"So, that's the kind of Academy this is, huh?" began Nora with furrowed brows, folded arms, and a tone as hot as molten iron pulled out of a furnace. "Because the president's grandson isn't here, everyone else has to wait? What next? He tries to assert control over us and we can't tell him off or we get expelled?"
Merlin wanted to hammer his elbow into the side of Nora's stomach again, but he couldn't help but have the same thoughts as her.
Kim Yiseo, on the other hand, looked like she didn't care in the slightest about that. She took her luggage from her chauffeur as he closed the boot of the car, and didn't even look at them as she replied,
"If that's what it is, then so be it."
Nora gnashed her teeth together. "What an absurd way to think. People like you disgust me. I knew we shouldn't have ridden in her car, Merlin. Walking all the way here would have been far more preferable." She did not sugarcoat her displeasure. "I can't stand looking at her for one more second. Let's go."
"That's life," Kim Yiseo added as Nora turned around. "Life is favoritism. What don't you understand? Some will be sheltered more than others. It's normal. You must have been favored over others in some way as well."
Nora clicked her tongue so loudly that Merlin was half-certain that every person present in the parking lot had heard.
"Don't talk about me like you know who I am," she hissed at Kim Yiseo. "I've never been coddled. I made sure I never was. I've heard enough. I'm leaving."
She left. Merlin waited.
"What?" Kim Yiseo turned to him—finally. He had been a ghost to her all through their conversation, but now she saw him. "Do you have anything to say?" She had a furious gaze. It had all gotten heated quickly. This instance was why he disliked having such conversations.
He sighed. "Don't take my sister's words personally. She's like that—always having the right things to say, but never the best way to put them."
Kim Yiseo only stared at him—silent. Her chauffeur was yet to enter into the car, choosing to watch them until they were done instead.
"Well, that's all," Merlin added with a fluster. They were looking at him like he was a madman. "I hope we squash any hard feelings and become friends. Things are a lot easier that way." He turned around and hurried away from the parking lot.
Kim Yiseo sighed when Merlin was out of her sight. She then clutched the handle of her luggage tightly, peering down at it solemnly for a moment.
"Young miss," the driver called.
"It's fine, Sir Han," Kim Yiseo pursed her lips and moved forward. "Make sure their things are brought with haste. Please."
"Will do, young miss."
And with that he got into the car and drove off.
Merlin had never been an advocate for favoritism, but Nora, in particular, loathed it. She was always of the mind that if one was to do something, then they ought to do it right—no hand outs.
However, Merlin couldn't be as mad as her now, could he? Being the president's grandson was a perk only a few people could be born with, and with it came its benefits, just like his situation with the System. He couldn't help but think that other Deficient Mages would act the way Nora was to Kim Yiseo to him if they found out that he had only managed to achieve what they couldn't because he'd been lucky to read a particular novel. What had happened to him could happen to anyone. So, basically, he too had been favored over others.
Kim Yiseo was right. Everyone got favored in some way. And Nora might not know it, but she too was favored indirectly due to him receiving the System. There were some things about spell casting that she wouldn't have known if she hadn't had a geek as a brother.
But telling her that with how furious she looked was only going to bring a certain kind of inconvenience he didn't want his way. She never went angry for long, though; it was only a matter of time before she cooled off. So, instead of dwelling on such moody thoughts, he let his eyes peruse the sea of students clustered before the auditorium, seeking out the other two members of their party during the assessment exam.
I hope they were given admission…
They were the closest things he had to friends at the Academy. If they weren't here, then that meant he had no friends.
Merlin's search bore no fruit, though. A hundred-and-sixty students had been admitted, and looking through every face got tiring and boring quickly for him, and his mind was suddenly captured by another thought.
Most of the students present looked exhausted. And he understood why. They had been rushing into the Academy, obviously late. But that was what bothered him. What could possibly have delayed almost every student?
"The door's still locked—again?!" a familiar figure appeared beside Merlin, and almost too casually that he'd almost thought it wasn't a coincidence.
