0% Love

Chapter 7: Road to becoming best friends

"Me too. I want to keep him under close observation for now. He could make a fine ally."

"President. You can't be thinking of asking him to join the student council?" Rosalyn places the documents in her hand down on the desk. Her pretty face twists with a frown. "I don't agree. His low rank and average family standing aside, his reputation is terrible, his grades are abysmal and his attendance rate is the lowest in our academy."

"His intelligence and ability to act will be a great asset to the team. He would've slipped away from our hands if we didn't have the video recording device. He also protects those weaker than him."

Rosalyn protests, "If you want someone like that, I recommend Choi Han. He has S-rank abilities, excellent scores, and near-perfect attendance."

"He's of an even lower rank and he has no family standing to speak of," Alberu rebukes gently with a smile, reminding Rosalyn of her previous words.

"Yes, but President, having you always advocated for equality? Having a commoner as part of the student council will help provide a voice to the commoners. His case is different from Cale Henituse's."

"He sticks closely to Cale Henituse's side. I doubt he'd be willing to join us unless Cale is with us. So... how about we get them both?" Alberu presses his fingers together, smiling brilliantly at Rosalyn.

Despite her doubts, Rosalyn sighs. There's no stopping Alberu Crossman when he gets like this. He's always been better at reading people compared to her as well, so maybe this Cale Henituse really is a good person unlike all of his rumors.

"Yes, president."

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Cale returns to his room and unpacks. When he opens the door, he's greeted by Choi Han's smiling face.

"Are you ready to go to class, Cale-nim?"

... So much for keeping his room hidden.

Choi Han sure is sticking close to him. Doesn't he have any other friends? Cale wants to have some time alone to solve the mystery of the affection rating.

Cale tries to ignore Choi Han as he walks ahead, but Choi Han easily falls into step next to him with his long legs. Choi Han smiles and hands a notebook to Cale.

"Here are the notes from yesterday. You can keep the notebook, Cale-nim! I have a separate copy."

... Okay, so having Choi Han around is pretty helpful. Cale's never received notes from someone else before, so he flips open the notebook curiously. There's neat and beautiful handwriting and color-coded organization on each page. The notes span from the first class to the latest class, inclusive of all the classes Cale missed as well as attended. It seems to have taken Choi Han a lot of time to compile and copy. Now that he takes a closer look at Choi Han, the boy seems to have dark circles under his eyes. Did he stay up late to do it?

"Oh," Choi Han makes a noise as though he's suddenly remembered something. "I'm not sure if you've heard, but today's class is in a different location! I'll guide you there."

No, he hasn't heard. Even back when he was Kim Rok Soo, no one would tell him about classroom changes, and he'd sometimes be scolded for missing class or being late to class. Even if he tried to explain, the teachers only scolded him for not asking his 'friends', so Kim Rok Soo had given up on explaining.

It's quite a complicated feeling to put into words. Cale closes the notebook.

"Thanks. What are we doing today?"

"You're welcome, Cale-nim! We'll be trying to summon a familiar! They'll accompany us for the afternoon outdoor class later on. That's why we're going to the summoning room in the other building."