"Ok, first," the teacher said as he looked down at his tablet.
"Park Min-soo(Korean: Park Mean-sue), please step forward."
A tall, well-dressed, good-looking kid that, if Xander remembered correctly, did very well on his combat assessment, walked up and stood below the stage for all the mentors to see.
The mentors all started to look at their tablets that showed the report on Park Min-soo.
He was a native of the tower, 16 years old, with excellent written test scores, and he was given a high A on both the combat assessment and the comprehensive evaluation, which was the second highest score possible right under S, which was rarely given.
After a minute went by, the teacher said, "Ok mentors, raise your hand if you would like to take Park Min-soo."
As soon as the teacher said this, all the hands went up.
This put a smile on Park Min-soo's face and caused the teacher to give off a little laugh.
Several back and forths later, Park Min-soo had selected his mentor.
His mentor was a guy called Hwang Tae-yong(Korean: Hwang Teh-yohng).
Xander learned during the back and forth part that Hwang Tae-yong was one of the most popular and famous mentors the academy had, and he was known to only select the creme of the crop as his students, but to Xander he came off to be a little to arrogant and prideful. He just rubbed him the wrong way.
***
Several kids later, after a couple of A, B, and C comprehensive evaluations went by, it was finally Xander's turn.
"Next, Alexander Stone, please step forward."
Xander did as he was told with his fingers crossed, hoping he would get a good mentor.
The mentors each started to look at their tablets, checking out Xander's report.
They saw how he had no schooling and did terrible on the written test but did well on the IQ test.
They saw that he got a high C on the combat assessment, where it was also shown that the only combat teacher he had ever had was his brother for about three days.
Xander overall ended up with a mid C rank on the comprehensive evaluation, but it was noted that it would possibly have been higher or lower if he had shown off his trait, but he did not so his trait was still an unknown.
Soon, a minute went by, and the teacher said, "Ok mentors, raise your hand if you would like to take Alexander Stone."
Xander, who still had his fingers crossed with no clue what his scores were, watched as two hands went up.
"Phew." Xander let out a short, quiet breath.
He didn't know who these guys were, but they had failed to get anyone so far. Even though they had raised their hand for each person, they had failed to ever even be brought up, so he knew that they were likely not the best the academy had to offer.
The teacher then began to explain who these two gentlemen were.
"This here on the left is Kwon Dong-hyuk(Korean: Kwon Dohng-hyook). He is a high F-rank. He has been here at this academy for 7 years. He currently has 17 students, 12 of which are ranked C on the comprehensive evaluation, and the other 5 are ranked D. He himself is graded a mid C rank mentor."
'Damn,' Xander thought as he tried not to give a frustrated look. He had hoped for someone much better than this.
The next guy wasn't much better than Kwon Dong-hyuk.
"So, who do you pick?" the teacher asked.
Xander's eyes went wide as he was asked the dreaded question. In the back of his mind, he had been hoping someone would come to his rescue and raise their hand, but no one had, so here he was.
He looked back and forth, trying to decide who was the best pick in the sucky situation he found himself in.
30 seconds went by, and Xander still couldn't make up his mind, them both seeming like terrible options.
"Please make your selection, or I will make it for you," the teacher said, urging him on.
"I… I umm…" Xander couldn't make up his mind and had unknowingly let a disappointed look appear on his face.
After another 15 seconds went by, something Xander didn't expect happened.
"Ahh screw it, you can have him. I don't want him anymore," Kwon Dong-hyuk said, a little embarrassed about the situation and trying to save face.
The only problem was this put the other man, Ko Woo-sung(Korean: Ko Woo-soong), in a bad spot where he was also losing face, so the even more dreaded finally came.
"Ahh, I don't want him either. He's too indecisive. Throw him in the lottery."
Xander's mouth dropped. He couldn't believe this had happened. What was worse, he had learned while waiting in line that the lottery was filled with D-ranked teachers that nobody wanted.
But just when all hope was lost and Xander had dropped his head, ready to move on, he heard a voice that, while old, grumpy, and rough, sounded heavenly, "Hell, I'll take the damn kid," an older man in his 60s said.
Xander, hearing this, stopped walking away, turned, and looked at the old man with a smile.
[Human - E-rank - Half-step]
'Please be good, please be good, please be good.'
Then the teacher spoke and broke his chain of thought.
"Umm, are you sure, Shin Sung-min(Korean: Shin Soong-mean)? You're retired, and you didn't really leave the academy on the best terms."
In the same scruffy voice, the old man answered, "Yea, I'm sure. Why else would I say I'd take him? Now shut up and move on so we can get out of here."
"Oh, ok. Yes, sir," the teacher said nervously.
"Alexander Stone, your new mentor will be Shin Sung-min. While he is retired, he was once a great mentor here at the academy…" As the teacher was speaking, one of the mentors, the young Hwang Tae-yong, stepped forward and raised his voice, "Don't sugarcoat it. Tell it like it happened. He was forced into retirement, stripped of his rank, and only by the grace of the new principal, a former student of his, was he allowed back on campus," Hwang Tae-yong said with a laugh.
"Umm… yes, that is umm… ok, umm, next, Felix Beaumont, please step forward," the teacher said, trying to get out of the awkward situation.