It's Not Scam Rather Using Opportunity

Aleister and Emma were both from influential, rich families who were part of the business world, that's why, since they were brought up in such a household they had both ended up picking on that mindset, their brains are hardwired to weigh the pros and cons of any situation, like an instinct.

That's just how it worked for them.

Like Aleister had said, if we had refused to help with the modeling and all, they would have simply backed off. Emma and Aleister genuinely wanted to just help when they offered the ride but their mind instantly thought of the advantage it could bring them, something they couldn't control.

What happened back then was simple, a relationship of any kind is a form of give and take. You help them and they help you and with time the relationship strengthens itself. They were planning on helping us and then we would have helped them and with that, our relationship would grow closer, and we would become friends from a simple acquaintance. 

How one's brain thinks and works depends on their environment and the environment they grew up in was the business-oriented world. 

Of course, a normal person wouldn't think like that.

A normal person would help if they wanted to, but they wouldn't if they felt not to. They didn't think about the advantages or disadvantages of helping someone. They would help their friend because it's their friend, they wouldn't help simply because they didn't like the person. 

A normal person doesn't think too deeply about such stuff; maybe this is the difference between successful people and the ordinary.

And this was the problem that Emma and Aleister suffered from. Even when they simply wanted to help, they ended up messing up with how they talked.

When they provided help and people thanked them, they just ended up saying it was a no problem and went ahead telling that very person about the advantages and disadvantages their brain had naturally come up with related to that person

I mean if someone thanked you for helping them and the reply came up with No problem, dude! By helping you, I get [list of pros], but I also face [list of cons]. So, you see, there's no harm for me in this. Don't sweat about it.

Of course, it'd piss you off. Even if all they meant to say was no different than No prob, dude! It wasn't much of a problem. Don't sweat about it. 

And that kinda feeling is pretty natural, if it felt like a troublesome job you would hesitate to help but if you didn't think it was troublesome then you wouldn't mind lending a hand.

Aleister and Emma were no different than other kids but the way they thought and spoke was what made other people pissed and

...it made them hated.

And that's how they both learned to hide their thoughts, what needed to be said and what not but when someone learned how they thought it made them both come off as manipulative.

Back then Aleister and Emma had shown a shocked expression simply because they most likely couldn't understand how I knew that they wanted to promote their product at the academy.

But of course, like always they ended out coming as wrong and it pissed Julianna off, and then came a confrontation between Aleister and Julianna where both crossed the line.

Aleister had no business in prying into why Julianna hid her face nor did Julianna have any right to judge and talk about their character when it had only been 5 minutes since she knew them.

Man, teenage kids are so fucking complicated.

Regardless of what happened, there was only one thing worth noting for me, Julianna who was just an extra of the novel who never appeared in the novel after this incident can no longer be considered a nameless extra anymore because Aqua being Aqua wouldn't leave Julianna alone, he will keep talking with her.

I guess, she has now been promoted to a supporting character?

I closed my eyes, feeling the wind against my face while Emmie kept driving like some sort of crazy bitch who is high.

Thanks to that we arrived at the class quite early and when I say that I meant, we were the first to arrive.

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"It seems like we are in the same class, huh" I muttered, seeing Julianna standing beside me.

We were both standing in front of the door of our class.

"My day just keeps turning shitier" She let out a tired sigh as if she just gave up.

Poor kid.

I opened the door of the classroom and found all the seats to be empty. It seems like we were the first ones to arrive.

There was only one person, the professor himself, in the classroom ...or should I say lecture hall since the entire place seemed a bit too big which made sense, considering each class has around 100 students with a total of 20 classes accommodating 2000 students.

The seats were placed in a tiered fashion, rising from the front row seat to the back row at the end. There was a podium in the front where the professor was standing and a large monitor screen behind him.

"You have arrived quite early," The professor remarked. Then, with a smile, he added "Feel free to take your seats and wait for the others. If you want to check about the result of your test then try looking up at your phone inside the app"

I nodded at his words and started walking, while Julianna looked frozen in her spot, leaving her behind at the door I simply took the seat in the last row, in the corner.

"Hm? Is something the matter young lady?" The professor asked Julianna who kept looking at him and as if breaking out of the trance she began to reply with a stutter.

"N-no! I-it's nothing!"

She started walking hurriedly and took the seat beside me.

The professor once again turned his focus on his touchable holographic screen where he seemed to be sorting through some documents. I couldn't really tell.

I looked at Julianna who was shaking her head and muttering Crazy under her breath again and again.

Noticing my stare at her, she turned to me and spoke up with a confused tone.

"What are you staring at?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking what is wrong with you?" I asked

I couldn't see for what reason she sat beside me in this empty classroom.

Slowly she looked downwards, fiddling with her thumbs, and began to speak hesitatingly.

"e is ..ot" With the voice she spoke with, it was impossible to understand what she said.

"Sorry, what? Can you be clearer?" 

"He is hot, so hot. I just couldn't think of anything else at that moment and then I just hurriedly moved without thinking and sat here." 