Merlin remembered the person, and he remembered those words. It was the sweaty boy with the round glasses. And, yeah, he was sweating just like back during the exam as well.
He passed…
For some reason, Merlin smiled.
"Is this going to be something we'll have to get used to?" the boy complained. Merlin would have sworn that this guy was the most eager to get into the auditorium if he had not seen another a minute ago rubbing his fingers on the door like it was his last bar of chocolate. "Being on time and being kept waiting? What is this, Prestige Academy? Following instructions is key. An activity that is to start by ten, should start by ten. Diligence! Diligence, I say! How could the higher ups do this? What are they trying to teach us…"
"Why's he grumbling so much?" Nora whispered into Merlin's ears.
"Because the president's grandson isn't here yet," he made a stupid attempt at a joke.
"Obviously," she snorted. "Coddling up to the boy like that. This is why the world is falling apart."
"Uhm… That's actually because of the Dungeons and Towers."
She just waved him off like he was a fly buzzing in her ear.
"They need to teach people like him that the world doesn't revolve around them. You know, I kind of agree with four-eyes—"
"Four-eyes?" She'd given someone a nickname already?
"—He's right," Nora did not let Merlin deter her. "What's wrong with the higher ups? Just because someone is the grandson of a prominent figure doesn't mean that the whole world should pause when they pause. That's not living, that's submission."
Merlin could only feign a chuckle as he listened to her speak. He was praying deep in his heart that she and the president's grandson never crossed paths. But that was just wishful on his part. They were students of the same Academic year; there was no way they wouldn't come across each other. So he changed his prayer to a better one. He prayed that they shouldn't at least cross paths until a few days had passed.
"Excuse me," a voice called at that moment and Merlin and Nora turned at the same time. Four-eyes was nowhere to be seen, and a new face had approached them. This one was handsome on a whole different level, had sharp features, permed black hair, and brown eyes.
"Hi," Nora replied, staring fixedly. "And you are?"
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help but overhear your discussion," the boy said, closing what little space had been between them and him at Nora's reply.
At this moment, a sinking feeling took over Merlin's stomach. He wouldn't claim that he was the sharpest tool in the shed, but the more he listened to Nora and the boy speak, the more his thoughts went in a direction he hoped would prove to be false soon enough. He had a bad feeling about this.
Nora raised a brow. "And? Got a score to settle with the president's grandson too?"
The boy chuckled sheepishly. "It's not that. I just thought I should clear up the misunderstanding here." He pointed a finger at himself. "You see, I'm the grandson you're talking about."
Merlin stiffened in an instant, hating that his thoughts were correct as he absorbed the revelation he'd just heard, while Nora's face became an amalgamation of pure spite and whatever ancient brother it might have. With the expression she wore, hand her a torch and she would be screaming, "Burn the wizard!" at the top of her lungs.
Still, it was weird. The president's grandson… How could he look so…ordinary? In fact, at a glance, he appeared to be just as common as the rest of them. There was no special air or the sort around him. If truth be told, Kim Yiseo gave off more of a celebrity vibe than he did.
Merlin swept his gaze around, half-expecting to see men in black suits and glasses walk up behind the boy any moment from now. But there was none of that. Moreover, If the president's grandson was already here, then why were they still locked outside the auditorium?
"So?" Nora started, her tone even more harsh than it had been with Kim Yiseo, drawing Merlin's wandering attention back to the more important concern: Stopping this from escalating into something that got out of hand. "What is this misunderstanding you want to clear up?"
The president's grandson sighed softly. But as he opened his lips to speak, he was cut off from the conversation that was yet to ensue before it had even begun.
"ALL THE FIRST YEARS ARE TO MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE AUDITORIUM IMMEDIATELY!!"
An automated voice boomed, reeling the consciousness of everyone near, towards the auditorium.
"I REPEAT, ALL THE FIRST YEARS ARE TO MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE AUDITORIUM IMMEDIATELY!! THE ORIENTATION WILL BEGIN IN THE NEXT TWENTY MINUTES!!"