Paradise High

March 16th, 2017,

Yeon-woo only had to wait a couple of days before the message arrived.

He was wearing jeans and a black hoodie with his hood drawn over his eyes, and he carried a backpack full of luggage on his right shoulder. He had already burned the uniform and the bag he used to carry before coming out.

A white mask covered his face, to obscure the face that was identical to that of his twin.

His newly purchased backpack was filled with some basic clothes and as many combat rations as he could fit; He had equipped himself with dozens of knives that he used back in the army and some tools for survival like medical kits.

When he was ready picked up his phone to look at the notification.

[Identity confirmed. The registration of the user has been completed.]

A robotic voice came from the device and the screen lit up next. He tapped on the letter icon blinking on the corner, and texts appeared on the screen.

[Sender: The Guide]

[1: Arrive at Paradise High school's assembly hall before the time runs out.]

[2: Remaining time – 00:09:45]

The content was simple, but the sender had also kindly attached an image that turned out to be a map.

Finding his way around wasn't difficult at all. He simply followed the direction indicated on the map and needed only two minutes to arrive at the destination.

The eye-catching plaque shouting out 'Paradise High' hung next to the wide-open front gates of the school.

"That name stinks."

A girl's voice rang near Yeon-woo, and he looked to his side. He had sensed when she had arrived, so he wasn't surprised there was a girl with a hoodie standing there.

Their eyes met. Her flawless pale skin indicated her young age, but her arched up brows seemed to indicate her rather fierce personality.

Just as Yeon-woo got this impression of uncaring disinterest from her expressionless face, she brushed past him. Both of her hands were shoved deep within the pockets as she quickly stepped past the open gates. She seemed to be in a hurry for some reason.

'The white roof, right?'

The attached map said this was the location, but that didn't mean this very spot was the meeting point. Yeon-woo looked around and found the assembly hall. As he approached it, he could hear the murmurs of the people within.

Yeon-woo climbed up the steps, only to come to an abrupt halt. An unexpected person was standing by the entrance to the hall.

To be more specific, a blonde woman wearing a full-on maid outfit was graciously waving her hand at Yeon-woo. It was as if she was saying, "please, over here, welcome, sir…."

Without hesitation, Yeon-woo walked towards the entrance. When the blond woman blocked his path and put out her hand, he took out his Invitation and handed it over.

He entered the hall while many of the other occupants looked at him with a calculating gaze, as if judging his strength. Even though he had already been here through his brother's memories, in reality, this was his actual first time.

So, of course he immediately tried to find out more information on his new environment.

The number of people gathered in the assembly hall was well over 30. What was especially noticeable was that they were divided into left and right sides as if to separate the two.

The left side with Yeon-woo in it only had eight people in total – six males and two females. They were furnished with chairs to sit on, and the general atmosphere was relaxed and easy-going.

On the other hand, the right side had almost thirty people, but they were either sitting on the floor or standing up. Yeon-woo could see that they were anxious.

"Do you need something from me?"

Yeon-woo turned around to see a man fumbling around with the maid.

As the man was making her frustrated, the blonde maid narrowed her eyes in an elegant manner. Her cheeks even puffed up, and her lower lip stuck out in a slight pout. However, the man seemed even more confused

"She wants your Invitation letter."

Yeon-woo decided to intervene since the man was holding back the assembly, and he didn't want to wait that long.

The man had a look of realization and pulled out his invitation.

The woman received the letter and opened it while carrying a prim expression, but soon, the maid's expression gradually froze up.

She looked at the Invitation letter. Then, she looked back at the man.

Her wide-open eyes slowly closed shut. She carefully folded the Invitation letter back, gathered both of her hands in front of her chest, and slowly lowered herself in a deep bow. It was an elegant yet dignified greeting.

Suddenly, the entire assembly hall fell into silence. The attention of everyone who had arrived here before the man focused on the newest arrival. Completely disregarding all those stares, the blonde maid pointed towards the left side of the hall and guided the flustered man.

The maid guided him towards an empty chair, and bowed politely once more, before smoothly retreating away as if she was riding on skates while never turning her back to him. She still didn't say a single word, yet her attitude towards him had definitely changed.

"What's the matter with her? Why is she acting like that all of a sudden?"

"I wonder. She didn't do that when I showed up."

Yeon-woo eyes sharpened as he looked at the man's Invitation. That man had a Gold-mark, the highest-ranking mark and only once seen before with Sung Shihyun, one of the strongest men in Paradise. It seems that the nervous looking man was more then he appeared and was certainly going to be Yeon-woo's main competition in the Tutorial.

