
Standing at the front of the group, the club president's cheerful expression seemed to darken upon seeing our entrance; however, his face seemed to rise upon seeing that the entire main cast was there as well, even the book-addicted princess.
"Welcome to the first-year travel club orientation! You wouldn't believe my shock when I saw so many promising talents signing up to join."
I could see bolts of sweat falling from the president's face as he spoke.
"The club's purpose is to allow students to explore the outside world and give them a chance to escape the competitive atmosphere of the school. One to two times a month, we will use the portal to take on vacations to various places. Today, we will go local as our destination is this town's very own Skyward Spire Amusement Park!"
Somewhat accustomed to the portal's side effects, I managed to keep my dignity intact as I didn't fall after walking through.
In front of me stood an amusement park—not just any amusement park, but one made to terrify even people with supernatural powers.
Looking at the roller coaster, which peaked at over 900 feet in height, I started trembling. I was scared of normal roller coasters on Earth, so how would I get through this?
The rest of the class seemed entranced by the various attractions, which I called "death games."
Naturally, the two idiots beside me immediately began discussing.
"Which ride first?"
"Dude, the dragon's descent looks amazing! Wait, no, the Thunderbolt twist looks better. Wait n-"
"Alright, first, let's go to the thunderbolt, then the dragon, then the forest maze, then th-"
If only these two put this much effort into academics.
"Come on, let's just go."
Han and Jin sprinted at full speed towards the first ride's line. Thankfully, the two automatically assumed I was following, and by the time they realized they'd already be too far in line to get me.
Walking towards the overpriced carnival game booths, I pulled out 5 coins and patiently waited in line.
The goal of the game was to knock over the 12 pins stacked on top of each other. After handing my coins to the stand owner, I received 5 wooden balls in exchange.
Aiming for the top 3 pins, I threw my first ball, which connected, knocking those 3 down.
"I should be an archer!"
Picking up the next ball, I changed my strategy and aimed towards the bottom pins, hoping to knock down the entire structure.
Mustering all my strength, I threw the ball, and its trajectory looked perfect as it flew right at the bottom middle pin.
Then, just as the ball was going to hit the pin, it inexplicably moved downwards and hit the table instead of the pins.
Redirecting my gaze to the stand owner, I looked at him suspiciously before he chucked and said.
"Oh, did I forget to mention that the balls are imbued with magic? They randomly have a chance to bounce around. This is a magic amusement park, you know."
The following 3 balls I threw just happened to "randomly" bounce away from the pins.
"Some things never change."
Walking away defeatedly from the stand, I was about to look for the bathroom when another challenger approached the "random" ball booth.
"Watching someone else fall into my same misery will help!"
Turning back around, I saw the booth owner hand over 5 balls to the student with long silver hair and pointed ears. I could not see her face, but seeing her now confident demeanor crumble with my eyes would be enough.
Picking up the first ball, she employed my strategy by aiming at the bottom pins. In a swift motion, the ball flew from her hand and bolted towards the bottom pins.
"Hah, just wait."
Looking at the ball inch toward the pins, I struggled to hold in my laughter as I awaited the inevitable sight of it "randomly" bouncing away.
But, that moment never came...
*BANG*
The 12-pin structure collapsed immediately after the ball made contact with the bottom pin; the booth owner seemed shocked by this change of events as he struggled to maintain his calm demeanor while grabbing the big teddy bear reward.
Opening and closing my eyes, I kept staring at the fallen structure, hoping it was all an illusion and that the pins would magically go back into place. I wanted to be mad—I really did—but seeing the booth owner's shocked expression, I realized that not even he knew what had happened.
Even if I wasn't the only one losing a reward, I felt defeated staring at the person who managed to take down the entire pin structure with one ball.
Holding the ridiculously large teddy bear, the elf turned around, and I immediately recognized her as the elven princess, Alya.
"hah, at least it wasn't just some nobody who beat me. Yeah, only royalty can beat me!"
Distracting myself, I checked my smartwatch and realized it was about time for the djinn to show up, so I rushed towards the mirror attraction. There were also some missed calls from the group chat, but there was no way in hell I was going on any of these rides.
Walking inside the building, I saw dozens of mirrors laid out across the room. Inside were some normal people visiting, as well as two students, Irene and Liam. The two weren't together as they stood in front of different mirrors, staring into the never-ending sea of reflections.
Heading towards the corner of my room, I steeled myself until it finally happened.
*CRUMBLE*
"Huh...?"
"What's going on..?"
*SZZZT*
Shards of glass fell onto the ground as the ceiling caved it on itself. From the hole in the ceiling descended a human-like figure with pale skin, yellow-hollowed-out eyes, and a black cloak.
Yellow Eyes are known to be possessed solely by djinns. Compared to the djinn I faced earlier, this one was a demon. Instead of succumbing to its desires, losing its mental state, and becoming essentially a mindless zombie, this djinn was completely calm as a red aura enveloped it.
Looking at the mysterious figure standing atop the rubble from the ceiling, the non-students began rushing to the door.
"MOVE YOUR DU-"
"W-WE H-HAVE T-TO RUN"
"GOOO!"
However, the rumble completely blocked the entrance, so the normal civilians retreated to the corner where I was standing.
A small flame began to form in Irene's hand while Liam picked up a piece of glass from one of the broken mirrors, which just so happened to be in the shape of a sword.
I shouldn't have been scared as I knew exactly what would happen, but at the same time, did I? Was my keeping the butterfly effect caused by my appearance to a minimum worth it, or was it all a waste?
It was time to see if the plot was the same.
[A/N: I was offered an exclusive contract with Webnovel, and I'm taking it. This means you can expect 1-2 chapters/day from now on]