"...Seriously" I muttered as I remembered the plotline from the novel.

The professors of this academy were high-ranking people, so their charm was naturally absurdly high.

That's why most of the students ended up forming a crush on their professors even though they understood they didn't have a single chance with them, they still were enamored by them. Meeting someone with S-ranking charm in person was a whole different experience from seeing them on TV.

Of course, with time all students realized that all they could do was simply admire that beauty and went back to looking and acting like a normal kid, that is, forming crushes on the other students of their year.

"So, when you gonna confess to him?" I asked. 

It was better to do it fast since there was no way it's gonna work anyway, might as well get over it as fast as possible.

She stepped on my feet and honestly, it didn't hurt just like before when she had tried it.

"What?"

"It was just a momentary thing, I am not into him or anything" She hissed at me.

Wow, really?

"Besides, after meeting you I have already realized just because someone has a good face doesn't mean they couldn't be an asshole" She huffed and took out her phone.

...

That was uncalled for.

Shaking my head I also took out my phone and started fiddling with it.

Just like the professor had said, I looked for the app on my phone that seemed to contain all the information about my profile.

I started looking through all the different menu items, academics, profile, evaluation, rank, and the other blah blah.

"Oh, I got 3 demerit points" Julianna muttered.

"Really?" I replied and she showed her phone screen to me.

It was there, written clearly.

Test Failed. 3 Demerit points.

Upon the accumulation of 10 Demerit points, you will lose a credit.

I looked at my phone screen and ...couldn't see a shit.

There was nothing written there.

"Um... Prof. It doesn't show shit in my screen" I called out, raising my hand.

"Setting aside the problem that you need to work on your speech young man, what problem are you facing?" The professor asked and Julianna simply shook her head.

"It doesn't show anything, about whether I passed the test or failed. Not like I care but still" 

The professor frowned and then with a sudden look of realization spoke up.

"You ...where's your bracelet?"

"It broke"

Of course, I broke it.

I didn't like that shit.

At my words, the professor let out a sigh and began to speak.

"Please understand that the bracelet is crucial for your continuous evaluation which is done with the help of the AI installed inside it. I am sure, you must have been provided with the instructions when you were given the bracelet, to report immediately if it broke and to get a replacement right away, weren't you?"

"I mean, it was time for the entrance ceremony and all..." 

"Just make sure to get a new bracelet after class. For now, I'll have to review the security footage to assess your performance," He made a tired sigh as if he found the process cumbersome.

Hmm?

Wait.

I

I could use this.

"Instead of checking out every camera, how about you simply look into the camera of the training facility, I attended it in the morning in Block I. That should tell you all you need to know" I suggested and he made a frown as if not understanding.

"Just check it. You will understand" I spoke again and he just nodded with a frown.

Julianna was looking at me as if asking what this was all about, to which I just told her to wait and see.

The professor began fiddling with his devices and then his expression began changing at the pace you wouldn't expect from interest to shock to amazement.

After a minute he looked at me and began to speak.

"You are a G+ ranker but... this doesn't make sense" His disbelief was quite visible as his voice trailed off

"Well, you can just base my evaluation based on this, can't you?" I spoke.

I didn't care about grades but ...that didn't mean if I could get them for free I wouldn't.

"You aren't wrong" He seemed to be pondering and troubled and then, he posed the question, "You two seem to know each other and you arrived at the same time but that young lady beside you used a vehicle..."

I began speaking without missing a beat.

"We were on the same bus and met when we went towards the entrance ceremony but on the way back we came separate ways, we just coincidentally met up at the building gate and simply walked together to the class, right?" I turned towards Julianna

"..Haha, right. We met outside." Julianna confirmed

Wow, she didn't fuck me over. Now, that's a surprise.

"I see. I will update your progress on the basis of different evaluations but please understand that I am only doing this just this one time, such an incident wouldn't be repeated. In the future, if such an event were to be repeated you would be evaluated like other students have been." To those words, I simply nodded.

"Noted"

"Alright, I updated it. Check it out" The professor spoke and I looked at my screen.

Test Cleared.

Congratulations! You are the second person who cleared the test within an astonishing time of 24 minutes: 45 seconds. 

You will be rewarded with 2 credits.

Oh, right. In the novel, it was Aqua who was the second person who cleared the test and as such he received this reward. 

But this time it didn't happen, most likely due to what happened earlier, and with the way Emmie drove, I ended up with this reward.

"Um..Eh..huh.." Julianna let out some unintelligible noises as she leaned over and looked at my phone screen and my face back and forth as she managed to yeek out the question "H-how?" 

Didn't you just see it?

"Carelessness, Laziness, and all that crap that's how."

She didn't seem to understand so I decided to expand.

"The bracelet mainly tracks our progress. Without it, the academy would have to manually review the security cameras around the school to evaluate students, which is but a cumbersome process. This leaves them with the only option to ask the administration to do it, using the school's AI—but that takes time and adds the hassle of reporting and filing permissions. Nevertheless, the professor has no choice but to do so if they want to evaluate the student. You with me so far?"

Julianna nodded her head.