"It must be fate, meeting in a place like this. Why don't we introduce ourselves to each other?"

A man suddenly spoke up. He looked bored from all the waiting. He was also the one giggling at the man just now.

His loud and manly voice managed to attract the attention of everyone present. The front part of his hair was slicked back to reveal his equally manly face. A faint smile formed on his lips as if he enjoyed being the center of attention.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Kang Seok. And these two guys over here…. Hey, guys, introduce yourselves."

"I'm Yi Hyungsik."

"Jeong Minwoo."

It was unclear if they were friends before coming here or became friends after arriving. The two men briefly introduced themselves. Yeon-woo instantly assessed the people speaking. The other two were no problem but his instincts told him that Kang Seok was dangerous.

"What's your name?"

Kang Seok's next target was the woman wearing the hoodie, the one Yeon-woo ran into at the school's gate.

She seemed to be completely uninterested. It was as if she wasn't even listening to what was being said around her surroundings, only immersing herself on the phone's screen. In other words, she was ignoring Kang Seok's question.

Kang Seok scratched his head and awkwardly smiled.

"She must be one of those picky and arrogant women. Without a doubt."

Yi Hyungsik chimed in.

"That's kinda embarrassing… Is there anyone willing to save me?"

Kang Seok's gaze landed on the remaining woman of the group. She tightly squeezed the hand of a teen boy sticking close to her and awkwardly smiled.

"Oh… my name is Yi Seol-Ah."

Yeon-woo pretended to be uninterested but was secretly listening in on the conversation. It was blatantly obvious that Kang Seok was fishing for information, but he didn't stop him as it was also to his advantage.

The remaining three were Yeon-woo, the Gold Invited and a man wearing a green cap and a pair of sunglasses.

The cap-wearing man was busy moving his lips up and down as if he was chewing on a piece of gum, while listening to music via earphones stuck to his ears. His legs also moved along to the beat, leading to an overall impression of him being a bit of restless busybody. He also didn't introduce himself as if such things didn't interest him.

As for the rest, it seemed like Yeon-woo and the Gold Invited had the same plan, as they both continued to be silent.

Yeon-woo did not plan on revealing information about himself and had more important things to do. When he checked his phone for the time, he saw the countdown tick from "00:00:01" to "00:00:00".

"It's time."

Suddenly, a voice came from the front of the hall. On the stage, a tuxedo-wearing man walked up in a dignified, disciplined manner. Everyone present was quite surprised since there was no one there just a second ago.

The stylishly dressed man sported a clean and neat hairstyle, as well as a monocle over his eye. He raised a hand towards the blonde maid standing by the entrance.

"Is this everyone?"

The maid shook her head softly, pointed towards the group on the right side of the hall, and then raised four fingers up.

"Four people…. Well, it's fine. We can't wait any longer, so just close the door and unleash *it*."

When the blonde maid showed some sign of hesitation, the man who kind of resembled a head butler narrowed his eyes.

"I am the Guide. It's not like it's difficult to get here. Those who can't even adhere to the schedule aren't needed here."

In the end, the maid obediently lowered her head and quietly closed the door shut. She then produced a smartphone and tapped away for a little while.

Meanwhile, the man on the stage clapped his hands twice to draw the attention towards himself.

"Welcome. I am called Han, tasked with guiding all of you this time around. You can call me the Guide."

Han spoke up to here and gestured at the maid with his index finger. She quickly ran to his side, while her blonde ponytail danced in the air.

"First of all, the Contract documents, please. How many do we have? Twenty-eight…. Quite a lot, isn't it? And we have nine Invitations this time?"

The Guide didn't even take a look at the bundle of the Contracts and simply shoved them underneath his jacket. However, he still held the Invitation letters tightly in his hand.

The Guide played with his monocle.

"Ehem, firstly, let us confirm the identities of those present today. Although we have the Invitation letters here, it's meaningless if we don't personally confirm."

The silence still remained inside the assembly hall. The Guide simply smirked.

"I'm sure that you're curious about many things. But let us follow the protocol. Everyone who is present here, please, think of bringing up your Status Windows, or simply yell Status in your minds. It's fine to say it out loud, as well."

'Status!' Yeon-woo thought….

In the empty air right in front of his eyes, a sudden avalanche of texts came crashing down.

[Your Status Window]

[1. General Information]

Summoned date: March 16th, 2017.

