The Villain Of Arise

lii: two different worlds

"Rivals?" Jaehyung couldn't help but shake his head. "I'd like to see you try."

As they walk through the corridors in silence, the familiarity and warmth of the sunlight peeking through the windows created a sense of relief in Jaehyung's heart. He looked out of the glass, seeing students walk pass with their groups of friends. Smiling, laughing, frowning... all of these emotions reminded Jaehyung constantly of this reality.

"Deep in thought, brother?"

He closed his eyes, a sense of content fulfilling him. "It's nice to see the sunlight."

"Must've been nice, huh..." Yuna mused. She tapped the side of her chin as if thinking things through. "Professor Razor sure did teach you well."

"You knew about that?"

"Actually I was the one who made the suggestion."

His head turned to her, surprised. Yuna didn't look at him, her eyes staring straight forward. The crowd parted for them as they walked, murmurs rippling through the air.

"I thought it'd be better to have a familiar person as your psychologist. Your behaviour seems much more normal now. I suppose I should send the professor a thank you gift..."

Ah, so she didn't know that Fabian also personally tutored him.

"Now that I think about it, you haven't said thank you to me for assisting in your escape."

"Did I not? But I believe I did say my appreciations."

"Only to Jeongsuk. Not to me. You know, I was the mastermind behind this plan."

"You were?"

"Ah, not entirely... Someone else familiar to you as well. But I promised I wouldn't say a word of it to them so you can't ask."

"I wasn't going to." Jaehyung's hair ruffled in the wind as the open windows of the school let a warm breeze shift through the air. "Give them my appreciation, will you?"

"I will."

There was a ghost of a smile playing on his sister's lips.

————

The moment he walked through the classroom, he could immediately sense that all eyes were upon him. A quiet chattering began to occur among the students. Jaehyung, disinterested although slightly irked, sat down. Professor Raye watched him carefully, her clipboard in hand.

"Welcome back, Kim Jaehyung." In this monotonous voice, her face lacking of any emotion, Jaehyung couldn't sense any sincerity behind her words. Of course, that was to be expected. "Class, this is Kim Jaehyung. First rank student for the first years and will be studying with you in rune control as one of the leading students in his year group. Please treat him with respect."

Ah, so he was first ranked? That wasn't surprising. He knew from entrance exams that he had ranked high and though he missed a school term, he was allowed to take all the tests and assessments he missed previously so that the school was able to grade him. It seemed those results got him this rank.

"Father would be pleased," muttered Yuna. "You didn't have to study much, either. Just reviewed each subject slightly then did the tests and bang - you're the first ranking student."

He could feel Yuna stare at him relentlessly as Professor Raye began to start off the lesson but Jaehyung chose not to say a word.

"That's strange. At this point, you'd say something like, "That was to be expected" Maybe you've finally learnt to keep your thoughts to yourself."