"Yeah, so you see, going through this process for the first test of the year, which happened on the first day, going through all that trouble, who wants that? So once, the professor saw another method, the method that I had pointed at him he simply used that to evaluate me."

"Keep going..."

"Now, since no one else is in class and these evaluations are private, no one who might've seen me on the mini-truck is around to cause trouble. And since evaluations aren't public, no one will know about it except me. In other words, I have successfully scammed the professor. It's similar to how sometimes you end up getting more marks due to a mistake or carelessness of the teacher." I shrugged.

"What happened to I don't care about the demerits shit?" She spoke with a disbelief voice.

"I mean, I don't mind getting free stuff, you know?"

"You fucking bastard." She spat, her voice barely above a whisper but seething with anger "I ended up getting the demerit points because of what you said!"

I didn't need to see her expression to know how furious she was.

"Hey, about that–I gave you the right to fuck me over, you know? You choose to help me out. And now you are pissed, not my fault man" I shot back.

"If I could just turn back time, I will screw you over for sure" She grumbled and continued "And what's with that credit shit, I don't think the headmaster said anything about it"

"Oh, that." I leaned back on my seat "It's probably some special award thing. The first kid likely got 3 credits, I got 2 for being second, and the third one will probably get 1. Everyone else? Nothing. Just a bonus for the top three, I guess."

"Not even a merit point but a straight-up credit. You're a real piece of work, taking someone else's credit when they probably worked their ass off."

Well, you don't always get rewarded for working hard, do you?

She kept throwing curses at me and I simply pulled out my burger from dimensional storage, unwrapped it, and began to eat which made her even angrier.

 Soon enough, the gate of the lecture hall opened and the students started to pour out one after another in the classroom.

They were all out of breath, barely making it on time.

As the class slowly kept filling I realized that there was not a single member of the main cast in my class.

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"Alright then, the 50 minutes are up and we have used an extra 10 minutes for the other students to arrive, I think we can start now. First, I would like to extend my congratulations to those who have managed to make it here on time, you all did good and as for those who haven't made it here on time, no need to be discouraged, as long as you are willing to work hard and remain patient with your growth, you will inevitably grow stronger." Leaving the podium the professor moved to the centre.

"As you all know, this is just an introductory class about the academy itself. Your classes will start tomorrow in earnestness. You can all relax a little, you are not going to be having any more tests for today" He chuckled but the students? Not so much.

"I am Oliver Orlean, an S- ranked and currently, your homeroom teacher."

Dude, finally introduced himself as I looked beside me.

"What's the deal?" I asked

"He ...said you were G+ranked"

To her words, I simply nodded.

"Doesn't make sense..." She muttered under her breath but I could feel the amazement in her voice.

I had no idea what she was on about so I decided to ignore her and slumped onto the desk.

"Now then, kindly take out your phones and look for the profile app, we will begin there." At his words, students started to follow his words.

I who was slumped onto my chair didn't feel like pulling out my phone so I just asked the one sitting beside me.

"Hey, show me whatever you are doing," I asked Julianna.

"Just use your own phone." She retorted.

And I gave up.

I knew most of the stuff and their explanation because of the novel anyway. So, there's nothing to do about it.

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Name : Julianna Claire

First Year Student → Class yet to be designated

Current Rank: F

Potential Rank: None 

Academy Rank: N/A

Grade Rank: N/A

Current Academy Points: 20,000 AP

Class: Assassin

Affinity: None

Skills : [Stealth lvl.2] [Hearing lvl.1] [Silent Footsteps lvl.2] [Cooking lvl.2] [Poison Resistance lvl.1] [Mental Fortitude lvl.1] [Dual Weilding Dagger lvl.1] [Mana combustion lvl.1] [Mana Surge lvl.2] [Shadow swap lvl.1]

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Julianna thrust her phone at me and began to speak.

"I think he is going to begin with explaining about the academy rank, grade rank, academy points and the class yet to be designated part"

"Oh..." I replied as I looked at her profile information.

"What's with that response?" I couldn't see her face but she seemed to be frowning.

Gotta say I am getting better at understanding her expressions despite not seeing her face. 

"No, it's just I didn't think you would actually show it to me"

"Huh? You are the one who asked"

"Yes and thank you for it. Let's focus on the front, he is about to explain" I said ending the conversation from dragging.

"First, let's begin with the class designation part. Your current classes are temporary which will change next month based on your continuous evaluation. Academy rank and Grade Rank is your rank within the academy, one among the entire and the other only tells you about your rank in your year.

And now the Academy Points are the currency that will be used inside the academy. Until now, the students who arrived at the academy earlier were all making transactions using the money that they had brought with them but from here on out, only academy points will be used for the transactions throughout the academy. You will receive these academy points at the end of every month based on your evaluations."

Julianna just like other students let out a gasp and strongly focused on all the things the professor kept speaking about.

All the things he was saying matched with what the novel had explained so there wasn't much for me to know.

The orientation continued as he kept explaining about various other things and once it all came to an end I quietly left my seat and decided to make my way towards the room.