Marking Grade: Silver

Sex/Age: Male/26

Height/Weight: 182.0 cm/65.0 kg

Current Condition: Good

Job: LV. 0 (Invited)

Nationality: Republic of Korea (Area 1)

Affiliation: N/A

Alias: N/A

[2. Traits]

1. Temperament:

– Superhuman (Unbelievably exceptional in enduring pain and hardship when compared to an average human being)

– Self-command (Suppresses emotions, greed, and impulses with the rational will)

– Cool-headed (actions and thoughts are not swayed by emotions; always calm)

– Calm (Does not show nervousness, anger, or other strong emotions)

2. Aptitude:

– Sagacious (Has a gift in quickly judging the situation correctly and to respond accordingly.)

– Breaking-through (Regardless of the difficulty of the situation, he will search for a way to survive and overcome the current adversity.)

– Heart and Soul as One (Unfaltering and unwavering when concentrating on one thing)

– Effort (Endeavors with both body and mind to achieve a goal)

[3. Physical Level]

Strength: Low – High

Endurance: Low – High

Agility: Low – High

Stamina: Low – High

Magic: Low – Low

Luck: Low – Intermediate

Remaining Ability points: 0

[4. Abilities.]

1. Innate Abilities (1)

– [Cold-blooded]

[An ability to maintain rational thought in any situation. Shows great immunity to mind control and brainwash-class curses.]

2. Job Related Abilities (0)

3. Other Abilities (3)

- [Draconic Eyes]

[Eyes of a dragon. Sees through the truth. Can partially peek into an object or person's abilities.]

- [Sense Strengthening]

[The five senses are greatly improved.]

-[Foresight]

[Can see a certain amount of time into the future.]

[5. Level of Cognition]

– Will be available after the conclusion of the Tutorial event.

"Ohh…."

"W, What the hell is this?"

While people began gasping in surprise everywhere. Yeon-woo was the exception. He had seen this tens and hundreds of times before in his brother's memories, though now that he was experiencing it personally, it really felt quite a lot different.

"What's this 'Innate Ability' thing? Hey, Hyungsik, what does yours say?"

"Excuse me? Do you perhaps possess an Innate Ability?"

The person who answered Kang Seok wasn't Hyungsik but the Guide, Han. Kang Seok didn't expect his words to be overheard from so far, so he got flustered while he shook his head in denial.

"N, no, I don't have one. I was just curious."

"Oh…. Well, it's only normal for you to not have an Innate Ability. That's how it is with most humans. You don't have to mind that section of your Status Window."

Han smiled brightly as he spoke.

"Well, then. Let's stop being surprised, shall we? This time, please reveal the grades of your Markings. Just like before, just think about it or speak it out loud, and it will be done. Don't worry, I won't be able to see anything besides what's been revealed."

"Let's see…. Since we don't have a lot of time remaining, I shall just directly move to the next step in the procedure. Miss Yi Seol-Ah, Mister Yi Sungjin, Mister Yi Hyungsik, Mister Jeong Minwoo, and Mister Hyun Sangmin? You all have the Bronze Markings, yes? Oh, indeed you do."

Five people out of the left side's eight nodded their heads before staring at the Guide with somewhat befuddled eyes.

The Guide asked and answered his own question, then he threw five Invitation letters in the air. Suddenly, the letters shone brightly before transforming into five bronze-colored bags that fell down to the ground. It was all just like a fancy magic trick.

"The Bronze Markings will only receive one Random Box as per the regular bonus item rules. You could also have asked for the bonus of bringing along a helper, but I see that none of you have done so, regrettably."

The blonde maid picked the five bronze-colored bags and handed them over to their respective owners. Meanwhile, the Guide unfolded two more Invitation letters. While reading the contents, he carried on.

"We advise you to immediately activate your bonus items right away. The Tutorial will begin soon, so it'd be a pity if you died without using them…. Ohh?"

The Guide's eyes always maintained a level of disinterest, but a small glint of surprise flickered in them now.

"Hoh. We have three silver Markings. I'm genuinely looking forward to guiding all of you. Mister Kang Seok? Miss Yun Seora? Mister Cha Yeon-woo?"

"Yes!"

Kang Seok shouted out energetically. The hoodie-wearing girl, Yun Seora, simply nodded her head once. Yeon-woo did the same.

"For the Silver Markings, two regular Random Boxes, and special bonus items unique to the Invited, will be provided. Neither Mister Kang Seok or Mister Yeon-woo have received the special bonus item, but there is one for Miss Yun Seora."

This time too, the Invitation letters became bags as they fell down to the floor. If there was one thing different, then the bags were silver-colored rather than bronze.

The blond maid handed the bag over to Yeon-woo, which he grabbed on to delicately. Although he doubted, he would actually use the items in the bag, they could prove to be useful and he wasn't one to waste a potential resource.

– Random Box, x2

– Survival Points – 1,000 points

– Mark of Survival, x1